America offer World Cup carrot to Rossi

The United States have a series of friendly matches over the next two months as part of their World Cup preparations and Rossi will almost certainly be invited to join Tim Howard, United's reserve goalkeeper, in the squad. Whether he will accept is a question that Rossi is yet to address publicly, and a subject that he will have to discuss closely with his family.

I may be treading into Neal's territory here, and he's sure to be able to say it better, but let's hear it for The Bruce. While it's a bit of a no-brainer to contact Rossi (and while he may never want to play for the USA) it is exciting to think of him joining the likes of Oguchi Onweyu, Run DMB, Spector, Convey -- good, young, American players facing top opponents in Europe's leagues and cups, and forming the nucleus for the next generation (Project 2010, anyone?) of American soccer.