American Arturo Alvarez to Play For El Salvador: Should We Care?

Recently reports have surfaced that San Jose Earthqakes midfielder and Houston, TX, native Arturo Alvarez has switched nationalities to play for El Salvador to help "La Selecta" earn a spot in the World Cup.

The player, saying he is "95 to 96 percent sure" that he will be called up by the Aug. 12 WCQ against T&T at the Port of Spain, looks set to make his debut since making the change.

There has been much attention in the U.S. surrounding the new FIFA rule that allows players to switch nationalities even if they've been capped for their host country after a certain age.

Most notably Jermaine Jones of Germany and Edgar Castillo of Mexico, who both played for the German and Mexican national teams at the youth level, but never received a senior national team call up.

Although, Jones, whose father is American, looks set to be joining the National Team sooner than later. It seems that Castillo, was born in the U.S., has a bit of paperwork to clear up and submit before making the move permanent.

That being said, the feeling of players wanting to play for the U.S. after being rejected in a very public manner by Giuseppe Rossi and Neven Subotic has hit a road-bump. When reports came out that Jones and Castillo wanted to switch allegiances, there was definitely a sense of satisfaction and pride.

But has that gone to the wayside?

An argument can be made that Alvarez would not have won a place on Bradley's national team, at least not in front of players like Sacha Kljestan or Clint Dempsey. Further evidence pointed to the fact that Landon Donovan is playing in his position right now, and there's no way he would have won a spot in front of mighty mouse.

But just because Alvarez was an U-23 International for the U.S., does that not make him worthy of a consideration for a roster spot for a competition like the Gold Cup?

Maybe not, mainly when you consider the competition for selection any manager would envy.

It should be important to note, however, that during the Confed. Cup Final with Brazil, it did seem that Bradley was left wanting for solid players to come in during the match as subs and make an impact.

Adding to the argument, you could say that because the player was not the likes of a Rossi or Subotic, who would have come in and contributed immediately, we should not be concerned. I think this attitude, above all others, is America's mentality about the sport at its finest.

So, because the player is not a high impact star playing for a huge club in Europe, it means he is not worthy to play for Bob Bradly?

With the poor form of players like Kljestan, Beasley and Adu; isn't it time we begin looking to groom role players? Players who can come in during a final and give quality minutes doing what they do well without expecting them to carry a team.

As it stands, I don't see any role players on the U.S. squad, just players who Bob Bradley thinks are superstars of American soccer. Let us heed a warning that a move away from America, by Americans means we don't care about supporting this team in America.

Perhaps Rossi and Subotic are the wiser, opting to neglect the tradition of American Soccer to play for their ancestral country instead. I don't blame them, when it appears we are doing the very same thing by neglecting players that our own system produced.

What kind of message are we sending to our youth players if we can't include role players or even hold on to players that are truly gifted?

There is always controversy in selecting a national team side; some players deserve to be selected, some players don't. But when you don't have a plan or an idea of what kind of player you want in your system, it makes your selection look random.