Just named to the U17 team for the Development Academy Winter Showcase: http://www.socceramerica.com/article/55288/us-under-17-mens-national-team-roster.html He's a midfielder and appears to have been raised in California and perhaps moved to Germany recently. Can't find much on the German sites, but looks like he did score 2 goals in 71 minutes in this match in the B-Junioren Regionalliga Nord in November. http://wolfsburg.sportbuzzer.de/b-j...ttelnburg-allermoehe-gegen-sc-weyhe/11620/136 This says he has had 9 appearances and 3 goals: http://hannover.sportbuzzer.de/profil/zachary-kobayashi/steckbrief/6897 I took a look at his Twitter feed (@ZachKobayashi10) and it looks like he went over in July (not sure of the reason he was able to go over). He says he has joined Werder Bremen, so there must be a connection for the two clubs.
Zach was until this summer a player at West Coast F.C. in Orange County CA. He would have been on the U16 team this year but went to Germany this summer. We had heard Werder Bremen as well.
SC Weyhe is very loosely associated with Werder Bremen through Werder's program "100 Schulen - 100 Vereine" (100 schools - 100 Clubs". Those 100 amateur clubs are allowed to call themselves 100% Werder Partner and get (amongst other things like a stadium tour of the Weserstadion and a visit at a Werder Bremen training) free cards for at least one Bundesliga game per season. I looked up Zachary's stats so far on the Homepage of Weyhe, 4 goals in 8 games - not bad
Update: http://owhentheyanks.com/2014/10/17/97-kobayashi-back-to-europe/ Kobayashi will once again return to Germany this October rejoining the Werder Bremen side he left last season. Werder is intent on keeping close eyes on him. Likewise, Zach will travel back to FC Basel who rate him high following his stint with the club. “I plan on staying with one of the clubs until I get my FIFA clearance. I loved my time at Werder, and Basel had a handful of 97′s with the first team for pre-season and the start of the season, and one of them just played against Real Madrid. Basel also plays in the UEFA Youth Champion’s League which is pretty sick.” Not so sure he can make that happen, but we'll see. @Friedel'sAccent @bungadiri -- This gentleman has requested a seat in the Academy section.
Seems a bit out of the blue but he's just signed for Dinamo Zagreb 697485101312004096 is not a valid tweet id
Just a test match Dinamo Zagreb II: Semper – Rasic, Morris, Stolnik, Mamic – Muhar, Halilovic, Olmo – Diop, Miklic, Kobayashi https://t.co/w8Hep0kUal— CroSports (@CroSports_) February 10, 2016
http://epodravina.hr/zach-kobayashi...dinamo/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Looks like he was training with NK Slaven Belupom, also in the Croatian first division, as a sort of loan-trial but it looks that it didn't come to anything
American Zach Kobayashi (18) debuted for Dinamo Zagreb U19 yesterday in their 2:0 win over Hrvatski Dragovoljac (Matic, Duric).— CroSports (@CroSports_) March 14, 2016
Gutted to have my first season here in Croatia cut short cause of injury.. But optimistic about coming back stronger next season💪🏼🙏🏼— Zach Kobayashi (@ZachKobayashi10) May 2, 2016
Appears not to be at Dinamo now, or at least he isn't listed on the 16/17 rosters of their top couple of youth squads.
Signs with OC in the USL: Kobayashi, 19 returns to Southern California following a year-long spell with Croatian powerhouse, GNK Dinamo Zagreb. Before making the trip to Europe, Kobayashi played youth soccer locally with West Coast Futbol Club and the Pateadores Academy, during this time he was tracked by a number of Elite European clubs. The highly sought-after midfielder then went on to spend time with SV Werder Bremen in Germany and then Swiss champions FC Basel, before deciding to join the most successful club in Croatia, Dinamo Zagreb. http://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/783584?referrer_id=2349190