[QUOTE="Gooch_Onyewu, post: 37535111, member: 120615"]Griff Dorsey starting tonight. Could really improve his standing with a strong showing tonight maybe. Akinola on the bench.[/QUOTE] Oy.
If everybody is fit and available, then they're out. We can't replace anybody listed in @bshredder 's roster with Akinola or Dorsey. But if we start picking off players due to inclusion in the full USMNT instead (Weah, Sargent, etc.) and the inevitable injury or two (knock on wood).............then they're in the mix for the roster. Still it would have to be multiple issues. You'd still go to a guy like Llanez over Akinola. I do think Ayo has some tools, and I hope TFC gives him playing time this season. There's "something" there...............
Ayo is liked by Ramos for his leadership. He will probably make the roster along with Real, for that reason, over better players. Dorsey was as invisible and ineffective last night as he was in qualifying. I don't think he is anywhere near the U20 roster and I doubt he has much of a career as a pro.
I think Akinola is there for physicality. Can't have every player be a skilled but slight of build guy. It has to be a mix. When he's in there he's banging and he's a problem in a different way for players to defend than Llanez. In my opinion that's an advantage the US has on most other countries. So many different people to draw from to create a well balanced squad.
Guessing everyone has seen Richie Ledezma keeping the door extremely open to an El Tri call up. We're all assuming that he's in Tab's plans for Poland... but do we think there's any chance he gets a U-20 call from Mexico?
Again, Tab has been in consistent contact with him. He said Tab told him to be ready to go to Poland. It’s highly unlikely he goes to Poland with Mexico when he hasn’t even heard from them
When I spoke to Ledezma in January, he said he hadn't heard from the Mexican federation yet. Meanwhile, he's been part of the United States U-20 team all cycle - except when injured. If he bolts for Mexico right now, when they've been ignoring him and the U.S. has been calling him up, then he's just not into the U.S. team. People always talking about dual-national "recruiting battles" but in some situations, the fact that there is even a battle reveals a lot. It's quite telling if a guy is a regular with one country and is willing to leave them quickly for another country he hasn't ever played with (or heard from) yet. A dual national shouldn't ever want to completely shut the door another country (because it might soon become his only option), but typically they make it clear they like the set up they are in. When they don't... I think Ledezma will play for the U.S. team but the love for El Tri is strong and powerful in a lot of Mexcan-American households.
Ledezma was likely aware that a Spanish language article would be more accessible to Mexico fans. His response was ambivalent but it wasn't glaringly pro-Mexico. If anything he seemed to have a keen understanding that the competition is really deep in this squad. He refused to consider himself as having a certain WC spot. Which is also a powerful motivator for him keeping the doors open.
He'll last longer than just this year because he'll get a minimum of two shots in MLS... some team will pick him up for being a "class act" who brought a sick kid up on stage for his SuperDraft speech. I'd bet on the Revs or Houston. Not that there's any info about Dorsey spending time with the kid on his own, or doing any sort of charity work in general, just that the entire Indiana team met with the kid, but many people are impressed by that sort of thing... https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...riffin-dorsey-thanks-inspirational-6-year-old Comment under the article: The contrast between Dorsey's remarkably mature, thoughtful and inspiring comments and those of the top pick, Frankie Amaya, could not be any more pronounced. Dorsey seems like a real class act. I wish him all the best with TFC.
Yup. If a player that's been in USYNT programs for an extended period of time switches to Mexico (our biggest rival) at his first available opportunity.......................what does that say about his commitment level to us? And is that they type of player we want playing for us? If I'm not mistaken, Richie didn't play in the CONCACAF U20 Championships. So he's not even provisionally cap-tied to the US, right? Anyway, I'll believe it when I see. There's always talk about these dual-nationals getting away. We do have a couple of high profile defections. Our overall "retention rate" is quite good, though.
Has Ledezma really played that much for us? Was he near the U17 team? He seemed to fly under the radar of Mexico and the USA. RSL gave him a shot, but that was at 16-17. I'm sure he was "too small" or feels like he has had to fight for everything. Mendez also didn't have that much contact but was in the LAG academy a little longer and played with YNTs more. Both Mendez and Ledezma are nothing like JoGO, who played much more with YNTs but was discovered by a LigaMX club. Ledezma is following an American path, unlike JoGo. I'm sure he is playing Fortnite with Soto and Mendez and the other Americans in and around Germany. I know Scuffed loves him, but if he wants to play for Mexico so badly, then we have other options. But I want them all haha.
Group D: Ukraine - May 24th at 2:30 PM (ET) Nigeria - May 27th at 2:30 PM (ET) Qatar - May 30th at 2:30 PM (ET)
Why couldn't they have placed Saudi Arabia in our group? Overall I think it was a pretty favorable draw. Ukraine will be good and they beat us soundly in 2015. Nigeria is always tough in youth tournaments. You never know with Qatar but should be a win.
Our group is difficult, but doable. I wouldn't want to be a supporter of a team in Group B, that's a murderers row
Kinda weird, but we get Ukraine who beat France in qualifying, and if we don't win our group (W/Nigeria as well), runner up status gets us probably France, assuming they win their group? Ouch. I imagine Mali could win that group too, but you never know in youth tournaments. Worst case scenario with our Nigeria draw, difficult Pot 3 draw, happy about Pot 4 draw. Not the worst case scenario, but not great either. Wonder who gets released for the tournament? Interesting to see the qualification paths as well. Qatar needed extra time to beat Thailand in the knockouts, but scored 4 freaking goals in extra time, which is something I don't think I've ever seen before. They then lost pretty handily to S. Korea in the semis. Ukraine beat France 2-1, and Turkey 1-0, but tied England 1-1(which got curb stomped by France, and Norway and missed the tournament entirely), and then got annihilated by Portugal. Nigeria won it's group with wins (against Burundi 2-0 and Niger 1-0 and a draw against S. Africa 0-0 but then lost after penalties to Mali in the knockout semifinals. Mali won the tournament on penalties against Senegal.
daunting group, but time to see if we are getting better and these kids are as good as we hope they are.