OK, OK, I'll tone it down with the predictions. But I do think he's the best American youth prospect.
Don't get me wrong, he seems like one of the best US youth prospects, but is he even the best player of his birth year? From what I've seen, Haji Wright looks just as good or possibly even better.
Too early to tell. Josh Perez at one point was thought of as the best prospect from the '98s. I'm just happy that we have a few seemingly special talents coming through the youth yanks. It'll be fun following all these players as their careers go forward.
There are many good prospects on this team, many don't score goals so the hype doesn't follow them. I have my eye on one player who when all is said and done I think is the best prospect. He just doesn't score.
I'm guessing Barbir. He looks to have a really high ceiling, but also looks to have a high chance of not realizing it (based on subjective but concrete reasoning and observation). I like Olosunde, too. Actually, there are some pretty good footballers in this group...but we say that every cycle.
I don't want to jinx it. Not Barbir, who I do like. The kid has quick feet, very good first touch, reads the game better than a lot of his teammates, and doesn't score goals.
De La Torre? I think its hard to compare attackers to non-attackers. From the little that I've seen, Silva looked like one of the best GK prospects that I've seen in recent USYNT's. How does he compare to Wright or Pulisic? I think thats hard to tell.
I forgot where - I think here on the YA - but there was a 2008 U-20 roster for some random game posted and the best players from that era became MLS lifers. No long term USMNT stars, not long term Euro based pros. From the 2009 U-20 World Cup GK's - Sean Johnson, Brian Perk, Josh Lambo. DF - Gale Ag-de, Dillon Powers, Sheanon Williams, Kyle Davies, Aaron Maund, Ike Opara MF - Danny Cruz, Jared Jeffrey, Dilly Duka, Mix Diskerud, Gerson Mayen, Brian Ownby, Bryan Arquez, Jorge Flores, Michael Stephens FW - Tony Taylor, Peri Marosevic, Brek Shea Not a single 2010 and one 2014 WC member (with no PT earned) among them. No one with much PT (Shea had a taste) in a top 5/6/7 league either. Powers is probably the only player with an upside because he's built like a tank and has a little game too for position. England's was just as bad. Ghana had Jonathan Mensah, Andre Ayew. Uruguay had Gaston Ramirez, Abel Hernandez, Nico Lodeiro, Sebastian Coates. Brazil had Ganso, Alex Teixeira and Douglas Costa. Costa Rica - Marco Uren'a, Bryan Oviedo, Christian Gamboa. Italy basically nada. Spain had Cesar Azpilicueta, Ander Herrera, Jordi Alba. Germany had Ron-Robert Zieler, the Benders - Lars and Sven, Lewis Holtby, Sebastian Mielitz It's really a crapshoot even at this age. And U-17's are even worse.
I see this alot but these players werent considered the top 10 in there age group. They weren't signed to big clubs.
From Greg Seltzer: American Under-17 player and PA Classics star forward Christian Pulisic is nearing completion of a five-year deal with Borussia Dortmund. http://www.noshortcorners.com/2014/08/pulisic-to-dortmund-almost.html As re-interated by Greg........ "With a long-term contract in play (five years) and a European passport in his already-ragged travel bag once the paperwork is finalized — his grandfather, Mate Pulisic, is a Croatian native who eventually emigrated to the United States so Christian is attempting to obtain a Croatian passport ..."
No, we really don't. I mean, a few people do. But over the past few cycles, not as much as before that. This looks like the best class of 17s in a long while.
OTOH, the LD-DMB-Onyewu-Convey-Davis-Beckerman-Dempsey class formed the backbone of the senior team for the past decade. I'm not sure it's a crapshoot. It's just hard to observe.
From what I remember, the 2009 U17s had a really strong buzz around them and may have been deeper in prospects than the current group is. And before that, the 2003, 2001, and 1999 groups all generated considerable excitement. (Adu was on the 2003 team, Donovan on the 1999.) But in between times, we've also had some groups that didn't offer much. There was empty talk, but the play on the field spoke for itself. We don't have Pulisic type talents very often.
I acknowledge your point here, though Dempsey & Davis weren't part of that US U-17 squad, Clint in particular famous for being an unfancied outsider who had to grind it out and break through the hard way. I think the high bar that squad set is what every US U-17 team is trying to equal and this is the 1st I can remember since then that could realistically get to that level, although gold & silver ball winner at the WC is probably never happening again. I did like that EJ/Quaranta team a lot, too, going in. Maybe they can bring Quaranta in for a Scared Straight style school assembly with the U-17s. Kids: don't be this guy. Still only 29! Unbelievable. Baltimore Bohemians should give him a call.
Here's the entire Dortmund II squad from the 2009-10 season. That's a "big club", right? http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/3liga/vereine/3-liga/2009-10/borussia-dortmund-ii-1291/kader.html How many out of 31 total players (disregarding the senior players on rehab - Feulner, Hajnal, Kehl and Rangelov) have made it big in five years that followed? Mind you, this isn't a U-18/U-19 team but the U-23 Dortmund II, aka the reserve.
You seem to be a real expert these guys... How many times have you seen Pulisic play? How many times have you seen Green play? How many times have you seen Zelalem play?
Pretty excited about this lad after watching a couple of games from him. I think he is exactly the type of talent that Dortmund needs. He's got most of the tools necessary to reach the pro level. Excellent speed, great decision making but what I was most impressed with was his level of technique when in posession and his intelligence on the field. What he will have to adjust to is the tempo in Germany which is higher than what I've seen from his u17 NT games, the higher physicality of the game and the tactical approach. I'm quite sure he will quickly deal with the higher tempo, because he seems to be one of those natural gifted players who know what to do in the right moment. To me, he looks more talented than for example Flores.
Browsing through old youth rosters is always a fun game for me. Lots and lots of 3. Liga and Regionalliga players here, with a few scattered 2BL / low-level 1BL journeymen. I'm actually impressed how few guys are out of the game entirely, even if most are in a semipro level or barely hanging on in the pros. One guy did just move to Galatasaray for €2.5m after four years for smaller clubs in the Turkish Süper Lig. That's about as big as it gets.
It is all about numbers. We want five to ten Pulisics and Wrights and Hyndmans at this age and point developing because of statistics, progress, injuries and club situations. We also want a boat load coming out of the MLS academies like Yedlin, and Najar (yes Honduras but the point is about the path to quality development) to add to the talent pool.
There are three "very successful" players on that Dortmund U-23 roster in total, if one counts Sven Bender and Marcel Schmelzer and one 'fairly successive" (at this point) in Daniel Ginczek (18 goals for St. Pauli in League 2, was playing well for Nürnberg last season until suffering an injury, now off to Stuttgart). That's three "major leaguers" out of 31 U-23 prospects (Sven B. was 20, Schmelzer was 21 and Ginczek 18) during that season. HOWEVER! Bender was an 1860 product, having already played 65 BL II matches for them (25 in 2008-09, 3.8 Kicker grade at 19) before moving to Dortmund. In 09-10, he was actually more of a senior Dortmund squad member (19 matches only but with a 3.0 average). Schmelzer, being a year older, played a whopping 28 matches in the Bundesliga (3.4 average) at 21, meaning that both players were eligible for the reserves team but were already playing "age higher". So, of the real rank&file Dortmund II members, there's basically only Ginczek who's a legitimate "major leaguer" and even he is coming off a major injury. Now, Bayern II in BL III then had some familiar names in David Alaba at 17, Diego Contento at 19 and Mehmet Ekici at 19 (and Saer Sene at 23, who was actually very good there with 11 goals and a 3.22 grade) http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/3liga/vereine/3-liga/2009-10/bayern-muenchen-ii-88/kader.html That's right. Because out of a dozen of guys like Pulisic and Wright, you might get 2-3 legitimate top league performers. BTW, Najar wasn't very/any good with Honduras at the WC but, at least, he is beginning to get regular PT with Anderlecht these days.