From USAprospects: Confirmed: '96 Herbert Robinson Garcia, an offensive midfielder with Santos Laguna U17 is Mexican-American.Roster page from Santos He is a listed by the club as Mexican and born in Mexico. Perhaps he has an American parent. He is playing with the Santos u20 squad at the Viareggio Tournament in Italy. -He started all 3 of their matches, playing the full 90 in 2 of them.
From the roster page prowazekii posted: Nombre:Herbert Robinson Posición:Medio Numero:89 Estatura:1.81 Peso:68 Fecha de Nacimiento:10/04/1996 Lugar de Nacimiento:Monclova, Coah. Nacionalidad:Mexicana Edad:16 Formacióneportivo Colegio Guanajuato Debut:28/08/2010 Partido Debut:Colegio Guanajuato vs Cocula Trayectoria: Deportivo Colegio Guanajuato 3a. Div. (2010-2011), Santos Laguna Sub 15-17-20 (2011-) http://imago7.org/fotos/apertura_2012_liga_mx_sub_17/cuartos_de_final/monterrey_vs_santos 7/21/12: "B17: Djurgårdens IF (SWE) – Santos Laguna (MEX) 0-2 (0-1) ... Most valueable player: Herbert Robinson Garcia, #89" http://www.gothiacup.se/eng/2012/07/b17-two-goals-made-laguna-champions/ Given his full name, it's reasonably clear that his father is an American named Robinson & his mom is a Mexican named Garcia. A love that spanned the Rio Grande....
USAprospects@USAprospects The '96 #usynt Herbert Robinson Garcia is currently in the process of obtaining a US passport to try and play with US youth teams
Well.............Santos is one of the closest Mexican clubs to the US (geographically speaking). Tijuana, then the Monterrey clubs & Santos.
I don't understand why Mexico hasn't tried to get this kid to play for their youth teams. He is 16 years old and he made the bench for a decent first division club. That is absurd. I realize they have some good players, but I highly doubt that this kid wouldn't be good enough for their U-17 team. Anyway, I hope Mexico continues to ignore him. We could certainly use him.
Well you obviously don't know much about the FMF's scouting network and protocol. If the kid feels he has a better chance to succeed with the US U17s, more power to him.
All games including a first or second division club are scouted year round. The Mexican youth teams play over 100 international games around the world with different rosters in order to test out some of the lesser known prospects. It's a fact that some kids will go unnoticed or mature later on so it's nit an exact science. The person I quoted is just naturally skeptic and he tends to believe all kids this age may be equal in talent. It's great that Herbert is making first team appearances, even if it is just a spot on the bench but quite a few teams do this and it ultimately won't mean much if Herbert isn't ready to take advantage of his opportunities. I would be worried for Joya, to be honest.
He is 16, not 18 or 19. There would be absolutely no reason for Santos Laguna to include him in the squad for an important first team game if he wasn't a special player. I think you are forgetting that he is 16, not 18. There are only a few 16 year olds at decent clubs around the world getting any type of playing time. I realize he didn't get any playing time yet, but making the bench at 16 years old for a club like Santos Laguna is incredibly impressive. Look, if the FMF wants to ignore this incredibly impressive feat, I would be thrilled. I hope the USA doesn't have to contend with Mexico for this kid. I just am pretty surprised that he hasn't gotten much of a look with Mexico. We don't know for sure what the situation is. He has said he wants to play for the USA. Maybe he really wants to play for the USA, and told that to the FMF. Who knows? I just would be shocked if this was ignored by the FMF.
Or how good he is, or how he plays, or if he's good enough to play for our U-17s, or Mexico's... Note that I'm saying this not because I believe he's not good enough for our youth teams or Mexico's, but because outside a handful of people who have seen Santos U-17 matches, NO ONE KNOWS. Sure its impressive that he's making the bench for the Santos first team, but we need to at least see the dude first before we start talking about him choosing between Mexico or the U.S. Anyway, I hope he does well.
I just find it hard to believe that there is a 16 year old at a club like Santos Laguna that could make the bench for a first team game, but not be good enough for a national teams' U-17 team. I could be wrong though.
He is that good, been scouted by 1st team coach for awhile. Captain's U17. Could be a few issues with citizenship, hopefully have more details in late April
Well you better start for believing. There are three kids at Pachuca that are regular first teamers that haven't been on the youth national teams. Candido Ramirez at Santos was voted best young player at last year's Toulon Tournament and he wasn't included in Mexico's U20 squad for WC Qualifiers. There is Amaury Escoto at Queretaro, a first team player that, again, has not been with the U20s. It's great the Herbert is getting looks from the first team but it doesn't mean he's better than the kids on Mexico's U17 squad currently playing in Panama. I've never seen the kid play so I can't really comment on his abilities.
Neither of us has seen this kid play, so who really knows? However, I would assume that he is good enough for Mexico's U-17's considering the Mexican U-17 team currently fields three Santos Laguna players, none of which have gotten looks with the first team. It seems like Santos holds Herbert Robinson is higher regard than these three playing with the current Mexico U-17's, which would likely mean that he is the best player of the three.
That's a hell of a story threaded together mostly by your assumptions. Like I said before, I haven't seen Herbert play but I've seen Ulises Rivas play. He's the captain of the Mexican U17 team, was also the captain of the U15 NT and plays the same position as Herbert. Matter of fact, Ulises has already debuted with the first team and is considered one of Santos' top prospects. For all we know Herbert will turn out to be a better player five or ten years down the road but as of right now, there is no indication that Herbert has done enough to warrant being on the Mexican U17 squad.
I was just trying to point out the logic behind the comment I quoted. If the fact that Herbert has been on the bench for Santos lately and not Benji, it would be worrisome. Most of the sources I've seen have Benji as an official member of the Santos first team. Something Herbert and Rivas are not.
1). Its a real shame we didn't qualify for the U-17 WC because it wouldn't be shocking if this guy ended up on Mexico's U-17 WC team. I know that he hasn't been part of their player pool yet, but eventually you just can't ignore a 17 year old that is a fringe member of Santos Laguna's first team. That is incredibly impressive, especially considering he is a '96. I would guess that only a few of Mexico's '96's are even fringe members of their first team. If Mexico completely ignores this kid, I definitely won't complain, but I bet they eventually call this kid in. 2). Why is this kid not in consideration for our U-20 team, but everyone is drooling over that kid at Monterrey that got a few minutes? I am not an advocate for either being on our U-20 WC team, but what is the big difference between the two? The kid at Monterrey got 27 minutes and a game or two as an unused sub while this kid has been an unused sub a few times. If we are considering any first team player at their club as a potential option, why not this kid? Age should not matter, talent should. Especially considering there is no U-17 team for him to play for.
Kid may have some issues getting a US passport so it's important to cool the hype because of what I've heard (unconfirmed) He was born in Mexico and his father is American but was born in Mexico. It was his grandfather who born in the USA. His dad is now living in the USA but Hector is trying to show his dad met the residency requirement to pass on citizenship. It's unclear at the moment. But as of now, he can't play for the USA although he wants to
The good news is there is a way to get this done, even if papa doesn't meet residency requirements. If grandpapa does & they can prove it, he can apply for "expeditious naturalization" based on that fact. Or, dad can apply for a Green Card and have him come live with him in the US this summer. Every has to be done by his 18th birthday though, or that ship has sailed. But the USCIS advises any 17 year old who wants this done to hurry.