Obrien White just scored his first MLS goal

[Don1]

Thomas Dooley never had his citizenship "accelerated"; he was born with it, by virtue of an American father.

He also played in the 2nd round of a World Cup -- something that no Jamaican player has ever done.

Don't that make ya bittah?

Doesn't make me bitter at all..Dooley is/was a non entity to me... couldn't even remember the fellow. He was tall and kinda clumsy..right?

In fact it makes me amused... the fact that you cling to these obscure & inconsequential factoids to feel good about your players....so much for the traditional superpower swagger. LOL!!

[Zeppo]

Yea but we have only been there once and we have a player scoring 2 goals in one game something that no American player has ever done.

We have a player who scored 3 in one game: Bert Patenaude

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive...97/report.html

Now Redz, you see what happens during these little episodes when you go off your medication? Those voices in your head start giving you bad information!

[Assasin]

"David Regis, a native of France, recently became a U.S. citizen, so he could play for the U.S. World Cup soccer team. His citizenship application was expedited under a provision of the Immigration and Naturalization Act benefiting individual's with a US citizen spouse living abroad and employed by the U.S. Government, an American research institution or and American corporation that promotes foreign trade and commerce. Regis's wife met the criteria. Because the normal waiting period for a citizenship application can take years and INS is currently backlogged with millions of applications, some criticized Regis' ability to bypass the lines."

if you read carefully you will see it is not specific to the US State department. Under that provision many people can qualify.
if you have valid reason to be out of the country you can still apply for your citizenship, even in the US. Valid reason such as job, taking care of a sick relative, school etc.

[Redz]

You are a loser you know nothing but how to copy and paste lol lol lol USA USA USA big joker we can do it too, show me something we can't do you are over with clown your gig is known here comeback with a new User Name.

[Zeppo]

if you read carefully you will see it is not specific to the US State department. Under that provision many people can qualify.
if you have valid reason to be out of the country you can still apply for your citizenship, even in the US. Valid reason such as job, taking care of a sick relative, school etc.

True, but I never said it was specific to employees of the State Dept.

I was just pointing out to Tilla that, when rushing someone through U.S. citizenship, Regis's case was an exception because of his wife's job.

Under normal circumstances it cannot be done, because the U.S. Soccer Federation simply doesn't have the kind of pull with the State Dept. that some here seem to think they do.

If they did then Bakary Soumare would already be in our player pool, and most likely Rodney Wallace, too.

[Redz]

Are you for real HA HA HA HA LOL 1930 the Irish and Europeans players who all got citenzenship please shut up loser clown joker.

I knew you would go for that so I could catch you in your citenzenship bull how many of these players were US citenzens? how many got it?

[Redz]

Is that all you can come with the USA fought to get that recognized please loser just shut up and take your meds lol lol lol USA USA USA joke.

Although earlier disputed, he is now officially credited by FIFA as the scorer of the first hat-trick in World Cup history.

[Redz]

You were dead last in 1998 after been there so many times please shut up loser.

[Assasin]

What they do have is high profile lawyer who can find every loophole there is. They also have name recognition which is not the same as if you and I are applying.

The players you speaking of, how good are they?

If it was Lionel Messi or Henry see how fast it come through.

[Zeppo]

What they do have is high profile lawyer who can find every loophole there is. They also have name recognition which is not the same as if you and I are applying.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if U.S. Soccer's lawyers had found the loophole for the Regis case. But the law already existed beforehand.

The players you speaking of, how good are they?

They are both good players.

If Soumare had U.S. citizenship I'm not sure if he would be a starter for us in central defense, but he would certainly have several caps by now. Check out some of his quotes from this article:

Bakary Soumare will play for Mali

“It seemed like there were ways to get that process expedited so I thought to myself, ‘if it takes a year then why not (talk about it)’,” Soumare said. “I know that I’ve done my best to be a part of the team here in the United States, I did my homework and everything I could on my end, but it just couldn’t happen.”

“Sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to go,” Soumare said. “In a perfect world I would be playing for the U.S. national team. Everything I am as a person and as a soccer player has been helped by America so I wanted to give back.

“That said, I’m also excited to be playing for Mali,” Soumare said. “My father is very excited, my family back home is very excited. Either way I was going, there were going to be people who would be disappointed.”

Rodney Wallace is a very promising left back. He's still young, but when considering our problems at left back I'm sure that he'd have at least a few caps by now.

He came to the USA as a 9 year old but unfortunately he didn't begin the citizenship process until a few years ago, so he's still got a couple more years until he gets it.

[Zeppo]

And check out these quotes from the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation:

"We monitor as many of these cases as we can, and while there's uniqueness in certain cases, there are rules that apply, FIFA and U.S. immigration laws," said U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati. "Both are pretty clear and we abide by them and are guided them. Sometimes they work to our benefit."

As for the perception that the U.S. federation can intervene, Gulati stated clearly that the days of congressional acts and special dispensation are long gone and athletes hoping to find citizenship quickly in the United States have to wait like everybody else.

"That's not the case in the United States," Gulati said of fast-tracking citizenship for athletes. "U.S. immigration law is quite clear. Naturalization is a huge privilege and it's not done on an expedited basis, whether it's sports or otherwise."

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns...649031&cc=5901

[Assasin]

"Sometimes they work to our benefit."

What does that mean? Zeppo immigration laws are not as straightforward as you think, there are loopholes and the laws changes pretty often.

If congress can meet and try passing laws for a woman who was dying in Florida then anything is possible. Have you ever filed a immigration form?

[Me]

Mi suspect of the accelerated process thing, but no man has put forward any valid argument to counter Zeppo's points.

[Assasin]

you don't have to. How is it two people apply at the same time and one get through 6 months before the other?

Right before the election of Clinton second term people was getting citizenship within 3 or 4 months of application. How is it possible?

Plus if you use the right lawyer you more than likely get through quicker than if you do it yourself. It is no secret the process is like many other government process that can be short cut in some cases.

[Me]

Either you can support the argument that the US does it for their players or you can't.

You don't seem to be able to show that. The only thing shown is that they have used provisions already there.