Timothy Tillman at Greuther Fürth

And here I got all excited that Dave tagged me in a post.

 

Better than the time someone quoted me on a post that wasn't mine and it was in the Politics forum. Check, please...

 

Ribery, Alaba, Alonso, Lahm, Rafinha, and some other starters playing 60 minutes seems like a pretty good representation of the guys they'll trot out come late August

 

Entered at the half of the ICC match against Inter.

17 year old Timothy Tillman is on the field for Bayern, too.

— Bavarian Football Works (@BavarianFBWorks) July 30, 2016

 

US Soccer has contacted Tim Tillman about playing for the US

— Joey (@USAprospects) July 31, 2016

 

How did he look against Inter?

 

Still with the U19s:

 

3 weeks into the U19 Bundesliga season, Gaines, Wright, Friede & Tillman have together managed 2 goals and 5 assists pic.twitter.com/yHceFwCSec

— Nats Abroad (@Nats_Abroad) August 23, 2016

 

Scored twice in a win over Hoffenheim.

JAWOLL! Die #FCBU19 gewinnt bei @achtzehn99 mit 5:2. Tore: Tillman (2), Hadzic, Wintzheimer, Friedl. #FCBjuniorteam pic.twitter.com/PaodERBpXJ

— FC Bayern Campus (@fcbayerncampus) August 27, 2016

 

Here are the goals:

U19 Bundesliga Week 4: Tim Tillman scores his first two goals of the season & breaks his 1st pair of ankles as well: pic.twitter.com/EJq4u1IZ1z

— Nats Abroad (@Nats_Abroad) August 29, 2016

 

Tillman (curiously listed as a Germanized "Tillmann") is on the Bayern Champions League roster. Interestingly, since he has been at the club for less than 2 years, he is not eligible for "List B" and hence takes up an actual spot on the 25-player List A.

 

Confirmation that the USSF has contacted Timothy Tillman, in fact inviting him to a U-20 camp last October. Credit to USAProspects/OWTY for the tip.

Tillman was called in to the US U20 camp in Germany. Tillman would rather represent Germany but has not ruled out playing for the US #USMNT

— Joey (@USAprospects) September 9, 2016

http://sportbild.bild.de/fussball/s...lmacher-der-zukunft-47707442.sportMobile.html

 

We are the fall back option

 

Well, it's good news that US Soccer is on the ball here. If he's open to playing for us we'll get him eventually. Maybe sooner rather than later given that I don't think he's been called into any German youth camps in quite a while. I think he's an attacking mid type player? Seems like quite a logjam there for Germany.

 

Germany's definitely stacked, and I also speculate Timothy might be voluntarily declining call-ups to competitive youth matches. The nine matches he has played for Germany U-17 are all friendlies, yet he wasn't in the final squad in any of Germany's 2015 U-17 WCQ or U-17 WC matches, nor any of their 2016 U-17 Euro qualifying or U-17 Euro matches. Unusual, even for Germany, that a kid with the ability to make Bayern Munich's senior Champions League squad wouldn't be in those squads. It makes sense if he wants to be open to playing for the US without having to file a one-time switch.

 

It's pretty obvious at this point that the kid is dragging USSF along in the case where DFB doesn't keep him in the long term plans. Pretty pathetic on USSF's part.

 

I am perfectly happy with pathetically fielding Fabian Johnson and Jermaine Jones. Everybody knows how this game is played.

 

That's why the US will never win a world cup with that mentality

 

This is dumb. Anyone who follows college recruiting will tell you, your personal pride takes a backseat to pride for your team. You field the best team possible, whenever possible. If that means kowtowing to potential recruits a little bit, so be it. Even teams like Germany and France, I'm sure, have recruits that they lose out on (to Turkey or Algeria respectively), and I'm sure they recruited them if they thought the talent was there.

EDIT: And furthermore, I don't feel that most forms of recruiting are particularly bad or demeaning. You're trying to convince someone to play for you. So long as the US doesn't promise playing time with the senior team, I'm fine with however we try to get recruits.

 

There are lots of players that could play for a 'better' national team, but choose a different option based on a number of factors. FJ could probably be playing for Die Mannschaft right now, with their dearth of fullback options.

 

FJ committed to the US more than 5 years ago and the picture was a lot different.

FJ was nowhere near the German national team at the time.

Not for one second do I believe if FJ thought he would be a regular German national team player would he pick the United States over Germany.

 

Lots of factors. Tillman isn't anywhere near the German first team either, and won't know for a while most likely. It's up to him to either be patient, or choose to represent the U.S. for a variety of reasons.