LAFC won 7-0 (!) over RSL today in U-15 qualifying. I'll post the rest of the scores from both divisions (and hopefully goalscorers too) once all of the games are finished.
Should be noted that RSL doesn't have an U15 team that participates in the USSDA. So, I wouldn't be surprised if their roster is composed of players predominantly from the SLC area. The U16 age is when they generally start recruiting players from elsewhere and bring them into residency. Regardless, many people have been impressed with LAFC's academy so far.
An asterisk indicates a PK shootout win (as GA Cup qualifying rules grant 2 pts for a PK win and 1 pt for a PK loss). Otherwise, I'm missing three of DC's u17 goalscorers in their win over Orlando. If anyone finds some accurate data for that game, let me know. u17 West (Group A) LA Galaxy 2 (Cameron Dunbar, Carson Klein) - Colorado Rapids 1 (Jason Robles) Seattle Sounders 1* (Bryson Hankins) - Portland Timbers 1 (Gerardo Duran) Real Salt Lake 3 (Bode Davis, Christopher Garcia, Mateo Palomino) - San Jose Earthquakes 1 (Salvador Miranda) Central (Group B) Houston Dynamo 2 (Jathan Suarez, Bryce Willoughby) - Chicago Fire 1 (Jason Belloli) Toronto FC 2 (Jayden Nelson x2) - Columbus Crew 0 FC Dallas 3 (Dante Sealy x2, Ricardo Pepi) - Sporting KC 0 East (Group C) NYCFC 1 (Andres Jasson) - Philadelphia Union 0 New England Revolution 2* (Andrew Serafino x2) - Atlanta United 2 (Darvin Valesquez, Diego Lopez) DC United 5 (Kevin Paredes, Griffin Yow, UNKNOWN x3) - Orlando City 0 u15 West (Group A) LAFC 7 (Kevin Jimenez, Franco De Luna, Christian Torres, Elmer Juarez, Fernando Garcia, Dylan Presto) - Real Salt Lake 0 San Jose Earthquakes 2 (Ashton Escamilla x2) - Vancouver Whitecaps 1 (Rohin Kapila) Colorado Rapids 5 (Darren Yapi x3, Joaquin Torres, Alan Salgado) - Portland Timbers 0 Seattle Sounders 0* - LA Galaxy 0 Central (Group B) Toronto FC 3 (Luca Accettola, Hugo Mbongue, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty) - Sporting KC 1 (Osvaldo Cisneros) Chicago Fire 2 (Matthias Vallejo, David Sanchez) - Houston Dynamo 0 Columbus Crew 1 (Kyle Pollard) - Minnesota United 0 East (Group C) New England 1 (Thaddeus Liquori) - Atlanta United 0 DC United 2 (Amir Moore x2) - Orlando City 1 (Damon Smargon) Philadelphia Union 5 (Nelson Pierre x2, Million Evans, Quinn Sullivan, Samuel Fenton)- NYCFC 0
Has there been any update on what Nyeman's injury is? He's now missed over two months of the season. The last game I can find record of him playing was in June. We know Toure has an ACL injury, but we haven't found out anything about Nyeman's injury.
Week 7: There were almost no games during week 6, so I didn't see the reason to recap that. Leading scorers in U-19 DA: 7: Johan Gomez ('01), Matthew Hoppe 6: Dennis Barahona ('01), Alec Diaz ('01), Scott Taylor ('01), Joshua Penn ('00) Barahona plays for Crossfire. Last year they had some other big goal-scorers who I thought weren't all that good once I saw them play. I think this is one of these teams who plays a lot of bad teams, plays their best players 90 minutes every game, and stuffs the stat sheet because of it. I haven't seen Barahona play, but I would be careful about regarding much of what happens at that club. Also El Salvador nationality, so he might not even be eligible for the USA. Leading scorers in U-17 DA: 11: Russell-Rowe (TFC) 10: Pepi ('03)-This is in 3 games. He's averaging over a hat trick per game. 7: Andres Freire ('02), Missael Rodriguez ('03), Ray Serrano ('02) Leading Scorers in U-15 DA: 10: Antinoro (Montreal) 9: Marshall-Rutty (TFC) 8: Austin Brummett ('04), Jack Drabenstott ('04), Massimo Murania Yankowitz, Collin Griffith ('04) Drabenstott also scored over 40 goals last season. He's playing at Cincinnati Premier, which doesn't go higher than U-15 level. This would seem to be the point where the Crew sign him. Brummett's stats are in three games. He's already started getting games in the highly competitive Sounders U-17 squad. Anthony Mercado ('02) played 90 for FC Golden State U-19's playing up a year. He has played 5 games at that level this season, and has two goals. Gabriel Slonina and Justin Reynolds (04's) played again for the Fire U-17's. They lost 6-1 to Sockers FC. Not good for either, a keeper and CB. Reynolds was subbed at the half. Still good for them to get the reps at this higher level. They've been playing up a year all season. At the U-19 level, they lost 1-0 to Sockers FC. Stefan Stojanovic ('01) scored the only goal of the match. Sockers FC has a potent striker duo with Stojanovic and Penn. Two YNT players. They might not have much talent besides those two, but having two of the best strikers in the DA can win you a lot of games. Sebastian Soriano ('02) played up a year for the Weston FC U-19's. He's now played three games this season at that level. He's listed as a defender. Also playing for the Weston U-19's was Andres Cardenas ('03). He played 25 minutes. He has some YNT caps. I saw him play last season for the U-17's, and they were very untalented. He was the only talented player on the team, although I wasn't terribly impressed by his game either. They played against Orlando City. On the Orlando City side, Jair Hernandez ('02) came off the bench for 25 minutes. He's played three games this season playing up a year in this age group.
FC Cincinnati has said before they plan on joining the DA in 2019, although they haven't specified at which levels.
I was thinking that, but they are such an unknown that I think joining the Crew would probably be better for his career, if he can make it work logistically.
The Union U19s hosted DC United, Crew and New England for friendlies on Saturday and Sunday. They beat Crew 5-1 with 2 from MD Myers, Nick Blacklock, Ryan Becher and Tonny Temple scoring and drew DC 2-2 with goals from Becher and Leo Afonso. Not sure what happened in the other games or who scored.
For the Spanish speakers out there, a story on the Gomez brothers of the FCD academy (Johan Gomez having the higher profile right now. Central Conference Best XI at the U17 level last year.) Español: Jonathan y Johan Gómez se tuvieron que alejar de sus padres para estar más cerca de la academia del FC Dallas, donde entrenan a diario con las divisiones Sub-17 y Sub-19, respectivamente.https://t.co/xrrIpoRKMh— FC Dallas Youth (@FCDallasYouth) October 9, 2018
New academy digs for the Revolution (oh, and the first team too). Training center groundbreaking “the second-most significant day” in club history - #NERevs GM Michael Burnshttps://t.co/HAsS2iVZIX pic.twitter.com/Nvf45YrYdk— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) October 16, 2018 The grounds will feature four fields – two dedicated grass surfaces for the first team, one dedicated grass surface for the Academy, and a shared turf surface – while the building itself will include world-class locker rooms for the first team and Academy, ultra-modern fitness and medical facilities, lounge areas, a dining area, and workspaces for the coaching staff and front office.
I didn't realize they were brothers. It makes sense though, considering they look alike. Johan should've done what Jonathan did and play further back on the field. He has ability, but I don't know if he has the finishing. Might still get a contract with FCDII for next season. He's had a good start to this season in the goal column. Jonathan should eventually get a first team contract, but I'd hope he instead tries for Europe instead. Him and Pepi should run as far as they can away from FC Dallas. Not to Mexico though as that could turn out even worse.
LAG at the Istria Youth Cup http://www.istriayouthcup.com Check out @LAGalaxyAcademy’s Tweet: 👏 Off to a good start at the 2018 Istria Youth Cup.LA Galaxy 1 | Red Bulls Salzburg FC 1 pic.twitter.com/P6ouByiY31— LA Galaxy Academy (@LAGalaxyAcademy) October 17, 2018 I don't know who they play next, but there are good clubs represented.
Hopefully we'll be seeing more and more of this from MLS DAs. The change in the DA schedule (with more open dates) is a positive move, as it affords teams these sorts of international competitions. I know that some of the other MLS teams are doing these trips as well, and I hope we'll see some of the stragglers join them. I suppose if the Revs finally decided to upgrade their facilities maybe there's hope for them?
Check out @b_kleiban’s Tweet: For the twitter world LA Galaxy 2-1 over FC Barcelona. 2003 age group in Croatia. Johnny perez and Mauricio Cuevas with the goals. Top level performance by the boys. 🙌🏼@LAGalaxy @FCBarcelona— Brian Kleiban (@b_kleiban) October 18, 2018
In the tweet underneath, it shows Xavi Simons as the Barca captain, who is possibly the most famous 2003 in the world due to his highlight reels on YouTube. I would link, but I think YouTube is down right now. Cuevas seems to pop up everywhere. It would've been an interesting experiment if LA was able to sign Uly and Mendez, along with Efra, and then get all of these other 01/02/03s.
2001 seemed like a bit of a down year after 2000's strong class, but 2002 looks like it could be even stronger than the latter with Bello, Scally, Busio, Reyna, Dunning, and Yow.
I think 2001 and 2002 look weak compared to 2000. 2001 is decent on depth, but not much at the top end. 2002 looks light on both right now IMO, although I think 2001 improved the depth a lot the last year, so it might be better to assess it in another year.
Week 8: I watched a Seattle-RSL game from Generation Adidas Cup qualifying, and I have to say that I wasn't particularly impressed with any of the players. RSL had almost no talent in their team. Nikolas Kizerian ('02), Diego Fresquez ('02) and Bobby Pierre ('02) were the best players I thought for RSL, but none looked that good. For Seattle, they were a little better on the talent side of things, but not great either. They were missing their main players (AOC, Atencio, Serrano, Robles), so thats worth keeping in mind. This was the first time I've seen a couple of their 03's and 04's. Brummett ('04) was playing LW. Had an okay understanding of the game and could combine, but provided little else. Daniel Leyva ('03) gets a big reputation as one of the better players in their academy and as a regular for the '03 YNT age group, but I can't say I particularly rate his game. He can pass the ball some and he has good height for a #8/#10, but I'm not sure what else he does well. The LCB Eric Kinzer ('03) was their best player. Decent size, looked to make some plays in the buildup, had a good understanding of the game. He's been with USYNT's before. Sota Kitahara ('03) didn't do much. Sat in front of the back four. Wasn't noticeably bad or good, but I don't see him as an impact type of player. He's been talked about some due to YNT caps. I liked both fullbacks. The RB Nico Rei McMillan ('03) reminded me of Zico Bailey. It might've been partly the hair, but I think there are similarities in how they play. The LB Takashi Sasaki ('04) was the most proactive player on the field. I thought he did a lot well. Read the game well defensively, showed decent dribbling ability and got forward. Brandon Tellez ('05) started playing up a year for the LAG U-15's. This was his first game in the older age group. He split last season playing in his own age group and playing up a year. He's listed as a midfielder. Berin Droemer ('04) has 5 goals in 4 games for the FC Dallas U-15's. He's a forward. He played five games last season for the U-15's. I believe I saw one of those five, but I can't remember exactly and the search function isn't working, but he didn't stand out, if I did. FC Dallas U-15's have the Sanchez brothers (05's) playing up a year. Carlos, the defender, has 4 starts in 5 games. Christopher, the forward, has 3 starts in 5 games. Carlos started this game, Christopher came off the bench. Conner Maurer ('02) has played five games this season for the NYRB U-19's playing up a year. He started again this past weekend against DC United. He has only played one game in his own age group. John Tolkin ('02), a player with a number of YNT call ups, has played 3 games in the U-19 age group, and also started this weekend. He has two games in his own age group. Scott Taylor ('01) keeps scoring. He had 23 goals in 24 games last season for the U-17's. He scored in this game and now has 7 goals in 6 games this season. Sahyd Nevado-Masso ('04) scored for Orlando City U-15's this weekend. He now has 2 goals in 2 games in his own age group, and 1 goal in 2 games in the U-17 age group. Last season he mostly played up a year. Luc Granitur ('03) scored two goals for the Orlando City U-17's. He has the same stat line for his normal age group and the older age group in goals and appearances, but his normal age group is the U-17's and the age group he's played up in is the U-19's. Marcelo Mazzola ('05) of Philadelphia Union scored four in his own age group, the U-14's, this weekend. I saw him play up a year in a competition with the U-15's during the summer, and he looked good. No more U-14's for him. He's too good for that level. Patrick Bohui ('03) scored a brace for Philadelphia Union U-17's. He now has 4 goals in 5 games. He's starting to pick it up after a slow start. I'd like to see what some of their better 04's can do at this level. I know that Craig and a couple others are playing in the U-16 team, but does that team play at a high enough level that there is much of a step up in quality of opposition from U-15 to U-16? FC Dallas U-17's won 3-0. Ricardo Pepi ('03) and Justin Che ('03) both chipped in with goals. Pepi now has 11 goals in 4 games. I think this FC Dallas team has to be the favorite at this point in the U-17 division with how much talent they have between the '02 and '03 years.
Congrats to Justin Reynolds for being named Player of the Tournament! #bellsportcup #cf97 pic.twitter.com/lMfT6UgHxW— Chicago Fire FC II (@ChicagoFireFCII) October 22, 2018
During the recent GA Cup qualifying in Toronto, Manchester United was scouting two keepers playing in the DA, Gabriel Slonina ('04) from Chicago Fire U-17's and Seth Wilson ('02) from FC Dallas U-17's. Manchester United previously wanted to bring Slonina in for a trial, but Chicago didn't want to allow it. They threatened to kick him out of the academy, like what has happened with some other young American players that try to trial abroad. Slonina possesses an EU passport.
What happened to the FCD U19s last weekend? they lost both games in Colorado to Rapids and then to Real. Losing 3-0 to Real. Out of character for them and they had their HG pros there as well.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Wilson leave on a free at 18 in a few years. He has the size, strength and quickness for a prototypical keeper and is getting lots of interest from Europe.
What do you think of Tessman? I think he's the best pro prospect from that U-19 team. I actually like his game better than Roberts, although I think its pretty close. The rest of that team is not great. A couple of others who are good (Toledo, Almaguer and Cerrillo. Burns isn't bad either). I think Dallas is making a mistake promoting Redzic and Sealy to that team before they belong at that level. I don't rate what Rayo or Gomez bring. Is Reynolds a pro prospect as a defender? Might not be. I'm not the biggest Collodi fan either. I agree about Wilson. It doesn't make sense to me how he doesn't get regular YNT caps. I think he's a better pro prospect and player right now than Redzic whose a fixture in YNT camps or Rodriguez who also has gotten a couple call ups I believe.