Preston Zimmerman is a 23 year old American playing with 3rd division German club SV Darmstadt 98. He also hates that Jurgen Klinsmann has used dual nationals. Based on a few tweets he put up it seems that he believes only “real americans”desere to play for the USA. It’s really not even worth mentioning, but it got me all hyped up so I figured I’d post it.
“I thought it would be cool getting Klinsmann as US National team coach, but I think it’s actually worse than when Bradley was coach….
“Requirements to get on US National team under Klinsmann: Be a fake American, be born outside the US, have one US distant relative
“I see the team is calling in guys who are really germans who know they’ve got no chance of playing for germany so they’ll settle with the US
“Thats embarrassing when a good friend of mine says he met one of the guys @ the airport & he couldnt reply back in English as US Natl player
“I try my hardest not to tweet US soccer stuff but there are some stuff out there that drive me crazy
“Don’t mistake any of my tweets for jealousy, I never expect to be called in or involved with anything and it doesn’t hurt my feelings
“I would just like to see true, real Americans who would live and die for this country representing our country
“But when the olympic team holds mini-camps in Germany with all ‘european players’ then something is wrong
“The kids in college are just as good, if not better, than some of the kids from the reserve teams getting invited to camp
“But the college kids don’t speak German and they don’t have ties outside the US so they don’t qualify for the US under Klinsmann
“Am I the only one here who thinks this or are there others? People have to speak up when they don’t like what’s going on
“If Klinsmann was winning and very successful with his approach then my words would carry no weight, but I don’t see any success
“squeaking out 1-0 wins against CONCACAF villages isn’t success…..
“People can bash me for whatever reason, but I hate seeing my country’s national team being misused and disrespected
“I know plenty of guys who are in the MLS and know what it’s like to play for their country who deserve a look for the US team
“I hope the US team wins and dominates just as much as anybody else because it’s my country and I want my country to be #1 and dominate
“Don’t want anybody to take my tweets negatively or as criticism to make somebody look bad, I just have passion and interest in the US team”
Just to note a few things, Tim Howard is Hungarian, Bocanegra’s Mexican, Onyewu’s Nigerian, Spector’s German, Klejstan is Bosnian, Edu’s Nigerian,Jozy’s Haitian, Stu Holden is Scottish,Landon’s Canadian and the list goes on and on. Global soccer is all about dual nationals, and if anyone should be able to understand that it should be the USA. They had these same arguments in Europe years ago and it was nothing but pure racism. We don’t need to go down that path.
Hating Giusseppi Rossi because he is arguably the best American player ever, and would fill is different from hating all dual-nationals.
Complaining about Neven Subotoc because he left the USa over a somewhat petty fight with Thomas Rongen is different.
Calling a military father a distant relative is a moronic stretch.And saying that only those willing to fight and die for the USA should be able to play really sounds pretty dumb when you recognize the military lineage.
Most importantly though, here’s a quote from Danny Williams on USsoccer.com. Think about it the next time anyone tries to say who is and isn’t an American. Their all citizens, they’re all eligible.
ussoccer.com: Have you watched U.S. National Team games in the past?
DW: “Not many because they don’t show that many games in Germany, but I always watch in the World Cup. I will never forget the game against Germany in the 2002 World Cup in the quarterfinal. This was the time that I started loving the USA. I watched the game, and normally I would support Germany. After the U.S. lost that match, I started crying. My dad asked what was going on. I didn’t know what to say, but I wanted the U.S. to win.”
…and I don’t just mean he could go to any team he wants and manage to get a contract. Although Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton are all apparently calling and more calls are surely expected no one seems to know where the kid plays. Klinsmann and FC Dallas seem to call him a leftwing or a striker most often, but some people are calling him a center-back, and most people apparently view him as a centre-half. Although Shea has played other positions(and was quite the prospect at center-back considering his size and speed) I’d be shocked to see him end up playing anywhere but on the wing or up top.
USA/Italy in Genoa February 29th.
A match up that would pit an American team preparing for World Cup Qualifying against an Italian team that is in the midst of Euro-qualifying. Should be a good peek at a peak for both teams.
Also a great chance to root against that scumbag from New Jersey
http://www.noshortcorners.com/2011/11/thats-spicy-meat-ball.html
Image by Albumen via Flickr
God, if my primary goal here was to have a high page-view count all I would need to do is write endless articles on this kid. I swear articles on Brek Shea are the only thing anyone wants. I love the kid as much as the next guy (although maybe not as much as the Germericans Chandler, Johnson and Williams. All of whom I expect to start come qualifying) but really there are other players on the team. I’ll get a thousand hits for a story on Brek Shea from months ago. It makes no sense
The Big Rooster has recently been rumored to go to just about every team in Europe. Apparently “his agent” has been spreading teh idea that Brek Shea has offers from each of the big five clubs in the EPL. Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all apparently want to bring him in.
In the interest of not forcing you to read the drivel that I write here is a quick summation of reasons why Brek Shea should not go to any of these teams no matter how much money they offer him. Ashley Young, Juan Mata, Andrei Arshavin, Samir Nasri, and Stewart Downing. 4 of these players have just been added to their respective teams. Four of these players are under 27; two are under 24. The fifth is Andrei Arshavin. These are the left wings of the big five clubs in the EPL. Exactly how many minutes do we expect Brek Shea to get behind these players?
Jozy went to Villareal. It was celebrated as a young American player getting a great chance on a top team in a top league. He sat on the bench for a few years with little hope for long term success.
Freddy Adu went to Benfica. It was celebrated as a young American player getting a great chance on a top team in a top league. He sat on the bench for a few years and got loaned around with little hope for long term success.
I’m sure there are other examples but these are the two most prominent in my mind. If Foghorn is going to sign with one of these teams he had better hope he gets a good loan deal and doesn’t get stuck on the bench.
Brek was on trial with Bolton a few years ago, and a few years ago that was probably a bit too high for him still. Right now he could go in and play, maybe not start but at least compete for a starting spot, in a mid-table European team. Bolton is about the level at which he would compete now. Playing for a prestigious club is nothing if you’re not playing.
He would never touch the field for a top European club so whats the point in him going there? Yea it’s kind of cool to say that an American plays for United or Chelsea or Arsenal( I have lower opinions of Liverpool and City, but I guess that’d be cool to some.) Tim Howard stopped any interest I had in that. He went to United and looked not so good. He may not have been ready to succeed at that level. he’s gone to Everton and is widely considered one of the best keepers in the world. If Brek Shea signed with United his chances of actually playing a meaningful game for them would be about as good as Clint Dempsey’s chances of playing a meaningful game. Yes its possible some pieces could move around and there could be a space made available, but not likely.
I don’t expect Brek Shea to come back to MLS next season. I fully expect him to be playing in Europe a year from now. I hope very much that he is actually playing though and not playing around while buried on a top teams bench.
Image via Wikipedia
I planned on attending two games this week a while ago and didn’t realize how significant they would be. The first game was the recent USA vs Mexico game, which was obviously a big deal in itself, but pumped up a lot more due to Jurgen Klinsmann joining the team. Of course Sunil and the gang still managed to screw things up by setting the game for a Wednesday night at 9 o clock; a bit off of prime time as far as most people are concerned. The support was fairly weak from both sides. Presumably a game on the weekend would have seen crowds coming in from out-of-town to attend. Even a 7 or 8 o’clock start would have made the game a ton more accessible. Never the less the game was played and players looked good and players looked bad. WE’ll start with the bad.
It was fairly obvious that Edgar Castillo was not the best player on the field; especially after he got hit in the back of the head surrendering a corner. If we had any kind of depth at the left back position he would be out of the team for a while. Although looking at who else we have available, I wouldn’t be shocked if he shows up pretty soon again unless things fall apart for him at his club. Also he looks like an alien.
Jermaine Jones absolutely disappeared from the game and we totally forgot he was on the field. We saw Brek Shea and another light-skinned player warming up on the sideline. Everyone in my group assumed it was Jermaine until they announced that he was being subbed out and Juan Agudelo was being subbed in. He was that unnoticeable.
The good side of it, as has been reported everywhere was from a bunch of MLS players. Brek Shea, Robbie Rogers, and Juan Agudelo all put in pretty solid performances. I was personally very impressed with Brek Shea, and not quite as impressed with the other two. Neither did anything much wrong, but they both put in good games at a time when they are midseason and most of the other players competing were in preseason. It is a factor for sure. So while they looked good, they should have looked good considering that fact. Shea looked great though. He looked better than almost everyone on the field in the entire second half. I understand Mexico’s team had been a bit depleted by pulling subs, but Dos Santos didn’t make quite the quality or quantity of plays that Shea made in the time he was in. Again consider his form a factor, but Shea impressed a lot of people and earned more of a look.
That’s only part of why this is Brek Shea week here in Philadelphia. The other game I was supposed to be attending that also became a much more prominent one than I had first expected was Saturdays game against Brek Shea and FC Dallas. Dallas has looked nothing short of spectacular for most of the season, in no small part thanks to Shea. On second thought, imagine what this team will be able to do if David Ferraira comes back the way he was last year. As we have seen first hand an MVP season can be hard to replicate but it would be very interesting to see that teams attack.
After impressing for country Shea is back to impressing for club; who will be facing off with the Philadelphia Union tomorrow night. Obviously the Union saw how many headlines Shea was grabbing and felt a need to grab a few of their own from their next competitor. Those headlines all came in the form of very bad puns. “Much Adu About Nothing”,”Just Adu It” “Adoop.” Freddy Adu was welcomed back to MLS as Chivas was no longer an option. As all the headlines told you, he was reunited with his former coach and mortal enemy Piotr Nowak. Apparently things were exaggerated a bit and Adu actually came back, in large part, for the opportunity to play with Nowak again. Interesting, but what I find more interesting is what this means tactically.
Presumably (read:hopefully) this means that Justin Mapp will be pushed to the sideline, while it also likely means that Roger Torres has lost a few rungs on the ladder of this team. As much as I would love to see Freddy and Roger creating in the middle of the field, I can’t imagine Nowak doing it and not having the two of them get beat up on every single ball in the air. We can’t have two players in one midfield standing under 5 foot. There’s a rule against that somewhere I’m sure. I don’t expect Adu to come in and start tomorrow, although I would assume he gets his first appearance this weekend as the team is on the road after that, but I would say I do expect him to be a pretty significant player for the Union by the end of the season. If we don’t get any one else added to this team (the only name I’ve heard is Juan Pablo Angel, who doesn’t really piqué my interest anymore and definitely not for his price tag. Maybe short-term till Nowak decides Mwanga can go 90, we’ll see), this is the lineup I would expect to see come out from here on out, with a few notes on key subs.
Mondragon
Williams Valdes Callif GFarfan
Carroll Adu
Le Toux Daniel
Paunovic McInerney
Obviously Mwanga playing the same super-sub role he has lately. Torres or Mapp coming in for Paunovic or Daniel, with Le Toux filling in any adjustments necessary.
What I’d really like to see happen by the end of the season, at least at some point, purely for excitement. I do think it could realistically be an occasional lineup for the coming seasons as Jack, Danny and Roger grow up a bit, although the odds of this are pretty low seeing what it would do to our ability to win the ball back in the midfield. Of course if you don’t ever give it up in the first place…
Mondragon
Williams Valdes Calliff G Farfan
Carroll
Torres Adu Le Toux
Mwanga McInerney
We’ll see what Piotr does this week.
Kerith Gabriel:
This just in: @PhilaUnion boss Peter Nowak to me on his interest in vacant USMNT position:
“Sorry got better things to do.”
The Union side of me says thank god. The USMNT side of me also says thank god. Nowak has been great here, and I mean no disrespect by saying this but, if you’re going to fire Bob Bradley at this point in a cycle then you had better be able to bring in a mighty fine replacement. While I believe wholeheartedly that Nowak could do the job, I don’t think he’s enough better to justify this kind of move. Maybe if it was the end of the cycle and he wasn’t in the middle of coaching a club team at the top of its table. It didn’t make sense the first time I saw it and I’m glad that Nowak affirmed that.
I’m expecting Jurgen Klinsmann, as are most of the country, as the replacement but I really wish we would’ve done this earlier and brought in Bielsa. That kind of play would’ve brought a lot of eyes to the game in my opinion, which is still the most important thing our teams can do here.
Very curious to see how this woks out and what exactly it means for the Mexico friendly at the Linc in 2 WEEKS. Remember this coach will have to turn around and face the teams biggest rival in two weeks. Somebody had to be aware of that and consider the timing. I’m also wondering if that might mean that something close to an A-team would be called in for that game so that the coach can get a nice good look at them (it might be wishful thinking as I’ve got tickets). I was expecting more of an MLS based team with a few younger players coming in, as its the beginning of the season and a lot of players would probably prefer to stay in camp with their club than come out for a friendly. It’s a FIFA date though so we’ll see what happens.
Presumably they’ll announce the new coach tomorrow and he’ll be in town coaching the team in a few short weeks.
bpmangan
mattsant16
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