He's a high school sophomore in Ohio: Central Ohio followers aren’t the only ones taking notice. Dapaa has been contacted by officials from English Premier League titan Manchester United, who are figuring out arrangements for him to try out with its vast feeder system this fall in Europe. Traveling abroad is nothing new for Dapaa, who was born in Italy to parents who hailed from Ghana, the same country that defeated the United States in the past two World Cups. Introduced to the “beautiful game” at age 3, Dapaa came with his family to the United States before his kindergarten year. He has four soccer-playing siblings, and the sport remains a passion to all. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2013/10/23/gahanna-christian-sophomore-dazzles.html He seems to be a '97, according to this web site (which says he's got American and Italian citizenship): http://www.usgsoccer.com/dapaa-emmanuel.html
I can confirm he's a dual Italian-American citizen. Do not be surprised if he heads to Italy for a few trials.
What's your source? You (and the link I posted) say he's American, but Eskilson writes: Dapaa was born in Italy to Ghanaian parents, which would make a move to Europe easier but a call up to the U.S. youth national team tricky. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club...spects:-kentucky-teenager-at-vitesse_aid31624 That seems to imply that he might not be a citizen.
Clearly there is some unusual stuff going on here. Has anyone else ever heard of co-ed high school soccer? There are girls on both of the teams. By the way, watch the "GCA vs Madison first half" video if you want to hear the most annoying parent ever.
Yes, where I'm originally from there have been seasons where the local schools didn't have the numbers to field strictly girl's soccer teams so the girls that wanted to and were good enough joined the boy's teams.
His school has 350 students in 12 grades. Doesn't leave a huge number left for varsity sports I would imagine. But he does play for a pretty high-level (non-DA club) in Ohio, so he presumably sees pretty good competition in any case.
Which would raise the question: why wouldn't he be playing for one of the best MLS Academy set-ups if it is practically located in his backyard? As one who is extremely familiar with the high school soccer scene in central Ohio, his numbers are impressive but nothing to really write home about. The Division III skill level (the lowest in Ohio) isn't too competitive, and though he is young, no player is challenged enough in that setting. I know a forward who scored 26 goals his Junior year at a D3 school in central Ohio who went on to sit on the JV team's bench for 1 season at a Division III NCAA school before hanging up the boots. Dapaa looks like he has skill, but I wouldn't get caught up just yet about his scoring totals and unconfirmed reports about Euro trials. Now if he plays for the Crew Academy team and finds loads of success, then he can be labeled as a potential prospect. At this point, it is just a kid bagging goals against bad co-ed teams.
Of course right now he's just another kid with a tryout. But he apparently plays for Ohio Premier Eagles, which seems to be a high-level non-DA club in Ohio. Surely there is more than one worthy club in the entire state of Ohio?
As someone involved in the Central Ohio soccer scene (I coach for a high level non-DA) club, if he really is that good, I'd be surprised if he wasn't part of the Crew Academy at his age. Particularly with how weak his high school team is, it would make no sense for him to not play with the Crew Academy year round instead. Also, the Crew Academy is free, so it's rare for the very top players not to go there at the older ages.
When reading his story it seems very odd that he would have an Italian passport. Italy has some of the toughest laws in Europe when it comes to acquiring citizenship, with some of the longest waits. Just look at Balotelli. He was also born in Italy to Ghanaian parents, then he was later adopted by an Italian family. But he still had to wait until he was 18 before he could claim an Italian passport and represent their national team. Yet this kid has citizenship, even though he left the country before kindergarten and is still a minor? Sounds strange...
Maybe one of his parents was Italian? Also, wouldn't he be a Tri-national? Eligible for US, Italy and Ghana?
One of the under-analyzed provisions of FIFA regulations on dual nationals is Article 7 (effective in 2008): 7. Acquisition of a new nationality Any Player who refers to art. 5 par. 1 to assume a new nationality and who has not played international football in accordance with art. 5 par. 2 shall be eligible to play for the new representative team only if he fulfills one of the following conditions: a) He was born on the territory of the relevant Association; b) His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant Association; c) His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant Association; d) He has lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant Association. I'm not sure how aggressively applied in the past, but this section of the rules seems to make it much harder for a naturalized citizen to be eligible for a national team until hitting age 23.
It does? This would seem only to apply in relatively rare circumstances -- seems (based on a quick reading) mainly to be targeted at stopping youth "sniping" and/or mercenary citizenship changes. In any case, it's also more about who is eligible to play for a country than how a player became a citizen of that country in the first place. That's what I'm wondering about here, since it's not clear to me how a guy born in Italy to Ghanaian parents is a U.S. citizen. Obviously there is something more to this, but I guess we just haven't found out what it is.
Well, you just need to live 5 years in the US with a Green Card, so that's not that big a stretch. Ghanians and Italians are eligible for the Green Card lottery. The interesting thing about Article 7 is that, while it was about grabbing Brazilians, it makes no exceptions for age. It most recently came up in the Adnan Januzaj case in the UK. He can't represent England until he spends 5 years after age 18 and he's been there a couple of years already before 18.
Here's Article 6: Nationality entitling Players to represent more than one Association 1. A Player who, under the terms of art. 5, is eligible to represent more than one Association on account of his nationality, may play in an international match for one of these Associations only if, in addition to having the relevant nationality, he fulfills at least one of the following conditions: a) He was born on the territory of the relevant Association; b) His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant Association; c) His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant Association; d) He has lived continuously on the territory of the relevant Association for at least two years. The confusing part is that this paragraph would seem to be pretty much the same as Article 7, so why is it needed? It would appear this section applies to those who don't "acquire a new nationality" but are born with it. I've used this section to argue that Paul Arriola isn't eligible to represent Mexico right now because his Mexican passport came from his great-grandfather and that doesn't meet the requirements. I haven't seen anyone really tackle this issue, but it seems to apply to players like Fagundez and Zelalem who may acquire US citizenship, but won't be eligible to represent the US until after they turn 23 (assuming they are living continuously in the US since age 18).
Let's worry about this kid being a decent player before we worry about Italy prying him away. Honestly, club soccer still has some legit players but it really isn't what it was 6 years ago. The best players play for the Academy teams because they play against the best competition, get the best training available, get the best exposure (both professionally and collegiately), and it is free. You can't tell me a kid is getting a trial with Manchester United but isn't good enough for the Crew to bend over backwards to get him on the Academy team. I hope for the best for him. But if he is really that good, he won't be playing high school soccer next season (or for the Ohio Premier Eagles).
Eman is the real deal as they like to say. I've watched him play against my son's teams since roughly u12. Despite what you think, the best kids in Columbus/Ohio don't play for the Crew DA at the u-16 level. I can't comment on the older u-18 group because I haven't seen the kids over the last few years since my son is u-16 this year. I've watched the last 2 years of the Crew DA team play and know almost all the kids because my son has played or guest played with or against them...even the Crew Challenger ones that were brought in this November after their high school seasons ended. They seem to have made an impact and stabilized the team a bit although they are sitting in 3rd from last place in the table. OP U-16 would handle the Crew DA pretty easily in my opinion. We'll never know though. In the U-15 age group Lesh's Blast team is far superior to anything the Crew has as well. You probably find this hard to believe but the top players in Ohio South aren't all clamoring to play DA for the Crew. Lot's of kids want to do multiple sports, play with and in front of friends in HS and maybe have steered clear for other reasons. I know a lot of unhappy Crew Pre-Academy families from the last year or two. Just for the record my son has never played Gold, Pre-Acad or DA but some of his ex-teamates have or still do.
Apologies for a late, under-informed response, but how sure are we that Arriola's passport was from a great-grandparent? At any rate, Dapaa is still playing for OP Eagles and has scored 4 goals in 3 games in the US Youth Soccer national finals. They've advanced to the semis this weekend.