Yeah, our U15s won the Delle Nazioni tournament in Italy. Defeated Slovenia, Russia, Portugal, and England -- all without Alvarez, who was with Mexico's U15s at the same time. Reyna was probably the MVP.
FCD is just so loaded and so well coached. The average player that nobody has heard of on FCD team is substantially more talented than on many of their opponents. I think that's what makes the difference for FCD. The quarterfinal against Colorado was a dominant display, this was a tighter contest. I don't think FCD played to their maximum, They have the best defensive unit in the DA and the forward line of Ferreira, Reynolds, and Padilla is just ridiculous. I don't know how Padilla doesn't have any youth callups. He's now up to 28 goals in 24 games. He was born in the US. Its one thing if he can't break into the U17 lineup. But to have no callups? And its not a surprise. He was amazing last season for the FCD U15s. We've been talking about him for a while. When one watches this team, which player looks more impactful................Reynolds or Padilla? I remember @ussoccer97531 asking me quite a while ago who the best FCD 2000s were and my answer was Ferreira and Padilla. So its not like we can say this has come out of nowhere and he just hasn't had time to break into the U17s. A player really growing on me with this team is the goalkeeper Collodi. (a 2001) He's been a US youth international, most recently with the U16s in June. I remember his performance at the GenAd Cup when FCD beat Real Madrid. Whew. He's got some real potential. FCD should be favored in this game against Atlanta, but it should be pretty close. Once you get past the stars for Atlanta's team, I think FCD edges it in the talent department. And as folks know, I've made the controversial statement that I think Ferreira is a better prospect than Carleton anyway. As far as Carleton and Ferreira..............................the notion that they're playing in U16 DA games should remind us how really young they still are. And I know we want them to be playing in MLS games, but these are some really young guys still that are trying to break into MLS first teams of international caliber players. Ferreira would need to beat out a guy like Tesho Akindele (a Canadian international) or Lamah (who's been capped by Belgium) or Barrios (who currently LEADS MLS in assists). By the way, Barrios is tied with Sanchez of TFC for the league lead in assists. Who's in 3rd? That would be Carleton's competition in Atlanta......................Yamil Asad.
By the way, just a thought about the state of FCD's academy system right now.............they're going for a unique double. They won the girls' national championship on the U16 level. So they're gunning for both the girls and boys national titles at that level. That can't have happened before. Surely not. The U16 ECNL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS FOR THE 2016-2017 SEASON.... FC DALLAS 🥇🏆 #ECNLFinals pic.twitter.com/jWVssieHsF— ECNL Girls (@ECNLgirls) July 8, 2017 BTW.........Oscar Pareja is in California with the U16 team. Oscar Pareja was here to watch @FCDallasYouth 3-0 win over @RSLAcademy in the @ussoccer_acad U16 semifinal pic.twitter.com/z7JL0OOZZ4— J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) July 14, 2017
Collodi didn't impress me with the U-16's last month. We'll see about the depth, I really have no idea which team has better depth. I think both teams have a lot of depth, maybe the two deepest teams in the country, aside from LAG who is probably around even with those two. Both teams have like at least 6 or 7 really quality players on the field, and a few stars. I still don't understand why Chris Goslin is not playing in these games. Is he injured?
I don't think it's crazy to be more excited about Ferreira than Carleton, I've watched a lot more Carleton than Ferreira and I really really like Carleton of course but I'm not sure how worried I should be about his lack of explosiveness esp considering he's a winger, there have been times where he'll pull of an impressive nutmeg or skill move but then doesn't have the ability to get past the defender and thus either loses possession or his skill is negated by the defender recovering in time to reset his positioning cuz Carleton couldn't burn past him. Having said all that Carleton is two footed, a fantastic crosser/passer, a solid finisher and has performed well at every level he's asked to perform at including the USOC game against Miami so I guess we'll see. And I'm not sure what's going on with Goslin, according to his Twitter he was maybe in the stands for the DA QF
Carleton's quick, he's not fast. Its really a non-issue. There are so many smaller attacking mids who have average speed, but can beat defenders without using pure speed. If speed comes (remember Pulisic made big speed improvements around the same age), there will be no attribute he's not good at, so thats really all thats missing. And I also think Carleton is miscast as a winger because he does cool things with the ball. #10's are not seen as so eccentric, they are seen more as methodical, efficient, wingers are seen as more so, and since Carleton has some of that in his game, people think he must play wide. He's an elite playmaker though, he plays players who aren't open, wide open from all over the field. He sees plays a few steps before everyone else. His game is more predicated on playing in central pockets in the attacking third. He's not bad playing wide, but I think its time he made the full-time switch to playing behind the CF with versatility to play wide, if needed. On Ferreira vs. Carleton, don't get me wrong, Ferreira is talented, but I think we are talking about a different kettle of fish pure skill-wise with Carleton. I like Ferreira's speed, dribbling, ball control, finishing, attacking runs from a wide position/secondary striker, but I'm not sure he's much of an all-arounder in attacking positions, I think he's more of a power winger or secondary striker. I prefer pure skill from attacking mids, thats just my preference, so I even have Pomykal over Ferreira at FCD because he's more of an all-arounder. Both Carleton and Ferreira are very good, hopefully they are playing in the same team soon, for me they are the two best players in the country in the '00 year, although I think Garces is creeping up on Ferreira for 2nd. I really like Garces game. He's one of the first American keepers who's good with his feet.
Yeah, I agree, I'm not sure why tab doesn't have him play more centrally as an attack oriented field general. And just to be clear I'm not down on Carleton or anything, I just occasionally worry about his seeming lack of acceleration and thus can see how someone might put Ferreira higher in terms of ceiling.
I watched the U-18 Semi finals between the Sounders and the Galaxy. You could definitely see the talent of some of the Galaxy players in the dribble in the 2nd half and in extra time. I don't have stats, but I thought the Sounders looked the better team in the first 90 minutes. They definitely were for the first half. 2nd half the Galaxy controlled the first 15 minutes then it was like a switch flipped and the Sounders were back in control until the Galaxy got a goal when Trey Muse pulled his hands back thinking a ball was going wide and the ball got by him at the near post. If he doesn't do that it stays 2-0. I think what happened coming out of the half is the Sounders didn't press like they were in the 1st half. Then 15 minutes into the 2nd half they started pressing again. Seems like it was a tactical decision? Galaxies 2nd goal was a ball zipped across the box and a runner banged it in no problem. I think Trey Muse messed up on the Galaxies 3rd goal. Gave the Galaxy attacker way too much time and space when he could have closed him down rather than backing off. Galaxy went down to 10 men after a 2nd yellow and they bunkered in quite well. Seattle lacked someone who could penetrate the defense on individual play and thus it was easy crosses for LA to deal with. === I think when Seattle was able to high press they controlled the game. But LA did get goals 2 and 3 off the counter essentially. Sounders defenders weren't good against the dribblers the Galaxy had in the 2nd half and extra time.
Llanez entered the game somewhere around 60' and was the best player on the field immediately. Seattle big forward scored both goals and was putting consistent pressure on defense. After he got injured and subbed Seattle was just hanging out.
Really boring first half. Not much has happened. Carleton had an Olimpico cleared off the line by Reynolds that was sailing into the far post, thats about it.
Yeah I saw that. Really nice play by Reynolds. He looked better in the 15 minutes I saw of the first half than he did last game
Yeah, Reynolds has been pretty good. Collodi completely botched that though. Too much of a defensive game so far. Neither team can get hold of the game, too many bad decisions, a lot of fouls. You'd really expect better, given the two teams that are playing in this game, although I think both teams have a few weak links that are letting them down.
64' | Gooooooooal! @andrewcarleton7 makes it 1-0 with a brilliant free kick! pic.twitter.com/Rni6gnNGh2— ATLUTD Academy (@AcademyATLUTD) July 16, 2017 67' | Gooooooooal! @andrewcarleton7 doubles the #ATLUTD advantage! 😱🔥 pic.twitter.com/VD8pld63f0— ATLUTD Academy (@AcademyATLUTD) July 17, 2017