Yanks on Foreign YNTs (1997 and later)

Georgia native and Atlanta United academy '02 Josh Francombe has been named to the Wales U16 squad. USSDA page confirms US nationality.

Congratulations to @AcademyATLUTD's very own Josh Francombe who has been named to the Wales U16 squad! ⚽️📝: https://t.co/6iQKxFFvaV pic.twitter.com/o4jHttYfHu

— ATLUTD Academy (@AcademyATLUTD) September 18, 2017

 

Based on an interview of him, it appears he was born in Tampa and moved to Colombia when he was about 5, and joined Atletico Nacional at 6.

 

The Welsh are very aggressive with their dual nationals. See Woodburn and Ampadu, amongst others, for example

 

This is very interesting. I know nothing about this kid, but Wales is relatively good, so calling him up might be indication that he's pretty good. And I'm sure there are tons of kids in the USA with Welsh heritage, so they could've called in tons of players, they picked this kid.

We are starting to have a lot of these dual-nationals, and a number of them are kids that grew up in the USA. I think its because we are starting to produce better players, but we gotta be careful there. There are tons of kids in the USA who could get access to an Irish, Scottish, maybe English passport. Dual-nats from the British Isles might become like dual-nat Mexican-Americans.

 

There is no Scottish or English passport. Or indeed Welsh or Northern Irish.

However, there is an Irish passport.

 

Thats interesting, so how does it work with those UK countries? You gotta have direct access to citizenship, can't acquire a passport through a grandparent (like Pulisic did)?

Then there would probably be less, if thats the case, but there's a large enough UK presence in the USA that I wouldn't be surprised if some kids eventually start getting called up to those youth NT's.

 

Look up the Home Nations Agreement - It's a little convoluted.

Citizenship is a bit complicated but, essentially, can't get it through grandparents. Though it can depend on where parents were born if they acquired it through descent. It's a mess.

 

For England? Nope. They are convinced, at least on the men's side, that they have plenty of talent, so looking to players outside the EPL/EFL academies will be rare. They barely look at homegrown talent playing elsewhere for the full NT.

Scotland, Wales & N. Ireland will look elsewhere if someone pops up, but they don't seem to put a lot of effort into scouting, especially outside UEFA.

 

Yeah, I meant more likely Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland. Their talent pools are much lesser than England's and even ours, along with Ireland, but thats a different subject.

And of course, we are probably only talking about top level talents here. I don't think they'll call in any random kid from the DA (although this kid Wales called in does seem to be that), but if there was a star with that ethnic background, I would not be surprised if they approached that player to play for them, regardless of them not playing in a European academy. If Palmer-Brown or Carleton or Sargent or Reyna (bad example, I know, but you get the point) or any of these kids could play for Scotland, I'm sure they'd call them in. I remember a few years back Scotland wanted McBean to play for them. His career hasn't turned out as well as some initially thought, but thats the type of situation I was thinking about, and it should be monitored.

 

Maurice Malone is on Germany's final U17 World Cup squad, a laudable achievement, and I would argue a good thing for the US since he was already provisionally cap-tied. Still a long, long way to go to the DFB senior team.

Das ist unser Kader für die #U17-Weltmeisterschaft in Indien 🇩🇪 🇮🇳 💪 Alle Infos ➡ https://t.co/xHyg4Kt9Hb #Torjäger pic.twitter.com/gApEqB6Mhm

— DFB-Junioren (@DFB_Junioren) September 20, 2017

 

As others have said, I doubt that any of the British nations are heavily scouting for dual nationals outside. I would be surprised if the story isn't that somebody (dad, uncle, family friend, whatever) with connections to the Welsh FA put in a word on his behalf.

 

Yanks Alexander Bahr and Alessandro Castro:

👇 Ellos nos representaran en el Mundial 🇮🇳 #India2017 de @fifacom_es , conócelos, ellos son los 21 👤🇭🇳 convocados! #FWCU17 #HU17 pic.twitter.com/WgxSeCnXIQ

— Selección Nacional de Honduras (@FenafuthOrg) September 20, 2017

 

Namit Deshpande is on India's U17 WC team.

http://indianexpress.com/article/sp...-from-manipur-2-nris-in-indian-squad-4855244/

He was with Continental FC DELCO last season:

http://dlco.ussoccerda.com/sam/teams/index.php?team=1653928&player=74853055

 

He's the first "Non-resident Indian" (NRI) to represent India:

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/usabased...lay-for-indias-u17-world-cup-team/#.pmce9gcfj

India's pretty tough on dual nationality, so he may never be a US passport holder.

 

#ATLUTD Academy’s Josh Francombe went the full 90 and recorded 3 assists for @FAWales U-16s ⚽️👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/CCQP6R0MjE

— ATLUTD Academy (@AcademyATLUTD) September 24, 2017

 

Timothy Tillman is on Germany's U19 Euro qualifiers squad. Assuming he plays, he'll be provisionally cap-tied. The US still has a good chance at him eventually, but it may not be for a fair while.

Also of note, another '99 YA, Lennard Maloney of Union Berlin, is one of the standby players.

https://www.dfb.de/u-19-junioren/team-und-trainer/?no_cache=1

 

Niko Hamalainen called in for Finland's U21s:

Finland U21 squad to play Poland and Denmark #Pikkuhuuhkajat pic.twitter.com/TjOoqZfNBq

— Finnish Football Show 🇫🇮⚽️ (@FinnishFtblShow) September 25, 2017

 

Kik Pierie named to the Dutch U19s:

Squad The Netherlands u19 to face Malta 4oct. @mymaltafootball pic.twitter.com/k2gxZLMDUc

— Scouting Connection (@ScoutingConnect) September 30, 2017

 

Congrats To @DCUyouth U19 Player, @alex_cerritos On His Callup To The Senior El Salvador National Side For A Match Against Canada In Houston! #RepDMV pic.twitter.com/uf9fliR7C2

— DMV Soccer (@DMVSoccer96) October 2, 2017

 

That's the full national team with about 7 other Yanks.

 

Starts in the first match against Ghana:

Minutes away from kick off as #Colombia vs. #Ghana get the #FIFA #U17WC under way. Here is the starting XI
@SIIndiaTweets pic.twitter.com/hngt4swGwk

— Govindan Kishwar (@GovindanKishwar) October 6, 2017

 

Its worth mentioning that Jesus Ferreira IS NOT on the Colombia U17 World Cup team............................

I was a little worried about that.

 

Maurice Malone on the bench in their U17 WC opener:

#U17: Das ist unsere Startaufstellung für den #FIFAU17WC-Auftakt. Viel Erfolg, ihr #TorJäger! #FootballTakesOver pic.twitter.com/tu6o3nDEwl

— DFB-Junioren (@DFB_Junioren) October 7, 2017

 

Andres Perea on the bench for the 2nd match of the U17 WC:

Team India U17 and Colombia U17 starting XI at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.#FIFAU17WC #INDvCOL #BackTheBlue pic.twitter.com/sIPqTb9yzj

— Flashscore India 🇮🇳 (@Flashscore_IN) October 9, 2017