I Believe we now have 5 eligible Americans in the FSV Mainz 05 system. FSV Mainz 05- Jared Jeffrey FSV Mainz 05 II- Preston Zimmerman U-19- Shawn Parker U-14- Devante Parker U-9- [name deleted because of the age of the player] (looking for 100% Confirmation)
Jermaine Parker, officially breaking the previous record set by Freddie Adu on how young a player is when BS starts following them. Cap him now? BTW, if those Parkers are all brothers, that's a heck of a spread. 10 years for three kids. And I'm assuming the Parker's a military family. Mainz isn't far from many US military installations. Having grown up on one, gotta say I'm proud to see some brats in German soccer.
We are a 1/3 of the way there. I believe the Air Force was numerous troops in two different bases on Spain. I think the Navy does as well. Now we just need these folks to "get busy."
Okay, I've just binned the three page detour into the subject that started with this post. Here's the deal. 1. The suggestion that there was something inappropriate in the original post is an overstatement. It was a single reference to a set of players, all of whom are affiliated with a single overseas club. That's not earthshaking, but it's of moderate interest to some of the posters here. 2. Youth players are categorically different than adult pros. That doesn't mean they can't be mentioned, but it does mean that we'll be holding any references to them to far more stringent standards than is usually the case. The other mods and I don't see any real problem with the simple reference to the players made in the first post of the thread, but more detailed exploration into the "careers" of children will likely quickly be seen as a problem. Let's make the cutoff age 13. If you're too young to post on the site, then you're too young to be posted about. 3. It's reasonable to distinguish between discussion of individual youth players and a pattern that makes you wonder things like "why are there so many Americans playing at Mainz?" The former is likely going to be a problem while the latter is pretty useful information for people interested in the YA world. 4. If you're not interested in a thread topic, you have the option of not reading the thread.
Gladbach and Mainz have a fan friendship since a legendary 6-4 cup game in the 90s, so it's more or less killing two birds with one stone:
Jared Jeffrey and Preston Zimmermann both played 90 in the Mainz II game against Bochum II. It ended 0-0. http://www.mainz05.de/zweite_mannsc...=5380&tx_ttnews[backPid]=452&cHash=ae2d5309ea
This is from last week (March 3), but Preston went 90 and scored in a game that Mainz ultimately lost 2-1 to Borussia Mönchengladbach II. Jeffrey also started, but was subbed out after 74 minutes. http://www.mainz05.de/zweite_mannsc...=5430&tx_ttnews[backPid]=452&cHash=4d6273ed00 On March 5, Zimmerman and Jeffrey both went 90 in a 1-1 draw against Leverkusen. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...everkusen-ii-1292_1-fsv-mainz-05-ii-4387.html
Can't hurt that they're both getting that many minutes. Was Jeffrey playing in reserve matches in Belgium?
Yes, when he wasn't on international duty. He was a mainstay with the reserves and usually 90 min. guy that contributed. Jeffery, unfortunately, was down on the depth cahrt for the 1st team. Club Brugge has a very good mix of young and veteran midfielders which limited his chances.
http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...-ii-4387/43328/spieler_preston-zimmerman.html Der Bubi Sturmer's Kicker page. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...-mainz-05-30/46437/spieler_jared-jeffrey.html And Jared's. FWIW, Mainz II is in 12th place of the 18 in Regionalliga West (4th Tier)
Jeffrey and Zimmermann both played 90 minutes in Mainz II's 1-1 draw with Kaiserslautern II on March 15th. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...erslautern-ii-130_1-fsv-mainz-05-ii-4387.html
and according to the team's match report, Preston had and assist and was denied a goal by an "alert keeper" http://www.mainz05.de/zweite_mannschaft_news.html
Kicker has Jeffrey on the bench for the away game against Freiburg on Saturday. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...vorschau_sc-freiburg-7_1-fsv-mainz-05-30.html
wow. I thought he would be dead moving from a belgian club where he wasn't successful to a bundesliga one. this crow tastes good.
Both Zimmerman and Jeffrey started today in a 1-2 loss to Schalke II. Jeffrey was substituted out after 77 minutes. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...v-mainz-05-ii-4387_fc-schalke-04-ii-3198.html
From an article I read it sounds like Preston's shot lead to Mainz goal. Preston's shot was parried away by the keeper and another Mainz player scored from the rebound. The article stated that the Mainz II team was disapointing and are in the relegation zone. Not surprising since they haven't won a game.
