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Green called up to Germany U-19s for November friendly matches

JulianGreenBayernMunich1 (DFB)

By DAN KARELL

After coming to a mutual agreement with U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann to stay off the squad for the November friendlies, the Bayern Munich youngster has agreed to join up with the Germany Under-19 squad for the same duration.

Green is included on the Germany U-19 roster for two friendlies against their French counterparts on Nov. 13 and 16, during a ten day camp in France. The 18-year-old is one of two attackers on the roster and is looking to make his sixth and seventh appearances for the German U-19 team since joining them this past summer.

Originally, it looked as though Green would join the USMNT between November 11-20 to train and become better acquainted with the coaching staff after reports emerged that Klinsmann had invited the German-American to join the squad in Scotland and Austria.

Green would only have been able to train because he played for Germany in an official FIFA competition, when he participated in UEFA U-19 Championship qualifying last month. To play for the U.S., he would have to file a one-time switch with FIFA.

Due to pressure from the heightened media scrutiny and the young age of Green, the two parties agreed that Green would be left off the U.S. roster that is yet to be announced, leaving him free to join up with the Germany U-19s once more. As he’s already eligible to play for Germany, joining them for a camp doesn’t change his current international situation in terms of potentially playing for either the USMNT or Germany.

The Tampa, Fla. native has had a red-hot start to the 2013/2014 season with Bayern Munich’s U-23s  in the fourth division of German soccer, the Regionalliga. Through 16 games, he’s scored 15 goals and added one assist, though he missed a penalty kick in the second half of Bayern II’s 4-3 victory over Würzburger Kickers last Saturday.

Also joining Green on the Germany U-19 squad is Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry, FC Schalke starter Max Meyer, and promising Hertha Berlin midfielder Hany Mukhtar.

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What do you think of this news? Surprised that he is joining the U-19s for two friendly matches? Worried that Green won’t train with the U.S. anytime soon? Did you expect Green to stay with Bayern during the international break?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Smart kid, better off competing with better players and talent at youth level in German, improving his game with better players at national level as well. If I was his father, it’s a no brainer, stay with Germany it you want to go somewhere with your career.

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  2. He is 18. In 2 to 7 years we will know whether or not we care. Right now, he could be a star because he is physically more mature than other 18 year-olds, or he simply could be very quick and the U-18 defenders he is facing daily do not have either the speed or savvy to handle him effectively or he could be the next Pele.

    Right now, it is kinda of like the case for Agudelo(20), Boyd(22), Shea(23), Bunbury(23), Johannssen(23), Corona(23), or Diskerud(23). I don’t think we should discourage any of them, but as to their actual impact in the next 4 years, well, we’ll see!. It is hard to get that excited about it right now.

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  3. “He has started the qualification matches with the German U-19 team and wants to support this team in the upcoming matches, as well,” Green rep Katharina Schrott told MLSsoccer.com. “These matches are a great opportunity for him as a young player to gain further international experience without being determinate too early.”

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  4. Also, he needs to get with his hairstylist and carve that disorganized lettuce into a proper loaf. Please consult with Jimmy Butler for any questions.

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  5. this changes nothing for me. once he decided he didn’t want to make that decision (regarding the US), it logically made since he would at least join the German U-19s for the friendlies going on at the same time. he’s provisionally tied with them, so use the experience.

    nothing about this makes me think his mind set is any different than it was. he knows the US wants him, he knows the German U-19s want him, and he knows he has time to decide.

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  6. In a few years or after Brazil 2014 the US will need to replace a number of aging players. So the US offers someone like Green (assuming he’s developing in a premiere league by then) a chance to come in play.

    A strong showing helps USMNT get players like Green. Hell it helps soccer in the US on all levels.

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  7. If we do get him one thing is for sure.Landon has an hair apparent to his receding hairline crown.Sheesh the guy is only 18 and already rocking the Lebron.

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  8. Forget him. He is off the radar. No longer a prospect. When Germany spits him out of the system…maybe…only maybe will he give the USA a look. Turn the page and move on…Green, I’m sure, has been told by team and coaches that Germany is the better choice. Sadly, we know this to be true too. 4 get about him.

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  9. I think he’s focusing on improving his club position, and the best way to do that is to train with the DFB and raise his profile domestically. Training with the USA and joining Klinsmann’s ragtag bunch won’t earn him any suitors in the Bundesliga or elsewhere, but impressing through the youth ranks, which Germany take very seriously, might earn him a promotion if not to the BM A-team to another club in a higher division that will give him regular minutes and better quality competition.

    His national team decision will probably come down to his passion. I couldn’t fault him for wanting to play for the German side though. It’s a tougher squad to crack, but also one that is better suited to the biggest stages of the sport.

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    • I think your analysis is very good in regards what a very promising German/US soccer striker’s future choices might be. He has plenty of time at his age to further develop his skills and THEN decide what to do. Presently, he is making a better choice in playing in two U19 friendlies against a tough French team vs attending the TRAINING session with USNMT seniors. Plus he now knows that Klinsi and the US are seriously interested in him.

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  10. Still don’t understand why this is newsworthy everywhere. It’s a U-19 call-up for Germany whom he is previously tied to in October. Of course he is going to accept a call-up for Germany’s U-19 team, he is provisionally tied to them.

    Nothing about Green is newsworthy for a few years until he makes his final international decision.

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  11. It looks like he’s going to follow the same path as previous German/American players. He’ll wait and see if he’s good enough for Germany and if he’s not he’ll get an Old Glory tattoo and sign for the US talking about how it was always a dream of his to represent America.
    Sad but we are in no position to complain.

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  12. you either represent the country you were born in or raised in

    or you represent a country through the nationality of your parents

    but does that mean “you are connected to the nation” you represent? There are plenty of other talent in case this doesn’t work out. when are we going to get quality players from S. Korea and Japan. Surely servicemen there have had kids with the locals and some of those kids must love soccer or is it just baseball

    btw when are we getting a military base in Brazil or Argentina?

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  13. Wow, the egg is sliding off of JK’s face. What was all that blah blah blah about wanting to let him rest and not rushing him into his decision? Spin, spin, spin. Call a spade a spade, he rejected the call up in order to join up with Germany. Stop sugar coating a sh*t sandwich.

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    • my thoughts exactly-what does SBI gain by ignoring facts that would put USSF and JK in a negative light? again these are well-publicized facts, not some Straus-like scoop – just curious as a long-time reader….

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    • to be fair to JK, he never said rest. he said BREATHE.

      “We are going to give Julian an opportunity to breathe,” Klinsmann told U.S. Soccer. “All of these conversations and attention can be a bit overwhelming for a young player, so we decided to take the foot off the pedal and let him focus on his work at Bayern.”

      the quote should have continued, “…and in the meantime he’ll join up with the German U-19s again.”

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  14. Here’s the thing-I actually like that Germany wants him. If we ultimately get a player Germany wanted it I think once and for all would end the mercenary myth about the German American players (because playing in the jungles of Central America and flying halfway around the world to play for a country you’re only a “mercenary” to for 2-3 years is totally worth it to play 4 games at a world cup…..you do it because you care. end of story).

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    • Good comment, Dimidri. Now we know why Timothy Chandler during the past 18 months turned down all but one invitation to help the team in World Cup qualifying. And, curiously, now that the hard work is over, Timothy wants to come back to the team and play some easily meaningful friendlies to *earn* a spot on the team so he can fulfill his childhood dream of playing in a World Cup. Ain’t that sweet. I propose that Klinsmann drop either Brad Evans or Geoff Cameron from the 23-man WC 2014 roster to make room for Timothy.

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  15. Do we really want somebody that at 18 y/o has already decided he will never be good enough to play for a top national team and instead decides to go with the safer alternative?
    With that attitude I don’t seem him becoming that great of a player ever.

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    • na, it makes sense because he is a U-19 level player. Right now his one and only priority is making the Bayern Munich 1st team. Playing for the German U-19’s might help! Starting a huge dual national controversy at the age of 18 probably won’t help his progression towards FCB standings.

      In a couple years when he is a pro and WCQ & Olympics are on the way then he can decide if he is German or American.

      *side note; Brian Sciaretta recently wrote about how a permanent U23 or U21 squad that meets every international break could help the USMNT.. he is a good case where a guy is not ready to be on the senior team and his “other” nation’s youth teams provide a solid alternative..

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      • …this kid isn’t gonna be playing in the Olympics, especially for the US. Clubs don’t have to release players for the Olympics and BM definitely won’t want to do that for the US. I read that article about the full-time youth team…great idea, not gonna happen…yet

      • ^^ This! Well said Beto and I thought Sciaretta’s article really hit the nail on the head. While our senior team progresses, we’re not doing ourselves any favors by not having that gap U-23/U-21 team to allow this critical group time to gel, improve, and even bond. More importantly, even if we were to land a Green or someone of his caliber, without having that farm system we can hardly say “we” developed him.

        Do I want to get the best possible players on our team? Hell yes. But more importantly we need to focus on building a viable, sustainable farm system to “grow” our own talent. MLS is doing this to a certain degree, but that’s just not enough. Perhaps it’s not economically viable, I get it, this is the 4th most popular team sport in the US which isn’t particularly helpful. But an investment in this age group would help us grow talent, secure interested talent from abroad, and ultimately allow us to actually develop a consistent style, which is so critical to long-term success.

      • You need to have quality coaches to develop young players effectively. There are no Bielsas or Guardiolas in the MLS.

  16. Why does SBI continue to parrot the US Soccer press release that says Klinsmann decided to leave Green off the U.S. roster that is yet to be announced, making it sound like Klinsmann on his own decided to be a nice guy and back off? According to other news outlets, this is not correct. Those news reports have made it quite clear that Green is the one who decided not to accept Klinsmann’s initial invitation and some are saying that Green is not yet prepared to take the major step of filing the one-time switch that would bind him to the USMNT.

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    • this is the issue with SBI when Ives is not around… Ives has presented the “company line” and the arguments against it in his articles, while the other writers take the “company line” and run with it… since when is that considered journalism?

      Is it because Ives has the cred built over the years to cut against the PR spin and the others do not and are trying to earn kudos from those they cover?

      I’ve seen such cringe-worthy spin after terrible USMNT performances from non-Ives writers that’s it makes one more tempted to use other sites for analysis that actually matches up with what the eyes see, versus “yay, let’s focus on the positives!” after a shellacking

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    • The logic of Green not wanting to come into camp because he isn’t eligible to play for the US yet makes sense. He’s young. Like a lot of teens, he’ll figure out who’s going to give him the most love. He hasn’t even played professionally yet. I have no qualms about him rejecting us and playing two u19 German games.

      He’s already been in the u19 setup so this doesn’t mean anything except he wanted to play. Which backs up the original US quotes.

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      • the qualm is with dishonesty… here’s the chain of events:

        reports of a Green call-up
        USSF confirms it
        reports come out that Green will decline USMNT invite
        USSF says Klinsmann “decided” to not call up Green
        SBI writes article saying Klinsman decided to not call him up to give him rest and focus on club team-despite plenty of evidence contradicting that
        and now he’s gonig to a U-19 German camp

        in reality there’s an egg on Klinsmann’s face, but SBI and USSF want to use to pretend otherwsie and look away

        a player rejecting a senior national team call up (even to train, even as uncapped) compared to accepting a U-19 invite is damning… why are we pretending otherwise? if the kid wanted to rest and focus on bayern he would be staying home and not taknig time away form the club to train with the U-19s…

        Green chose to forego a non-commital invite to a senior squad in favor of a junior squad means which is perfectly fine for him to do, but why is the US media choosing to ignore plenty of evidence and instead repeating a lie

      • Exactly blokhin. I think Ives is trying to “look the other way” on a story that will likely turn out in another direction.

      • Very well put, blokhin. I mean a truly excellent explanation and I can tell it irks you as much as it irks me. But as for your last line, I will say that there were a few news outlets that did not spin the the way Jurgie Klinsmann wanted to see the story spun.

      • Just to add, blokhin, that there were a few news outlets, such as MLSsoccer.com, that did report the facts of the story and not Klinsmann’s ego-fueled i-am-better-than-bob-bradley wishful thinking.

      • @Blokin…I wonder if there is anything missing from your timeline of event. After USSF confirms that Green will be invited and before reports say he will decline. What happened? Does anybody know for sure? Did Green actually have interest? Did the German FA talk to him about what even entertaining the idea could mean to his future? Did his coaches at BM II have a chat with him? What was the response of the German media? Was the idea of a call up just chess move by Klinsi to get Green ostracized by the German FA and make it easier to convince him 12 moves ahead? Is Green or his representatives using this interest to force the German FA to step up? Is Green even in the German’s plans? Yes he is 18 but wasn’t Mueller starting for BM and Germany at 19? Why isn’t the U-21 team calling him in?

        The reason why I am bringing all this up because it actually figures into why he said no and what Klinsi’s expectations were. To say this was damning is a bit of a leap given the information given in most of the media accounts. Is there really egg of Klinsi’s face? And even if it was who cares…he has already won more of these chess games then any previous coach(and I am a huge fan of Bob Bradley).

        As to your larger point about SBI towing the company line, well until some thing else comes out that is definitive about this process why would you speculate? Even if there was isn’t this really a non-story either way? Why would you risk future access to the USMNT for this story….how did it end up for Brian Straus at the Sporting News? Maybe he wanted to switch jobs? Does he still have the same access?

        As for the tried and true “player wants to rest” then plays for the club. That is to give the player cover and not alienate him from a future call up. This way it makes the coach look bad rather then the player. Chandler is a prime case…door is still open even though he hasn’t come a calling recently. Cherundolo also used this excuse and we came to find out that he has been hurt and needed surgery(going back to last year).

        You will all love Green and Klinsi if he decides to come over to the dark side and commit to the USA. He has plenty of time to chose and when he does then it will really be a story, big or small.

      • No. No. Please don’t be reasonable. All of this happened in a linear and narrow way. No need to use logic and expect that people responded differently when different pressures were applied. Your logic is disorienting and we will have none of it sir.

      • Blohkin, you are making good points and I can see how the USSF might want to save face, but I don’t think that SBI has a dog in this fight. SBI probably should have asked some questions about the inconsistencies in the stories, but many other journalistic sources did not ask those questions either.

  17. Sounds like the Germans aren’t going to give him up without a fight. He also wants to see how far he can get in the German system before considering the US.

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    • But it’s also going to be very tough for him to make the full German NT any time soon. Let him give it a shot and see where he ends up. Either impatience or lack of opportunity very well could play the US’s way.

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      • And the USA starting striker has how many goals in Europe right now? Zero. Poor Klinsmann always has to go to the German well because he knows he is used to working with Ferrari engine type players, now has to work with substandard.

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