Playing for your country is the greatest honor in soccer and if you can't quite manage it, then why not play for another country? That could be quite an honor as well.
Brazilian-born winger Alessandro Santos, aka Alex, was never going to make Brazil's starting 11 but he has been a regular in Japan's side since 2002.
The former Urawa Red Diamonds player hasn't just given himself the chance to play international soccer by switching allegiances, he has gained the adoration of thousands of love-struck Asian female fans. He would never have got that in Sao Paulo.
PHOTO: AFP
Francileudo Dos Santos Silva, another who would never have played for Brazil, spearheads Tunisia's attack.
He was discovered by Belgian club Standard Liege while playing for Sampaio, but moved on to Tunisia after a while. He was asked to take out Tunisian citizenship, but declined, hoping still to play for the selecao.
When he realized that this would not happen, he started playing for the North Africans, helping them to the 2004 African Cup of Nations.
PHOTO: AFP
Other "Brazilians" at this World Cup not wearing the yellow jersey include Deco.
The Barcelona midfielder was born in Sao Bernado but is also a Portuguese citizen. He was called up to the Portugal squad after being constantly overlooked by the country of his birth.
He made them sorry for overlooking him when he made his Portugal debut against Brazil in March 2003 and scored the goal that gave Portugal their first victory over the South Americans in 37 years.
PHOTO: AFP
Mexican striker Zinha is another of the Brazilian-born players doing duty in a foreign jersey.
But it is not only Brazilians who have opted to play for another country. You have Ghanaians playing for Togo, Ivorians playing for Switzerland and France, Nigerians for Togo and the US, and Argentines turning out for Spain and Mexico.
And then there is the Trinidad and Tobago team, where to be born on either of the islands is more the exception than the rule.
PHOTO: AFP
Had it not been for the stubbornness of Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, this World Cup could have seen the first brother versus brother duel.
Ivory Coast-born Saloman Kalou was told by Netherlands coach Marco van Basten that he would be in his World Cup squad if granted Dutch citizenship, but Verdonk refused to fast-track the application. Had she not done so, Kalou could have ended up playing against his brother Bonaventure Kalou, who captains the Ivory Coast.
Polish-born German internationals Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski did play against Poland at these finals.
Klose was born in Opole in 1978 but has lived in Germany for almost 20 years.
He said: "I was eight-and-a-half when I came to Germany and football was a means of integration for me."
His striking partner Lukas Podolski was also born in Poland and raised in Germany. Under different circumstances, they might have lined up against the Germans, not for them.
Oliver Neuville and Gerald Asamoah are two other foreign-born players in the German squad.
Asamoah was born in Ghana and lived there till he was 12. He was invited to play for the Black Stars and traveled to Ghana for an African Cup of Nations qualifier against Mozambique.
After sitting in the hot African sun on a hard wooden bench for 90 minutes watching his compatriots battle out a 1-0 victory, he took the -- some would say wise -- decision that his future lay with Germany.
He said at the time: "I'm from Ghana. It didn't even seem thinkable that I'd play for Germany."
Some players have gone the other way.
Spot the German in the Ghana squad -- step forward Otto Addo. The Hamburg-born midfielder has become a fixture with the Black Stars of Africa.
Owen Hargreaves also could have played for Germany. He had a choice of whom to represent at international level, and that highly vocal minority of England fans who boo him whenever he comes on as a substitute wish he had chosen Germany or even Canada.
No one in Ivory Coast, however, wishes Didier Drogba -- born in the Ivory Coast but a potential France recruit -- had chosen to wait for the call from the French instead of playing for the Africans.
"It was a natural decision for me. It was not difficult to choose. I feel Ivorian in my heart," the Chelsea striker says.
Whether the "samba sumo" Alex feels Japanese in his heart is another matter. But hey, who cares. Certainly not the Asian women follow him around screaming his name.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite