The Multi-Eligible Player Recruitment Thread (2026 WC Cycle Edition)

If people think #dualnationalpanic is crazy now, early-to-mid-2000s was a different level. Mostly because the pool was much smaller. These are the days before the MLS homegrown initiative even existed. Vincenzo Bernardo is a perfect example. A kid who never did anything, but since he was at Napoli the board went into meltdown mode. Meltdown mode culminated with Jonathan Gonzalez. Ever since Jonathan Gonzalez the hyperventilating hasn't been as extreme. Like with Obed Vargas and Esmir Bajrakterevic. We say "that's too bad" and then move to focusing on the next guy. Most of us anyway. There are still the stragglers who think the USMNT exists in order to cap-tie dual-nationals.

 

Zelalem was poor on youth teams before any injuries.

 

Well, he blew out his knee while playing for the U20s and.....................so we'll never know. Was never the same. We'll never know. There are lots of guys like that. Marc Pelosi at Liverpool (Germany dual-national). Double fracture in his right leg playing for Liverpool U21s. Never the same. We'll never know whether he'd have been a USMNT-caliber player or not. [FYI, a relative of Nancy Pelosi's husband. I forget how.]

I think the first notable youth player of this modern era who was totally derailed by injury was Charles Renken. Dual-national as he was born in Zambia. Dubbed a real rising star, and a player we tracked religiously on these boards. He joined Bradenton and the U17s in 2007 as a 13 year old. Signed by Hoffenheim and stashed at the Vancouver Whitecaps academy until he could move to Europe. But a series of knee injuries just totally ruined any chance of a high-level career. That one always saddened me because he never even got started. At one point he was playing in the Swedish 7th tier.

Now an academy coach with St. Louis. Right?

 

There is a Gedion Zelalem superfan on Twitter to this day... I suspect it's either Zelalem himself or a close relative.

Gedion Zelalem is the most underrated American midfielder. He was a standout performer for FC Den Bosch this season in the Netherlands as he captained the side several times.

Expecting an exciting move from him this summer. Thread below of video highlights from the season ⬇️🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Z6s4JNwPCT

— duncan (@GloriousGedi) May 20, 2024

Won the MLS Cup and left. Not doing too well without him…

— duncan (@GloriousGedi) May 20, 2024

If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen any clips lately, it’s because Zelalem’s been out for the past couple months

First game back and he’s already doing his thing again. Most creative American player 🔥🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/G6JBUaFHs5

— duncan (@GloriousGedi) March 15, 2024

More impressive that’s he’s doing this in such a poor side 👍

— duncan (@GloriousGedi) March 16, 2024

What happened to the Mukwelle Akale superfans??

 

When your Twitter ID is "@GloriousGedi", you are kinda telegraphing your intentions.

 

The timeline on Gedion is that he failed on his loans to Rangers (then in Scotland’s 2nd tier) and VVV in the Dutch 2nd tier. Both loans had a cheap option to buy, neither club was interested.

this was before his first knee injury. After the second failed loan, he went to the U-20 WC in 2017. It was there when he hurt his knee in the first game against Ecuador (first half, trailing 2-0). He was very bad in that first half hour, playing absolutely no defense. His replacement, Derrick Jones, was a huge help defending the middle of the field and allowing the US team to comeback and earn a draw.

He was in a bit of a nose dive, even before his first injury

 

Zelalem was -- and is -- very skilled, but he's very small, and he doesn't translate his skill into really progressive movement or danger creating movement. He can receive a ball, hold a ball (if he doesn't get knocked off it) and pass a ball to someone close and often sideways, but there's not a ton of value in that.

People got hyped over him partially because of Badge FC but also because it's just a fundamental overrating of touch and basic ball skills. They are important, but they aren't enough.

 

I’d argue Zelalem had some fancy skills with how he could create and interpret space, but he didn’t have translatable skills to being a good soccer player in pro football. It looked nice in the youth game against the large majority who didn’t become pros where he’s just overall more talented than virtually all of them, but when he faced some real competition you saw that he didn’t really pose any threat to score or assist goals, he didn’t work hard off the ball, he didn’t have a tremendous passing range. He was just one of these tweener 8/10’s that had talent, but not real substantive tools to impact a high level pro football match.

 

Klinsmann also didn't help cool the hype when he said Zelalem was ready to help the USMNT right then in 2015 as a 17 year old, before he even played any first team minutes. It was irresponsible. He should have just said he's a young player, let's see how he does with our youth teams.

Klinsmann wasn't helpful with conveying a proper understanding of how youth players should be viewed when comparing them to veteran players. He was the biggest problem when you consider the caps he gave out to players who had either very limited first team minutes, no first team minutes, and in one instance still in college.

 

Finally a Polish prospect who can run and dribble with the ball. Szymon Lyczko (‘06, RW, 🇵🇱) is looking really good for Stal Rzeszow in the Polish 1 Liga.

Needs to go to a better team, in Poland or abroad. His ball control and 1v1 dribble are amazing.pic.twitter.com/S8BeUgD2Rb

— Michal (@MichalWJK) October 1, 2024