Dooley Proud to Be an American : Soccer: Born and raised in Germany, the versatile player gives up a lot to join the U.S. team in World Cup preparations.
It wasn’t so much the way he looked or talked, or even the way he dressed, that prompted the taunts from his schoolmates. It was his foreign name. Not Thom. But Thomas, Tom, Tommy. Middle name Dennis. Such an American name for a German boy.
The other children would surround the curly haired boy, and, in a relentless sing-song, chant, “Dooley, Doo-ley, D-O-O-L-E-Y. What kind of name is this? American! American!”
“I would say to them, ‘I am not American, I am German!’ but inside I wished I was American,” said the grown-up Dooley, who this week signed a one-year contract with the U.S. national soccer team.
It is a homecoming for the first time for Dooley, whose father, an American serviceman, married Thomas’ mother and lived with Thomas and his brother Steven for three years before shipping back to the United States.
For a few months, Dooley’s father wrote his German family. Then the letters stopped. Dooley was left with his American name and vivid dreams of a land he had never seen.
Dooley, 32, has lived all his life in Germany and has learned his craft--professional soccer--in one of the world’s most rigorous training grounds, the German Bundesliga. But fate, or something more powerful, has drawn Dooley to the United States. He has turned his back on the lucrative world of European soccer and taken a 300% pay cut for the honor of representing a country that cares little for his skills.
“It has been my dream for all of my life,” Dooley said Friday from Dallas, where the U.S. team plays Jamaica tonight at the Cotton Bowl in the first game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the regional soccer tournament.
“I have always dreamed of America. I always wanted to go, but when I was a small boy, it was not possible. When I began to play soccer, I could afford to go, but I had no time. Then, when we were on vacation from soccer, I was in school, studying architecture. Then I stopped school, but my son’s school schedule would not allow it.
“So, for years, my wife and I talk about it, but we only now can do it. Now, I have a new flag.”
Dooley has always had dual citizenship. Because of Germany’s policy that children take their citizenship from their father, Dooley has been an American. But, because of residency, he has also been a German citizen and, until last year, carried a German passport.
Thus, the German national team has always had a chance to claim Dooley. It is fortunate for the U.S. team that the Germans did not, for under international rules, if he had played one international game for Germany, he would not have been allowed to represent any other country, ever.
So Germany’s loss is U.S. soccer’s gain, and the U.S. team’s gain was Germany’s pain when Dooley scored two goals against his former countrymen in last month’s U.S. Cup. And Dooley’s versatility allows U.S. Coach Bora Milutinovic to use Dooley at forward, at defensive midfielder, as a marking back, or at sweeper.
As Dooley showed in the U.S. Cup, no matter his assignment, he’s always in position.
“When Thomas plays in the central midfield, it’s not so much that he is so fast at running up and down the field, it’s more that he has the experience and knowledge to go forward at the right time,” assistant coach Timo Liekoski said. “He has the German style of going forward. But he also gets back fast when the attack breaks down. He’s always smiling, always patient and he works hard. The players have a lot of respect for him.”
Dooley is still getting to know his teammates and still struggling with English. But the U.S. staff expects Dooley to contribute valuable experience and leadership to the young team. He has been named captain of every team he has ever played for, including his last stop at FC Kaiserslautern.
Leaving the Bundesliga was not only a difficult decision for Dooley, it was also an unusual one.
U.S. Soccer Federation officials agree that in signing Dooley, who was a free agent, they took advantage of a loophole in European club soccer rules. The rules control only transfers from club to club, not from a professional team to a federation.
But then, few players have left a club to play full time for a national team. Player movement usually flows in the other direction.
Because the rules don’t cover a player signing with a national team, the USSF did not pay a transfer fee for Dooley, which could have cost a soccer club about $500,000. Thus, Kaiserslautern still holds Dooley’s rights, but the team has not been compensated for the loss of its captain.
“We see his rights as suspended for a year,” said Bill Nuttall, the U.S. team’s general manager. “We’ve told Kaiserslautern that we’ll return him in August of 1994. We’ve received no formal protest concerning Thomas. If they want, they can take it to FIFA (the sport’s international governing body) and get a ruling.”
Nuttall compared the situation to an NBA player’s signing with a European team for a season. The player’s NBA team would still hold his U.S. rights.
It is not likely, though, that Dooley will return to Germany after next summer’s World Cup, as many expect. He also turned his back on his salary of more than $300,000, accepting less than $100,000.
“The money was not the reason for me,” Dooley said. “I want to spend more time with my family. In Germany, there was no time. During the season, I spent maybe two or three days (a week) with my wife and two sons.
“Also, the chance to play for the U.S. national team is exciting. I now have a chance to play in the World Cup, which is the biggest thing for any footballer. Even the boy who kicks a ball in a street wants to play in the World Cup.”
That boy could be one of Dooley’s two sons, Marko, 12, or Dennis, 17 months. Marko is his wife’s son from a previous marriage. Dennis is his father’s namesake.
“When I was a boy, I wanted the other children to call me Dennis, by my middle name,” Dooley said. “I always said that when I had a son I would name him Dennis.”
It’s a nice American name.
