It's never too early: A look ahead at the 2012 Olympic pool

Using just the list of pros above...

Brian Perk Philadelphia Union
Bill Hamid DC United

Anthony Wallace FC Dallas
Ike Opara San Jose Earthquakes
Zachary Herold Toronto FC
Gale Agbossoumonde Sporting Braga
Gregg Garza Sporting Lisbon
Daniel Williams SC Freiburg

Danny Cruz Houston Dynamo
Brek Shea FC Dallas
Dilly Duka Columbus Crew
Freddy Adu Aris Thessaloniki FC
Luis Gil Real Salt Lake
Mikkel Diskerud Stabaek
Sebastian Lletget West Ham United

Jozy Altidore Hull City AFC
Jack McInerney Philadelphia Union
Tony Taylor G.D. Estoril Praia

 

Agreed. GKs develop later than field players, so at the U23 level you rarely know exactly what you have. There are freaks like Iker Casillas who start for Real Madrid at age 19....but that's not what usually happens.

It's good to see Bill Hamid get playing time at such a young age. If he finds a regular role in MLS, he'll be way, way more experienced than most GKs we ever have at the U23 level. Seitz, Cervi. Before them, D.J. Countess and Doug Warren(!)

Then again, maybe Hamid will get shellacked in his next match, lose confidence, and sit on an MLS bench for the next four years. You never know with GKs. This year's crop doesn't look any weaker than normal, though, but it's impossible to rate a crop of 20-21 year old keepers with much confidence.

 

AHha of course but I was taking into account that we used an overage slot last year (and apparently we aren't allowed to this year).

Of course, in qualifying it's all a moo point anyway........

 

Like a cow's opinion

 

Felix Garcia might be an option now for FW

 

I read a lot of silly stuff on these boards, but that's udderly ridiculous. . .!

 

bazinga!

 

True you never know at this age. Because they mature much later, it's hard to say what the best environment for a young goalkeeper is. That's why I think it's good we have a number of goalkeepers developing in various environments - MLS, Europe and college. Experience is key, but it's not straightforward figuring out where a young goalkeeper will get the best experience. If he keeps playing, MLS will likely seem to have been the best choice for Hamid. If he ends up rotting on the bench for a few years, then perhaps not.

In any event, I certainly wouldn't term this group of goalkeepers as weak at this point. I also wouldn't be surprised if a coupel of the other U-20 goalkeepers turn pro before 2012. I'm mainly thinking of MacMath and Edwards.

 

Hagop Chirishian.


20-year old(89') getting minutes with AC St. Louis.

 

Played with Yura Movsisyan for a year at Pasadena City College.



There are a number of U23s kicking around the USSF2

Korey Veeder (CP Baltimore)
Bryan Arguez, Bryan Dominguez, Gabriel Hoyos, Steven Cabas, Daniel Villegas (Miami FC)
Hagop Chirishian (AC St. Louis)

some guys on loan -- Josh Lambo (Tampa Bay), Alex Nimo (Portland)

probably a few others I've missed, too. I imagine a number of the Miami FC guys will be off to Portugal soon enough and there was talk of Korey Veeder to Europe as well.

 

Bryan Dominquez is part of the squad going to Holland. I believe Veeder had trials at Crystal Palace but I think there was a work permit issue. I think he was linked with a move to Portugal.

 

Josh Lambo made his pro debut on Friday in a 2-1 win over Carolina. He had been sitting behind Daryl Sattler in Tampa Bay. Hopefully he can retain the starting role.

 

It's never too early to think too much about youth tournaments, right? ...right?

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It's going to be interesting watching this Olympic group come together. Essentially, it's a combination of two U-20 cycles. We know the elder U20 cycle ('09) was fairly weak and we are hopeful that the current cycle will be stronger. However, the '09 group has a head start, creating a race against time in which the theoretically/hopefully more talented '11 group tries to catch up.

This is true more so at some positions than others. For example, our '89-'90 group of forwards is very grim. We have Jozy and not much else. We only took three FWs to the U-20s; one isn't really a forward (Brek Shea), one is looking like a flop already (Peri Marosevic), and the jury is still out on the last (Tony Taylor). Juan Agudelo, Jack McInerney, and Tristan Bowen, a lonely nation turns its eyes to you. I have an eye on Felix Garcia, too.....or really any youngster who shows some ability.


Defense is more troublesome because we don't even have a Jozy to build around. By my count, the only '89-90 getting a decent amount of PT is Ike Opara; I only count a half-dozen others in professional organizations at a decent level, including a guy in the Finnish league, a guy who can't make the bench for Miami FC, and a Mexican-American at Chivas (with all that implies). Hopefully we can get some help from the current U20 cycle or an instant-impact MLS rookie next season. I suspect we'll use at least one overage spot on defense like last time -- although our problems in 2008 were compounded by injuries to Jonathan Spector and Nathan Sturgis.


I'm not worried at all about our midfield. We've seen a lot of our '89s/'90s seize starting roles lately: Michael Stephens, Blair Gavin, Danny Cruz, Mix Diskerud, Brek Shea. A few Euros are potentially on the verge of playing time: Jared Jeffrey, Alfredo Morales, Daniel Williams. We have TONS of current U20 guys in good environments although it's still unclear who is going to step to the forefront. And we have Freddy Adu, too.


GK is not an area of huge concern. Heading into the U20 WC last year, our depth chart was arguably: 1. Perk 2. Lambo 3. Johnson 4. Hamid. Oddly, that hierarchy seems to have been completely flipped on its head and is now the exact inverse. By the way, Hamid already has as many MLS appearances as Chris Seitz did going into the Olympics.....3. We also have several U20s who are highly regarded. Nonetheless, given the slow-developing nature of GKs it's always likely that an overage slot will be used here.



There are a couple of X-factors here. First, a lot of our talented eligible players are still playing NCAA ball. In fact, there were only two college seniors in the 2010 Draft who are Olympics-eligible: Michael Stephens and Brian Perk, who I guess were young for their class. The NCAA system will dump a sizable pool of '89s into MLS' lap next year. Chris Seitz, Robbie Rogers, Maurice Edu, and Charlie Davies were amateurs at this juncture last cycle. In all likelihood, there are a few current college guys who will make the team. Although it's worth noting that all four of the guys I just mentioned left college early for GA/Europe so I suppose sophomore/junior standout talent is the best bet (Edu and Davies were the equivalent of '90s; Seitz and Rogers '91s).

Second, dual national surprises. Michael Orozco came out of nowhere last cycle and we almost got JFT to play for us during the Olympics. We know that the USSF takes foreign scouting very seriously so there's no telling who they might dig up.

 

Fabian Irigoyen of Club Fenix in Uruguay is a central defender born 1990. He had an unsuccessful trial with DC but that was because of an injury he was dealing with. Don't know how Fabian would do at an international level but at least he is doing well for his current club.

 

Did we find out......once and for all......whether the overage players are going to be allowed to compete in this tournament? Way back in my brain..........some little cells are telling me that after the brouhaha prior to the 08 Olympics.......that the overage players are no longer going.

If that's the case, we've got some big holes..........

 

Are you channeling Adam Zebrowski?

 

Mwanga could be eligible as well as Yura and Najar in 2012. The jury is still out for them. I will wait till the U20 to see what U20's should go.

 

Movsisyan isn't age-eligible.

 

What??

 

He turns 23 a month from today. Unless the Olympics is this year, he's not age eligible for them.

 

89 and younger (90, 91, etc.) is the cutoff for the 2012 olympics.

 

damn, i suddenly feel old.

 

Schuler ,Findlay and townsend should hepl this team...all superb attcking players.

Look for greg Jordan and Kirt Urso to be in the mix.

 

They would all want to be turning pro soon if they want to help out this side. Especially Finley and Townsend.

 

Seems MLS is very interested in them, Creighton and Maryland will have to do something special to keep them after their junior years...they are ready now.