Derrick Williams at Aston Villa

I have been trying to nail down if he had an American connection and it turns out he does. Born in Germany to an American father and Irish mother. Is a 93' left back/center back and plays for Aston Villa reserves.

He's a Defender! Oh Thank you so much promiscuous European ladies who love American soldiers!

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/ReservesProfile/0,,10265~2091284,00.html

Upon further review he's already featured for the Ireland U19s

Hopefully he was registered as a US citizen when he was born.

If I remember correctly, ireland tried to poach conor doyle. He even went to a camp with ireland after playing with usa. I would turn the tables right back and try and get derrick williams into a u-23 usa camp.

Here is an article with some more detail. Of note, he spent some of his childhood in North Carolina.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/williams-out-to-match-dunnes-euro-exploits-2825820.html


Brad Guzan/Eric Lichaj should get on this right away.....

the most encouraging words is this discovery is LEFT. would definitely court him because chance of playing in WC is higher with USA, obviously. We have a shot definitely. does anyone have Klinsi cell #?

Hell we need BOTH of those, call him to the Germany camp!

Klinsmann, do work now!!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHHAROPwMlE"]NextGen Series: Rosenborg 3 v 2 Aston Villa highlights - YouTube[/ame]

I think he is number 6 that score the goal around 2:20.

Went unnoticed, Derrick made the bench vs Arsenal on 12/21.

OMG A KID IN EUROPE. He's probably good enough for the full USMNT already, right?

You are being sarcastic, but three Americans who were mostly making the bench for Aston Villa are good enough for the full USMNT: Bradley, Guzan, and Lichaj.

Derrick Williams, Danny Potts, and Adam Henley, do we have a chance of getting any of these kids to play for the U.S.?

If I had to rank them from highest to lowest probability of them choosing to represent the US, it would be:

1. Potts was called into and accepted a u-20 invite earlier this year. His dad would have played for the us but couldn't cause he was cap-tied to england.

2. Pretty sure Williams has played for at least one of Ireland's youth teams.

3. Henley has been involved with numerous youth wales teams. His brother made a comment on twitter about how choosing a nat side isn't about wcs. His dad and dad's family live in tennessee who Adam tries to visit annually. Of the three, he has the greatest connection to the us but just don't think he will switch.

Yes.

Who is the best of the three?

well Henley is currently starting in the premier league...

I don't thinkbwe can write off Henley yet. He seems split based on his moms post. We will probably find out by march for Olympic qualifiers if the starting backs for Blackburn come back from injury. If not, definitely by June.

Has Derrick Williams shown any interest in playing for the USA?

Reyna and JK have both contacted him and he was invited into one of the U-23 camps (this month, I believe) but declined due to club commitments (good call on his part). Jury's out on the kid but if he doesn't play for us it won't be for lack of effort.

None of these will be for lack of effort if they don't pick usa. The higher ups know about derrick williams as well. it all comes down to if they want to play for usa.

I don't think that really matters, as long as he was eligible for the citizenship when he played for another country. Assuming his father met US residency requirements (very likely as a US service man), he passes along his citizenship to Derrick at birth. Derrick didn't have to hold the passport at the time.

It does matter in legal proceedings but not sure about FIFA.

I had to look this up in case me and my girlfriend wanted to have kids here in Oz.

FIFA seems to be pretty lack on the definition of "eligibility" -- as long as it is not through naturalization, they accept your dual citizenship even if you haven't applied for the passport when play for one country.

On registration:
There's no requirement to register the child at a consulate, though it is an easy way to document citizenship at birth and if definitely makes it easier to get your child a passport down the road.

Here's a link to the State Department page on this:

http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_5199.html

Meeting those requirements (primarily residency of one parent) is what matters. The registration is secondary. If you don't register the birth and later decide to apply for a US passport, you can still get it and claim your US citizenship.

I looked this guy up and saw that he has played for Ireland's U19 and is eligible to play for Germany. Is he the son of an American dad, in Germany, or an American military father, in Germany?