He was playing against a team that plays at a level that I was able to play at in Germany. But good impression none the less.
Julian Green promoted to Bayern Munich Reserves: http://www.starsandstripesfc.com/us...84342/julian-green-usa-bayern-munich-reserves
Julian Green: The Start of Something Big? http://footballtwentyone.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/julian-green-start-of-something-big/ Green moved to Germany at the age of two with his mother from his family home in Tampa, Florida, and this is what allows him to play for the USA or Germany, when the time comes to choose. He currently plays for the USA at u-18 level and will be eligible for the 2015 u-20 World Cup should he be selected. But at club level, the real progression started in the 2011/12 season, where Green starred for Munich’s Under-17 team, where he was top scorer within the side, scoring 18 times. Last season, he made the step up to Bayern’s A-Jugend team (Under-19s) and continued the previous seasons fine form with 10 goals in 26 matches.
Article out of Philly today about Zach Pfeffer: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...dfielder_Pfeffer_heading_back_to_Germany.html
Beat me to it Thought it was a nice perspective on what a player in his situation goes through and the sacrifices that have to be made.
Might be a silly question, but could Paul Arriola potentially jump ship and represent Mexico? I vaguely remember reading something about him getting Mexican citizenship soon after his move to Club TJ. Does anyone also know exactly why he left LA for TJ? Was it money? First team opportunities?
Does every player need to gain citizenship to play in the league? Do they not have "international spots" like MLS?
No. They have 5. So it's certainly beneficial for young players like Arriola to obtain Mexican citizenship if possible to make them more attractive to Mexican clubs.
Mexico is "Plan B" for Arriola. I think Arriola's chances of playing for Mexico are about as good as Ocegueda's were.
Arriola has a much higher ceiling than Ocegueda. Situations are different. Chances he goes to a mexican ynt are very slim as he is probs going to be major contributer for u20s
For what it's worth I don't think he is fluent in Spanish. Not sure how the Mexican Federation would view that. If he is living in San Diego, it may make it tougher for him to integrate and learn the language.
No Mexican team is going to waste an international spot on a teenager unless that kid is a budding superstar.
The Galaxy were really upset that he left them. He was definitely in their plans. He trained with the 1st team during the preseason, and then played/trained consistently with the reserves later on. We don't know his ceiling, but he's a good prospect at this point.
He did well against Eint Frankfurts youth team and scored against Club America's reserves. I would've given him a contract instead of Zardes.
This is what I don't understand. Why didn't LA sign him to a HG deal? I heard he wasn't at the academy long enough, but neither was Villarreal. In his case though, he just waited a year to play. Also, was it really Arriola or Zardes? Is there a limit to HG contracts per team?
I heard that Tijuana were offering him more money than the Galaxy could offer. Galaxy really wanted him and included him in their pre-season.
There is no limit to the number of HG signings a team can make, but only two can be signed for above the league minimum; also, teams are limited in the number of "off-budget" players (and, of course, total players generally) they can sign. I am pretty sure Zardes is one of the Galaxy's two above-minimum HG players; I don't know offhand if they have another, but they may have had another in mind if not. (And Arriola didn't yet qualify anyway.) Presumably Arriola would have preferred not to sign for the league minimum, as he obviously had other options.