Looks like Joshua Smith was with Thomas Dooley's school for awhile. http://www.dooleysoccer.us/ Tranfermarkt, which is often wrong, claims that he is German and a defender. (As an aside for Dave or anyone else that might know something, there are 2 young kids also mentioned here Connor Hamilton and Brian Helmetag. Not sure if they are Americans or not, but both are still with FK Pirmasens youth teams. Do you know anything about them? http://www.fk-pirmasens.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91&Itemid=102 http://www.fk-pirmasens.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90&Itemid=101) Edit: nevermind just saw them on the comprehensive YA list.
Yep, just got confirmation that they were Yanks a few days back. Because they are so young and not in any YNT programs, I didn't make a big deal about them for now. There is yet another kid at Pirmasens I am now tracking named Josh Dooley, who is in fact the son of Steve Dooley, who is in fact the brother of Tom Dooley.
I saw the name when I was looking through the youth team rosters, and wondered if he was related to Tom. Does Dooley's school have an official connection with Pirmasens? Or does he just know people there and can easily line up trials for the kids in his program?
Kaiserslautern was sorry to see him go, but it is a great opportunity for him. Look for a lot of Americans get looks at this team through the Dooley brothers connection (California to Primasens). I know of at least one other American that was offered a contract but turned it down to go to college.
Josh is a 1992. And he's now at FC Palatia Limbach. And he apparently looks like this: http://www.palatia-limbach.de/mannschaften/a-jugend/
He moved to SC 07 Idar-Oberstein in June. They list him as a CB/CDM. He has definitely grown up and is now about 6'2". http://www.sc07idar.de/aktuell/1-mannschaft/index.php?rs_id=view&s=30 http://www.sc07idar.de/mannschaften/regionalliga-west/index.php
Not sure where this guy is now. There's a Joshua Smith at a club called TSG Stadtbergen, but I don't know if it's the same guy. (In fact there seem to be at least three guys named Smith at that club. Insert bad "Matrix: Revolutions" joke here.)
Looks like the Smith we are talking about is now a sophomore at the University of San Francisco (and played a good bit as a freshman): http://www.usfdons.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2334&path=msoc He's a big (6' 4", 200 lbs) kid. Father was stationed in Germany with the Army.
Was supposed to play his senior season this fall, but was hurt and will likely return to USF: In fact, the Dons only lose two seniors from this year's squad – midfielder Jesus Del Toro and second-team All-WCC defender Kevin Gould – and they will welcome back three-time All-WCC center back Joshua Smith, who is expected to receive a medical hardship waiver after missing the majority of the 2015 season due to injury. http://www.usfdons.com/news/2015/12...-eddie-soto-2015-season-review.aspx?path=msoc He's a big guy who may be eligible for a European passport; a past USF piece says his mother's family is from Croatia. Just updating given his somewhat unusual background and past YNT connections. But this might be better moved to the Academy forum.
An online resume that appears to be posted by Josh fills in a few details: Born in Louisiana, German passport, speaks English/French/German/Croatian, now apparently back in Germany and, it would seem, looking for a team.
The #NERevs have selected University of San Francisco defender Joshua Smith with the 75th pick (4th round) of the MLS SuperDraft.— Jeff Lemieux (@jeff_lemieux) January 17, 2017
Signs with Finn Harps in the Irish top tier: BREAKING:Finn Harps have completed the signing of Joshua Smith from SC Hessen Dreieich.The 27 year old defender was formerly on the books of teams such as FC Kaiserslauten, Karlsruher SC and New England Revolution. He has signed a contract until the end of the 2019 season. pic.twitter.com/BOygNxfAEx— LOI Lifestyle (@loi_lifestyle) July 19, 2019 https://www.finnharps.ie/post/horgan-signs-new-defender