Yanks on Foreign YNTs ('01-'04 YOBs and younger)

Brandon Zelaya lined up to represent El Salvador:

'03 Earthquakes academy attacker Brandon Zelaya has received his El Salvador passport in anticipation of their YNT camps.

Zelaya has already played for both US and Mexico youth teams, and would be a very rare case of representing three different YNTs. https://t.co/QSz2tnn7Lg

— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) May 20, 2021

 

What's Mobi Fehr up to these days? Put him in charge of Japanese-American dual nat recruiting!

Side note: Is New York City the new place we lose dual nats from? Gotoku Sakai and Jonathan David.
That reminds me of when two Mexican national teamers were born in Northern California, Miguel Angel Ponce and Isaac Brizuela...

 

Fehr is without a club after spending last season with Las Vegas. The problem is that most of the Japanese-Americans are GKs - a while ago I actually told Dan Schmidt (who is already cap-tied) to check out the Quakes once he’s done in Europe. He seemed receptive to the idea, saying that playing in MLS would make his dad happy.

Besides that most of them aren’t particularly great, think J2 League level or somewhat better than USL-C.

Zion Suzuki is the real deal though, 18yo with the body of a grown ass man. Hella cool name too, sounds like a character from some futuristic cyberpunk anime or something.

 

Jonathan Gomez called up to train with the Mexican NT while they are prepping for matches in the US:

https://www.loucity.com/news_article/show/1165470

 

Mexico is playing chess, and we're playing checkers. Berhalter is betting on Che. Mexico is betting on Gomez.

 

gregg is basically undefeated so far so i am not willing to say el tri has achieved much of anything here yet

 

I will say that Mexico's senior national team calling up a USL player is truly a sign of the times.
What happened to Mexico's own player development programs? Eesh.

And of course it changes nothing. Didn't we already all think Gomez was likely to explore both sides before choosing?

 

I’d definitely say Gregg has been playing chess in dual nat recruitment. JoGo getting called up is concerning but I have faith in Gregg Saban at this point

 

I’m not saying they’ve achieved anything, but if the choice is to bring in Gomez or Che because you are concerned about their dual-nationality status, how is this any sort of debate which one you bring in?

 

is mexico even really bringing in gomez though? he is just training with the team? is there a difference? genuinely confused by the terminology here tbh

 

In the Switzerland friendly case, I think a lot just has to do with location. Che was right there. Munich is very close to St. Gallen.

The USSF has had ample opportunity to cement a relationship with Gomez.
He was vetted and not selected for the 2019 U17 WC team for instance.
Like Che, he's had very little US involvement. The recent shutdown didn't help of course, but we seemingly weren't pursuing Gomez aggressively before that.
His brother, of course, has also had little US involvement. Both have always seemed open to both national teams in their comments.

As we know, these battles for Mexican-American dual nationals are just going to be increasingly common. Its hard to keep track.
It's like an international soccer version of whack-a-mole. We have our attention on recruiting youngsters X, Y, and Z while the competition is trying to recruit away players A, B, and C from us. While we're over here working on Alex Alcala, Mexico is other there working on Jonathan Gomez. [If there's one group of youngsters I can assure you that Mexico knows all about, its FCD academy youngsters.] While we're working behind the scenes in Europe on Balogun and others, CONCACAF rivals are in our backyard recruiting. Our pool keeps growing and growing and growing in size. There are more plates in the air to keep track of.

 

He’s been in numerous camps/tournaments for our 2003’s. It’s not like he hasn’t been in our setup before. He was a standout at the 2019 Nike Friendlies and in the squad we took to the Czech Republic. We haven’t exactly been ignoring him for call ups. For the u17 World Cup the sections were fine and deserving for the guys who got called up over him

For the u20’s this cycle he would’ve been a bubble player trying to play 2 years up which is fine. Long term he’s one of if not our top overall Mexican American dual nat prospect. I still expect him to be part of our next u20 cycle

 

I think a lot of these problems are solved by holding YNT camps. Gomez should be regularly called into those teams. USSF is creating issues for themselves by not holding these camps.

I also am generally against the idea of calling in young unproven players without any business on the NT. However, I think there are exceptions to most rules. If another country is going hard at recruiting one of your best young players, you don’t take any chances. I don’t like the idea of Gomez or any player who hasn’t earned a USMNT call up with the USMNT, but I would make an exception for Gomez. Che is not a player I believe comes close to that level. I’m not convinced Germany has interest in calling him into their YNT’s.

Do I believe that Gomez is going to play for Mexico? No, but if you are going to have a day care wing to the USMNT, there’s been ample chance to call in Gomez. Mexico has done that. Now it’s up to Berhalter and USSF to react. This is not a recruiting battle we can afford to lose. Top level LB prospects don’t grow on trees.

 

This is a problem? Yes, but I don't think it's definitive. We have to remember that it's just a training, it's not a senior call.
I trust that Gomez will play with us.

 

I agree and disagree.

This is just a training session, and not binding in any way.
So obviously its nothing to be freaked out about.
I'm also on record as saying I don't subscribe to #dualnationalpanic any more.
Every one should now go back and look at the endless handwringing about Jonathan Gonzalez and his decision.
So much wasted emotional energy.

However, I have no idea why folks trust that Gomez will play for us over Mexico. Based on what?
Mexico now has the opportunity to roll out the red carpet.
Gomez could easily go there and completely buy into what they're selling.
The Gomez brothers have always said they're uncommitted and open to both sides. That does imply that Mexico is an option.

I will admit that the Mexican-American group of 02/03s at FCD all have explored both options.
Pepi, Carrera, etc. both chose to represent the US in the end. Gomez has explored both sides as well.
I just don't understand where the confidence comes from that he will make the same decision.
Because the others did? We were proactively recruiting and providing opportunities to Pepi and Carrera that I didn't see with Gomez. We've talked about it on these boards for years.

We have a great retention rate of dual-national FCD youngsters. But the Gomez brothers are no longer part of that community.

 

Oisin McEntee called up for Ireland U21s:

Squad Announcement | #IRLU21🇮🇪

Jim Crawford calls-up 7 uncapped players to his squad for 3 friendlies in Spain.

Brennan, Ebosele, Finn Benoa, Johansson, Rose, Roughan and Whelan all part of their first U21 squad ☘️⚽️

Full details 👉 https://t.co/8FrezAWCuG#COYBIG | #WeAreOne pic.twitter.com/xi1MIn9gEa

— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) May 25, 2021

 

UEFA friendly action:

a few 🇺🇸-born dual nats faced off today in this International u21 friendly.
20 yr old NY-born Oisin McEntee started and played 90+ for 🇮🇪u21
18 yr old Houston-born Bryan Okoh subbed on at the half for 🇨🇭u21
20 yr old NY-born Nicholas Ammeter was an unused sub for 🇨🇭u21 pic.twitter.com/1etmvbjKnU

— 🇺🇸 ⚽ east (@eastdeflection) May 30, 2021

 

Japan is having a short U20 camp during the June international window.

Familiar face GK Taishi Brandon Nozawa (FC Tokyo) has been called up, while Zion Suzuki is absent due to being called up to the U24 Olympic squad.

Anrie Chase ('04, Shoshi HS in Fukushima), an athletic 6'2" CB who also attended a U17 camp in March, makes the step up as the only high school player to be called up, as well as the only one who has never been registered to a J.League senior squad. The Japan U20s also had a brief camp several days earlier with a completely separate cohort consisting mostly of college and J.League players.

(The 2 other Anglophone names in the squad - Joel Chima Fujita and Solomon Sakuragawa - are of Nigerian descent)

 

Klevis Haxhari (2005 - Center Back) currently plays for New York Soccer Club was recently called up to the Albanian U17 NT
https://www.transfermarkt.us/klevis-haxhari/profil/spieler/894160

It looks like he was part of the recent YNT Identification Center in Connecticut (2004/2005) which means he's on the radar.
https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/ynt-regional-id:-connecticut-2004-2005_aid49401

 

A few articles about Anrie Chase (article 1, article 2) came out in the Japanese soccer media.

• Apparently he is a top prospect among J.League clubs as a HS senior and will have a chance to impress scouts at the Japanese National High School Tournament, the premier showcase for players who take the HS route.
• Chase was born in Japan but spent ages 3-12 in the US.
• He is fully bilingual, but his introverted personality is attributed to him being a bit more comfortable speaking English. At Japan U-20 camp, he bonded with the likes of (half-American) Taishi Brandon Nozawa, Joel Chima Fujita, and Solomon Sakuragawa - interestingly, all players with Anglophone heritage.

 

Dairon Reyes played twice for Cuba in WCQ’s, and is now ineligible to play for the USA. Had we had YNT camps the last year, maybe this doesn’t happen. This is the first permanent defeat by USSF due to this.

 

He's only been in the US for what, a year? He should have a Green Card as a Cuban refugee, but not near US citizenship. (Unless you know something we don't).

He's also 17, so he could theoretically play for the US in the future as long as he only gets one more cap and waits 3 years (under the new rules)

 

I believe he’s been in the US for 2-3 years. I’m not able to find exactly how long though. I was also under the impression that the new rules have no effect for players who are not citizens of a country at the time of the initial cap-tying cap. You might know the rules better than I do though.