da pinup bet： Sergino Dest has explained why he is now totally committed to the USMNT cause having been “fully focused on the Netherlands” when growing up.

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Defender was born in HollandCommitted to the United StatesNo regrets over that big decisionWHAT HAPPENED?

The 23-year-old full-back was born in Almere and made his senior breakthrough at club level when stepping out of the famed academy system at Ajax. He first linked up with the U.S. national team in their U17 ranks and has never looked back, with the decision taken to pledge allegiance to the land where his Surinamese father grew up – with Kenneth Dest having moved to New York as a youngster.

AdvertisementGettyWHAT DEST SAID ABOUT THE USMNT

Quizzed on the podcast as to how he came to be a United States international, rather than chasing his Dutch dream, Dest said: “It was a position I wanted to be in. It’s nice if both countries want you to play for them. When I grew up, I was fully focused on the Netherlands, to be honest. I was trying to play for the Dutch national team. And then, for some reason, I never made it to the final round.

"Then some people told my dad, ‘hey, he also has an American passport, why doesn’t he try there?’ I was never thinking about that. I was like, ‘yo, that’s actually really dope, I can go overseas and play for the American team’. I remember the first day when I arrived, my English wasn’t that good. I arrived at the youth camp. That was a really nice experience, I was like ‘this is actually nice, people are nice, there are nice jerseys and a nice culture of football, and it’s different’. I learned a lot.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

The Netherlands did finally come calling after seeing Dest become a regular at Ajax while still in his teens, but the buccaneering defender made his senior debut for the USMNT in 2019 and is now up to 32 senior caps. He added on making that big decision: “I had to choose Holland or the U.S. I was already feeling comfortable playing with the U.S. There was obviously a little doubt in my mind because it was like ‘wow, Holland wants me’. But I wasn’t really sure. I was like show some loyalty, I’m already at a place where I feel good, so why should I change that and take any kind of risk?”

GettyWHAT NEXT FOR DEST?

Dest – who is currently playing his club football back in the Netherlands during a loan spell at PSV – is a two-time CONCACAF Nations League winner with the United States, and 2024 will present an opportunity to complete a hat-trick of gold medals on that front. He has graced the World Cup finals, at Qatar 2022, and will be hoping to figuring prominently at this summer’s Copa America when that event plays out on U.S. soil.