Bobby Wood was a shy 14-year-old from Southern California when he came to Germany with big dreams. It didn’t take long for that to turn into a nightmare, though, because Wood didn’t speak a word of German, couldn’t fathom how cold and dark the country and the people could be, and didn’t get any respect as an American coming from a nation with such little soccer history.
Fast-forward nine years and Wood, now fluent in German, has emerged as one of the country’s hottest young forwards after scoring 17 goals for second-tier Union Berlin — most-ever by an American in Germany’s top two divisions — and earning a promotion to the top-tier Bundesliga.