Sounds opposite. He wants to sign with Dynamo, but wise Cabrera thinks he is too young. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...dfielder-Marcelo-Palomino-covets-12549419.php Or at least that how it was six months ago.
Hmm, that's surprising. He's been with youth national teams for a long time. I know it's the Dynamo, but I can't believe that any MLS organization could be naive enough not to offer a YNT regular a pro deal before they turn 17, especially when it's the first guy from your program in eons to be worth much.
That's Cabrera for you. The guy who was a head coach at Bradenton that produced nothing, but kicked Lletget and Gyau from youth NT when they signed in Europe. Was U-17 NT head coach 2007-2012. The famous 1990-1996 birth years players. Which don't actually exist. The shithole that the whole NT program is now, might be attributed to him in a huge degree. We need more coaches like him in MLS. Badly.
Houston Dynamo is a shit show. They don't produce good players, their academy is nonexistent, the players they hire as DPs aren't even good either, their FO doesn't know what the hell it is doing and their coaching staff is useless. Complete and utter shit show. That kid should go try out his luck in Liga MX, if Europe is not an option.
Palomino turns 18 in May, so the summer 2019 transfer window is probably when he'll join his next team.
To be fair, they did just hire a new director for their academy. So at least they've tried to change something at that level. They just have had a series of head coaches now that haven't been interested in advancing kids. And when that happens, recruiting to your academy suffers. The pipeline dries up. As people know, I've gone on long posts about this. Houston, historically, has been a poor soccer town. Even the kids we think of as from the Houston area were transplants (Holden, Whitbread, etc.) There has been a generations long soccer infrastructure in Dallas that's continuing to bear fruit. Particularly at the youth level. Houston has never had that. Even a Houston kid like Chis Cappis...………….makes his way north to Dallas. Kids from very far away like Clint Dempsey did the same.
Week 3: Stefan Stojanovic ('01) is back, whether that was an injury, European trial or something else. He started. His teammate Joshua Penn ('00) scored. He has 3 in 3 games. He doesn't belong at this level, and could very well lead the DA in scoring this year. Sockers FC played against Minnesota Thunder. On the Minnesota Thunder side, Masango Akale ('02) started and played 90 playing up a year. Gabe Slonina ('04) got the start for the Fire U-17's. He's playing up a year, and is a regular in his YNT age group. The Fire might have the two best keeper prospects in the DA. Will they end up signing either? Both have EU passports. Also playing up a year for the Fire U-17's was Justin Reynolds ('04). Reynolds is a CB/DM who has been called into all the YNT age groups for the 04's this year. Like Slonina, he has started both U-17 games this year. He's some video of him. Impressive looking player. Daniel Robles ('02) played 90 for the Sounders U-19's playing up a year. Considering he's already played in USL, its not that notable. Its probably a better approximation of his normal level than the U-17 level. Others who suited up for Seattle in this game were Blake Malone ('01), Sam Fowler ('00), Azriel Gonzalez ('01) and Marlon Vargas ('01) FC Dallas U-17's were missing a number of their best players this weekend. Their 03's were away at a YNT camp, so there was no Pepi, Gomez, Sealy or Che. Reece Fragle ('03) has struggled early this season and in preseason to break into the team at CB. Che has had an easier time. I tend to think Fragle will break in eventually as he's one of the better 03 CB's in the player pool, but there's a lot of competition to do that this season in the Dallas U-17's. He got 9 minutes in his season debut. Justin Haak ('01) was missing this week for the NYCFC U-19's. They ended up losing. From their Championship team last year, they did not return either Reyna or Scally. Almost all their best U-17 age group players were already with the U-19's, so it seemed unlikely that they'd actually improve this season. It doesn't help that their best U-17 team player from last season Tavyon Gray ('02) didn't start this match. He was subbed on at the half. His U-17 NT teammate Andres Jasson ('02) was also subbed on at the half. Along with Haak, they were also missing Alex Rando ('01) who is one of the better keepers in the DA. I suspect an injury for both, but maybe not. Joaquin Eisenberg ('04) scored a goal for the De Anza U-17's playing up a year. He did that in only 45 minutes coming on at halftime. He scored a brace for the U-15's in his first match of the season. He's been a big scorer in the lower age groups (over a goal per game the last two seasons), so he's a player to keep of. Atlanta United U-17's are dreadful this year. They lost 2-0 to the United Futbol Academy (who?). Kobey Stoup ('03), who was not at the '03 YNT camp started and played 90. Atlanta seems to have promoted Corey Hart ('03) to the U-17's. He played the second half. He's listed with English nationality. This is a bad age group for Atlanta United, but they are an academy that does produce a lot of talent, so when a player is "playing up" (or playing up in this context), its worth mentioning. If Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez's ('02) destruction of the U-17 playoffs was not enough, he was sent to the U-17 level this week, and scored a brace. Doesn't belong at this level. His YNT teammate Ray Serrano ('02) also scored, and does not belong at this level. Also scoring was Dominic Vegaalban ('03), a YNT player who transferred in this season from the Sacramento academy. Josh Atencio ('02), another YNT player, also started. Seattle has a number of good prospects between the '00 and '03 years, so its understandable that they are trying to put in place a plan for all of them to get regular minutes, and not just force the best players onto teams where they'll take minutes away from each other. I don't think a game or two at this level is going to hurt the development of these players, but they shouldn't play many at this level this season. Christian Sorto ('00) scored a brace for the DC United U-19's. I saw him play last season against RSL in the playoffs, and I believe he had a hat trick in that game. If not, it was two goals. He has 4 goals on the season in 3 games. He could be a contender for top scorer in the U-19 DA this season. In other DC United news, still no Moses Nyeman ('03) at any level. He's injured. The DC United U-19's played against Bethesda. They are lead by Gabe Segal ('01) who has gotten many YNT caps in the past. He has three goals in three games this season. He is yet another contender for top scorer in the DA this season. Also starting for Bethesda were Noah Atanda ('02) and Luca Ullrich ('03). Atanda has gotten some YNT caps for the '02 age group. He's a CB. Ulrich is a keeper, and he's playing up two years. He's one of the youngest players in the U-19 DA. Both have started all three games this season. FC Dallas U-19 won 6-1. Johan Gomez ('01) had a hat-trick. Also scoring were Thomas Roberts ('01), Tanner Tessman ('01) and Beni Redzic ('02). All three of them are YNT players. Redzic, as has been discussed before, is playing up a year. I believe Roberts was recently training at Bayern Munich. He has returned recently to Dallas. Will Vint ('01), a player with YNT call ups, made his debut for the Atlanta United U-19's coming off the bench for the final 35 minutes. He recently transferred in from Manchester United. Diego Lopez ('02), playing up a year scored again. Atlanta has imported talent well into this team. This team could contend for the U-19 title with a weak crop of academy players that have come through their academy. Thats not so unusual in club football though. A lot of the time the best teams in a league will take the best players from other teams, if they haven't developed their own local talent well. LAFC won the El Trafico derby at the U-15 level. Kevin Jimenez, a player with YNT caps, ('04) scored a brace. He has 3 goals in his first 3 games so far this season. Austin Brummett ('04) scored a hattrick for the Sounders U-15's against their Canadian rivals from up north. He has scored a hat trick in both U-15's games he's played so far this season. Safe to say he should be playing regularly at the U-17 level. He has 1 game played at that level this season. There's a lot of attacking talent though at the higher levels of the Seattle academy, so playing time will be hard to come by in those teams. A player to monitor though. Brummett has been called up to YNT's before, as well. He was imported from at the beginning of last season. Joshua Hardin ('05) and Antonio Herrera ('05) played up a year for Seattle in this game. Hardin scored a goal. Both were imported this year from Sounders affiliates in the PNW and both were over a goal per game last season.
Nice write-up. I'll add that '02 attacker Griffin Yow has been productive for DCU so far, he got a U-17 callup earlier this year and could earn more with continued good play. U.S. U-15 regular Levi Stephens (CB/RB) has transferred to the Union from whatever non-MLS DA club he was at before
Yow is pretty good. Reminds me some of Matt Hundley actually (who I’m a big fan of). Let’s see how his game develops.
A guy you've mentioned at FCD, that's had a good start to the season is Johan Gomez. Another hatrick this weekend for FCD U19s as they beat Solar 6-1. The other goals were by Beni Redzik, Thomas Roberts, and Tanner Tessman. Thomas Roberts shaved his head and looks like a different person. I asked, Roberts (right) says he's playing for the 19s today. pic.twitter.com/nBCNzy0zRp— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) September 15, 2018
1041579459340464130 is not a valid tweet id Sounders U15 highlights. It says that Oscar Rincon scored 1 and Austin Brummet 3.
Stephens was with Internationals previously along with Million Evans. Both played in an intra-squad friendly against the ‘03s on Saturday. Stephens looked really comfortable and smooth on the ball from what I could see. I’m told he can also play in the midfield.
Week 4: A likely name for the first '05 camp (probably towards the end of the year), Nikolas Tsakiris. His father coaches the U-16 NT, and is an assistant on the U-17 NT. Thats not to say Tsakiris is a bad player (I've never seen him play. I wouldn't know). Its the fact that he seems to be pretty decent, along with his father being coach that'll likely get him called in. This weekend he played up a year for the Earthquakes U-15's as a starter. He played one game earlier this season at the U-14 level, and scored. Last season he was over a goal per game in his own age group. Another '05, Nathan Rodrigues, also played for the U-15's. He was 58th minute sub. One of the up and coming players in the LAG academy is Victor Valdez ('04). Valdez has 6 goals in 4 games so far this season for the U-15's. He wears the #10 for them in his age group, and was at the most recent U-15 NT camp. Valdez actually was playing up a year in the U-15's of Strikers FC last year. He's a new recruit to LAG. The Galaxy do a good job of promoting their best academy players at a good pace. I think he'll be promoted to the U-17's before the end of the season. @Lookingforleftbacks also mentioned Valdez last season in the DA thread, so maybe he could say more about his game. Oscar Rincon-Rodriguez ('04) scored the only goal for the Sounders U-15. He's been called into a couple of YNT camps, I believe. There are highlights of his play from last week earlier on this page. I saw him play briefly for the U-17's last season, and he didn't stand out. Thats not a bad thing, considering he was playing up two years. He's probably better off at the U-17 level this season, but Seattle has so much talent that he might not get that many U-17 games. He played in three last season. Missael Rodriguez ('03) had four goals for the Fire U-17's. He has six goals in two games so far this season. This is after only scoring 7 in 14 games last season. Players do improve at this age, so maybe he did that or maybe last season's stats weren't a good reflection of his game. Slonina and Reynolds (both 04's) played the full game played the full game. They are playing up a year. Dalton Visconti ('04) started and played the whole game playing up a year for the SKC U-17's. This is after 4 goals in 4 games to start the season with the U-15's. Also appearing in this game for SKC was Max Trejo ('02) who I think is one of the more underrated players in the '02 year. He's a GK. I thought Sacramento Republic looked like the best non-MLS academy in the country last season that I saw play last season at the U-17 level. They ended up beating Seattle 2-1 this weekend. Erik Centeno ('02) recently got called into the U-17 NT. He started this weekend. Nathaniel Carrasco ('02) is another decent player. He scored and has started the season with 3 goals in 3 games. On the Seattle end of things, Ray Serrano ('02) scored their only goal. They used a number of YNT players, Atencio ('02), Leyva ('03), Kitahara ('03), Vegaalban ('03) and Brummett ('04). Brummett got called up from the U-15's, and played 36 minutes. Quinn Sullivan ('04) scored a hat trick for the Union U-15's, while Million Evans ('05) scored two. Evans is playing up a year. Ryan Lau ('04), an impressive looking LB, also scored. Marcelo Mazzola ('05) also started playing up a year. Brandon Craig ('04) was absent, as was Nelson Pierre ('05). Sullivan has started the season with 4 goals in 3 games. Seattle and Sacramento also played at the U-19 level. This one they tied. Nicholas Hategan ('01), a YNT regular, scored Sacramento's only goal. Gavin Krenecki ('03), another YNT regular, started in goal playing up two years. Unless I'm misreading the boxscore, Josh Atencio ('02) played a double header. He played 90 in the U-17 game at 12:30 and then another 90 in the U-19 game at 3:00. Daniel Robles ('02), also played in the U-19 game playing up a year. He played 65 minutes. Seattle's goal was scored by Khai Brisco ('00), a recent call up to the US U-19's. I held off last week on mentioning this guy, but he scored two this week, so I'm going to mention him now. Nicholas Rabiu ('04) has scored 6 goals in 4 games for the NYRB U-15's. Good start to the season for him. Brenann Klein ('02) has started four games so far this season playing up a year for the RSL U-19's. I had never heard of him prior to this year, but playing up a year for a big academy is impressive. Luis Arriaga ('01) scored for the RSL U-19's. He has 4 goals in 5 games to start the season. He might be the next RSL HG signing. Seattle U-17's ended up playing two days in a row. The second game was against San Jose who they beat 3-0. Serrano ('02) scored again. He's too good for this level. Move him up. Angel Martinez ('05) started played up two years. Interesting development for NYCFC U-19's. It appears that Joe Scally ('02) has been registered. He played his first game of the season. That'll be a big help to them, even if its not for the full season. They won 2-0 this weekend. Tavyon Gray ('02) was absent. Andres Jasson ('02) started, as did Justin Haak ('01). Goals were scored by Nico Benalcazar ('01), and Will Sands ('00). All those players I mentioned have varying numbers of YNT appearances in the last couple of years.
Both Nelson Pierre and Brandan Craig played up with the U16 team, which isn’t in the DA of course and doesn’t have any rosters or information posted online. My understanding is that their game against Bethesda ended 2-2. Pierre got one of the goals I believe. I forget who had the other one.
Results from the FCD-Houston "rivalry" game over the weekend: FCD U19 2-1 Houston U19 Brace by that man again.................Johan Gomez. He's scored 6 goals in the first 3 games for FCD U19s. By the way, I noticed that 2003 USYNT defender Reece Fragle was listed on the gameday roster for the FCD U19s. Didn't play.
The Houston Dynamo goal came on a mistake from the FCD keeper when being pressured by Dynamo forward who tackled the keeper and the ball trickled into the FCD goal. One of the FCD goals was a PK. FCD had the better of the game of Dynamo made a good game of it. Dynamo could have tied it up late but missed a great chance. FCD pros Robert and Reynolds both played for FCD. Gomez is a goal scoring machine and should be getting more looks from the US National team, his scoring stats show he needs a closer look.
Gomez is a very interesting player. If you watch him play once, you will not be blown away as he doesn't have blistering pace, he isn't very big and he isn't a bag of tricks - typical US scouts would think he is average. However, there are many big time colleges and other scouts that absolutely love this kid. For me, what sets him apart is his movement, it is so subtle that unless you are watching him every second, you will miss it. It would be a stretch, but I would classify his movement as world class for his age. As a 9 of average speed and size, his movement is what puts him in dangerous positions and he is a lethal finisher. I think he will continue to fly a bit under the radar, but this kid is going to be a pro somewhere.
They Dynamo find a way to lose to FCD. I saw a stat the other day with Kellyn Acosta's lifetime record for FCD against the Houston Dynamo across all youth levels plus first team. This was games that he started. It was insane. I'll have to find that again. The current pool of FCD forwards that are 18 years or younger with USYNT callups. These are just kids on the U17s, U19s, and first team: Reynolds, Ferreira, Gomez, Pepi, Rayo, Redzic, Sealy, Justin Che. These are the kids listed as forwards. We know that they're all different types of players. Maybe Reynolds move to fullback has been made permanent. I don't know. Where did he play in this game? But figuring out how to advance all of these kids is really tough. I would rather Pepi start with the U17s than come off the bench for the U19s, for instance.
Reynolds played right back and Roberts played the 10. Che is now a center back on the 17s and doubt he is going back to forward. These kids would do well to turn down any overtures from FCD for HG deals and seek contracts in Europe at 18 based upon national team exposure. FCD can't sign everyone and the ones they do sign face a huge uphill battle and the top of that hill is a spot in the MLS, not a very laudable position.
Having so many good youth players is a good problem to have. There's an awkward cat & mouse game that's going to take place. FCD will of course try to sign them to USL and MLS deals. The kids will try to hold off as long as they can in order to assess all options. Same as happens in every country. The difference of course is that FCD won't get paid if the kids leave. So of course they should be more aggressive in offering deals. Try to sign them earlier. Try to offer higher salaries. Really sell the Bayern Munich relationship and opportunities. [I can see somebody like Roberts going there next when he's 18.] I mean, if Richards is transferred to Bayern permanently as we all hope happens.....................that'll be a huge deal for FCD on many levels. There are really going to be two different FCD youth seasons. The fall, and then the spring when the USL D3 team starts (In theory anyway. We haven't seen an official announcement on that). It will definitely help to have that extra level to give more kids opportunities. FCD also has three GenAd forwards/winger to find minutes for (Atuahene, Twumasi, and Reid). Egads.