Reyna, Pulisic, Davies …: Why the North American “New Wave” is sweeping European football

Christian Pulisic (22, moved from Dortmund to Chelsea for 64 million euros), Giovanni Reyna (18, Dortmund), Weston McKennie (22, Juventus, loaned by Schalke), Tyler Adams (21, RB Leipzig), Chris Richards (20 years old, Bayern), Sergiño Dest (20 years old, FC Barcelona)… They are Americans, or Canadian like Alphonso Davies (20 years old, Bayern), they are very young, gifted and almost all play in the best clubs Europeans.

Subscribe to Eurosport by taking advantage of our Black Friday offer!

This North American New Wave contrasts with the previous generations of Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, DaMarcus Beasley or Tim Howard, also passed through the Old Continent but for a relative success that Claudio Reyna was however able to embellish. The astonishing football IQ of these new talents sweeps away the fears of a false precocity which had weighed on poor Freddy Adu, an American star at 16 years old as the “new Pelé” in the mid-2000s.

Because in addition to their obvious technical-tactical maturity and their status of international A, these young shoots, more than just prospects, evolve in all positions and are further reinforced by a whole contingent of equally young compatriots, all international A too and present in Europe.

They are Americans like Josh Sargent (20, Werder Bremen), Reggie Cannon (22, Boavista), Timothy Weah (20, Lille), Richard Ledezma (20, PSV), Ulysses Llanez (19, Heerenveen, loaned by Wolfsburg) or Canadian like Jonathan David (20 years old, Lille). We are therefore not dealing with a flash in the pan, with an episodic exotic fashion carried by globalization extended to the New World, after Africa and Asia.

According to the excellent Sport Illustrated, the major explanation of this North American phenomenon finds its source in the “US Soccer Development Academy” (USSDA) project. Launched in 2007 by the US football federation, it was a vast training program for young footballers spanning five age groups (U12, U13, U14, U15 / 16 and U17 / 18). The USSDA brought together 149 clubs, including those of MLS, which welcomed and trained young people with quality educators according to very elaborate programs provided by the US federation and accessible online.

The must of this project, in addition to the specific training which formerly lacked for the good development of young local footballers, was the organization of “Academy” championships across a whole country-continent. It took place over 10 months of the year by age group, according to three geographic zones (East, Central and West Conferences), subdivided into sub-conferences. Apart from Sergiño Dest (born in the Netherlands and trained at Ajax) and his apparently promising compatriot from Barça, Konrad de la Fuente (19, who grew up in Spain and then trained at Masia), all the American players mentioned above have gone through the USSDA program!

Alphonso Davies is from Vancouver Whitecaps FC, a Canadian franchise registered with the USSDA, and Jonathan David was trained through a similar project, the Canadian Youth National Team Program. Problem: On April 15, 2020, the USSDA announced the definitive end of its activities due to financial difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Then followed the commitment of the MLS to fill this void by the creation of a new, narrower elite competition associating the academies of MLS clubs and those, after selective choice, not affiliated with MLS clubs. To be continued…

In addition to their training at the USSDA, the other feature common to all of this new generation is the almost obligatory passage through Germany. The Netherlands are a transit championship (at PSV, in particular) just as the Premier League is an old land of welcome, but these two countries maintain a more moderate import than the homeland of Thomas Müller. Why Germany? A long historical precedence first produced binational footballers from marriages between American fathers (often military) and German mothers, such as Felix Magath or Jermaine Jones.

In the more recent past, quite a few former American internationals had visited German clubs, including a certain Claudio Reyna (Leverkusen, Wolfsburg), father of Giovanni. This close German-American proximity (the Bundesliga is fairly well followed in the United States, via ESPN) motivates US kids to export to Bundesliga clubs which more easily give young people a chance and also offers them post-training whose deutsch Qualität no longer needs to be demonstrated.

Other channels bring North American talent to Germany. Interclub partnerships such as the one very focused on training which links Bayern Munich to FC Dallas, renowned as one of the best North American training clubs, or well-known sectors, such as that of Red Bull which associates the clubs of New York, from Salzburg and Leipzig. Besides Tyler Adams or Timothy Weah, passed by Red Bull New York, another American honors this sector: Dave Marsch. This former coach of RB New York who currently trains RB Salzburg is often approached as successor to Lucien Favre in Dortmund.

And as other American technicians emerge in the Bundesliga (David Wagner, even if recently sacked by Schalke 04, or Pellegrino Matarazzo at VfB Stuttgart), we can again observe the sustainability of the North American phenomenon in Europe, via Germany.

French expert in German football, Polo Breitner completes this German-American tropism, “by the regular tours of Bundesliga clubs in the USA and the commercial spinoffs with for example the sales of shirts there, like that of Dortmund popularized by the star Pulisic. In addition, German football is very imbued with US sports and of course, the strong personality of a Jürgen Klinsmann who played and was a leading coach for the United States team from 2011 to 2016. He contributed to create links of rapprochement and reference for young American footballers.”

Impressed, “Klinsi” is obviously watching this new US generation closely, especially from the perspective of a national team that missed the 2018 World Cup: “With the U20s who have been quarter-finalists three times in the last three World Cups, it shows the current quality of the Pulisic, Adams or Sargent. There is real potential to form a group to have to prepare for the next World Cup. Because it is a real issue for this generation which needs to compete in the biggest international tournaments.”

Jürgen Klinsmann is right when he talks about the importance of the national team. Because to boost its football the US federation had the good idea to complete the USSDA project by reforming in 2016 the system of national youth teams in order to make it, by the reorganization of teams from U14 to U20, more coherent, more efficient and more inclusive. It is through these selections of young people that an esprit de corps was created which collectively binds the young American A’s.

Very patriotic, most of the binationals made the choice to represent Uncle Sam when the real opportunity arose to play for great European nations like the Netherlands (Dest), Croatia (Pulisic) or Portugal. (Reyna). Enemies during the Ruhr derby, Pulisic (ex-Dortmund) and McKennie (Schalke) thus maintain a very solid friendship united in Team USA. A similar bond unites Dest and De la Fuente, roommates from the national U20s.

“From Christian to Weston to Tyler Adams, Josh Sargent, Sergiño Dest and all the other young dudes we got a real, real good core, recently declared Giovanni Reyna. And I think we can build something great together for, maybe, the next ten years. “The next ten years obviously project them towards the next two World Cups. That of 2022 in Qatar and that of 2026, co-organized by Mexico, Canada and the United States. Something to dream of more …