Defoe and Dawson Go Down, My Blood Pressure Goes Up

As an American watching international soccer, there's many things to adjust to. I've commented on some of these things, such as the announcing, fans, and now, most notably, the way injuries are dealt with. Two Tottenham players, Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe have went down with injuries in consecutive qualifying games.
Dawson will miss the next six to eight weeks after suffering ligament damage in his left knee and ankle during England's opening match against Bulgaria. Defoe injured his ankle or knee (he's not sure), one game after recording a hat trick against Bulgaria.
Defoe was originally scheduled to have surgery on his groin a few weeks ago, but then postponed the surgery because he wanted to help Spurs qualify for the Champions League group stage. After Spurs secured a 4-0 victory over Young Boys to advance, most expected Defoe to have the surgery.
Turns out, he postponed it again to play for his country. So which is it, Jermain? Your club team or your country?

Therein lies the problem. Which is more important, a player's club, or his country's international games? In American sports the line is clearly drawn. Your club team trumps all else. In many cases, as we're seeing in the FIBA basketball tournament, many teams aren't allowing their players to participate because the tournament poses a serious injury risk.

As an American this line of thinking makes sense to me. It's the club that is investing millions of dollars into their players. They should have the right to withhold them from international competition. FIFA doesn't insure any of these players, yet makes billions of dollars off of them, and in the case of an injury, at the expense of a club team.
But as Americans, we often fail to understand the spirit of international competition. Except of course, when the Olympics roll around. Many of our NBA players were eligible to compete in the FIBA tournament and refused.
You don't see that in soccer. Every one of these players (except maybe a few Frenchmen) would kill for an opportunity to play for their country. It's amazing to see Defoe continue to risk injury just so he can play some games for an English side that could easily qualify for the World Cup without him.
We don't even let our NBA and NFL player play an entire season if it means we can rest them for the playoffs.
So what's the point? The English created soccer and no longer dominate the game they invented. They want to take every opportunity to try and prove that they are the best at the game they created.
America doesn't have this problem in basketball. Not yet, at least. The gap between our talent and the rest of the world as closed considerably in the last ten years. It's not until we aren't the favorites anymore that the best players will be clamoring to prove themselves.
That's why the English Premier League takes a back seat to international play. Premier League players know that the biggest stage is international soccer. It's why players like Defoe risk their Premier League season to showcase their skills on their country's team.
This isn't the case in basketball. The best players are all in the NBA. An NBA championship is a basketball player's greatest team accomplishment. In ten years, that all could change.
Here's to crossing my fingers and hoping that all ligaments, ankles, and groins remain intact and are functioning properly a month from now.