ive gotten to see jerome and renken play only two games i admit i am completely unfamiliar with them save for that, what i saw though.....was jaw dropping good. The Russia and Brazil matches, i was overwhelmed with the amount of skill that those two posessed. Jerome in particular reminded me of a spitting image of a young Jozy Altidore. How do you rate these guys in terms of development? Are either of them good enough to pull an Altidore and develop into weapons by the time theyre in their late teens?? Jerome will be 18, Renken 17. 2010 isnt likely in the cards, but it makes for exciting thoughts about the future in general. Good to know we are finally.....finally....pumping out some forwards that will be able to take us to the next level.
Jerome looks to be the real deal. He looked like EJ in body type and speed, but has the scoring prowess and skills of Altidore and he looks like he may be a little more silky in the moves department than either. From what I've seen if there are many better U-17s out there I would be surprised. Renken looked extremely good as well, but he didn't have the highlights that Jerome did in those games. People who know soccer seem to rave about him though and I've only seen those two games, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him put in similar performances to Jerome in the future. Add to that Gyau, who looked like a cross between Beasley and Adu and Llegget, who has been mentioned in the same breath as Renken and this should be the best U-17 team the US has had.
from the handful of matches i saw, renkins impact was most noticeable on the way the team played as a whole, more then individual plays he made. when he was pulled off, the quality on the field dropped noticeably.
You're missing by far the biggest difference among the three - 1) Renken was MUCH bigger than my son as an 11 year old 2) Jerome was MUCH bigger than my son as a 12 year old 3) Altidore was smaller than my son as a 13 year old Of course, this isn't because Jose is a dinky winky guy. It's because the first two guys were easily within the top 1% for early puberty, whereas Altidore was a pretty typical developer. And as we know, just because Damon Bailey developed early and could have kicked Michael Jordan's ass as an 8th grader, didn't mean that Damon was a better prospect than Michael. He only appeared that way to college coaches at the time. On the bright side, Renken is a more poised player technically and tactically than Altidore was at the same age. (Can't speak to Jerome one way or another.) Anybody good enough to play one year up on U.S. U17 team while being a typical physical developer, as Altidore did, will be a monster pro. The guys who look great but who also are superearly developers? Nowhere near so certain.
Yeah, but we're talking about guys who are now 14 and 15, ages by which the pecking order for size and speed is less likely to change than among 11 and 12 year olds.
Jerome looked to have elite size and speed already to go with, what looked to be, very good skills. It's hard to tell when kids are going against kids, but I don't remember any other US team handling teams the way I saw this team do the Russians and Brazilians, other than the U20s.
Jozy Altidore, born November 6, 1989 1+1+6+1+9+8+9= 35 = 3+5= 8 Stefan Jerome, born August 11, 1992 8+1+1+1+9+9+2= 31= 3+1= 4 Charles Renken, born December 19, 1993 1+2+1+9+1+9+9+3= 35+ 3+5=8 8= Power, 4= creativity. Thus, by process of numerological divination, it is clear that Jozy and Charles have far more in common. Next?
Wait. All 3 kids are 2nd half of the year birthdays. This is an oversight on Bradenton's part and they will be returning them to their clubs soon to make way for another January even year kid.
From the brief moments I saw Renken is all about touch, vision, movement and dictating play. If that's the case he can be an incredibly effective player without ever having a ton of highlights. That said I only saw the Nike friendlies so I know that's not necessarily representative of his play overall.
Renken is 13 and the fact that he is residency and one of the better players makes that amazing.......At 13 he was def. the smallest person on the field and for sure wasnt the fastest either. He is special and very similar to ADU. Hopefully he goes to Europe after residency. Preferably to Holland or Portugal. Gyua 15.....this guy is going to Bayern Munich this spring which is really impressive. He is really fast but still really small so he will continue to grow. He is a good dribbler and has good skills but he tries to do too much sometimes. Jerome 15.......he is the most developed physically of everyone but then again he was the best player. He had a great goal in the top corner but what impressed me most was his move in the corner when he nutmeged and dribbled around 2 defenders then delivered a pin point cross. The kid will be very special in my opinion if he coached correctly and I believe we have the right coaches at Brandenton. Martinez 15......this guy was impressive too and often overlooked. He scored two goals and was our most consistent player in my opinion. He could develop to be a great player as he seemed to be average size and average speed so he still has lots of room for development. As mentioned before Edwards (GK) and Watts (CB) played tremendously as well. Edwards played amazing making some world class saves as a 15 year old. Watts was always composed, a good leader, and kept the Brazilians to 0 goals. A pretty impressive stat.
Age 11, actually that's easier to tell about athleticism than 14/15, very few kids are enough in puberty there such that puberty gives them a boost. You can get a pretty good idea of natural athleticism. Then things get funny aged 12 (on the early end) though about 16. The first U12 on our state who played on a top club team to finish growing is now on a national team. The second U12 in our state on a top club team to finish growing got called into a national pool. That is how it goes. They are the best athletes among the guys who have skill ... now.
We can't tell the future, so we surely don't know how much these guys will physically change. As for skill, OMG both of these youngsters are special. Renken isn't flashy like Freddy was/is. He's a one touch, give and go artist. He reads the game well. Jerome is tall, but skinny. I didn't realize he was only 15. If true, he really may be special. He's very skillful. He had alot of Brazlian flash within his game ala Freddy. (Which is a better trait to have as a forward, than as a mid, imo). Martinez may be special, but he's one of those guys that seems like he's only good at that age, because his body is more mature than the other players. Or maybe he's just more athletic and therefore better. We'll see.
jerome is kin to henry... Mark My Words! Renken is going to be our greatest #10 to date Gyau is pretty awesome too
Renken's game is just what one would expect from a player who trained with Scott Gallagher -- precise pass-and-move football, as opposed to a lot of 1v1 activity a la Freddy Adu. Gallagher is in a sense the anti-Adu club, preaching off-the-ball movement and teamwork from an early age, rather than giving the ball to a hotshot and letting him go at people solo.
I thought HotShots ("ball hogs") were all the rage? It seems to be the chic mantra of the day to suggest that teaching "pass, pass, pass" is actually a selfish focus on winning over development. Isn't it in vogue to observe that we are stunting creativity and technical development by opting for square and negative pases over just saying "take him on" (even if the ball is lost, and perhaps the game with it). There seems to be a highly patterned progression in modern parental parlance. By the end of U8 or U9 parents knowingly allow that their team no longer plays "kickball", but has learned the true game--"possession soccer" (always uttered matter-of-factly). But, by U15, looking over a sea of robotic, fungible players, isn't the thinking man's retort that our players don't have the courage to take anyone on (or for that matter possess the ball in tight spaces), but rather opt for the "safe pass" every time? I'm sort of in the middle here. From my experience, the players I see who make the deft, thoughtful ("creative") passes are very often the ones who also possess the comfort and courage to go 1 v 1.
Yes, it is. The missing item is, there are good passing clubs, and there are crap passing clubs. On the good side would be Gallagher. Although SG emphasizes teamwork & triangles, it also emphasizes technical footwork, and expects its players to be able to create space to complete passes via 1v1 skills. Thus, they have crafty on-the-ball players like Noonan and Ralston as alums. On the crap side would be, well I will protect the guilty, but let's say about 50% of the top Region II clubs. They emphasize passing the ball because they want to get rid of the ball, don't want to get caught out with a turnover in the defensive half of the field, and like to get the ball forward in a hurry on the counterattack to a big, fast athlete who can score on a breakaway. Think lower-table EPL, that is how they want to play. There are also good dribbling clubs, and crap dribbling clubs. The good dribbling clubs appreciate the need for the 1v1 hotshots to function within a team concept, whereas the crap dribbling clubs just roll out the ball and let them play. Those teams fall apart in the mid-to-late teens, and their players have difficult succeeding at the adult level, because they are parlour tricks, not footballers. So, I am agnostic. A club can have a passing mindset, or a dribbling mindset, the key is doing either with intelligence and a sense of balance.
LOL, this is actually pretty fun. We have always had people who played like renken in those 2 games; but we were always praying we get somebody like Adu who can dribble by 6 players and score and who can pass with skill and pinpoint accuracy every time and basically without looking, and can be the biggest reason why a U-20 team was so amazing. But it just seemed like you were saying the style Renken was playing is alote better for a team than Freddy's;
Based on just the Russia and Brazil games, Jerome looks like one of the three best prospects we've had at that age in the last 10 years...along with Landon and Freddy. He seems to have it all....great speed (he won't lose that relative advantage even if he's an early developer), good size, silky ball skills/1v1 moves and seemingly good finishing ability. The comparisons to Henry stylistically really seem apt. To me eye, he seems to be the best pure forward prospect we've ever had. And, yes, I am a huge fan of Altidore and was a big fan of his when he was with the U-17s.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4AsH7gPjhOQ Beasley Convey Donovan Beckerman among others. Also whos the surfer looking guy with the two hoops, I know he was at least decent in MLS