CARSON, Calif. >> A Honolulu native seeks to reignite a professional soccer career stalled by injury, a lack of playing time and problems off the field.
Bobby Wood, who had been training for the past month with the United States’ national team, will begin the year with a new German club. Wood will play for Erzgebirge Aue in southeastern Germany on loan from 1860 Munich — where he had spent his entire pro career since his early teens.
Wood has played six times for the United States since making his debut in 2013 and made his first start in his most recent appearance, a 3-2 loss to Chile on Jan. 28.
"Bobby is a very, very talented forward that we would love to get to the next level," said coach Juergen Klinsmann, who guided the United States in last year’s World Cup.
"I think he has a lot of positive characteristics in his game," Klinsmann added. "He’s a good kid. He’s a good listener. He’s working very hard."
Klinsmann chose Wood with 28 other players for the team’s annual January camp, which will end with Sunday’s game against Panama at the StubHub Center.
"It’s an awesome feeling when you have someone in your corner, and someone like Juergen, as well," said Wood, 22. "It helped me mentally a lot. It helped me stay positive."
Also in Wood’s corner is forward Jozy Altidore, who played in last year’s World Cup.
"Bobby is full of energy, man," Altidore said. "He always wants to learn. He’s a talented young player and we’ve yet to see the best of him."
The Honolulu native needed that energy to negotiate a journey that took him from Hawaii to California to Germany. Wood began playing soccer at "probably like 7, 8, 9, something like that," he said, for a very natural reason.
"I actually started because my friend played," he said. "I wanted to play a sport and it just happened that he played soccer."
Wood eventually played for Powder Edge FC. But when he was 11, Wood and his family moved to California so he could join the Irvine Strikers, one of the state’s best clubs.
"There’s more opportunity compared to Hawaii," Wood said. "There were just more options, school-wise."
Then in December 2006, Strikers coach Don Ebert contacted a friend at 1860 Munich, which invited Wood and another of the Strikers to train overseas.
"At first," Wood recalled, "it was, like, ‘Could you come out, just train for a week or two weeks and see how it is?’ "
But 1860 Munich signed both players to youth contracts the next month.
"We just turned 14," Wood remembered. "To be honest, I went over just to have an adventure. I thought I would go there for a year, come back, try to experience high school and go to college."
Yet 1860 Munich, which plays in Germany’s second division, held other ideas.
"I was thrown in ice water," Wood said. "The biggest problem was not having any of my friends or family there."
Though both young players roomed together, adjusting to German culture at such a young age proved difficult.
"I don’t really get along with so many of the German guys," Wood said. "They’re not as laid back as they are in Hawaii or California. It’s a different mentality, a different humor. I had a lot of tough times."
Those times got tougher in 2011 when Wood tore the meniscus in his right knee. He had surgery that November, then had follow-up surgery in March 2012.
Wood enjoyed his best season in 2013-14, when he established career highs in games (22), starts (7) and goals (3) for 1860 Munich. Coach Ricardo Moniz even thought Wood positioned himself for a breakout season.
"I believe in this player, absolutely," Moniz told the website American Soccer Now in August. "Bobby’s skillful, fast and a good person. Football needs more players like this."
Instead, Wood experienced pervasive exasperation once Markus von Ahlen replaced Moniz in September.
After starting 1860’s first four games and getting two assists under Moniz, Wood played only 17 minutes in the next two months — and none since Oct. 19, after he returned from playing twice for the United States.
Those games against Ecuador and Honduras — in which Wood accumulated 91 total minutes as a substitute — provided his most substantial action in five weeks.
Wood’s frustration erupted in October when he and 1860 assistant coach Filip Tapalovic argued after practice.
"I was staying after training, doing some sprints and some shooting drills," Wood said. "There were, like, five other guys doing it. The assistant coach starts yelling at me for no reason, saying, ‘Why are you shooting the ball? Go inside!’ But he only yelled at me. He didn’t say anything to the other guys.
"I said I couldn’t take it anymore. I told him straight up, ‘I know you want to show your power, but don’t do that with me. I may be only 22, but mentally, I’m a lot more mature than that. Why don’t you yell at the other guys, too?’ "
The club demoted Wood to its reserve squad. But once Wood returned from the United States, he chose not to play.
"I was with the national team for a good 10 days," Wood said. "After I came back, I didn’t want to get injured."
The Munich club suspended Wood and tried to sell him for 500,000 euros, about $575,000, but found no buyers. So 1860 negotiated a loan with Erzgebirge that will last through June 2017. The forward reports to his new team Tuesday.
As he embarks upon a fresh start, Wood’s personal goals likely resemble those he expressed while training with the national team.
"I just want to try to show what I can do, be a team player, have fun with the guys and enjoy myself," he said before leaving. "Hopefully, things will figure themselves out."
