According to various reports, a Yank named Mike Werle was on trial with Wrexham this spring. Playing as a defender, Werle scored on a header in a match against a Manchester United reserve team that featured Jon Spector. Link: http://www.wrexhamafc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Squad/ReservesDetail/0,,10311~645671,00.html Bellion stepped forward to fire a low shot into the corner of the net, despite Ryan Harrison going the right way. This goal lifted United and it was to take something special to pull the Dragons level as the league leaders began to turn on the style. That moment came on 34 minutes, when Alex Smith floated over a cross from the right and up stepped American trialist Mike Werle to head an equaliser that few goalkeepers would ever have stopped. Another take: http://www.rednews.co.uk/features/featmred.htm An American central defender, Mike Werle, rose to meet a deep cross from the Wrexham right. His header was not bullet-like but it could hardly have been better placed. Now, Werle does not appear to have signed with Wrexham. Still looking for more about the player. About all I know about him for now is that he is from Ft. Lauderdale and appears to have graduated from Loyola (Md.) in 2001. He may also have been at TV Grumbach in Germany for a time: A player with that name played for them in a November match, and perhaps for both the most recent and previous seasons: http://fortuna88.de/RWSE/index.php?site=Spielberichte&show=bericht&bericht=13 Another: http://www.web142.s11.pixelx.de/tus...41&PHPSESSID=e74d2bdba7a271e46dd9ecc4819ff45c But it might not be the same guy.
I was looking for more info on him earlier this summer and came up with nothing very useful. Here are a couple of google caches (first two links) of a player named Michael Werle playing for FV Sasbach. He is on scoring rolls from May 2004 and through to mid-October 2004. However, he only scores once from here on out and is listed in the season ending scoring rolls. It is very possible that it is not the same player, especially since the one in the Wrexham game reports is a defender. I feel a little better with the TV Grumbach link happening in November of last year. Also found a player from 2002 named Mike Werle on the rolls of some team (I think sv-blankenese) in Germany with a birthdate in 1978 which compares favorably with the 01 graduation. I saved the google caches because the original pages didn't open the first time. http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cach...ichael+Werle"+fussball&hl=en&client=firefox-a http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cach...ang=de+"Werle"+sasbach&hl=en&client=firefox-a http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cach...+"Mike+Werle"+fussball&hl=en&client=firefox-a edited:thanks for pointing that out USvsIreland
My main concern about the Mike Werle on Grumbach is that on this link about Grumbach... http://www.web142.s11.pixelx.de/tus...41&PHPSESSID=e74d2bdba7a271e46dd9ecc4819ff45c ... it lists a whole bunch of other Werles playing on the same team at the same time: Tommy, Tobias, Mike, Stefan, Frank, Mario and a Werle Wolfgang. So we've either found the motherlode of Yanks Abroad named Werle or something at least equally as strange. And here is a rather confusing link that seems to describe the actions of a Michael Werle in a May match between TB Jahn Zeiskarn and SV Weiersbach: http://www.swfv.de/SWFV/Bekanntmachungen/Ausgaben 2005/amtl1105.pdf Meantime there also appears to be a table tennis player in Germany with the name of Michael Werle: http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache...nschaft.html+"michael+werle"&hl=de&lr=lang_de
Three years to late no doubt, but regarding Mike Werle. He did go to Loyola College and played soccer for the college. He then played in Germany for a couple of seasons, for their pro league team, then returned to Florida to play for Palm Beach Pumas. It was here that he travelled over to Wrexham to train with their reserve team and ended up staying on when the Pumas returned to Florida. He did get offered a place at Wrexham FC in 2005, but unfortunately because the team was in administration it was impossible to obtain a visa and the fact he had not played 75% of his national team game. He left Wrexham shortly after and moved back to Ft Lauderdale hanging his soccer boots up, coached a couple of seasons at Nova Southeastern University Girls Soccer team. He doesn't play pro anymore although plays recreationally. A great player and it's such a shame that a piece of paper stopped his dream to become a pro-footballer. His skill and technique would have enabled him to eventually get into a first division team, maybe even the premiership! Hope this is what you were after and sorry it's taken so long!