Benny Feilhaber

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Benny Feilhaber
Personal information
Full name Benny Feilhaber
Date of birth January 19, 1985 (1985-01-19) (age 23)
Place of birth    Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Derby County
Number 22
Youth clubs
2003–2005
2005–2006		 UCLA Bruins
Hamburger SV II
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2005–2007
2007–		 Hamburger SV
Derby County		 09 (0)
10 (0)   
National team2
2007– United States 16 (2)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 15:17, 29 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 16:49, 11 May 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)
Medal record
Competitor for Flag of the United States United States
Football
Maccabiah Games
Silver 2005 Maccabiah Football

Benny Feilhaber (born January 19, 1985 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is an American professional soccer player. He currently plays for Derby County in the Premier League.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Feilhaber, of Austrian Jewish descent,[1] was six years old when his family moved from Brazil to settle in the United States.[2] He attended Northwood High School in Irvine, California where he was a standout midfielder on the school’s soccer team. After graduating in 2003 he enrolled at UCLA where he became a mainstay in the Bruins’ midfield. Surprisingly, Feilhaber made the team as a walk-on, rather than being recruited with a scholarship offer. After his second year at UCLA Feilhaber was called up by the U.S. U-20 national soccer team to play in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in The Netherlands.

[edit] Hamburger SV

His performances in the tournament caught the attention of scouts from several European teams and, after representing the U.S. in the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel, Feilhaber signed for Hamburg in July of 2005. In the 2005-06 season Feilhaber played with the Hamburg reserve team in the third division, or Regionalliga.

On October 12, 2006 Feilhaber made his Bundesliga debut, coming on as a second half substitute in a 2-1 home loss to Schalke 04. His first start came on October 22, 2006 when he played 90 minutes in a 2-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg's first win of the season. During the summer of 2007, Feilhaber was linked with a transfer move away from Hamburg.

[edit] Derby County

On August 9, 2007 Feilhaber obtained a work permit to play for newly promoted Premier League side Derby County.[3] His signing was completed on August 10, 2007,[4] and Feilhaber made his debut for the club on September 17, 2007, coming on as an 80th minute substitute in a 1-0 win over Newcastle United. New manager Paul Jewell has declared his intent to sell Feilhaber, but has rejected an offer from Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. declaring that the offer might suit him more next season if the transfer price were to increase. Jewell has also mentioned many Major League Soccer clubs are interested in taking him Stateside.

[edit] International career

Feilhaber was called up twice to the U.S. squad for friendlies against Scotland on November 12, 2005 and Germany on March 22, 2006, but did not play in either game.

On November 30, 2006 he turned down an approach by coach Andreas Herzog to play for Austria and said that he would instead focus on earning a place on the U.S. team.

On March 15, 2007, Feilhaber was again placed on the 24-man roster by coach Bob Bradley for friendly matches against Ecuador and Guatemala, on March 25 and March 28, 2007, respectively. Feilhaber made his first career start for the US team in the March 25, 2007 game against Ecuador, and scored his first international goal against China on June 2, 2007. 2007 Gold Cup final on June 24, 2007.

[edit] International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 2 June 2007 Spartan Stadium, California, United States Flag of the People's Republic of China China PR 2-1 4-1 Friendly match
2. 24 June 2007 Soldier Field, Illinois, United States Flag of Mexico Mexico 2-1 2-1 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Powers, John. "Feilhaber going with the flow", The Boston Globe, 2007-06-15. 
  2. ^ Parikh, Sagar. "UCLA midfielder signs to German squad", U-WIRE, 2005, July 25. 
  3. ^ "U.S. midfielder Benny Feilhaber gets work permit to play for Derby County", Associated Press, 2007-08-9. 
  4. ^ Sky Sports | Football | Transfer Centre | Done Deal | Feilhaber completes Rams move

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Derby County F.C. – current squad

1 Price • 3 Camara • 4 McEveley • 5 Leacock • 7 Jones • 8 Stubbs • 9 Villa • 11 Fagan • 15 Lewis • 16 Teale • 17 Todd • 19 Davis • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Feilhaber • 23 Moore • 24 Mears • 25 Pearson • 28 Barnes • 30 Nyatanga • 31 Carroll • 32 Addison • 33 Hanson • 34 Richards • 35 Beardsley • 41 Simmons • 43 Bywater • 44 Savage • –– Commons • –– Connolly • –– Davies • –– Ellington • –– Green • –– Stewart • –– Zadkovich • Manager: Jewell