ImmPolitic

Welcome to ImmPolitic, the National Immigration Forum’s blog. Here we will comment on current developments in immigration policy and politics from the perspective of a Washington-based, national pro-immigrant organization.

The Melting Cup

June 16, 2010 - Posted by Maurice Belanger

World Cup soccer is being contested in South Africa, and in this town there are a lot of TVs tuned to the games.  It is truly amazing that so much excitement is generated by so little scoring. 

The World Cup decides the best in the world in soccer, but the “world” in World Cup has another meaning.  Players, no matter what team they are on, are from all over the world. 

On the U.S. team, there are a number of players who are either immigrants themselves or whose parents are immigrants.  Any of them, at least in theory, could have chosen to represent the country of their birth or the country of their parents.

Benny Feilhaber is Brazilian.  His grandparents fled Austria for Brazil when Hitler’s Germany took over.  His family migrated again, to California, when he was six years old.  Through his grandparents, he was able to obtain an Austrian passport in order to play for a time for a German team. 

Stuart Holden is from Scotland, and came to the U.S. when he was 10.  He gained his citizenship four years ago.

Jose Torres, a Texan of Mexican descent, gave up a chance to play in the Olympics on the U.S. team in order to play with the Pachuca, Mexico, club team.  He is now back with the U.S. team in South Africa.

Goalkeeper Tim Howard (who was key to keeping England to one goal in the opening game for the U.S.) could theoretically have represented Hungary, the country of his mother’s birth.

The parents of Oguchi Onyewu came to the U.S. from Nigeria, and his father played soccer for Howard University.

Jozy Altidore’s parents are from Haiti, and earlier this year he raised more than 100,000 pounds (from England, where he was playing on the Hull city team) for Haitian earthquake relief.

Other players with immigrant parents or who are dual citizens on the U.S. squad are Carlos Bocanegra (father is from Mexico); Jonathan Spector (both grandparents on his mother’s side are German and he has a German passport; Maurice Edu (both parents are from Nigeria); Landon Donovan (father is from Canada); and Hercules Gomez (both parents are from Mexico).

There are a number of other American dual nationals who have chosen to represent other countries in the World Cup. 

The U.S. is certainly not alone in having immigrants and dual nationals on its roster.  As Brent Latham of ESPN notes in this story on the World Cup,

In the age of migration, dual-nationals are hardly a uniquely American issue. Rare will be the competitive team at this year’s World Cup that doesn’t count a number of them among its ranks.

Among the more interesting cases, according to Latham, are those of

Gonzalo Higuain, a French-born forward who debated playing for France before deciding to represent Argentina; Liedson, a naturalized Portuguese striker who didn’t leave Brazil until he was 25 but now will play against that country in the World Cup; and Peter Odemwingie, a Nigerian born in the former Soviet Union who has never lived in Africa but will represent the Super Eagles at the World Cup on that continent.

And so, with soccer players at least, there is a free flow of talent, and the world’s top talent is playing with those teams where they feel they can make their best contribution.  It should all make the games more interesting, perhaps will throw us a few surprises and—who knows?—perhaps there will be some scoring.

Photo by Flickr user Dundas Football Club.

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