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Johannesburg - Davide Somma's agent has revealed that Pitso Mosimane was desperate to include the striker in his Bafana Bafana squad against USA and was 'very aggressive in pursuing him'.
The 25-year-old Leeds United ace made a promising debut as South Africa went down to a 1-0 defeat against Bob Bradley's side on Wednesday night.
Before the match, the Edenvale-born striker had revealed his determination to 'destroy' the country he moved to when he was 12 after they failed to offer him the opportunity to turn out for Team America.
But Long View Management's Farrukh Quraishi denied that an international career with USA could have been a possibility after Somma's application for citizenship was denied several years ago.
"Davide had been a permanent resident of the US for many years but was denied citizenship when he applied a few years back because he had been out of the country for months at a time," he said.
"If we had known him back then, we would have filed an appeal because we believe it would have been successful.
"We've since had conversations with US Soccer about his being considered for the national team and there was certainly interest, but only if he obtained his US passport."
Quraishi added: "South Africa were very aggressive in pursuing him and had fewer hurdles to overcome than the US, so he decided to play for them.
"For a first match, he was pleased with how it went and hopefully there will be plenty more caps to come in the future."
The 25-year-old Leeds United ace made a promising debut as South Africa went down to a 1-0 defeat against Bob Bradley's side on Wednesday night.
Before the match, the Edenvale-born striker had revealed his determination to 'destroy' the country he moved to when he was 12 after they failed to offer him the opportunity to turn out for Team America.
But Long View Management's Farrukh Quraishi denied that an international career with USA could have been a possibility after Somma's application for citizenship was denied several years ago.
"Davide had been a permanent resident of the US for many years but was denied citizenship when he applied a few years back because he had been out of the country for months at a time," he said.
"If we had known him back then, we would have filed an appeal because we believe it would have been successful.
"We've since had conversations with US Soccer about his being considered for the national team and there was certainly interest, but only if he obtained his US passport."
Quraishi added: "South Africa were very aggressive in pursuing him and had fewer hurdles to overcome than the US, so he decided to play for them.
"For a first match, he was pleased with how it went and hopefully there will be plenty more caps to come in the future."
