Big thanks to fellow poster sho121789 for the heads-up on this on a thread on the college board... Shawn Barry, a very fast right back who started for Virginia the past two years, has signed with LASK Linz in Austria. Last year LASK finished 7th out of 10 teams in the Austrian Bundisliga. Barry is a 90 and he was in our U17 and U18 pools. At Virginia, he played in 45 games over two seasons, starting 42 of them. He added two assists and was part of their national championship team that was led by a defense that only allowed 0.3 goals per game, one of the lowest totals in NCAA history. Here's his UVa bio. http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=1552686 Virginia announced earlier this month that Barry didn't keep his grades up and had to leave school for the upcoming calendar year. Apparently he's opted to turn pro rather than sit-out the year. (Personally, I thought he showed enough in the Final Four that MLS should have signed him to a GenAd deal. I wonder if he had negotiations with them before going to Austria.) It looks like he's with their "junior" team. He's No. 14. http://lask.at/content/lask/team/lask_juniors He is from South Florida and is a product of the Schulz Academy, which is run by an Austrian and has sent a couple others to Austria. So, those dots should be fairly easy to connect. And, according to this link another Schulz player, William Suedois, has signed with them, too, though he's apparently only 16. http://www.schulzsocceracademy.com/
Also happens to be the same guy who discovered Altidore: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/world-cup-2010/writers/ben_reiter/05/15/altidore/1.html BTW - Toni Polster sure is showing his age these days...
Really liked Barry with the Cavaliers last season. He definitely looked like a pro prospect to me -- one of several on that team.
Not a bad choice IMO. Its good that he found a club. Austria could become the new Sweden at least for the Schultz kids. Barry is also eligible for Puerto Rico FYI.
Don't you want to give him his own thread, Sandon? I mean, seeing how even 10 year olds are getting them these days...
Is he eligible for any other national teams? As for Austria, I'll feel more impressed about the Schulz kids going there when one of them actually starts getting first division, first-team soccer.
I feel weird for looking lol but his myspace says he is originally from Puerto Rico but he does say he wants to make the USA team so it doesn't really matter. Here is an article from the Shulz academy website. Josef Schulz says he thinks Shawn could make the first team rather soon but Will is only 16 so he has more time to develop. http://www.schulzsocceracademy.com/home/454640.html
Barry was invited to residency at Bradenton and after initially accepting he declined. I think there were some personal issues which led to him not going into residency.
i was on his team in high school. its because if he went to residency school would basically take aback seat. parents are smart and didnt want that so they made him stay in school. residency isnt so great anymore for going pro. most of the players end up nowhere and just get used for national games
He is listed on the LASK Juniors roster and after looking through some match reports he's played in about 9 games. The next game starts in January http://lask.at/content/lask/teams/lask_juniors LASK Juniors play in the 3rd division.
He was playing regularly until he disappeared from match reports about a month ago. I suspect that he's been injured.
Barry made his debut for LASK this weekend. Maybe he'll get more playing time next season in the second division -- LASK was relegated by a mile.
Highlights from a reserve game. Barry scored the 2nd goal for LASK http://www.regionalliga.at/mitte/video/77/spielbericht-lask-juniors---gak/
Well, that's progress. I continue to think this kid has a bright pro future. He has serious wheels - not as fast as Marvell Wynne but damn close and he reads the game better than Wynne did coming out of college and he's better on the ball. Give him some seasoning, which he appears to be getting in Austria, and I think he'll blossom.
Barry made his first league start of the year on Friday in a 2-1 win over Lustenau. He has also made 4 substitute appearances and started the only cup game they've played so far. LASK are in second place and are 3 points off first, and the only promotion spot, 10 games into the season.
I wonder if Austria/Switzerland would be a good market for upcoming American Talents. It seems a bit like unchartered territory compared to the Scandinavian market, maybe because of work permit issues? Anyone have any idea what the rules are with americans and permits in swiss/austrian leagues? I've heard that there is an American Player from Chicago currently on trial with a Swiss Club and is waiting for a permit to sign a contract...wonder if we'll see more
Austria does have non EU limits depending on the division. I want to say 5 maybe for the top division, 3-4 or second division, and 3 for 3rd division. Austria and Switzerland are overlooked leagues but I don't think it would be a bad place to start out for a young player.
I suppose it has to be rather hard in that region given the strength of the economies of switzerland and such. I heard from a past colleague that the player in Switzerland is Timmy Walsh, used to play for University of Tampa.
Barry has 11 appearance for Linz this season, 4 starts, in the Austrian second division. He's a right-back - but no call up to the Olympic training camp. Did he deserve to be there over Greg Garza? Potentially.