Ahhh. I see, thanks for the clarifcation. ALthough it has not been proven for sure, there is a good chance they may be of catalan descent. I also googled his name, and noticed that it seems to be a spanish of origin name, as many of the peopel that came up with that last name were spanish.
uh, if this kid turns out to be any good he is gonna play for spain. according to those vids he has been in spain since he was 7 or 8 years old. After he turns pro he will of probably spent more time in spain than the USA. if spain wants him, they will have him.
i don't think so...it's burried somewhere in this thread that his parents want him to play for the USA one day
His father subscribes to the US Soccer Youtube channel so I would say there's a pretty good chance he wants him to play for the U.S. The family also lives in New Jersey (I know I know, Rossi was from Jersey too).
So, there is now competition between USMNT and Spanish National Team for this 10 y/o. Poster stupidity knows no bounds!
spain is stacked with talent at every level of the game, i highly doubt they will worry about losing one or two ten year olds.
There is a chance the father himself does not feel Spaniard because he is from Catalan. Some Catalans dont feel that they are Spaniards.
good point. A close friend is Catalan and he does not identify very strongly with Spain. Some Catalans root against Spain. I met the President of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, last year and sat in his box at Nou Camp ( long story, professional visit). I told him that this was my first trip to Spain. He sharply corrected me : "Catalunya". That tells the story for many people from Catalunya.
I remember Bruce Arena's comment about Freddy Adu : " we need 100 Freddy Adu's, because you can't tell which great youth players will be great adult players"
...let's be honest. That's what makes it fun. If not for the moronic these boards would lose appeal quickly.
In what language did you converse with LaPorta; English, Spanish or Cataluñan? King Carlos speech in Barcelona opening the Olympics’ was delivered in Cataluñan and he was much beloved for it. However, Cataluñyans are nor separatists that designations is exclusively for the Basques
This also explains why the Spanish national team almost never plays their games in Catalunya. In fact, last summer during the Confederations Cup I was scanning the Spanish sports press for coverage in the buildup to the USA vs. Spain game. When I looked at Sport, a Barcelona-based newspaper, I saw that the tournament was barely getting any coverage at all; it consisted of a single small headline about halfway down the page. There was even a poll to rate the level of importance of the Confederations Cup, and most of the participants judged it "not very". Another anecdote: Laporta used to play as a defender in the 3rd division, and for at least one season he was the backup for a good friend of mine.
Looks like he's playing Defense alot in this video, I thought he was an attacking player. Anyone know how old he is now? 12-13?
Wow - the kid's fantastic, but what really impresses me is the quality of play. These highlights (and I know that they're highlights) make it seem that these 11/12 y/o kids are better than our Development Academy kids in terms of tactical understanding.
He's an excellent player, and the level of player for their age is absolutely terrific, the vision, tactical understanding, and technical ability is extremely high.
Your seeing more and more young usa kids going over to Europe soccer academies and residencies to train and there getting results. I think that is only going to increase too. The only question is if this turns out to be that good will he play for spain or usa? Another Guiseppi Rossi situation. If kids got the drive to go over europe more power to them. We can't match there training rite now.
You are seeing less now actually. FIFA rules are becoming tougher for kids under 18 to play in foreign countries even if it is an academy situation. Most American kids in Europe under 18 are dual citizens