Here's an interesting story: That would be Eugene Starikov, the Hatters' scoring machine who moved out of his dorm room recently and, according to several sources, is believed to have gone to his native Ukraine in search of an opportunity to play professional soccer. The 5-foot-8, 150-pound player out of Palm Harbor High School had scored four goals and assisted on four others in five games before departing for whereabouts unknown. It is believed he returned to his native homeland, possibly in Odessa, where he was born. ... Sources say Starikov's father, Lou Starikov, may have influenced his son's decision. Team captain Alex Robinson said Starikov was having such difficulty with his decision to leave that he really couldn't say goodbye to his teammates. Link: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Sports/Headlines/sptSOCC01101008.htm No idea if he's a citizen. He played HS ball in Florida, so it could be that's lived in the States for a while. He was a sophomore at Stetson: http://www.gohatters.com/ViewArticl...&DB_OEM_ID=14600&ATCLID=1179684&Q_SEASON=2008 And just for fun, YouTube video of him scoring on a bike: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvW55IDUQyk
Re: Eugene Starikov? http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/22/Sports/Transplant_powers__Ca.shtml I looked at Chernomorets 1st and 2nd/reserve team rosters (the only decent pro club in Odessa) and he is not listed on either.
Re: Eugene Starikov? Wikipedia has him as a Bradenton Academic, with a Ukrainian flag next to his name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradenton_Academics
Re: Eugene Starikov? Eugene is currently listed as as "Evgeny" on Zenit St. Petersburg's U21 squad: http://www.fc-zenit.ru/eng/person.phtml?id=334 He's an 88.
Re: Eugene Starikov? Wonder if Rongen or anyone from US Soccer has contacted this kid. He's listed as Russian on the Zenit website. Can anyone give some perspective on the level of play at the Russian League U21 level?
Re: Eugene Starikov? College (Stetson U.). As for U.S. Soccer, Starikov is an 88 so even if he was a citizen he would be too old for any more youth teams.
Re: Eugene Starikov? Russian Football Union site lists him as US national: http://www.rfpl.org/clubs.shtml?team=3&act=players&id=12442&year=2009 Zenit's assistant coach confirms here that Starikov has been signed by Zenit (this article has been published on 03/06/2009): http://www.nevasport.ru/articles.php?id=17142
Re: Eugene Starikov? Thanks! Well, I guess I will go with the Russian Fed as strong source. By the way, can you (or anyone else) tell who this page refers to and what else it says? http://www.rfpl.org/clubs.shtml?team=404&act=players&id=7180&year=2006
Re: Eugene Starikov? Google translate tells me that that is a player profile of Benny Feilhaber, presumably there because he played in a match between Hamburg and CSKA in the Champions League group stage a couple of years ago.
Re: Eugene Starikov? I ran it by a Ukranian colleague, and he confirmed that it is indeed regarding Benny and a match between Hamburg and CSKA.
Re: Eugene Starikov? They call him "...American with Russian last name". He was born in USSR, don't know where exactly.
Re: Eugene Starikov? He was born in Odessa, which is now in the Ukraine. Interestingly he shares a birthday with Eric Lichaj (Nov 17, 1988)
Re: Eugene Starikov? He is a member of Zenit's youth squad, on their official site is listed as Russian national, he might be a dual citizen: http://www.fc-zenit.ru/info/person.phtml?id=334
Re: Eugene Starikov? Starikov played his first official game for Zenit's youth team, on March 21st against Saturn. He played 24 minutes, was a late sub (entered 66th minute), scored winning goal just 2 minutes after entering the game, celebrated by taking off his jersey and got yellow card for that
Re: Eugene Starikov? Unfortunately, I believe that he is another one who could play for 2-3 different nations. However, its very premature to start worrying about national team for this kid.
Re: Eugene Starikov? He will be able to get Russian citizenship if there will be chance for him to play for their NT.
Re: Eugene Starikov? Starikov still only getting the occasional sub appearance with the Zenit youth team. He has played in three matches for a total of 49 minutes, and still the one goal he scored in his first game.
Re: Eugene Starikov? His stats so far: 5 games, 1 game started, 3 goals. His pic here: http://www.fc-zenit.ru/info/details.phtml?id=6429
Re: Eugene Starikov? For what it's worth, the Zenit website has his citizenship listed as "США," ie USA.