As the number of Americans swelled in top European soccer leagues this season, filling big roles with famous clubs, Matthew Hoppe ran undetected in Germany.
His name was lost among the dozens of teenagers chasing the dream of playing abroad, kids contracted by first-tier clubs and toiling in the developmental flights.
Then a month ago, less than a year after playing in the obscurity of the German under-19 circuit, the soft-spoken striker from Southern California simultaneously crashed the elite U.S. party in Europe, jolted the Bundesliga and offered hope to a famed club stomaching a cataclysmic season.