Now's a good time to start a new all-purpose thread/sticky for generic YA news -- odd "Whatever happened to..." questions and posts, questions, and other stuff you just aren't quite sure what to do with. Here's last season's version: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/all-about-yanks-abroad-catchall-thread-2015-16.2024078/ An archive of past YA "All About..." threads: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/all-about-yanks-abroad-thread-archive.914322/ This guy right here wants to thank you for your contributions.
Hiya @bungadiri, @dark knight or @Friedel'sAccent -- could we sticky this please, and remove last season's thread? Many thanks.
Does this guy's thread still exist? I don't think it does: CHRIS KARRAGAINIS In 2003, Karraginis seemed to take everybody by surprise, with even Dario Gradi admitting to knowing little about the striker. However, a first-half hat-trick during a 6-0 win at Nantwich Town made everyone take notice. "Mystery man Chris Karragainis struck a first-half hat-trick as an unfamiliar Crewe side romped to an easy win at Jackson Avenue" was the introduction to the Sentinel match report that night. Unveiling the mystery after the game, Gradi said of the American trialist: "He's an American boy with a Belgian passport." "A friend of mine from West Palm Beach asked me if I would have a look at him. "He's a college boy and he has been lively in training. He took his goals very well and if that is anything to go by we'll have another look at him. "I might chuck him on against Liverpool for a bit, which should be a bit of a thrill for him." Karragainis went on to play in the rest of Crewe's pre-season games, but was eventually released in September 2003, with Neil Baker admitting: "We decided he was a little short of what we wanted." Read more at http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/crew...9488162-detail/story.html#Ic5hXeJMDTQlJbjv.99
Logging a possible former YA now coaching in New Jersey: Chad Sajnoski looked up when a player scampered in at 7:59 a.m. ... He’s replacing a coaching legend in the retired Mark Pieklo. His team is coming off a Group 2 championship season. And he will try to replicate that success without the team’s most prolific scorer. ... Sajnoski played for Pieklo as a four-year varsity starter. Soon after an injury cut short Sajnoski’s pro soccer career in Macedonia, he returned to Garfield in 2011. He began coaching the middle school team, and became a varsity assistant under Pieklo a year later. http://www.northjersey.com/sports/touring-the-h-s-boys-soccer-camps-garfield-1.1647439
Here's a story about an American Soccer League team partnering with a Polish club that notes that one of its players, Omar Tall (who may or may not be a citizen) is heading overseas and others may join: One player who is getting more than a tryout is Omar Tall. The midfielder is being transferred from CT United to FKS Stal Mielec. “When this club was formed I promised that players would be heading overseas and Omar is the first of what I hope is many and fulfill their dreams,” Bajek said. “We are committed to preparing players for the next level and playing in Poland will be a logical step for a player the ilk of Omar. We only wish him the best and look forward to monitoring his progress. Omar’s signing will hopefully open the door for others.” http://www.centralctcommunications....cle_e0ac2748-602e-11e6-a42f-a3701fda373c.html Tall played college ball here: http://www.hartfordhawks.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3158 Bajek, the coach named above, is himself a former YA. The Polish club is in the second division.
I just randomly happened to run across the fact that Jay Denny is apparently the captain at Halesowen Town now. A name I hadn't thought of in years. I don't see a recent thread on him here. IN QUOTES: Finally, captain Jay Denny describes the 'professional job' this afternoon. #EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/1HGNkwcgOk— Halesowen Town FC (@halesowentownfc) September 3, 2016
No confirmation yet so just throwing this in here for future reference. Pretty sure goalkeeper Eric Saul Leon from Andorran club CE Jenlai is yank/Mexican.
A check-in with former YA and now NCAA coach Jamie Clark: Injuries limited the youngest Clark’s professional playing career, which included short stints with Major League Soccer’s San Jose Clash, Scotland’s Raith Rovers and a lower-tier club in Minnesota. They also opened opportunities for Clark to try coaching, first with assistant stints at New Mexico and with his dad in South Bend, then head coaching jobs at Harvard for two years and Creighton for one before the move to Washington in 2013. http://www.vnews.com/Hanover-s-Jami...University-of-Washington-men-s-soccer-4552898
Sam Roca: WAYNE - The opening act was a pièce de résistance for a program in a state of flux. It was then-rookie coach Sam Roca who needed to reach into his past to summon some magic to restore order with Wayne Valley. ... Roca, who played professionally in Europe and one of Wayne Valley's all-time top players, is a traditionalist. His teams build from the backline and the Indians' 3-5-2 shape is loaded with three exceptional defenders and three midfielders who each possess a unique quality that meshes in forming the unit. http://www.northjersey.com/sports/h...ok-to-keep-up-the-momentum-1.1656759?page=all His CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-roca-52b5146b
By my count, it's the 10th season in which there have been multiple Americans who appeared in group stage or later games in the CL. The most is four which occurred in 2004/05 (Donovan, Howard, Spector, Russell) and 2012/13 (Jones, Parkhurst, Kljestan, Onyewu). There's some chance of equaling that record this year, if Green and CCV can find a way to get in a game.
Just logging a college player who had a shot in Argentina: Eric Ramirez is back to his goal-scoring ways. ... After taking a year off and then redshirting as a freshman at the University of Southern Indiana, Ramirez has netted a team-high three goals for the Screaming Eagles in the first four games. USI men’s soccer coach Mat Santoro said Ramirez has a gift. ... Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Ramirez has bounced around different cities his whole life due to his parents’ jobs. He moved to Mexico when he was five years old and stayed several years before moving to Indiana. As a middle schooler, Ramirez was recommended by David Weiss of the Vincennes Youth Soccer Association to Hugo Galloni. The director of the youth teams for Rosario Central – a professional soccer team which plays in the Argentine Primera Division – invited Ramirez to its academy for a try-out with the ’95 age group team. "They thought I was good enough to play in Argentina, so I decided to give it a shot," Ramirez said. “But I was too young to leave my family at that age and so I came back.” http://www.courierpress.com/story/s.../ramirez-providing-boost-usi-soccer/90230684/
From a "Fortune" list: Joel Gay is the CEO of Energy Recovery, a California-based firm whose technology helps recycle the energy wasted during processes such as fracking and cleaning water. At 38, he is one of the youngest black CEOs of a public company. He is also No. 13 on Fortune’s latest40 Under 40, a list of young movers and shakers in business, tech, and beyond. His path to the C-Suite was hardly traditional. In high school, Gay became a father — the most difficult and rewarding decision he says he’s ever made. Before diving headfirst into business, he also played professional soccer in Belgium. http://fortune.com/2016/09/22/arrogant-kid-transformed-ceo/ Seems to be this guy, a '77 GK from Nebraska who played at SLU and Creighton. http://cdm.slu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/sportsguide/id/2537/rec/1
Isn't it about time to ditch the game day sub-forum? It's pretty much dead and it seems people would rather discuss anything and everything to do with a player in the main thread.
Just logging this to see whether this young man (Ohio State Sr. Danny Jensen) makes his dreams come true: Q: What’s on tap when your season is done? A: I’d like to play professionally. I will take any opportunity that I am given and make the most of it. At the end of the day, I could be anywhere in the world, in some league that I have never heard of this time next year. Soccer is my main priority right now. My family, friends and teammates all know that. http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/con...4/gameday-stories/gameday-meet-a-buckeye.html
We're excited about Pulisic, and rightly so. But are we doing well in exporting players? http://www.socceramerica.com/articl...-a-quality-problem-not-qua.html?edition=16312
Maybe we should GoFundMe him to a La Liga academy... Teen wakes from coma speaking fluent Spanish after blow to head http://www.wtsp.com/news/teen-wakes-from-coma-speaking-fluent-spanish-after-blow-to-head/341337144 High school sophomore Reuben Nsemoh, 16, plays goalie for an elite, traveling soccer team. During a recent game, another player kicked him in the head during a skirmish in front of the goal. “I was in shock and panic,” Nsemoh’s coach, Bruno Kalonji, told WSB-TV. Kalonji said Nsemoh stopped breathing several times after the blow. “He will start coming back, then he will throw up. It was a sequence of things I’ve never seen, it was bad.” By the time the ambulance arrived, Nsemoh appeared to be having seizures. He ended up going into a coma for three days. When he woke up, Nsemoh could no longer speak in English, but was able to speak in Spanish fluently, something he had never done before, his parents said. As the days progressed, his English words slowly returned and his Spanish became less fluent. Nsemoh believes he may have subconsciously remembered the conversations his friends and brother, who speaks fluently, had while he was with them. Nsemoh, who has now suffered three concussions, is recovering at home. With dreams of being a professional soccer player, he’s anxious to get back on the field. After seeing the brutal concussion, however, Kalonji says he won’t allow it unless Nsemoh is wearing protective headgear, something he thinks all goalkeepers should wear. Nsemoh’s parents are thankful to have their son back at home, but say they are struggling to deal with the growing cost of his medical care. The family is now trying to raise money via https://www.gofundme.com/reubens-medical-fund-2u7tf9u9?ssid=776677059&pos=1 edit: I know his kid is not a YA but I wanted the YA community to be aware of his injury anyway and help, if possible.
Evidently there's an American named Jake Sanders playing college soccer ... in England. http://sportsbyte.sunderland.ac.uk/sunderland-1sts-comfortably-beaten-in-the-cup/
Logging a small thing: Cameron Riley, who has an extensive soccer background, has been named the Girls Soccer Head Coach at Coronado High School. ... Riley is a graduate of San Diego Christian College where he was named to the Golden State Athletic Conference All-League team as a goalkeeper his senior year. He also competed for the San Diego Flash professionally and had tryouts with two professional teams in England. http://www.coronadonewsca.com/news/...cle_d7074738-a118-11e6-9819-637c805b78b3.html
Logging this -- the wording is a bit odd, and it doesn't exactly seem like this kid (Jordan Harrell, a GK) is actually joining AC Milan, but on the other hand whatever he is doing was apparently enough to raise the hackles of high school sports authorities in his state. Jordan was selected during our Connecticut camp this passed summer and though confirmed for Pereira, was forced to miss the event. We are happy to have Jordan with us now for Miami and look forward to his role as one of the GKs for our U17 International team. Congratulations Jordan! http://www.milanjuniorcamp.us/en/bl...s-now-confirmed-gk-for-u17-international-team More: He will play for A.C. Milan in March in Italy, and then again in a tournament in Miami in June. http://thezone.rep-am.com/posts/2016/12/05/a-soccer-journey-of-a-lifetime/
Snip: There must be a connection when you consider Washington junior Budda Baker and Washington State senior Shalom Luani — two of the Pac-12’s best defensive backs who are among the headliners in Friday’s Apple Cup — received their athletic start playing futbol. And both were considered young prodigies with bright futures. “Soccer was my sport,” Baker said. “I was all into it. I felt like I was pretty good. Back then, I thought I’d grow up and play soccer overseas. For real.” Baker, one of six children raised by his mom Michelle in Bellevue, was invited to play for a club team in Europe when he was 8. “It was that serious,” he said. “But my mom wasn’t feeling it. She said no. … A few years later, I started playing football when I was 12 and that was pretty much it for soccer. But I still miss it.” http://www.yakimaherald.com/sports/...cle_a5738d70-b13b-11e6-ad86-bfaefec4e3ed.html http://www.gohuskies.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1651
Snip: [Daniel] Larreinaga, 11, has been invited by Tottenham Hotspur F.C.'s technical staff to train with the English Premier League club this spring in a five-day player development and residential program. http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/sp...ey-boy-earns-chance-train-tottenham/95100920/
Snip: [Ari] Gejdenson is familiar with both the neighborhood and the diner concept; he grew up nearby in Northeast DC, and opened an American-style diner in Florence, Italy when he was 22 and playing soccer abroad. https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/...-city-dc-with-french-toast-and-avocado-toast/
Linking to the FM data thread/posts so it's easier to find: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/football-manager-2017-list-of-yanks-abroad.2036751/