Joshua Bitter at Schalke 04

I haven't seen anything that would confirm he is an American. Of course clubs don't typically put out much information for this age range.

His birthday in January 1st and he has progressed to the u15 squad. He apparently scored once for the u14s.

 

I've got nothing to add. He's on a watchlist I have, but I can't say for certain that it's correct.

 

I bet this guy really pleases the Germans.

 

"A Bitter Pill to Swallow: Joshua at Schalke04"

 

He is listed as on Schalke in several places. must be true.

 

What's more questionable is his nationality, as no one has confirmed him being American.

 

Bitter, baby... You're making a German spectacle of yourself.

 

Be careful! Those schnitzengrubens can wipe you out!

 

Schalkenfreude: Joshua Bitter in Germany

 

Played 17 minutes for the Schalke U-17's about a month ago. Transfermarkt.co.uk only has him listed as playing that one game this season.

My guess is that he was recently promoted to the U-17's. He is a '97, so he was probably playing with the U-16's.

 

http://knappenschmiede.schalke04.de...oshua-bitter/page/342-602-8--.html?h=NW/16691

According to this he was born in Dorsten and is German. Don't know if he has a second citizenship or the right to it. Bitter can be a German name. Joshua is unusual as a first name in Germany.

 

I don't know if he's American, but I do know he's been captaining the Schalke 04 U-17s lately, and he scored on 10/20/13 vs. Euskirchen:
http://www.transfermarkt.com/joshua-bitter/leistungsdaten/spieler/265159/saison/2013/plus/1

With the U-17s, fourth from the left in the back row:

http://knappenschmiede.schalke04.de...h/u17/mannschaftsfoto/page/176-3419-38--.html

In the middle:

http://www.derwesten.de/sport/lokal...te-erste-halbzeit-unter-woerns-id9002183.html

 

So, can someone find out if this guy is American or not? Captaining the U-17 side has to be basis for at least a look with a youth NT, no?

 

If he's not American we could always just get him this guy's passport.

http://health.usnews.com/doctors/joshua-bitter-599357

(What? Like none of you googled his name and thought the same damn thing!)

 

You could always ask here:

http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/schalke-youth-reserves-discussion.2001615/page-2

There aren't more than 5 or 6 regular posts on that forum, but those that do post there are somewhat knowledgeable about the inner-workings of the team.

 

I asked.

Now I'm waiting for a response.

 

Via the neverending miracle of Google Translate:

FC Schalke 04 brings the fourth win in the fourth game in the A-junior Bundesliga...

Bitter with Joker double

...Twelve minutes from time came Joshua Bitter for Hendrik Lohmar the field, and took his leave with a brace for more playing time. After 85 minutes, Bitter dusted off for a corner in the final minute overcame the 17-year-old Enes Kurt from ten yards with a shot into the left corner.
http://www.derwesten.de/sport/lokal...uer/die-arroganz-im-makellosen-id9764788.html

 

BVB (4-2-3-1): Dominik Reimann - Till Schumacher, Moise Mbende, Lars Dietz, Patrick Franke - Domagoj Drozdek (51. Ogun Gümüstas), Nils Lennart Dietz - Burak Camoglu (72. Sören Dieckmann), Herber Mejia Flores (46. Jonas Arweiler), Oguzhan Aydogan (53. Luca Steinfeldt) - Hayrullah Alici.
GE (4-2-3-1): Janik Schilder - Daniel Koseler, Jacob Rasmussen, John Malanga, Joshua Bitter - Hendrik Lohmar, Maurice Neubauer - Felix Schröter (78. Michael Olczyk), Christian Sivodedov (46. Fabian Reese/90. Serhat Kot), Paul Stieber - Maurice Multhaup (74. Oktawian Skrzecz).
Tore: 0:1 Felix Schröter (22.), 0:2 Joshua Bitter (50.), 1:2 Hayrullah Alici (89., Handelfmeter).Schiedsrichter: Alexander Busse. Zuschauer: 380. Besonderes Vorkommnis: Rote Karte gegen Paul Stieber (GE/36.).
http://www.schwatzgelb.de/2015-04-09-auffem-platz-u19-heimderby-u17-triumph-flinger-broich.html

 

Cool to have a thread on this guy, but 3 years on we aren't any closer to knowing if he's really a Yank.

 

Watching him live right now for Schalke U19 in the return leg of the U19 Bundesliga semi-final. Schalke is up 3-1 on aggregate. He's currently playing right centerback. He's extremely skillful on the ball, more so than any of the CBs in the current US U20 pool.

I'm going to guess that since he isn't involved in the USYNTs, he is not eligible or not interested. I couldn't imagine that the US would ignore such a skillful player on arguably the best U19 team in Germany.

 

Well, we're still not 100% sure that he's an American citizen. And if he is, I wouldn't be 100% sure that the USSF knows who he is. Unless he or his agent reaches out directly, the USSF seems somewhat dependent on the media to ferret these guys out. BigSoccer collectively has a larger database of players than they do, I'm quite certain.

 

If there's one position the US U-20's could afford to ignore another dual national it's CB. Carter-Vickers and Palmer-Brown arguably have the most potential of any two players in the U-20 pool. Tommy Redding and Matt Miazga are very good prospects in their own right who would be lock starters most cycles. Not to mention all of them minus Miazga are eligible for the 2017 U-20 team as well.

With that said you can never have too many quality options and I'll just assume that Bitter is either 1) not eligible or 2) still holding out for Germany because he's too good a prospect to ignore. The US already has a U-20 eligible CB prospect in Germany for sure though, former German youth national Demarveay Sheron at Karlsruher.

Sheron is a '97 too so he will be eligible for the 2017 cycle. There's a chance neither Carter-Vickers or Palmer-Brown play a part in the next U-20 campaign outside of the world cup itself. Right now I think Sheron and Redding are the early favorites to be the starting CB pair for the next U-20 cycle if Sheron decides to play for the US. Sheron wouldn't have to file a one time switch either because his German youth caps are below the U-17 level.

 

Fair enough, although last time I checked, Bitter is a natural right/left back. When I tunned in he was playing centrally, but he moved back outside later.

Bitter is a '97 as well actually. He has no caps for the German youth squads, so presumably he wouldn't need to file a switch. I suppose it will come down to next season. If Bitter is offered a professional contract and he is US eligible, I suspect the USSF might contact him. But at this age level, you cannot predict the future.

Regardless, Schalke advanced to the final against Hoffenheim. It should be a good one.

 

Could we at least move this thread to the academy forum, if not merge it with the detective work thread? Since the 2011 OP (and I'm not faulting the poster) there has been zero additional evidence that he's a Yank except for a flag on a web site that also lists players with their high school teams.