I dare say this class of players will be a litmus test for mls youth development more so than any other.
Agreed, but it's understandable, we've got nothing else to cheer for, and when we're not rolling around in shock and horror over the 2017 failure with the seniors, the youth teams give us hope, but then run smack dab into the quarterfinal wall that knocked down the U-20's in '03 in injury time and Extra Time, the U-20's in '07 in the rain, the U-20's in '15 in penalties, the U-20's in '17 in Extra Time, and now the U-17's in regulation. A bit too much hope riding on the 17's lead to some overreactions, to me anyway. But yeah, I'm in total agreement with you, I'm not sure how I feel about the '15 U-20's since most of them have been stalled out to one degree or another in the past two years due to injury, playing time, or simply being overrated, but the kids that formed the '17 U-20 class, and the kids that will be a potential part of the '19 U-20 class look like our best ever back to back classes, trumping the '01 and '03's as far as I'm concerned. I'm quite excited, and has been mentioned by some, one of the nicest things about this generation of kids born between about 1997 and 2001 is that combined, the classes seem to cover just about every postion. There are great fullbacks, great defensive midfielders, great playmaking midfielders, great wingers, some great forwards, and great centerbacks. Not sure about keeper, but otherwise there seems to be legit talent just about everywhere. It's not pure defense only, or pure attacking talent only and that is gonna be huge, can't remember who mentioned that, and what article emphasized it, but it was a great point. Bodes really well for us in the 2020's as long as the kids can stay healthy and progress.
The 95's (the U-20 team from two years ago you were talking about) have Miazga, Horvath, Steffen, Roldan, Gonzalez, Arriola to name a few. I think thats a rather good group of players. Maybe its not as good as '97 and later, but if we can get like 4 or 5 NT players from '95 and '96 (most will likely come from '95 because '96 is looking bad right now), I think its a good cycle of players. The improvements in the overall talent seem to have come with '97, although I think '95 is rather good, also.
The 95s are basically going to be carrying the program towards Qatar. The 1991-96 birth years outside of them are really quite poor.
'93 is pretty decent. That group has Yedlin and Brooks as starter level already. Could add Trapp, Rosenberry, Zimmerman, Saief, Parker, Polster, Davis, Campbell. If they add two or three of those latter names as regular NT call ups, thats a very good year, IMO, especially for what we should normally expect prior to the 97's. '94 and '96 are looking awful, although the '96 kids are only 21 (some 20), so I wouldn't completely write them off yet. '94 has Morris, Vincent, Lima, Bono, Hairston, Manneh, Crognale, '96 has Hyndman, Rubio, Moore, Flores, Sonora, Ford, Novakovich, Jamieson I'm actually optimistic '92 could turn into an okay year. Wood is already a regular from '92, and that year also has Agudelo, Lletget, Kitchen, Hagglund, Alvarado, Farrell, Mullins so if we could get another 1 or 2 NT regular call ups out of that group, its a fine year. I'm less optimistic about '91, as the leading candidates from that year are Ramirez, Rowe, Abdul-Salaam, Picault, Boyd, Zardes, Birnbaum, Garza, McNamara. I feel like the '92 group is more talented than the '91 group, and if a few more regular call ups were to come from one of these two years, it would come from '92.
Well some of these guys will get national team call ups, because the national team has to call up somebody. But that doesn't mean they are good players. Of all the players listed above the only ones I'd say are an improvement or equal over the late 1980s class of players are Yedlin, Brooks, Wood, Lletget and maybe Saief. The rest are really just average MLS players and their quality or lack there of is a big reason we struggled to qualify.
Just for shits and giggles who would win a 1990-95 vs 95 and after game --------------Wood Nagbe-----Corona------Lletget ---------Trapp--Kitchen Garza-Brooks-Hedges-Yedlin ------------Hamid -----------Sargent Arriola---Roldan----Pulisic -------McKennie-Gonzalez K. Acosta-Miazga-Glad-Adams ----------Horvath The 95s struggle at striker. There's basically just a bunch of MLS reserves, unless I'm forgetting someone. The centerbacks are obviously not very experienced but otherwise they have far and away the best player and a much better midfield. Would be a good game.
Yep, 1995s are short on strikers but I would play Novakovich before Sargent. Even Rubin or Green would be better. Wright would also be another option. Also, Siebatcheu is really interesting.
Now it's apparent the U17 walked into the buzzsaw that is the England attack. Who knows if they were only final 8 quality. They might have been final 4 quality or better this cycle but England is utterly destroying Spain in the final. Lost to the eventual semifinalists in the U20 event this cycle too. I'd say the youth a trending up in general.
The contrarian viewpoint might be that the US has turned out two good classes in a row with a developmental system in it's infancy. If it keeps getting better they could become a force. Time will tell if it's two goldenish generations or a real trend.
ScoutedFootball didn't put any of our players on the team of the tournament or bench. Carleton made the honorable mentions, of which there were 12 listed. Only 3 of the 18 that made the "team" were from teams that didn't make the SF's (Adli as a starter, Ibrahim and Arp on the bench) and only 4 of the HM's were from teams not in the SF's (Montenegro, Dheeraj, Rolon, Carleton), so if we had made the SF, they probably would've given our players (Carleton, Sargent, Durkin, etc.) more recognition.
I feel like maybe it's working out for Sargent so far, even if he didn't make some guy's list of players, unless perhaps this particular list comes with a coupon for a year of free burritos or something. And I don't say that lightly -- I know how important lists are to some folks around here!
Its not "some guy", its a legitimate publication. Lets not disparage them, they do very nice work, and give a ton of attention to young American players compared to other publications. I don't personally agree with their assessment of the XI, bench and honorable mentions, but I understand the thought process.
I have more of a general u17 cycle takeaway, which is there could be a good bit of players who were snubbed or not called in that could end up being very good. There was more depth this cycle than I've seen before. Hope next cycle matches this one.
Chipotle's sponsorship of the MLS Homegrown program lapsed last year. No wonder Sargent wanted to sign abroad.
Not sure if this is the right place, but I was wondering if anyone has heard anything on Blaine Ferri or George Acosta. Acosta turns 18 on friday FWIW.
Just as a recap of where these guys are now, roughly 4 years after their WC tournament (which is scary, as I remember it like it was yesterday): GK: Justin Garces: Will be a senior at UCLA in the fall. Maybe then we'll get to see him in MLS. He was pretty competent so I'd be excited to see him. CJ Dos Santos: Seems to be a bench player now to Benfica B. If I was an MLS club I'd look into him since it seemed for a while there that he was making great progress. Alex Budnik: Was second team all Ivy at Dartmouth in 2019 as a sophomore, but I'm not sure what he's been doing the past year with no Ivy sports. DF: Jaylin Lindsey: Still on KC. He's started the first two games, but Zusi is hurt, so who knows if he'll ride pine behind Graham again this year. Hopefully not. Chris Gloster: Went to Hannover, moved to PSV, and didn't do much. He's back at NYCFC now but behind one of the better LBs in MLS. Hopefully he gets minutes and develops but it's not the best place to be in MLS, although it is close to home for him. James Sands: Still on NYCFC, and healthy again. If he recovers his 2020 form he should be off to Europe soon. Tyler Shaver: Looks like he played a year of college soccer and Stanford and then decided it wasn't for him. What's good for him, though, is it looks like he's got an internship consulting at BCG, so he'll be just fine. Chris Durkin: Got sold from DC to Belgium for about $1m a couple summers ago, and is a key player for Saint Truidinse, a relegation candidate. Sergino Dest: Exceeded expectations, and after establishing himself as a starter at Ajax got sold for ~$23m to Barca where he's now a starter. Pretty solid random dual nat pickup, I'd say. Akil Watts: Bounced around at Mallorca for a little before moving to Louisville in the summer of 2019, where he just won the starting job for them in midfield to start off the season. MF: Blaine Ferri: Went from Solar to Greuther Furth when he was of age, moved back to Miami last year and played USL1 for Fort Lauderdale, but he left in December. His twitter bio now says SLC, which I take to be Salt Lake City, but I'm not sure what else he's doing. Andrew Carleton: Released, appears clubless at the moment. George Acosta: Still owned by Miami, on loan in USL1. He's a starter there. Taylor Booth: Appears to be lighting it up on loan in Austria with St Polten, which is the worst team in Austria, but still, it's pro minutes in Europe. Indiana Vassilev: Did get a freak runout with Villa in the premier league last year, but now he's not really playing in League Two for Cheltenham. Chris Goslin: For the life of me I have no idea what Chris is doing. He's been without a club since early 2020 and still lives in Atlanta according to his twitter bio. FW: Ayo Akinola: Blew up in MLS is Back, then cooled down, but is still regarded as a starter in Toronto. He was hurt to start the season but hopefully he gets back into things and gets a move to Europe this year. Josh Sargent: Sargenting around in Bremen. Not really much else to say. Tim Weah: Could win his 4th league title in 4 years with his 3rd team with Lille (PSG, Celtic the others). Bryan Reynolds: Now a rotational RB at Roma after being sold from Dallas after a breakout year in MLS. Jacobo Reyes: Looks like he played a year or two of college soccer at Portland before moving back to the Monterrey U20 team.