That's a bummer................... What's undoubtedly true is that these upper-end youth talents have options now. We broadly think of that as a very good thing. Of course, MLS clubs aren't supposed to be able to sign youngsters to HG deals that are from the homegrown territories of other MLS clubs. I have no doubt this is the issue holding up the Chris Cappis signing for FCD (he's from Houston). So I sometimes wonder if clubs are being transparent about this when they recruit these kids. Or do they think they'll just figure it out later should the need arise.....................
We should get right on with disbanding FC Dallas' Academy then. /sarc Seriously I do wonder how the MNUFC Academy not having teams for these '02s and '03s effects HG status though. MNUFC cannot claim them, as they offer no team to train with, and training in the academy is a prerequisite. Does the territory count as unclaimed for these ages? Time will tell I guess.
Update from earlier....Jack Imperato, who recently transferred over to Villarreal, posted a post game picture with Masango Akale. Both in submarine yellow. Looks like Masango is trialing. pic.twitter.com/YjLYgV1cDa
Thats a really good team. I think thats the best group of players from an MLS team that we'll see in this tournament. The player I'm interesting to see how he does is Jonathan Gomez. I've seen Redzic, Pepi, Sealy, Wilson, Letayf at the U-17 level. I'd like to see how Gomez does. I think he might be Dallas's best '03, but he hasn't been playing at the same level as Sealy and Pepi. Just so we can keep track, these are the 03's on the roster. A lot of their 03's will go play for the U-16 team that doesn't play in the DA. Some of these guys might do so when the season starts. Pepi, Sealy, Gomez, Villarreal, Che, Fragle, Smith. I've seen all of those guys play, except Smith, and I thought all were YNT level players to some degree. The Dallas '03 crop is looking very good.
Rosters are listed. The LigaMX website says all the games will be streamed on their website. Atlanta: Same roster I posted above, except Vicente Reyes, ('03) YNT keeper, is listed as one of the two keepers. Wasswa Robbins ('02) for some reason isn't listed, while Diego Lopez ('02) is. FC Dallas: Same roster as listed above. A lot of the heights look wrong to me, but what I find interesting is what the players nationalities are listed as. The four not listed with US nationality are Carrera ('02), Letyaf ('02), Rodriguez ('02), who are listed with Mexico nationality and Michael Sosa ('02) is listed with Honduras nationality. LA Galaxy: About half the roster is 03's. LAG runs things differently than Atlanta and Dallas, so there's no point listing which younger players are on their roster. The players here I'd watch out for are Zuniga ('02), Aguilar ('03), Perez ('03), Killeen ('03), Dunbar ('02), Saldana ('02), Cuevas ('03,), Hernandez-Foster ('02).
SKC or Philly Union if he wants a chance to actually play for the first team. http://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-t...nt-leaves-club-because-of-visa-issues-sources
Smith moved from Solar to FCD this year and is a strong, fast player. Gomez, Che and Smith haven't been called to National camps yet ( Gomez should have been). Smith moving over to FCD increases his chances of getting a call up. Che was moved from forward to center back by the FCD coaches at the end of last year so its a new position for him.
Saw this tweet about FCD's academy having a ton of former pro's kids, especially in their u-12 team: When Jesus Ferreira signed in Nov. 2017, he was the first son of an MLS player to be signed as a Homegrown by same club.There are now 6 potential others in FCD Academy ranks:-Sealy (U-17/U-19)-Ferreira (U-15)-Figueroa (U-13)-Luccin (U-12 N)-Morales (U-12 N)-Rhine (U-12 S)— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) August 15, 2018
By the way, the Ferreira in the table is Santiago Ferreira. Jesus' brother. The fact that Bobby Rhine's son is now in this team makes me feel oooooooooooold. I remember watching Bobby for UCONN a looooooong time ago. Getting some things sorted for the new Academy season. Along with a new U-12 team based in Dallas, there’s a special new member of the FCD Academy: Jake Rhine. #BR19 pic.twitter.com/AIwjPIupia— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) August 15, 2018
By the way......................I think Zaki Obafemi-Carpenter on that FCD roster was at Atlanta United last year. Doesn't seem to have played all that much. http://aufc.ussoccerda.com/sam/teams/index.php?team=1647656&player=78394615
Quick roundup from this morning/afternoon: Chivas 4 - LA Galaxy 0 Club America 3 - FC Dallas 1 Pachuca 2 - Toronto FC 1 Atlas 2 - Atlanta United 1
Goalscorers for the MLS teams were: Cesar Garcia (FC Dallas) Julian Altobelli (Toronto FC) - PK Diego Lopez (Atlanta United)
Cut up the Sounders games and here's some Ocampo-Chavez highlights: 1030237604686516224 is not a valid tweet id
@ChuckMe92, do you have a list of 02’s and 03’s at these LigaMX clubs who are playing at this tournament? FC Dallas-Club America: I thought Dallas did a decent job. It wasn't such a lopsided game, even though it was 3-1. A couple of individual defensive errors, and fouls in bad areas are what won Club America the game. I think this Dallas team should have a very good season, if they get better coaching than last year. Very talented group of players. Wilson('02): I still don't understand why he has yet to be called into the U-17 NT. He was excellent. He kept 2-3 goals out, and I liked what I saw from him with playing out of the back. I hadn't noticed he was good in that regard before. Looked very assured of his role. Escribano('02): Looked better than what I had seen last season. Probably has to do with yet another year at this level. Defensively, he read the game much better than what I saw last year. Going forward, he's very good. Skilled and not a bad athlete. One of the better '02 RB's in the country. A player who deserves a call up to the U-17 NT. Is he a lock for the big tournaments? I wouldn't say so, but he's earned a chance. Che('03): He was bad. Game looked too fast for him. A lot of positioning errors, one of which lead to a goal. His defending was naive. He's mobile and he makes interceptions well from the CB spot, but he's going to need to adjust to this level of play better than he did today. Carrera('02): Last year when I saw him play, he was mostly good but had a lot of big errors that would cost his team goals. This game, he was excellent. Maybe FC Dallas's best player. Towering CB who reads the game well. He's pretty decent on the ball, as well. His lack of pace is a problem. I've seen CB's with worse pace, but he's certainly not quick. The U-17 NT has a lack of good CB's, so if he's eligible (I've only seen Mexico nationality listed), he might deserve a chance. Gomez('03): Liked what I saw once again. His game reminds me a lot of Acosta. Same style of LB. Good height and athletic. Very good passing vision for a LB, as well as good skill on the ball for a fullback. Quality 1v1 defender who reads the game well on both sides of the ball. Positioning could use some work, but her can impact a game against mostly older players. Definite YNT caliber player. I wouldn't doubt that Mexico is scouting him also. Letayf('02): Above-average performance. Plays a quiet game, but he's a talented player. Decent passer who has composure on the ball. He reads the game very well defensively. That allows him to make a number of interceptions from being in the right place. A little too aggressive in the tackle, but a lot of young #6's are. About an average or slightly above average athlete. Redzic('02): Same types of things. A lot of good play, no left foot. He was switching back and forth between the right and left. He's much better suited for the right side until he improves his ability with his left-foot. He makes things happen. Fast, tricky, skilled. He creates attacking chances, but the decision making is sometimes lacking. Don't know about his soccer IQ. Pepi('03): Didn't have that many touches. Worked hard, as always. He had one chance that he struck extremely well, but the keeper made a nice save. I think he has decent mobility for the type of player that he is. I'd like to see him be more involved this season. I'd like to see him show he's one of the best players at this level. I think he has that level of talent. Villarreal('03): He was bad when subbed on. Gave the ball away in CM his first touch. Committed a PK. Not a good performance, but a step up to a new level, so lets see how he does this season. Sealy('03): He was subbed on in the second half. Made a few nice plays. A few bad decisions. He has a lot of tools(I've mentioned this before), but I'm not sure about his soccer IQ. I think he's getting in the way of his own talent. Talented kid, but I just haven't seen much. I've seen him play a number of times now, and I think I've only once been impressed with his performance.
Atlanta United-Atlas: Atlanta was terrible. They were lucky it was 2-1. They were not in the game. They scored on just about their only chance of the game. Thoroughly untalented team. You'd struggle to find a handful of "prospects" on the team. Stoup('03): He wasn't awful, but not much better than average and mediocre might be a more appropriate rating of his performance. Positioning was a problem. He was getting pushed around by bigger players. I don't know if he's a CB. He's only 15, but he needs to grow another 3-4 inches to be able to play CB at the pro level. If he can't play CB, he could be a quality #6 prospect. He's mobile and makes some nice defensive plays because of his mobility and he has good passing ability for a CB. Jones('02): He was the keeper for Atlanta. He made a couple of saves. Couldn't do anything about the first goal. I thought the second goal was savable for a more athletic keeper, but he didn't get to it. He wasn't great, but I thought he was somewhat decent. Thats more than you could say about most of the Atlanta team. Big keeper who might only have average athleticism, but definitely looked like he belonged and didn't make any big errors that his teammates were making. Matthews/Clagette('02): I've seen both of these guys play last season, and I didn't consider either notable, but since they are about the best attacking mid threats on the team, I'll mention them. Both are somewhat similar. Athletic winger types who try to attack the defense. Matthews is the more impressive of the two. Better ball control and makes more plays. Neither are great, and at best fringe prospects. Lopez('02): Entered at the end. Scored a goal after an Atlas error. Nothing much to add from what I added last week about his play with the U-17 NT. Along with Stoup (and maybe the other keeper Reyes), he's one of the few decent prospects on this team.
LA Galaxy-Chivas: Galaxy got beat badly, but they weren't that bad. Chivas was very good. The best team of the six in the three games I watched. Galaxy seemed to give up a goal on every good chance they gave to Chivas. The game was not far from even. Hernandez-Foster('02): He played a very good game. He started at CB and then moved to LB. I don't think he has the size for CB or plays a CB style game, but he was bringing the ball out of the back well at CB. At LB, he was able to attack more, and made some nice plays on the ball. Looked like a U-17 NT player in a Galaxy team that had some players who were overwhelmed by a very good team. Cuevas('03): He was about average at RB. He attacked when he got the chance. He combined well a couple of times down the right side. His defense was passable. He got fooled a time or two and made a couple bad challenges. I've seen him play better before, and even for a "bad" performance for him he wasn't anywhere near bad. Saldana('02): He played well. Almost always does. I've been trying to figure out why he looks like he doesn't look that good if you evaluate his skills on an individual basis, despite always putting in a good performance. I've concluded he has an exceptionally high soccer IQ, which makes his talent play better than it should. Really hard working player. It allows him to be a good defensive player, despite mediocre athleticism. All the right decisions. He has some box to box to his game, but I think he's the type of #8 where he's mostly going to just work hard, move the ball to where it needs to get, and cover defensive for teammates where needed. He can make some plays on the ball and he makes some runs, but nothing great in that area. Perez('03): He had some nice passages on the ball. He had composure when he received the ball, he played some nice passes, but wasn't very involved in the game and was subbed out at the half. I'd need to see him play more to evaluate further. He was playing as a #10. Dunbar('02): I don't understand why he hasn't been called up to the U-17 NT. Its a joke that guys like Jasson and Serrano are starters, but Dunbar doesn't even get called into one camp. Dunbar is skilled, creative, athletic and makes things happen. He attacks. He beats defenders. He doesn't do it in a deceptive way that clearly won't work against pro level defenders, like you see with some good attacking mids at this level. What he tries looks like it could work against pros. He makes quick decisions in attack. Sharp passer. Likes to cross the ball. I like his game, and I think its bordering on absurd that he hasn't been called up yet to the U-17 NT. He was playing RW in this game. Very active early on. Not so much later in the game, but he was very impressive.
Here are the rosters from Liga MX's website. You can click on the individual names to see who's been playing/starting. America: http://subinternacional.ligamx.net/cancha/club/70/america-sub-15 Atlas: http://subinternacional.ligamx.net/cancha/club/75/atlas Chivas: http://subinternacional.ligamx.net/cancha/club/77/chivas Pachuca: http://subinternacional.ligamx.net/cancha/club/83/pachuca Atlanta: http://sub15.ligamx.net/cancha/club/11281/atlanta-united-fc Dallas: http://ligamx.net/cancha/club/10482 LAG: http://www.ligabancomer.mx/cancha/club/10975 Toronto: http://sub15.ligamx.net/cancha/club/10483/toronto-fc Yanks listed on rosters of Liga MX clubs for this tournament include Michael Barragan of Atlas, Fernando Alvarez of Pachuca, and Ralph Orquin, Miguel Ramirez, and Kevin Gonzalez of Club America. Alvarez and Orquin have been starting regularly for their sides in the U15 Apertura, and Gonzalez has a sub appearance. Barragan was registered with Atlas U17s for the Apertura but played 54 minutes in this tournament against Atlanta United. Ramirez played 61 minutes in this tournament against FC Dallas. I think those are the two Yanks on Liga MX clubs who have played so far. But all of the non-Chivas teams have at least one Yank who could potentially play.