Gale Agbossoumonde

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Gale Agbossoumonde
Gale Agbossoumonde.JPG
Gale Agbossoumonde (2011)
Personnel
birthday November 17, 1991
place of birth Lomé ,  Togo
size 188 cm
position Central defender
Juniors
Years station
2004-2006 Christian Brothers Academy
2004-2006 Syracus FC
2006-2009 IMG Soccer Academy
2010 Sporting Braga
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
2009-2010 Miami FC 6 (0)
2010 →  Sporting Braga  (loan) 0 (0)
2011–2012 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 0 (0)
2011 →  Djurgårdens IF  (loan) 8 (0)
2011–2012 →  Eintracht Frankfurt II  (loan) 1 (0)
2012 →  Carolina RailHawks  (loan) 17 (1)
2013-2014 Toronto FC 13 (0)
2014 Colorado Rapids 0 (0)
2015 Tampa Bay rowdies 11 (0)
2016– Fort Lauderdale Strikers 6 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
2007 USA U-17
2008-2011 USA U-20 30 (2)
2010 United States 1 (0)
1 Only league games are given.
As of May 17, 2016

Gale Agbossoumonde (born November 17, 1991 in Lomé ) is a Togolese - American football player .

Club career

From Togo via Benin to the USA

Agbossoumonde, who was born in Lomé , the capital of Togo , came with his family to Benin when he was a baby , where his family fled due to the war in Togo. There he spent part of his childhood in a refugee camp, where he lived with his parents, five brothers and two sisters. It was in this refugee camp that he gained his first experience of football when he played with a homemade ball with his brothers and other boys. Shortly after the death of his father, Adjo Lemou Agbossoumonde, in February 2000, at the age of eight, he and his family traveled to the United States, where they settled in Syracuse , New York with the help of a charitable church organization . There he came to the Christian Brothers Academy at the age of 14 or 15 , a private Catholic school that belongs to the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and trains the students primarily for a later career at a university or college and prepared.

From the Christian school to the IMG Soccer Academy

Agbossoumonde gained some experience in the school's own soccer team and during his career there he made it to a runner-up in the NYS Soccer Championship with the team . In addition to Gale Agbossoumonde, his older brother Mawuena Agbossoumonde (* July 1989) also attended the CBA Syracuse and was active in the school's soccer team alongside his younger brother. In addition, both were at the youth football club Syracuse FC , which won the 2006 New York State Championships, active. From 2009 to 2012 Mawuena Agbossoumonde played in the university soccer team of Syracuse University and was briefly in action for the National Premier Soccer League club Greater Binghamton FC . He has been working for the Orange Crate Brewing Company , based in Syracuse, since 2013 . In the days leading up to Christmas 2006, Gale Agbossoumonde's admission to the IMG Soccer Academy was announced. After he was trained as a striker up to this point and also used as such, he was converted into a defensive player ( central defender ) at the IMG Soccer Academy . He was active for a long time at the funding institution of the US U-17 national team, which had existed since 1999.

Unsuccessful trial training and admission to Miami FC

After leaving the academy in spring 2009, the young talent made his way to Spain , where it completed trial training sessions at clubs such as Atlético Madrid , Sevilla FC and Real Valladolid , but was not accepted. Agbossoumonde then returned to the USA disappointed and decided to establish himself in Major League Soccer (MLS), the top division in North American football, over the next few years . Later he wanted to try again to gain a foothold in Europe. But when he got the first offers from the MLS, he couldn't really get used to them either and saw the offers, which were linked to a six-figure generation Adidas contract, as an insult to his talent. After he could not assert himself in Spain, he also canceled the MLS clubs and continued looking for clubs. On August 6, 2009, he finally signed a contract with Traffic Sports USA , the US division of the Traffic Group , a Brazilian company that describes itself as a sports marketing agency but also has player transfer rights and ownership of clubs and events. The contract, which ran until the end of 2010, contained an option that allows the agency (unilaterally) to extend Agbossoumondes' contract for a further two years.

So it came about that the Togolese native was handed over to Miami FC , owned by Traffic Sports USA, a short time later . From August to September 2009 he brought it to six missions in the second-rate USL First Division (USL-1), a professional league that is regarded as the second highest division in North America. Then he made his way to the Junior World Cup in Egypt with the US U-20 team . After his return he was promised a commitment to a European club by Traffic Sports USA, who have good connections to football in Europe. After Agbossoumonde returned to the United States from the World Cup, no club had been found to accept the 18-year-old. It finally took until December 2009 or January 2010 until concrete forms of transfer to Europe became apparent.

The time at Sporting Braga

After he had already completed a trial training session at the Portuguese first division club Sporting Braga in December 2009 and attracted positive attention there, he was presented with a six-month loan contract in January 2010, punctually in the winter transfer period, which Agbossoumonde immediately accepted. The deal also included a purchase option from the Braga club after the six-month loan period expired. After only two days in the club's U-19 team, the young defensive player quickly made the leap into the professional squad and was often on the bench for the professional team, but was not used in a single competitive match until his contract ended. Instead, he spent most of the time in the reserve team playing in the Intercalar league , but retired there in March 2010 due to a knee injury that meant the end of the championship that was still in progress. After the loan contract expired, the club decided to take the player under contract. Due to the fact that Sporting Braga got a new owner during negotiations with Agbossoumonde, the transfer failed in the end. According to Traffic Sports USA, a transfer fee was already available, but it still had to be renegotiated. When the new club management started their work, they were no longer interested in negotiations, which is why the transfer failed.

Another controversy in Portugal

When Agbossoumonde was no longer involved with Miami FC, he was suddenly without a club and more dependent on Traffic Sports USA, who were in the process of finding a club for him. They did this and found another Portuguese club in GD Estoril Praia that wanted to take on the Togolese-US footballer. Like Miami FC, the Portuguese second division was also under the leadership of the Traffic Group, albeit the European division called Traffic Sports Europe . At the club he should be used until a suitable buyer for Agbossoumonde is found. When the move to GD Estoril Praia was already considered fixed, one day before the transfer deadline it was noticed that Agbossoumonde was not yet registered and therefore not eligible to play. Since there was too little time for registration, this transfer also failed. Nevertheless, Traffic Sports Europe kept the 18-year-old in Portugal, where he was finally allowed to train at Estoril Praia in September 2010, even if he was not entitled to play in a competitive game for the Estoril club . But Agbossoumonde's frustration also grew during training, as he had almost no prospect of individual support, as six other central defenders were already in the squad at this point. The agency therefore sent him across Europe, where he was used in various friendly matches and spent the rest of the time training at Estoril Praia. Over time, his agency unsettled him, as he often did not even know whether he would still be playing for the same club the next day or whether he would be sent to another friendly in Europe.

New start in Sweden and Germany and return to the USA

In the spring of 2011, he moved to the Swedish club Djurgårdens IF on loan , where he made his debut on April 15, 2011. The US football club Fort Lauderdale Strikers (formerly: Miami FC) and its owner Traffic Sports USA continued to hold the transfer rights . At the first division he was able to convince with his performance in the first games and was even named "Player of the Game" once. In July 2011 he left the club after Djurgårdens had not drawn the purchase option. After a trial at 1. FC Köln , he moved to Eintracht Frankfurt at the end of August , where he met compatriot Ricardo Clark . At Eintracht, he was then released to play in official competition games in October 2011 and made his debut on October 8 in a regional league game against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach when he came on the lawn for Dominik Schmidt in the 85th minute of play . But his stay in Germany did not last long either; as early as February 2012, after not playing in a single other competitive game for the professionals or the amateurs, he transferred back home, again on loan, where he played with the Carolina RailHawks in the second-rate North American Soccer League came under.

At the RailHawks he was able to establish himself for the first time in the course of his career and came regularly to his assignments from mid-May, where he made his team debut on May 13, 2012 in a 1: 2 away defeat against Minnesota United , when he was over the full game was on the lawn. Subsequently, he completed the regular season of the North American Soccer League 2012 with the team in fourth place in the table and came in the subsequent play-offs to the semi-finals. There the RailHawks were defeated by the eventual champions Tampa Bay Rowdies but just 4: 5 and were eliminated. After his return to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in December 2012, by then he had made 17 championship appearances and one goal, he was sold to the MLS franchise Toronto FC on December 20 , to which he came via the lottery system . With the Canadians , he made his competitive debut on April 6, 2013, when he compensated for the injury-related loss of regular Danny Califf in the 2-2 home draw against FC Dallas and was on the field for the full 90 minutes. Subsequently, he was active as a regular player in the Canadians' central defense until Califf's convalescence, but spent most of the season unused on the bench. Although he was repeatedly used over the full playing time in the course of the 2013 season, he made it to 13 appearances in the highest North American football league by the end of the season, when Toronto FC ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference and 17th overall. He was also active in three games, each over the full playing time, for the reserve team of the Toronto football franchise.

Via the MLS to the NASL

After sitting unused on the bench in three MLS games in the 2014 game year , Agbossoumonde came to the Colorado Rapids on May 8, 2014 via a move in which three MLS franchises were involved . This change came after the previous Colorado Rapids player Marvin Chávez was given in exchange for Luke Moore for CD Chivas USA , and the Colorado Rapids immediately gave Luke Moore to Toronto FC in exchange for Gale Agbossoumonde. With the professional team from Commerce City , a suburb of Denver , he then sat on the bench only once and that was on October 26th in a 0-1 away defeat against the Vancouver Whitecaps . The rest of the season he was not in the official professional squad, but also completed five appearances in the reserve team of the franchise. During the contract negotiations at the end of the season, the Colorado Rapids did not offer him a new contract and thus did not take advantage of the option to extend the contract for the 2015 season. After he was briefly back without a club, he signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Rowdies at the end of the year , where he was used from the 2015 game year .

At the Tampa Bay Rowdies he was only on the bench in six of the first seven games of the spring season and only made his team debut on May 31, 2015, when he defeated Indy Eleven 2-2 after his team was very bad with three red cards was struck, came up from the 90th minute for Robert Hernández . In the following game, he started playing from the start, mainly because of the many red cards in the previous game, but was unable to play through the full length of the game. In the last game of the spring season , as in the first game of the season , Agbossoumonde was not in the official squad. In the following fall season , which consisted of twice as many championship games, the Togolese-American central defender came to his breakthrough, which lasted around two months, from the fourth round after he was initially not in the squad or only sat on the bench . Subsequently, he was used by Thomas Rongen until his dismissal together with sports director Farrukh Quraishi on August 21, 2015 in five consecutive championship games and was then only on the bench in the first two games under the successor and previous assistant coach Stuart Campbell . It was not until September that he was used again in four games over the full playing time, before he sat on the bench again in the first game in October and then no longer belonged to the official squad, because shortly before the end of the season from the franchise, which is now was under new management, was released early.

Regular for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers

He then joined the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in December 2015 , which had now emerged from his ex-club Miami FC , and started the NASL game year 2016 with them . In what is now the eighth year of professional football, he celebrated his breakthrough with his Fort Lauderdale Strikers and has so far (as of May 17, 2016) played in all six championship games under the Brazilian Caio Zanardi over the full playing time in central defense.

National team career

From the junior national teams to the juniors ...

His active career in a US national team began when he was accepted into the IMG Soccer Academy in December 2006. Although he did some assignments in the US U-17 national team , he did not make it at the age of 15 21-man squad that took part in the U-17 World Cup in South Korea in 2007 and was soon after the departure of team boss John Hackworth and the takeover of the team by former professional footballer Wilmer Cabrera no longer for the U-17 -National team planned. Instead, he gained match practice in the Academy's U-16 and U-18 team. As early as January 2008, Agbossoumonde was called up to join the US U-20 national squad, to which he is still a member today (as of December 2010). He has already been used for the team in a large number of official and unofficial ones (games against club teams, college selections, etc.), but at the beginning of his U-20 career was mainly used for only one half of the game.

His greatest success so far with the U-20 selection was at the CONCACAF Junior Championship 2009 , where the team took second place behind the surprise winner Costa Rica. In the final against Costa Rica, which won the competition for the second time in their history, the Americans clearly lost 3-0; Agbossoumonde was not used in the final game. Nevertheless, the team managed to qualify for the 2009 Junior World Cup . At the World Cup finals in Egypt , the defensive player was finally used in all three group games of his team, but could not prevent the team from leaving the current competition early. He also led the team in 2010 as team captain Milk Cup , an annual youth football tournament held in Northern Ireland , where he won this year's competition with the team with a 3-0 win over hosts Northern Ireland.

... up to the senior national team in the USA

After a number of other countries stakes for the junior national team of the United States Agbossoumonde was first in November 2010 by Teamcheft Bob Bradley in the squad of the senior team of the United States appointed. Here Agbossoumonde and the strikers were Juan Agudelo from the New York Red Bulls the first two players from the IMG Soccer Academy, which made it into the senior team of the United States. At this point in time, there were six players in the US squad with Gale Agbossoumonde, Juan Agudelo, Tim Ream , Mikkel Diskerud , Teal Bunbury and Dominic Cervi , who were waiting for an international debut for their home country. In the subsequent game on November 17, 2010, the defensive player was used together with four other team debutants (only the substitute goalkeeper Cervi was not used) in the 1-0 victory of his team when he came in the 87th minute for Clarence Goodson on the lawn. The goal that led to the USA's 1-0 victory was scored by a debutant, of all people, Juan Agudelo, who at the age of 17 also became the youngest scorer in the history of the US national soccer team. So far (as of May 2016), this was his only international match for the USA, although a further deployment in the subsequent international match (January 22, 2011 against Chile ) was not ruled out according to the US Football Association.

Player description and style of play

Like many of his former and current coaches, the team boss of the US U-20 national team, Thomas Rongen, has only good words to say about Agbossoumonde and describes him as a player who is strong in duels and with a header, who can also act safely in a 1-on-1 situation can. He also says that the native of Togo has all the physical characteristics that a very good player should have. The ball control and passing is praised by Rongen as well as the ability to always stay in possession of the ball. He describes his technique as very solid and his imposing physique as athletic and strong.

Former US national player John Harkes also finds good words for the up-and-coming US defensive talent, whose roots lie in Togo. He thinks that Agbossoumonde, although he is 1.88 m tall, is very dynamic and also performs well when running. Many other coaches and also the director of the IMG Soccer Academy, Dion Daniels , describe Agbossoumonde as a real natural talent. Not many central defenders could dribble like the Togolese-US-American junior kicker and his game intelligence is also remarkable.

successes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Press release of the CBA Syracuse of December 12, 2006 ( Memento of the original of May 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 5, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cbasyracuse.org
  2. ↑ Player profile of Mawuena Agbossoumonde on the homepage of the sports department of Syracuse University (English), accessed on December 5, 2010
  3. ↑ Mawuena Agbossoumonde on linkedin.com (English), accessed May 17, 2016
  4. ↑ Agbossoumonde Accepted Into Soccer Academy | Press release of the CBA Syracuse on December 21, 2006 ( Memento of the original of May 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 5, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cbasyracuse.org
  5. ↑ Residency Program on the homepage of the American Football Association ( memento of the original from March 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 5, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ussoccer.com
  6. ↑ Ingen fortsättning för Gale Agbossoumonde ( Memento of the original from July 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Swedish), accessed May 17, 2016  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / dif.se
  7. ↑ Wednesday kickaround: US national team, Stuart Holden, Gale Agbossoumonde, Michael Bradley, US Open Cup, DC United , accessed on May 17, 2016
  8. ^ Corrochano: "A victory of the will" , accessed on May 17, 2016
  9. ↑ Agbossoumonde joins RailHawks ( memento of March 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 17, 2016
  10. ↑ Agbossoumonde signs with MLS, to be placed in lottery , accessed on May 17, 2016
  11. ↑ MLS: Toronto FC rallies to tie FC Dallas , accessed May 17, 2016
  12. ^ Rapids trade Marvin Chávez, acquire Gale Agbossoumonde from Toronto in three-team deal , accessed on May 17, 2016
  13. ↑ Out with the old? Colorado declines options on Buddle, Wynne, LaBrocca, but won't rule out returns , accessed May 17, 2016
  14. ↑ Rowdies Add Defender Gale Agbossoumonde and Tampa Bay Native Darnell King to Roster , accessed May 17, 2016
  15. ↑ Rowdies Remove Salgado and Agbossoumonde from Roster ( Memento of the original from October 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed on May 17, 2016  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rowdiessoccer.com
  16. ↑ Strikers Ink Quartet of Experienced NASL Players ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed on May 17, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.strikers.com
  17. ↑ Rongen Names 20-Player Roster for 2009 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship ( Memento of the original from April 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 6, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ussoccer.com
  18. ↑ US Under-20s Take on Costa Rica for First-Ever Regional Title ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 6, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ussoccer.com
  19. ↑ US U-20 MNT Fall to Costa Rica 3-0 In 2009 U-20 CONCACAF Championship Match ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 6, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ussoccer.com
  20. ↑ US Falls to Korea Republic to Close Out Opening Round ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 6, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ussoccer.com
  21. ↑ US U-20 Men's National Team Wins Milk Cup with Emphatic 3-0 Victory Against Host Northern Ireland ( Memento of the original from August 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 6, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ussoccer.com
  22. ↑ a b c Bradley Names 18-Man Roster to Face South Africa on Nov. 17 in Cape Town in 2010 Nelson Mandela Challenge ( Memento of the original from October 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 6, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ussoccer.com
  23. ↑ USA MANDELA CHALLENGE ROSTER ( Memento of the original from November 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 6, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ussoccer.com
  24. ↑ a b U.S. Defeats South Africa 1-0 to win Second Nelson Mandela Challenge as Juan Agudelo Becomes Youngest to Score ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 6, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ussoccer.com
personal data
SURNAME Agbossoumonde, Gale
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Togolese-American soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH November 17, 1991
PLACE OF BIRTH Lomé , Togo