Abby Wambach again calls out use of dual-nationals for United States
Abby Wambach has gone there again.
In an interview with the New York Times, the retired United States women’s national team star – who holds the world record for international goals for either gender – once again questioned whether men’s national team players who weren’t born or raised in the U.S. would play as hard as more indigenous players.
After making a similar point in an interview with Bill Simmons on his podcast back in December, Wambach said in Tuesday’s Times that “It feels a little bit odd to me that you have some guys that have never lived in the United States that play for the United States because they were able to secure a passport.”
“To me, that just feels like they weren’t able to make it for their country and earn a living, so they’re coming here,” she continued. “But do they have that killer instinct? I don’t know. I’d love to sit down with Mix Diskerud and some of these other guys and talk to them about it. I’d love to understand how much they love their country. I believe they can have love for both countries, but I’d love to hear it, and I think so many other people would, too. If this is an ignorant opinion, I’ll raise my hand in the end and say, ‘My bad.’ But I’d want to have that conversation.”
Here is a quick list of all of the issues we have with Wambach’s quotes:
Plenty of these players didn’t “secure a passport.” They already had one. And if they didn’t, they were entitled to one because of their place of birth or their parents’ American nationality. One way of acquiring a passport – and we all have to apply for one, in the end; you’re not born with it in hand – isn’t better than any other.
You have to live in the U.S. to be truly American. And by that logic, perhaps those U.S.-born national teamers living abroad should be disqualified, too. They won’t, though. Because this is a silly argument.
Saying they can’t “make it for their country” suggests that they aren’t full Americans. Wambach isn’t the arbiter of who is truly American and who isn’t. Nobody is. Native-Americans excepted, we all trace our ancestry elsewhere. We’re all a different shade of American, and we are all worthy.
No U.S. national team player “earn[s] a living” playing internationally. Men’s players – unlike Wambach and the women’s national teamers – are paid full-time salaries by their clubs, not their countries, and get national team bonuses. Their primary careers are with their club teams. Getting this wrong strikes at the heart of Wambach’s misunderstanding. Those players aren’t here to “earn a living.” Saying they’re just collecting paychecks underscores her view of them as mercenaries, yet the reality is that – while playing at a World Cup probably won’t harm their careers – they wear the uniform to represent their country.
Questioning “killer instinct.” What does that even mean? Have you ever seen Jermaine Jones play for the U.S.? He wasn’t born here and didn’t know his American father until he was an adult, but few men – if any – in U.S. national team history have run as hard for their country.
Questioning Mix Diskerud? Diskerud? Really? He’s rather faded from the national team picture. And if living in the U.S. is a pre-requisite, he has actually been playing for New York City FC since 2015.
Measuring one’s love for his country. How, exactly, do you measure that in a conversation? Will she give them a pop quiz? A written exam? And what makes her believe they have “love for both countries” when they only represent one? That’s a logical leap.
People want to know. No, “many other people” are not harping on this and waiting for the dual-nationals to demonstrate their love for their nation. You’re not guilty until proven innocent when you pull on the national team jersey. You’re American because you were deemed eligible to play for the American national team and selected for the squad. There’s no further examination required.
Yes, this is an “ignorant opinion.” And merely raising your hand and saying “my bad” for this unchecked jingoism doesn’t suffice.
Wambach has campaigned for Hillary Clinton, so it’s rather awkward that she has done so while espousing the sort of xenophobia that Clinton’s opponent, Donald Trump, has built his own presidential campaign on.
