U.S. trio hope to follow Yamal from La Masia to Barcelona stardom

Diego Kochen and Pedro Soma used to play on rival teams in Miami when they were kids. Now they both play for Barcelona. They're not the only players on the brink of the first team at the Spanish giants who were born in the United States in 2006, either; there is also the Colorado-born Adrian Gill.

Just six months in age separate the trio, who hope their education at Barça will serve the United States men's national team in the coming years as more young Americans break through in Europe. To have three the same age all make Barça's senior side, though, would be special.

Goalkeeper Kochen and midfielder Soma are already regulars with Barça Atlétic, the Catalan side's reserve team that competes in the third tier of Spanish football. Gill may have been playing alongside them, too, but for picking up a serious injury in 2023 just days after training with the first team for the first time. He recently returned after over 14 months of rehabilitation work, and is now re-finding his rhythm in the U19 team.

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The three of them sat down together with ESPN analyst Luis García -- who also came through at Barça before going on to play for Liverpool and Atlético Madrid, among others -- to discuss their different journeys so far, their playing styles, their hopes with and for the USMNT, their bond off the pitch as Americans abroad.

Gill, from Denver, is the oldest of the three. He was also the first to sign for Barça, joining from local youth side Cornellà in 2018 after his family had relocated to Spain. "The room just started spinning around me," he says of the moment a coach at Cornellà told him about Barça's interest.

A year later, Kochen (Miramar, Miami) joined him at the club. He was playing for the Marcet Football Academy and thought his dad was winding him up when revealing the club, whose famed La Masia academy produced the likes of Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández, wanted to sign him.

"At first, you can't believe it," he tells ESPN. "I was, like, 'Damn, what a harsh joke my dad's playing on me.' It's incredible. It's a great feeling. There's no other like it. It is pure excitement, pure joy. Those are the only words to describe that moment."

The perception on the outside is often that kids in academies at big clubs have it easy. The reality: that pressure is enormous, especially at Barça. Every year, you're not just competing against the opposition, but with your teammates to be retained for the next season. For Gill and Kochen, it was a different environment than they'd been used to.

"One of the most difficult parts was realising I need to be in my position and the ball's going to get to me that way," midfielder Gill says. "At Cornellà, you play No. 6 or you go to No. 8 or No. 10 or play wherever you want and get the ball. At Barça, it was, and still is, just learning the tactics behind it and being able to be calm, wait for the ball. Not rush. That was the hardest part. There's also the expectation that you need to win everything, but I think that that's the right expectation. It brings up the level of every player."

Kochen adds: "On the field it was pretty hard, especially for me, because it's a whole other intensity -- it's a whole other world. It's a whole other philosophy. It's pretty tough. The intensity's way more. It's way higher and the expectation, too, which is what I initially struggled with, but in the end, you get used to it. It's something you grow with."

Both have adapted to the requirements at the club, progressing through the age groups to land professional contracts when they turned 16. Along the way, they have played alongside some of the best young players in the world. At U15 level, a kid from the year below was promoted to their team. Lamine Yamal, still only 17, is now a regular in Barça's first team and a European champion with Spain.

"I think you'd always see it, even from the young ages, that he was different," Kochen says, before Gill intervenes: "I remember the first training with him. He came up and people knew his name, but it wasn't like Lamine Yamal as he is now. He just got the ball and dribbled past five people. He just had it. I was like, 'What just happened?'"

Kochen adds: "There's this one match we did before the winter break. It was one of his first times coming up with our 2006 age group, which at the time was U15. It was a 50-50 ball, from the halfway line, volley, straight into the goal. I couldn't believe it."

Kochen's progress has not quite matched Yamal's -- no one's has -- but it has been impressive. Goalkeepers often get their chance later in the development process, but he has already debuted with the first team in a non-competitive match and was a regular on the bench last season in LaLiga and the Champions League. He's playing with Barça Atlétic this year to gain match experience, but is still involved with the first team. He has also been part of USMNT squads under Mauricio Pochettino.

"Everything's a step quicker," Kochen says of training with Hansi Flick's team. "It's more demanding, too. They're competing in the top competitions in the entire world. Everything's much more demanding and everybody's so much quicker. Everybody sees more of the pitch. They're such complete players. They're all super reliable. They're the best of the best. You notice that when you step on the pitch with them.

"[Senior goalkeeper Marc-Andre] ter Stegen's been really accommodating. At first it's a little intimidating because he's my role model. As a kid, I watched him on TV. Stepping in the locker room for the first time and seeing him was a surreal experience. But he's been really, really helpful. He's always giving me tips on what to do better."

Last August, Kochen and Gill were joined at the club by Soma (Boca Raton, Miami), who has an American father and a Brazilian mother. He had been on trial at Barça before, but could not sign until he was 18. That happened last year, and he made the leap from Cornellà to the 27-time Spanish champions.

"This is not just a professional club, this is the best club in the world," he says, reflecting on his first few months at Barça. "It doesn't just matter what you do on the weekend. It matters what you do day by day, by day, by day. It's a constant fight to play, to get minutes. It's a constant fight even when you get minutes to then do good on the field. It's a day-by-day thing."

Soma is a versatile midfielder who has captained the U.S at youth level. He usually plays a deeper role, but can also get forward. When the name of Weston McKennie is brought up, he agrees that the Juventus midfielder is "a good reference" for comparison.

"The last couple of games I've been playing as the No. 8 and the No. 10, so I do arrive [in the box] a bit more," he says of his changing roles. "But if I play as No. 6, then it's more of a positional position."