Donovan Pines has received two top honors during his early time at English League One side Barnsley.
Pines earned Player and Goal of the Month awards Thursday after making a pair of impressive performances last March. The former DC United defender made the move to Barnsley in January and overall has made four appearances for the club.
“I just want to put forward my best effort, on and off the field,” Pines said in a club interview. “I just want to do my best in everything I do and I was able to do very well in the games that I played and score two goals which is very, very amazing.”
“I’ve had so much support from the players, to the staff, the fans and the organization,” he added. “They all were behind me and that’s really drove my confidence and my commitment.”
Pines, 26, debuted for Barnsley on February 17th, logging 30 minutes off the bench in a 2-1 triumph over Fleetwood Town.
The U.S. men’s national team defender scored in back-to-back appearances last March against Wycombe Wanderers and Bolton Wanderers respectively. His stunning strike against Bolton earned him Goal of the Month honors.
An injury has forced Pines to the sidelines over the past five matches, but the defender will hope to be back on the field prior to season’s end.
Barnsley sits fifth in the League One standings and are seven points clear in the race for a promotion playoff spot. Up next for Neill Collins’ men is a trip to Charlton Athletic on Saturday.
Gale Agbossoumonde, Matt Hedges, Steve Birnbaum, Romain Gall.
Do you remember these guys? They all get to be called US men’s national player for the rest of their lives. ( Gale 1, Matt 5, Steve 11, Romain 1.)
Yes
Cool….. wondering if the call-ups from this last camp cupcake get to pad their resumes as well?
Everyone has to start somewhere
This may be trifling… I’m not exactly sure what the industry standard is, but… do you really get to be called a U.S. men’s national team defender for life after like… one very sketchy cap?
rico po,
Short answer?
Yes
Do you remember Gale Agbossoumonde? Good, because no one else will. He has one cap.
How about George John? No? Good because he was highly touted but never got even one cap.
Matt Hedges? 5 caps
Romain Gall? One cap.
Steve Birnbaum has 11 caps but is he introduced as a U.S. men’s national team defender for life? I don’t think so.
I do remember Gale. I don’t want to make this seem like it’s a big deal to me, because it’s really not. More quibbling details of clear communication. In describing Gale, his career… I’d probably add that he got a look, one time callup by the national team, but I wouldn’t say, “National Team player Gale Agbossoumonde…” It’s a bit misleading, doesn’t at all differentiate from regular NT players who contributed to the team on up to Dempsey. Seems to me to be an informal but earned title. If you told a Barnsley fan when Pines was brought in, “USMNT defender Donovan Pines”, I doubt they’d be thinking, “this one time he got a sniff from the National Team. Thats all. Just an observation. Cheers
I remember and loved “Boss”. He looked like Kompany at youth level events. He had massive advantages (size, speed and strength) but never got the tech parts right and professional athlete life right. His look-see 1 cap was well earned and not a wasted cap on a kid with seemingly high potential.
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George John on the other hand kinda screwed himself. IIRC he was holding out for (and called up) to the Greek national team with a shot to play in the Euros (qualifying rounds) which would have at that time precluded him from playing for US. I think it also would have changed his “domestic” status in MLS too under those roster rules. I may be off with that last part though. I can’t remember how the Dual Nat thing worked back then.
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Can we talk about Thomas Rongen and Nevis Subotic? LOL 😝