The official "Some site says this guy is a Yank" detective work thread

This is just an idea, but it seems like on whose time has come now that so many people are pitching in on the search for Yanks around the world.

There are several sites out there that list player citizenship, and they are very useful for finding players. However, I've come across sufficient errors on most of them that I often hold off starting threads on certain guys until I can get some level of confirmation beyond the site itself.

Sometimes the sites are right (probably more often than not) but I've seen some very careless errors -- they seem to be guessing based on the name, or skin color, or a year or so at an American college, etc. I think we should try to do a little better.

I'd like to propose that we use this thread to propose possible Yanks based on what web sites say and then crowd-source the follow-up work to nail it down. Personally, I try not to start a thread on someone unless at least one of these things happen:

• A news report calls him a Yank
• A database site lists a birthplace (and I'm reasonably sure it's Reading, Pa., and not Reading, UK)
• His club, college, USSDA or other reputable organization (like a foreign federation) says he's a Yank
• The player, his agent or a family member says he's a Yank
• Certain reputable BigSoccer posters in a position to know say he's a Yank

This is just a proposal, so I'm interested to hear reaction.

Here are some useful sites for starting work:

• www.transfermarkt.de
• www.bdfa.com.ar
• www.fupa.net
• www.soccer-talents.com
• www.eufo.de
• www.femexfut.com

If you know of others, glad to hear them.

 

Here's one to start things off: Ahmet Brown. Transfermarkt says he's a German-American '95 at Fortuna Duesseldorf. Site says he was born in Germany.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/ahmet-brown/profil/spieler_158520.html

Fussball-Talente agrees. (It also says his nickname is "Ami," which is a common name for Americans in Germany but could of course also be short for "Ahmet.")

http://www.fussball-talente.com/Ahmet_Brown-3_7-15909-1.html

He used to be at Leverkusen.

This is the same guy who has been listed as "Ahmet Küçükoğlu." His listing changed relatively reasonable for reasons I don't know.

He's listed as a midfielder with the U19s, but the club doesn't mention citizenship.

http://www.fortuna-duesseldorf.de/jugend/u19/kader-u19/index.htm

Anybody know his claim to citizenship? (Not a guess, but actual info?)

 

The Soccer Talents site says Freiburg's 1998 Alec Becker is German-American.

http://www.soccer-talents.com/Alec_Becker-3_7-134108-12.html

The club's U15 roster, which he is on, does not mention citizenship.

http://www.scfreiburg.com/teams/junioren/u15/kader

Here is a very short video interview:

 

Soccer Talents says Martin Kennel, a '98 at Metz, is Slovakian and American.

http://www.soccer-talents.com/Martin_Kennel-3_7-138022-12.html

On a club roster page:

http://blog.fcmetz.com/?page_id=45

And some match reports:

http://blog.fcmetz.com/?page_id=250

Now, this may be entirely legit but I can't help noticing that Soccer Talents says he is from Nacogdoches:

http://www.football-talents.co.uk/Nacogdoches_Youth_Soccer_Association-26_27-2-23-31458.html

And there happens to be a kennel named "Martin Kennel" in Nacogdoches:

https://www.google.com/search?q="ma...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

So... Coincidence?

 

Here's possibly German-American '97 Ken Flemming at HSV:

http://www.soccer-talents.com/Ken_Flemming-3_7-63918-12.html

He does seem to exist:

http://www.hsv.de/nachwuchs/nachwuchsteams/u-16/

Club only lists him as German.

http://www.hsv.de/nachwuchs/nachwuchsteams/u-16/spieler/

This is a list, posted on the club site, the substance of which I have no idea. However, it groups people apparently around Ken's age into countries -- including the USA.

http://www.hsv.de/fileadmin/redaktion/HSV-Kids/Fussballschule/Teilnehmer 97 u 98.pdf

There is a Flemming on that list with the word "USA" by his name. My guess, though it's just a guess, is that this might be like when you go to camp and they tell your your team is the Heat and your buddy's team is the Lakers and so on. Could be wrong, of course.

 

Meant to say "relatively recently" here.

 

Soccer Talents says '96 Peter Wilson at Sundsvall is American (and Swedish).

http://www.soccer-talents.com/Peter_Wilson-3_7-140457-12.html

Transfermarkt has no info either way:

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/peter-wilson/leistungsdaten-trainerdetail/spieler_258501.html

He is listed as being with the club:

http://gifsundsvall.se/ungdom/tipselit/

 

Here's a '94 named Chris Phillips at Metz, according to Soccer Talents:

http://www.soccer-talents.com/Chris_Philipps-3_7-89946-12.html

Here's his club profile -- apparently he plays for Luxembourg:

http://www.fcmetz.com/joueur/fiche/chris-philipps

Wiki says he was born in Luxembourg:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Philipps

 

Darrick-Kobi "Kobie" Morris, a '95, appears to be in the mix at NK Zagreb:

http://nkzagreb.hr/main.asp?dir=vijest&vijestid=256

Transfermarkt lists his birthplace as Syracuse. I don't always think they're an authoritative source, but when they list a birthplace they are usually correct.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/darrick-kobi-morris/profil/spieler_205936.html

His Soccer-Talents profile doesn't list American citizenship.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/darrick-kobi-morris/profil/spieler_205936.html