ASN: Six-Foot-5 Striker Ben Spencer, 19, Has Massive Plans

From Molde to Indy Eleven to the U.S. U-20 males’s nationwide group on the Dallas Cup, 19-year-old goal ahead Ben Spencer is making a large impression wherever he goes.

BY

Brian Sciaretta

Posted
April 23, 2014
11:29 AM

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THE UNITED STATES males’s U-20 nationwide could have misplaced to River Plate within the finals of final week’s Dallas Cup, but it surely discovered one thing essential alongside the best way: Ben Spencer is a dynamic ahead and a key determine in Tab Ramos’ squad.

Within the opening recreation towards River Plate, Spencer scored two targets en path to a 3-2 U.S. victory. Within the dramatic win over Fluminense within the semifinal, Spencer headed in a cross from Romain Gall to provide the Individuals a 2-1 lead in a recreation it could win 3-2 in additional time.

And within the finale towards River Plate, Spencer appeared to attain a late equalizer solely to have it dominated offside within the group’s 2-0 loss.

“The ending wasn’t quite what we hoped for but we can definitely take some positives from the week,” Spencer advised American Soccer Now. “We’re getting closer to the core group of guys who we’ll take the rest of the cycle through qualifying and hopefully to the World Cup. Every opportunity we have to play with each other is a positive, and to play against quality teams like River Plate, Fluminense, and Tigres—that’s obviously a big plus for us.”

“We have good personalities on the team,” Spencer added. “We have fairly good chemistry for not playing with each other on a regular basis. We have a lot of talented players so I think we’ve meshed quite well. This week has been a step forward.”

Ramos agrees: “Ben Spencer is a good player and can do a lot more than just win headers,” Ramos stated. “He can play on the ground. He holds the ball for us. He can do a lot.”

At six-foot-five, Spencer towers over most of his teammates and performs as a real goal ahead. He’s studying find out how to use his physique to dominate the aerial recreation, and his hold-up play makes him a formidable weapon for the Individuals.

Having lately turned 19, Spencer is now coming into a transformative 12 months in his profession. Final 12 months he elected to bypass school and transfer to Europe. He attracted the curiosity of then-Molde head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who signed the teenager to a four-year contract.

Solskjaer had demonstrated an eagerness to price with American gamers, having additionally signed Joshua Gatt and Ethan Horvath. For Spencer, nevertheless, an opportunity to study beneath the previous Manchester United striker—the baby-faced murderer—was nearly too good to be true.

“Learning from him as a forward was unbelievable,” Spencer stated of Solskjaer. “I discovered loads from him and the workers was nice as nicely. I believe I discovered what it takes to be an expert and what the extent is like in Europe as nicely—what you must do on and off the sphere to actually carry out your finest.”

“If you’re not on the top of your game, there are a ton of other players ready to take your spot. It was eye-opening but I definitely learned a lot and I enjoyed my time there. ”

Sadly for Spencer, he suffered an damage quickly after he signed and missed practically 4 months of his first season. When he returned, he performed with the second group to regain health and finally joined the primary group on the finish of the season. This previous offseason, Solskjaer left the membership to take over at Cardiff Metropolis within the Premier League, and Spencer pushed for a possibility to earn first-team minutes. Molde agreed and made him out there for mortgage.

Again in the USA, North American Soccer League membership Indy Eleven was set to mark its inaugural season and the group’s head coach, former U.S. nationwide group goalkeeper Juergen Sommer, knew Spencer from his days as a youth participant. Sommer was impressed with Spencer’s willingness to maneuver overseas at a younger age and his professionalism on and off the sphere. Sommer invited Spencer to coach with the membership in February and, after a couple of days, formally signed Spencer to a season-long mortgage.

“What he brings you from the air and from his pure size and ability—he brings a different dimension to the offense, something that we need here on our team,” Sommer stated of his younger ahead. “We wish to get pleasure from working with him and hopefully construct him up and assist him have an awesome skilled and worldwide profession. It’s an awesome likelihood for us to work with a younger and upcoming participant.”

“You look at some of the top European club teams,” Sommer added, “whether or not it is Bayern Munich or Liverpool, you get guys with some measurement they usually simply create some actual issues and points for groups defensively. We simply see Ben as being a kind of guys.”

It would not damage that Spencer is a job mannequin when it comes to his preparation and dedication.

“I love working with Ben Spencer,” Sommer added. “He comes early, and stays late. He wants to do extra finishing. He’s asking a lot of questions. He’s hungry. It is so refreshing to work with guys like that—they just can’t get enough. Once training is over, you have other guys who can’t wait to get out of there. He can’t wait until training ends so he can work on his position-specific stuff. You know the guys got a bright future because he’s willing to do all the extra stuff.”

Spencer sees the chance to play video games towards full-grown males slightly than youngsters will assist him develop essential abilities. Throughout his time at Indy Eleven, Spencer will stay in touch with Molde and ship the Norwegian membership common updates on his progress. Spencer makes it clear that he would “like to return back to Europe” as soon as his mortgage is finished however he positively appreciates the chance in Indianapolis.

“I never really expected to come back stateside, to be honest,” Spencer stated. “But the opportunity came up and I was looking for a loan move and somewhere where I could play matches and get as much experience as I could. This city is really behind this team. There’re some quality players here and hopefully I’ll get a lot of matches. It’s definitely a growing league. I think the level will be good. It will definitely be a good next challenge for me as a player.”

Sommer agrees that Spencer can be challenged at Indy Eleven regardless of it being the second tier of American soccer behind MLS. Sommer hopes to make his membership a spot for younger gamers to showcase their potential.

As a participant, Sommer got here out of faculty and moved to Europe the place he grew to become most identified for his tenure at Queens Park Rangers from 1995-1998 earlier than coming to MLS to play for the Columbus Crew. He realizes the difficulties of being a younger skilled and desires to open doorways at Indy Eleven—despite the fact that he is aware of his finest gamers will transfer on.

“Our intention with a Ben Spencer is not to make him a lifelong NASL guy,” Sommer said. “It’s to just get him the platform to get games and experience and in maybe a year or two, he is off and running to bigger things.”

“They just have to go someplace where they can play games,” he continued. “It doesn’t help you to be with big clubs when you’re not playing on the first team.”

For Spencer, the long run is shiny, as he’s now entrenched on a U-20 group that would doubtlessly function elite attacking prospects like Utrecht’s Rubio Rubin, Bayern Munich’s Julian Inexperienced, and Tijuana’s Paul Arriola on the 2015 World Cup.

“It’s definitely a goal for me to be part of the U-20 World Cup team and a lot of the guys feel the same way,” Spencer stated. “We’re all excited about the potential opportunity to play in a World Cup. We have a very talented team that can potentially do very well.”

Brian Sciaretta is an American Soccer Now columnist and an ASN 100 panelist. Comply with him on Twitter.