Sorry if this is common knowledge, but I was watching a replay of the Borrussia Dortmund-Hansa Rostock game the other day, and was surprised to hear that a Hansa player not named Pearce also has an American background. The announcer said midfielder/defender Dexter Langen, 26, was born to an American military officer and a German woman. Looks like the guy has played in Germany all his life, so it's unclear whether he has any connections back to the U.S. Here's his bio on Kicker: http://kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/vereine/spielersteckbrief/object/26697/saison/2007-08
Wikipedia has a little more info about him - his father was named McKenzey? http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Langen
Didn't he own the club in Animal House where Otis (my man!) Day and the Knights played? Oh, and PS - cap him! (Had to be first)
Man, it's a sign of how far the US National Team has come that a thread about a player starting for a German first division club potentially being able to play for the US has only gotten a couple of hits on BigSoccer and none in over 24 hours. Man, 5-6 years ago this thread would have been hopping with optimistic hits and 10 years ago this would have crashed Soccer American Graffiti! Oh, and if Bora or Sampson were still coaching the US, this guy would be starting against Brazil today!
Well, maybe not a lot of posts- but yeah, I think Bob Bradley should at least consider a guy like this in his broader viewing circle. The problem is- one needs to make *some* effort to view games from a Hansa Rostock..its not so simple...and I could easily see a USMNT coach not making the effort and letting it just slip a bit. I wouldn't call the guy up yet, but I'd certainly want to monitor his minutes and see him on film. If he is getting above average-to-good reports + playing a lot of minutes in the BL come early next year, we would be negligent not to take a closer look. We don't have a lot of defenders playing in a top 5 league.
For the record, going to add Dexter to the official list. According to the club: Seine Mutter Renate, eine ehemalige Turnerin, ist Deutsche, sein Vater Kennedy McKenzey ein amerikanischer Offizier, der in Florida lebt. Von der Nationalität ist Dexter Deutscher. Link: http://www2.fc-hansa.de/cp/index.php?id=206
My wife speaks a little German and she says the above says that Dexter is the son of an American military officer from Florida and a German mother but his nationality is German. I interpret that to mean he's grown up in Germany and never lived in the US. Obviously, he has US citizenship and is eligible to play for the US. Whether he has any desire too, however, is another story. I certainly think it would be worth following up on. Theoretically, Bradley and his coaches are already watching Hansa Rostock to monitor Pearce so they should have ample chances to see him play. It also wouldn't hurt to see if he's interested. Just have Heath ask and if he says "no" that's it. If he says "sure, why not" then just check him out. Yeah, we're not desparate for Amis like we were back in the early and mid 90's but we're also not so good that we can dismiss, outright, someone consistently playing in the Bundesliga. I mean, Sal Zizzo, Lee Nguyen and Kamani Hill have been capped by the US this summer and all of them are riding major pine at their teams. If this guy is PLAYING in the German top flight and he wants to play for the US and is eligible, it's hard to justify not bringing him in when the likes of Hill and Zizzo have been capped.
Bruce S. will be coming on, and making some crack about a kid playing in his rec league in T minus 4.......3.........2.......
This guy is still with Hansa Rostock, and scored a goal in their last preseason friendly. Apparently he had been out for a long time due to injury. http://www.ostsee-zeitung.de/rostoc...bc90e988229b0fbddfe9995¶m=news&id=2493856
Langen still with Hansa Rostock, but he is out for with a blown knee and probably won't play for some time.