With our losses in the past I really do think we will make sure we get all of them. No one considers our players who don't play in qualifiers when they rail on our system. No reason a 17 yr old can't leave their team to ensure we qualify.
There really shouldn't be too much fight back from Euro clubs releasing players for U17 WCQ. Only concern would be injury (which can happen anywhere), but most clubs see the value for youth players in tournaments like this, and especially the U17 WC. Also would be nice if CONCACAF put the qualifying tournament around June/July since the 2015 U17 WC isn't until October.
I agree that it would be great if we were to have them. But I'm not sure that we should care that people are "railing on our system." We know those players exist, and the people that matter know they do (club scouts, youth national team coaches, Klinsmann, etc.). I really don't care about the opinion of those who choose to ignorantly attack our youth players. Their opinions don't matter.
Good Post. I also think because the US has so many dual nationals success at youth levels like it or not is reflective of our growth. If we lose again at youth tournaments will impact the perception to dual natioanal youth players. Success will allow us to recruit from a position of strength and not weakness. Its just the natural selection process of selecting a national team. Its why we got players from lesser countries and lose to larger ones in the soccer world.
Not really fair to Marvell to compare him to Kirk and Johann. Marvell has developed into a decent MLS starter, won the Canadian Championship and MLS Cup. He also played in the Olympics, Copa America, and Confederations Cup with the USMNT. He may not be what all US fanboys dreamed he'd be, but he's had a pretty god damn good career and it's not nearly over.
It's hard to te I think the three were lumped together because they were all perceived as all speedster/no technique players. Of course, this facile analysis masks some real differences. As attacking players, both Kirk and Smith needed to have decent skill to go along with their speed. Without some skill they could not find a way to beat defenders. They eventually had nowhere to go but to the bench. Wynne, on the other hand, is a defender, where the technical requirements are not quite as stringent as for attacking players. Despite his technical (and tactical) limitations, Wynne worked on these limitations enough to where they weren't overt liabilities, and the rest of his game (athleticism, strong competitive instincts) enabled him to stay on the field and find a place in the Rapids back line. These liabilities are still there and are the reason why he only had a brief flirtation with the USMNT. It's sort of a shame, because Wynne has more competitive fire than many others in MLS.
indeed. i've been complaining that i haven't seen speed on ussoccer's youth teams in a couple of cycles.
But Wynne was a winger at this age, and Kirk eventually converted to outside back, so in terms of their career trajectories, the two of them weren't so different. Wynne has much better physical tools than Kirk, though. Just incredibly powerful. Getting back to Wright, we clearly need to see him against older competition to get a real sense of where he stands. Being physically dominant can mask a lot of weaknesses.
A limitation of Bradenton is that he doesn't experience this day in and day out. Perhaps being back with the Galaxy would be a better development environment playing up.
Need, need, NEED to keep guys like Haji Wright here in America. The way this U-17 team has been destroying teams lately I'm starting to think they can win a U-World Cup...
Yes. Of course, I'm not the one who grouped those three together in comparison so....... Anyway, Peretz got it.
Wright looks like an early developer to me. Not saying he isnt an elite prospect in the US system, just think hes likely to be closed on by others in his age group. U17 is really early to be honest to get too hyped up. Its nice that this group is doing well, but to me this age group pales in comparison to the U20 in terms of importance in judging the programs health. That is when developmentally the late year vs. early year and late developer vs. early developer has largely evened out.
Whether Haji Wright is going set the world on fire isn't that important right now -- frankly, we just don't know. I am, however, pleased to see that someone as athletically gifted as he is is showing that he knows how to play the sport, both technically and tactically. That has not really been the case in years past in this country. What needs to happen, of course, is dozens of players of Wright's size, athleticism, and skill, need to be coming up through the ranks each year. If Wright is one of the first of this wave, then I think US Soccer is poised for growth on the world stage. If Wright is an aberration, then we're right back where we were. Dozens of Haji Wrights increases the probability that one of them will make it big. And Wright is just one example. Dozens to hundreds of kids like Barbir, Perez, Hyndman, Taitague, etc. each year need to have that potential, or else you're reduced to hoping and praying that a small handful of kids avoid injuries, keep focus, invest their time wisely, and can process all the knowledge they'll be accruing over the next few years. That's not going to get the US very far.
No country on the planet has hundreds of kids like the ones you mentioned come through every year, and while some have dozens, we do too. If any country had a hundred or hundreds, they would win every single U17 World Cup ever. Yes, our development system needs to improve, but we also need to stop acting as if we're that far behind right now. The efficiency of our system may be terrible, but the number of kids on par with their counterparts from elite countries is incredibly high at age 15-16. It's only later that we start falling behind.
The only way I see this team not qualifying, is if we lose players due to injury or club commitments. These guys play better as a team than the team from the last cycle.
You under estimate the stagnating impact of the two year residency cycle. Kids always look like world beaters at the beginning, only to look ordinary by the end of the cycle, regardless of the players and regardless of the coach. I think that this team will qualify as well, but you need to factor in the stagnating impact of the two year cycle when you look to the future. In addition, everybody else in the region is getting better as well. Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica all have no problems landing their best players in top leagues throughout the world - not to mention the vast improvement of other countries in CONCACAF. I agree with your second sentence, but your first sentence is too compartmentalized in it's focus and the lack of fully integrated thinking is what always hurts us in player development. Also, that is where all of the "speed kills" and "dudes got wheels" talk comes from that allows us to ignore how good a soccer player somebody is or isn't and instead treat these kids as if they were American football wide receiver prospects (see earlier in the thread). It is great if a kid has speed, but it is a very rare kid that learns that relying too much on speed will hold him back from developing as a player. Theo Walcott, now in his late twenties, was finally starting to get it, after spending six or seven years learning from Arsene Wenger. He had to actually stop relying on his speed to become a very good player. He is one of the very few kids that grow up as a speed demon who figure it out - but even he can't escape the fact that kids who rely too much on speed tend to be highly injury prone. I'm rooting for Haji Wright, but we need to remember that he actually has a lot more to overcome than the average prospect. Kids like him tend to hit their peak early and then struggle while others catch up and then pass them. Obviously we are all rooting for him to beat the odds, but let's not mistake his peaking early for him making it as a player. It is great to follow the team and be excited for it's successes, but recognizing what is healthy and what is not requires looking at things from all sides, not compartmentalizing our thinking to only see the parts of reality that we want to see. Obviously, this is not just addressed at you - I'm just trying to add some perspective so that everything doesn't turn to rage against Richie Williams when the parts of reality that we haven't been acknowledging inevitably kick in.
Ross Barkley at the age of 13. At 14 he started playing up 2 age groups. Suffered 2 leg breaks and now is maybe the best English prospect. Being a earlier developer physically does not have to hold you back or be seen as a negative (not that anyone is really suggesting it). Under the proper guidance and coaching it can become a strength. I suspect if he was American at age 14-17 would be talking about him like Wright. Physically and not technique or skill wise.