I think a good part of it at this point is the pool. Back in 2015/16 people were talking about the "best pool ever" and mentioning the likes of: - Rubio Rubin ("he about to be bought by a big club, still in Utrecht but that won't last!") - Gedion Zelalem ("When have we had kids in Arsenal? Any day now he breaks into the first team!") - Julian Green ("He's showing well in the summer friendlies, he'll be getting some Bundesliga minutes this season!" - Bobby Wood ("He's having such a great season with Union, he'll be moving up soon...") - Kenny Saief ("Only 21 and already starting for Gent, he's going to be a definite upgrade on the wing!") - Russell Canouse ("He's about to move to the main club, help them avoid relegation...") - Matt Miazga ("He may not play for Chelsea, but is going to get loaned to some other Premier club...") - Erik Palmer-Brown ("Just a matter of time until Porto promotes him to the main team...") - Cameron Carter-Vickers ("He was amazing against Colombia, unlucky for us to lose in QF to the champions, Serbia, but that team is full of amazing talent...") - Emerson Hyndman ("His discipline in midfield is going to be important for Fulham once they get promoted again...") - Terrence Boyd ("Leipzig has money and aspirations, he's going to have a great chance to play with top players around...") - Aron Johannsson ("Too bad he got injured, but once he's healthy again, he's going to be a star in the Bundesliga.") - Joe Gyau ("About to break any moment now in Dortmund's first team...") - Josh Gatt ("He's coming back any day now, in time for the Europa League games...") - Jordan Morris ("He's going to be in Bremen, a solid Bundesliga team!") - Jerry Kiesewetter ("Just debuted in the BuLI, there is plenty of interest for him, Düsseldorf and Hertha...") - Luis Gil ("The kid is amazing, he has great vision, he's leaving for Europe any day now...") - Matt Besler ("He showed great in Brazil, for sure he'll go to Europe this winter, at worst next summer, he's already 28 but...") - Mark Pelosi ("Only 21 and has a great shot to be an impact player for the Quakes...") - Desevio Payne ("Already getting promoted from the Groningen academy, now AZ, PSV or Feyenoord will be coming for him.") - Kellyn Acosta ("He'll be in Europe this summer, no doubt...") - Romain Gall ("Just turned 20 and the big Euro clubs are coming for him.") - Junior Flores ("About to make the big jump, with Gyau, into the main Dortmund team...") - Matt Polster ("He's wasted with the Fire, he needs to move to Europe ASAP...") - Maki Tall ("Ligue 1 clubs are scouting him, if Lille doesn't give him a chance someone else will...") - Gboly Ariyibi ("There is some serious interest in him by Reading.") - Lynden Gooch ("Already made the bench with the main team, any moment now he'll be playing in the Premiership.") - Caleb Stanko ("Now that Freiburg got relegated, he'll have his shot to get them up to the BuLi again!") - "Benji" Joya ("The kid is amazing, and with Necaxa has a chance to shine in the MX...") - Joel Soñora ("He's moving to the Bundesliga from the Boca academy, it's the golden path...") - Josh Perez ("With the Fiorentina academy, his future is bright!") And so on. The problem is that it was not so much that we got a "lost generation" and we're just recovering from it, but that so far we had one "golden generation" and I don't have much reason to think the trend of players who don't pan out is about to stop. We cannot do much with only a handful of World Cup (Group Stage) quality players, and right now that is all we got. I can understand the wishful thinking of imagining those guys "about to break out" are amazing, but we have a history in the last 5 years of producing a huge number of flops. Yes, all countries got flops, but the rate is like 5 to 1. For us, it's approaching 20 to 1.
The U23s failed to qualify for the '16 Olympics; doubt there was much of a brainwave for claims of that group's great future.
It's not difficult to throw together a quality, 3-deep system an example 4231: ---------------------------------------Morris/Sargent/Altidore------------- ---------Pulisic/Weah/Rodriguez/Ferreira/Lletget/Green/Arriola/Boyd//Holmes ------------Adams/Morales/Roldan/Yueill/Parks/McKennie/Pomykal/Servania--- ----ARobinson/Hollingshead/---------------------------------------------------Yedlin/Cannon/Lima ------------------------Brooks/Ream/CCV/MRobinson/Long/Zimmerman--- ---------------------------------------Steffen/Horvath/Johnson-----
All the names on that list at some point had hype on these boards. And keep in mind I'm excluding the newer ones (like Keaton Parks, Andrija Novakovich, or Tyler Boyd). It's an impressive list of guys hyped up in here as "up and coming" youngsters that were supposed to improve the NT, and then... nothing.
He can't see that the players he's consistently choose don't fit the system unless we're playing against much weaker opponents? He should have been able to predict that given his familiarity with MLS and its players.
The caveat being especially true when looking at the minor leagues compared to the majors. If you look athletic and/or skilled in the Big 4, it's pretty safe to say that you are athletic and/or skilled. I'm not sure why posters challenge this concept which is true across pretty much all sports: looking good in a lesser league isn't easily projectable to success at higher levels. The eye test is particularly a terrible mechanism: Vince Young looked unbeatable as the top NCAA players but washed out in the NFL without much ado. Note: this doesn't mean that all elite minor leaguers can't compete but rather that it's much more the exception that the rule.
Scouts exist to project performance from lower leagues to high. VY won rookie of the year and made a probowl. He was not the problem. He was coached by a guy who proved to be a particulary poor coach.
Yeah, VY woulda been a hall of famer with a better coach no doubt. How about Hideki Irabu and Daisuke? Scouts exist to project performance, yes. But that doesn't mean they succeed. The best/most talented/highest paid scouts work for the Big 4 league teams. Thus, they will most likely be finding the players who can "move up" before Egg and his crack team.
I don't know if our success rate is particularly worse than anywhere else. I think that we have so few real prospects to start with that we elevate a bunch of players that other countries' fans would never pay attention to to the level of prospect.
Scouts miss but not on athleticism. They know how fast you are and how quickly you can turn, they don't know if you are going to stay healthy or focused or get proper coaching. VY playing for Shanahan is probably no worse than Cutler or Plummer. Fisher never elevated anybody. Irabu was a decent starter for 2 years. Daisuke was an actually good starter for 2 years.
Ok, but they miss on the second part, skill, and how it will translate. You are a real optimist, as all three of those guys stunk compared to expectations (looking at profootballreference was pretty funny wrt Young). Again, point being, we should put our trust in the most skilled scouts making the most money, vs. the lesser skilled scouts, making less money, or even our own BigSoccer eye test.
I remember posting before 2014 that we had a problem with emerging talent replacing the Donovan generation and many pushed back. However, things are a lot different with this generation. Not so much with regards to 2019 vs 2014. Rather the difference between 2010s vs 2000s. The thing is that we don't see the difference until ten years later when the kids are already developed.
Arturo Vidal is probably my favorite non-American player other than Messi of the past decade. It's difficult to find anyone on a field who so thoroughly exudes a life and death perception of how the game's "Result" matters.
It's very easy to dance on the, "our youth prospects suck, and betting on US youth is moronic," mantra coming off the 1990-1995 Cascade Failure of the Developmental System, it's a gift that keeps on giving. Not so much for the '97 and beyond generations, time is running out on this narrative, proceed with caution. That being said, it's not like you win anything for being right, or lose anything for being wrong on an argument in these threads, I'd like to think its just an opportunity to share opinions and some times even learn something. I try to do the latter as much as possible as I know there are a lot more informed people w/regards to soccer on these boards than me. Humility is always helpful. A change is coming w/the talent pipeline, quite clearly. May take time to pay off, but it's coming. I'm just frustrated that it's being heralded in by a. totally incompetent Fed, and coaching staff at the men's level that seems to be throwing flaming logs at progress, rather than directing it forward like one of those guys w/the sticks on the flight line on an aircraft carrier. Cynicism isn't going to pay off forever, and certainly not w/the kids coming up these days.
So I tuned into a championship game because of our previous conversation where you stated that MLS is greater than or equal to and I stated I found that hard to believe as I try MLS once every couple months but it leaves a Two Girls One Cup taste in my mind I just am not seeing what you are seeing.
A change is always coming with the talent pipeline and is always going to be better. A mantra for last 20 years. Until it doesn’t. Some good players now, a lot of “eh”. Problem is that maybe we show some improvement in talent but it isn’t like the rest of the world is standing still while we are doing it.
my Spanish wouldn't qualify me for kindergarten but this was the most interesting clip (low bar) from training todayQ. What does it mean to be a CM for Berhalter?Sebastian Lletget: The position is obviously important on any team, but for Gregg, it's "extra grande." pic.twitter.com/A9KaW8N7Q8— scuffed (@scuffedpod) October 9, 2019 Lazy translation: Midfield is always very big in any team. But for Greg, it is extra big. We have to do everything. Be creative, everything. Defensively, attacking, recovering the ball, possession. So it's a very important position.
I like the conclusion but fear that Egg's understanding of brains is a player who does what Egg says. i.o.w., Steffen, Morales, McKennie and Long were using their brains in our latest Donnybrook v. Mexico as far as Egg is concerned.
It almost makes sense. It is quasi syllogistic. It is Pseudo-Valid-Logik! " I am General Egg! I have a head! Therefore I am an Egghead! Eggheads have Brains! Therefore I, General Egg, have brains. Players with Brains do what a General with Brains commands! So if a player does not do as I command, he has no brains! Mikey has Brains, Dest has no Brains! Behold the great wit of General Egg!"
The obvious move for a new coach 18 months from WCQ would be to churn through the player pool and try out lots of guys in the first year. Then start moving to an established 14 and 28. I think much of the frustration is that we didn't see Gregg do that. Maybe he did it on Y Scout or maybe he just didn't care to do it. What we've seen is him bring in 12-18 guys in January camp. Then stick with them for through every window; only adding in 6-8 elite players when they are healthy. What is also frustrating is that much of the media analysis is now stuck on the same players. Guys will be talking about Zardes, and the only name they can come up with is Ramirez, Altidore, and Sargent to replace him. Because nobody else has been called. Same with Trapp and Bradley. Until Yueill showed up, it was, "nobody else can hit that big switch, who could do it?". Now it is those three and maybe Adams could do it someday. I just saw Yedlin do it against Man United...it is so overrated. But it is overrated because Gregg overrates it. We are at the point of stagnation with the roster when we should be deep into experimentation and renewal. People looked at this Cuba game, 6 months ago, as a chance to cap tie many promising youngsters. We will not cap tie anyone. All these players are not cap tied: Dest Weah CCV Antonee Ledezma Mendez Llanez Soto Holmes One of those is hurt, one is thinking, but three of them have received far more minutes than you would expect given their previous form and club form. That we will have played 8 competitive games and not cap tied any of those players is nuts.
On who could succeed Bradley at the 6:"You look at a guy like Trapp who has the passing range or Yueill who’s young and played well vs Uruguay. Look at Tyler Adams: Can he interpret it in a different way and still be effective? Haven’t had him in camp long enough to see that.” pic.twitter.com/5g71DTodQ8— Nico Cantor (@Nicocantor1) October 10, 2019 What do we think about this? Lol..
At the national team we don’t have enough time to bring a player from one level to the next.”Berhalter is not the president of USSF. He's not responsible for properly improving the technique of 10-year old kids. His job DOES entail DEVELOPING national team players. (2/2)— Nico Cantor (@Nicocantor1) October 10, 2019 How does he say this and then call in so many MLS players???
I think he is overly concerned about hurting Trapp's feelings or he is completely and utterly delusional. I'm sure he will walk this back soon. Amazing how many dumb things he says after getting off to a pretty good start communication wise. Now, almost every time he gives an off the cuff answer it is nutty. I think this is because he is not being honest almost all the time and is feeling pressure. From, "we will have many more poor performances", to, "we made progress", to the above and many others. It is getting a little frightening.
He's right, his job is not to develop players. His job is to provide the tactics and proper coordination to make the NT win games that matter. He's doing, so far, a bad job at it. Those guys play as if they had just met, for the most part. I think he's playing mostly MLSers in part due to preference, but also due to the situation of our players abroad. Half of the good ones are always injured in time for NT duty, and of the other half, only a couple are playing at a level that makes them unmissable. Yes, yes, Trapp. But let's keep in mind that a) Mike is aging and barely international quality at this point; b) Canouse is back in the MLS after his German team tried to fit him as a CB god knows why; c) Dani Williams is with a bad team in Cyprus; d) Morales is just coming back from injury. So, after Trapp, we get to the Perry Kitchen/Matt Polster level. It's not like Egg is leaving out guys like Jermaine Jones or prime Kyle Beckerman at this point.