ARGENTINA NATIONAL U-20 team (r)

[Tigerpunk]

The US opens up the U20 WYC against Argentina in a repeat of our classic battle 2 years ago. What do you guys know about your team? I know Messi is your superstar, but who else do you expect to feature, and what do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of your team?

I can answer whatever questions you have about the American squad, in return.

[Aguante Bielsa]

Wow, the WC groups have already been settled? Can you provide a link? :confused:

Anyway, I'm glad that this match will take place. The quarterfinals clash two years ago was very exciting, and I'm sure this one will be very tough as well. After all, US football/soccer is improving wonderfully.
As you've already mentioned, Messi is the star of this team. He's an amazing player and he alone is capable of being the key to winning a match. He's also surrounded by a few great players, like offensive MF Barrientos, full-back Zabaleta (in many ways he reminds me of Zanetti), defensive MF Torres and GK Ustari. The thing is that, while showing a very promising squad, the team's functioning is quite flawed. The attitude is there, but they haven't been able to show very convincing performances against strong teams during the qualifiers. They still beat Brazil and remained unbeaten during the whole tournament, but ended in the third place (too many ties against so-so teams like Venezuela or Chile during the last phase) and never gave the impression of being a truly solid team.
One of their weaknesses is the lack of a remarkable and effective striker. Most of the team's goals during the qualifiers were scored by offensive midfielders. I believe each striker only got to score once during the whole tournament. That's a worrying fact.
However, they still have a pretty good defense and a great midfield. And Messi, of course. Those are the team's strong points.

So what's the US squad and how has the team been performing until now?

[Tigerpunk]

Wow, the WC groups have already been settled? Can you provide a link? :confused:

Anyway, I'm glad that this match will take place. The quarterfinals clash two years ago was very exciting, and I'm sure this one will be very tough as well. After all, US football/soccer is improving wonderfully.
As you've already mentioned, Messi is the star of this team. He's an amazing player and he alone is capable of being the key to winning a match. He's also surrounded by a few great players, like offensive MF Barrientos, full-back Zabaleta (in many ways he reminds me of Zanetti), defensive MF Torres and GK Ustari. The thing is that, while showing a very promising squad, the team's functioning is quite flawed. The attitude is there, but they haven't been able to show very convincing performances against strong teams during the qualifiers. They still beat Brazil and remained unbeaten during the whole tournament, but ended in the third place (too many ties against so-so teams like Venezuela or Chile during the last phase) and never gave the impression of being a truly solid team.
One of their weaknesses is the lack of a remarkable and effective striker. Most of the team's goals during the qualifiers were scored by offensive midfielders. I believe each striker only got to score once during the whole tournament. That's a worrying fact.
However, they still have a pretty good defense and a great midfield. And Messi, of course. Those are the team's strong points.

So what's the US squad and how has the team been performing until now?

Well the focus of the team is on Adu and Eddie Gaven (MetroStars). Both of them are creative attacking midfielders, although Adu operates on the team as a withdrawn forward. The team has a solid defense, led by Jonathan Spector (Manchester United).

The teams biggest weaknesses are size.....no regular starter in midfield or forward is taller than 6' (Gaven, at 6', is the tallest)..and the resulting lack of a target forward. Also, our goalkeeper, while athletic, is on the short side (6'). Adu is more of a creator of goals (natural midfielder) than a real forward, and while our goals in qualifying came from everyone (we won all of our games by decent margins), there's a serious question of whether any of our forwards are good enough.

Our starting lineup is likely to be the following, though its possible that Blackburn forward Jemel Johnson and Inter Milan youth/reserves forward George Weah Jr. join the squad. Oh, and Stuart Holden just signed a contract with Sunderland, so he might get a look if he plays well for the first team this season.

GK Quentin Westberg (FC Troyes, 2nd div France)
D Jonathan Spector (Manchester United)
D Tim Ward (MetroStars)
D Hunter Freeman (Colorado Rapids)
D Patrick Ianni (UCLA)
M Danny Szetela (Columbus Crew)
M Will John (Chicago Fire)
M Eddie Gaven (MetroStars)
M Craig Capano (Chicago Fire)
F Freddy Adu (DC United)
F Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire)

Also, expect Jay Denny (Stoke City Reserves), Arturo Alvarez (San Jose Earthquakes), Christian Jimenez (Chivas USA), and Jamie Watson (Real Salt Lake) to figure into our team. Anyone playing for MLS can be found on www.mlsnet.com. While the qualifying team was a mix of college players or pros, I suspect the team we bring to Holland will be heavily biased in favor of the pros. Also, apparently one player who probably will go, a guy named Sammy Ochoa, has been scoring goals for a team called Tecos in Mexico. Not sure if thats first division or not.

PS Here's the draw http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/index/0,2442,105618,00.html?comp=WYC&year=2005&articleid=105618

[efernandez9]

in argentina look out for super goal tender: Ustari (tall and reliable)

zabaleta, hard nose on your face defender!
Lavezzi and barrientos, superb on a good day, but you have to be lucky to find both in tune.

look for more in copa Libertadores (FOX) when san Lorenzo de almagro plays, 3 players are sub20 and outstanding.

aguante or Mono: is that new kid in boca jrs under 20? the name just escape my fingers, the guy with the funny pony tail from one side of the head......he is pretty good.

Argentina should have no problems to make out this grp, the real problem is GERMANY.

[Tigerpunk]

in argentina look out for super goal tender: Ustari (tall and reliable)

zabaleta, hard nose on your face defender!
Lavezzi and barrientos, superb on a good day, but you have to be lucky to find both in tune.

look for more in copa Libertadores (FOX) when san Lorenzo de almagro plays, 3 players are sub20 and outstanding.

aguante or Mono: is that new kid in boca jrs under 20? the name just escape my fingers, the guy with the funny pony tail from one side of the head......he is pretty good.

Argentina should have no problems to make out this grp, the real problem is GERMANY.

That's an interesting (if useless) summation, although Germany is probably the least likely of the 4 teams to make it out.

[Aguante Bielsa]

aguante or Mono: is that new kid in boca jrs under 20? the name just escape my fingers, the guy with the funny pony tail from one side of the head......he is pretty good.

Oh, you mean Rodrigo Palacio. He's pretty good! Now that you mention it, and taking into account that we desperately need a striker, I wonder why he's not in the U-20 team... :confused:

[Aguante Bielsa]

That's an interesting (if useless) summation, although Germany is probably the least likely of the 4 teams to make it out.

Well, they've never been too remarkable at youth level, but meh... who knows. Honestly, I've no idea what their U-20 squad is like right now.

[EL MONO MARIO]

Argentina tiene que jugar contra Alemania, EE UU, Y Egypito en el groupo de la muerta en el mundial sub 20...

[Shaster]

The problem with US U-20 is that not all youngsters are in the professional ranks, especially on defense and defensive midfield. Last time, due to the Iraq war, the tournament got delayed from the March to Sep. that enable some of new signings in MLS having good playing time.

Last time, the defense only have left back--Whitbread (Liverpool, Reserve) in pro rank. Even though the goalkeepr is in college, but US already produced great goalkeeprs.

This time a little improved in the back. The goalkeeper Westburg was born and raised in France and went to French famous Soccer Acadamy. He played for Troyes in French 2nd division.

The center defense have one star defender in Spector who already played in US World Cup qualifier. Spector played for Manchester United in both English Primier League and Champion League as left back when Heinz was in Copa America and Olympics duties. The other center defender will be a college guy and we have no clue who will emerge.

The left back Freeman just joined MLS and don't how much of playing time he would get. He is actually a natural right back with a good right foot. So that is a problem in left back while left foot is not his natural foot.

The right back Wynne is playing in UCLA but is an interesting story. His father is a big time baseball star and he used to run tracks in high school. So he is very fast and can run whole days. It is not easy to beat him because he is so fast. But his ball skill needs to improve.

The midfield is the strength of this team. Don't know who will be the starting defensive midfielder. But whoever he is this guy has to shadow Messi all game to deny the chance for Messi.

The left midfielder could be Alvarez who is a South American style player with good ball skill or John who is an African style player who is fast too. The right midfielder is Beilhaber who was born Brazilain and moved to US at 6. He combined a Brazil player in his skillset and an American player in his work rate. His only weakness is the weight.

The attacking midfielder is the strongth of this team. The player Gaven who already made US full National Team. He is a complete player. If any defense paying too much attention on Adu, Gaven will punish them.

The forward line is actually a weakness this time. The withdrawn forward will be occupied by Adu or Johnson who played for Blackburn in England. (A sidenote--a US player Rossi who plays for Manchester United decides to play for Italy youth National Team who is also in this position and a great prospect.) The problem is with target forward and don't know who will emerge for this position.