Pomykal would get run over as a #8, IMO. Scott Lindsey-?-?-Gloster Durkin-Adams Pomykal Taitague-Sargent-Carleton CB is looking weak. #8 looks a little weak, but not terrible. Attacking mids and #6's look great, striker, GK, full-back is looking good.
Yeah, I was thinking that, as well. We certainly don't have the CB depth at the moment for next cycle that we have for this season. I don't know for sure, but the fact that he didn't play any games for the U-23's this season nor start any of the UEFA youth league games tells a story, IMO.
So yeah.....................this just happened. US U17 Jesus Ferreira just became the youngest goal-scorer in FCD history. 871183321736376320 is not a valid tweet id
Second youngest in MLS history behind..................you guessed it, Freddy Adu (who was probably in his mid 20's at the time).
I am willing to bet a million bucks Weston McKennie will have a Pulisic-esque breakout season next year. He'll make the 2018 WC squad.
I think you may be favoring '00s based on familiarity, and that's probably fine for now since our knowledge of '99s is pretty limited. I'd throw in Mark McKenzie as a candidate at CB since he's already playing quite a bit for Bethlehem Steel. But hey, why discuss this here? I hear it's time for a new thread soon....
Its a good call. I don't know if it'll be as dramatic as Pulisic's breakout, but he should get playing time with the Schalke first team next year. And if he does, he should earn a USMNT call. What's true is that there's more competition at his position than Pulisic had at his when he broke thru with the USMNT. There are quite a number of young and youngish central midfielders that Arena is giving opportunities to(on top of the regulars like Bradley). Acosta, Trapp, Roldan, etc. are getting a chance at the Gold Cup. Emerson Hyndman advanced this year, and 2017-2018 will be a big year for him. He needs to step up. And other U20 central midfielders just had a good World Cup. Tyler Adams and Derrick Jones did really well. We should just hand over the development of central midfielders to FC Dallas......... Hyndman, McKennie, Acosta, Ulloa, Pomykol....................... The next in line is Brandon Servania. I've been hearing rumors about him that I don't want to divulge yet. [Sorry for that.]
I think the 99's are extremely weak. I'm favoring the 00's because I think there are very few actual good 99's.
It all depends on first team playing time. I think we have like 10 guys younger than 20 who are in position to get playing time for a good club in Europe (and a few in MLS) who if they became regulars or semi-regulars should be getting Senior NT call ups, but none of them have yet. I think they are all really close, but really close sometimes doesn't even always equal getting a chance. You just don't know.
Also assuming if they aren't too hot to have not graduated from the youth teams at that point, ala Pulisic. I think a couple of them will have.
Its also possible that we're going to have a more robust U23 program starting shortly in order to avoid the pitfalls that recent Olympic qualifying teams have encountered. This is a good "holding pen" for these youngsters that are too old for the next U20 cycle, but not yet ready for USMNT callups. I mean.........................its pretty surprising how few USYNT callups Weston McKennie has had overall. He had less than 10 caps combined on the two youth teams that matter the most (U17s and U20s). We need to get him involved in the program even if he's not ready for the full USMNT.
Hyndman is not on the Gold Cup roster. Has anyone heard any reason for this. I've heard it assumed that USS wants to leave him in England this summer to fight for a starting spot. But has that officially been acknowledged? All I've seen is Bruce saying there are good guys in MLS, why roll the dice on maybe better players in Europe.
A) Foot Injury towards the end at Rangers. Don't know how ready he'd be for the Gold Cup. B) So that he can be raring to go with Bournemouth in the pre-season. 2017-2018 is going to be a big year for Hyndman. Will he win a spot with Bournemouth for the Premier League season and continue to advance? Or will he not win a role with Bournemouth and be sent out on loan in a lesser league again? A lot hinges on performances in pre-season.
Yes, obviously the foot injury is the probable answer, but why not ask Bruce? Why not acknowledge his season and put him on the 40, if he can't play then you don't include him in the 23. If anything, bring him in and let our doctors look at him. If he is leaving him there to "fight for a spot", then why is Miazga here? What about Gooch? Bruce seems to be going down the road of, "MLS guys are good enough, if you go to Europe, out of sight out of mind".
I don't think its that at all. That might be overanalysis........................... Bruce has said he knows how important it is for some of the guys to in pre-season with their clubs. Maybe he spoke to Emerson, Miazga, Gooch, Pulisic, etc. and got their thoughts on the matter.................and took that into account for his roster selection. I'd also note that I think its funny that we think its OK to grab whatever players we want from MLS (who are mid-season!!!!) while we accept that its important for our European players to be in pre-season for their clubs. Pre-season!!! We talkin' bout practice?!!
My head is with CCV because I think he is the best combination of high ceiling, polish, physical readiness and settled, trusted club situation with a coach who is among the absolute best at trusting and integrating young players. My reservation is that he backs up the best CB pairing in the premier league with Eric Dyer now being the primary backup with the emergence of Wanyama in the #6 role. He seemed to beat out Wimmer and if they actually sell the Austrian and with all the European and cup games, he may actually break through this coming year. My heart is with McKennie because I love what I have seen so far.
Antonee Robinson, Lyndon Gooch, Emerson Hyndman, Matt Olosunde, Matt Miazga, Gedion Zelalem, Kyle Scott, Brooks Lennon, and Cameron Carter-Vickers are all on their club's Retained List. That is the lists of EPL players that will be kept for next year.
To be honest, I bet Liverpool is hoping RSL buys Lennon outright. He's not going to get any playing time there. Kyle Scott is another I have a hard time seeing at his club. The best we can hope for is that Chelsea makes him part of their loan army.
Acosta got 120 minutes in the latest WCQs and looked like he belonged. I wonder if given the same opportunity in the next game, if he will clean out Chicharito rather than put in a lame poke tackle... Arriola started against Mexico and was ok. Certainly didn't seem over-awed. Sounds like Tijuana has had a lot of roster turnover; but he is still there.
As far as Acosta goes, he's earned a place in the USMNT going forward. [He's really too advanced to be considered a breakout youngster anymore. He's played over 100 games for FCD................and has 8 caps.] These exciting talents we have following Acosta in central midfield like McKennie and Adams have a really good target to aim at. That's what we want: The younger players all driving themselves to be better than the next guy. Do those two have the potential to be better than Acosta? Sure do. We'll see if it happens.