Jürgen Damm came to Oakland as a marquee signing of the offseason, having spent time with the Mexico National Team and being a veteran of Liga MX with Pachuca, Tigres, América, and Atlético San Luis. But so far this season, Damm has only appeared as a substitute against Monterey, San Antonio, and Las Vegas most recently.
With just 64 minutes of work, Damm has recorded a single shot attempt against San Antonio. He was yellow-carded for a dive in the box against Las Vegas but did well to sense contact in a dangerous area.
As a product of the current presidential administration’s delays on visa processing, Damm missed most of the offseason program, other than attending their preseason contests in Mexico. With his limited time in Oakland thus far, coach Gavin Glinton explains they are still in the process of getting him up to speed.
“We’re still bringing him back up to fitness, so the minutes he gets right now might not be starter minutes or more established position minutes,” Glinton said.
Still, Damm has shown versatility since coming along. He entered at left wing against Monterey, lined up on both sides against San Antonio, and played centrally versus Las Vegas after entering in the 72nd of Saturday’s match in place of Panos Armenakas.
Glinton thinks Jürgen’s ability to play multiple positions will be important as he returns to full fitness.
“But as we see a need for him to be able to fit in, we know he can play anywhere along the front line. We know he’s played as a wingback and he’s played inside as a ten,” Glinton said. “His ability and his experience to come on and help us in different ways is big time, especially as we continue to bring him back into full fitness.
He represents one of Oakland’s 11 new players on this year’s roster. It’s been clear that the jelling process is still being fine-tuned. Glinton commented on the matter Saturday night.
“As we go through this process with the new group, I think we’ve seen strides in the right direction every week. I think the guys are confident and bought in,” Glinton said.
Tyler Gibson is another veteran on the roster, having played 11 years on eight different clubs. He’s seen some improvement in the integration of Glinton’s system.
“I think we’re continuously growing. It’s starting to come together with the new group and improve in little key moments,” Gibson said. “It’s coming together. The first two games, we were all over the place. Last week, we were a bit better defensively but still weren’t great on the ball. This week, we worked more on the ball and had the confidence to play.”
Damm, 32, signed with Oakland as a Liga MX veteran over his career with stops at Pachuca, Tigres, Club América, and Atlético San Luis, along with a two-year stint at Atlanta United.
With Tigres, he was a three-time Mexican Champion Apertura winner, twice won the Mexican Campeón de Campeones, won the Mexican Clausura championship, and claimed the Campeones Cup.
For his career, Damm has appeared in 221 professional matches with 116 starts, logging 11,268 minutes for 11 goals and 27 assists. He also has 12 appearances with the Mexico National Team with five starts, scoring once.