Pro Prospects: Championship effort

by J.R. Eskilson

December 14, 2016

As the end of the year approaches, multiple U.S.-eligible youth players abroad are looking to leave a lasting impression on their club coaches before the break for the Holiday. There was plenty of action in Germany and Mexico over the last week with U.S. players in the spotlight.

Liga MX Championships

U.S. Youth National Team eligible players Giansebastian Goicochea and Robert Castellanos helped Atlas U20 win their first title on Sunday. Goicochea is an alum of the Sueno Alianza program. He was part of the program in 2014 before landing with Atlas. The left winger, born in 1997, is from New York. He was on the bench for Sunday’s final.

Robert Castellanos, born in 1998, is also part of the Atlas Youth system. The center defender signed with Atlas and August and helped the club capture its first U20 championship in December.

U.S. U20 MNT midfielder Jonathan Gonzalez played the last five minutes for Monterrey U17 in the 0-1 loss to Chivas in the championship game at that youth level. Gonzalez played with the club’s U20 team this season and has been part of training with the first team. The youth player is looking to make his debut in 2017.

German Standouts

Kevin Coleman and Haji Wright continued their terrific run of form over the past week in youth action in Germany. Coleman scored his first goal of the season on Saturday in FC Kaiserslautern U19’s 2-0 win over 1860 Munich. Coleman played 76 minutes in the victory. Kaiserslautern is in second place in the A-Junior Bundesliga South/Sudwest.

Schalke 04 sits in first place in the A-Juniors Bundesliga West after a 2-0 win over Duisburg on Saturday. Haji Wright recorded an assist on the opening goal. Wright has six goals and nine assists in 13 appearances this season. Schalke teammate Weston McKennie was out due to injury. He said on twitter that he would be back in six weeks.

Pynadath Shines

Joshua Pynadath recorded an assist last month in Ajax U15/C1’s 3-0 win over FC Twente. The former Real Madrid Academy member notched the assist on the third goal of the game as Ajax cruised to the win.

The prominent Dutch academy did not enjoy similar fortunes this weekend as Ajax dropped a 0-3 result to Vitesse. Pynadath started in the loss.

Barbir Helps

Danny Barbir delivered a perfect assist on West Bromwich Albion U23’s lone goal in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool last week. Then, he made friends with the Liverpool social media team. Barbir is a regular with the West Brom U23 as he looks to breakthrough with the first team in the coming season.