The Amerikaner
From Clarksville.
Keep an eye on this kid! Christian Albelo is 14-years old and is a soccer player with a promising future. He used to live in Clarkesville, TN. Now he lives in Germany.
He has lived a lot of places. Both his mom and dad, Sandra and Francisco, are career military, and that often means deployment from one place to another.
He first began kicking a soccer ball at age seven, and soon he was hooked. It soon became his sport!
It was in Clarksville while with the Joga Bonito Footskills Academy that he became really serious about developing his skills as a player.
Then came another deployment and the move to Germany, where as a 13-year-old he soon caught the eye of youth soccer scouts. It was difficult not to notice the player the other kids called The Amerikaner!
Within a year, he was playing for the TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Under-15 boys team. That’s one of the most prestigious soccer clubs in Germany.
He was quoted that he hoped some day to get a call from the U.S. with an invitation to a national training camp.
“I look forward to the opportunity to get an invitation to a National Camp,” he said. “It would be an honor to be called up and represent my country. The country that my parents proudly serve.”
This past fall he received that invitation to a training camp with the U.S. Under-15 boys National Team at The Home Depot Center in California.
Again, Albelo stood out and he was selected by U.S. U-15 coach Tony Lepore for the 36-player training camp roster.
“I am very happy to get this opportunity, it’s absolutely great,” Albelo said in a precamp article in the local Clarksville newspaper.
“This has been my dream ever since I started playing soccer and it’s finally coming true. Now all I have to do is play my heart out.”
Albelo had an impressive experience at The Home Depot Center. He was in the starting lineup for the U.S. U-15s when they played a friendly against an older San Diego Surf squad.
The result against the Surf was a 6-0 pounding (pun intended), but it was another opportunity to play and catch the eye of coaches who are in control of future callups.
Albelo is back in Germany, a long way from Clarksville in many ways, but there are many who say there will be other callups for The Amerikaner.