Damion Downs enacts the USMNT call

Damion Downs“The first sport was American football, a passion that he had to give up when he moved back from Texas back to his homeland.

But it didn’t take long for him to enjoy the round ball, and now at the age of 20 he plays for a FC Köln team at speed to return to the 1st Bundesliga.

With his goal and support in the 3-2 defeat on Wednesday against Bayer Leverkusen-after his similar holiday, four days in a 2-1 win at Eintracht Braunschweig-Hat Downs and five templates in 22 games for the first team in the German Second Division.

The son of a US soldier and a German mother is entitled to the USA and Germany.

He played for the U-20 in Germany last year Marko Mitrovic‘S 2024 US Olympic team. With US center for Haji WrightPresent Ricardo Pepi And Folarin Balogun injured, the recent goal production by the fast 6-foot 3-downs has probably put his name in the mix as a coach Mauricio Pochettino hands over his squad for the final of the Concacaf Nations League on March 21st to 24th.

Downs was born in the small Franconian Bavarian city of Werneck near the US Army Garrison Schweinfurt. At 18 months, when his brother was 4 years old, his father was re -assigned Texas.

“So I moved in tow with four suitcases and two children,” said his mother Tanja Douglas on your podcast, “My son. The professional?“(” My son. The professional? “).” I gave up everything in Germany – my apartment, my car, everything – and started a new life there.

“But things didn’t go as I had imagined. The marriage, well, let’s just say, it was anything but good. But that’s life. ”

After the divorce, she stayed in Texas for three years to keep her sons near her father. Watching Germany’s World Cup games was the only football in her life. She thrown in American football. “Damion was early because he was incredibly fast,” said Douglas. “His trainer was a big fan of him and was sad to see him.”

But the times in Texas were hard.

“I worked 60 hours a week and often had to take the children to work,” said Douglas. “There were times to be honest when I could hardly afford a role toilet paper.”

When Damion was 8 years old, she decided to return to Germany with her sons.

“One night something happened that I will never forget,” she said. “I woke up at around 11:30 p.m. – real shots. There was a drive-by shoot in our neighbor’s house, although we lived in one as a good neighborhood. That was terrifying.

“At that moment I thought what am I doing here? I knew it was time to go. That was the key moment when I decided: we drive back to Germany where we belong. ”

After a unsuccessful search for youth football teams, Damion announced: “Mama, I think I’ll try football.”

“He had never kicked football before,” she said. “Not even in the back yard. Nobody in our family played football except my father back then. So I said to him: “Look I’m not the biggest football fan, but if you want to try, let us try.”

Damion joined a club in his village of 1,000. He was not yet fluent German and his trainer was pleased to practice his English.

“Damion really advanced in this area,” said Douglas. “Something just clicked. He fell in love with football. ”

At 14 he moved to the FC Ingolstadt youth academy, whose first team had just dropped to the third division. Shortly after his 16th birthday, he switched to FC Köln for what FC Ingolstadt Official website described as a “record compensation fee”.

He was called to FC Köln first team for a friendly at the age of 17 in March 2022. When he would only do one cameo, his mother decided not to cancel her layer of hairdressing and make the three -hour drive. But Downs started and played the entire first half. He scored a hat trick in 8-1 Rout via Siegburger SV 04.

“There was a live stream on YouTube, so I set up my phone during work and my customers had to see the game with me,” she said. “Every time he scored a goal, my customers feared that I would cut too much hair.”

A few weeks later, coach Mikey Varas Called Downs with an invitation to a US U-20 national team camp.

Downs gave his Bundesliga debut in the fifth game of the 2023-24 season and scored two goals in 10 games (173 minutes). His second goal was a game game player in a 3-2 win against Union Berlin in the penultimate game of the season. FC Köln was relegated, but Downs was set to shoot the team back into the top level.

So far he has fair. FC Köln, who is on average participation of 49,930, has not been in the second stage since 2013. It has only been lost once in the last 10 league outings, in which Downs scored four goals and supported three times.

Such a form could lead him back to the country in which he once played another football.

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