I went to boarding school two hours north of Boston, US. I was on the varsity soccer team and one year our school recruited a New Zealander who had just came from the 2007 U-17 World Cup. As you can imagine, this guy was at a completely other level compare to the rest of our team. He came as a junior in high school and captained the team and in his two years we won the New England Championship and he went on to break the school record for goals in a season and all time record of assists. This guy created so many chances it was ridiculous. Almost as if he had telepathy with everyone on the team. I used to play on the wing, and he always knew where I would be and I would make my runs and magically the ball would appear at my feet. He made everyone around him look like a better player. He used to have 20 scouts from universities all over the country come to watch him every single match. Unfortunately he suffered from a few injuries and because of that had two unsuccessful trails at Middlesborough and Blackburn.
He later on went to University in Boston College where he played as a defensive midfielder for 4 years. He also played in the 2011 U20 World Cup. He later on moved to Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Injuries are always unfortunate; the teams he trailed for in England were afraid to make an investment in him knowing that he is injury prone.
However if you ask him the question of this thread, his answer would be way more interesting. In the 2007 U17 World Cup he was in the same group as North Korea, Brazil, and England. He has Danny Rose's match shirt and also was telling me about how they N. Korea team had requested for the hotel to remove all televisions from their rooms. And although they suffered a heavy 7-0 loss to Brazil and 5-0 to England he was so excited to have gotten the chance to play against, Fabio and Rafael and also Welbeck, Rose, and Moses. He also got the chance to play a pick up match with Toni Kroos who went on to win the player of the tournament.
In the 2011 U20 World Cup, he played against Cameroon, Portugal, and Uruguay. Perhaps the most notable player he played against was Nelson Oliveira. It is cool that he got to start and play in 6 world cup matches! And recently Ronaldo Lima just became a shareholder in his club and now my friend gets to play with a legend during practice!