The roster will be similar to the last camp's roster but with the return of Leyva, Scally, Yow. I'm gonna be bold and say Jasson won't make it with Yow back. Neither will de Vries, of course. Maybe I'm wrong about either one, more likely to be wrong about Jasson. I'm gonna say Jones is on the roster with Wicky seemingly wanting to use Ocampo-Chavez at W. Jones did have the 20-yard golazo against Denmark. He's getting sparse minutes at RB Leipzig U19 so that works against him, though he may have a semi-excuse of tough competition there. He did have decent production at RBL last year. I actually think Tomkinson will be picked. He played a lot in the last camp, Wicky seems to like 3-in-the-back, seemingly in anticipation of a tough group. I'm not that high on him or anything but it also helps him that he's started playing up for Norwich U23 in PL2. So he's been doing something at club level. I think Dietz has a decent shot. He's been starting for apparently one of the top U19 Bundesliga sides. Question is if there are already enough CMs/DMs with Leyva, Saldana, Kayo, maybe toss Gray's name in if you want (I wouldn't, though he'll make it as a defender). Dietz may be one of the two guys on the very edge of the roster bubble one way or the other. I don't think Fuentes will make it. He has the YNT pedigree/legacy and a decent goal vs. Netherlands going for him, but he isn't playing in USL, is a CAM-only, and he was one of two players last camp that Wicky didn't give a start to. But he might make it simply due to being a serviceable depth option at CAM with other options not convincing either. The other who didn't start last camp was Cuevas, even with no Scally present, so I think Cuevas is likely out. I don't think Dobbelaere will make it. Armour is in, but without his post we knew he was close to a lock for Wicky.
https://www.socceramerica.com/publi...-joins-mexican-federation-as-youth-natio.html Hugo Perez joins Mexican federation as youth national team scout It’s no big deal until it is.
That's pretty concerning news when a # of the top youth talents are Mexican-American duals, i.e.: Pepi, Leyva, and Araujo. I don't think think they should be given preferential treatment on call-ups, but this should increase the impetus to keep in touch with them and make sure to give call-ups/p.t. as soon as appropriate.
I agree. He does, so that makes this a splashy signing for the FMF, but the real lesson is to take the personalities out of this and look at this theoretically. Every coach, every scout that we develop to work with the Spanish speaking portion of our soccer population are now being developed to potentially work against us for Mexico. Pereda, Gonzalez - they are all fair game. Mexico just need figure out who needs the opportunity the most. Hugo Perez is just the first in a long line of people over time. Why spend money developing their own US scouting network when we can develop it for them. I know that a lot of readers don’t feel comfortable acknowledging problems before the federation understands them, but for those with the common sense to see this for what it is, this is no small problem over time. You just need to take the personalities out of it to see it - too big of an ask for some.
Just so that we are clear, I agree with you completely. I am just concerned that, like the cigarette companies did for so many years, there are those who try to re-frame the issue as one of “personal opinion”. That seems to be a popular tactic for some who, once they have created the illusion of subjectivity, can portray anyone getting too far out ahead of them as some kind of chicken little. I usually agreed with your posts and use them to piggyback on. As both you and the Duke of Soccer pointed out, this could really impact the U17 age group disproportionately. We are in a weaker position than some want to acknowledge. Mexico aren’t good at sniping our best prospects yet, but this shows that they are getting better.
Well the US needs to steal some of their scouts then. Fair game. Also, I'm not as much on the Perez bandwagon as others. Why is not still in El Salvador? Is he actually committed to anyone, any country? Hate to say but he reminds me of the LAG brothers who were mainly propping themselves up. Be for something. Be honorable or quit and go work for the club or country you prefer instead of being upset if club / country don't do everything your way.
I know you said this somewhat tongue in cheek, but we don’t need to steal anything. Our Fed needs to realize that scouting is a)one of the most important functions in player development and b)really difficult to do unless you are all in. I’m involved in the game and rarely do I see US scouts at youth games, unless there is a camp around the corner. It happens, but not as often as one would think. It is certainly miles away from Europe where you may see half a dozen scouts (Fed and club) at a U15 training session. Scouting in the US is difficult due to the geographical size, but anyone with half a soccer brain can cross 95% of kids off a list the first time they see them play. There is no reason these other 5% of kids shouldn’t been seen nearly every weekend. Instead of building a scouting network with a high volume of scouts that have the ability to see a ton of matches, we fill slots with college coaches or college assistants that don’t have weekends available. There should be 150-200 players per age group U15 and above that are scouted nearly every weekend. If club coaches feel they have a player not on that list, they should be beating down the Feds door to have them watch their player. The recent article by Tenorio in The Athletic is right - Munich was taking about their partnership with FCD and the Munich Academy Director was saying it would take 150-200 scouts to properly scout the US. Why does our Fed think they can do it with a fraction of that?
I would think it would be much more efficient to leave most of the scouting to the MLS clubs (yet another reason homegrown territories needs to happen). If every MLS team has a scouting department with 5-10 scouts, you get your 150-200 scouts scouring the country right there. In the meantime, using college coaches makes sense because those are the ones out recruiting and watching these games. Unfortunately, this "solution" has serious limitations and is not a good long term plan at all.
The USSF relies on "home court advantage." Rightly or wrongly, they assume top quality players will be referred to them in the natural order of things.
Sorry, can’t agree with that at all. Too much politics involved. These same MLS clubs that are still playing ridiculously low wages to most players are no supposed to do a job for the Federation? They are always going to push their players to the NT set up, and they should it’s their job and they can create value for their asset. I can’t see a scenario where this works.
So a national team scout finds a brilliant 15 year old. He invites him to a U16 camp. Player plays well at the camp. Then what? The national team doesn't have the resources necessary to follow through on what players need to develop. EDIT: Let me also elaborate.... When I say MLS, I am really talking about the professional structure, not just MLS. USL teams should be just as heavily involved. If a player doesn't want to get locked in to a five year MLS contract, sign for two or three with a USL team.
Do they not have the resources or have they not invested, budgeted in the right areas. In a perfect world, regional Fed scouts are given an evaluation of the player at the U16 camp done by the YNT staff. Over the next several months, these scouts attend several training sessions and matches to see the player with his club. The region scouts stay in constant communication with the club as to improvement items and performance. In short, the club has to do the developing, but there is no reason it can’t be a collaborative approach. I mean, USSF and MLS collaborate on pretty much everything else...including bank accounts.
The key resource is an actual team that plays a professional schedule and writes checks. They should bare the scouting responsibility. Especially since, as you say, they are also doing the developing. The national program needs to identify talent specifically for them, which means that they need a completely different scouting apparatus than the the one that is comprised of all those that belong to professional teams which should cover every nook and cranny of the country.
https://soyreferee.com/futbol/futbol-mx/mexicano-monarcas-eu-seleccion-mundial/ Sagir Arce confirms he's on the preliminary World Cup roster. According to the regulations, preliminary rosters are allowed to be anywhere from 22 to 50 players. It would be nice to see him make it. He's just one of two '02s of any nationality to have played in Liga MX so far, and he's making his first Copa MX start against Puebla tonight.
If Anderson makes it because he plays pro games, the same should apply for Arce. I wouldn’t say players who play regular first team minutes need to be on the team, but I think Arce should be on the team anyway. If we are going to say he’s not one of the top three strikers (meaning Jones is better than him), he’s better than any of the non-Reyna wingers that’ll make it. Play him off the right and let him cut in. He won’t give us much width, but does add an additional goal scorer, IMO.
European clubs have interest in '02 US U17 CB Nico Carrera. The U17 World Cup can be a platform for him to stand out in front of Euro club scouts. He's played for both US and Mexico U17 this year.https://t.co/0kZi0112iB— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) October 2, 2019
To be honest, I think Hugo has an axe to grind. I can't be 100 percent sure, but I'm pretty confident that USSF/SUM has blackballed him from any pro coaching jobs in the States (just like guys like Peter Wilt and Johnny Moore won't ever work in MLS again). He burned them so they retaliated. He also has connections in El Salvador so I wouldn't be surprised if he recommends some players to them if they don't have Mexican heritage but the parents were born in El Salvador. I also know of 3 Quake players that were invited to the Mexican ID camp in LA but the invitations that were sent to the Quakes' front office were not announced to the players and parents until the day before the camp and basically the team lied to them about when they recieved them because the team clearly did not want their players to go. This is going to have consequences with not only those players but other Hispanic families that decide not to play DA ball for the Quakes. Some Mexican American players from other local DAs did attend the camp. SUM needs to realize that not only are these players being syphoned off from the US national team, but that the Mexican Federation is using these ID camps as a scouting combine for Liga MX teams. Hugo himself mentioned how many Liga MX teams sent scouts to watch to a parent I know and it was almost all of them. If MLS wants to retain these players, they will need to show why it's better to play in the US than Mexico.
Not backing MLS or US national team here but I've been pretty underwhelmed with kids that have gone to teams in Mexico. How many have made first teams? During Dallas Cup players come in with numbers like 122 on their backs. That's U17's (I think may be wrong here). I get the impression they want huge numbers to distill down to a few players. Contrast that the good MLS academies and there's nowhere near that many players yet a lot are making first teams now (I did say the good academies).
Jonathan Gonzalez is basically it, though it seems Arce is knocking on the door. But there’s a plethora more Juan Oceguedo, Victor Garza, Alejandro Guido, Adrian Ruelas types. The Apertura/Clausura set up is also not good for integrating youth players because there’s a lot more pressure to win during a 17 game season.
Reyna---Pepi---Busio -----Fuentes-----Kayo ----------Leyva--------- Bello--Kobe--Carrera--Cuevas Off the bench: Ocampo-Chavez Saldana Pynadath/Yow/Freeman/de Vries Notes: I don't trust Scally to be fit. This back line might be a little too adventurous, but f it -- it's a youth tournament. This team is better off than any previous US U17, and I don't think it's even debatable. It is incredible to think that as of just the last U17 World Cup in 2017, hardly any of our players had ever played higher than DA level. To contrast that, five of these guys have started an MLS game, and all of them have played professional games in USL or in the Dutch second division for Ajax.
I'd more attribute that to the youth landscape changing and these players being raised more in a culture that actually has a clear professional advancement set up than anything. The last U17 team was pretty damn good. Getting to the quarters like they did would probably still be considered an adequate performance, although I *really* want one of our youth teams to get past that stage. It's been way too many quarterfinalists in a row now.
Definitely. It's 100% about the landscape and culture. Those are the most important parts of player development, and I think it effects the quality of the depth of our players more than anything else.
Not that I wouldn't want one of our youth teams to get past the quarters, but I'd be pretty happy if these U-17s make the quarters again. When your U-17s and U-20s are making the quarters cycle after cycle, it's probably a good indication that your prospect pool is in the top 10-15 in the world.