The United States Men’s National Team is headed to camp next week and among the newcomers is 1.FC Köln striker Damion Downs. We’re joined by Jake Payne of 50 Plus Döner as we do a deep dive on the young German-American and what he brings to the table.
Jake does content that focuses on Köln and German soccer as a whole, and he gives us some incredible insight on Downs and what he’s done well at the club level. He also discusses what Downs will have to improve as he prepares for his time with the USMNT and helping Köln as they return to the Bundesliga next season. It’s a great interview that also expands to why German soccer is normally so beneficial for American players to develop and how the wave can shift back to players thriving in the Bundesliga.
The interview is part of Episode 155 of the USA Soccercast. Here’s an excerpt from the interview with Jake Payne as we discuss Damion Downs and his elevation to the USMNT.
USA Soccercast: I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there who have not seen Damion Downs play at all so just in a nutshell, can you describe his overall game?
50 Plus Döner: Oh, he is the quintessential striker. He’s everything you want in the striker…he’s super tall for soccer, he’s 6’4”. He’s not fast, but his positioning is insane. Like, if you go and watch some of the goals that he scored, he’s not particularly outpacing anyone but he’s just in [the right spot]. There’s a song called “He’s always where he needs to be,” and that is his game. He’s there when the ball gets to him, he’s gonna do the right thing, he’s so fun to watch, and I’m so glad. I feel like that’s what the U.S. needs…I feel like you guys have been looking for that for a while, just a striker that’s there to set people up but mostly score goals.
USAS: At 6’4, Downs is going to tower over everybody. Because of that, there’s the obvious question: is he an aerial threat that can kind of serve as that target forward, or is he going to be more of a guy that’s a poacher who uses his feet?
50: Yeah, so I don’t think he has a lot of header goals, but that’s not due to lack of trying. I just think Köln isn’t really a crossing team per se, but [Downs] is an aerial threat. He does have very good header goals and a few goals where he muscles someone off. He’s really good with his feet when he does get the ball. I do think sometimes, just with him being younger and him starting to get his opportunity now, that he sometimes makes a bad shot when he’s open, but that’s not due to lack of ability. I just think he’s now getting his shot. So he’s got some learning to do, but now he has a chance to do it on national team level. And I think he’s definitely ready for it for sure.
USAS: [Downs] grew up in the American system of sports and mainly [played] American football before he started playing soccer when he moved back to Germany, which is unlike some of the other dual nationals that we see. A lot of them learned soccer first and then maybe applied to other sports. How does that affect his game or does it affect his game? Do we see a little bit of American football in his game as he has been developing?
50: Yeah, what is it? What if our best athletes played soccer and now we’re finally seeing it? I think just in playing football myself is like I think what I see in him is just like that positional understanding. Like with football, I feel like you have to know where everybody is at all times, even if it’s across the field. And when you look at the way that he understands space and how people move to react to space, like he knows, “Okay, I’m tall…so someone’s going to play me a little bit closer. I’m going to kind of like back off a little bit and give me some more space to work with.” He’s obviously very physical too, even though I think he hasn’t gotten that chance to be physical a lot. But with the American football mindset, I wouldn’t be able to point out like, “Oh, that’s a football player.”But I think when you’re a multi-sport athlete like that, positioning and understanding physicality…that’s definitely present in his game.
USAS: [Damion Downs] had his breakout year this year in the 2. Bundesliga, so what made him so successful this year? Was there something about his game that elevates to where he was able to find success?
So I will have to point out his first ever goal for the team was against Köln’s biggest rival. So that sticks out a bunch. And like in the Bundesliga season, he kind of got his opportunity at the end of the season and he scored some very key goals. So I think like already the thought going into this last season was like, “Okay, we got to get we got to let him cook a little bit.” They weren’t really sure [about Downs]. They were getting production from this striker and then they kind of fell down Damian Downs got a hand injury, which kind of stopped his momentum of starting and whatnot. [At] the end of the season, he was on the bench because he was coming back from that [injury]. But now that there is that open hole, I do think he’s going to get more of a chance and like he had 10 goals and I think four assists on the season. So the times that he did get in, he did make that opportunity. And even though he’s on the slower side, as I said, his positioning is just phenomenal. So we really got to see that. You would be like, “where is he on the field?” And then all of a sudden, he’s in the box with the ball.
You can find more of this interview as well as discussion on the USWNT and upcoming World Cups on the latest episode of the USA Soccercast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Jake Payne’s great 50 Plus Döner content on Twitch and YouTube on Thursday nights. You can also follow his work on Bluesky and Instagram.
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