Thoughts On The "Real Santi"

I've been thinking a lot about Santino Quaranta's return to the National team and how special it was for him to play at RFK on Wednesday night. For those of you who don't know, Oh Danny Boy alluded to some addictions that he's dealt with in the past, so here's a little rundown on his career.

Santino was a member of the U-17 youth national team that trained full time at the IMG Soccer Academy in Bradenton, FL. He was then drafted by DC United in 2001 at the age of 16 years and 4 months, the youngest player ever drafted at the time. He had a break out rookie season scoring 5 goals, recording 1 assist and was also an MLS All-Star. The next three seasons, he struggled with injuries and was never able to replicate the performance of his rookie season. The injury bug was the start of him becoming addicted to painkillers which led to harder drugs and harder times. You need to read the full story here in an exceptional piece written by Steven Goff. The end of 2007 left Santino with out a team and asking United to give him another chance. With strict guidelines they brought the once promising midfielder back to his original team. The past two years have been nice to see "Tino" regain his form, causing many fans and journalists to plead with Bob Bradley for his inclusion in the US squad. His game winning goal on Wednesday night in front of the United faithful is what movies are made of. If only the producers of Goal would have waited for the story of the "Real Santi", a true story of promise, struggle and a rise from the ashes to victory.

Here is his press conference from Wednesday night. Courtesy of Behind The Badge

Photo: (Pablo Martinez Monsivais -- Associated Press)