hey guys, if you're ever watching closely or re-watching a player during the season or the rest of preseason, if you would want to just note down their times of touches, i would be more than happy to make an all-touch video. I can only cover so much ground! Obviously, no pressure but just something to think about if you want to do it. Thanks.
I think Rogers and Akinola are both very marginal players too, just trying to see if maybe you were sorta contrarian as a rule. Nothing against that, I'm a contrarian myself.
Julian Vasquez 01’ scored an absolute screamer for RSL vs Nagasaki today. Kind of in the Alvarez boat since he has most recently been with Mexico’s U18s this past camp. Worth a mention though
Click the link and follow the thread for some gifs. I am not going to link them all. I rewatched the Houston match, and I think the Defiance players looked really good going forward. Here's Atencio, the last man back as a CB, absolutely freezing Quioto and breaking the press. pic.twitter.com/ehUuftqtq7— Joseph Mondello (@JoeMondelloFC) February 11, 2019
Seattle has built a very good academy in recent seasons, but they haven't shown that they'll use these players. Bello and Busio are already getting MLS minutes. Scally, Alvarez and Fuentes look like they might get some minutes this season. Why is Ocampo-Chavez a full-time second team player? Why are none of these players on MLS contracts? Why isn't Rogers on a first team contract after two full seasons in the reserves?
They aren't quite ready. They haven't all had a ton of minutes for S2 either between playing some Academy still and call ups. Plus they range in age from 15-18. Rogers barely played at all last season due to injury and call ups. Sounders have no issue signing players from the Defiance and playing them. They don't have an issue playing HGPs. But the players have to show they are ready as well. I am perfectly happy for these guys to continue to play together on the Defiance and not rush them. Many of them are still very young and the Defiance is a good level for them to push themselves.
Thats what Seattle wants to say. If thats the stance they are going to take, they shouldn't be surprised when these players start signing in Europe. Players look around and see what their peers are doing.
These kids are anywhere from 15-17 y/o, you’re overreacting a lot here. I think come 2020, if we don’t see a few of these kids getting minutes with the Sounders, then can start worrying some.
None of them are on first team contracts, so I don't see much reason to believe Ocampo-Chavez or Atencio (or any of these young academy players) are considered first team options before next season at the earliest. Rogers is also 19 with two full USL seasons. You can wait another year to start criticizing Seattle. I want to see Ocampo-Chavez and Atencio go to Europe. They are only on second team contracts, so they can leave, if they want.
Carleton had a hat-trick in what looks like a 6-0 win over Cal State Fullerton. It included a highlight reel goal where he beat a defender 1v1 and then chipped the goalie. The competition isn't good, but the kid keeps producing. He's been great in preseason all three seasons with Atlanta United. A lot of people who've been hating on him are going to eat their words when he finally gets a chance to play regularly.
I would say say that their approach to Rogers tells you what you need to know. He's..............................Brecc Evans. Azriel Gonzalez will be 18 imminently and has played ~25 games for Seattle 2 (or Tacoma or whatever) He's the one they need to make a decision on vis-a-vi first team contract. And they need to do that within the next 6 months. Ocamp-Chavez, Serranio, and Atencio are 16/17 year olds that have played sparingly at the USL level. I would say that they have until the upcoming off-season to make a decision or risk losing them. This year should be full time USL for them. I personally think that when the elite youth players are 6 months from their 18th birthdays, that's when they should be getting first team contracts. We can look at the Tyler Adams pathway here as the model. His first season he had fringe USL participation. Second year full-time USL and fringe MLS. Third year MLS full-time. Our elite youngsters really shouldn't be on USL contracts for very long. 2 years MAX. And if a club thinks a youngster is "special" then they should skip over the USL contract altogether. Clubs have ~30 roster spots (depending on GenAds, etc.). You can afford to carry a couple of 16-17 year olds on the back end of your roster. Like George Bello last season with ATL. [Although he's not back end of the roster this season.] These are the players you need to offer >100k salaries to in order to keep them from moving to Europe.
I have great hope for Carleton this year and think he warrants more playing time. I am also cautiously optimistic that he has learned from the offfield - let's politely call them missteps - issues that hamstrung him last year. However, I am not about to read a damn thing into anything Carleton does against a mid-major college soccer team that is in its offseason. A hat-trick against Fullerton shows me he'd be good in the Big West, something we all already knew. I suppose it's better than not scoring against a mid-major college team, but otherwise, it doesn't mean much.
Article on Crew rookie JJ Williams. https://www.dispatch.com/sports/20190208/crew-sc--crews-jj-williams-has-size-potential-to-excel
I wouldn't group all of them together. I think they are different level players. I think Ocampo-Chavez should be looking at Bello, Scally, Busio, Alvarez. All those players are permanent first team players. They are getting regular minutes in preseason, and might get some starts this season. Ocampo-Chavez is a full-time reserve team player. Do Seattle have so much more depth than Atlanta, NYCFC, SKC and LAG? Why shouldn't he be on a first team contract and playing regularly with the first team in preseason? Atencio and Serrano's situations might be a little different. Although, Atencio looked good in brief USL minutes, and I think he's the caliber of player that is going to gain in stock, and get a lot of European interest in the upcoming year or two. I also wouldn't be too upset if he went to Europe. I have no problem with Seattle using the USL team for Serrano, Vargas, Gonzalez, etc. What they haven't shown is that they are willing to then promote secondary level academy players who develop in the USL team. Maybe Rogers is not a good example, and he's simply not good enough to make the MLS team. The issue is that there isn't really that example there for these players to look at, and see as a reason why they should agree to that path.
I think whats more important is that he's playing like this, and the others who he's competing with for minutes aren't. That should get him more minutes.
Julian Vasquez getting some recognition. His goal last night was terrific. 1090354876721258497 is not a valid tweet id We don't talk about him much here since he is probably committed to Mexico, but I'm fairly sure he's USA eligible, and things can always change.
being 16 or 17 doesnt seem like a good excuse. if you let these kids turn 18 they are as likely as not out the door already. this 15-17 is when clubs now need to be aggressively making signings?
But they are signed to pro contracts. A lot of these USL contracts have options built into them to become MLS HG contracts. Seattle might be looking at why waste a roster spot on a kid who they think is a year away from contributing. And if they think a kid is ready say mid season, they’ll just exercise the option for them to be on the MLS roster (provided there’s space). Lagerwey is well known for integrating youth players and putting an emphasis on the academy with his time at RSL.
Galaxy did this with Efrain Alvarez and Hugo Arellano. They first signed GII contracts and like 6 months later they were signed to MLS HG contracts.
What exactly is the "option" written as, though? Does it say "if you play well, you'll be a first team player" or does it say "if you play 900 minutes and provide 4 assists, you get a first team contract"? Or is it not even a thing?
Much prefer seeing Sands at CB, but I think he's still a year or at least a few months away from being physically ready to play there on an every day basis in MLS. His distribution from there is excellent, whereas it's only above average from the midfield. He'll be plenty capable defensively when he matures fully as he does read the game very well and can use his quickness to strip balls and prevent attackers from getting where they want to go. Was pleasantly surprised by his aerial game in the all-touch above, also. I was most encouraged by seeing Scally. He looks like he's ready to be a pro. Would be ideal for him to get games at the USL right now so that he can be a force, but he looked like he is really coming along. He should get a couple hundred minutes in MLS this season, I would think. I thought Parks was good, too, but the team looked awful the entire half that I watched him play in. The tactics were so straight forward that there were hardly an options for moving the ball, and he was generally stuck with playing simple, predictable passes. Love his game, and I hope he gets the opportunity to show it off as a starter this season.
I think he was playing with lots of non-starters when he came in. He is more than good enough to start to see minutes with the first group. Lewis doesn't look as polished as he did with the national team. He seems to be the type of player that plays down to the level of his teammates. Not good.
Vazquez is US-born-and-bred and has been called up once to the US U18s before Mexico recruited him. Mexican father and Caucasian-American mother. No unusual circumstances other than that he just openly prefers Mexico. In the article in the image of that Tweet, he says he'll go for Mexico as long as they want him. He would not start for a full-strength US U18s, but he's become a starter for Mexico's U18s.