The proficient 20-year-old loved a breakout 2013-14 marketing campaign in Israel, and has parlayed that success right into a transfer to Belgian energy Gent. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta has extra on the Israeli-American athlete.
BY
Brian Sciaretta
Posted
September 11, 2014
12:11 PM
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THE UNITED STATES is a nation of immigrants, a land of alternative, and a large international energy that casts an extended shadow. For these and different causes, there’s a lengthy checklist of dual-citizenship athletes who’ve represented the U.S. in soccer over the previous few a long time.
Kenny Saief, 20, is one other promising athlete who’s eligible to play for the US.
Born in Panama Metropolis, Fla., whereas his Israeli mother and father had been working within the U.S., the Saief household moved again to Israel when Kenny was 4. Saief later hung out in a few of Israel’s high youth academies and even had a stint at 1860 Munich throughout his teenage years.
Final yr, nonetheless, proved to be the tipping level for Saief when struggling Israeli membership Ironi Ramat HaSharon turned to him to spice up the crew’s assault throughout its relegation-plagued season. In the long run, Saief didn’t disappoint, scoring 10 objectives in 31 appearances and establishing himself as probably the greatest younger gamers in Israel. His aim towards Beitar Jerusalem, beneath, ranks among the many better of the 2013-14 marketing campaign.
“It was the best moment in my life in my first year in the top league in Israel after scoring all those goals,” Saief informed American Soccer Now. “It was really a great season. They always talk about the goal against [Beitar Jersualem]. But I forget and I want to score goals like that in Belgium.”
With Ramat HaSharon’s relegation, Saief turned extremely wanted and it was a broadly reported story within the Israeli media as to the place Saief would switch. It was additionally sophisticated as a result of there was a dispute relating to whether or not or not his contract was owned by Ramat HaShsharon or Beitar Nes Tubruk, his earlier youth academy and probably the greatest in Israel. Resolving this difficulty by an arbitrator took for much longer than anticipated however ultimately the switch to Gent went by for a reported €210,000.
Saief missed your complete Belgian preseason however managed to make his Gent debut simply earlier than the worldwide window closed, approaching as a 72nd minute substitute in a 1-0 loss to Kortrijk.
“I’m very happy,” Saief stated. “It’s a big move for me to move from the Israeli league to a better league like Belgium. I’m very proud. I am so happy. I want to prove myself here and give 110% for Gent—score goals, get assists, help the team win more games, and just to have a good season.”
“It is a little bit hard to start playing after three months but I was just waiting for my move,” Saief stated. “That they had already began the season and performed 4 video games. They’re [near the top of] the desk. I’ll practice and work exhausting and I hope I’ll get my probability quickly. It’s potential. I’m younger so I must work very exhausting to get my probability. The coach likes me and I must take my probability and show I should play. I simply needed to maneuver into Europe to turn out to be a greater participant.
“I had many choices in Israel however I didn’t wish to keep in Israel. I simply needed to maneuver to Europe. It’s significantly better than Israel and I needed to play at the next stage. It’s a actually massive problem however I’m prepared for this. It’s no drawback. I need this problem.”
On the subject of his worldwide future, Saief has been constantly enjoying for Israel’s youth nationwide groups all through his younger profession. He’s now a daily with an Israeli U-21 crew that has already defeated Holland, Norway, and Russia this yr.
Nonetheless, Saief is nicely conscious that by being born in Florida, he has choices internationally. He has by no means returned to the U.S. since he left however has adopted the progress of the game in the US and nonetheless harbors hope that the U.S. will present curiosity if he is ready to carry his success over to the Belgium league.
“It’d be a big honor to play for the USA national team,” Saief stated. “I had good games with Israel but to play with the USA is a big honor. It’s not like playing for a small country. It’s a big country and they play every four years in the World Cup. I supported the USA at the World Cup. They did well. They played really good, hard, and fast soccer. The last game, I think they deserved to win. In the last minute they could have scored.”
After spending the worldwide break with Israeli’s U-21 crew, Saief is now again in Belgium with Gent, which hosts second-place Mouscron-Péruwelz on Sunday.
Brian Sciaretta is an American Soccer Now columnist and an ASN 100 panelist. Observe him on Twitter.
