It was around 11 a.m. Friday when David Testo’s cellphone began to vibrate constantly. There were missed calls. Voice mail messages. E-mails.

Testo, a former professional soccer player, announced he was gay in 2011 shortly after his playing career ended. And as he paged through his messages from friends and family members, he quickly learned the news that stunned much of the global soccer community: Robbie Rogers, a former midfielder for the United States national team who most recently played in England, had revealed in a blog post that he was gay, too.

Testo’s first thought, he said, was pride. But then he wondered if Rogers, who is 25, would do what Testo, and many others, chose not to: become one of the rare openly gay male athletes to actively participate in a high-profile professional team sport.

“Deep down, that’s what I was hoping for,” Testo said. “It’s what we’re all waiting for.”

Megan Rapinoe, the United States women’s team star, came out before last summer’s Olympics, but at this point it does not appear Rogers will follow her example on the male side. In his letter, which he published on his personal Web site, Rogers wrote he was leaving the sport to “discover myself away from football.”