Former Colorado Rapid Midfielder Daniel Wasson who plays in Germany continues with his account of how he found a team in Europe.
The last time we left off was the end of August, as I had just arrived back in Bonn, Germany from Pilsen, Czech Republic. It was nice to be back in Bonn because I was starting to get familiar with Germany. My agent, Nico, picked me up at the airport with an enormous smile on his face. What was he smiling about, I wondered? "I just received a phone call from Alemania Aachen's first team head coach. You are headed to Aachen to train with their reserves next week!" At the time, I thought this was great news because if I played well and impressed the reserve coach, then I may get a shot at training with the first team, a 2nd Bundesliga side.
I trained with AA's reserve team for two days. The first training was a normal practice session and the second day of training was a friendly match against the clubs' U-19 team. After the friendly match, the coach of the reserve team called Nico and said, "We want to sign him as soon as possible!" It was interesting how eager their coach was to sign me because each reserve team, in Germany, is only allowed three players who are 23 or older. I would fill one of those spots!
Finally it was time to sign the contract, all the parties were there together, when disaster struck. It was this day when I found out that I couldn't sign until January. The day was September 4th, even though I was out of contract with MLS, I played my last game on July 10th for the Rapids. Now, because the summer transfer window opened July 1st, I needed to sign a new contract with a team before the window closed, on August 30th. So, naturally my new contract with Aachen was ripped up as they needed players who could play right away and that was obviously no longer myself. So now what am I supposed to do? I'm stuck here in Germany, without a team until at least mid-November or December.
I did what everyone who goes to Europe does, I traveled. First stop was Liege, Belgium. I took a three hour train from Bonn to Liege. When I arrived in Liege, I walked about 3 miles to the youth hostel, checked in, then immediately headed to the stadium to watch Gooch Onyewu. I knew it would be tough to get tickets to the game because Standard Liege were playing FC Brugge, two of the biggest clubs in Belgium. I arrived at the stadium about three hours before kick-off and stood in line for about an hour. I finally got to the front of the line, asked for the cheapest ticket they have left, 30 euros later and I was on my way into the stadium and went directly up to the nose bleed section!
I had never been to a game in Belgium before, so I was eager to see what the atmosphere was like. I must say, the Liege fans were tremendous. The hardcore fans, who sit behind the goals, where at the game one hour and a half before kick-off. The entire end line was completely full on both sides of the stadium with one hour left before kick-off. Throughout the game, I noticed myself watching the fans more than the game itself. I'm glad Liege won because that meant all of the fans would be happy and I wouldn't have to worry about my personal safety when leaving.
After the game, I thought it would be really awesome if I could talk with Gooch. I headed down to the VIP entrance where I encountered a Chuck Liddell look a like dressed in a James Bond type tuxedo. Somehow, I started talking to the guy, in French mind you, and he turned out to be really nice and let me in. I guess that college French class actually payed off. Finally I met Gooch, who is the nicest, inspiring person in the game of soccer. He gave me some great advice about how to keep yourself focused on your goals. Later, he also drove me back to the hostel I was staying at. The next morning I headed back to Bonn as Nico called me and told me I have a trial with Rot-Weiss Oberhausen, a third division team.
I will get into the trial with RW Oberhausen next time and also talk about travelling to Switzerland for the US-Swiss game on October 17th. Also, here is a video of the fans from Standard Liege because my description just doesn't quite do them justice: