Trailblazers often find it difficult to navigate the world of American sports. The vast landscape has seemed more minefield than launching pad for the athletes who have broken the mold or challenged publicly held perceptions and belief systems in terms of what we expect from the professionals who are, by their very nature, thrust upon us for a very short time. The record breakers, the pop culture icons, many of the athletes who have challenged widely reinforced stereotypes and even those who have been the result of unintended consequences - something radically new or fresh, if you like - have been torn down routinely or have been a source of outrage for the one virtue we demand in every sporting narrative: Success.

Try to be something out of the box and wilt in the bright lights; the internet fills with keyboard moralists and talk radio promoting he got what he deserved twenty-four-seven. Reach the top by going at it alone with only self-belief and hard work in your arsenal - you risk vilification and every temporary setback seems to form as a stone truth cast by those who have the most to lose.

And that's usual fare in an American sporting menu. Now add these potent ingredients - the general level of murkiness from which most Americans view the game of football along with the selection of national team, football education and widely held stereotypes ... and suddenly the case of mercurial striker Giuseppe Rossi breaches the boundaries of true talent and identity in a way not yet seen in the US. Only now, Rossi is breaking down doors with rumors linking him with a move to Europe's elite.  In this very public process, he might just redefine how US players may or should look at their professional development in the future; but for the man from Teaneck, New Jersey this rise hasn't been without sacrifice and it hasn't been easy.

It never has been such a comfortable existence when you're the first of your kind in American sport, certainly in a rapidly emerging football marketplace starving for its first international superstar. The kind upon whom an identity and legacy are built.

Yet, it wasn't as if Rossi at the behest of a kit sponsor took to the airwaves with a slick one hour special to say: I'm taking my talents to Italy. The bright, shining truth about him - that very few even wish to acknowledge - is that America has never developed players of his kind in the first place. There was never a youth program of any merit or design from which the smaller, technically gifted player of expression has been truly developed.

Many have argued it could have been Rossi as the cornerstone for a generation set to leave its mark once the Donovans, Dempseys and Howards call it day for the national team. And why wouldn't it have been so? His story is quintessential Americana. Born to Italian immigrants in New Jersey, both parents who were language teachers, his now-deceased father who was his important first coach, direttore and mentor ... it should come as no surprise that all of these factors were a brilliant twist of fate - if not, solid-gold fortune - which led him to the Parma Academy by the age of 12. It must also be noted that for one brief youth camp appearance, when he was 14, Rossi has held no affiliation to anything remotely American in his football education: His development was precisely written in Europe including U-16, U-17, U-18 and U-21 levels and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing for Italy, along with stops at Manchester United, Newcastle United and back again to Parma before landing at Villarreal in 2007.

No doubt he's had his share of setbacks as well - an overwhelming reaction to a brace he scored against the same United States in the 2009 Confederations Cup including a 30 yard stunner just minutes from entering the match - a win for Italy 3-1; and then surprisingly left off the Azzurri roster for the 2010 World Cup after being dubbed the one who got away in mainstream American press.

"It was great to score, of course, but if I could have picked any team in the world to score against, the United States would have been my last choice. I root hard for America - against anyone but Italy." 1

Supporters of the Azzurri felt he belonged in South Africa and perhaps the disaster of that World Cup said less about Rossi than it did about Italy's notorious lack of faith in the power of youth at the top of its attack. But it took nearly a year longer, well into the appointment of Cesare Prandelli - who was at Parma when Rossi was still a relatively unknown youngster, seen as a football prodigy where finding acceptance as l'americano was simply just as difficult. Ultimately, it would take a breakout year for even Prandelli to place faith in Rossi: 32 goals in all competitions with Villarreal and a Europa League semi-final under his belt before given a chance to cement his status in the Italian first team.

Still some are not sold in the United States - because this is a first time case that digs beyond embracing a player's decision about which national team to select. Rossi at this juncture requires a deeper look that some - quite frankly - can't answer based on their own identity within the sport. Even Bruce Arena, the former National Team coach and the US representative who failed in his efforts to land Rossi, has come face to face with the dual nationality problem himself - not only about Rossi, but also with respect to America's past and present trend to look abroad for its very best:

"That’s foolish. If you’re holding two passports, you have your choice. You have a privilege. That’s like saying Andy Najar (A DC United player who was born in Honduras) is a traitor ... Thomas Dooley, David Regis (former U.S. team members.) Half the US team now, there's a bunch of guys who don’t even speak English... For me, personally, I’m opposed to that stuff. For me, hunting around the world and trying to find a player that has a parent who happens to be in the US military – which happens to be the case nine out of 10 times – to me that’s against the spirit of everything, but whatever... Rossi is a different situation. Rossi is an American, he’s not Italian, but he played for Italy." 2

An Exception to the Perception
But Rossi also represents an emerging threat to a growing soccer community in the United States which is now, more or less, tied exclusively to the business of sponsored player development and the almost-monopoly power of the NCAA until MLS makes inroads. Somewhere in his path early on, having taken a closer look at this part of the landscape, Rossi made the difficult choice to play a non-mainstream American sport at the highest levels in elite foreign systems. It was a courageous, albeit controversial, decision to take the road less traveled instead of arguably becoming a big fish in a much smaller US pond.

And now, all that hardwork, preparation and self- belief seems about to land him in the penthouse of football clubs this summer. It's a feat no US-born player has come close to duplicating in the history of the American game; and in the copycat world of professional sport the question isn't whether the NCAA can produce this level of player - because clearly it has not - but whether the professional academy system in America will find itself overlooked by soccer prodigies in the future.

He had a clear grasp of the bigger picture from a young age and challenged himself in a variety of foreign environments. He went to Italy to learn tactics and fundamentals, England to absorb a more physical approach with a faster pace and then, lastly, to Spain where he honed the vast cache of skills and received more notoriety. Rossi declined the conventional path of the traditional elite American soccer player: He didn’t go to the Bradenton Academy, play in college or spend any time in MLS. Rossi recognized his Italian roots, embraced them and through a structured plan achieved the rare distinction to play for the Azzurri.

So, for better or for worse, Rossi has become a lightning rod on a number of fronts - not just limited to national team decisions and overall football identity. His career trajectory provokes a difficult discussion that many fans, coaches and players do not like to address or lack the frame of reference to consider. Rossi clearly has a skill set that strongly defies international perceptions about American players - rightfully or wrongly - that while they are fantastic athletes they are lacking in technique, tactical awareness, guile and preparation as professionals. And his decision to spurn the US can’t be accepted in some quarters ... let alone be forgiven.

But the end result now speaks volumes: the US has never produced an outfield player this highly rated by elite clubs, managers and programs, especially at the top of the formation. Rossi has played for the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Manuel Pellegrini at Villarreal, Marcello Lippi and Cesare Prandelli with the legendary Azzurri - yet more importantly the academies and technical systems supporting them, and Rossi at every carefully mapped step. Perhaps even more striking in this case - and more telling - was his decision to avoid the US structure so early in his development despite some long odds that he would be considered at any level within an elite European program.

Just having talent and technique has never been what it takes alone. It takes something a lot more than that - it demands an iron will and determination to not only rise above the hundreds of faces who arrive in Europe's most prestigious academies, but also thrive against any number of domestically produced prospects clawing and fighting for positions at every turn.

In many respects that same sense of American optimism and self-belief in concert with a strong Italian identity is precisely what drove him to Parma in the first place - and indeed his national team decision and serious personal development in football are as intertwined as the sporting influences that guided Rossi even before taking his first cross-continental flight.

For that he's been called many things over social media channels based either on his decision to not represent the United States or because he's Italian - and certainly, one could be feeding the other as it is a phenomenon that is very hard to calculate. Biases and allegiances and outrage are often based on a belief system. But there are no such things said about defender Steven Purdy who plays for the Portland Timbers in MLS, and is currently representing El Salvador at the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Purdy, who was born and raised in California, played at three levels in the American national team setup including the U-17, U-20 and U-23 youth teams during his development. Or the case of Borussia Dortmund defender Nevin Subotic who eventually declared his desire to play for Serbia, after playing at the U-17 and U-20 level for the United States before a very loud break with the US program and flirtations with Germany and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The point being: each of these players have only one career in the game and they are forced to make that decision themselves.

So it must be something more about Rossi, then.  Maybe it's just because he's that good a player. But the consequences ahead for Rossi is whether he will reach that next stage alongside the World's Elite at a club based in Spain, Italy or England - destinations where he is often rumored to land this summer - and should he find success will he then earn at least the grudging approval that has eluded him in the United States? Will the headlines still label him as the one that got away? Will the sportswriters always see him as simply a US-born anomaly while overlooking a vast Hispanic talent pool locked out in a pay for play pyramid or has he awakened something in an increasingly aware American soccer audience that its professional system needs to improve.

These are all serious questions that should find their answers very soon.  But one thing is for certain - Rossi has not only opened the door on what can be possible for US born players, but has kicked it open. Literally.

No ordinary Joe, indeed.



1 - "The One Who Got Away" by Jeff Bradley, ESPN The Magazine
2 - "What Could Have Been" by Andrea Canales, Goal.com

RossoAnto of Beyond The Pitch also contributed to this article as well.

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Steve Amoia is a freelance writer, book reviewer and translator from Washington, D.C. He is the publisher of World Football Commentaries and The Soccer Translator. You can follow Steve @worldfootballcm on Twitter.

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