Giuseppe Rossi: The Blueprint

(Giuseppe Rossi for the Azzurri)

ESPN recently put my boy Giuseppe Rossi on the cover on The Magazine and wrote a great article about his story and rise to where he is now. As expected, Rossi made the 30-man preliminary roster for Italy's world cup. It's not definite yet, but I fully expect him to be picked. As the article explains, it's been his desire to play for the Azzurri since the beginning, even rejecting the US' guarantee of playing at the 2006 world cup.

What I'm most intrigued with Rossi is how he is finally the first American to get it right, in terms of being a legitimate player on the world's stage. While playing in Europe is key for any player to advance their game, Rossi started like all Europeans at the youth academy, at age 13. To my knowledge, no other US players have moved to Europe to grow in the youth academies. Instead, they tend to resort to the American programs which do not seem to offer what academies like Parma has.

Yes, playing in European leagues is huge, but it has to start at a young age. This is particularly difficult for Americans though simply because it requires picking up everything and going to another continent. All for only A SHOT as a professional soccer player. But as we see for Giuseppe, he's now going to a World Cup as the first American with a legitimate shot at winning it all.

As an Italian-American, of course I'm a fan of his. I have a strong tug between the US and Italian national teams, which I'm sure to touch upon as Serie A comes to a close. However, I consider his achievements good for US soccer as a whole, and doing it for Italy is only a bonus.