Julian Green praised after first Stuttgart appearance

As the long winter break continues in Germany, there’s not much news in the way of American soccer other than the USMNT training in California ahead of their two January camp friendlies coming up in a few weeks.

With the second half of the 2. Bundesliga season approaching, Julian Green is aiming to impress at a new team. After years of trying to break into the Bayern Munich first team, the U.S. international made the permanent switch to VfB Stuttgart when the transfer window opened and is now on the search for playing time.

Green appeared in his first friendly this past weekend as Stuttgart prepare for their return to league play on January 29th. Their manager Hannes Wolf had some optimistic words for him after the 0-0 draw against MSV Dusiburg.

“Julian Green had a couple of good situations in his first game for us,” Wolf told Stuttgart’s website. “It was clear to see that he has distinct qualities and that he can help us further. He certainly still needs some match practice, but he’ll get that over the next few days and weeks.”

Green got his fair share of praise at Bayern as well, but the difference here is that he doesn’t have a who’s who of world-class players to compete with for playing time. It appears that he’s on a good path for minutes if all goes well. Here’s to hoping he has finally found a good spot to prove he can play at a high level on a consistent basis. We’ll be watching closely as the second half begins.