Tend to agree. I can see the 27 year old grizzled veteran looking over at the 14 year old and saying: "man, my tax bill this year sucked and now my wife wants us to put our 6 year old in private schools. Not to mention the ac unit just went out tat he house and those things cost 15K to replace." The 14 year old looks over and says "I got a new score on fortenight."
Shrug. I don't have any issue with U14s signing professional contracts. That's what's done in Europe. A club really has to have a good development plan in this situation, though. You can't just throw these kids in with the adults. That's a mistake some MLS clubs had to learn the hard way.
Kiner is an '02. He played a few games with the U-19's last season. #TimbersAcademy's Caleb Kiner making his first start tonight, fresh off his team debut in Colorado Springs. pic.twitter.com/7XCxVX5BRq— Portland Timbers2 (@TimbersFC2) August 12, 2019 1160752301830791170 is not a valid tweet id 1160784193095421952 is not a valid tweet id
At 5'11" and the way he looks he's probably an early maturer. Even if OCSC handles his development judiciously I wonder about his upside. The pathway to the pros is littered with early maturers. Remember Jack McBean? At 15 he already was filled out. Give me pipsqueaks at 14, 15, like Christian Pulisic.
The extra thinking and effort that late maturing players have to put in just to keep up with the bigger, stronger kids can really pay off when the late maturing kids finally catch up and, as Johan Cruyff used to say, everybody fills out eventually. The big kids often got to skip all of that thinking and fighting because they were bigger and faster - definitely a huge problem when they are older. What I am glad to see is that more and more of these independent USL teams are looking to develop talent themselves. Obviously there is a learning curve that they will have to go through, but it is nice to see them attempting it. They won’t get better at it unless they attempt it.
Do you any of you follow another team besides Loudon that has exciting USYNT youth? Kayo and that younger player are the two most exciting I’ve seen, but not sure if there’s anyone else who matches the hype.
North Texas (FC Dallas), Tacoma (Seattle), Loudoun (DCU), ATL2 (Atlanta), Bethlehem (Philly), LA2 (Galaxy), Swope Park (SKC) -- debatably in that order -- are the teams investing the most into playing their youth in USL. NYRB2 uses USL to integrate players into MLS better than anyone, but these are mostly not ynt guys with limited ceilings.
I don't find the Loudoun team that exciting. Kayo is a great athlete, but I can't help but think he's one of these great athletes at youth level that fades at the beginning of his pro career because he doesn't have much soccer talent, aside from the athleticism. Kayo looks to be leaving DC's academy, as well. I think Yow is a hard-work guy, low impact, great goal-scoring instincts from the wing, but hard work and goals is all he'll give the team. Thats not a terrible player, but watching him play you think he's worse because he adds so little from a minute to minute standpoint. Greene hasn't done bad. I think he's a good LB prospect, but aside from Nyeman, I think that Loudoun team hasn't had many good academy players in it yet. They've still yet to use Rainey and Paredes, who I think are the next best prospects in that academy, aside from Nyeman.
Ah yea I forgot about NTFC; kind of took them for granted since we’ve been talking about them all along. I’m hoping NYRB come across someone who can be integrated with the first team sooner like Tyler Adams. They seem to bring guys like Brian White when they’re 22-23; there’s a couple others just as old that I can’t remember. Can’t find the name of that 15yr old I was impressed with from Loudon, but have only seen him for a couple games.
NYRB drafted White after a four-year college career; he wasn't in an MLS academy, so he wasn't eligible to sign HG anywhere. That's not to say the team doesn't deserve credit for having him on their PDL roster or for signing him to NYRB2 and then getting him up to MLS speed, but all it would've taken for this to be a very different story was for any one of 15 other 2018 first-round picks to have gone another way. (And looking at some of those picks, I figure more than a few teams wish that were the case.)
A little "all touches" video of NTSC midfielder and sporadic USYNTer David Rodriguez. 1161402142512599045 is not a valid tweet id
They have two 03’s that have been getting regular minutes, Greene and Nyeman. I can’t find Greene’s date of birth, but he’s either 15 or 16. Nyeman is 15. You are likely referring to Nyeman. I’ve yet to see anyone state that they aren’t very impressed by his game. He’s a top tier talent.
Not much excitement in this game: ATL2 - Conway, Carleton, Reilly, Bello, Campbell all started. Vazquez subbed on. Nobody looked particularly good, except for Vazquez who changed the game when he came on. It was Bello's third start in a row, I think, so he is probably close to being back with the first team. Carleton was awful. Swope Park - Lindsey, Rad, Pulskamp, Freeman all started. Jacob Davis came on and looked lively, but also gave up a bad own goal. Lindsey looks healthy, but he doesn't look nearly as mobile and athletic as he did as a U17. Freeman had some good moments, but Pynadath seems to be playing well and could very well take his roster spot before U17 World Cup, where Freeman would be playing up a year.
I liked Davis. Despite his own goal, I think he has great technique and dynamics. He was able to get 2 assists instead of one.
Fuentes had a really good 45 minutes for Reno against Phoenix last night. Was partially at fault for Junior Flemmings' goal, but was very good on the ball against the best team in USL by far. The game was direct, physical, and fast paced, but it didn't affect him.
So got to see him a Loudoun game the other day, and while I can see why everyone loves him ... are you concerned about how passive he plays? He's clearly the most talented guy out there, but it simply seems like he'll play the balls that come to him really well, but he doesn't even try to impose his will at any time. It seems to be somewhat of new wave amongst recent US prospects -- someone like Reyna still wants to dominate but more and more seems to just sort of play their role.
What do you mean by the other day? He didn't play in the midweek game. Are you mixing him up with another player or talking about a game from a prior week? To answer your question, I'm not concerned by his play out of position. If you watch him play in an attacking midfield role, he doesn't play passively. He played more like you suggest in a holding midfield role his first game in USL, and that was the worst he's played so far in the professional game. He doesn't coach the team. He doesn't get to decide where he plays or how he plays. The configurations of the Loudoun roster make it such that Nyeman is often the one playing out of position. Alvarez and Bustamante are not going to be used as holding mids because they aren't capable of playing the position. Nyeman is capable of playing it. DC must order Loudoun to use Bustamante, so their hands are tied with the way the team is set up.
I saw him about a week ago, I think? I think it was against Charlotte. He definitely played, and he definitely played a holding mid role. He was clearly very talented, and made a couple of really nice passes that should have amounted to more ... but he also just let the game come to him when he clearly could have asserted himself more. Perhaps that's coach's direction -- I wasn't meaning to criticize. Just more of what I saw. Even from a holding mid, I'd want him to want to be on the ball more. It's good to hear he's more aggressive as a 10 -- I'd like to see them actually play him there.
Nyeman had a weak game. Rare off night for him. Yow is such a mediocre player. He adds very little. There's very little creativity there, the soccer IQ is not very good and he's an average (at best) athlete. When you consider that he's a key player in the U-17's, it's easy to see why it's a weak age group. Garay and Greene both struggled.
1162909845097521152 is not a valid tweet id Imanol Almageur is so underrated. Great performance last game and not even playing in his best position imo. Super flexible player that offers quality at either FB spot as well as in the midfield. https://t.co/EbqDniriXV— CONCACAF NATIONS LEAGUE STAN (@JordanDunathan) August 13, 2019