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Green glad to be back in first match since his World Cup goal

Julian Green

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

By MIKE DONOVAN

PORTLAND, Ore. — Three blocks from Providence Park stands a 40-foot-tall billboard with Julian Green’s likeness on it. That same ad has been on the side of numerous Portland city buses throughout the week.

Despite having lived the majority of his life in Germany, the 19-year-old U.S. international has been the American face of Bayern Munich for the entirety of MLS All-Star week in Portland and Wednesday was no different.

In a pregame ceremony, Green was honored alongside the eight members of the U.S. Men’s National Team who were named to the All-Star roster.

“It was a nice feeling to be out there with these guys and stand there. I’m very happy about it,” Green said.

After the pre-match festivities, Green took his spot on the Bayern bench before coming on as a first-half substitute for Claudio Pizarro. He received a standing ovation from the Rose City crowd and almost made his presence felt immediately, but a 10-yard effort in front of goal was denied by his U.S. teammate Nick Rimando.

While Green said he has scored on Rimando numerous times at practice sessions, he was unable to get past the Real Salt Lake goalkeeper. Despite this, Green believes he hasn’t seen the last of Rimando.

“I will score more goals (against him) in training I think,” Green said.

While Rimando made the save, he said he understood that Green might have been a little rusty after having not played in a match since scoring in Belgium’s 2-1 victory over the U.S. at the World Cup on July 1.

“Julian’s a good player and I think he would like to have that one back,” Rimando said.

Green did not play in Bayern’s 1-0 victory over Chivas Guadalajara on Thursday due to injury concerns. On Wednesday night, however, he played 45 minutes and is already looking ahead.

“I’m feeling good. Of course not at 100 percent, but it’s getting better every day,” Green said.

Next up for the 19-year-old is to return to Germany with Bayern, where there are unlikely to be any billboards bearing his image. Head coach Pep Guardiola said the team will decide shortly whether Green will go on loan this season or stay at Bayern.

No matter what happens, Green will remember his week in the Portland spotlight fondly.

“The fans here are awesome. All the American fans are awesome,” Green said. “It was a very nice to play in front of them. (I’m) very happy to have this chance.”

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What did you think of Green’s All-Star performance? Wish he had beaten Rimando? Hoping he goes out on loan or stays with Bayern?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Does this game help answer the question of how a club team of only the best USMNT players would fare? It was predominantly our World Cup roster and they showed well.

    Reply
    • @ Thomas,
      Although it was primarily our WC roster, and their overall shape in the run of play was commendable imho, none of the WC roster players scored or even assisted either of the goals. Michael Bradley was lost out there, committing multiple turnovers and miss-connected lots of passes and rarely distributed any significant forward advancement. His value to our MNT will diminish in the next couple of years in Toronto and I doubt he will be a MNT factor after 2016 if not sooner.

      Reply
  2. And one more thing: Wondo MISSED with his shank. OTOH, Green scored with his. If Wondo scores, we make the quarters against Argentina. While they were a very good side, they had a lot of trouble with speedy Nigeria, a team the US dominated until the late PK. Not saying we would have won, but I’m saying we could have. Is that so unrealistic. We were 30 seconds from beating the No. 4 team in the world. We only lost 1-0 to Germany, and we were gassed from playing in Minaus and playing a game that we didn’t need to win so we played cautiously. Tim was hot enough to carry us to the semis. I don’t think we are a top four talent, but a team that got on a roll (like Costa Rica) that was surprisingly tough and caught the breaks to win. Stop criticizing Green because he didn’t score the Golazo de Mundial in Brazil. The missed shank is a much bigger deal than the scoring shank.

    Reply
  3. Give the kid a break. As other OPs noted, he’s raw. Clearly he has potential He is a game-changer. I could care less if he didn’t perfectly hit the volley. Well, maybe Courtois saves the perfect shot. Perhaps he wasn’t expecting a shanked shot? A goal is a goal is a goal. BTW, did you criticize Dempsey for scoring with his package?

    Reply
  4. All the ragging @ Green! It’s all BS unless you’re not a fan of the USMNT. We are damned fortunate to have this kid. We historically have no one who is a world class scoring machine! We’ve found our victories via counters and mistakes by the opposites for the most part. Whether this kid pans out is to be determined, but he has more potential than anyone else wearing the RW&B leading into the future. Juergen has followed this kid from very early on and he has cooperative insider information about his merit. I would absolutely trust JK’s points of view over the likes of so many of you whining faux soccer experts LOL… I think (but do not actually know) that all of us USMNT fans will be standing and cheering for the lad sooner than later. I feel the same way in trusting JK on the selections of Brooks and Chandler also, and we all have seen how Fabian has panned out thus far.

    To continue to sit back on soccer blogs and bitch and moan and whine about freaking Lando .. well boys, that ship has sailed on the water that’s already gone under the bridge! Lando has been a world class representative of the beautiful game for a career and he’s brought my soccer viewing a ton of positives, but it’s time to get over it and move on. The nice goal he got last night was a fitting tribute in front of the soccer nation. I can assure you that he’ll bust his butt to win another MLS Cup before he settles off into the sunset with a legacy of a great career.

    Reply
  5. Realistically, I don’t see Green getting much playing time at Bayern. Besides maybe Real Madrid, they are the most stacked team in the world. He would do better on loan to mid table EPL, La Liga, Serie A, etc. I’m fine if he stays at Bayern, but his playing time will be very limited in my opinion.

    Reply
  6. Simple question. Guiseppe Rossi (actually his father from what I understand) told the US coach Bruce Arena – “bring my son (who isn’t quite ready) to the World Cup and he will play for the US, otherwise he will take his chances with Italy” Arena tells him to pound sand. Let’s assume the same offer was made to Klinnsman and he takes the kid. Who made the right choice?

    Sure it always seemed that Rossi got hurt or overlooked around World Cup time but who on this board can honestly say that for the past 12 years, the US has had a player even close to the quality of Rossi?

    I am glad that we gave Green the ticket and kept our options open for the next 12 years. At a minimum, the kid has scored 1 more goal than Wondolowski will ever score in the World Cup.

    Reply
    • Eres un “troll” si eres de espana. vous ĂŞtes un troll au cas oĂą vous ĂŞtes français, Sie ein Troll, wenn Sie Deutsch sind, sei un troll nel caso in cui tu sei italiano,

      FU any which way!!!!

      Reply
      • Yeah but was is there left to do? He has just about every MLS career record there is to have. He probably won’t play on the national team again as long as Klinsmann is coach.

      • I agree. I guess I just haven’t prepared myself emotionally for an MLS without LD. It will just take time to adjust.

      • Klinsmann needs to re-evaluate how he has gone about dismissing important players from the USMNT. Bocanegra and Donovan were both massive players with the USMNT for the last decade and neither will be getting a proper send off, bit sad really.

    • such a bummer. we went from thinking a big player was being announced to finding out LD is retiring. LAME.

      looks like Jones will get to sign with LA next season 4th DP or not. still think something gets worked out for the time being though.

      Reply
      • Jones needs to sign now. He isn’t going to get a better deal in a year when he’s a year older and a year further away from his World Cup performance.

      • agreed. plus, he needs to start playing again. just make a Fing decision already. of course, it’s easy for me to say that but still…

  7. this kid is a player. He looks to be very talented, and even with the rust, still was dangerous and nearly scored twice in the first 15 minutes he was on the field, and nearly assisted on a goal in the second half. He is very clever with his runs, and has a good touch and quality on the ball. Whether he maximizes his potential is yet to be seen, but he looks to be a very special player. Side note: I noticed he played up top next to RL9 in Pep’s new system. Perhaps that is where Pep sees him contributing, and if that is the case, he may have a very good chance of getting solid first team action, because Bayern is not very at forward.

    Reply
      • I think that I read somewhere that yesterday’s deadline only applied to players under contract with another club. I think that players not under contract can still move. Looked back, but admittedly could not find the source.

        Regardless, I think the above post has been cleared up (maybe). Twellman tweeted that the Galaxy news is the retirement of LD at the end of the season. Gotta think that opens the door for Jones though – assuming that they can agree on $.

  8. How good is this kid? I see so much HYPE but tell it to me straight? Was that goal in BRAZIL pure luck? Could he become a member of the starting XI for Bayern? Could he develop into world class?

    Reply
    • I think the consensus on Green is that he’s very good. He’s still a little raw, but his natural talent is very good, and his ceiling is high.

      The goal in Brazil required a great run and a difficult volley. He may not have caught it flush, but there was also little luck involved.

      Could he start for Bayern? Not right now, but if he continues to develop and Bayern move on from older players at his position, he could be a starter in another 18-24 months.

      Unfortunately, the world is littered with players who were the next big thing. Whether Green ends up world class or not is up to hard work, good luck/timing, and health. I suppose it’s possible, but right now he needs to focus on working hard enough to be a consistent part of the 18 for Bayern (this year), then become a consistent part of the starting 11 (next year?), if he can do that, let’s see where his talent takes him from there.

      Reply
    • Tons of 18 year old kids are out there playing for reserve/U-21 squads of big clubs right now and most won’t make as regular members of the first team. Who knows what will happen. His goal at world cup wasn’t pure luck but it was part luck – he made a smart run and found some space in the Belgian defense (and Bradley’s pass was awesome too) but he didn’t hit his volley cleanly and got lucky that it went in. I doubt he’s breaking into that stacked Bayern lineup too often but hopefully he at least goes out on loan somewhere this season instead of playing another year in the fourth division.

      Reply
    • Was the goal pure luck? No, it was a great run and he got a piece of the ball that went in. I’m guessing there is a bit of luck on most goals scored.

      He is young but apparently has all the right tools to become world class, but it is all up to him. Will he work for it, will he put himself into ideal club situations? Time will tell.

      Reply
    • Green is legit. Bayern has identified him as one of top three talents in their youth system. He had several hat-tricks with Bayern’s first team in preseason games, albeit against inferior competition. Guardiola really likes him and tries to give him opportunities with the first team whenever possible (which is only extended to very few youth players in their system). This speaks for itself.

      Reply
      • I happen to agree with you… I think he is legit and there aren’t many places to hide at a club with that much talent on the books.

        But I am also skeptical of Pep’s credibility as a talent evaluator. When has he ever really done this (or had to)? His transfer record consists of buying Zlatan and then realizing he had no idea what to do with him. Everything else was just handed to him, and he didn’t really stick around long enough to claim credit any youth products at Barca. The ones he introduced were already 90% finished and first-team ready.

      • It’s not true to say that everything was handed to Pep.

        Guardiola coached Sergio Busquets for Barcelona B and then brought Biscuits into the first team once he was made first team coach.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIygLW4pMww

        Guardiola brought in Pedro from the youth set up.

        Years before, Xavi replaced Guardiola in the Barcelona team.

        Guardiola is on record saying: “from the first moment I saw him [Xavi] play, I knew he would become the brain behind Barcelona for many years to come.”

      • Like I said… handed to him. These are pre-existing talents in advanced stages of development from the club’s world-class youth setup.

    • +1 Don’t really care for a kid who needed a promise from the ego-driven coach that he would get an all expenses paid trip to Brazil before he would agree to commit to the shirt while other better proven and more deserving players were denied the honor.

      Reply
      • We should all be a little sad that players like Wondo, Davis, and Aron J saw the field at Landon’s expense.

      • Unpatriotic drivel. They earned it. And yes they underperformed.

        Next time Donovan scores the winner for the USMNT against top 20 opposition of the non-CONCACAF variety, it will be the first.

      • The WC is over! Get over it. Everyone on that WC team (except Davis and Wondo) proved they belonged there. People need to stop being hard on the kid he played poorly in a few friendlies but score when it matters I think thats what counts. No one gave Wondo a hard time but he played well in friendlies and shanked a sitter what I mattered. The past is the past and lets look to the future.

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