Youth Yanks Abroad (1997s or later)

Maloney actually started.

Angekommen in Fürth! Hier unsere Aufstellung gegen @kleeblattfuerth #fcunion #sgffcu #eisern pic.twitter.com/JGZ4uW4uY8

— 1. FC Union Berlin (@fcunion) April 1, 2018

 

Unknown? Unheralded? Nowhere Colombia?

You don’t know Cali or Deportivo Cali? A youth international and 18 yo who scored a few goals for DC is unknown or unheralded? FCD payed a non-material transfer fee for the kid you described?

I saw him play our u20s in 2010 and and he was quite dominant. Based on his talent and what FCD payed for him, I wouldn't call him forcing them to sell for a small profit a huge success.

https://www.fcdallas.com/post/2011/03/07/fc-dallas-acquires-forward-fabian-castillo-deportivo-cali

“Fabian is a talented, young player who has shown considerable potential in his time with Deportivo Cali and the Colombian U-20 National Team,” FC Dallas Head Coach Schellas Hyndman said. “He’s very athletic, quick, explosive and capable of beating opponents with the ball, and we think he has a chance to be a key contributor for us in the future.”

A member of the Colombian U-20 National Team, Castillo began his career in the Deportivo Cali youth ranks before making his first team professional debut during the 2010 season. He appeared in 10 games during the 2010 campaign, notching three goals and logging 768 minutes.

https://www.bigdsoccer.com/2011/5/8/2159420/2011-mls-player-salaries-released

The biggest surprises right off the bat to me were Fabian Castillo's numbers and Ricardo Villar's. Castillo is said to be a Designated Player this season due to the transfer fee that Dallas paid to get him but his salary against the cap is extremely low, and one that is really typical of the age of the player.

https://www.sbnation.com/2011/3/6/2331029/fc-dallas-fabian-castillo-reportedly-finalize-deal

Rumors have been swirling around for awhile now that FC Dallas was close to signing U-20 Colombian forward Fabian Castillo. Now, Big D Soccer, SB Nation's FC Dallas blog, is reporting that the deal has been finalized. The deal reportedly involves FC Dallas paying $700,000 for half of Castillo's rights.

 

They should call Maloney in to the U-20's. He's not cap-tied to Germany, and we need CB's for the U-20 team.

 

He has an Instagram confirming he's German-American and it appears he's fluent in English.
https://www.instagram.com/lennardmaloney33/

 

A couple of sights say he is 182 CM or 5' 9", which is a bit wee for a CB.

And, yeah, I know all about Carles Puyol.

Maybe Lennard is the exception to the rule, as well.

But I'm skeptical of an undersized CB.

That said, I have zero qualms with the US trying to call him in and seeing if he fits somewhere on the backline.

 

182 cm is essentially 6 ft tall.

 

Puyol is 178 cm which equals 5’10”. And the DM turned CB-Mascherano is 174 cm or 5’8”. For the shorter CB they must be quite cerebral in their game and use their positioning to their utmost advantage. Lennard imo is basically ideal enough in the height department. Hope to hear more about him

 

I saw Mascherano once on the street in NYC. No way is he that short. (Messi was with him, btw - he is that short).

 

Found this on reddit,
His instagram bio has USDE in it. He posts in English first, with the German caption underneath it.

He also follows US Soccer and several of our players including Yedlin and Wood.

Obviously can't draw any solid conclusions from this, but I'm optimistic.

Update: He liked a comment on his instagram saying "hope you decide to play for the US"
So seems like he's interested and should be called up for at least the U20s

 

We seem to have dodged a bullet there, because while he was on Germany's provisional roster for the second round of UEFA U19 qualifying, he wasn't on the final squad and therefore didn't appear.

I'm pretty sure he also wasn't part of their first-round squad (which, however, TT was). So in that sense, he's apparently fair game -- though the fact that he was in the mix for Germany at all would seem to suggest it may not be so simple.

By the way: I'm still trying to confirm once and for all, if such a thing is even possible, that an appearance in a UEFA U19 round before the upcoming Finals competition, which is Europe's qualifying competition for the FIFA U20s, cap-ties a player for the U20 cycle.

The previous rounds seem more or less like CONCACAF's subregional prequalifying competitions; offhand, I don't know if they count as official in that sense. Perhaps one of you knows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_CONCACAF_U-20_Championship#Qualification

 

I'm told that, in CONCACAF, they do count. It seems reasonable to assume this is the same across confederations, he said, nevertheless also knowing what happens when one assumes.

 

I can confirm Lennard is American and holds both German and USA passports. He was born in Berlin but his father is an American from Florida.

 

Check out @travismclark’s Tweet:

U.S. U17 MNT World Cup vet George Acosta has signed with Boca Juniors, per a source. He'll start out with the reserve team.

— Travis Clark (@travismclark) April 5, 2018

 

I don't think we've actually talked about this in the youth forum. Have folks been seeing the discussion in the twitterverse that Folarin Balogun, the kid from Arsenal that scored against FCD at the U19 Dallas Cup, is US eligible? That he's eligible for the England, Nigeria, and the US? Maybe, born in the US?

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/folarin-balogun-at-arsenal.2082404/

 

Born in New York City, to be more accurate

leading scorer for Arsenal's U-18 team.

Still, he's only 16.

 

Balogun promoted to Arsenal's U-23s today and scores the equalizer against Liverpool's U-23 team. 1-1 draw

 

He's an '01. They should call him into the player pool, see how he compares to the other 01's. Playing at Arsenal doesn't guarantee anything though. Justin Butler is doing well at Bayern Munich, but wasn't at the U-18 camp right after the January summit camp that he attended. Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but did he perform poorly?

 

Yesterday Joshua Pynadath had 2 assists and a goal in AjaxU16 vs ADO Den HaagU16 match.

 

FIFA investigating Amon's club regarding his recruitment.
http://cphpost.dk/news/sports-news-in-brief-fifa-investigating-danish-clubs-for-youth-signings.html

 

The whole situation has sounded very shady I have to say. It seems that they have gotten around the spirit of the rule (which is supposedly to stop trafficking children) by sending Amon on contract-free stints to other countries, including Ghana if I recall correctly, where I assume he has taken all the risk (i.e. in case of injury). I believe that is trafficking, and much worse than just signing a contract in Denmark at the age of 16.

 

Agreed. When I first saw the great lengths FCN went to “hide” Amon, I thought that FIFA was going to be all over this. Doesn’t mean they’re in the wrong, but an investigation isn’t an absurd request given the rules.

At least Amon is 18 and can freely sign anywhere, assuming the worst if his contract is terminated.

 

And yet they apparently didn't even bother to hide the lengths they want to hide him. It's all spelled out on ASN!

While watching him play in South Carolina, a Danish scout convinced Amon to attend a boarding school in Copenhagen called the Kies School, which is noted for its sports programs in handball and soccer.

While practicing at Kies, he quickly caught the eye of a FC Nordsjaelland rep whose U-19 coach also worked at the school. According to Hjulmand, the coach immediately noticed Amon’s talent and called Nordsjaelland's front office to notify them. From there, Amon began to informally practice with the team outside of school.

But Amon was 15 at the time and could not sign a pro contract with a foreign team until he turned 18. To help avoid him being discovered by other clubs, Nordsjaelland tried to limit his playing time and even went so far as to send Amon to play with the club’s academy in Africa.

"We've kept him hidden a little because he had to turn 18 before we could do anything about him,” Hjulmand said. “He played a reserve game in Lyngby and was absolutely outstanding. It meant that we had to hide him away again. We did not let him play too much so people would not see him. So we have spent a couple of years training him, and he has also been at the academy in Ghana for four months.”​

http://americansoccernow.com/articles/jonathan-amon-18-making-presence-felt-in-denmark

It speaks to a system that probably isn't so easy to regulate and most likely won't ever be.

 

The key word in the article is "convinced". If no money changed hands then its good. That said I wonder if something like a scholarship and host family are ok. The other key word is unofficial. If it was some training stints then it is good. But what about being a guest player?

 

What I really hope is that this does not become the NCAA with ever more arcane rules about what is allowed in recruitment.

 

Dest scored his first goal for Ajax U19 and also had an assist.

56. #AjaxO19 neemt direct verder afstand! Sergino Dest schiet van afstand raak: 2-4! 😎#vitaja

— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) April 14, 2018