Ramos often picks more Latino players than others would. It shouldn't matter though. If the best players are Latino, pick them. If the Latino players from a given cycle aren't good enough, don't pick them. Many of the best players who aren't Latino (Durkin, Carleton, Adams, Sargent, Weah, Amon, etc.) weren't released for this team. It'd be more of a mix with all the best players available. None of the better Latino players weren't released.
You mean for the U20 World Cup itself? Its always a challenge. The tournament is in May-June. So the Euro season is over and the MLS season is just starting up. But we also have the Gold Cup that summer. So its likely that the "best" U20s that are currently part of the USMNT (Adams, Weah, Sargent, etc. and maybe more by the time the WC rolls around. Amon? Durkin?) won't be at the World Cup. In the past we've had one or two players do both in a summer (Michael Bradley), but its rare. We "should" get the majority of other players that we want. But there are always surprises. Clubs aren't required to release players for youth events. Often they decline the callups of players for no apparent reason. Andrija Novakovich was the perfect example of that a few cycles ago. I would say that for folks that have been "turned off" by the USMNT in recent times, watching USYNTs is the perfect antidote. They've been playing well across most levels, and there are lot of prospects worth being excited about. The Pulisic, McKennie, Sargent wave is just the beginning. So enough with the negativity. Enough with the feeling sorry for ourselves............................ The one disappointment right now is that Olympic qualifying is approaching and we have no coach, and have not played a single friendly/game yet in preparation.
🇺🇸 @HajiWright comes on for his first team debut!Congratulations, Haji! 👏#Skrzybski is off after his brace ⬇️(89') #S04FCN 4-2 pic.twitter.com/P2kScBS0ts— FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) November 24, 2018
As I predicted in the McKennie(!) thread, Haji Wright would be brought to play a few minutes if Schalke scores a couple more. Which they did. They need to showcase him a bit to get him a January loan.
US U20 right back Sergio Dest scored his first professional goal yesterday. He was playing for Jong Ajax, which is in the Dutch 2nd division this year. This game was against FC Twente's first team. Really one to keep an eye on. At right back we've got an "in his prime" DeAndre Yedlin, a really good young MLSer (perhaps not for much longer) in Reggie Cannon, and some more youngsters percolating up the ranks in youth levels (Gloster at Hannover for instance). I'm certainly more comfortable with the future of the RB position than I was a year ago. 1068622061336170496 is not a valid tweet id The American dream of Dest... 😉🇺🇸🏆 Winner @Concacaf ✔️ First professional goal#twejaj pic.twitter.com/vIC2siBuba— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) November 30, 2018
More interesting news this morning. Centerback Chris Richards makes the bench for the first time for Bayern Munich II. Presumably Bayern is going to need to make a decision really soon about whether to acquire him (there's reportedly a transfer clause) or extend his loan. Die Aufstellungen für das Spiel der #FCBAmateure beim FV Illertissen. #packmas #BayernAmateure pic.twitter.com/6zo3HaiBoj— FC Bayern Campus (@fcbayerncampus) December 1, 2018 Chris is on loan from FC Dallas. If you want to know about that relationship, this video is really good. Take an inside look at our partnership with @FCDallas and our mission of global ⚽️ advancement! 🇩🇪🇺🇸➡️https://t.co/EjuGysgJoE#MiaSanMia #FCBayern pic.twitter.com/bMcFSYmkh4— 🇺🇸 FC Bayern US 🇨🇦 (@FCBayernUS) November 30, 2018
A lot of the best '01 (de la Fuente, Araujo, Booth, Llanez, etc.) have been discussed around here as have a number of the more known '02 prospects (Bello, Reyna, Busio, Las, Scally, Ocampo-Chavez, etc.), but we are now starting to see the '03 crop take shape in recent months. 2001 and 2002 aren't stacking up that well so far to the vaunted 2000 year (or the also impressive 1998 year), and 2003 is looking like more of the same. The depth in 2003 might even be worse. The exception is that 2003 has a superstar talent that 2001 and 2002 don't have right now. Moses Nyeman of DC United is a name that has been brought up a couple of times here already due to his incredible talent. Nyeman is a central midfielder, capable of playing as a box to box midfielder or central attacking midfielder. He recently returned from missing nearly six months with a growth plate fracture. He's now had two serious injuries in the last 1.5 years, but his talent is up there with the best players we've produced. If he can stay healthy, he could be an elite player in world football. 2003 also has high-end fullbacks, similar to 2002. Jonathan Gomez (LB) of FC Dallas and Mauricio Cuevas of LA Galaxy (RB) are two very-similar style fullbacks. They are converted midfielders who have a lot of offensive skill, but good athleticism and reading of the game defensively. Gomez club teammate Ricardo Pepi at FC Dallas is the best #9 in the year. He scored a goal for the US U-17's on Friday against Turkey. He's now played a couple of tournaments in the older U-17 age group, and has been destroying the U-17 development academy. He's a big target striker with good feet, work rate and finishing. Another of the best 03's is a recent SKC signing Tyler Freeman. He's the only '03 right now signed to a first team contract. He can play all over the attacking third, but is likely best as a #10. He's a tall and lanky kid with good end product and creativity. Any of these players (along with one or two others) have a claim to being the second best '03, but the issue is that none have really emerged as elite prospects, whether thats in the Nyeman category or even a step down to a lower level of elite prospect. The good news is that early on 2004 look like it could be the next great year in the mold of 2000.
Tyler Adams was sold to RB Leipzig. Just a day of revealing the worst kept American soccer secrets; as someone said. Ranking, the RBL coach had a quote saying he expects Adams to slot right into CM for the first team.
ussoccer97531, As someone who reads your youth posts with great interest and respect, I'd like to make a request which you are free to ignore. Could you pull together a list of tiers of the talent potential that you see (i.e., top 20 / UCL starter, mid/low table Big 5, teams 100-200, MLS/B2/Championship, or whatever rankings you prefer) that you've seen over the years? I'd like to see this so I can have sense of whom to follow as I won't be able to do a deep-dive like you do (and I'm grateful that you do). It would also be interesting to track if our best youth prospects are always highly rated or late bloomers. Sorry to pull a quasi-Louisiana07/09 request but maybe we could give it a pithy name that refers to you (like the Doak scale in golf)......
Well, with Miazga not playing and Novakovich injured (and otherwise having a not impressive season), I have to move my candidate to the 2018 Breakout Youngster another slot: no, it's not Tyler Adams, who won't be playing (hopefully) until next year in Europe, and not Sargent who seems to be trapped in limbo. It's Ethan Horvath, the nervous young keeper who has earned the starting spot with Brugge and at 23 (which is like 20 for field players) looks to become a still very nervous but quite adequate goalie for us going forward. Here's a cheer for the kid! If Navas won three Champions looking like he was about to pee in his pants, why can't Ethan also achieve greatness, not in spite of but thanks to his nervousness?
I could see it. His work rate will help. A full Jan camp with Leipzig will be quite beneficial too. With the winter break the Bund is the best league to transfer to during the winter window.
Question for your guys: @bshredder's ASN article from yesterday about the 10 American youngsters poised for a 2019 breakout got me thinking. Do we want to start a new thread for "2019 Breakout Youngster?"
Not sure who our 2018 is (Weah? Antonee Robinson?), but I'm going to go ahead and start 2019's thread.
Perhaps we should have a final vote, but let's hope people don't vote for someone currently playing in an amateur league or guys playing in lower divisions, or guys with Uxx/academy/reserve teams, or guys who've spent most of the season on the bench/not-in-squad or injured. Or someone who is expected to be a "breakout" in the future but is not there yet. "Breakout player" means a suddenly successful one. I have no idea what sort of success it is for guys like Weah (stuck in the 4th division at the end of the year), or Robinson (injured, not playing, in a second-division mid-table team), or Sargent (playing in the Regionalliga) or any of the 16-17 year olds that have highlights posted here and only a handful of us know beyond their parents. This should not be a thread for prospects who may "breakout" some day in the future, but for guys who are doing it THIS year. U23 guys playing consistent minutes in a first division team in a league, hopefully, stronger than MLS. That's the way I see it.
I think it is clearly Tyler Adams. At this time last year, he was playing right wingback and had one cap. He has since moved into central midfield, made the MLS All-Star team, been the best player all year for the USMNT, scored the winner against Mexico, and has been sold to RB Leipzig whose coach seems him sliding right into their central midfield. But I'd listen to other cases. Saying, Adams broke out last year is just not true though. He started playing in MLS and got a cap in the weirdest friendly ever, but he had not taken any great leaps forward yet.
There's no right or wrong answer. Everybody has a different definition. My breakout players from last season were Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams (foreign and domestic). Doesn't make sense for Adams to be my breakout player two years in a row My breakout youngsters for this year were Tim Weah and Reggie Cannon. Its actually slim pickins with regards to the foreign players by my definition. I use players that are eligible for the 2020 Olympic team. A lot of the players we thought might break out in Europe in 2018 didn't actually do so. Keaton Parks, for example seems to have stalled. So I'll go with Weah, who received 8 caps this year. That seems like a breakout to me...…………………….
Just starting in MLS at a defensive position is hard to take as a break out. But, as you said, it is just an opinion. If this was one of those ballot type votes, my top 5 breakouts, for 2018, would be: 1. Tyler Adams 2. Tim Weah 3. Antonee Robinson 4. Zach Steffan 5. Josh Sargent Robinson, CCV, EPB, Sargent, Weah, Cannon, are all still eligible for 2019. I think having structure under GB is going to help Yedlin immensely, so it could be hard for Cannon to break in to the USMNT like Adams has. But Cannon could become a Best 11 fullback in MLS and get a move at the end of the year and maybe push Yedlin or start the Nations League games at the end of 2019. The other five just need to move to a Top 4 team and produce and lock down a USMNT spot. Not out of the question for any of them.
Seems to me that we may not have had a true breakout and that it's fine to have "No one" as an answer. Either our high potential youth players didn't get on the field for any significant amount of time at major league clubs Weah Sargent and the rest who did receive time at the MLS/B2/Championship levels weren't Best XI candidates at that level (excepting Adams who may be a prior winner but if not, he's the sole candidate who stands out). Maybe 2016: CP 2017: WM 2018 Adams
How many minutes did Weah and Sargent combine for? Or are we just throwing out names of talented youth players? Why not Moses Nyeman or Evan Rotundo?