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Green named to Bayern Munich’s first team ahead of preseason visit to U.S.

JulianGreenBayernMunich5 (Imago)

By FRANCO PANIZO

If you are hoping to see more of Julian Green in the near future, you will be happy to know Bayern Munich has just raised the odds of that happening.

Bayern Munich recently named Green to their first-team roster ahead of its preseason trip to the United States. The German club is scheduled to take on Chivas de Guadalajara on July 31 at Red Bull Arena and the MLS All-Stars at Providence Park on Aug. 6. Green might be available to play in both matches after Pep Guardiola included the 19-year-old winger in Bayern’s stacked first team.

An injury could prevent Green from suiting up, however. Bayern head coach Pep Guardiola said Tuesday that Green is dealing with a knee injury, but remained hopeful that the youngster will be able to recover in time to partake in the stateside friendlies.

“He will be rested, he will not be in the field for the next 2-3 days, but he is going to travel to the United States,” said Guardiola via a conference call. “I hope he’s going to play as much as possible, but we’re so, so happy that he’s with us because it’s never easy to be in the first squad. He deserves to try to keep going here and play with us.”

Guardiola added he expects Green to stay with Bayern Munich during the upcoming season, but that the club would look into any possible loan deals that could benefit both Bayern and the youngster.

“He’ll stay with us in preseason and I think he’s going to stay, but we have to see how is the market, if one player is back or if one player is coming,” said Guardiola. “I think today he’s going to stay, but we’re going to see the preseason. I know him, I know him, I know he’s training well, he’s a good guy. My first idea is that he is going to stay for the rest of the season.”

Green made a great impression on U.S. Men’s National Team fans earlier this month, coming off the bench in a World Cup Round of 16 match against Belgium and scoring a splendid extra time goal that trimmed the Americans’ deficit to one. Unfortunately for the U.S., Green’s first international goal was not enough to save it from a 2-1 loss that eliminated it from the tournament.

Green signed a professional deal late last fall. He made his professional debut in a UEFA Champions League match not long after, but has yet to play in a Bundesliga match.

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What do you think of Green being included in Bayern Munich’s first team ahead of the preseason friendlies? Think we will see him get on the field against the MLS All-Stars? Expecting him to see some time in the Bundesliga this season?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. If Green has a bad knee now, he will have a worse knee after the game. The Portland field is considered one of the worst on anyone’s legs. I am curious who else from Bayern has elected to be well enough to play on that field. If I were playing, I would not ever play on the Portland field. It is a recipe for early retirement.

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  2. You may mean that Green will be the first World Class field player from the US but that is even questionable. While not injured Claudia Reyna was pretty good in the Premier League.

    I do think Green will be at Bayern this year, but will mainly feature in cup games while getting valuable time training with some of the best players in the world.

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  3. To all those still saying Green won’t make Bayern’s first team this season, he should be loaned out, etc. and his playing for Bayern against the MLS All-Stars is only a ploy to sell jerseys, it will allow a real player to not risk injury, and so on and so on, I say you are wrong. Julian Green will not be loaned out – he will get serious first-team play for one of the top 3 teams in the world.

    I first started thinking about how good this unknown kid could be when everyone was talking here about Green going to Frankfurt to train with the USMNT. Someone (who will go nameless, lest I be accused of being him posting under another name), predicted Green will make the switch and it was a marketing deal between Green, Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga and U.S. Soccer. He said Julian Green is the real deal and holds his own with Bayern’s first team in training.

    It is much much more than trying to sell a few J. Green jerseys. imo, Julian Green will SOON become the USMNT’s very first world-class soccer player. Along which will come, of course, all the hoopla, sport headlines, tv and internet talk, excitement and $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

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    • The problem with getting Green into the real deal too soon is the risk of too many injuries before his bones have fully matured. He doesn’t look like a fully matured body. There were other players who were recruited too young and they had to pay the price of not lasting. Look at Badstuber’s injuries. He is just barely getting back into training.

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      • LOL to both of you guys. On a serious note, I would have chosen Bedoya over LD because he does defensive work that LD does not do. The other 3, no, but get over it.

  4. Finally an article about Green and Bayern’s U.S. tour.

    imo, Julian will play for Bayern this season and will be in the starting rotation. Maybe start 10-20% of their games.

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  5. Sooooo…. Reading between the lines… Bayern Munich is hoping Green is healthy enough to make some appearances in front of an American audience so they can sell some of his jerseys before they loan him to Red Bull Leipzig… that last part was speculation so don’t ask for a link.

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  6. He also is the exact kind of player that plays a lot on these types of trips. Its not just marketing. The players on the fringes get a lot of time on US trips from these big Euro clubs.

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    • Especially the younger fringe players. I remember Welbeck and Macheda playing well for ManU on a U.S. preseason tour, a few years back.

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      • Smalling and cleverly that year too. It was basically a sitcom premise of Giggs chaperoning a bunch of teenagers across america.

  7. I would say it is odds-on that Green plays a lot during this USA trip. Bayern opened up that NY office last year—they have their eye on American dollars.

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  8. So where is ghe rest of the roster?

    I usually don’t watch all-star games in any sport but this could be interesting. Green vs Yedlin on the wing, Munich’s WC champions vs a stacked MLS roster.

    Still not going to watch but good plot lines

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    • Just read I Am Zlatan, which was highly entertaining. And you know what? Guardiola may suck – or at least he is a deeply flawed guy. Certainly Ibrahimovic’s description of what happened at Barca makes you wonder about the guy as a person if not a coach. (And Gooch doesn’t come off looking too good either.) Anyway, highly recommend the book whatever you think of him and his side of things. It’s the best bio of its type I’ve read.

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      • LoL Ah geez, has it come to this… Ibra is now the ultimate authority on character?
        Actually, nice plug, I’m going to check out the book, but I’d be surprised if I take his word over Gooch’s after reading it..

      • Is he the authority on character? No, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have something worth considering. I found him credible and interesting, even if I don’t assume the case is closed just because he said so.

      • Just ribbing.
        I don’t pretend to know the true character of anyone based on public persona. It’s been proven time and again to be highly unreliable, whether it be a hero or supposed paragon of virtue being outed as severely flawed or visa versa- a once demonized figure proven to be alright after-all.

        Like I said, I think I’ll be checking out the book. Cheers.

    • Pep is also on record saying that Brad Davis, Wondo, Bedoya and Zusi are just ahead of Landon… but hey it was great to use Julian for 15 minutes in the World Cup to cut our loss margin from 2-0 to 2-1, BRILLIANT!

      the MORAL victory was totally worth it

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      • Most CL calibre teams give a lot of preseason time to promising youth prospects. I imagine Green would be on the roster either way.

      • Correct me if I’m wrong, but thats just like when Green was on the roster in preseason last year and he scored those couple goals that caused Pep to nix any loan idea. That wasn’t in the US (nor had he pledged allegiance anyways).

      • Yeah, this year’s script is the same as last year with the exception of the games being abroad in the US.

      • And yet he spent most of the year on, what, the 3rd team? Not going on loan will hurt him significantly. He can’t expect to be the face of the USMNT as he said was his desire when you’re playing with 3rd and reserve squads.

    • No doubt its marketing, but it also gives him a chance to play some minutes with the big boys which can’t hurt his chances for real playing time.

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    • I wonder if they are trying to sell Green Bayern Munich jerseys ?

      The good thing for him is, fair or not, that is an opportunity that not many get…make the most of it and see where it leads, right ?

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    • In their terms first team merely means you train with the big boys in the first 30 players and have the chance to dress for real games. But announcing it with this timing — and perhaps playing on confusion of what it means — probably sells tickets and shirts to Americans. I expected him to play anyway because this is when they look at people.

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      • He’ll play in the pre-season, but I can’t see him breaking through yet. I hope to see him sent on loan to get real experience.

    • This is a marketing ploy a lot of MLS fans need to learn from Bayern is using one of our own USMNT players to market Bayern to us while some people want us to sell our American players to foreign teams and buy old players from Europe and use them to market MLS to Americans

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