FC BARCELONA
Who was the American goalkeeper on the bench for Barcelona against Cádiz in LaLiga?
The Catalan team called up various youth team players as substitutes for the game against Cádiz in LaLiga, including a goalkeeper from the USA.
A surprise came in Barcelona’s second game of the LaLiga EA Sports 2023-24 season when Xavi shocked everyone by calling up American goalkeeper, Diego Kochen, to the first team squad. Barcelona beat Cádiz 2-0 thanks to late goals from Pedri and Ferran Torres, giving the club their first win of the season following a controversial 0-0 draw against Getafe in the opening weekend.
Given the situation faced by Xavi Hernández’s team and their inability to register players such as Iñaki Peña, Iñigo Martínez and Marcos Alonso, the Blaugrana side were forced to bring in various youngsters to fill up the squad for the match against Cádiz, with Kochen one of the surprises.
Among these La Masía players was the American goalkeeper, Diego Kochen, who is of Venezuelan and Peruvian origin: the 17-year-old is part of Barça’s Juvenil A team. However, due to the squad-related setbacks the club faces in the senior team, Kochen was part of the group called up to face Cádiz at Barça’s temporary home in Montjuïc.
Curiosuly, and something that definitely highlights the sheer strangeness of the situation, is that Kochen was part of the Juvenil A squad that featured in the final of the VII Villa de Arróniz Tournament against Real Sociedad... on the day before the senior game! He quickly had to report to Xavi to be with the rest of the first team ahead of the clash.
In addition to the American goalkeeper, the other shot stopper who was part of the bench for Barcelona in their second match in LaLiga was Ander Astralaga. Fortunately for Xavi and his side, Marc-André ter-Stegen did not have any major complications against Cádiz and the youngsters were only spectators from the bench.
Which other Americans have played for Barcelona?
In addition to Diego Kochen, players such as Konrad de la Fuente and Sergiño Dest have arrived at the club in the past, but despite possessing obvious quality, they did not end up turning out to be what Barça expected and have slowly left over time. bit. The former is currently plying his trade at SD Eibar in northern Spain; the current situation for the latter is as yet unclear, although most reports indicate that he will soon make the move to PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands before the window slams shut.