Thanks to Hobo for the find. Figured this should have its own thread. He's at Elversberg at the moment: Trainer Brent Goulet: „Das hat mir fürs erste Testspiel schon richtig gut gefallen.“ Auch der Auftritt des amerikanischen Gastspielers Kenny Bertz (24). Link: http://www.bild.t-online.de/BILD/sp...-fruehform/testspiel-waldhof,geo=3595850.html He has some experience in MLS and the USL, and played for the Terps. I always thought he was a pretty solid player.
He's played for the Rhinos the past two seasons and rumors had him moving to an MLS team this year. His play rookie season gave us some tastes of some very high potential, but he definitely had a sophomore slump. Part of that slump may have come from playing in different formations in front of 3 different GK's in '07. He's definitely got the size and strength to be an MLS level central defender, what that translates to in Germany I'm not really sure.
German central defenders tend to be big strong guys with good positioning sense which make up for their lack of pace...If he fits that description he might start tomorrow in most German clubs Elversberg is a minor club in the Regionalliga in Germany (3rd division) that have good finances and pay decent salaries. And they got an Amercan coach with Brent Goulet which might explain how Kenny ended up there I guess.
The Rhinos listed him as 6' 2", 195. He's a pretty good athlete at that size and from what little I've seen I wouldn't be surprised if he could play at the German D3 level. That said I have no idea whether Goulet's interested or what the team's needs are.
SVE needs better defensive qualities than they currently got..signing Kenny might make sense. I visited their main forum and most fans (not that they got many..) seemed in favor of Kenny. What they really want is a goalscorer though...Surprise!! But the question is if moving to a club the size of SVE is a way forward? It´s a small club in a very small town..they got money though
It looks like he got a deal: Amerikaner für die Abwehr Ebenfalls neu im Kader des Fußball-Regionalligisten von der Kaiserlinde ist der USAmerikaner Kenney Bertz (geb. 7.12.1983) aus Fountain Valley (Kalifornien). Der 24-jährige Abwehrspieler stand bislang in Diensten des US-Clubs Rochester Raging Rhinos. Sein Vertrag bei der Sportvereinigung Elversberg gilt zunächst bis zum 30. Juni 2008. Zudem hält die SVE mit erreichen der Qualifikation zur 3. Liga eine weitere Option bis zum Jahre 2010. Mittwoch, 30. Januar, 16 Uhr. Link: http://www.1asport.de/sport/fussball/SV_Elversberg_verpflichtet_zwei_neue_Spieler_1e6_72149N.html Looks like the club site is a little behind. But since the article above mentions contract details, I think we can be pretty confident that this happened.
Kenney was a guest player with FSV Lu-Oggersheim in a July match. Not 100% sure that he's signed with the club, though it's been reported in a few transfer wrap-ups. Match link: http://www.fsv-lu-oggersheim.de/ind...d=1215439268&archive=&start_from=&ucat=//bu1& EDIT: Never mind, he's back with Rochester now. Link: http://www.rhinossoccer.com/team/index.php?team=men
It appears that he retired late last year at the ripe old age of 26. He decided to pursue a career in criminology/law enforcement in order to actually earn a living. http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/devo/2009/12/18/rhino-kenney-bertzs-hangs-em-up/