Brandon Austin at Spurs

Googling and some good old fashioned conjecture suggests this might be his dad: http://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Neville_Austin/London_Towers/792

 

Hmmm... US Virgin Islands. That might limit Brandon's US eligibility if that's where papa was born. Well, he's a Yank, regardless.

 

Maybe the next Carter-Vickers?

 

Earlier this week, 17-year-old English-American keeper Brandon Austin got to train with Tottenham first-team goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez, as well as several of Tottenham's top keepers, with the obvious exception of Hugo Lloris who is in the Euros.

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/first-team/general/spurs-goalkeepers-training-gallery-050716/




Left to right: Spurs U-18 Brandon Austin, Spurs U-21 and Australian youth international Tom Glover, Spurs U-21 and English youth international Luke McGee (who also serves as occasional first-team backup to Lloris and Vorm), Spurs and Netherlands senior international Michel Vorm

 

Re: Brandon Austin's father

Neville Austin is, indeed, Brandon's father, who can be seen in Brandon's Twitter. Neville Austin was born in London, but attended Auburn High School in Auburn, AL where he was all-state in basketball, and played college basketball for the UGA Bulldogs before going pro. It's unclear how many of Neville's formative years were in the US. Regardless, if (a big if, of course) Neville is a naturalized citizen of the US like Alfredo Morales' father, then I would see no reason why Brandon couldn't play for the US.

 

Actually, it's possible he's not eligible now, assuming Neville was born in the USVI. The USVI has its own federation, so the rules are different than if he were born in the US proper.

Current eligibility rule:

A Player who, under the terms of art. 5, is eligible to represent more than one Association on account of his nationality, may play in an international match for one of these Associations only if, in addition to having the relevant nationality, he fulfills at least one of the following conditions:

a) He was born on the territory of the relevant Association;
b) His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant Association;
c) His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant Association;
d) He has lived continuously on the territory of the relevant Association for at least two years.

I'm pretty sure Brandon is a US citizen, but possibly not eligible to represent the US right now.

 

Thanks. I guess it's just the optimist in me hoping Brandon is eligible for the US. It doesn't look like Neville was born in USVI; his British Basketball profile and FIBA profile say he was born in the London suburb of Carshalton. Perhaps Neville's parents are from the USVI.

 

That really complicates things. If they were long time US/USVI residents, then they pass citizenship along to Neville. And if he spent at least 5 years in the US, he could pass along his citizenship to Brandon. He spent 4 years at UGA, so I'm confident he would be eligible *if* his parents can pass it along.

Based on circumstantial evidence, I am still leaning to Brandon being a US citizen, but not yet eligible for the USMNT.

 

Yep. The Tottenham site saying he has "dual US/English nationality" could very well mean that he simply has citizenship for both countries, not necessarily that he is FIFA-eligible for both countries.

 

Austin started the opener for Tottenham U18, a 4-1 win over Southampton.

 

Not a ton of great shots of Austin but you can watch him a little bit here:

 

Our #UYL subs v @bayer04_en: Eyoma, Dinzeyi, Sterling, Shashoua, Bennetts, Duncan, Austin (GK). Live updates here from 3pm UK time... #COYS

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 18, 2016

 

He also made the bench last week for Tottenham U-23 in PL2. The USSF better be looking into his potential eligibility.

 

Made his starting debut for Spurs U-23 in PL2.

17 year old Brandon Austin making his debut in goal for Tottenham U23s against Leicester in PL2 action today https://t.co/WnkHARHCKb

— Nats Abroad (@Nats_Abroad) October 24, 2016

 

On the bench with the U23s:

 

Starts against Bayer Leverkusen:

Spurs U19s v @bayer04_en: Austin, Eyoma, Walker-Peters, Skipp, Tanganga, Walkes (c), Shashoua, Duncan, Harrison, Oakley-Boothe, Bennetts.

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 2, 2016

 

Looks like he was a late drop for the UEFA Youth League match against Monaco:

#UYL: Spurs subs: Freeman, Dinzeyi, Griffiths, Tracey, Roles, Stylianides, Shashoua. Late change - Whiteman in for Austin, Freeman on bench.

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 22, 2016

 

On the bench for the U19s:

Spurs U19s subs (v @PFCCSKA_en): Austin (GK), Hinds, Dinzeyi, Reynolds, Griffiths, Roles, Stylianides. Live updates here from 2pm #COYS #UYL

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 7, 2016

 

On the squad that won the IMG Cup:

Great way to end 2016 by winning the IMG cup out in Florida 🇺🇸🏆 pic.twitter.com/8kQn357eGO

— Brandon Austin (@baustin__) December 19, 2016

Also this:

👐Academy goalkeeprs Brandon Austin and Jonathan De Bie trained with @England trio Joe Hart, @TomHeatonGK and @JPickford1 earlier today. 👐 pic.twitter.com/Fob9h6HT4x

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 12, 2016

 

Austin started one of the 3 prelim matches at the IMG Cup:

Saturday, December 17
USA U17s 1-3 Spurs (Duncan 26, Griffiths 32, Sterling 49)
Spurs: De Bie, Eyoma, Tsaroulla, Oakley-Boothe (Brown 73), Tanganga (Lock 73), Dinzeyi, Shashoua (Sterling 48), Duncan, Griffiths, Roles, Bennetts (Gonzalez-Velasco 10).

Thursday, December 15
Baltimore Armour 0-2 Spurs (Sterling 38, Roles 79; Marsh sent off 51)
Spurs: De Bie, Hinds, Brown (Tsaroulla 59), Marsh, Tanganga (Eyoma 72), Dinzeyi, Shashoua (Oakley-Boothe 63), Omolabi, Sterling (Griffiths 72), Duncan (Roles 63), Bennetts (Gonzalez-Velasco 72).

Wednesday, December 14
Spurs 7-0 RVG Academy (OG 9, Roles 13, 31, 33, Tsaroulla 38, Bennetts 64, Gozalez-Velasco 73 (pen))
Spurs: Austin, Lock, Tsaroulla (Hinds 40), Marsh (Omolabi 40), Eyoma (Tanganga 56), Dinzeyi (Brown 56), Shashoua (Bennetts 56), Reynolds, Griffiths (Sterling 67), Roles (Duncan 62), Gonzalez-Velasco.

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/new...hrough-to-img-cup-final-after-usa-win-181216/

He also started (but didn't finish) the final:

Sunday, December 18
Spurs 2-0 Toluca (Brown 16, Sterling 64)
Spurs: Austin (De Bie 78), Lock (Dinzeyi 78), Tsaroulla, Marsh, Eyoma, Tanganga, Gonzalez-Velasco (Griffiths 40), Duncan, Sterling, Roles (Oakley-Boothe 66), Brown (Reynolds 68).

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/under-18s/match/report/academy-wins-img-cup-in-florida-191216/

 

Starts in FA Youth Cup match:

Good evening from @QPRFC's Loftus Road! Our youngsters have an FA Youth Cup 4th round tie here at 7pm. Here's how we line up... #COYS pic.twitter.com/EJcKvsm6ve

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 10, 2017

 

On the bench:

Here's how we line up against @NorwichCityFC in the FA Youth Cup tonight... #COYS pic.twitter.com/4X292pWvHF

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 2, 2017