:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/30279047/452284339.0.jpg)
Julian Green sure gets a lot of talk for a guy who has never played a senior league match, let alone an international. Then again, there aren't many (any?) 18 year olds who are considered rising stars at one of the world's best clubs and is eligible to play for the United States.
Must Reads
So hop on the Green bandwagon and prepare yourself for this: the forward will join the U.S. for training ahead of the Americans' friendly against Mexico next month, according to Sports Illustrated.
Bayern Munich did not have to release Green for training because the match does not fall on a FIFA international date, but the club have agreed to do so. After all, training with an international team is probably better for Green's development than a few days with the Bayern reserves, if only because it exposes him to a greater intensity and environment.
As for which country Green will pick, it still isn't clear. The 18-year-old is a dual citizen, born to a German mother and American father, so he can play for either country. He has not filed a one-time switch to the U.S. -- something he would need to do if he wanted to play in a match because he has played for Germany youth teams -- so not only is he still limited to training with the Americans, but Germany remains in the picture.
That Jurgen Klinsmann has been able to get Green into camp, especially one that requires so much travel, is encouraging. It comes on the heels of Green's first training camp with the U.S. earlier this month in Frankfurt, Germany, which presumably went well or he wouldn't have agreed to join the Americans for this camp.
As for what can make Green choose the U.S., the World Cup sounds like a good bet.
"Yes, I think so," he said when asked about making the Americans' World Cup team. "If I can play a World Cup at 18 years old, it would be great, amazing. But I have to train hard."
For now, he will just train with the team, but that's another few days in a U.S. shirt and the look of 60,000 fans in attendance for a match against the Americans' biggest rivals. That's not a bad recruiting strategy in the meantime.
