The 29-year-old midfielder is among the most talked about players in USMNT history, but his career turned in ways he never expected
In professional soccer, stability is rare. Players come and go, transfers are constantly rumored and executed, and careers are unpredictable.
Julian Green understands this better than most. A decade ago, he was a rising star for the U.S. men's national team, having just scored a knockout goal against Belgium with his very first touch in a World Cup match. This came after just one brief appearance in the Champions League with Bayern Munich. The sky seemed to be the limit for him, poised to climb the ladder of success—whether at his club or elsewhere.
Instead, Green has planted down roots. After four years in the wilderness after that World Cup goal, those roots took hold at Greuther Furth. Now, in his eighth season with the club, he admits that it wasn't always what he had in mind.
"I would say in the beginning, I never thought that I would be here for so long, to be honest," Green admits. "But yeah, in the end, you can never really plan things."
Green, ultimately, learned the importance of finding a home. Furth provided that, giving him a club that believed in him in a way that his previous stops didn't. Ten years after showing promise as a potential attacking young star of American soccer, he's now a deeper-lying veteran for Furth, one anchoring the club's push for promotion in the 2. Bundesliga.
It's a role he's comfortable with. Green doesn't feel pressure, and he says he never really has. If he can get through the things he has so far, being a leader should come easy.
"I don't think it was a big pressure," Green says, reflecting on 2014. "I think I scored that goal and, of course, after that, I see all the news and everything that has been written about me, but it's hard to say. I think for me, after the World Cup, it wasn't that easy because, in my opinion, I played for the best club in the world at that time [Bayern Munich], probably with the best squad they ever had, so I made my move to Hamburg. It didn't really work out."
He added, "It's always individual. It's hard to give advice to other players because every career is different, and every step is different. So you can't really say 'You have to do this, you have to do that'. At the end, you have to work hard. That's what you always have to do, but then there are a lot of things that can go in this or in the other direction."
Getty Images SportHappy at Furth
Green is right: his stay at Furth wasn't supposed to be long. It certainly wasn't supposed to be eight years. That's how careers go, though. Ultimately, Furth was the club that Green needed, and it was a club that needed Green.
He arrived at the club in 2017, fresh off two frustrating moves. A loan to Hamburg resulted in just five matches and no goals. A transfer to Stuttgart in the 2. Bundesliga produced one goal in 10 appearances. Then 22 years old, Green simply needed to play, and Furth were willing to play him. He spent an initial season on loan, scoring three goals in 24 matches, before making that move permanent ahead of the 2018-19 2. Bundesliga season.
"I think it's very important to have this kind of club that gives you the feeling that you are an important player," Green said. "It's kind of like a home for me, and, right now, I'm just happy that I found Furth. I still have two years of contract and I'm very happy here."
He's played 167 total games for the club, scoring 30 times while emerging as the type of player who can play a role all over the field, including one next to another American in Maximilian Dietz.
Advertisement(C)Getty ImagesGreen's fellow American
Through the first six games of the 2. Bundesliga season, Green is Furth's leading scorer with three goals, and that's despite playing as more of a holding midfielder, too.
Since the 2014 World Cup, Green has evolved. He came up as an attacking talent at Bayern but, in the years since, has moved further back. At Furth, he often starts as a deeper midfielder ahead of the club's back three.
"I think I can play both positions," Green said of his midfielder role. "It's different. If you play a little bit deeper, you're more involved in the build-up. If you play behind the strikers you probably have more shots on goal and more offensive actions. In the end, I don't really care because I can play both positions."
Green isn't the only American in the heart of Furth's midfield, though. He's next to Dietz, who featured for the U.S. at the Olympics this summer.
Dietz has been a regular for the U.S. at the U-23 level and, after playing both center back and in midfield for the U.S. during that cycle, he's now featuring in a deeper midfield role for Furth. He, too, has USMNT ambitions and hopes to someday play at a World Cup, as Green did.
"It's a nice feeling to have Max on the field, another American," Green said. "It's a good feeling. We will be happy to have this for the next couple of years, I hope."
Getty Images SportLife in the 2. Bundesliga
Of Green's seven previous seasons with Furth, six have been spent int he 2. Bundesliga. The club earned promotion during the 2020-21 season, with Green scoring nine league goals, but went right back down after one season in the top flight.
Those who follow German soccer know that the 2. Bundesliga isn't easy, particularly now. Huge clubs like Hamburg, Schalke, Hertha Berlin and Hannover have fallen into the second division. In total, eight of the 18 teams regularly fill stadiums with over 49,000 seats.
In the end, only two teams get promoted, while one gets a crack at the promotion playoff. Furth finished eighth last season, 13 points out of that third-place playoff spot.
Schalke and Hertha Berlin, meanwhile, fell down, adding two more heavyweights to the division. Schalke was in the Champions League just five years ago, while it's been just six years since Hertha Berlin played in the Europa League.
"I think they say every year that it's probably the best 2. Bundesliga ever," Green says, "but this year you can probably say that it's really like that. You have a lot of top teams like Schalke, Hamburg, Berlin. It's fun. I think if you just see the stadiums we play in, like if you play in Hamburg or in Berlin, there are 40,000 or 50,000 fans. It's kind of the same feeling if you play Bundesliga if you play in these stadiums."
Mitchell LeftLooking at the national team
As things stand, Green has 15 caps and four goals with the USMNT. Judging on recent history, it might stay that way. After starting off as one of the most talked-about players in USMNT history, Green's hasn't played for the U.S. since 2018. He was only called into camp once under Gregg Berhalter.
"It's a question for the last coach," Green says, "but that's soccer. I think every coach has his own style or maybe also his own players who he maybe prefers a little bit more. That's the only reason, I think, but as I said, that's soccer. The only thing I can do is do my work, and, at the end, the decision is with the coach."
There's a new coach in charge, of course. Mauricio Pochettino has taken over and, until he names his squad for October camp, there really is no telling what direction his squad goes in. Could he look in the direction of a 29-year-old reinvented midfielder? It is unlikely due to Furth's current standing, but that won't change Green's approach.
"For me, I think I always have the same mindset," he said. "I will do everything I can on the pitch here in Furth to be back in the national team maybe one day. Of course, if there's a new coach, it's always the same. In club soccer or in the national team, there's probably a new chance for every player.
"That's my mindset: to do my work here in Furth and the other things I can't really control. I'll try to do my best and my goal is to play again for the national team, of course."
Green isn't making any plans with that in mind. He knows as well as anyone that plans can change rather quickly. Instead, he'll just keep chugging along at Furth, continuing a career that, while not what anyone had expected, has resulted in him finding a place to call home.