PBP: 2017 Nike International Friendlies, US vs. England, 11/29, 7 PM EST

Two games in a row vs. England...

 

I haven't seen a single one of these guys play before, so I'm excited to see how they perform.

 

Check out @ussoccer_ynt’s Tweet:

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Pumped to see Busio

 

He’s probably not as good as the hype. At least not yet

 

Aaand the YouTube stream stopped right before kickoff

 

None of them ever are, really.

 

Looks like they’re trying to make Busio a 10. Wonder if that’s just cuz Reyna is out

 

15 minutes in this doesn't look like a very exciting group for the US. All the players are solid, but definitely no future Pulisic among them. Don't think I've seen a US attacker beat someone on the dribble yet.

 

Keep in mind these kids are 15, this is their first u17 game, and it’s against a good opponent. Probably too early to be making those kind so of assumptions.

So far, I’ve been been impressed that we’ve controlled play and been mostly good defensively.

 

Body language doesn't look good. But I remember a similar game from the previous group so no worries yet.

 

Every single chance England has had has been because of an awful mistake by one of the US CBs. Judge has been absolutely horrible

 

Only watched about half of the first half, but seemed like a pretty boring and unathletic group (outside of Bello and Las).

 

I thought #7 Fuentes Perez showed some flashes.

 

First half thoughts:
Las had two amazing saves. He's certainly quite vocal and not shy about letting his teammates know they messed up.
I really like Busio and Perez. They haven't been super neat and tidy with the ball, but they look like slashers. They're fun to watch.

 

Why wait 15 minutes, Let's make sure we make snap judgments quicker than that. We can do better than that.

 

Fuentes is dynamite!

 

I think a few were questioning what I was saying about Las after that CONCACAF tournament, but I don't think anyone's questioning him anymore. This is his normal level of play, he played this well during the U-15 tournament in Italy that we won, he was our best player. Those CONCACAF tournaments can be weird for keepers, you really only get one game where you'll face shots. You have a bad game there, thats it for the tournament. IMO, as we start to play more and more teams that can play with us, people will start to recognize that Las will win this team games by himself.

And as I've mentioned before, the offense from this specific group is near putrid. There's just not much to threaten a quality side. We actually have some good '02 and '03 attackers, they aren't in this roster though. I still do like Ocampo-Chavez, he has a very smart approach and he will always get himself chances because he makes good runs and reads defenders well. Scally had an excellent half, he's a really good player, so athletic, good offensively and defensively. Our best offense with this roster is probably the two full-backs going forward, which says a lot about the attacking mids. Bello had a quiet half, but he's still very good. CB's held up fine, they are both good players. Overall, our back line and keeper are our strength. The CM's are not good enough to control possession. This team is going to play a lot of low scoring games this cycle IMO, if this is the group we'll mostly be using.

 

Reyna was mostly playing as a RW for this group, and Fuentes as a #10. Fuentes doesn't have the athleticism to play wide, nor is he exceptional creative. He can hold the ball some, not a bad player in possession, I don't know why he wouldn't be playing centrally, if you are going to play him. Thats what he's best at, keeping control of the ball, circulating it in the attacking third.

Busio is rather versatile, I think you could probably put him anywhere in any of the front four positions.

 

We haven't controlled play, but we haven't looked terrible either. A little too much panic to cross right away. We don't have any dominate air at forwards so I don't know why we are looking to cross so much. Control the ball out wide, wait for the team to move up and control the ball in their final third. Saldana looks to be the weak link. Hagen quick second. Fuentes and Busio look good just need to move the ball quicker.

 

"just wide"