Sydney Leroux and Soccer Without Borders Jeré Longman has a profile in the Sunday Times of the United States national team newcomer Sydney Leroux, a striker with worlds of talent and a complicated background. Leroux scored five goals in the Americans" 13-0 demolition of Guatemala last week, but she has nonetheless been taunted in Vancouver, her hometown, for her decision to compete internationally for the United States instead of her native Canada. Her story should be one familiar to soccer fans. Talented player rises through the ranks in one country - maybe the one in which they were born and raised, or maybe the one to which they moved as a young teenage prodigy - but then shifts gears at the last moment to compete for another. Many factors can be at work when this happens: family, loyalty, opportunity, marketability. But nationality shopping isn't new; Alfredo Di Stefano was capped by three countries, and Ferenc Puskas by two. Ireland used the so-called Granny Rule to qualify for two World Cups, and the last tournament featured two Boateng brothers, both raised in Germany, suiting up for different nations. Sometimes this works out for U.S. Soccer; Edgar Castillo (who appeared several times for Mexico), Fabian Johnson and Timothy Chandler are recent examples. Other times it does not (see Neven Subotic and Andy Najar). Unlike the New Jersey-born Giuseppe Rossi, however, who went abroad early and never made any secret of his plans to represent Italy, Leroux gets grief north of the border because she competed for Canada in several international tournaments as a teenager. In fact, she appeared in the under-19 World Cup for the Canadians when she was only 14. But by then, she was already longing to play in the American college system, and for the U.S. national team. Before the recent Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournament, which concludes Sunday night with a game between Leroux's home country and her adopted one (8 p.m. Eastern, NBC Sports Network), she told the Vancouver Sun: "I knew that I was going to live my life ... in the States and that I was going to college and pursue a career there and eventually build a family there. So it just made sense that I'd play there, as well. And while Leroux has heard criticism for her allegiance, similar moves have become increasingly common since FIFA relaxed its rules on the topic several years ago. Much of the pressure for the changes came from federations in Africa and Asia looking to deepen their talent pools by reclaiming players long lost to European clubs. But others raced in through the gap as well. The German-American midfielder Jermaine Jones quickly took advantage, leaving behind several appearances in friendlies for Germany's national team to join the U.S. version. And dozens of other players have since completed - or are considering - the same kind of switch. But does it really matter? Many Algerians are as proud of Zinedine Zidane's exploits as their French counterparts are. Spanish fans (well, outside of Madrid) no doubt still cheer Lionel Messi when he pulls on the stripes of Argentina. And there are plenty of others who realize that Mario Balotelli is more of an Italian than one of his sometime Azzurri teammates, the Brazilian-born striker Amauri, though it's hard to persuade everyone to cheer for both of them. It wasn't that many years ago that several American-born women accepted call-ups to Mexico's national team rather than wait in vain for a spot on U.S. Soccer's star-filled roster. Their progress was blocked at home, but they were lucky enough to have dual citizenship and dual options. Leroux, the No. 1 pick pick in the recent W.P.S. draft, is so good that she would have been a star in two countries, even if the one she chose probably didn't need her as much as the one she left. Maybe, deep down, that is what has some Canadians so steamed. Maybe the only problem they have with Leroux's move is that she went the wrong way. Corner kick: Does the portability of nationality in soccer bother you as a fan? Should FIFA's rules be stricter, or looser? Or does it only matter to you when you have a national team shirt in the game?