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Klinsmann’s son among U.S. U-18 selections set to play in Lisbon Tournament

by

Rubio Rubin

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

The U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team have arrived in Portugal for the Lisbon International Tournament, where they’ll face the likes of Norway, Portugal, and Sweden in the next couple of weeks.

An 18-man squad has been selected featuring seven players in MLS youth academies as well as U.S. youth national team regulars such as Rubio Rubin, Mukwelle Akale, and Tommy Redding, who has started three games for Orlando City in USL Pro this season before they make the jump to MLS in 2015.

The squad also includes soon-to-be Atletico Madrid forward Dembakwi Yomba, Mauricio Pineda, younger brother of Chicago Fire forward Victor Pineda, Nigerian-American midfielder Maduabuchi Obinwa, and USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s son Jonathan Klinsmann.

Klinsmann made waves recently for his controversial tweet mocking Landon Donovan’s exclusion from the U.S. World Cup team. A tweet his father wound up having to address.

With Javier Perez assisting the senior USMNT in their preparations for the 2014 World Cup, former USMNT winger Eddie Lewis will take charge of the squad in Portugal. The U.S. will begin the 11-day stay in Portugal with a friendly match against Benfica’s U-19s on Tuesday.

Next, the U.S. open the tournament against Norway U-18 on Friday before taking on Portugal U-18 on Sunday. The U.S. wrap up the tournament on June 10 with a match against Sweden U-18.

Here’s a look at the U.S. U-18 roster for the Lisbon International Tournament:

U.S. U-18 ROSTER FOR LISBON INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

GOALKEEPERS (2): Jonathan Klinsmann (Irvine Strikers; Newport Beach, Calif.), JT Marcinkowski (San Jose Earthquakes; Alamo, Calif.)

DEFENDERS (5): Chase Gasper (Bethesda Olney; Alexandria, Va.), Malcolm Jones (LA Galaxy; Chino Hills, Calif.), Quentin Pearson (Colorado Rapids; Longmont, Colo.), Mauricio Pineda (Chicago Fire; Bolingbrook, Ill.), Tommy Redding (Orlando City; Oveido, Fla.)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Mukwelle Akale (Minnesota Thunder; Minneapolis, Minn.), Collin Fernandez (Chicago Fire; Downers Grove, Ill.), Brooks Lennon (RSL Arizona; Paradise Valley, Ariz.), Cameron Lindley (Chicago Fire; Carmel, Ind.), Maduabuchi Obinwa (Chicago Magic; Orlando, Fla.), Sebastian Saucedo (RSL Arizona; Casa Grande, Ariz.), Ben Swanson (Crew Academy; Grove City, Ohio)

FORWARDS (4): Coy Craft (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas), Sebastian Elney (Boca United; Boca, Fla.), Rubio Rubin (FC Utrecht; Beaverton, Ore.), Dembakwi Yomba (Concorde Fire; Lithona, Ga.)

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What do you think of this squad? How do you think the U.S. will do in Lisbon? Which of these players do you expect to impress in Portugal?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  2. Pingback: Kick Off: With David Villa in bag, could pair of England internationals follow him across pond? | goalpost360: Nigeria Football / Soccer, Highlights, Scores

  3. I think the kid is a punk for tweeting that too, but is he really that good or is there some pressure to include him because of his dad. I was just wondering if anyone has actually seen him play.

    Reply

  4. The only qualification necessary for posting on the internet is that you can type. There are no other qualifications.

    Somehow I was reminded of this while reading the comments section of this article.

    Thanks for the update on the Under 18 team.

    Reply

  6. I used to come to Soccer By Ives for the soccer coverage…

    I now come to read all this insane and unpredictable banter. It’s well worth the price of admission. You should all host a dinner party together. Make a big roasted pig and eat weird fried finger foods. Maybe do Peyote after dinner?

    Reply

    • I have been on peyote since we dropped that serial killing sociopath with the flat affect and floating hairline…. Ron Paul George Michael Landon Donovan McNabb I think was his name… and all we got in return was for Dr. J or Honey I shrunk Dr J or maybe I don’t even like baseball. That and this lousy t-shirt.

      Don’t they know it’s shoes that I need?

      Anyway welcome back Julian (ha whatta weird name friggin Swedes)

      What’s not to love?

      Reply

    • You mean all those posts about how SBI was classier and had better commentary than those f++kwads at GOAL and Big Soccer and Soccernet and so on?

      Isn’t interesting how JK replaced Jozy are the hater b++t boy.

      Reply

  9. people can rip on JK all they want, but at least he did not pick his son for the World Cup roster, like Bradley did. Remember when that guy started in the World Cup? What a joke that was, he only played b/c of his dad…

    Reply

  10. I wonder how many people are pretending to be different people. Or how many people are pretending to be one person. Quaker 2.0… Baptista… Maykol… Mason… What do we all think?

    Reply

    • I’m not sure. Am I you? Look out your window. What do you see?

      I see cars, apartments/condos/houses, a Subway, and a McDonalds in the distance…

      Reply

  11. I knew when I saw that headline that even after 70 comments, more focus would be devoted to “Jonathan Klinsmann’s…controversial tweet” than the far more interesting phrase, “soon-to-be Atletico Madrid forward Dembakwi Yomba.” Who knows about Yomba? Who has seen him play? Is he going to *play* for AM, or just bench?

    Reply

    • This is because Jurgen Klinsmann and his son and his German . . . . errrr Amercerman ..team … no I think technically it was the USA….. just dominated those Azerbaijan soccer folk.

      Reply

  12. Thus, “Son of Jurgen Does Something” becomes the new “Freddy Adu Does Something” of the comments section.

    Reply

    • Wtf are you talking about? Get lost you moron. Germany will forever be better than USA in soccer. In fact, our team now is comprised of many Germans. All three goalies going to WC for Germany are better than our best, Howard. Don’t you remember how many games Howard has allowed 3 goals when playing for USMNT. One thing is our patriotism and another is reality. Please, do not post that nonsense again.

      Reply

      • Of course Germany is far superior to the US in soccer and will be for a good long time, but none of your points show at all how All 3 German WC goalies are better than Howard. Goals against isn’t the only way to look at a goalie. Also, Howard hasn’t allowed 3+ goals very often. And if he ever does, it isn’t because of him, its because of the US team. Neuer is very good and I’d say certainly better than Howard, but you can’t tell me his backups are better than Howard. Don’t confuse the entire rest of the field with the GK position.

      • I can think of a couple instances where he’s had some howlers. Ghana for instance, didn’t allow 3 goals but man, he looked bad on all of them.

  19. I am with the previous poster that even if he saves the PK that wins the USA the 2022 world cup in Austrailia I will boo this kid until I have a brain hemorage.

    Reply

  20. I just can’t believe Michael Bradley is STILL on the team even after they fired his dad for all his nepotism. I guarantee they only offered Jurgen the job if he promised he wouldn’t make a fool of Bob by exposing once and for all that Michael only plays because he’s the coach’s son.

    Reply

  21. Maybe Julian Green should play a few games in Lisbon before he “Earns” one of 23 spots on the USMNT.

    Reply

  23. One of the best strikers of the 90s moves to America, marries an American woman and produces…………a goalkeeper.

    Didn’t anyone tell Jürgen that that’s the one position we don’t have any trouble producing talent at?!?!

    Reply

      • Jurgen was probably so self-centered that he made his kid always play goalie so he could relive his glory days by scoring on him in the backyard.

      • HHHHAAAAAAHHHAAAA I didn’t even know this was funny until I read it HHHHHAAAAA Actually my daddy told me it was going to be funny but I have to say I didn’t know on twitter because I wasn’t suppose to know it was funny since it was all a set up

      • But eventually by having balls pounded at him for 13 years by one of the former best strikers in the world, he got good enough to play for a youth international side.

    • “Didn’t anyone tell Jürgen that that’s the one position we don’t have any trouble producing talent at?!?!”

      DB you are coming dangerously close to violating Life Rule #1:

      “Don’t p*ss off God!”

      Nobody knows where that goalkeeping factory came from, why we have it, or how to fix it if it breaks. All we know is it keeps spitting one out every few years and we’d like to keep it that way!

      Reply

      • Sure we do. The goalkeeping factory comes from that fact that there are three major american team sports far ahead of soccer in popularity, all of which require the use of hands. The rest of the world does not have this. All our goalkeepers are exposed to football, baseball and basketball. As a matter of course. This is not the case in the rest of the world. Sure, some places have basketball as a secondary sport (Spain, Brazil). But far and away the number one sport in 80-90 percent of the world is football, where you can thrive your entire life without ever using your hands. That’s where it comes from.

      • Does playing basketball make you a better goalie the playing goalie you entire life? I don’t think so.

      • Now wait just a minute Rick. I’m not saying this is absolutely correct (it has not been tested, yet alone proven, at all, and probably can’t be), but your argument doesn’t address the point exactly.

        Almost everybody who has even been to school in the US knows that you are exposed to multiple sports from grade school through high school, usually depending on season. Most of the top athletes at any high school play 2-3 sports (and are usually good at all of them). Of any country on the planet, our kids are far more likely to play multiple organized sports (via school or supplemental organizations such as AYSO or Little League)

        The idea that an elite US athlete only plays one organized sport exclusively from a young age is rarely accurate. In fact, you will see the presence of this diversification in many places. Just the other day, I saw a piece about Eddie Lewis’s post-soccer career. Apparently, he has invented a training machine for soccer based on the ball-machines common in tennis, which was his other “first love” I can name others, but this was the first that sprang to mind.

        It’s true that many of the “what if all of our best athletes played soccer?” articles are based on the very primitive and bozo’d out notion of figuring out how the top superstars and physical freaks in other sports (Lebron James, Dez Bryant, etc) would fare if soccer was the most popular sport here. The fact is they probably wouldn’t play– their bodies are conducive to it. They’d stick with their current sport, even if the pay was lower. No decent journalist wastes their time like this.

        The fallacy lies elsewhere. It’s not about losing our current “best athletes”… it’s about not giving exposure to the sport to “ordinary” youths who are extremely well suited to soccer, or recognizing who are best athletes might be at the decision point when they need to start focusing the sport more specifically. Too youth many athletes who might be considered “low probability prospects” based on the raw physical talents (being over 6’3″ is a major marker of athletic potential in many sports here, for example) just don’t follow through with soccer, and instead go down a path that leads them to mediocrity elsewhere.

        How does it all tie together? Like this — coaches at the youth level very frequently coach multiple sports (rare to see this anywhere else beyond 4 year olds). The critical skills of a quality keeper (reactions, hand eye coordination, communication/organization recognition/ throwing ability, kicking ability, and yes to some extent size) are something these coaches could recognize, and direct the kid into this place.

        So yes, there is some sense here. At least intuitively (and in my opinion)

      • World’s most played ball sports:

        Association football
        Rugby (both kinds)
        Cricket
        Field hockey
        Table tennis
        Volleyball

        And in Brazil, a country not know for great goalkeepers—and certainly with a dismally low “great goalie:field player” ratio—the most played ball sports are soccer, volleyball, handball, and basketball.

        So I think there is more to the story than USA baseball/basketball/football.

    • But none of the ones we produce have the same connection. If JK is let go, it will be interesting to see if the brat remains in the pool.

      Reply

      • Many posters on here said the same thing about Michael Bradley when his dad was the coach. How did that work out? I’ll give the benefit of the doubt that the coaches in the youth ranks keep picking Jonathan for this skills and not because of his dad.

      • I won’t either. His USDA team has two goalkeepers for a reason. HHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA

    • “One of the best strikers of the 90s moves to America, marries an American woman and produces…………a goalkeeper.”

      JK must’ve been taking shots at the kid ever since he was a toddler. Maybe one of our keepers can produce a forward, fingers crossed!

      Reply

  24. This whole Klinsmann thing is getting very tiresome. This kid showed he has no respect for the crest, just like his father. Get him out of the set-up and never let him back. US Soccer will be better for it.

    Reply

    • Ok this is starting to get annoying, please explain how JK disrespected the crest? (LD exclusion does not count) I mean go for it buddy enlighten us…

      Reply

      • Because he had his kid play goal keeper, not striker. The USA doesn’t need goalkeepers

      • We sure do. We have 3 excellent goalkeepers well over 30. We had to sit at home and watch Mexico win Gold at the Olympics because the apparent next guy in the pipeline cr*pped the bed spectacularly (I still think Johnson has potential, but this happened, let’s face it).

        The whole “let’s talk sh*t on Jonathan Klinsmann” thing (which I have probably participated in heavily) has now gotten old.

        The number of riduclous things I said when I was 17 could fill a library. They’d have to build an annex for the number of times I exercised terrible judgment. “Having a famous dad” changes nothing — does not increase your
        “sense of duty” or judgment skills at that age. Look at the children of celebrities and survey the carnage. It doesn’t make things easier to have money and a famous dad.

        It’s not like the kid directed his tweet at Donovan. It was just a comment. Maybe he just figured (as Klinsmann said) that most of his Twitter followers were classmates and soccer teammates, and was unaware of how many dweebs and losers were following him on Twitter, eagerly awaiting the moment when they looked like something other than a pedophile for their efforts.

        Sorry zip, this was not entirely directed at you… large parts of it are actually directed at me. Just time to let this one go, partucularly as there is some possibility he is a very good goalkeeper 🙂

      • Since Twellman spoke about the Jonathon Klinnsman tweet first, does that make him a pedophile? I’m not saying I don’t believe you. I don’t know Taylor,but he does have a girls name, tries to look like Adam Levine and talks more gibberish than sense.

      • It’s nice that you tell people what doesn’t matter before they make their argument. I can see that being a winning tactic, if a bit disingenuous.

      • JK disrespects the crest because he lies to us. The lies pour out of his pie hole like an old man’s drool.
        “My son loves Landon Donovan. He has Landon’s shirt hanging in his bedroom.”
        “I did not promise Juilen Green a trip to Brazil if he switched to the USMNT.”
        “Nor John Brooks.”
        “I did not tell Tim Chandler ‘no problem, take the next two years off, I’ll bring you to Brazil – and start you – no matter what.'”

      • I don’t agree that all those are truly JK’s statement, the sentiment is true though. I agree he has disrespected the crest.

        Jurgen has blown smoke up a bunch of peoples rear’s and they love him for it. He is completely disingenuous, nothing he says holds any credibility. It is all double speak if you listen closely. I will still root for this team, but it is hard when you listen to JK’s interviews and realize this team’s sole purpose (in his mind) is to glorify his own ego.

      • So if he doesn’t take one German, you can never claim he’s biased? Not sure I get that one.

      • You know you are full of it. I am tired of you pretending to know when in reality you are a fake.

      • Hey Mason: That “meatballs” impostor comment was mine. Your comment just before (assuming that was really yours) looked like you were having some fun with the idea of having an impostor. Reminded me of Costanza and Steinbrenner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh7hfDZyZNg (see ~5:30).

        Sorry if I took the joke too far. (None of the other impostor comments were from me.)

      • No but to actually claim he is Bias when all the Germans on our team are pretty damn good and helpful to the squad (except for Green), it is pretty moronic- this is written by me, not the other Maykol who is apparently using my handsome name

      • Maykol, do go on about how Julien Green, Timmy Chandler, and John Brooks “earned” their spots on the final roster. Please.

      • Timmy and Brooks both finished off their seasons very strong against some of the best players in the world so we know what they are capable of, and plain as day i stated that Green was not good enough to be in the squad so why you included him in your statement is stupid

      • Anything that Klinsmann produces is of the highest quality. We will always be blessed with this German blood added to our melting pot.

      • It’s that Baptista guy… or guys. I pissed him/them off the other day, and now he/they/she/it is back for some sweet teenage revenge.

      • Funny that he/they/it chose this post to fake a half-dozen or so names. It’s such a nothing post, really.

        But seriously, though… Caldo Verde is awesome, easy, and a great way to use up a bunch of kale. That one was all me.

      • We got your back Maykol. Don’t give up your well-earned name. Dude’s the same chump — more hot garbage off the expat tree. He’ll be back under another 50 names.

        Quality is easy to spot. You just have to look for where it isn’t.

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