Pro Prospects: American keeper goes Dutch

Pro Prospects: American keeper goes Dutch
by J.R. Eskilson
July 11, 2012

Treston Kederer has quite a bit of experience in Europe for a 16-year-old from Minnesota.

The Minnesota Thunder Academy goalkeeper has already trained at West Ham and will be spending a week with FC Utrecht (Netherlands) in August.

Treston Kederer club soccer goalkeeperTreston Kederer

“I am both nervous and excited to go play with such a great club,” Kederer told TopDrawerSoccer.com. “A little bit of nervousness and tension is always good in making me play at my best. On the other hand I am extremely excited to see the level of play in the Netherlands and see if I can match the level of play and do my best.”

The opportunity to train with FC Utrecht was thanks to making a good impression when he trained with West Ham in 2011.

“West Ham appears to have some affiliation with FC Utrecht,” Kederer added. Global Image Sports is partnered with both clubs and represents them in the United States. 

“After my experience training at West Ham 1.5 years ago, they recommended me to that club. Utrecht wanted me to come this spring, but I wanted to finish my Academy season with my team.”

Thunder (10-10-3) finished the season with two wins and a draw in the Showcase games in Frisco, Texas last month. Kederer started every game this season for the Frontier Division club and finished with a 1.5 goals against average.

The goalkeeper, who also has German citizenship, said that his club has helped a lot with setting up the contacts to make these trips to Europe possible.

“I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to go to West Ham if it were not for my club Minnesota Thunder which was critical in providing references for me. I was also on the ODP Region 2 team, which helped with this a lot.”

When asked to compare the experiences he has had training in Europe with his normal club training, Kederer spoke about how dialed in everything is with the professional clubs across the Atlantic.

“Everything is so fine tuned. They start out and work on the basics to make sure you have perfected that, and then throughout the training session they keep building on that foundation.

“As it builds up, it becomes more and more advanced and you just need to make sure to break everything down in your head and do the basic things as best you can to make the advanced technique as simple as possible.”

The teenager also spoke about how sound the goalkeeper’s footwork had to be, especially to hold possession and distribute the ball at the level required in Europe.

“The goalkeepers can play possession with their team just as well as the field players. It is a huge deal to be able to always have control when you’re on the ball either if it’s on your hands or at your feet.”

Kederer is also a member of the esteemed Shut Out Camp, which is a goalkeeper-only camp run by Chicago Fire’s Stan Anderson. Matt Pyzdrowski (Angelholms FF/Sweden) and Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire) are also fellow Camp Shutout members.

Marc Pelosi training with Liverpool first team

U.S. U20 Men’s National Team midfielder Marc Pelosi has been training with the Liverpool first team during its preseason, as the Reds prepare for a three-game swing through the United States later this summer.

Pelosi joined Liverpool last year and enjoyed some good performances with the club’s U18 team, but was sidelined by an injury late in the season.

Fellow residency product Alejandro Guido has also been training with the first team at his club, Club Tijuana, during the preseason. Guido, who joined the club earlier this year, has made appearances in a couple of the preseason friendlies for the Xolos.

 

J.R. Eskilson is a staff reporter at TopDrawerSoccer.com. Send him an email.

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