PBP: U.S. U17s vs. England, QF Round, 10/21/17, 10:30 a.m. ET

Gloster and Akinola have poor anticipation at this point in their careers.

 

What, 50/50 possession and 18/18 shots doesn't look like utterly outclassed in every way?

Disappointing to lose here, but this England team is damn good and clearly a cut above.

 

He's been extremely shaky all game. Gave up way too many 2nd chances.

 

That England player may have just taken the most pointless yellow of the tournament, made worse by the fact that's now suspended for the SF.

 

Midfield and unforced turnovers were the problem. No idea why Dest didn't start?

 

Gallagher. Seems to style himself after Bale.

 

Congrats to England and props to our team for not giving up.

I've never been sold on the depth on this team. I have no doubt we would've matched up better with Lindsey and Goslin in the lineup. And I can only assume that Dest isn't 90-minute match fit given his limited playing time.

It was a good cycle, and ultimately, success will be determined by how much of an impact these players have on the senior team.

 

Carleton looking really bad there... Poor Dest pays for it.

 

I hear that obese b!tch singing.

 

That kid Brewster is a man among boys.

 

Estooooooooo seeeeeeee acabooooooo.

Finally.

The kids fought. The coach is a moron.

The first is an improvement. The second is par for the US Soccer course.

 

ehhh, good tournament. England is a very good team, they outclassed us in the midfield and thats why we lost.

 

Durkin should have played at the 6, Vassilev over Ferri at the 8, Shaver/Watts at cb, Dest rb. If Hackworth gets those choices right, we may see a very competitive match, instead of a virtual rout in the end. But he appears another coach that has his unhealthy favorites and often doesn't know how to balance his cm, especially against a better opponent. Didn't have a real d-mid vs. England and could have used 2.

Youth teams are about what individuals they produce. Let's not forget that. Promise shown by Sargent, Carleton, Weah, Durkin, Sands, Goslin, and Dest throughout the course of this tourney. All you can do is have leans one way or another based off youth play, especially at these immature of ages. But I think it's more likely than not they have good pro careers. Gloster, Akinola, Reynolds, and Garces have potential but have a lot to learn it appears. Vassilev and Booth don't seem to have the same upside but can be solid try hard pros. Wish we got to see Acosta more. Always shows flashes, but defense + athleticism may be a question. Should have been used more as offensive sub to get a look at him. Could have attracted attention overseas. Ferri and Watts I just don't see it with.

 

Is this final cycle of Bradenton? Do you think Hackworth should remain the position?

 

It's always a weird game when, at times, both teams seemed to completely outclass the other team. They had more.

They have better players 6-11 for sure. But with youth teams, ultimately 1-5 matters the most.

The good news is that this team seems strong offensively and the last couple of youth teams have been stronger defensively. So our balance is luckily right.

Obviously, our coaching is way behind the rest of the world. But we knew that.

 

Nah? Nah.

 

No shame going out to England. England has the best 00's in the world. They are good, and I thought we played them pretty even, although the score would say otherwise. Our finishing was really poor. Most of our good sequences, we would get in a good position, and then shoot off frame or England would get a deflection. With better finishing, we could've easily scored another few goals.

This team's main problem is as expected, the lack of defense down the middle of the field. Even with Durkin and Sands who are good players, you can just tell they don't play like CB's. They ball watch, they get beat by the offside trap, they cover space instead of man marking, we were mainly lacking CB's for this tournament, and it made it even worse that we didn't have Goslin for this game and that Hackworth insists on playing Ferri. If we could've even used one in central midfield, it would've made it much better.

Some good performances in this game. Garces had a good game I thought. He had some blame on some of the goals, but he must've made 10 saves. I thought Durkin did really well when pushed up into midfield, Booth did well, unlucky that he picked up an early card and had to come out. Carleton played well, gave good effort defensively and created a few chances, including the Sargent goal. Sargent had an excellent second half, took his goal well, anticipated the play.

I thought some players in particular were brutal in this match, Watts, Sands, Gloster, Ferri, Akinola. I think England just had a little more depth at this point. 1-11 they were better than us.

 

Lots of really soft turnovers. There were lots of times where we dribbled into a turnover or held the ball too long and turned it over. Those turnovers are kinda understandable. It means we have players who lack passing vision or aren't used to making quick decisions. No one should be surprised that our players can't make decisions or find space as quickly as a bunch of EPL kids.

What annoys me, and shocks me is all the times our kids go to touch a ball that is already at their feet and wiff on it (such as what happened before the penalty at the end of the game). We're not talking about wiffing a volley or wiffing on a shot where the player had a bad set up touch. The ball is literally under control, at the player's feet. The player moves his foot towards the ball, doesn't touch it, nothing happens and then the English dude steals it.

Then there are the times where our attacking players would take a soft touch to change direction, beat the defender, but somehow lose track of the ball despite beating their man, allowing the defender to get back in the play and steal the ball. These two types of plays happened about once every 5-10 minutes in this game and they are completely inexcusable for National Team level players as they demonstrate a lack of coordination and footskill.

 

I'm going to go ahead and disagree. The midfield wasn't setup for success in the first place and I really think the back line made them do a lot more work than necessary. The amount of space between the back line and the forwards was absolutely massive. I'd also point out that the backline had a hard time maintaining shape. Obviously, it's not unheard of for 17 year olds, but today it was particularly poor and had a major impact on the performance of the midfield.

 

A goalie is not rated by how many saves he had but how many he let in.

The lost of Goslin was a major blow to our chances. Carleton showed his inexperience in this game. Sargent was composed, he should have had the one he hit the crossbar. Weah was Weah, he is a work in progress, Akinola is very raw for me to even give him a grade.

 

I can't really take many negatives out of this tournament.

Winning youth tournaments means really little. Its a nice bonus, but having talented players is always better. This '00 group looks like the best group we've produced so far, and even with the 01's, we saw Booth put in a really nice performance, despite being the only '01 on the field for most of the match. You could see the difference between his play in this tournament, and the play of other U-16 age level players like Vassilev and Reynolds.

This age group has a number of standouts, Carleton, Sargent, Garces, Durkin, Booth, etc, and many others who have decent potential. There are very few players on this team who I think are youth team roster fodder (Watts, Ferri, Akinola, Reyes, Vassilev).

 

I have to think exhaustion and dehydration came into play.

 

I absolutely do not agree with your way of rating goalies. With a Klinsmann or a Will Pulisic type of US youth goalie, England scores 8 or 9.

I don't know what you have against Carleton, you are always making the strangest comments about him. He's the most experienced player on the team, but yeah, very inexperienced.

 

The big thing is still speed of thought and speed of play, which was much better for England, especially the first 15 of each half. Our best players seem to be in their neighborhood. Our lesser players were mystified by it.

 

I'd take Klinsmann over Garces for sure. Especially on ceiling.

Garces made a lot of good saves today. But how many corner kicks can the other team take without the goalie coming up, snatching one, rolling around for 17 seconds, waving off his defenders, bouncing it a few times, and finally punting, to give his team a breather and break the opponents' rhythm? He needs to command his box better.