I've added photos and notes to an extent where I've now lost the original article. I'll post it preliminarily, but return to edit it as soon as I have the source. --rsb
Five German-Americans, 21% of the entire team, made t
he U.S. 23-man roster for the World Cup in Brazil. There's also an Icelandic-American and a Norwegian-American, in addition to players of Colombian, Mexican, and Haitian descent.
When he took over as coach in 2011,
Jurgen Klinsmann said, "Soccer in a way reflects the culture of a country." Three years later, he's taking a team to the World Cup that's fittingly diverse and multicultural.
The German-Americans are the biggest bloc of dual-nationals on the
team. Jermaine Jones, Fabian Johnson, John Brooks, Timmy Chandler, and
Julian Green are all in Brazil.
This German influx isn't random, and it has little to do with Klinsmann being a German soccer legend. The U.S. has had tens of thousands of troops stationed in Germany for
60 years. Of the five German-Americans in the U.S. squad, four were
born in Germany to American fathers in the military. The fifth, the
Tampa-born Green, is also the son of a U.S. solider.
There's a large pool of U.S.-eligible players living in Germany and
benefiting from the cultural and developmental advantages it has over
the United States when it comes to soccer. Assuming coaches and scouts
can identify and recruit German-Americans in Germany at a young age,
it's a valuable pipeline for the U.S. soccer program.
Fabian Johnson (of Munich) is starting for the U.S. in Brazil
Kevin Johnson/Getty Images
Has played for 1860 Munich (2006-09), Wolfsburg
(2009-11) and Hoffenheim (2011-14), and in February agreed to sign
with Borussia Mönchengladbach for next
season.
Julian Green was born in Tampa and at age 2 moved to Berlin. He's 18 years old, and has just joined Bayern München last November. REUTERS/Fadi Al-Assaad
Because
of the wealth of talent in Germany, these dual-nationals have a much
better chance of playing regular, international soccer on the U.S. team.
As a result, guys who have spent most of their lives in Germany — which
all five of the players on the 2014 World Cup roster have — are
committing to the U.S. more than ever.
This German influence isn't new. The U.S. captain at the 1998 World Cup,
German-born Thomas Dooley, couldn't speak English when he committed to the U.S. team for the first time. But since Klinsmann took over in 2011 the number of German-Americans has increased. Youth coach Thomas Rongen
told the New York Times in 2011 that it's just a coincidence that more German-Americans are committing to the U.S. now that Klinsmann's coach.
Indeed, Klinsmann has been aggressive in pursuing dual-nationals from
Mexico and Scandinavia and anywhere else where you can find a good
soccer player with an American passport.
Clearly Klinsmann's celebrity status in Germany — as well as his
boundless enthusiasm — are an asset when recruiting German-Americans.
But these charms are helpful no matter where a player is from, and it
just so happens that
the largest concentration of U.S.-eligible players
in Europe is in Germany.
John Brooks (20) Hometown: Berlin
Here he's just scored the go-ahead goal against Ghana in the first game of the 2014 World Cup.
Helped Hertha
Berlin in 2012-13, earn its promotion back to the Bundesliga.
Timmy Chandler (24) Hometown:
Frankfurt, Germany Tore meniscus in left knee
against Bayern Munich on Feb. 8, had surgery
and returned to action April 26.
Jermaine Jones (33) Hometown: Frankfurt
Shown here after scoring the go-ahead goal against Portugal, in Game 2 in Brazil.
Made debut for German national team as a substitute
against Austria on Feb. 6, 2008, then appeared against Belarus on May
27 and England on Nov. 19 — all exhibitions. Was
among Germany coach Joachim Loew's final roster cuts for the 2008 European
Championship, and in 2009 he asked FIFA for a change in affiliation last
summer. ...(U.S. debut in October 2010. Played
for Eintracht Frankfurt (1999-04, 2005-07), Bayer Leverkusen (2004-05), Schalke (2007-14), Blackburn (2011) and Besiktas in Istanbul
(2014).
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