That's a possibly interesting comment from Perez. I never thought of the U18 "team" as something it would be difficult to bring people into -- always figured it was more of a setup for occasional callups and evaluation, plus perhaps an early look for potential U20s. Are they formalizing the program in some way? Or is it becoming more functionally linked to the U20 squad? Or is this idea nothing new, and I'm not on to anything of interest?
From what I've seen of this U18 cycle it does seem a bit different from previous cycles. In the past they wanted to have a catch basin for "odd year" players who missed out on the U17 WC. It was a way to provide some of the better players extra motivation and attention as they prepared for college soccer and in some cases, the U20 team. This time around they seem to be honing in on specifically identifying players who they think can make the progression to the next (2015) U20 team. If you read Perez's quotes it appears that they're arranging for more competitions in '13 in order to see not only which players can compete internationally, but also to hone a playing style which will segue immediately into the early camps of the '15 U20 cycle.
It would be nice for them to bring in some new faces... how many Morenoare out there waiting for their chance? It would also sharpen the core group, which as is natural, tend to get complacent.
This sounds like a good idea in theory. In practice, it sounds like an idea that could lead to entrenched system YNT players who may make the U-20 team at the expense of others who have leapfrogged them by then. We'll see.