Re: Agudelo called in If Bob Bradley feels Agudelo is a cut above on talent and can help the senior team, he should call him in. Rewarding accomplishments is nice, but in the end of the day, it's about talent. At this point in the cycle, Bradley has to think who is most likely to be a key player a few years down the road.
Re: Agudelo called in Your last sentence is the key. Bradley must think of the future. If the coaching staff thinks the current development trajectory of Agudelo will place him in competition for starts 2 yrs and more down the road, now is the time to start the process necessary to make him a veteran.
Re: Agudelo called in Juan Agudelo is about to turn 18. Michael Bradley got his first cap with the USMNT when he was...........wait for it........18 (May of 06 against Venezuela). Altidore got called up when he was 18. In fact Altidore got his first cap 11 days after his 18th birthday. We're talking about the same age here. If Bradley has seen enough of Agudelo to think he's one of these elite talents, then there's no harm in bringing him in. Zero. Are you worried Robbie Findley or Conor Casey will miss out on this callup? We've seen those guys. If we assume Dempsey's not going to South Africa, which forwards do you call up? Altidore.......sure. Wondolowski. Sure, why not? Then what? Eddie Johnson? MLS question marks like Braun and Lenhart? I have nothing against those players, they're solid MLS players......but they don't have the potential to be elite talents. (Just my opinion.) If Bob thinks Agudelo does, then by all means give him just a taste of the USMNT now. Let's not forget that Bob and his staff have probably seen a lot more of Agudelo than we have. He's made seven appearances for the U20's this year alone. He scored 12 goals in 16 appearances for the U17's. This kid didn't show up out of nowhere. The US coaching staff consults with the youth staff quite a lot. Bob and members of his staff can often be seen scouting these kids. And I'm sure Bob consults with the RBNY staff about this kid, too. We've heard of times when Bob will attend practices and training with certain clubs to look at players. It's not like Bob has one MLS start that he's basing this potential callup on.
Re: Agudelo called in I hope he got the call up, IMO his foot skills are better then most if not all the USMNT players now, besides Dempsey and maybe Altidore on a good day.
Re: Juan Agudelo If he's able to participate in the torneo de las americas with the U20s and play in the friendly against SA, I don't see why not.
Re: Agudelo called in Considering both Bob Bradley and his buddy Bruce Arena did this for Micheal Bradley.
Re: Agudelo called in According to Ives: http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_...ready-to-go-young-with-next-usmnt-roster.html
Re: Juan Agudelo For anybody who thinks facebook interactions are legitimate sources of information, I'm one of the guys who posted Agudelo's status saying that it was "one of the best days in his life." Well, so much for our bigsoccer theory... Brian AbernethyJuan Agudelo Can we expect to see you in South Africa on the 17th? 13 hours ago · LikeUnlike · Comment · See Friendship Juan Agudelo I wish35 minutes ago · Like Looks like we won't be seeing little johnny in South Africa...so what was the big news? Must be a european club?
Re: Juan Agudelo He is 17 going on 18. Maybe he gets his full adult drivers licence this week? Maybe he bought a new car? Maybe his romantic life took a turn for the better? Maybe he went to see his favorite band play? Could be a lot of things that a teen thinks make it one of the best days of his life.
Re: Juan Agudelo Very good news. I like that Bradley is willing to take a chance on this kid and not waiting for him to pad his resume. If nothing else, we will all see how far the kid has to go. Does Bradley not still live in Jersey? I ask because Bob might have also been able to see him up close in training sessions to help form his decision as well.
Re: Juan Agudelo If he does indeed get called in, this will give more ammunition for kids to come back t o the MLS in order to play for the NT if they are in some obscure place.
Re: Juan Agudelo I was right on the schadenfreude bandwagon when Rossi got left out of the 2010 Italy squad, but as was wisely noted then, he's still a young guy and most of the players selected over him were older. Let's wait until he's missed the next two before we dance on his international grave.
Re: Agudelo called in Jozy has pretty good control, especially for a guy of his size, once he has the ball. His problem is the initial touch and control.
Re: Agudelo called in ^^^Exactly. He isnt consistent enough either. Remember this vs. Holland? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoEHSftLKFQ"]YouTube - Jozy Altidore vs. The Netherlands[/ame] Or his debut for Villarreal? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgqxiekXThU"]YouTube - Jozy Altidore Villarreal Debut[/ame]
Re: Juan Agudelo As much as I have complained about Altidore's deficiencies I must admit that he is the best we have... Maybe if we can get another striker who can challenge him he will step his game up to the next level...
Re: Agudelo called in Yeah, we've had guys who were big and fast before, what made Jozy different is that he's big and fast, and can go on a dribbling run or use a ball move to beat a guy 1v1.
Re: Agudelo called in IMO the areas of weakness for Jozy are his first touch (that's a big one), his off-ball runs, which could be smarter, and a feeling I have that he mentally drifts in and out of games (not uncommon for young guys, particularly attackers). If those areas get addressed, Jozy could very well be the $10 million player that Villarreal (and we) were hoping for. The stuff that got us excited about him (extreme level of athleticism combined with some real attacking 1v1 skill) is very real, and frankly with improved focus and a better first touch, he'd score a lot more. He's not that bad a finisher, it's his first touch more than anything that ruins opportunities for him.
Re: Agudelo called in You mean the same ones that have defenders this whole year guessing where exactly he is on the pitch and turn around and see he is on another 1 vs 1 breakaway? i think its his lack of finishing not his runs.
Re: Agudelo called in I agree with this, still needs improvement, but it has improved. I'm not that impressed with his 1 v 1 skills when he's facing a defender and trying to take the defender off the dribble. He tends to get stoned a lot. Not that we have many guys in our pool that can excel in this situation--really only Dempsey, Adu and Ryan Smith. Ryan Smith would be the best of those 3. I agree with the criticism of Jozy's off the ball runs, but what really tended to bug me was that it seems that he's rarely in the right spots in the penalty area to pick off crosses or pick up the poachers goals (in situations where his team is not on a break). I think that he'll gain more of this sense over time, with more experience, though. He's young, he'll improve.