Anything Is Possible In Football, Especially For Americans

With the unlikely performance in the Confederations Cup and the Gold Cup and World Football Challenge going on in the US, a lot of attention has been given the sport states side.

From national news coverage to rising ticket sales for these matches, the sport has captured more than just a niche market. But what does this mean for our players, and our national team?

The Confed Cup certainly taught us that anything is possible in football. When asked about the defeat his team suffered by the hands of the US, Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque simply said, “they caught us by surprise.”

But the US team was no surprise to Brazil, as they fell to the mighty football giants 3-2 in the final of what was a very entertaining competition. What is a surprise is the reaction in the football community around the world.

Let’s look at the interest from top European clubs given to the US National Team players and moves made and possible moves to come.

Jozy Altidore, is still with Villareal, but will not be playing in Spain, instead his odyssey will take him to Greece, with league champions Olympiakos. Hopefully this will put him in an environment that is very competitive and train him to play consistently at a high level.

With his fitness looking to return, I am looking for big things to happen for the young man. If you think being loaned out is getting a raw deal, especially since he didn’t even get a look from new Villareal manager Ernesto Valverde, it’s not. 

Players go out on loan all the time, because they need time to develop the hard skills that are so necessary to compete at that level. If I were Jozy I would be thinking about maintaining a position in the starting eleven and contributing to your team winning.

That’s what Charlie Davies did at Hammerby in Sweden, who, in my opinion, gets the hardworking American footballer of the year award. Reports are coming out that the kid practiced three hours a day as a six year old.

That’s dedication, but besides that, his success was earned, the right way. By going to a lesser known, but competitive, European league playing for a good team and making himself an asset by performing and getting results.

He could have easily given up and accepted the fact that he was a nobody playing on the fringes of Europe. But he made himself important to his club team and then he made himself important to his national team.

Now he’s on his way, and rightly so, to France’s League One, playing for a midtable team, FC Sochaux, with great expectations by both the manager and the supporters.

The classic example of this is Oguchi Onyewu, who spent most of his young professional career at Standard Liege in Belgium.  Although that isn’t where he started, he too started in the French league and was loaned out to a Belgian club and later purchased by Standard Liege.

Gooch has markedly improved his awareness on the ball and has become more consistent.  Standard Liege should know, he helped them win back to back league titles.

But this move carries more weight and expectations than most, probably the biggest move an American player has ever made. Because he has found himself at AC Milan, one of the hugest clubs in the world, historically been one of the best.

Good luck Gooch, I wish you well and want to see you succeed at AC Milan, but I would rather have seen you playing for Ajax.

Which brings me to my next question, what leagues are better suited for American players?  More specifically, what league is best suited for Landon Donovan?

Well that’s a tough question but reports are coming out that Livorno of Italian Serie A are ready to make a bid for the player.

That is fantastic news but only because it’s not a team from Germany, nothing against the Bundesliga, but we’ve already gone down that road.

Where does Landon Donovan belong?  Who can truly say but I feel that it’s about time he moves on and learns how to be a professional, to use his own words.

He’s already accomplished a lot with the US National Team and the teams he’s been with in MLS. I think if he were truly competitive, and I know he is, moving to Europe now would present itself as a great challenge.

Furthermore, moving to Italy would be an even greater challenge, as that is not the MLS or the Bundesliga.

It is a league known for being very physical and ultra tactical. I’m not so sure this would be the right move for the player, although I would pay money to see him play in Italy’s Serie A for the pure spectacle.

I suppose the player needs to ask himself some hard questions, mainly what he hopes to accomplish by going over there.  The good news is, he won’t have to accomplish much if he stays in the United States.

If more players follow in his footsteps, his contribution to the sport in his country may be felt for generations.