The official "Some site says this guy is a Yank" detective work thread

Discussion in 'Yanks Abroad' started by Dave Marino-Nachison, May 23, 2013.

  1. This one I found, but I donot know how detailed they are.
    https://www.goal.com/nl/speler/mael-corboz/e2t7czlfwcml2cy6njmyc7cvd
     
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  2. MHaifa1913

    MHaifa1913 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Metro
    United States
    Dec 21, 1998
    New York, NY, USA
    Club:
    Maccabi Haifa FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Rodriguez Coming To Hapoel Tel Aviv (in Hebrew)

    This article says that Uruguayan, Felipe Rodríguez, grew up in the United States until age 14. Watching the video interview with him at Ben Gurion Airport, his English is very "American." Transfermarkt though lists him only as being Uruguayan.
     
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  3. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
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  4. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    He does seem to have a very detailed Polish Wiki page, for whatever reason, which suggests that he spent some time in Connecticut but never became a citizen.

    https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felipe_Rodríguez

    (Edited after finding out more stuff.)
     
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  5. Ger90

    Ger90 Member+

    May 13, 2016
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    01-Jonathan Kyeremateng seems like he could be triple national of German-Ghana-USA. Country code: GHUS
    https://www.instagram.com/kingjona123/?hl=en

    Currently playing in Bochum U19, he's not a 1st team prospect, not even a starter. 14 games played, 6 XI, 7 sub and 1 unused.

    journeyman player at the youth levels.
    Eintracht Dortmund, Borussia Dortmund, Rot-Weiss Essen, Paderborn, Bochum

    has an older brother 99-Gabriel Kyeremateng, currently at Stoke City U23, he's not a great player either. Although there seems to be no indication whatsoever of Gabriel and anything USA. Makes me think maybe Jonathan could be USA born?
     
  6. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    #856 Dave Marino-Nachison, Jan 25, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2020
    Interesting find. Based on some videos I found that seem to be associated with the family in some way, Jonathan was born in Dortmund.

    Haven't found out much else that's conclusive -- though there's this Ask.fm page. Man, those things are crazy, and who knows if it's really him, though the handle is the same as the Insta handle. In any case, he says he's half-American on there, so if it's true, that would more likely be parentage than birth.

    https://ask.fm/kingjona123

    A Ghanaian news site I coudln't get to load (couldn't only see the text in search results) seemed to think Gabriel (he has a twin sister, Gabriela) was born to two Ghanaian parents.
     
  7. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    Various sites also mention that a player named Shane Keil is or was in Germany with a few different clubs over the years. Can't figure out his current whereabouts, or for sure if he's American, though T'Markt says he is. Maybe one to watch for, perhaps related to Jeffrey.
     
  8. Ger90

    Ger90 Member+

    May 13, 2016
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    don't think Shane Keil or Jeff Keil are worth watching out for. There are a lot of German-Americans in either very low level (not good players) or in some rando clubs. Unless you think years and years and years from now maybe someone finally plays at higher level but even then they won't be great players.

    More examples going to low levels, recently.
    -94 Darius Strode, now seems to be in like 6th division
    -99 David Gerber is still clubless
    -99 Christian Miller left Augsburg II and is now in 5th division at TSV Schwabmunchen, going downwards.
    -01 Jeremiah Kasteleiner is currently in Gonsenheim U19, no idea how much he's played but that's 5th division for 1st team.

    a bit more +,
    -01 Emmanuel Clinton Williams joined Rot Weiss Essen U19 and according to fupa has 3 goals in 4 games
    -01 Silas Burke currently at 8 goals in 12 games for Rodinghausen U19, top scorer for the club and 1st team is 3rd Liga promotion candidates too.
     
  9. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    Dude. We know.
     
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  10. Ger90

    Ger90 Member+

    May 13, 2016
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I'm just glad they don't all have their own threads, since a lot of players don't even deserve to be followed.....
     
  11. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Anyone know who this young man might be?:



    It's been RT'd with some indicators he's from the DC area and he RT'd AJ Sams on trial in Germany, but not much else. CJ appears to be his name or nickname. No clues from his Twitter or his uncle's Twitter either.

    Nothing in the VfR Mannheim Facebook account either.
     
  12. Winoman

    Winoman Drinkin' Wine Spo-De-O-De!

    Jul 26, 2000
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He was a Maryland Terp, but that's all I could glean from his twitter account.
     
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  13. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    While looking for something else I found a guy named Bryan Ortiz on the roster at lower-division German club VfR Mannheim. The club lists him as a '95 who joined last year from what I assume is Kalonji in Georgia.

    [​IMG]

    https://www.vfr-mannheim.de/teams/1_-mannschaft/kader

    https://www.vfr-mannheim.de/home/2019-07-04-Fußball-Leckerbissen-im-Rhein-Neckar-Stadion

    I haven't been able to quickly find out more about him. There was a guy with the same name from Georgia playing college ball in the state (for one year) a few seasons ago but I don't think the ages would match and the photos don't seem to either.

    http://www.pointskyhawks.com/roster/21/5/2238.php

    T'Markt doesn't add much.

    https://www.transfermarkt.us/brian-ortiz/profil/spieler/725624
     
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  14. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
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  15. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
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  16. SloterHaus

    SloterHaus Member

    Dec 14, 2018
  17. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    It occurs to me that, with little in the way of games going on, this thread and related YA "investigations" could be a particularly good (that being a relative term) way to pass some extra time.

    If you're interested, and don't know where to start, reach out or post here and I'll gladly share some thoughts. The more, the merrier.
     
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  18. tomásbernal

    tomásbernal Member+

    Sep 4, 2007
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've always been intrigued by your methods. How on Earth DO you find all these players? Also, what kind of madness grips you?
     
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  19. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    #869 Dave Marino-Nachison, Apr 4, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2020
    Ha. The methods are maybe more boring than you'd think, and certainly well within anyone's ability to learn and, surely, improve. Anecdotally I've seen many more people join in on stuff like this over the years, which suits me fine (it's why I started this thread) and pushes me to try to learn new things and methods myself.

    A small percentage of stuff comes directly to me through contacts, friends, etc., I guess because I've been doing this a long time, people can find me relatively easily online, and hopefully people know I'll treat them with respect and maybe have some semi-useful connections and perspective.

    Obviously, there are database sites like Transfermarkt and so on. They're great sources of leads that I then investigate further, checking social accounts and news and so forth. It seems that many people now follow players' social accounts and spot news there. Whatever works!

    I sometimes also reach out to player or agents or journalists depending on the situation. YouTube can be useful. And, of course, I reach out to clubs a lot.

    I also use a bunch of Google search strings -- some of them pretty frequently, to catch new stories. One example is that during the offseason, I might search Google News for "American trialist" or "American-born striker" or stuff like that every now and then.

    I've also tried to learn a few phrases that seem to show up in foreign-language reporting. So, for instance, searching German Google News for "US-Boy" occasionally turns up stuff worth checking out. If I knew more languages I'd probably be more efficient -- I wish I knew Spanish, among other things. Stuff like that can turn up nothing for weeks and then one day a new result pops up out of nowhere. It's a lot of repetition. I should probably set up alerts for such things but I haven't gotten around to it.

    As to your last question, what can I say?

    Many, many years ago I was fascinated by the old-school sites that posted updates about random Americans in lower European divisions that nobody else had and it sort of inspired me to start searching for more players. That led to the creation of habits I haven't been able to break.

    Obviously it's cool when a guy I first posted about 10 years ago (and maybe "discovered," but who knows really) gets a callup, or a big club answers an email confirming an interesting prospect, or an interesting narrative/individual/tale pops up out of nowhere. I'm maybe a little competitive, but I also value this community -- the more people who are excited about contributing in a way that makes sense to them, the better as I see it.

    I've also managed to make some real-world friends this way. I've created some lasting connections with some players, learned a lot about the game and "the life," written an interesting story or two, helped a few guys connect with U.S. Soccer, and even seen some matches abroad with other BigSoccer posters.

    But most days it's mainly just the small thrill of knowing something new and being able to share it with people who might find it interesting. And, separately, also helping people get some visibility and share their own stories with others. (I guess that's why I'm in the news business.)

    Madness is probably as good a way to put it as any!
     
  20. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
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  21. ChuckMe92

    ChuckMe92 Member+

    Jun 23, 2016
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
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  22. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    It's a weird one -- there's almost nothing out there about him outside of T'Markt, which while not that uncommon for youth players suggests to me that, if he is a YA, he's spent all or most of his life in Europe, perhaps with an American parent. (Of course, it could also just be a error/typo.)
     
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  23. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    Soccer-Talents says an '04 named Leo Natanson is German-American. After some digging, it appears he's with the U17s of TeBe Berlin.

    https://www.tebe.de/junioren/U17/

    He has a Hudl profile page, which may be at least an indication that he's got American connections. Unfortunately, there's not much on the page.
     
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  24. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
    The site "Tutto Calciatori" seems to be be the replacement for the old and previously useful Italian search site Calciatori. I've added a link and some search suggestions to my spreadsheet. At present it doesn't yield much that we don't already know but is probably worth tracking.
     
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  25. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999

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