Debating ‘passport players’ on the U.S. national team

Also file under: Solidly straddling the fence

I keep trying to get myself worked up over something … but can’t really quite get there.

Bob Bradley just announced his roster for two upcoming matches, starting with Saturday’s test against Argentina. They’re good. They have a pretty nice little player. Maybe you’ve heard of him – Leo Messi?

But I’m thinking more about the U.S. roster, which includes two names previously unfamiliar to even the best U.S. soccer fans: David Yelldell and Timothy Chandler. Both are German-born holders of dual citizenship. They are, therefore, eligible to play for either country.

Yelldell is a goalkeeper for MSV Duisburg, currently sitting seventh in 2 Bundesliga. Chandler is a right-sided defender-midfielder for FC Nürnberg. He's starting for a good side, one currently sixth in Germany's top division.

So here’s the question: should U.S. Soccer still be trolling the European leagues in search of passport players? As I say, I keep wondering if there’s something to be upset about here?

(Read on for both sides of the debate ... and would it kill ya to weigh in with your own thoughts?)

Remember, now, this isn’t just going on at the highest level. The U.S. under-20 side has gone to lengths to identify and incorporate good players with dual citizenship.

I talked to someone at U.S. Soccer yesterday while arranging some interviews for upcoming pieces around Saturday’s U.S.-Argentina contest. The basic argument is this: while it may be an interesting philosophical debate, why wouldn’t the United States soccer team do everything possible to improve?

And that’s a reasonable argument.

Heck, the very motto of the U.S. Army was once “Be all you can be.” If it’s good enough for the fine men and women of the U.S. Army, it should work for our U.S. soccer team, right?

On the one hand, there’s quite a tradition of this. Thomas Dooley and Earnie Stewart contributed great things to the U.S. soccer team of another day.

On the other hand, that was a very different day. Dooley and Stewart were essential elements on teams that were barely hanging on, scrapping their way to competitiveness.

Later, David Regis was rushed through the system and made a starter on the 1998 World Cup side.

But there are options aplenty these days. A player like Dooley wouldn’t be nearly as critical to the entire exercise.

And I wonder if, at some point, these are just stop-gap measures that somehow obscure the holes in our development system. If we keep leaning on the Yelldells and Chandlers, are we reducing the incentive to shore up and improve our development mechanisms?

And what if you’re name is Eric Lichaj, and you’re an American soccer player who grew up in Chicago, as American as Mickey Mantle. But now you must fight for your place on the team against a fellow who grew up in Frankfurt and wouldn’t know Mickey freakin’ Mantel from Mickey freakin’ Mouse?

See? I have two hands. I can see them both very clearly.

If you’re worked up about it, let me know. If you’re not … well, let me know about that, too.