NEWS | #cf97 has acquired goalkeeper Kenneth Kronholm from 2. Bundesliga side @Holstein_Kiel. Welcome, Kenneth! 🔥More: https://t.co/kmDZmXPNG1 pic.twitter.com/TwcnFmtUKC— Chicago Fire FC (@ChicagoFire) May 7, 2019 and he's no longer abroad.
He's back in the US now, but here's an interview that answers some of the questions we had about his background: https://www.chicago-fire.com/post/2019/05/24/qa-kenneth-kronholm-returns-us-begin-new-chapter-fire Chicago-Fire.com: You were born in Virginia to American and German parents. What’s the story on your return to Germany? Kenneth Kronholm: “It’s a classic story. My father was with the army in Heidelberg, Germany, and met my mother. My mother came with my father to Virginia to get married. My brother was born. I was born. Then, my mother came back to Germany because she had a better job, so after two weeks in America, I was going to be a German boy (laughs). After a couple years, I was four or five, my mother went back to America because of the job, and my grandmother said, ‘No this boy is staying here.’ So I grew up with the rest of the family in Germany and I liked it. I liked it a lot. I had everything there - my friends, some soccer places around our house - so I started to play soccer. I went to Wolfsburg when I was 16, so I left my house in Germany in the south and went to Wolfsburg in the north. That was the start of my career.” C-F.com: Did you return to visit the U.S. often while growing up in Germany? KK: “I visited my mother when I was maybe 12 just for the summer vacation for six weeks. We visited Florida and Walt Disney World for a couple of days, and that’s it. I was always happy when I came back to Germany at that moment, because I wanted to play soccer in Germany. It’s a good league with a lot of good teams, so I wanted to do it that way.”
1. Personally, I've found judging mid-season MLS arrivals to be fruitless. I think the amount of travel and playstyle of the league makes it tougher to acclimate to than other leagues. 2. That being said, I think he hasn't been amazing this season. Statistically, his GA - xGA is 5th worst in the league. I haven't watched too many Fire games since he arrived, so Fire fans might have a different perspective, but I didn't think he was a standout in the games I have watched. To be clear, he's not bad, he's just not a top-10 keeper. But again, I don't think it's great to evaluate a player without a full pre-season. Clint Dempsey looked like a disappointment in his first half-season in Seattle: 1 goal 0 assists in 12 appearances. So who knows what next year could hold for Kronholm.