So, here's something. Jesus Ferreira just retweeted the group the US is in. Only thing is, so is Colombia, and he did retweet the Colombian twitter page. Your guess is as good as mine. #FCFSub17 Recuerda el grupo de nuestra Selección en India 2017: pic.twitter.com/ErISQr4eNr— Selección Colombia (@FCFSeleccionCol) July 7, 2017
In the group stage, the US will most likely be facing Tampa-born '00 Andres Perea of Colombia, who started 7 of their 9 CONMEBOL WC qualifying matches. He is in Atletico Nacional's academy. (The final WC roster hasn't been named but he'll almost certainly be on it.) US Eligible pair '00 Andres Perea (FL) & Miguel Bustos (NY) are with Colombia U17s this month #usynt— Joey (@USAprospects) December 16, 2016
We should expect to beat anyone we play, IMO, so I don't think the draw matters that much. We played India in India, which was good preparation for these kids to play in that environment, and we beat them easily. Ghana and Colombia usually have some decent players, but we still should expect wins. They are usually very athletic teams, but Hackworth plays bully ball, so we should match up well.
Was excited for our draw to start, then Colombia and Ghana happened. Superficially w/very limited knowledge of the teams, seems like: Pot A Opponent: Best Case Scenario. Pot C Opponent: Worst Case Scenario Pot D Opponent: Worst Case Scenario Looking at our fellow Pot B squads, insert us instead, and I think we got the worst draw, but maybe that's just me, and as I admitted, I'm simply going by the fact that Ghana and Colombia are currently producing excellent prospects at a rapid clip and both are just about in their zenith as international sides in recent years (granted Colombia also had an outstanding generation from around 1989-1998 or thereabouts as well, but currently this Colombian side looks close to as good and in the fullness of time, might be better). I think any group would have been better for us, but we'll see how things play out. It's not 2013 U-20 World Cup bad, it's just not good either if this Ghana is anything like what we've come to expect from them in terms of producing outstanding young soccer players and ditto Colombia. And as usual I completely disagree w/the idea that we are better than all these teams. BASED ON WHAT? Much like in the U-20's, our pedigree in this tournament has been R16 to group stage crash out w/the occasional run going deeper. We've got zero titles, and we don't have a program as effective at turning out elite young prospects in the same universe of many of the sides in this tourney, and Colombia and Ghana have easily outproduced us in terms of elite young talent over the past two decades. What evidence suggests we're better than these guys and everyone else? There is none. I hope we make a great and deep run, but I suspect we'll either crash out in the group stage, or make it to the QF's if we finish top 2, or the R16's if we are 2nd or 3rd and advance but are paired with one of the true powers. Considering we're paired with group C, seems like we avoid an auto-loss kind of pairing so long as we finish 1st or 2nd in group. So there is that. Excited to see how it all plays out, and who knows, maybe we do surprise me and in a good way, but for now I'm just happy that no matter what, our side we'll get to run out against two seemingly very legit sides in the group stage.
I get what you're saying: we've really never been that good at the u17 level, and we don't really have a barometer when it comes to comparing our u17 players to others since you can't evaluate them at the club level like you can at the senior level. Still, I think that all the signs are favorable. Sargent scored 4 goals at the u20s, which is a pretty good indication he'll be elite for the u17s. Carleton is Carleton. Akinola has similar goal records to Sargent, and they have chemistry as well. Ferreira, if he plays, has already scored at MLS level and just rips apart an ever-improving DA. In midfield, Durkin is a must start for Richmond, while Acosta and Ferri are very cerebral players with good technical skills, especially considering what we usually produce. On top of that, our 4th and 5th best midfielders are already signed to pro contracts. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what does. We could definitely struggle on defense, but I think its fair to say that our front 6 is going to look good against anyone, and to your point for the u20s: Our u20s made the QFs with our best players, including what many would consider our starting front three, not released. The u17 team made the QFs and lost to Serbia, the eventual champions, on penalties. Why be excited about this team? This team is of similar talent to that u17 team from two years ago, but with an infinite amount of pro experience more. There's no limit for these kids.
We could lose every game 5-0 and come in last, its possible, but pretty much all the evidence points to us having a pretty decent team at this tournament. The '00 year is very talented, and all the main players should be available. It contains a player who can carry the team offensively, it has maybe the best GK its had in many cycles, it has a pretty stout defense (as long as Vasquez doesn't play), its incredibly physical and athletic, and it has a goal scoring CF who produced at the U-20 WC. It also could have incredible depth, but I think Hackworth will keep most of this team the same as qualifying, so I don't expect it, but the talent is there in the player pool. This team has had a lot of success recently. This is like the opposite of the 2015 cycle where they dominated early on, and the team was in turmoil later on mostly because of the coach. We barely qualified for the 2015 tournament. We qualified easily for the 2017 tournament, and were the best team in qualifying (despite losing in the final, but the coach essentially forfeited that game with his decision-making at the end of the game). We've beat up some pretty good teams. We beat up three good teams (Brazil, Portugal and Turkey) at the Nike Friendlies. Combined score of 15-2. And these were not just reserves from those countries. Vinicius Jr. (the guy Real Madrid signed for 45M euro) was at that tournament, and was outplayed by a few US players.
I was looking at these game times, every game is either at 7:30 and 10:30 AM Eastern. I wonder if FIFA did that on purpose. It seemed like the U-20 games were all at different times. Could FIFA have done this to cater to the West being able to watch these games at normal-ish times (except for about as far west as you can go)?
Hackworth spoke on Facebook Q&A or whatever its called a few days ago. Notable things he said. There are three more camps left before the final pre-tournament camp. There's one in Atlanta, one in Portland and a tournament in Czech Republic. The final camp before the tournament will be in Bradenton. The next camp starts July 21, which is next Friday. He was asked about under the radar players, he name dropped Lindsey and Gloster
I posted this in another thread, but I thought it was an important point pertaining to the U-17's. CB's who've stepped up big time in the last 6 months. Brisco, Richards, Crain, Arteaga, Shaver, Sepulveda ('01), Araujo ('01), Rangel ('01), Toledo ('01). If at least two of these guys don't make the WC team, and our CB position is Vasquez-Sands with Durkin/Lindsey filling in at CB, Hackworth has failed the rest of the group. We've had some CB's step up. If he's not going to use the best available players and instead is just going to go with what he's went with all cycle, the U-17 NT is basically irrelevant and its just a club team instead of an all-star team of the best American players.
Sepulveda has consistently worn the captain's armband for the US U16s. He has also started for LA Galaxy II in friendlies. On merit, he should be in consideration for the U17 WC. Speaking of the LA Galaxy Academy and '01s, I think most everyone would agree that Uly Llanez ought to be in consideration for this year's U17 WC. He seems to be good friends with fellow '01 Taylor Booth, who has already had plenty of exposure with the U17s. What about '02 Efrain Alvarez? Would offering him a U17 callup be wise?
This is a pretty good description of the U17 NT most of the time, actually. I'm curious to see how the team's composition turns over mid-cycle to a greater extent next time around. The theory is that Bradenton encourages the club-ness of the U17s because the coach becomes very familiar with Bradenton guys and because the coach feels pressure to reward the guys who moved across the country and stuck it out for two years from age 15-17 down there.
Camp roster cribbed from NYRB press release: Roster by Position: GOALKEEPERS (4): Alex Budnik (Sockers FC; Arlington Heights, Ill.), Sam Fowler (Seattle Sounders FC; Issaquah, Wash.), Justin Garces (Atlanta United FC; Miami, Fla.), Quantrell Jones (Baltimore Celtic; Baltimore, Md.) DEFENDERS (9): Jake Arteaga (LA Galaxy, Glendora, Calif.), Carlos Asensio (Atlanta United FC; Roswell, Ga.), Ethan Bartlow (Crossfire Premier; Woodinville, Wash.), Sergino Dest (Ajax; Almere-stad, Netherlands), Christopher Gloster (New York Red Bulls; Montclair, N.J.), Jaylin Lindsey (Sporting Kansas City; Charlotte, N.C.), Tyler Shaver (Beachside SC; Greenwich, Conn.), Arturo Vasquez (FC Golden State; Mira Loma, Calif.), Akil Watts (IMG Academy; Fort Wayne, Ind.) MIDFIELDERS (7): George Acosta (Weston FC; Hollywood, Fla.), Taylor Booth (Real Salt Lake AZ; Eden, Utah), Christopher Durkin (D.C. United; Glen Allen, Va.), Blaine Ferri (Solar Chelsea SC; Southlake, Texas), Chris Goslin (Atlanta United FC; Locust Grove, Ga.), Indiana Vassilev (IMG Academy; Savannah, Ga.), Adrian Villegas (Portland Timbers; Hood River, Ore.) FORWARDS (9): Andrew Carleton (Atlanta United FC; Powder Springs, Ga.), Matthew Hundley (Real Colorado; Littleton, Colo.), Zyen Jones (Atlanta United FC; Clarkston, Ga.), Brayan Padilla (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas) Alejandro Pereira (Orlando City FC; Oveido, Fla.), Jacobo Reyes (C.F. Monterrey; Monterrey, Mexico), Bryan Reynolds (FC Dallas; Little Elm, Texas), Joshua Sargent (Scott Gallagher Missouri; O'Fallen, Mo.), Sebastian Soto (Real Salt Lake AZ; Carlsbad, Calif.)
Good to see Reyes of Monterrey. Looks like he's going with us despite having a multitude of Mexico YNT callups at U15, U17, U18 level.
Thats in general a really positive roster, given what could be expected. Fowler had a very good season with Seattle, had gotten into a camp or two before. And I really like that Arteaga and Shaver are back with this team. The Padilla and Soto additions are big additions, as well. And no Akinola (good while it lasts lol). The only thing I don't like is that Carleton is at this camp. One thing that definitely needs to happen within the next few months is a transition of Ferri/Acosta/Goslin starting in CM in a 4-3-3 to Booth replacing them and going to a two man CM, along with Durkin.
According to the tournament rules posted by FIFA, it's 21. http://resources.fifa.com/mm/docume...ion/02/88/01/81/reg_fu17wc2017_en_neutral.pdf Have they changed the rules?