The official "Some site says this guy is a Yank" detective work thread

Micah W. find:

Filip Tokar
Date of birth/Age: Jan 8, 2007 (16)

New American abroad! Filip Tokar is a 🇵🇱🇺🇸 dual nat, currently with Lech Poznan. The 16 year old plays all across defense, but mainly at right back. He joined the club this summer. The club is the most recent Polish champions.

— micah w (@micahw1718) March 9, 2023

Signing his contract:
https://www.lechpoznan.pl/aktualnosci,2,filip-tokar-z-pierwsza-umowa,41063.html

TM profile says he is US citizen, but no birthplace or other info:
https://www.transfermarkt.us/filip-tokar/profil/spieler/1074357

I don't see any info about him playing in or growing up in the US.

 

A related assignment that I figure you all might be good at.

Is Aidan Morris eligible to play for Canada?

A poster showed up on a Canadian soccer board and said that he appeared to be. He said that Morris' brother had a Canadian flag on his social media.

So I'm curious whether this is true or not.

 

A '98 CB Luis Almeda lists himself as Portuguese-American on LinkedIn. It appears he's bounced around lower-division Spanish clubs in his career.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-almeida0404football/

 

Here're a couple of Micah W. finds. Both are 2007s, so there's not much info on them.

Wyatt Marin
Date of birth/Age: Apr 6, 2007 (16)

New American abroad! 🇭🇷🇺🇸 Wyatt Marin is currently with Eintracht Frankfurt after joining them in 2021. The 16 year old midfielder has already turned out for the U17s this season.

— micah w (@micahw1718) April 28, 2023

His TM profile says he was born in the US with US/UK citizenship.
https://www.transfermarkt.com/william-wyatt-marin/profil/spieler/1130294

His youth clubs: TSG Weinheim (2018-2020) Waldhof Mannheim (2020-2021) Eintracht Frankfurt (2021-)

Interesting that Micah says he has Croatian citizenship, which is possible since TM maxes out at 2 nations.

New American abroad! Ty White is a 16 year old midfielder currently with Crystal Palace. He has made an appearance for the U18 side already, though. He only joined the team on April 13th as per the Crystal Palace website.

— micah w (@micahw1718) April 28, 2023

Ty Whyte
DOB: 04 March 2007

Club profile: https://www.cpfc.co.uk/teams/under-18/ty-whyte/
Vancouver profile: https://www.whitecapsfc.com/players/ty-whyte/

Normally, I'd start a profile because the club says he's American, but his Whitecaps profile says he was born in Vancouver. I figured I'd wait to see if we get a bit of confirmation.

 

One more:

New American abroad! 🇲🇩🇺🇸 Nicholas Cucos is a Moldovan-American dual nat, currently playing for SZ Marswiese in Austria. He is a current Moldovan youth international.

— micah w (@micahw1718) April 28, 2023

Nicholas Cucos
Date of birth/Age: Jan 22, 2008 (15)

https://www.transfermarkt.com/nicholas-cucos/profil/spieler/1128765

 

Absolutely, but I can just see an intern assuming that he's an American because he came out of MLS. (Like the MLS club who declared a player was a naturalized US citizen because he got his Green Card). No harm in waiting a few days.

 

It seems to be simply a massive coincidence that there are two Ty Whytes with nearly the same birthdate, off by just a day. This article and embedded video shows the Crystal Palace Ty Whyte (Tyler Whyte) has been in their academy since at least 2019-2020 as a U13. Also they are different ethnicities.

https://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/academy...view-former-palace-player-who-fought-in-wwii/

 

Good deal. "Whyte" is an extremely unusual spelling. That both use "Ty" makes it a really big coincidence.

 

See also: "The Liberian Flag Confusion."

 

James Edmondson and his brother Stephen Edmondson are potentially American eligible youth players with Blackburn Rovers. At this point, James seems to be the bigger talent having signed a professional contract back in 2022 and making at least 13 appearances with two assists in the U18 premier league and another 3 appearances and one assist in the Premier League 2. Stephen has a made few appearances for the U18s. I'm not sure whether he's the same age or younger so it's possible he's also got a strong future.

The brother's grandfather was from the United States and they have American eligibility in Football Manager, but as we've learned before neither of those facts actually guarantee they have citizenship. James particularly seem worth tracking just in case though.

 

Finn Steele plays for the the Ipswich Town U18s and had three appearances in the FA Youth Cup this season after a loan stint with Isthmian League squad Brightlingsea Regent in 2022. FMinside latest update has him listed with American eligibility. Can't source the information anywhere else yet.

 

Jordy Monroy who has eight caps with the Armenian national team and plays for Independiente Medellín in the Liga Diyamor 1 (Colombian 1st division) has a mother with African-American ancestry according to his wikipedia page. He's a right back who has featured fairly regularly in league play and the Libertadores this season after returning from a season spent in the Armenian topflight with FC Noah. Obviously, it's a questionable connection and it's too late for him to ever feature for us. But I thought it was interesting and worth passing along.

[translated article sourcing the wiki information]

 

This is an interesting one, but we need to do some more digging to get to the answers we want.

Gabriel Han Willhoft-King (goes by Han)
Currently with Tottenham U18s.

A talented player from Spurs U18 with an Indonesian father and an American mother of Chinese descent...

Willhoft is German name.

Several media in China also reported this talent... 🕵 https://t.co/KqOTyj4nW6

— FT Scouting 🕵🏻 (@FT_IDN) May 25, 2023

His TM profile says he is English & German. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/han-willhoft-king/profil/spieler/951119

So we have possible nationalities: English, German, Indonesian, American, Chinese.

Has been getting some positive attention:

https://247simasport.com/2023/02/18...eam-star-player-heir-in-a-17-year-old-who-is/

https://www.footballfancast.com/tot...lhoft-king-skipp-conte-premier-league-gossip/

https://www.footballinsider247.com/tottenham-expert-thrilled-by-han-willhoft-king-news-one-to-watch/

 

I don't really trust this source, but I'll include it here:

https://www.indonewstoday.com/olahr...donesia?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Meanwhile, the mother of Gabriel Han Willhoft-King is an American woman of Chinese descent.

I don't think there was any original reporting going here, just "It is reported."

 

I think this situation has a direct answer, but there are some threads that aren't fully explained.

Zishim Bawa

I spotted this tweet:

🇸🇪 Ettan Norra

🧐 21 yr old 🇺🇸 midfielder Zishim Bawa scored today for Bodens BK in Sweden's 3rd tier⚽️ pic.twitter.com/TfYfQfYZVp

— 🇺🇸 ⚽ east (@eastdeflection) June 4, 2023

And this TM profile (using the first name "Steve") which says he is American:
https://www.transfermarkt.com/steve-zishim-bawa/profil/spieler/1086087

But this profile, from what I assume is his official site, says he is Irish & Nigerian:
https://zishimbawa.com/profile/

His name does pop up in tweets from the Barca Residency Academy, so likely he attended there for some time:

U17 | 30’ | Chance! | Zishim Bawa plays a beautiful ball through to Chaitanya Kaktikar, Kaktikar’s attempt misses just wide! Still 0-0.

— Barça Residency Academy (@BarcaAcademyAZ) April 17, 2019

He did sign with Bodens after a US tryout camp, so perhaps that's where the confusion arises:
https://www.facebook.com/bodensbkff/posts/1511810182352979
https://pscsocceracademy.com/arizona-pro-soccer-tryout-attendee-signs-pro-in-sweden/