What a terrible, terrible list. Onyewu’s career nosedived when he got injured playing for the US. Parks went to Portugal instead of going to college. That’s the exact opposite of nosediving. Adu a) goes back well over a decade and b) is a pretty awful example if that’s the best you can do. Hell, Adu’s career peaked in 2006 when DC lost very little when they replaced league MVP Christian Gomez with Freddy. He was worse with RSL.
TBF the list is longer. Kamani Hill and Kenny Cooper spring to mind. Those guys who went to Estoril. Eryk Williams as well. Success stories? Tyler Boyd… I guess. That’s about it.
Cannon's struggling with something. It looked like he might come off early with an injury, but he's going to soldier on for now. He's playing as a right-wingback in a 5-4-1/3-4-3.
there arent any success stories....thats the point. @superdave is interested in attacking what I say...not in the truth
Before he went to Estoril, his career consisted of 7 appearances for the Central Florida Kraze. If you believe Wikipedia, before Hill went to Portugal, he had played 9 times for Wolfsburg in 3 years. Did playing in Portugal cause his career to nose dive, or was he just not that good? I know which one I believe. Before Cooper went to Portugal, he had zero first team appearances. <chuckles> Before he went to Braga, his career consisted of 6 appearances with Miami FC. Now, I grant you, he was considered a Grade A prospect, and maybe his career could have gone better. Literally every other name thrown out here is obvious bullshit.
look guys I will make it very simple for you... from 1990 to 2021 - how many Yanks have benefitted from going to portugal...? any? there have been literally thousands of players who couldve possibly done so.... and somehow or another ALL of the ones who have gone there mysteriously didnt find success there. whther its cannon, parks, adu, onyewu, erik williamson, epb, or the lesser knowns etc etc portgal is ZERO for whatever they are in terms of being the OPTIMAL place for yanks. why are people arguing this? theres success stories in germany in the epl in france in fricking italy and spain...but not portugal....hmmm you want to make the point that the players who didnt make it in portugal ARE THE PROBLEM. that they themselves are the reason. why isnt there any single success story then? are you saying as USMNT fans that you WANT us players in portugal? are you really saying that a player like Pepi for instance should choose that country over other laces like germany or spain etc? really??? are you saying it doesnt matter - if the player is good enough the country is irrelevant? the situation matters a lot. picking the wrong country/club is bad for a player - short and long term. if they have options - they shouldnt go there. even if you are right and every single yank that went to portugal wasnt good enough.... cuz guess what other countries like germany and england (and i am not a fan of yanks going to england either) have turned marginal players into something more at least a couple of times.... players like jay demerit and tony sanneh etc have turned into something really good by going to those other countries...and yanks that have gone to portugal have either stayed the same or mostly got worse career wise...so no. no to this whole argument that is curiously and for no good reason trying to make lack of yank success in portugal about the players. if it was one player or two fine...but all? something else is going on.
Cooper didn't just struggle in Portugal, he had to ask his parents to send him money so he could eat. That's the truth
Yeah, because they haven't proven themselves much elsewhere. At least not to be significant NT performers. Maybe Cannon has a chance. And maybe he's in a bad situation. The others we've mentioned weren't really that good.
Thats certainly struggling in one way. Poor clubs with poor finances, odd contract situations, 3rd party player ownership and in general tough situations has certainly contributed to the lack of YA success there. I don’t think there is some magical force keeping Americans from succeeding within the borders of Portugal but they almost all have struggled and the sample size isn’t too small. Same thing with VFL Wolfsburg. Can an American youth product succeed there? Of course but they haven’t and I don’t want to see more go there.
Kenny Cooper's dad here. We got tired of sending him sandwiches, so we started to send him money for food. Plus, there were unanticipated issues with condiment leakage and overall freshness.
fair enough, perhaps. but the road to the national team isn't paved with speed bumps and obstacles. part of becoming a national teamer is that you have good luck in moving up the "club ladder" players that hit rough patches - whether due to lack of quality or lack of luck - simply rarely make it to the national team level. at this point in the development of the player pool there are multiple options at every position and there will certainly be other players who arent having club difficulty at every position..... since a club player needs to be doing well to even be on the national team, they often cannot compensate for a poor club situation and then they also end up in a worse club situation than otherwise at their next club....and so on there are very few examples of players who went through club difficulties and made it to the national team level...unless they had already proven themselves as national team players, usually. so it works both ways.....
Questionable for next match: https://www.abola.pt/nnh/2021-11-02/boavista-reggie-cannon-esta-em-duvida/911536
Starts: ⚽ 𝟭𝟭 𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 #BFCFCF#BoavistaFC #OrgulhoAxadrezado pic.twitter.com/BLDzUc3qc5— Boavista FC (@boavistaoficial) November 5, 2021
Oops... welp. looks like Reggie wants to be the first one to camp! https://t.co/qoIGm8sZ3X pic.twitter.com/6iLtzYyhAx— 🇺🇸 ⚽ east (@eastdeflection) November 5, 2021
Reggie Cannon was sent off in the 58th minute today for Boavista in a 5-2 loss at home to Famalicao. He was called fouling an attacker from behind when he was the last defender on the play. DOGSO #USMNT— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) November 5, 2021