After not playing in the first team game yesterday, Paxton Pomykal is indeed playing against Arsenal in the U19 Dallas Cup Supergroup. Joining him are USYNTers Bryan Reynolds, Thomas Roberts, and Chris Richards. Also starting are Mexican-Americans currently playing with Mexican YNTs Carlos Avilez and Gibran Rayo. And of course goal-scoring machine Brayan Padilla, who I guess we can call a USYNTer. Basically best possible roster with Cappis with the U20s and Ferreira out injured. I believe this game, as well as the U17 game against Pachuca at the GenAd Cup are being streamed on FCDTV. Will post a link when I have it. Game starts 12:30 local time. Edit: Here we go. .@dallascup: Stay tuned for FC Dallas U-19s vs @Arsenal U-19s from the Cotton Bowl.WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/jD43uC68Rd pic.twitter.com/qoZyf9ZeXf— FC Dallas Youth (@FCDallasYouth) March 25, 2018
On top of Dallas Cup games today, lots of games being streamed in the GenAd Cup today. For the links to those streams go to the MLS page. https://www.mlssoccer.com/generation-adidas-cup/2018
Thomas Roberts just played a beauuuuuuuuuuutiful long ball to Bryan Reynolds over the top of the Arsenal defense. Reynolds couldn't control, and the moment was lost. Roberts is eligible for the U17s, so he's playing up an age group with this U19 team. He's a 2001 that's originally from Arkansas. Carlos Avilez has had a couple of nice saves already. FCD has had the majority of the possession, but Arsenal has had the better goal-scoring chances.
Whoa...................what a goal for FCD. Tied 1-1 now. That was the right back Almaguer I believe. Whoa. Golaaaazo. Assists for Thomas Roberts and Gibran Rayo.
26' - GOAAAAAAAL! Almaguer (2) with the equalizer after an assist from Roberts (10).FCD U-19s- 1, Arsenal U-19s- 1Watch: https://t.co/jD43uC68Rd pic.twitter.com/wjQ9bpBISU— FC Dallas Youth (@FCDallasYouth) March 25, 2018
We're at the half and its 1-1 between FCD and Arsenal. It wasn't all that exciting. I was struggling to stay awake. Paxton had an awesome little slaloming run at the end of the first half. He played it off to Rayo, who just missed. That could have been 2-1. Last year a player like Ferreira finishes that..................... There's just not the same magic out there this year. Reynolds works hard, but there's not much final product. Anybody watching this can understand why he doesn't see time with the first team. Still raw. THe team is also missing some bite in the central midfield. Arsenal waltzes thru too easily. Maybe this is something Cappis would have helped to address.
To me he's playing the #10 with Roberts and Cerillo behind him. Something like.................with Padilla and Reynolds swapping every once in a while. -------------Rayo------------ Padilla-----Pax---Reynolds -----Cerillo---Roberts----------- Rula----Evans-Richards--Almageur ---------------Avilez----------- By the way, just for some perspective: Bryan Reynolds is the youngest player out there for FCD. He's a month younger than Thomas Roberts...................and yet he's been under contract at FCD for almost 2 years now. I kinda need to see more.
Hmmmmmmmm................maybe Pomykal and Roberts are swapping. At the start of the 2nd half Pomykal looks like he's playing pretty deep.
Bryan Reynolds is the first sub out. Kinda disappointing 56 minutes. Coming on is Ronaldo Dumas, a Haitian U20 international.
Padilla is the 2nd sub out. Had some good moments. Coming on is Emmanuel Paga, a Ghanaian youth international.
Blech. 2-1 to Arsenal. Nowhere near as good as last year from FCD. Kind of a snooze fest. They had their golazo, but missed all of the other rather straightforward chances. Padilla and Rayo both had chances. Nothing doing. Arsenal had moments, but they weren't all that impressive either. Player of the Game for FCD? I'd say Thomas Roberts, who had some really nice moments in central midfield as the playmaker. Could be the next homegrown signing......................
Haven’t had a chance to watch too much this weekend but watching some of the Galaxy match against atletico now. I want to preface this by saying I understand the best young players have room to grow and are expected to compete against players older, more mature, and developed. But even with that in mind, I think Efrain Alvarez is overrated. Sure, he can do things like hit a perfect strike from 30 yards out every now and then, but the simple lead passes and crosses are sometimes not even close to a target. I’m just not overwhelmed by him and haven’t been any full game of his I’ve seen (which has been at least 5-7 by now). Sure, he makes some nice plays and can make a spectacular one, but watching him against atletico, he doesn’t stand out as the best player on the field.
Not the best of days yesterday for MLS clubs against foreign competition. The highlights was NYCFC beating Real Madrid in the GenAd Cup. [FCD lost to Pachuca in a really tight game.] In the Dallas Cup.....................not much better. Tight games. TFC 3 Higashi Fukuoka 2 Real Oviedo 3 Atlanta 1 Arsenal 2 FCD 1 So far in these competitions there's been one really nice victory every day that's kind of masked an overall poor performance by MLS clubs. In the GenAd Cup Champions Division there are some tough advancement scenarios. Atlanta needs to beat Flamengo. TFC needs to beat River Plate and hope the result goes their way in the other game. NYCFC needs to beat Atletico Paranaense and hope the other game goes their way. Group D is a free-for-all after 2 games. The winner of the FCD-LAG game needs to hope the winner of the other game doesn't have as good of a GD as them.
Today's @fairpark Cotton Bowl attendance, 20,644! The largest single day crowd in @drpepper @visit_dallas Cup history. Thank You North Texas! #DC39 pic.twitter.com/FS1bdF6FzX— Dallas Cup ⚽️ (@dallascup) March 26, 2018 Resumen se la jornada inaugural de la @dallascup 2018 #FutbolJuvenil pic.twitter.com/A8ZfOe1Get— Pedro Silva (@pedritosilva) March 26, 2018 I wish I could still play in @dallascup #litty pic.twitter.com/c4RFXKNtYe— Kellyn Acosta (@KellynAcosta) March 25, 2018
Nyeman plays at 7:15 if you haven't watched him yet and want to see what the hype is. Yesterday, DC played their backups so I assume he'll be starting today.
RSL defeats Monterrey 2-0, after a rough start to the week (1-0 and PK defeat). RSL had a particularly good second half controlling the game and getting both goals against a strong wind and a good Monterrey squad. Ben Ortiz with both goals.
Fast forwarded through the DCU game and watched every time Nyeman was involved. Quite impressed! Here are my brief thoughts: - One of the more athletic players on the field despite being an '03 playing up against older players; - DCU by far had the best of the game and Nyeman was instrumental in probably 80% of their positive plays, often supplying the decisive pass and/or beating his man; - Very calm on the ball and rarely dispossessed. Had several impressive runs through heavy traffic. They pressured him often and it didn't seem to bother him at all. - Turned his man multiple times early in the game in a way that I rarely see from US players; - Passing was just about perfect and I only recall seeing a couple of misplaced passes from him all game. - Took the first penalty shot and calmly put it into the upper left corner. DCU ultimately won on penalties; - I didn't watch the defenders closely and I did fast-forward a lot, but I'd say he was probably the best player on the field today. We'll see how his game and body develops in the coming years, but I agree with @ussoccer97531 that he's a top prospect.
TFC draw River Plate 2-2 and then lost on penalties. Good result, but as I keep saying in here, TFC academy has the potential to be so much more than it currently is.
I thought he was the best player on the field, and this was against the academy of a Bundesliga team. He's probably also the youngest player at the tournament born in November of 2003, so its very impressive what he's doing. Whether he grows another 4+ inches or not to be able to play as a #8, he has the offensive game to play as either a #10 or winger, so I think its more of a question with his physical development whether he can play as a #8 or whether he will be forced into an attacking mid role. But even then, its the Pogba question. Do you want your best offensive player picking the ball up off the center-halves? I'm not sure you do, but having positional versatility is good.
I disagree. I think you are right about Reyna, and I've said similar that Reyna's impact just isn't that big. He's good, but he doesn't dominate. I'd say its the opposite with Alvarez. Alvarez can dominate at times, and he's considerably more skilled and creative than any attacking mid on the U-17 NT. He'd be the best attacker on that team. Is he as good as Pulisic or Carleton? I don't think so, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be in the next tier.
Yeah that’s kind of what I mean. I’m not saying he won’t be good, but it seems like he’s being made out to be something great- like the next big soccer star, and I just don’t see that. Even if I don’t think think he was the best player on the field, he definitely was one of the best. But it’s not like he dominated that game. The first time I saw Andrew Carleton, probably about when he was 14, he jumped off the screen and I knew I had to follow his career. Once you saw him, you couldn’t take your eyes off him cuz you felt like he could do something great at any point. Alvarez is good but I just don’t think he’s a sure thing to go to Europe and dominate like it seems people suggest. Is he better than the a-mid players with the u17s? Probably, but I haven’t been super impressed with them, either.
I would say he's somewhere in the same range as players like Pomykal, Taitague, de la Fuente, Reyna, somewhere there. Maybe even toward the front of that list. If he plays for Mexico, it hurts the program, that's a player who could very well play for our NT, but I wouldn't put him in top 10 or so of American youngsters, so it's more of a depth issue than absolute top end issue. The next Pulisic/Carleton impact AM is looking like Nyeman, IMO. I completely agree that the best prospects at this age usually stand out as elite right away and are such just about every game against youth players. I've mentioned before that I've watched some of the top 03's playing at the U-17 level and the best you can say is they can keep up at that level. That's actually not that bad, considering they are playing up a year or two. Nyeman (like a few before him) is the best player on the field just about every game he plays playing up an age group where he's always the youngest player on the field, sometimes by over a full year. I remember Carleton playing up an age group for Georgia United and he nearly carried them to the U-16 National Championship by himself.