Washington Post on Carroll & Stokes

[CHICO13]

Good article on the rookies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23576-2003Apr3.html

"Whoever pushes themselves the most is going to make it on this team and in this league."

Ray Hudson

[Jose L. Couso]

Great article.

Thanks for the link Chico.

The printed version also has a picture of Stokes adjacent the picture of Carroll.

[jonny]

Stokes is going to be a great player. I saw him playing with the 23-sub National team in Portugal. Big , strong , and handles the ball well with his feet .

[shawn12011]

I find this part interesting "Carroll is experienced in central midfield, but Hudson sees his future on the left flank or at left back. Central defense also is an option". It is the first time I have heard Carroll's name mentioned as a left sided player. Nothing in the practice reports have said that, to my recollection. Hmmmnnn. What happened to D-Mid????? :confused:

[K]

Originally posted by CHICO13


"Whoever pushes themselves the most is going to make it on this team and in this league."

Ray Hudson

Geez Ray, up all night coming up with this little pearl of wisdom? No, Duh!

K

[Lanky134]

Good piece. Nice to see some profiles in preparation for the season opener.

[johnaldo9]

Good article,

I graduated in 2000 and played high school and club against both of these guys so its really just amazing to see them playing for United.

Ive said it before but its too bad that MLS teams don't have true youth teams. I know United wasn't even started until these guys were U14/U15 but if they had been around and you just look at the professional players from the DC area that were born in '81/'82

Maryland
Oguchi Onyewu FC Metz (France)
Alex Yi FC Antwerp (Belgium)
Kyle Beckerman Colorado Rapids

Virginia
David Stokes DC United
Brian Carroll DC United

All of these players have an excellent shot at playing on the U23 team and all look to have a solid future ahead of them. Just the fact that they were born in the DC area wouldn't guarantee that they would play in United's youth system, but United would have had a good shot at getting them and getting them professional training at a younger age could have far advanced their abilities.
Then again under MLS's single entity structure you could be training great players for other teams. But it just makes me wonder how good these guys as well as United could be if they had alll grown up in United system.

[rocketeer22]

Originally posted by K
Geez Ray, up all night coming up with this little pearl of wisdom? No, Duh!

K

As opposed to the amount of time he spent on coming up with the quote that you use as your tagline?

[Lanky134]

Originally posted by rocketeer22
As opposed to the amount of time he spent on coming up with the quote that you use as your tagline?
...which happens to be one of the few times Ray has actually been correct with his statements.

[sch2383]

Originally posted by johnaldo9
All of these players have an excellent shot at playing on the U23 team and all look to have a solid future ahead of them. Just the fact that they were born in the DC area wouldn't guarantee that they would play in United's youth system, but United would have had a good shot at getting them and getting them professional training at a younger age could have far advanced their abilities.
Then again under MLS's single entity structure you could be training great players for other teams. But it just makes me wonder how good these guys as well as United could be if they had alll grown up in United system.

I think there are many good arguments for and against the MLS clubs having youth teams, but I think the problem is that there are too few MLS teams and too many players who would deserve to be on those teams.

[DigitalTron]

Nice article. Good to see Goff writing about United during the final run-up to the season opener.

Johnaldo, there are others with connections to the extended DC area too.

Santino is from Baltimore and Devin Barclay is from a MD suburb. Bobby Convey is from Philly, and DC and New York are both relaively close for him. Chino Alegria was "discovered" when he lived and played recreationally here in the DC area.

UVa: Ben Olsen, Alecko Eskandarian, Kyle Martino, etc., etc., etc. ...

UMD: Taylor Twellman, Phillip Salyer (soon to be in MLS).

I think there are others as well, but I just cannot recall who right now. How about this lineup:

-----Eskandarian-------------Twellman-------
------------------Convey--------------------

Santino----------Martino---------------Devin
-------------------Carroll--------------------

---------Yi-------Stokes-----Onyewu--------

That's not bad for a youth team.

-Digital

[DCU]

And, of course...you guys didn't really forget, did you?...Freddy Adu. ;)

[todda74]

he already has played with United

[JoeW]

Here are a couple of other names that would do a reserve team proud (and unlike some collegians that learned their game elsewhere and then came to U.Va or Maryland)...

--Abe Thompson (WT Woodson, Maryland, various US youth teams);
--the Kuykendall boys (two of them played/play at AU, they're local, their Dad Kurt Kuykendall was the first pick of the Washington Diplomats and their GK for the first year or two);
--Kenny Arena (I know, he's now on the SoS. But the son of our best coach, grew up in Virginia, matured as a teenage player in Northern Virginia, played at U.Va);

Maybe none of these kids would be players that would be world-beaters. But they're examples of local players (and local before they went to college--and then stayed local) who clearly have some pedigree and pro potential.

[Bryan Gividen]

Johnaldo: Where'd you go to High School?

(Proud to say that David Stokes went to Hylton High School! Go Bulldogs! Sadly, he graduated before I attended Hylton and now I've moved so it doesn't matter.)

And is everyone forgettin Chris Carrieri? He came from Fairfax I believe.

The All-Mets team from the past 6 years has had some indicators of who goes pro. There is some definite quality in the DC area.

[cdunnington]

Originally posted by Bryan Gividen
And is everyone forgettin Chris Carrieri? He came from Fairfax I believe.

Stafford, Virginia, actually.

[TheFarSide]

I for one, would like to see Stokes have a breakout year. Because he is so big and tall and went to school in North Carolina maybe he can be the second coming of Eddie Pope - except hopefully he has a bit of a meaner streak.

GO DC!

[johnaldo9]

Tron-

I was just talking about 81's and 82's from the MD/No. VA area but you are right and if you talk about all the pro's (Convey (sort of), Quaranta, and Barclay) that are local to the DC area we would have one hell of a youth team.
I dont count the UVA guys as being local, Martino grew up in Connecticuit (Revs Territory) and Esky grew up in Jersey (Metroscum territory)
One UVA guy who is local that wasn't mentioned is Matt Oliver he is a big center back from MD and a former captain of the U18's.
Another guy that no one has mentioned is Clarence Goodson who is another tall center back from Annadale, VA who plays for UMD.

JoeW
Ive played with the Kuykendall's and with Abe Thompson. Id say that based on size and athleticism the only one of the three that will probably play in MLS is Thompson
What's amazing is that alot of these guys played on the same youth teams together. David Stokes, Shawn Kuykendall, Clarence Goodson and Abe Thompson all played for the BRYC Warhawks while Oguchi Onyewu, Matt Oliver, Alex Yi and Kyle Beckerman all spent at least some time on FC Potomac. All these players are getting on teams together and are becoming solid players just imagine what would happen if you added a proffesional atmosphere and more than 2 practices a week.

[JoeW]

Originally posted by johnaldo9
JoeW
Ive played with the Kuykendall's and with Abe Thompson. Id say that based on size and athleticism the only one of the three that will probably play in MLS is Thompson
What's amazing is that alot of these guys played on the same youth teams together. David Stokes, Shawn Kuykendall, Clarence Goodson and Abe Thompson all played for the BRYC Warhawks while Oguchi Onyewu, Matt Oliver, Alex Yi and Kyle Beckerman all spent at least some time on FC Potomac. All these players are getting on teams together and are becoming solid players just imagine what would happen if you added a proffesional atmosphere and more than 2 practices a week. Agreed about your appraisal of the Kuykendalls and Thompsons. And totally agree about how much a difference things would be with more than 2 practices a week.

[Sandon Mibut]

An 82 from NoVa who you guys are overlooking is Clarence Goodson of Maryland, via Woodson HS and the same club that produced Stokes and Thompson.

Goodson played forward most of his career and was switched to centerback last summer, literally, the day before the Terps scrimmaged United. As a forward, he's not much of a pro prospect but as a centerback, he has the pro scouts' attention.

He's 6-4, has good skills for someone his size, reads the game well and, as can be expected, is simply dominant in the air. I don't think he lost an air battle all-season and he nodded home a few balls as well.

He'll need a bit of seasoning and to add a few lbs, but he's a definite pro prospect, certainly more than the Kukendall boys. He may have even surpassed Thompson on the prospect list because of questions about Thompson being injury prone and doubts about how he has recovered from said injuries.