Diego Luna, you are you.
So go ahead and win for Real Salt Lake, score a goal and get three assists like they did in a recent 5-2 win over Atlanta United, and ignore the backlash from those who criticized you for turning down a substitute spot on the U.S. Olympic soccer team.
Did they want you as an alternate?
please.
Some of these people are saying you were “selfish” for refusing the call, but it should never have been made in the first place. You should have been drafted right there on the team. As a first-line player. Not as a backup for a backup of a lower-level player, but as insurance for injuries to lower-level players who are buried so deep that they need you.
While you were languishing in Paris, Utah's thriving club team continued to benefit from your tremendous contributions on the pitch.
Critics say you should consider it an honor to put on the U.S. uniform as a scrub and represent your country. You sit idle as a reserve player on a team where you could have played well and helped the team qualify for the Olympics if you had been officially named. You could also say that without your great play on the U-20 team, the U.S. would not have even qualified for the Olympics.
The critics are saying outright that you are indulging in hurt feelings when you know full well that you have already proven yourself worthy of being on this Olympic team through your past contributions. They are saying that you should kneel before the people who disrespected you for not inviting them when you should have, which would have shown some of your incredible competitive spirit.
You know the opposite is true. You stay and play to the best of your ability, where you're valued, needed, and utilized by the team. You value the prestige of being some third-row guy clamoring to make the team, which you're not. They didn't want you to do anything more than pick up pom-poms.
Your critics, at least some of them, are also saying that your refusal to be a reserve player on a mostly young U.S. Olympic team will hurt you in the future. Tomorrow's selectors will remember this and blame you as you continue to grow and progress, ignoring that growth and progress, giving life to ongoing resentment for what you did here and now. Anyone in a position of power who would exclude you from a future national team when your talent screams otherwise does not deserve to be in that position of power.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Real Salt Lake midfielder Diego Luna (8) embraces Chicho Arango (9) after the latter scored a goal during an MLS game between Real Salt Lake and Atlanta United, Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Sandy.
No one is so naive as to disregard the fact that these issues may be politically charged, but we must continue to act as we have always done, as far as we can, and as we hope to continue to do, and to expose such prejudices as a stain on those who are foolish enough to exercise them.
Diego, I have seen pundits on TV preaching and criticizing your decisions, and while I understand their right and role to hurl criticism, that does not mean that any clear thinking individual has to agree with it.
And they don't.
One person said it was a “shame” that you turned down the alternate spot, and that if you have the chance to represent your country on the world's biggest stage, alternate or not, you should take it, which “might have a negative impact on his progress, regardless of how well you're playing.”
“He's having the best year of his career with RSL,” another said, “… this shows he's hurt feelings… in this case, he's being selfish… it may hurt, it may not be what he wants, but if he really wants to be there, if he has even the slightest bit of desire to be an Olympian, he'll be an alternate. He'll do whatever it takes, and he'll be there until he's no longer a possibility. But saying no, he's not going is just putting himself and his feelings above his team and country.”
“I'll take it a step further,” said another. “If your overall ambition is to be a men's national team player, to go to the World Cup, then if you say to the organisation that you're not going to take that little step here, what does that mean for your commitment after that? If I want to be a star then of course I'll go in and do that, but if you want me to go in and fight and do this and that and earn my place then no, I'm fine with that.”
Diego, this is a ridiculous view, true or not. Trying to prove yourself as a reserve player for a future opportunity is not a real factor at all. What matters is what you do on the pitch. Do you deserve to be on the national team because of the way you play? That is the real criterion. Don't give up on winning at Real Salt Lake and go to Paris to show your loyalty to the powers that be by doing practically nothing.
If that's true, maybe that's what's wrong with soccer in the United States.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Real Salt Lake midfielder Diego Luna (8) scores a goal during an MLS game between Real Salt Lake and Atlanta United on Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Sandy.
Diego, I'm with you. If you're hurt, you should be hurt, as the soccer gods attest. You deserved to be on the Olympic team. You've already proven that. And if your hurt feelings are now hurting other people's feelings at the national level, let them cry all day while you carry on doing what you do best here: play and win.
Notes to editors: • This article is available to Salt Lake City Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
