No but its a bit strange that we're going into a tournament with a coach who doesn't rate a striker who is our youngest and also most experienced at the professional level.
It's strange that U.S. Soccer didn't make sure that the team had adequate competition -- a local men's league team is not the optimal test. Chivas USA clearly didn't make the game a priority. On a positive note, the Mexican U20s are clearly beatable. They recently lost to Notre Dame 3-2, and then beat Indiana 1-0. http://www.socceramerica.com/article/51441/tri-splits-with-notre-dame-and-indiana.html The Mexican U20s are the same age as freshman and sophomores in college right now. The Notre Dame and Indiana squads are about the same age (made up of freshman, sophomores and juniors this spring), and they are playing out of season whereas the Mexicans just finished winning the CONCACAF tourney. Gotta believe our U20s can beat the Mexicans if a bunch of out of season college players can.
Yes, that's what I take from the Notre Dame game. Because full strength or not, Mexico lost to a bunch of college players who are not even in season.
Here's the Mexico squad. They were under-strength (no Corona, no Fuentes from Houston) but still had plenty of players from qualifying. I don't believe that any of Notre Dame's players ever got a look from our YNTs. http://www.oem.com.mx/esto/notas/n2963124.htm #NombreClubPosiciónFecha de Nacimiento 1Abella Fanjul José JavierSantosDefensa10 de febrero de 1994 2Briseño Vázquez AntonioAtlasDefensa5 de febrero de 1994 3Bueno Ontiveros Marco AntonioPachucaDelantero31 de marzo de 1994 4Espericueta Escamilla Jorge JonathanTigresMedio9 de agosto de 1994 5Flores Ibarra Francisco JavierCruz AzulMedio17 de enero de 1994 6González Cárdenas Rodrigo ArmandoAméricaDefensa12 de abril de 1995 7González González Arturo AlfonsoAtlasMedio5 de septiembre de 1994 8Guzmán Fonseca Carlos AlbertoMoreliaDefensa19 de mayo de 1994 9Hernández Franco PedroJaguaresMedio27 de agosto de 1993 10Lajud Bojalil Manuel GibranCruz AzulPortero25 de diciembre de 1993 11Luna Martínez UvaldoTigresMedio21 de diciembre de 1993 12Marín Arroyo HedgardoChivasDefensa21 de febrero de 1993 13Morales Zavala Julio CesarChivas USADelantero19 de diciembre de 1993 14Ramírez García José DavidChivasMedio14 de diciembre de 1993 15Ramírez Montes Candido SaúlSantosMedio5 de junio de 1993 16Sánchez Alcaraz RichardFC DallasPortero5 de abril de 1994 17Sandoval Conteras WalterSantosDelantero5 de noviembre de 1995 18Treviño Luque Carlos AlbertoAtlasMedio19 de abril de 1993 19Zamorano Flores Armando CiprianoJaguaresMedio3 de octubre de 1993
Mexico plays Notre Dame every year, and it always seems to be a close match that has gone both ways. Notre Dame played with 91s and 92s, while Mexico played mostly with 94s with a few 93s. Not to mention a lot of their starters were missing, as most key players stayed with their Liga MX club. But I don't really take much from these friendlies, any more than I have in the past. I don't know why it really matters that Mexico is beatable though. The US and Mexico aren't playing each other. We know Mexico is beatable because we saw their team in qualifying.
It would be nice if nobody ever mentioned Mexico youth teams again, unless we were playing against them.
If US Soccer would post some highlights from the latest camp, then we'd have something else to talk about. And I do think it's great that a few colleges are getting their kids some exposure to a superior brand of soccer. It wasn't too many years ago that Matt Besler was playing in those Notre Dame-Mexico friendlies. I'm sure that experience didn't hurt in getting ready for the recent Azteca game.
Lose, is a part of the contract . One day we can lose against Honduras in Panama and one day we can beat Colombia in southamerica.
almost every NT in the world are beatable when they are not playing in their countries. But is not a secret, mexico is playing shit since the WC qualifiers, mexican fans we can see it, but coach Almaguer doesn't.
That wasn't the point. The point was that college soccer is "useless" yet a top 10 team can beat a well respected U20 team. It was a comment directed towards that crowd.
He looks like he's favoring his right foot. In other U20 news, according to the kinds on The Twitter, DeAndre Yedlin is - gasp! - changing his hairstyle. Hopefully he doesn't have a Samson effect.
Damn Pineda and Salgado just can't catch a break with these injuries.. hopefully its not to serious. Both could offer something different on the wing with their size. Just saw on Twitter Klopas took out Pineda as a precaution. Got an ankle injury but not serious.
The way college soccer is talked about in some circles makes it sound like it's completely useless and the level of play is awful. I don't care if it's the Mexico C team, that's still 20 of the top 60 players Mexico produces and a college team beating them is awesome.
The level of play is awful for the cream of the crop prospects. If you re good enough you should enter the draft immediately.