Kobe Hernandez-Foster: Who is Wolfsburg’s American left-back?
Born and raised in Los Angeles, and a former US youth international teammate of Borussia Dortmund starlet Gio Reyna, Kobe Hernandez-Foster will be hoping for a similarly Hollywood-worthy success story after swapping Tinseltown for Wolfsburg in a bid to make it as a pro.
But what else is there to know about the teenage left-back? Allow bundesliga.com to fill in the blanks…
Age: 19
Club: Wolfsburg
Position: Left-back
Country: USA (25 caps for U17s)
Key stats
Historically the biggest team in southern California, LA Galaxy have long attracted the most gifted players in the region – and it was no different when they signed Hernandez-Foster at the age of 14 in 2016. A striker at the time, he scored 24 goals in as many games for the club’s U14 side, earning himself a promotion to the U16s for the following season.
The left-footer continued to make good progress and in 2018 he was bumped up to the Galaxy reserves, making his professional debut as a late substitute in a 3-1 defeat to Oklahoma City Energy FC on 12 September that year – just two months after his 16th birthday.
By that time he had already begun his transition from striker into a left-back, a position where his speed, tenacity and eagerness to get forward more than compensated for his relatively modest 5’6” frame. He made a total of three appearances for the Galaxy second team in the United Soccer League – the second division in the USA – where he more than held his own against older and more experienced players. Hernandez-Foster won 66.7 per cent of all his tackles in the competition in 2019, completing 90.2 per cent of his passes.
Tellingly, the vast majority of those passes (45.1 per cent) were forward, rather than backwards or sideways, giving an indication that he is a player who likes to attack instead of playing it safe. Against that backdrop, it came as no surprise when he won the 2019 Academy West Conference Player of the Year prize.
By that stage he had already caught the eye of the US national set-up, making his debut for the U17s in April 2018 at the age of 15. He featured alongside Reyna both at the CONCACAF U17 Championship in May 2019, where the US finished as runners-up to Mexico, and at the FIFA U17 World Cup in Brazil in November that year, although the team failed to progress beyond the group stage.
Signed by Wolfsburg in July 2020, Hernandez-Foster has made five appearances for the club's U19s, producing two assists. He made his senior debut in a pre-season friendly win over Erzgebirge Aue on 6 July 2021. The teenaged defender has also been approached to represent Honduras at international level.
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Plays a bit like: Marcelo
There is obviously still a long way to go before Hernandez-Foster reaches the level of the Brazil and Real Madrid great, but there is no denying certain similarities. For starters, Marcelo has proved that height – he stands at 5’9” – is not always a prerequisite to success.
Furthermore, while both can stay close to their man and show bite in the tackle, they truly prove their worth when going forward. Quick, skillful and never one to panic in possession, Hernandez-Foster’s distribution is excellent, equally able to open up the game with precise diagonal cross-field balls as he is with scurrying runs to the byline.
Did you know?
Hernandez-Foster is also a basketball fan and is named after late LA Lakers and NBA legend Kobe Bryant. At Wolfsburg he will be reunited with a familiar face in Ulysses Llanez, who is 14 months his senior.
Like Hernandez-Foster, Llanez is a fellow LA native and Galaxy academy product with Central American ties, although the duo never played together in a competitive game for the team's reserves or in the USA U17s.
What they’re saying
"He gave it everything. He tired towards the end, but that's normal for someone his age. It's great to have him on board." - Wolfsburg head coach Mark van Bommel on Hernandez-Foster's debut
"When I get into attack my team tries to find me as much as possible and I try to create something for the team to get a goal. Then when it’s time to defend, I just put my life on the line and do what’s best for the team.” – Hernandez-Foster on his playing style
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