Given the current U20 team, I think it's interesting to evaluate these players on at least a minimum of athleticism. Durkin is obviously a player who was very good at at the U17 level who simply might be too slow to be a great player at the next level. I think Mendez struggled with the speed and size of the Ecuadorians as well. Are there players above who are highly skilled but a little slow? They might be challenged during the next cycle.
This group has more time to develop physically. But it's better in this department than the last group certainly was around this time. It's a question for Busio and Fuentes, to name a couple. Might be for Roberts, Saldana, and Yow; but they are a few players who may make up for it with spunk and anticipation, even if so. Vassilev was a super technical but not very mobile player the last time I saw him. This is why I think Reyna is such a good prospect. Not only is he skilled, but physically he's a man already. Fast, long stride, plenty strong. Just needs to speed up processing with experience and maybe not be selfish. Combo makes Pepi, KHF, and Bello pretty sure things to be solid pros and factor in during the bigger youth comps at least, if not as senior nt'ers. Scally and Leyva are borderline players in terms of that skill and physical tool combo being enough beyond becoming solid pro (Scally at cb). Leyva is a pretty sure thing to be an asset in MLS or a comparable league. Senior NT regular/top league player is the open question.
I think Mendez would’ve been fine if he had a more athletic destroyer behind him like Adams, Cerillo or Servania. Terrible coaching call
I vote Tab for the U-23s With some fresh blood (like Wicky, cough, cough) at the helm for the U-20s. I’m not asking for much... just someone who can select a squad based solely on talent and/or potential.
Half of these players probably won't make the team, and we don't know the coach, but this is what I'd predict. GK: Las, Ochoa DF: Scally, Gray, Araujo, Akanyirige, Gomez, Bello MF: Booth, Tessman, Atencio, Chifamba, Nyeman, Palomino, KDLF, Llanez FW: AOC, Hoppe, Reyna Las Scally-Araujo-Akanyirige-Gomez Booth-Tessman KDLF-Nyeman-Llanez AOC Thats 20 players, so that would be a qualifying prediction. Add another keeper, if we qualify. I think Wilson is the second best keeper in this cycle after Las, but Ochoa will almost certainly make the team because he made it this cycle. It looks like clear weaker crop of players than the 2019 cycle, and maybe also weaker than the 2017 cycle, although both U-20 WC teams didn't have full strength teams, so the 2021 cycle could put out a stronger roster. We now produce enough talent that you can come up with a good list of players, but what made this past cycle such a talented age group was the incredible 2000 age group. It mitigated a pretty weak 1999 age group. The 2017 cycle had a very good 1998 age group that might've been a little worse than 2000, but 1997 was also a good age group, so there wasn't much of a gulf in talent between the two years. 2002 looks even worse than 1999, and while I think 2001 shows good depth in the 11-50 spots in the age group, it lacks a little in the top end talent. I think 2001 looks good if you consider the sheer amount of quality prospects, but doesn't look good when you are picking about 10 players from the age group to make a roster like this. It's probably about an average age group altogether, but its strengths might not show on a roster like this.
Also, it's important to remember all the talent that can quickly emerge. At this point at the start of the 2019 cycle, players like Soto, Richards, Ledezma, etc. may have been seen as good prospects but probably to the status they are seen at now
One player I wouldn't sleep on is '01 winger Cameron Harper of Celtic. He's drawn attention on the Celtic fan forum and some fans were advocating for him to be named to the bench for the final Scottish Premiership league matches. (Instead, '03 Dembele was selected.) As of April Harper was the leading scorer for Celtic U18 with at least 17 goals, a nice breakout season after a relatively low-key move from Pateadores in the DA. Not going to be easy to compete with the likes of Llanez, Konrad, Reyna but he might.
And let's be honest, a player like Edwin Cerrillo only emerged as a serious roster option months before squad selection. A kid that had no caps on any youth level was picked for the roster. Here's an awesome reminder. We're up to 11 players eligible for this U20 team that already have played MLS minutes this season. [We gained Leyva and Haak this week]. Danny Leyva (Seattle) Griffin Yow (DCU) Efrain Alvarez (LAG; I'm going to keep him in the pool until cap-tied) Sebastian Anderson (Colorado) Gianluca Busio (SKC) Julian Araujo (LAG) Cole Bassett (Colorado) Justin Haak (NYCFC) Thomas Roberts (FCD) Bryan Reynolds (FCD) Luis Arriaga (RSL) I mean, let's be honest. That's awesome. That's not normal. There are going to be a lot more players emerging in first team play really soon. The pool will be volatile. Players will bubble up and down over the next two years. But there seems to be increasing opportunity for these kids. How many players eligible for the next U20WC played in the Bundesliga this past season? I think the answer is two. Both for relegated Stuttgart.
There's a bunch of players in Europe that we just don't get to see a lot these days that could fade to obscurity or rise to be important components of this team. Taylor Booth and Blaine Ferri, for instance. Charlie Kelman. He kind of zoomed into our consciousness when he debuted so well, but has fallen off of our radar. He's an '01. Just kinda have to call everybody up and see who emerges...………………… Typically we as fans skew these very early prediction rosters younger than they end up being. '01s in this pool will start to really solidify roles in MLS play, and that'll really force them into consideration. These are the Edwin Cerrillo types. Guys that we don't really know much about right now. The good news, as you say, is that the pool is deep. The numbers are there. We'll just see who emerges.
At the start of the 2019 cycle, nobody knew who Soto and Ledezma were and Richards was just starting to get attention having been part of the Houston Texans U19 DA champion squad.
if we were to predict a lineup for 2021, no one would have over 60-70% of the correct players. However, one player who looks like he will be there is Ricardo Pepi. he's shown to be an elite 16 year old prospect.
My favorite team: GK: David Ochoa, Damian Las DF: George Bello, Jonathan Gomez, Tayvon Gray, Julian Araujo, Jacob Akanyirige, Mauricio Cuevas MF: Taylor Booth, Justin Haak, Cameron Duke, Tanner Tessmann, Thomas Roberts, Marcelo Palomino, Uly Llanez, Konrad FW: Ricardo Pepi, Gio Reyna, Folarin Balogun Other players to consider: GK: Seth Wilson, Abraham Rodriguez DF: Joe Scally, Kobe Hernandez Foster, Blake Malone, Axel Alejandre, Nico Benalcazar, Bryan Reynolds MF: Luis Arriaga, Cole Bassett, Bryang Kayo, Gianluca Busio, Josh Atencio, Ethan Bryant, Danny Leyva, Moses Nyeman, Jose Gallegos, Cameron Dunbar. FW: Roberto Hategan, Bryce Duke, Matt Hoppe, Johan Gomez, Griffin Yow, Alfonso Ocampo Chavez, Stefan Stojanovic
I believe he had another surgery. I've admittedly only seen him play a few times, but we can use all the CB depth we can get, if he's a good player. He'll need to stay on the field, which he hasn't been able to do up until this point. Yeah he did. Had surgery the other day.— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) May 13, 2019
We'll see. Pepi is an '03. He's so young that he's eligible for the 2023 U20 cycle. I'm sure the USYNTs are going to be calling him up when they can in order prevent his eyes from wandering to Mexico. Whether he's one of the top 3 forwards that end up making the important rosters is TBD.
It's so early in the cycle that it's ridiculous to make too many guesses but here's my thoughts, watch most of them be wrong. At this point, the only thing keeping the current U20 '01s off the roster is injury or getting to good for the U20s. That's 4/21 spots right there. 1. Ochoa 2. Konrad 3. Llanez 4. Araujo Then I anticipate 4 spots will go to 03s. The most obvious is Pepi and after that it is a crapshoot but the underage U17s have a decent shot. I feel like usually there's a up-cycle GK but I don't know enough about the pool to say who that would be. 5. Pepi 6. Leyva 7. Nyeman 8. GK The final 13 spots should be an interesting mix of 01s and 02s and the competition should be reasonable tough. I don't see a reason to skew young with this cycle and the 02s will need to be on top of their game to make this team. These are just some guys whose game I like and wouldn't be surprised to see on the roster: 01s: Owen Otasowie (if healthy) Matko Miljevic (if we can get him) Folarin Balogun (same) Taylor Booth Indiana Vassilev Thomas Roberts Tanner Tessman Ian Hoffmann Cameron Harper 02s: AOC Sagir Arce Busio Reyna Kobe Bello Las It'll be interesting to see if there are any guys who come out of nowhere for this U20 cycle; there are definitely opportunities to be had.
I don’t think right now there are any GK’s that should be playing up a cycle. I think we saw it this cycle that we sacrificed quality in net to bring a keeper from a year without much top end GK talent. I think that’s similar for now with the ‘03 year. That’s also not to say Ochoa was our biggest problem in net. I think you can make an argument after the tournament that we left the three best keepers at home.
I was extremely impressed with Mendez' left foot. If he can improve his accuracy just a a fraction, (I'm sure he will) he will be lethal). His ability to make that inch perfect pass was also evident.I do think, however, that he had trouble with the speed of the game which led to quite a few turnovers. It seemed to me that he often lost the ball due to indecision or just holding the ball on a dribble a bit too long. Also, his defense and ball winning ability is not one of his strengths (as you alluded to by him requiring a stronger player behind him). Some of the issues I mention above are probably related to his lack of experience playing with adult professionals. (only a few games with lag II that I know of)
Tweets from @ChuckMe92: Inevitably some entirely new names to YNTs will emerge next U20 cycle like Soto, Ledezma, etc. did. Those three and some others are at the top of the list. At the risk of putting the hype train in overdrive, a Hoppe = Soto and Ledezma = Gallegos comparison might seem apt.— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) June 15, 2019
Tweet from @ChuckMe92: Let's catch up on some USL action. '01s Bryant and Gallegos both started for San Antonio yesterday. It was the fourth straight USL start for Bryan and second for Gallegos, who could both well be part of the next US U20 cycle. '01 Carson Price made his league debut as a sub. https://t.co/APNapGNyjc— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) June 27, 2019
Ethan Bryant is about to turn 18. At what point does he say "if I want to advance in my career, I need to move to a club at a higher level than San Antonio." He's in the pool for the next U20 team. Sure. But his ceiling is limited at San Antonio. Gotta go. Does he want to make the upcoming U20 team? He's not going to compete effectively against the Taylor Booth, Blaine Ferri, Thomas Roberts, Gianluca Busio, etc. etc. for a midfield role while at San Antonio. Maybe I'm being too harsh...…………...but I don't see it. People saw the quality of midfielders that DIDN'T make our most recent U20 team, right?
Another 2021 U-20 pool player probably on the way to Germany: This will be very interesting to see what the asking/selling price. He's shown promise on a lower-table team. At 17, he has made 18 league apperaances for Colorado with 12 starts. Where would he play at Freiburg? Most likely a U.S. U-20 player for 2021 https://t.co/ewWaBvAhb1— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) June 28, 2019
Let's keep an eye on Quincy Butler. He's an '01 who looks like he moved from Sacramento Republic to Hoffenheim: Quincy Butler scores another goal for Hoffenheim’s U19s today, this time against Hertha Berlin’s U19s! https://t.co/pIpd7WVd2O— Bundimericans (@bundimericans) July 21, 2019