Klinsmann has been aggressive in his call ups of dual internationals. Corona and Morales are two examples. Unfortunately they have yet to make a strong impact at the senior level.
Could someone further clarify this Bradenton connection to me? Does this mean he was involved with U.S. national youth teams? Or was it for something else?
the IMG academy is like internationally known for all sorts of athletics from soccer to tennis. maybe his parents?
I work with a kid who trained with him at IMG. Said he's not too surprised that he's playing professionally and doing well.
I love how one person calls him a traitor, then other people defend his decision, and say they would rather play for Klinsmann.
The Iceland NT coach Lars Lagerbäck on the other hand seem bias in favor of Icelandic players from the Swedish league... I mean, instead of Aron Jóhannsson he called up an ageing Gunnar Heidar Thorvaldsson who perhaps was surrounded by a lot of hype some years ago, when he moved to Hannover 96, but quickly showed to be nothing special and also a flop in the Danish Superliga. .
The news of him being willing to play of the US is now on AGF's official website http://www.agf.dk/agf-fodbold/nyhedsarkiv/2012/september/jóhannsson-i-amerikansk-soegelys/
Last Icelandic u-21 team made the final tournament of 8 teams, but this current class with Jóhannsson finished dead last in the qualification round. Would be surprising if Lagerbäck promotes anyone from that team to the seniors right now unless the Icelandic FA is forcing him.
In their defence Belgium is one the rise big-time as a elite footballing nation... they are my darkhorse for '14.
Just found this recent piece from the Icelandic press: Ætla að spila fyrir Ísland From what I can tell from the Google translation, it seems that Johannsson has been questioned about his recent statements to the New York Times and is now backtracking somewhat: "I don't expect to play for the U.S." [...] "Maybe I said it as more of a joke" [...] "My goal has always been to play for the Iceland national team and it's still my goal today" Again, this is what it seems to say, although the translation is not 100% clear. Any Icelandic speakers out there?