I figured I would start a thread for what Brian Sciaretta posted on twitter, "I have been told that US Soccer will have a men's U-21 camp from April 20-24 in LA. This new U-21 team will serve as a bridge to the Olympics". I think that is a great idea. A extra USYNT can't hurt and really can keep some players in the national team loop who can't be called up to the U-20 team anymore. Thoughts?
EDIT: EMBED FAIL. I have been told that US Soccer will have a men's U21 camp from April 20-24 in LA. This new U21 team will serve as a bridge to the Olympics— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) March 20, 2014
Great news. And with most MLS teams taking a three-week break in June, our youth national teams really ought to take advantage.
Also... Tigres confirmed Juan Ocegueda has been called up to the U21s— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) March 20, 2014
Just what we've been waiting for. A pre-Olympic program that lasts more than just a few months before the qualifying tournament. Excellent move. The identity of the coach will be interesting....................
Assuming... A) the camps are held in Europe, not the Home Depot Center B) players are released from their clubs
I'm sure they'll try to find teams to scrimmage against, but I would push back against the notion of an actual "U21 team". It's basically just a very early pre-Olympic camp.
http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=show&id=11361 Bshredders article on u21s. Mario Rodriguez/Villarreal also one to look for from abroad not mentioned. Looks pretty strong even without players eligible for this u20 cycle... Im gunna love seeing this team play. If everything goes right the whole world will look at American soccer differently.
Yes, it's just nomenclature. The Euro U21s are called the U21s because it is an under-21 tournament when qualifying begins. It's under-23 by the time the actual U21 championship takes place. The 2013 UEFA U-21 tournament included players born in 1990. Regardless, it's a positive development that USSF is taking Olympic prep more seriously after last cycle's embarrassment.
Yup, even if its just a halfway house for players in-between the US U20's and the senior MNT, that's a good thing. Just good to get the Olympic group together from time to time, as opposed to what we did in the recent past. The days of throwing together our Olympic group together at the last minute and expecting to qualify for the Olympics from CONCACAF....................are over. The Central Americans are now too good for that. Mexico learned this the hard way several cycles ago, and now we have too. I'm sure we'll find some opponents for this group, even if its just our CONCACAF brethren like Mexico and Canada. Still progress.
As someone who has been pleading for this for, literally, over a decade, this obviously pleases me. Of course, the devil is in the details and those details will be the key to its success. If it's not executed properly, it's just glorified lip-service. They need to have regular camps for both evaluation and cohesion, play actual games and look at a lot of players, including the college ranks. Because if they're not gonna do it right, why bother? But, till they prove otherwise, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on doing it right.
Yup. But hell, even if its a "camp cucpake"-style camp for pre-Olympic players.......................that's still better than nothing.
TDS column on the team: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute/2014/03/the-ussf-is-adding-a-u21-mens-national-team/
YESS!!!! I only believe that it should be a U-23 team. There are plenty of players who could benefit. I would start it off with a January Camp Cupcake, and games on all international calendar days. A current U-23 player pool (*=Olympic eligible)...1991 cut off (next year 1992): GOALKEEPERS Ryan Meara (23)-[New York Red Bulls] Zac MacMath (22)-[Philadelphia Union] Bill Hamid (23)-[DC United] Eduardo Fernandez (21)-[FC Dallas] - Jon Kempin (21*)-[Sporting Kansas City] Santiago Castano (19*)-[New York Red Bulls] Cody Cropper (21*)-[Southampton] Ethan Horvath (18*)-[Molde] CENTRAL DEFENDERS: Gale Agbossoumonde (22)-[Toronto FC] Andrew Jean-Baptiste (21)-[CD Chivas] London Woodberry (23)-[FC Dallas] Ventura Alvarado (21)-[Necaxa] Amobi Okugo (23)-[Philadelphia Union] - Walker Zimmermann (21*)-[FC Dallas] Shane O’ Neill (20*)-[Colorado Rapids] Will Packwood (21*)-[Birmingham City] Sean Cunningham (21*)-[Stabaek] John Anthony Brooks (21*)-[Hertha Berlin] FULLBACKS: Zarek Valentin (22)-[Montreal Impact > Bodo/Glimt] Dylan Remick (23)-[Seattle Sounders] Kevin Ellis (22)-[Sporting Kansas City] Greg Garza (22)-[Club Tijuana] Kofi Sarkodie (23)-[Houston Dynamo] Andrew Farrell (22)-[New England Revolution] - Eric Miller (21*)-[Montreal Impact] Jordan Allen (19*)-[Real Salt Lake] Kellyn Acosta (18*)-[FC Dallas] DeAndre Yedlin (20*)-[Seattle Sounders] Oscar Sarto (19*)-[Los Angeles Galaxy] Juan Pablo Ocegueda (20*)-[CD Guadalajara] MIDFIELDERS: Warren Creavalle (23)-[Houston Dynamo] Scott Caldwell (23)-[New England Revolution] Perry Kitchen (22)-[DC United] Jared Jeffrey (23)-[DC United] Conor Shanosky (22)-[DC United] Sebastian Lletget (21)-[West Ham United] Dillon Powers (23)-[Colorado Rapids] Mikkel Diskerud (23)-[Rosenborg BK] - Luis Felipe (18*)-[Cruzeiro] Will Trapp (21*)-[Columbus Crew] Mikey Lopez (21*)-[Sporting Kansas City] Caleb Stanko (21*)-[SC Freiburg] Sergio Duarte (21*)-[CD Nacional] ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS Joe Gyau (21)-[TSG 1899 Hoffenheim] Harrison Shipp (22)-[Chicago Fire] Antoine Hoppenot (23)-[Philadelphia Union] Ethan Finlay (23)-[Columbus Crew] Erik Hurtado (23)-[Vancouver Whitecaps] Sebastian Velasquez (23)-[Real Salt Lake] Nick DeLeon (23)-[DC United] Joe Corona (23)-[Club Tijuana] Tommy McNamara (23)-[CD Chivas] Kelyn Rowe (22)-[New England Revolution] Josh Gatt (22)-[Molde FK] - Benji Joya (20*)-[Chicago Fire] Dillon Serna (20*)-[Colorado Rapids] Marc Pelosi (20*)-[Liverpool FC] Daniel Cuevas (20*)-[Santos Laguna] Gboly Ariyibi (18*)-[Leeds United] Jose Villarreal (20*)-[Los Angeles Galaxy > Club America] Victor Pineda (21*)-[Chicago Fire] Alejandro Guido (20*)-[Club Tijuana] Junior Flores (19*)-[Borussia Dortmund] Marco Delgado (19*)-[CD Chivas] Jimmy McLaughlin (21*)-[Philadelphia Union] Zach Pfeffer (19*)-[Philadelphia Union] Luis Gil (20*)-[Real Salt Lake] Tyrone McCargo (20*)-[FC Nurnberg] Duane Holmes (20*)-[Huddersfield Town] Paul Arriola (19*)-[Club Tijuana] Russell Canouse (18*)-[Hoffenheim] Kristian Scott (19*)-[Swansea City] Joel Sonora (17*)-[Boca Juniors] FORWARDS: Adam Jahn (23)-[San Jose Earthquakes] Conor Doyle (22)-[DC United] Jann George (21)-[Grunter Firth] Brian Span (22)-[Djurgardens IF] Ryan Finley (23)-[Columbus Crew] Ben Speas (23)-[Columbus Crew] Danijal Brkovic (22)-[Zeljeznicar] Charlie Rugg (23)-[Los Angeles Galaxy] Andrew Wenger (23)-[Montreal Impact] Bobby Wood (21)-[1860 Munich] Gyasi Zardes (22)-[Los Angeles Galaxy] Jack McInerney (21)-[Philadelphia Union] Terrence Boyd (23)-[Rapid Vienna] Juan Agudelo (21)-[Stoke City > FC Utrecht] Aron Johannsson (23)-[AZ Alkmaar] - Omar Salgado (20*)-[Vancouver Whitecaps] Sean Okoli (21*)-[Seattle Sounders] Alonso Hernandez (20*)-[C.F. Monterrey] Jack McBean (19*)-[Los Angeles Galaxy] Jerome Kiesewetter (21*)-[VfB Stuttgart > Hertha Berlin] Mario Rodriguez (20*)-[Kaiserslautern] Ben Spencer (18*)-[Molde FK > Indy Eleven] Villyan Bijev (21*)-[Liverpool FC] Bryan Salazar (19*)-[Houston Dynamo] Jordan Morris (19*)-[Seattle Sounders] Jonathan Top (21*)-[FC Dallas] Armando Moreno (18*)-[Club Tijuana] Kellen Gulley (20*)-[Chicago Fire] Julian Green (18*)-[Bayern Munich] Rubio Rubin (18*)-[FC Utrecht] Benji Lopez (19*)-[Real Salt Lake] Emerson Hyndman (18*)-[Fulham] Lynden Gooch (17*)-[Sunderland] Romain Gall (19*)-[Lorient] Kainoa Bailey (18*)-[Bayer Leverkusen] CURRENT 23 GOALKEEPERS: MacMath, Hamid, Cropper* (Meara, Kempin*) DEFENDERS: Okugo, Agbossoumonde, Packwood*, O’ Neill*, (Jean-Baptiste, Zimmermann*) FULLBACKS: Garza, Sarkodie, Yedlin*, Delgado* (Farrell, Remick, Ellis, Acosta*, Miller*, Allen*, Ocegueda*) MIDFIELDERS: Powers, Kitchen, Trapp*, Stanko* (Caldwell, Lletget, Creavalle, Lopez*, Luiz Felipe*) ATTACKERS: Gatt, Corona, Rowe, Holmes*, Arriola*(Gyau, Velasquez, McNamara, Hurtado, DeLeon, Cuevas*, Ariyibi*, Flores*, Pineda*, Joya*, Sonora*, Canouse*, Serna*, Guido*, Pelosi*, Scott*, Pfeffer*) FORWARDS: McInerney, Villarreal*, Gil* (Wood, Zardes, Wenger, Doyle, Rodriguez*, Kiesewetter*, George*, Rubin*, Hyndyman*, Gooch*, Spencer*, Salgado*, Gall*, Bailey*, Lopez*, Moreno*, A. Hernandez*, Okoli*) OMIT (first teamers): Brooks, Green, Johannsson, Diskerud, Boyd, Agudelo ---------------------------McInerney---------------------------- Corona--------------------Rowe--------------------------Gatt -----------------Powers--------------Kitchen------------------ Garza-------------------------------------------------------Yedlin --------------------Okugo-------------Packwood--------------- ------------------------------Hamid------------------------------- Bench: Cropper, O’ Neill, Sarkodie, Trapp, Gil, Arriola, Villarreal
Now, that would be an excellent bridge between the youth teams to the senior team. Plus, it would allow the youngsters a chance to play against better competition.
As others have mentioned, this move will only be beneficial if the team plays games and has semi regular camps. Any idea as to which tournaments they might be able to play in? PanAmerican games perhaps?