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If you're familiar with American youth players there's a good chance you know the name Emerson Hyndman. The Fulham midfielder captained the United States under-20 national team in last summer's U-20 World Cup and is highly regarded as a young prospect.
Today, Hyndman celebrated his 20th birthday by scoring his first professional goal for Fulham in second half stoppage time to beat Cardiff City in Championship action. That's one present he'll never forget.
There's no video of the goal as of yet, but you can hear what it sounded like on radio here:
Updated with video:
Hyndman's last second winner to earn Fulham a crucial 3 pts and his first professional goal: pic.twitter.com/0panttCwpo
— Baby Nats Abroad (@babynatsabroad) April 9, 2016
The talented midfielder is not known for his goal scoring prowess as he's only scored 4 goals for various U.S. youth teams, including two goals in that U-20 World Cup. For the most part his game is as a creator from the middle of the field. He's known as a field general, someone that controls the pace of play for his team.
Hyndman already has a USMNT cap under his belt. He's appeared one time for the senior team in September 2014 against the Czech Republic.
It's been a trying season for the young Yank as he's been in the middle of a contract dispute with Fulham. The club have been pressuring him to sign a contract extension, but Hyndman is refusing to do so, opting to test the transfer market waters this summer instead. Fulham reacted negatively to this decision early in the season by keeping him with the reserves. Eventually he made his way back into the first-team fold. Only time will tell where his future lies next season.