The Full Autopsy - U23 Qualifying

No thanks.

Actually, it was a lame point, and your comment above is false. Do your homework on why HG players are becoming more important to MLS Teams.

You can't give an answer?

Impressive argumentation.

Fair point. We don't have anyone who even looks like they can reach Donovan or Dempsey's level, much less a player at the higher level that even smaller or similar countires like Ghana and Bosnia produce. I guess my only response would be that there is a certain randomness to focusing on the very best players and that a fairer indicator is looking at a broader level. And by that measure, this U-23 team has more players playing at a higher level than previously, or at least not reduced numbers. So I don't see our development structures doing worse (though not really improving fast enough).

I think you guys need to wait a few more years before you can say we don't have any players that can reach "Dempsey's or Donovan's level".

I think Some players under performed this tournament. And that was that.

"Where is the next Dempsey?!?"

Where was Dempsey at this age?

I was about to say the same thing.

A kid like Juan Agudelo is ~2 years younger right now than Dempsey was when he played his first pro game. Dempsey didn't play for our U17's, was never a star for our U20's (only made one substitute appearance at the U20WC), and as far as I know never played for our U23's (I could be wrong about that one.)

Remember, Herculez Gomez never represented the US on any youth level. Now he's looking like one of our top 3 strikers.

It really is impossible to project this group into the future. For all we know, 5 years from now Adrian Ruelas, Bobby Wood, Andrew Wooten, and Conor Doyle will be USMNT players. (Unlikely........but you never know what's going to happen)

It's just hard to predict these things.

I honestly thing that JK would tell you that Brek is the "next Dempsey", but it's still hard to predict how much more he'll develop. With all of Brek's troubles with the USA, he carried FC Dallas for half a season last year. That's a very impressive accomplishment for a kid his age. Remember- Dempsey wasn't a starter for the USA in 2006- he had been hurt and inconsistent for us up to that point.

There's a lot of growing yet to do for all the kids off this roster.

I did. Your questions were the same boring and pedantic stuff you usually drag people into, and I'm telling you I'm not interested.

You are welcome. Hopefully you learned you need to actually know what you're talking about before you pretend like you do.

Yup. For some reason Brek Shea gets an enormous amount of grief. Last year as a 21 year old he was 3rd in MLS MVP voting. At that age Eddie Lewis was chasing coeds around UCLA.

I think, as usual, expectations went thru the roof when Brek played so well at the start of last year in MLS. People started projecting him into a type of player that he isn't, and never will be. (I'm probably as guilty of that as anybody)

I think people just don't want him starting for the national team. Dempsey did not become a starter until his third season I believe.

I also think Dempsey fresh out of college was better than Shea now. Shea won't have such a good season this year in my estimation as well.

There's already a solid spectrum age-wise of player doing well in the Mexico and the better leagues in Europe.

Holden, Ream, Gooch, Beasley, Herc, Dempsey, Cherundolo, Guzan, Howard, Lichaj, Friedel, Bradley, Altidore, Corona

The hand waving comes across as the mutterings of a grumpy old guy.

That's my feeling too, although in my mind it's an open question where Shea will end up.

The players I see as most comparable to him are Quaranta, Gaven, Mapp, Convey, Rogers, so I'll be happy if Shea makes positive national team contributions at all.

Wow! A shame that nastiness, strawmen and personal attacks replace useful analysis. I am hopeful for something more . .

Even though we knew there were defensive problems on this team, I believe we considered this squad to have some of the best attacking (and who'd a thunk it, goalkeeping) talent in recent years.

I believe the big problem was overconfidence and the 6-0 defeat of Cuba contributed greatly to this concern.

It is up to the coaches, the current coaches, to manage that appropriately.

I agree there may be a random factor to producing top-level talent (it goes into the nature vs. nurture argument). I also think the difference between the US Team of the past ~4 years and those of the 90s comes down to:
a: better depth, and
b: Donovan and Dempsey

I don't think we can be satisfied with maintaining the median. To get where I think we want to go, we have to produce elite players as well. I still have hope for some of these young players - but our development system has to produce more top-end players for us to be at Mexico's level.

I did not attack anyone personally, nor did I use a straw man. I attacked lame arguments, specifically the ones saying there are few economic incentives for MLS teams to develop players by gently inviting posters to educate themselves on the new rules for home grown players. There are a number of direct and indirect economic incentives for MLS Teams to emphasize player development.

Oh, and I took a pass on a Spartacus pedantic pissing match.

Ironically the third player of note with much controversy attached to him until recently would be Michael Bradley, who is not much older than either of those guys and suffered from the complete opposite situation with fans.

I suppose the real lesson here is to underpromise and overdeliver. I think you can make the case that Mikey and perhaps with a bit more time Tim Ream, another player you can say the same about, fall under that category.