AllWright AllWright AllWright : Haji moving to the Coventry

He must have not looked good defensively when I didn't catch his game.

 

He's fine. Only played >33% of the possible minutes for Schalke this year - age-related casualty, imo...not performance-based...they have had marginally better performances without him - but i think it is just do to the whole team being pretty choppy this year - not reflective of him.

 

These boys be thinking they playing football in Benidorm 😂🏈⚽#SchalkeUS🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PLbduoJIBU

— Schalke 04 USA🇺🇸 (@s04_us) January 7, 2019

 

he played 23 min in a 2-2 draw, And both goals happened before he came on.

 

💬 #Tedesco: "We have also promoted Philip #Fontein, @HajiWright, Benni #Goller and Ahmed #Kutucu to the first team from the U23s."#S04WOB #s04 pic.twitter.com/KemGoyWjMl

— FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) January 18, 2019

 

Congratulations to Haji. I'll admit that after watching him play over the past few years, I was not expecting this current promotion. Good for him- prove all the doubters wrong again, Haji.

 

Schalke DESPERATELY need some offensive production. They are aesthetically the worst team to watch in europe. Haji can't ask for a better club to try to break in. he might not ever get a better opportunity than this.

 

Stars are finally lining up for us to have a real good team in a few years, right in time for the home WC.

 

Hold your horses, he is getting a chance with the first team because of circumstances. Now is up to him to make it count.

 

A good opportunity for Haji and I am happy for him... now let's see him make the most of it, even if it just means being included in the 18 regularly.

 

As I wrote then, Haji is a lot better than what he showed in that first game and like McKennie, he's a player with good technique.

Neither are world beaters and I doubt their club careers will be as good as what we expect Pulisic's to be, but they are exactly the type of players we need for the NT: smart, with some decent ball control, and enough vision to exploit the other team's mistakes.

 

It sort of feels like Tedesco is making Wright a bit of a personal project.

 

Schalke is at the wrong end of the table and they have to try for a shakeup. I'd feel more confident about the Nats future, or the future Nats, if so many of the top players weren't still at "battler" clubs, or in the lower divisions.

 

They may lose most games but the experience against top teams will help in their development when it comes to the national team.

 

Meh, it's a level of experience that our YA have been getting for a two or three decades, nothing unique, and nothing that is going to get our players to the elite level.

 

Schalke is one of the biggest clubs in the world. They are in the last 16 of the CL. They are currently having a disappointing domestic campaign, and that's too bad but Schalke are the big time. I'm not quite sure what you would be looking for if that's not "good enough"

 

False. There have been under five American strikers to ever play at least semi regularly at a club as good as Schalke.

 

Dempsey and arguably Donovan if you consider them strikers. Pulisic has never played as a striker. One time AC Milan played Gooch at striker for laughs.

I don't think Wynalda played for a club as good as Schalke.

Anyone else?

 

I didn't know our YA teams play against Bayern or Schalke etc.

 

Schalke is good? They may yet pull it together but have so far looked quite mediocre this season.

 

Schalke hasn’t been good in the Bundesliga this season. The squad has big holes in it.

With regards to Schalke, its one of the biggest, one of the most historic and one of the most successful clubs in the history of German soccer.

McKennie being a regular there is extremely big deal. Very few, if any, American products have had more appearances at such a big club.

 

Here is the all-time Bundesliga chart for those interest. Schalke has never won a Bundesliga championship (founded 1963), but they have been a long time consistent performer. Their heydays include (2008-2015 and 1934-1942 where they won several German championships). I must admit, I had no idea about German soccer under the Third Reich and how they used Schalke's success in propaganda as the top team during that period. Fascinating to do some research on it (like Rapid Vienna winning the German league in 1941 over Schalke after the Ancshluss).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Bundesliga_table

 

Schalke gets named dropped in the movie Stalingrad (1993). German soldier getting the league results over the radio (or reading a newspaper can’t remember) during the Stalingrad campaign. Gives you the impression they were an important club at the time (which obviously they were).