Brooks made a return to Hertha's starting 11 vs. Augsburg. His competition in Lustenberger is out for the season too so it's a big opportunity for JAB. Doug McIntyre @DougMacESPN Apr 19 John Brooks solid for Hertha today in 1st Bundesliga start since 4/6. Young CB still in mix for next month’s #usmnt camp.
So since Green is ineligible for the u20s now...He should be only eligible for Olympics and full team. Will probably be introduced with the u21s sooner than expected.
The recently announced Copa America in the summer of 2016, may now put a new twist on roster selection for the Olympics in 2016 (should we qualify). While the Copa America is in June and the Olympics is in August, it is unlikely Euro clubs would want their players participating in both during their "summer break." And MLS clubs certainly wouldn't want to lose their players for both in the middle of their season. So some players that we think would be locks for a potential Olympic team may actually have broken into the full USMNT by then. (Yedlin, Gil, Brooks, Green, etc.) I believe not only will the full USMNT have the Copa America, but I believe 2018 WCQing might start that summer.
My guess: If the US qualifies for the Olympics, I think the best U23 players go to the Olympics no matter what. The 3 overage selections for the Olympic team will not be key USMNT players. That will be mostly fringe guys.
I guess it just depends on what position our U23 players are in with regards to the USMNT depth chart at the time. Anything can happen in two years, so its pretty hard to predict which U23 players from this group might be starters for the USMNT at the time. I imagine that since the competition is in the US, the USSF/USMNT will pick its best possible squad for this Copa America. If they don't, this is the type of competition that you can get embarrassed in. We'll see. It could have some impact on roster selection.
Big '94 D (and ex-U17) Zach Carroll is leaving U-Va. for hometown Michigan State. Last season was a step back caused by injury after a productive freshman year. Maybe a stretch for Rio, but who knows...
Three Olympic eligible players have made the 30-man preliminary World Cup roster: Brooks, Yedlin, and Green. http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2...s-preliminary-30-man-usmnt-roster-eddie-johns
Yeah we already knew Yedlin was going to be a lock for this team. Brooks won't be there anyway, but Green may or may not. Probably have to hope at this point that he isn't available because they means in two years he still isn't playing first team football.
Cody Cropper is also training with the USMNT in pre-WC camp, although wasn't named to the 30-man roster. [The caption says its Guzan, but that's clearly Cropper.]
I agree. He was first team all-Pac 12 forward as a freshman - the level where Torre was a back-up. I was not impressed with the smurf keep away attackers brought to the U20s by Ramos. Was looking to see if there was any info about the US team on the Stanford site and saw a video of Morris playing against Sacramento. The following is a youtube version of the video on their site: < Check out Morris at the 1:25, 2:45, 3:00 of the video where he makes the same players that are going against the Galaxy II look like U12 AYSO defenders. In addition to those segments he also had two goals and an assist which weren't that shabby looking either. I haven't seen any player in the US pool that can do what he did in this video. For that matter I'm not sure there are very many US players at any level that could.
I tend to like power and speed with skill toward goal like he showed, but in seeing Jordan Morris he struggled with the part of games that need soft feet with possession combination and slower buildups. I hope he can improve that part of his game because while I don't agree that we have no one in the pool at all like that I do agree that some of our best players benefit with that type of power and speed toward goal.
While I'd probably agree that playing in tight spaces appears to be the weakest part of his game, which 2016 U23 are sprinter fast, Altidore powerful (I think he's close to 200), turn quickly, have excellent vision, and are pretty skilled? Not to mention smart and hardworking since lazy dumb people tend to be pretty rare in that type of college environment.
His acceleration is really impressive. Very explosive first couple of steps combined with a really nice first touch. He needs, however, to work on the final ball. (As do most players.) I'll be stunned if he's at Stanford past this season. Thanks for posting the video.
He probably is our best athletic attacker of goal in a counter attack system. His growth will be when he learns to also be able to quiet his game down and use soft touches thru midfield buildup play. Alittle too much kick it long to a fast forward running at goal or steal a ball and sprint toward goal. Historically traditional American player. Does he become a fast Wil Bruin or move into the Jozy Altidore arena. Fun to see him develop.
I'll be surprised as well. If he stays healthy he should get a us college record offer from someone. He looked good as a freshman but appears to moved to a new level in the spring. If you look at the site they have another video which has his goals against Davis and USF. Check out the one at about the 2:00 of that video. Fantastic shot at any level. Actually the most surprising thing is opening sequence which has over 20 consecutive passes. Not exactly what you'd expect to see from a USF vs Stanford game. People talk about Galaxy and FC Dallas academy but Seattle's academy has collected some very good talent. You have Yedlin, Morris, Kovar who was the Pac-12 freshman of the year, Okali was first team all ACC and Darwin Jones another Pac-12 all league forward who is as explosive as Morris, but lacks the vision.
Brian's latest interview with Cody Cropper...................... http://americansoccernow.com/articles/cody-cropper-21-gets-to-train-with-the-big-boys …
Has there ever been discussion of the possibility of moving the qualifying tournament to the Summer preceding the Games? Seems allowing teams to get best players involved in this would be facilitated by the move.
Or, how about playing the games on FIFA dates over a series of months instead of a compressed 10-day tournament not held in conjunction with FIFA dates.
Viewing this as a fan, I love this idea. Viewing this as 75+% of CONCACAF members, I see this as an idea that will lead to higher costs and a lower chance of qualifying.