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Iron Crotch

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  4. Soccer

    in Topics

    Posted

    I'd start a Bundesliga thread, but I get the feeling I'm the only one around here who watches the Bundesliga (more Americans in Germany than any other "top tier" league).

  11. Next Soccer Star

    in Topics

    Posted

    Not to be a jerk, but pretty much anyone who follows European soccer beyond just a casual interest was already well aware of Mbappe. He's already one of the top-5 players in the world at 19. He won the Golden Boy Award last year as the best player in Europe under the age of 21 and should easily win it again this year.  https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/23/golden-boy-2017-kylian-mbappe-wins-award

    Of note is 2, 6 (Pulisic), and 8 on the list in the above link all played for Dortmund two season ago. Also of note is no American player has ever been nominated until Pulisic, but watch out for 18 year old Josh Sargent at Werder Bremen. He has a chance to be America's first ever "world class" striker.

    • Like (+1) 1

  14. Quality of MLS soccer

    in Topics

    Posted

    23 hours ago, Samson's Flow said:

    Sorry I should have been more specific. there is a FIFA rule that doesn't allow youth development players to join overseas clubs until after their 19th birthday. Much of the major skill development occurs in the 15-18 age range, and our top youth players in the US end up being underdeveloped because of a lack of competition & skill focus domestically. Those young "stars" end up being the primary focus of their youth teams, where the team strategy amounts to "pass it to star player and have him run past everyone". Compare that to the youth academies in Europe/England that have a higher talent base and continue to focus on skill development and tactics.

    The only US players that can go to those top European development programs early are ones with dual citizenship and EU passports (like Pulisic who has a Croatian citizenship). This was a big focus of the Jurgen Klinsmann era, is finding and developing the dual citizen US players to play more of a European style game.

    https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/70870/us-players-in-europe-a-quality-problem-not-qua.html

    Excerpt from above:

     

    This isn't entirely true. The age that Americans are allowed to play for European clubs is 18 not 19. I believe you can train with a team before turning 18 with no contract - Josh Sargent trained with Werder Bremen's first team before he signed on his 18th birthday. But you cannot play in any matches until turning 18.

    The EU passport rule is a little loose. You need a grandparent (or parent) with EU citizenship. That's how Pulisic got around the rules - Croatian grandfather.

    Other exceptions that'll allow an American to play in Europe before turning 18:

    1. The player’s parents move to the country in which the new club is located for reasons not linked in soccer.
    2. The transfer takes place within the territory of the EU and the player is at least 16.
    3. The player lives outside the country, but no further than 50km from a national border. The club must be within 50km from the border.

     

    IMHO, the "American's can't develop" stuff was pretty true in the past. But most MLS clubs now run European-style youth academies. They're producing comparable players to the European academies and many of (the best of) these players have been signing with European clubs. But this is a recent phenomenon - MLS academies have only been around for a decade. That the US has the best and deepest collection of young talent (17-22) it has ever had probably isn't a coincidence.

     

  15. World Cup 2018 - Russia

    in Topics

    Posted

    So glad this game didn't go to penalties. I'm happy for Modric who I think is one of the best 5 or 6 players in the world. He's like a point guard or quarterback out there. Just always in the right spot and always making the right pass.

     

    Great game!

  19. American Players Abroad

    in Topics

    Posted · Edited by Iron Crotch

    56 minutes ago, N S said:

    This is a great topic.

    Can you also keep an eye on any Canadians, as well?

    Thanks, eh.

    Oh, and Take Off, eh!!

     

    That's easier to do since there aren't all that many of them playing in Europe.   ?

    (there are a few though)

    ….after some research, there appear to be no Canadians in the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, or Ligue 1.

     

  20. American Players Abroad

    in Topics

    Posted

    I'm not sure if other SabreSpacers follow American players over in Europe, but I try to keep up with these guys as much as I can. We have quite a few young guys who are just coming into their own in the World's top leagues (England, Germany, Italy, Spain).

    In particular, the Bundesliga recently put out their list of 11 "Wonderkids to watch for 2018/2019" and 4 of the 11 are Americans:  https://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/Bundesliga/wonderkids-to-watch-christian-pulisic-leon-bailey-pavard-sule-509386.jsp

    Most American soccer fans are familiar with Christian Pulisic (Dortmund) and Weston McKennie (Schalke) at this point, but keep an eye out for Josh Sargent who just signed with Werder Bremen. He is the future striker of the US National team IMHO. Also, Jurgen Klinsmann's son Jonathan (born in California) is a heck of a goalie. He's at Hertha Berlin.

    Anyway, if I see any interesting updates of relatively unknown Americans playing over in Europe, I'll post them here.

  21. World Cup 2018 - Russia

    in Topics

    Posted

    1 hour ago, sabills said:

    I guess I'm rooting for England now?

    I was gifted a brand new England "3 lions" jersey last week. ...So now I feel like I have to root for England (while I wear the jersey).

    I'm a huge fan of Modric though, so either way I don't care too much about who wins today's game.

     

  24. Sabres' Locker Room Culture

    in The Aud Club

    Posted · Edited by Iron Crotch

    The locker room is a nice topic for talk radio and the newspapers... but I'd argue that we're not winning because our players aren't good enough. Occam's razor. I agree with pi2000. Win and all these one-off theories about the underlying problem (e.g., locker room) go away.

     

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