Amon amongst boys: Jonathan at Lynbgy BK (Denmark)Nordsjælland (Denmark)

Starts

Start-11: Alex - Tiedemann, Nelsson, Mtiliga - Bartolec, M. Jensen, Kofod, Mini - Asante, Emiliano, Amon #sldk #fcnhob #vierfcn pic.twitter.com/Dk7pKP6SMB

— FC Nordsjælland 🐯 (@FCNordsjaelland) December 10, 2017

 

Anyone watching?

If I'm reading the time correctly this game already finished?

 

3-2 win

http://www.espn.com/soccer/match?gameId=480038

 

Highlights. Amon was heavily involved in the first goal.

 

Almost all the top goalkeepers in the Danish Superliga are present NT players not least the NT keepers from Northern Europe are playing the Danish Superliga, if they have not yet beeen sold by a Danish club to one of the top 5 leagues .. and the two best Danish keepers are regular starters in the English PL ... Danish keepers signed from Danish 2nd level clubs by MLS, Jimmy Nielsen and Outsted have also been doing quite well in MLS I believe ...

 

Didn't Friedel play at Brondby?

 

He moved to Brøndby but as 2nd keeper he never actually got to play in the Superliga ...

 

made zero appearances on loan there...not exactly a ringing endorsement for more USMNT GK to go to Denmark....especially in light of the fact that he did play when he was on Galatasaray, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Blackburn.

The question isn't whether there are some good GK/players in Denmark i.e Hamid. The question to me is whether or not signing in Denmark is a good choice for American players to advance their careers and make an impact internationally...and the evidence so far is that the answer is a RESOUNDING NO. Up to this point, Denmark has been where USMNT ambitions have gone to die. like every time.

• Conor O'Brien – SonderjyskE – 2011–13 (45/7) – Nordsjælland – 2012-14 (14/1) – OB – 2013-15 (16/0) – Horsens – 2016-17 (1/0)
• Wade Barrett – AGF – 2002–04 (31/0)
• Mike Burns – Viborg FF – 1995–96 (15/0)
• Danny Califf – AaB, FC Midtjylland – 2005–08 (69/1), 2008–10 (31/1)
• Derk Droze – Lyngby BK – 1997–98 (1/0)
• Benny Feilhaber – AGF – 2008–10 (36/1)
• Geoffrey Gray – Odense BK – 1991–92 (23/0)
• Will John – Randers FC – 2007–08 (1/0)
• Matt Jordan – Odense BK – 2003–04 (2/0)
• Yuri Morales – Viborg FF – 2004–05 (3/1)
• Lee Nguyen – Randers FC – 2007–09 (9/0)
• Will Orben – FCK, Viborg FF – 1999–2000 (3/0), 2000–01 (3/0)
• Michael Parkhurst – FC Nordsjælland – 2008–13 (107/3)
• Heath Pearce – FC Nordsjælland – 2004–07 (75/2)
• Chris Rolfe – AaB – 2009–10 (7/1)
• Robbie Russell – Viborg FF – 2006–08 (29/0)
• Gregory Schwager – Vejle BK – 1997–98 (9/1)
• Marcus Tracy – AaB – 2008–10 (15/2)
• Jeremiah White – AGF – 2007–10 (71/6)
• Peter Woodring – AaB – 1993–95 (22/2)
• Joe Zewe – Viborg FF – 2006–07 (4/0)

add perry kitchen, hamid, and amon to this list (per wikipedia).....and NONE of these players have really gone on to doing anything substantive with the USMNT after playing in Denmark. Kitchen isn't even in the conversation anymore really after going to Randers. Hopefully Amon and Hamid can buck the trend....but the odds aren't in their favor.

Not trying to bash Denmark or say that there are not good players in Denmark....but when I find out a USMNT player is going there....I think you can understand why that doesn't fill me with a sense of hope i.e. chances they will become an important/good player for the USMNT...(and I know this isn't a USMNT forum....but that is a legit reason why a lot of people follow 'yanks abroad' and why i do and that is the lens through which I look at american player transfers).

 

... and the Turkish league and youth academies have produced a Schmeichel or any foreign NT goalkeeper worth mentioning ? ... btw you forgot Aron Jóhannsson who is a product of AGF Aarhus ... just as Randers turned Yura Movsisyan into an NT success, just not for the USA, because he picked Armenia ... Forget about the list you made ... Amon is the biggest US talent ever to play in the Superliga so far, which is why FCN were trying to hide him ... in any case, if you come here in your mid 20's it's most often too late to make much of an improvement. Perry Kitchen is 25 and his development was ruined by MLS and his stay in Scotland way before he came to Denmark.

 

i value your insights so I dont wanna offend you but I just dont see what you are getting at here.

this isnt about turkish league vs denmark at all. (but yeah normally i would prefer a club like galatasaray over midjtylland...but the current political climate makes that untenable)

aron johansson has been a USMNT BUST.

Yura is an MLS BUST.

i.e. Kitchen i'm not blaming Denmark for his success or lack thereof....just saying - like I am with pretty much all american players -

that when they go to denmark...it is a good chance they never be anything for USMNT. and that when the news comes out that they are going to denmark - my first thought is not "yes!!!"

and why should it be??

where are the success stories of americans who have gone to denmark and moved up in the world??

fielhaber did pretty well in denmark and earned a transfer to mega-club New England Revolution - where he has been on auto-ignore status for USMNT ever since basically.

 

Yura Movsisyan was a 23-yo nobody when he came to Randers on a free transfer from MLS, but they made him into a great succes both for his country and also sold him for a load of money to the Russian league where he also was an instant success .. now he is 30 and obviously over the hill ...

Aron was picked up from an Icelandic 2nd level club and it took him quite some time to adjust to the Danish league and also adjust to being a forward instead of the winger he originally was ... but he finally made it and was sold for quite alot of money despite having just had surgery when he was sold, so that he was in no shape to play. But he also became a great succes in the Dutch league and then sold for almost $6 million to Werder Bremen .. there he was diagnosed with a strange nerve irritation that seemed to keep being a problem for him, just as he got struck by other injuries and so he never seemed to be 100% fit ... so shit happens ...

As for Feilhaber then he was a highly skilled midfielder who just seemed to lack the ability to score goals, which was also the AGF Aarhus teams problem in general, playing nice attacking minded football but not scoring enough goals, which is also why they suffered relegation ... at that point in time Feilhaber was 26 and now playing 2nd level in Denmark, so no chance that he would be sold to a bigger league and because his 3-year period with low Danish income taxes were up, AGF could not keep him ... so MLS was probably his only option.

 

I think the standards set were impossible high (must be USMNT star) and unrelated (must have played in Danish league). Of course plenty of mediocre players have gone to Germany, Heath Pearce. Plenty of superstar USA players never played in Europe, or never played much, like Landon Donovan. So really there's no connection or inference that can be made in anyway between the Danish league adn USMNT success.

 

As for the Turkish league it has turned into a retirement league for older foreign "Names" from the bigger leagues ... and not a good place for young talents, which you can also see by how the Turkish NT has been doing of lately, losing 0-3 at home to Iceland in the WC qualifiers, to finish 4th in their group, just as their U-21NT has not managed to qualify for the U-21 Euro finals the past many years .. ironically one of their biggest young talents for the future, who is still only 20, Emre Mor, has never played in Turkey but was developed by Lyngby and Nordsjælland .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emre_Mor

 

And Parkhurst was a very good player in Denmark. He wasn’t athletic, strong or fast, but he was/is highly intelligent and reads the game well. I think he should have had a bigger role on the USMNT but either way, I think he hit his ceiling as a player.

 

It’s different when you start in Denmark as an 18 year old, versus a journeyman in your prime looking for a payday.

 

Several of the players in your list hardly got to play 10 games in the Superliga or quite frankly were a flop like Wade Barett, so obviously they were never good enough to play at a bigger stage or for the USMNT or even in the Superliga for that matter ...if the talent is very limited there is little any club in any league can do about it, but there is a bigger chance that they will actually get to play in the Superliga in compare with any of the big leagues, where they will kick you or keep you on the bench if you do not show your worth almost from day one...

Michael Parkhurst was no good as centre back for Nordsjælland ... but instead of just giving up on him, as they would have done in the big leagues, they made him into a right back who was looking great for them in the Champions League group stage,. He was a great fit for a highly attacking minded short passing team and not for a defensive minded team fighting against relegation at the bottom of the Bundesliga... so that was a terrible move he made ... and as you would expect ,they just benched him ...

Here is btw a full list of Americans who have played in the Superliga (not counting Aron because he was still an Icelandic citizen at the time)
https://www.superstats.dk/spillere/udl-land-alltime-spec?land=USA

 

again, you've given a lot of examples, but still none of any USMNT-eligible player who has gone on to a better situation or even anything remotely meaningful with the USMNT after having played in Denmark, which is surprising to me....there isn't 1 example of a player who has made a difference for USMNT after having been a pro in denmark.

seems to have helped a bunch of players from other countries...but so far...not really any americans....which is really all i care about. the question isnt whether a german or dane or turk can move up the club ladder by signing in Denmark. fielhaber and nguyen to me are glaring examples of denmark failing american players....b/c both clearly had what it takes from a talent perspective...but just 2 examples isnt a big enough sample size.

and the question of whether a league might help euro players more than non-EU players is a legitimate one. DPs , for example, are certainly held to a stricter standard in MLS....thats why Yura is a bust despite being decent (barely). im not quite sure that playing in denmark is not going to help an american move up in the world...but it has happened in germany, england, belgium, netherlands, france, even sweden etc etc....whereas so far in denmark...not so much.

bottomline, i think players sign with teams with the idea of making it to the top...so this matters. kitchen, hamid, amon etc all want to play internationally and reach higher levels, if possible. hopefully all of them will and they can show that denmark is indeed a good option for usmnt-hopefuls.

 

I think it boils down to how good the USA prospect was. Parkhurst was never a top player or prospect in my eyes, he was a stop gap, Bennie had a nice flair to his game but he had his weakness as well. Just because a player plays in the Denish league doesn't mean he will do well abroad, specially if the player was just average to begin with.

 

Well .. I'll still argue that Aron could have been great for you, if not for his sudden nerve irritation, leading to hip surgery that he never really has recovered from ... Thomas Delaney could also have been excellent for the USMNT, but he picked Denmark instead ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Delaney

 

The defending in MLS is absolutely terrible in my opinion, there are good strikers and attacking midfielders, but most of them are older foreigners ... if you look at the young players who are sold by the Superliga and doing exceptionally well for their clubs and country (including Denmark), it's mainly goalkeepers, centre backs (which is why neither Goodson or Parkhurst did well in that position in the Superliga) and attacking midfielders and wingers ... the "weak" spots, where Danish clubs export very few players to the top leagues is left and right backs, defensive midfielders and strikers

So my advise would be to join a Danish club if you are 18 or younger and you are not a striker or a right or left back ...on the other hand it's easy to become a success in the Superliga if you are a "Heath Pearce" quality left back, while it's especially difficult if you are a keeper or centre back ...to give you an example ... Goodson was replaced by the highly experienced Dutch international Khalid Boulahrouz who was then replaced by Daniel Agger and quite honestly they did not do very well either, because they were both past their prime.

 

To be fair Parkhurst and Pearce got more than a cup of coffee with the nats, and used Denmark to get to the Bundesliga.

Feilhaber is the one guy who ended up going to a WC.

But, your point stands, generally I feel that way also about Norway and Sweden, which are solid leagues but probably well below MLS.

Off the top of my head only Davies out of Sweden and Mix out of Norway launched decent national team careers and moments out of Scandanavia. Davies had a high ceiling, I think, but his car crash really set his career back. Mix had promise but never put anything together outside of Norway, aside from 3-4 good national team moments, and that one goal for NYFC.

Parkhurst was really the gold standard here. He got Champions League games that impressed lots of people, but his time in the Bundesliga was dissapointing.

 

Correction, also Bedoya out of Sweden.

 

Feilhaber earned 22 (of his 44) caps while he played for AGF Aarhus and also played at the WC for the USMNT during his time in Denmark. So it's not like his NT career crashed when he moved to Denmark ... actually quite the opposite...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Feilhaber#Career_statistics

 

lotta good jonathon amon talk on this page!!!

 

They're on break.