16-year-old Mathis Albert just broke a Bundesliga record. Beware the US soccer hype machine
American soccer will have truly progressed when cases like the Dortmund teenager’s are common enough to be unremarkable
There’s something about a 16-year-old making his debut among fully grown senior professionals that makes him look like a fawn. A scrawny, wobbly baby deer, the function of his arms and legs not yet figured out, jogging on to the pitch in a kit and shin guards that always seem a few sizes too big, like a boy wearing his dad’s suit.
So, too, appeared Mathis Albert when coming on in the 89th minute of Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 romp over Freiburg on Sunday, which secured the team a place in next year’s Champions League.
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© Photograph: Ralf Ibing/firo sportphoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ralf Ibing/firo sportphoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ralf Ibing/firo sportphoto/Getty Images