Herrera has never been afraid of putting his foot in his mouth so if he thinks Venture can contribute this summer, he would've said so. Frankly, I don't think the kid merits a senior NT call up from either camp at the moment. He needs to prove he can maintain consistency. If there is one thing Herrera has proven, it's that he makes sure to observe players for a while before calling them into the NT. Seeing as how Herrera worked with Ventura at Club America, there is probably nobody else more qualified to render an assessment on Ventura's qualities.
I don't agree with this. When you are dealing with young players, you have to keep your mind open. Things can change for the positive or negative. For every Freddy Adu, there is someone who is not viewed as special and turns out to be very good.
Starting for America can be political as well, but to get on the field at all takes the kind of brutal competitiveness that every excellent team needs at several positions across the field. You want those kinds of players at each tier (forwards, mids, defenders, keeper) and the more that you have in each tier the better off you are. They set the bar for what is required in training and performance. If this cat is getting on the field at America on a weekly basis, he is both USMNT and El Tri quality. El Tri doesn't want to publicly acknowledge that they are in a battle for one of their potential players because they don't want to publicly give that kind of respect to their opponent. They are like the kid who just cannot bear to admit that someone else just may be an equal or even better than they are.
The US youth national team system has reached out to him in the past. There has been a relationship there. I think its great for the USMNT that the coach would say something insulting that discounts Alvarado. A guy like that can make him eat his words.
I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with. Ventura is 22 and only recently has had consistent minutes. There are other players that have more tread on their tires that deserve the chance to be looked at by Herrera. Whether or not they turn out to be better players than Ventura down the road, or vice versa, is a different debate altogether. I would be concerned if Miguel Herrera is making decisions on who to bring into the NT based on such a small sample size of professional games played. It's also true that Ventura is in a bit of a tight spot due to his DOB. I don't think he qualifies for the Olympics (unless he's an overage player) and there are not many environments in which he can be observed unless it's the senior NT.
In the spirit of getting this thread back on track, Alvarado is starting today vs. Universidad de Guadalajara.
Saw most of the game. He was playing LB on a 3 man backline, he favors his right but he did good. Nothing fancy about his game, just gets his job done. To me, he looks like a CB playing wide, ala Cameron.
In the video the commentator said "it was a forgetful game for Alvado", frankly I don't see what he is talking about.
No TRI for him El piojo herrera says ; there are players above him " https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://laseleccion.com.mx/miguel-herrera-da-via-libre-a-ventura-alvarado-estados-unidos
It seems the US has the opportunity to take him if he gets called up. Alvarado said today, he has no preference for any NT. He said he was born in the US, but has lived in Mexico since the age of 16 and have been the ones to develop him, so he would just attend any NT that called him up first. I don't pay much attention to him, but it seems Club America fans don't even think he should be considered for any NT and are not even worried if he goes to the US. I have a feeling that US is maybe hyping him up too much.
http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/new...ion-que-lo-llame-no-importa-si-es-mexico-o-eu Don't see anything about him saying that he was developed in Mexico. He does say that his parents are Mexican but he's lived almost his entire life in the US and he would be proud to represent either team. He also says he's heard from the USSF and not FMF. I don't think it's hype as much as not wanting to lose out an an American kid to one of our regional rivals who may potentially become a NT caliber player.
Happens everywhere. If Liga MX had looser restrictions on foreigners and he was, say, Costa Rican would the speculation be this intense ?
America have a midweek CCL match against Herediano. The optimist in me is hoping that this is just squad rotation to keep everyone fresh.
All Herrera has said is that there are players ahead of Alvarado right now. I think he's right for the most part, except that when you start thinking about the last two CB spots for our Copa América team, you start bringing guys like Ayala and Venegas into the conversation and I personally don't think they have much merit over Alvarado (keep in mind, Venegas is a friend from Herrera's Atlante days). But the comment wasn't meant to rule our Alvarado's future with the NT, only to rule him out for this year's competitions. This is definitely not what is going on. If Ventura prefers the US, it doesn't change the fact that Herrera thinks there are better players right now. That's all. If there's even going to be a public recruiting battle, it won't be over a player like Alvarado.
Starts tonight in CCL against CS Herediano. http://www.concacaf.com/es/category/liga-de-campeones/game-detail/203218
The play-acting from Herediano was pretty incredible in this one, but that doesn't excuse Alvarado losing his head. The two-footed tackle that earned him a yellow could easily have been a straight red. On the ensuing free kick, America's defense was a total shambles, and an open Herediano player scored his team's third goal. A few minutes after that, Alvarado was involved in an off-the-ball incident. His opponent may have flopped, but the ref went up to him, pointed to his temples with both hands, and said (lip-reading), "Piensa!" (Think!)
Report that Ventura Alvarado has been called into #USMNT camp (link in Spanish): http://t.co/aqgqb7kM6o— Roderick MacNeil (@rodmacneil) March 20, 2015