Attack, attack, attack, former U.S. international Phillip Gyau always taught his son Joseph. After years of attending youth soccer camps in Brazil, the 16-year-old now looks set to more than follow in his father's footsteps, writes Justin Rodriguez.

Gyau Senior still shows his son videos of Diego Maradona, Pelé and Ronaldo to illustrate his philosophy on the game. "Those players have power, speed and skill," Joseph Gyau said. "They are so creative. I especially like watching Ronaldo and was always like, 'Yeah, I want to be like that one day'."

When he reached the age of 7, Gyau was sent by his dad to Rio de Janeiro to train at Zico's soccer academy for several summers. "It was a great experience," Joseph told Rodriguez. "I saw a lot of players with skill. It gave me a lot of variety. In America, they want you to play simple. But in Brazil, I got the chance to take on people one-on-one. That's helped me with my explosiveness today."

"His game is a lot of things," writes Rodriguez. "Big, electric and most of all fearless, with just a little bit of Brazilian flair." Gyau Jr. is a member of the U-17 residency program at Bradenton, Fla., and had a successful two-week trial with Bayern Munich last summer. He will leave Bradenton after the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria next year to play for one of Bayern's youth teams.

 

 

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