So.. the club i support started pretty aggressive worldwide camp opening thingy.. Now it was time for USA.. In USA first 3 camps were in San Francisco, Cleveland and Las Vegas. After very successful trial camp that was held last year (Alex Molano was 1st USA guy to be given contract at Dinamo from USA camps) now they picked 2 guys from those 3 camps which will be called here in Croatia and be included in Dinamo Academy (one of the best and most productive Europe... recent graduates are now world wide stars like Luka Modrić (Tottenham), Vedran Ćorluka (Tottenham), Niko Kranjčar (Tottenham), Eduardo da Silva (formerly Arsenal, now Shakhtar), Ognjen Vukojević (Dynamo Kiev), Dejan Lovren (Lyon) etc. Those 2 guys that were picked out of those first USA camps are called Edgar Nava (17 yrs old) and Albert Medancic (13 yrs old). Any of you happened to know something about them? Romeo Jozak (academy director) especially mentioned this Edgar Nava kid to be pretty huge talent... and he rarely makes a mistake. He's the one who scouted all those players i mentioned earlier. Kid is from Las Vegas and they scouted him in Vegas camp, but that's about the only thing that they mentioned about him. Any additional info about those 2 kids would be much appreciated. Cheers from Croatia
Nava is attacking midfielder. I'm having trouble finding out which is his current club tho.. would be nice if someone knows it
Players United out of Nevada. He is a 93. He was also on the ODP Region 4 team. Albert is from the Cleveland Soccer Academy, can't find a position though.
Hey, Danny - were these generic try-out camps where a bunch of kids were asked to work out for the Dinamo scouts and paid by Dinamo itself?
Hmm... i'm not sure, but i think its the same like with other Dinamo camps in Europe and Australia. Some local team does preselection of the players and invites the kids and then Dinamo coaching staff and scouts work with with the kids for a week or two and then if someone is good, they call him for further testings in Croatia. Here's an interview with 1st USA kid to be signed based on those camps over there.. http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=6156 He's made debut for senior team this year in one friendly as well. I assume he'll be with u19 team for one more season and then he'll go to FC Lokomotiva (Dinamo's affiliated team where all top youngsters go on loan).
Not to be patronizing, but I think it's fantastic that a relatively small club has adopted such an aggressive, global youth strategy. Croatian clubs have long underperformed the country's soccer talent, and Dinamo is remedying that. It also speaks to the remarkable shift in "Western" perceptions of Croatia - ten years ago, Americans would never send their children to a youth academy there. Now, it's a hot vacation destination and kids like Molano are spending their formative years in Zagreb.
The Croatian league seems to have a very liberal foreign player policy and the US youth soccer is virtually an uncharted territory. But it's just odd that, sans an odd signing with Hoffenheim and alike, a club from Croatia will be leading the chase. As to the perception of Croatia, its entire coast is one beach island after another. Edit: Some of the ex-Dinamo Zagreb greats are : Zlatko Kranjčar, Goran Vlaović, Davor Šuker, Zvonimir Boban, Mario Stanić, Zvonimir Soldo, Dario Šimić, Robert Prosinečki, Igor Bišćan. So, we're talking top level skill and finesse here.
It sounds very interesting that Dinamo Zagreb would be scouting U.S. players. Croatian football is a good level, and Dinamo probably offers much better training than players would find stateside. Molano's grandmother is Croatian, thus making the move there easier. What are the restrictions for U.S. players who can't claim either Croatian or some type of EU connection?
Our biggest problem is weak league.. apart from Dinamo and Hajduk everyone is rubbish so players want to leave pretty early. It's not even about the money as much as competition. But somehow league constantly pumps out good players. If you do good here, doors for top, top leagues and clubs are wide open. We like to joke here that senior clubs are just an obstacle and unnecessary evil Dinamo recognized on time that only way we'll survive in modern football and do minimum of whats request from fans (lets say.. Europa league group stages every year) will only be achieved with extremely strong youth academy. Many of the players that smashed Portugal today in 5-0 victory on Euro u19's are from there.. First obvious choice was expanding the network in neighboring countries and now its time for world wide... we also have open selections here in Zagreb all the time where anyone can apply and be tested. As for perception of Croatia in the USA.. eh.. what can you do. People will always be ignorant (or just not interested in knowing it, which is understandable since its very small country).
In recent 5 years from Dinamo sold many players for big bucks.. so young players do want to come here. Like i said.. Cro league is rubbish in general, but even like that it sells players pretty good. Any random semi-rubbish midtable club will guarantee you at least Bundesliga transfer if you are any good. Vida (FC Osijek) and Pamić (FC Karlovac) who signed for Leverkusen this summer are perfect example of that. As for the major transfers in last few years we had Mario Mandžukić (most recent one) to Wolfsburg for 8 mil euros, Dejan Lovren to Lyon for 8 mil euros, Ognjen Vukojević to Dynamo Kiev for 6.5 mil euros, Nikola Pokrivac to Monaco for 3.5 mil euros, Eduardo to Arsenal for 14 mil euros, Corluka to Man City for 13 mil euros, Luka Modric to Tottenham for 21 mil euros and bunch of other small transfers. So if your boys do good here, doors for top clubs are wide opened since every game is scouted by tens of foreign scouts.
It's very easy for a foreigner to play here (that's why every village team has a Brazilian or two). Especially if they are Dinamo players... they'll probably get the passport as well then. Our law is very liberal when it comes to that and you can get our passport after living in Croatia for year or two. 6 foreigners (non Croats) are allowed to be on the pitch at the same time and that applies for USA players as well. There's no different between them or any random European.
Regarding Albert Medancic, from what I've been hearing he's extremely talented. The last time I saw him messing around with the ball was over a year and half ago and he was doing step-overs and fakes in his socks in a confined space (someone's basement) with 5 other kids trying to get the ball to no avail. He was about 11 then, and I said to my buddies "damn little Medancic is amazing"; and they all agreed. They say he's always the best kid on the pitch. I know his father, they're from my home town and started out at my old club NK Croatia Cleveland; not sure what position he plays (I'm betting midfield) but I know that most people say "he's the best youth player they've ever seen". The only knock is that he's slight of build, but so is/was Luka Modric and look how he ended up. He reminded me of the kids you see playing in the favelas or the streets - - instinctual in their play, amazing foot skills - the stuff you can't teach. He's good friends with my godson and plays on the same team as my college roommate's son, I'll ask both of them what the scoop is. Dinamo, unlike my Hajduk actually goes out looking for talent - - the US camps are a great investment. I actually read that they chose Vegas as one location in the hopes of attracting Mexican kids. T
Do you really think Molano will spend another year as a youth player? I thought he was on the edge on the first team or about to be loaned out for more playing time.
The only problem is that Croatia isn't a Euro nation, so the passport doesn't mean much in terms of getting jobs in England, Italy and Spain. However, for the pure soccer education, Croatian football has long been top notch. And that comes from a guy who still remembers Šurjak, Oblak, Žungul and Buljan.
They're the next country in line for EU enlargement by a long way (Croatia is the only potential newcomer the majority of EU citizens favor admitting well ahead of Turkey and the other ex-Yugoslav remnants). This might be the perfect time for young Americans to take advantage of the reduced paperwork required to get into Croatian academies but still potentially be in line to get an EU passport 3 or 4 years down the road. I'd like to see some of our guys take advantage.
While some Americans in the States remain ill or uninformed about Croatia, the country has merely returned to its vacation destination heritage following the Croatian War of Independence / Serbo-Croatia war (1991-1995). Once Croatia is invited to the EU in the next couple years, it will become more than the present nation of beaches /islands (particularly those with sand), sailing, hiking, decent wine, good business opportunities, hoopsters, attractive tall women, etc. More on point, Dinamo, Hajduk (if they pursued more foreign players), and other Croatian clubs could become an even more attractive destination for young players pursuing an entree to Europe. May the first few players recruited from the US prove themselves and open doors for other Yanks.
It is Euro nation, but its not EU nation... EU doesn't equal Europe I wouldn't be so sure about EU entrance tbh.. we have lowest EU public support in entire Europe.. even in Serbia (despite Kosovo) its bigger. Perhaps if they (Cro government) change the constitution so that they wouldn't have to held entrance referendum. Entrance negotiations are almost over, but i doubt that we'll enter on our own. We'll probably wait for Iceland or some other country (if they decide to join at the end). Apart from Albania no one from current non EU countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, exyu, Albania) wants to really get in.. they find it to be necessary evil. Anyway.. while we are on topic of Yanks in Croatia... when i was still active in football ~7, 8 years old there were 2 guys playing their football here. One was called Eric Custer and he played for NK Cakovec in second divison and other one was Christopher Greer who played for NK Cibalia in 1st and 2nd div. Anyone knows what are they up to this days and if they still play footie? Cheers
Nothing was said about him so i assume he'll stay for another year with the youth squad. Dinamo usually loans all youth players to either Lokomotiva (1st div) or Radnik (new affiliated club, 3rd div). He'll end in up in one of those two sooner or later.
That's what Lukashenko says. Switzerland and Norway have the Schengen Accord, under which their nationals can work pretty much anywhere in the European Union. What trade/labor accords does Croatia have, aside of the agreement with many of the ex-Soviet Bloc nations? As you know, the non-Latin/non-Cotonou US players without a direct (2 generations?) European Union member ancestry have a harder time entering most of the larger European leagues, aside of Germany. Of the "easy passport" nation, Belgium seems to have the required pay scale, player development and the quickest time frame of attaining citizenship. The problem is that the Belgian clubs have been more interested in (French speaking) African players than in Yanks. Croatia obviously doesn't have the funds of the Belgian league but it can offer top quality soccer instruction as well as a sufficient compensation, given the cost of living, for the younger prospects. But the ability to seek EU jobs with the Croatian passport is still a stumbling block, is it not?
yes it is. but croatia will most likely become member in the next 2 years, and the referendum will most likely pass comfortably. the passport isn't actually easy to obtain if you don't have any croatian ancestry, it's just that dinamo pull some strings with the government to give their players status of people who are of special importance to Croatia and get them citizenship. Btw, excellent taste in great hajduk players. Here something from a slightly different era, but beautiful none the less [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTYYl-oqL4&feature=related"]YouTube- Blaz Sliskovic - Legenda[/ame]
I doubt.. it will be tight. It's easy for everyone, not just Dinamo (tho its easier for them because its easier to prove that those players are "needed").. just look at the hockey team and how 10-15 Canadians got passports in few months thanks to "special importance law".
those guys all have croatian ancestors and got their passports through regular procedure, and those who don't haven't gotten them.
Christopher Powers, Scott Reynolds, Robby Sandrock... pure Croats Half of them have VERY distant Cro roots and just few out of the bunch can actually speak Croatian. I'm pretty sure that any random Yank footballer would get our passport in ~ 1 year if it was an issue. But its really not. They can just as easily play here without one.
Powers’ mother is Croatian ( at least her parents are). Sandrock and others like him with no croatian background don’t have citizenship and play as foreigners. You might not agree with the law, but those who got the citizenship have acquired it trough regular procedure and could have gotten it even if they were plumbers or construction workers. They didn’t get it because of their “special importance” like some dinamo players.