U17 players who made the final roster and have a senior cap: 2017: 3 (Dest, Sargent, Weah) 2015: 4 (Pulisic, Adams, Olosunde, De La Torre) 2013: 3 (Shaq Moore, Baird, Rubin) 2011: 2 (Kellyn Acosta, Arriola) 2017 is clearly above the rest, as they have a couple who could still earn NT minutes and are young. (Lindsey, Durkin, Gloster, maybe a couple others) The rest are done. And a few of those guys were never worth a callup anyway. Do you really think we'll get 3 or fewer players on the NT from this group?
Feel like an attacking central mid is missing, also rather have pynadath than yow as hes an actual winger. Also would like to see sargir arce
Interesting post about Pynadath from a Ajax supporter. TLR is that him playing for Jong Ajax is more because he is a filler than a hot prospect, but that is not necessarily a bad thing since he will play in the UEFA youth league during the U-17 world cup. a lot of "where's Pynadath?" comments on the timeline and I think this comment from an Ajax supporter on Reddit helps tamp the hype about his recent success a little -- clearly a talented player but not as can't-miss as many of you think pic.twitter.com/oRIzuiYivd— scuffed (@scuffedpod) October 10, 2019
I'd say Reyna, Kobe, and Busio are locks to get a senior team cap at some point with a handful of others being in the mix. I don't think this roster lacks talent, at all.
Aww, crap. Can someone call Ajax and tell them to cancel last week's request that they get him to be faster?
I dunno man. From what I've seen Pynadath is a defensive zero and a player whose brain switches off when he doesn't have the ball at his feet. I'm not a huge Yow fan but I don't think Pynadath's omission qualifies as a snub. He's come on for Jong Ajax in games where his side has 70 percent possession and gets to run at people. He's pretty decent at that (though not goal dangerous), but that's never going to be the game state at the U17 World Cup and he would be asked to do a ton more.
On Pynadath- the knock on him is his lack of athleticism, lack of explosive quickness, lack of strength. But his technical ability means that a club will take a flyer on him, and because of his youth maybe he'll gain some of the missing qualities. We've traditionally produced grinders. Yeah maybe some of.our grinders are better than before (e.g., Mckennie, Adams), but they're still grinders and don't have sublime technical ability. It's almost embarrassing to think that we have players on the USMNT that many other countries would never had considered if they were presented with comparable players. So, to get back to Pynadath, yes, he's worth more time, but his snub is just reflective of his current ability, and the limitations he would bring to the team.
The point about being a defensive liability might be fair -- I don't really know. But the point about being "goal dangerous" is harder to accept. In the first team scrimmage that he got it, he almost had two assists in 10 minutes -- one of those was after making a defender fall down in a 1v1 ankle breaker at the edge of the box, and the other was him winning a header at the far post played back across goal. I would really push back on the athleticism critique of Pynadath. He might be lacking strength at this point of his physical development, but his explosiveness, balance, agility, etc. look to be high caliber.
I just hope Kobe finds his way soon. It looks like he's going the Llanez, Mendez route. They list him on this roster as being with the LA Galaxy, but their DA U19 roster does not have his name, and he hasn't played for Los Dos in months. It looks like he's done with the LAG. Nobody is saying anything but I wonder if he's been training overseas, and just biding his time until he turns 18. Stay tuned...
It's true he can beat a guy and play a good ball across. Those highlights from the first team scrimmage were eye-popping to me too, and he played some nice crosses in his Jong Ajax minutes too. This gives me pause. But what I meant by goal-dangerousness is the ability to score goals himself. Hasn't been able to do that at any level with any consistency. And I just think his off-ball movement, his combination play, his commitment to defending -- all pretty bad. I could see an argument for bringing him on as a late-game sub a la Uly Llanez in the U20WC, to run at people and gin something up. But I don't mind Wicky omitting him.
NYCFC with 4 players from their system (if you include Gio who came through) on this roster. That academy system is starting to rival FCD.
Starting? Haven't they won DA championships in back to back years now? Matt Pilkington knows what he's doing. Lots of former players from his time at Bethesda-Olney in the pros. They've clearly taken over the mantle from NYRB, who completely lost momentum. I don't know the reason as I'm watching from afar, but it sure seems NYRB has had leadership challenges.
That is likely. Also likely that Wicky thinks Busio can do the job centrally in place of Fuentes even though Busio's listed as a forward. Either that or Fuentes was mainly considered as a wing option due to lack of defensive presence, and he isn't nearly as good there as he is at the 10 from an attacking perspective.
I read a few weeks back that he’s trained at Wolfsburg, a club that’s scouting the American market hard. Llanez, Edwards, and rumored to be where Kayo lands when he turns 18 as well. And KHF should have even more suitors after the WC.
No, they aren’t. They had a good age group (and have the best youth coach in the country). FCD produces better players year after year. Equaling them in one age group and winning youth titles doesn’t make an academy as good as them.
Wicky is not a good coach. I don't see this team going far in the tournament, too many good players were left out IMO.
I don’t think he means the low pay route. It’s the back and forth training in Europe until turning 18 like Mendez, Llanez, McKennie, Sargent route. Kobe can’t sign in Europe until June 26.