USMNT Striker Bobby Wood Verbally Agrees To Sign With Real Salt Lake
Jan 20, 2021, 1:51 PM | Updated: 1:54 pm
Bobby Wood #9 of the United States controls the ball against Francisco Calvo #15 of Costa Rica during the FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifier at Red Bull Arena on September 1, 2017 in Harrison, New Jersey. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – KSL Sports has confirmed that United States striker Bobby Wood has verbally agreed to sign with Real Salt Lake after the club was able to reach a deal.
Wood, 28, joins Real Salt Lake following a decade spent in Germany. The Hawaiian native has never played for a Major League Soccer club, until this season.
In 2010, Wood graduated from 1860 Munich’s academy and immediately signed a first-team contract with the then second division German club. After spending five seasons back and forth between Munich’s first and second team he was signed by Union Berlin.
At the time of the signing, Union Berlin was led by Damir Kreilach. A fan favorite and beloved member of the RSL organization. The two played together for one season before Wood signed with Hamburger SV.
Number of games it's taken for an American to reach 5 Bundesliga goals:
Eric Wynalda – 6
Matthew Hoppe – 7
Michael Bradley – 18
Clint Mathis – 19
Bobby Wood – 19The only player to reach the mark faster than Hoppe was Wynalda, the 4th highest scorer in USMNT history. Not bad 👀 pic.twitter.com/GzI0GL5wwO
— Future USMNT (@FutureUsmnt) January 20, 2021
Wood and Kreilach are close friends and thoroughly enjoyed their playing time together whilst at Union Berlin, sources close to KSL Sports report.
Following the conclusion of the 2019 Bundesliga season, Hamburger SV was relegated to the second division in Germany.
Wood’s club career has been entirely spent in Germany.
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International Career
His international career has also been productive as he has 45 caps with the USMNT, scoring 13 goals. He has scored many important goals throughout his career, none so more important than his game-winning goals for the USA against the Netherlands and Germany in 2015 just five days apart to open his international scoring account.
Wood’s arrives at RSL with high expectations. The club has been searching for a true number nine for many seasons now. The arrival of Wood will hopefully end that search. His role will be to score goals. But he must make sure he contributes in more ways than one, he must hold up the play when his back is turned to goal, chase down passes and apply pressure to opposing teams, gain an understanding of how his teammates move and operate. He must assert himself at the top of the formation and control the center of the attack.
His role is challenging. Without question. But Wood has proven through his time in Germany that he is capable of producing and scoring goals.
