Bundesliga
Timmy Chandler eager to impress in 2019/20
Timmy Chandler is keen to put the toils of 2018/19 behind him, wipe the slate clean and prove he can still play a prominent part for Eintracht Frankfurt and the USMNT in the coming campaign.
The 29-year-old was limited to just one, very brief outing in the whole of last season, featuring for just 16 minutes on Matchday 32 against Bayer Leverkusen after finally recovering from a serious knee injury.
His focus now is on making the story of 2019/20 a completely different one, and he is encouraged by his first few steps in pre-season training.
"I'm healthy and it's important to me to get through preseason well and really be involved in all of our training sessions," Chandler told Germany's leading sports specialist magazine, kicker. "Then we'll see how things develop."
Last Thursday, Chandler scored on his first outing of the summer, a comfortable 14-0 win for the Eagles against Helvetia Bad Homburg-Kirdorf. It was his first opportunity to simulate a real match situation and he was happy with the results.
"It was a good game for me," said the 29-time USMNT international. "Even if I feel the odd bit of pain, I always give 100 per cent out there. There's none of that [holding back] when it comes to me."
With that in mind, Chandler still harbours ambitions of playing for the USA again. The former Nuremberg man - son of a German mother and American father - did not feature when he received his last call-up for the friendly draw against Venezuela in June 2017 and has not represented his country since November 2016, but new US head coach Gregg Berhalter's vested interest in the Bundesliga gives the Frankfurt defender hope.
"When they call me up for the national team, I’m there," Chandler said last summer. "Of course I miss it. I see all the players go to their national teams, and I want to fly to the States and play for my country."
With Frankfurt's campaign starting earlier than any of their Bundesliga rivals, with UEFA Europa League qualifiers to navigate, Chandler has an opportunity to catch Berhalter's eye even earlier and ensure 2019/20 – unlike the last one – is a season to remember.