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Argentina Olympian Axel Müller has his sights set on playing for the USA. The center / wing moved from Mendoza to Arizona as a child, spending ten years in the USA. He speaks fluent English and carries as U.S. passport. World Rugby eligibility laws prevent the Argentine, a star sevens player but uncapped in 15s, from playing for the USA but he has a case to be heard.
Müller moved to the USA as a young boy and returned to Argentina at the age of 17. He went on to play u20s for Argentina at the 2013 Junior World Championship, followed immediately by a jump to the World Sevens Series. In 2016 he was an Olympian, playing for Los Pumas in Rio de Janeiro.
Eligibility laws see Müller attached to Argentina. This is so despite last weeks controversial eligiblity changes which enable players to change countries if they have three consecutive years since their last cap for Country A and were born in Country B or have a parent or a grandparent from Country B.
Müller does not qualify for the USA on ancestry. He does, however, have a case to argue that he merits the oportunity of playing for the USA, especially given that players with 10, 20 or even over 100 caps can now play test rugby for the country in which one of their grandparents happened to have been born.
He has 10-year cumulative residency. World Rugby’s changes make it only possible to transfer via Olympic event participation if the athlete has the nationality of the second union and has completed the three year stand down period. Müller has completed five years and is a U.S. passport holder. These factors could be argued to represent a credible link to the USA. What he now needs is approval from the IOC, the national Olympic Committee and World Rugby.
Earlier this week Müller told his story to Midi Olympique. In his eyes he has been blacklisted by the UAR. There is reason to back up his claims; his name was missing from Argentina’s long-list for international duty in 2021. He is uncapped despite his fine form over multiple seasons in France’s elite.
Müller departed Argentina shortly after the 2016 Olympic Games. He joined Toulon and has played for Brive since 2018. The UAR wanted him to remain in Argentina to play Super Rugby for Los Jaguares. No player was considered for Los Pumas that played outside of Super Rugby in 2016 and 2017. Minor changes began in 2018 but they were limited to the extent that just three players based abroad were on the roster for RWC 2019. Juan Imhoff and Facundo Isa were inexplicable omissions.
Müller told Midi Olympique:
“Since I left for Toulon following the Olympic Games, the union has been unhappy with my decision. I seized the opportunity of my career. I think I made the right decision but the union president did not accept it. This is why I have not been selected since my arrival in France. Mario Ledesma wanted to select me for the Rugby Championship in 2020. But when he put my name down on paper, the union refused because I had gone to France after the Olympic games.”
Non-selection earlier this year resulted in a public fall-out with the UAR. Now, Müller wants to pull on an Eagles shirt; he wants to play for the USA. This is a man who was schooled in the USA. He played a variety of sports in Arizona and represented the state in athletics.
Playing for the USA is part of the goal. Müller is aiming high; he wants to play at RWC 2023. The USA would certainly benefit from a player that excels as a winger for Brive and can also play at outside center. Moreover, Eagles head coach Gary Gold is fully aware.
“The coach of the test team knows about my situation. But the rules of World Rugby are not so clear for everyone. I want my situation to help other players who are going through the same thing as me. I’m coming into the prime of my life, I know what I want, what I can bring to the team. And now that the story with Argentina has finished, I want to play for the United States, to help them for the World Cup. Since I started playing rugby, the World Cup has always been a dream, whether for Argentina or the United States. In short, if I can help the United States participate, that would be a dream too.”
To enable the possibility Müller is open to a move from Brive to Major League Rugby (MLR). He noted that while he is happy at Brive, a move to the MLR could be an option to to help him qualify for the USA.
The USA were beaten, on aggregate, by Uruguay in the RWC 2023 qualifiers. The Eagles will face Chile home-and-away in July 2022 with the winner qualifying for RWC 2023 as Americas 2. If Müller’s case is successful then he could face his neighbors from across the border near Mendoza in July and play against Argentina in the Pool D match in Nantes.
