Breaking : USMNT were not Matt Turner’s first choice but international snub led Nottingham Forest goalkeeper towards World Cup finals

Turner got no response from Lithuania and made his debut for the United States a year later, before going on to earn a transfer to Arsenal, grace the 2022 World Cup and end up as first-choice at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. That career path could have played out very differently.

• WHAT THEY SAID

  Turner has told ‘Kickin’ It’ on CBS Sports: “My great grandmother emigrated from Lithuania during the war, fled religious persecution. She came to Ellis Island, New York and lived the dream that way. We had to move my grandfather out of his house and I found these old immigration papers from her, so my dad and I were able to reinstate our [Lithuanian] citizenship. I actually contacted the Lithuanian FA. I was like, ‘I want international games.’ They were going through a Euro qualifying cycle. This was after my first year really playing for the Revs, so this was 2018.

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  “I’m like, I have my passport, I’m reinstating my citizenship. I would love to get in touch with my roots, which is true. I would love go to Lithuania, but obviously Covid threw a huge wrinkle into everything. But I would love to get in touch with my roots and be there and feel the culture but also, I’m a soccer player and I want to represent the national team. They were about to do Euro qualifiers and I think they were going to play England and Portugal in the window. I’m like, this is my opportunity. If I could get in there, then I’m going to play against England and Portugal and all I need is a crack in the door and I’ll ball and then I’ll get my move. But they never texted me back or emailed me back.”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?