Of course. But the beginning of the season is usually full of Efra types getting minutes. But who would be surprised if he plays in USL for most of the year?
I don't think he's comparable to Anthony Fontana, but I don't think he's "been the crown jewel in youth circles for quite some time", when we've had guys like Pynadath, Ledezma, Mendez, Reyna, Bello, Busio, Sargent, Soto, Weah, Durkin, and others, pass through the YNT in the last couple years. Yeah, Efra's probably a, if not the, top '02, but he's not in a YNT trough of talent around him.
The only one on that list who I have thought of on the same hype level as Efra for the last two years or so is Gio and that includes Sargent.
2019: Josh Sargent, Tim Weah 2018: Wes McKennie, Tyler Adams 2017: Christian Pulisic ..is this about right?
The first thread was on the European calendar. I moved it last year to the calendar year. So, it ended up: 2018: Tyler Adams 2017: Weston McKennie 2016: Christian Pulisic Adams had serious competition through the summer. Antonee Robinson had a great Spring and was looking to stick with Everton. Sargent was looking to maybe get big minutes for WB early and often. Weah started a PSG game. But AR took a similar loan to last year then got hurt, Sargent was brought along slowly, and Weah fell behind on the depth chart. Meanwhile, Adams got even better. He gets almost no positive thinking, but CCV is playing for a pretty big club and playing very well. If Sargent and Weah are doing what they are doing now next November, and CCV gets a move to a EPL club, he could win this. Funny how he has been discarded by most. If Mendez is starting next September in Freiberg, he is instantly in contention. Same with Dest at Ajax. I think Gloster and Soto might start for Hannover in the next month, but they will be in the 2.Bund next December.
Pulisic broke out in 2016. He was on the Copa squad and started in the first 2 matches of HEX2018. McKennie broke out in 2017 with his BuLi debut. Tyler also broke out in 2017. Both had their first caps at the end of 2017. 2018: Sargent, Weah, Robinson, Moore?
Mainly it's because he was supplanted at Swansea, and has only gotten his chance as of 2 months ago through injury. Though, to be fair, he has been excellent and is making the most of that opportunity. Sort of similar to Miazga. Both had a lack of playing time/good games. Then they've been on a tear lately (CCV for longer than MM, who just started at Reading in late January).
My wish list is that everyone continues their upward trajectory (obviously) and we see: Sebastian Soto break into Hannover 96 Alex Mendez breaks into Freiburg Chris Richards breaks into Bayern Sergino Dest breaks into Ajax Jordy Siebatcheu and Kik Pierre choose USA Ethan Horvath breaks out Antonee Robinson becomes a PL player. And all of a sudden, we are dark horse team.
I have a feeling that Sebastian Soto and Chris Gloster debut before the end of the season for Hannover (once relegation is even more assured than it is right now). Then both get lots of minutes next season in Bund2.
MLS and USL clubs have gone on an absolute splurge of signing young players over the past weeks. Too many to even mention. Here's a signing to the Galaxy first team that might actually see some minutes (cuz the Galaxy are thin up top, and the forwards they do have are mostly of the aging variety). #LAGalaxyAcademy graduate @ethanzubak has signed a Homegrown Contract with the @LAGalaxy.Well done, Ethan! 👏 pic.twitter.com/oiQsirn4Mz— LA Galaxy Academy (@LAGalaxyAcademy) March 8, 2019 And Chicago signed a 14 year old to a first team contract ! Introducing #cf97 academy players Andre Reynolds II (2001) and Gabriel Slonina (2004) as our clubs 12th and 13th homegrown signings. #pathtothepros #playerdevelopment pic.twitter.com/Z7KtkfSdk6— Chicago Fire FC II (@ChicagoFireFCII) March 8, 2019 Another exciting development is that the independent USL teams are giving more and more opportunities to young players as well. Another great sign...…………. 📰 NEWS: Four SRFC Academy players have been signed to ‘Academy Player on Professional Team’ contracts ahead of the 2019 @USLChampionship season.Congrats to Quincy Butler, Mario Penagos, Hayden Sargis and Eddy Berumen!#LetsGohttps://t.co/SgdzWbtfT6 pic.twitter.com/GZSdVHqATp— Sacramento Republic FC (@SacRepublicFC) March 7, 2019
Perhaps a breakout game last night for 19 year old FCD central midfielder Paxton Pomykal. Had an assist, and was named Man of the Match by multiple outlets. [By the way, debuts for two homegrown academy players in this game as well. Ethan Zubak of the LA Galaxy and Edwin Cerrillo of FC Dallas. On top of Efrain Alvarez and Reggie Cannon also playing.] 1104515505652666368 is not a valid tweet id Paxton Pomykal Man of the Match for me. pic.twitter.com/cak5dZ37U6— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) March 9, 2019
An MLS kid we should probably be talking about more. US U20 Omir Fernandez started for RBNY last night in the CCL, and scored a potentially important away goal. 1105645636840493058 is not a valid tweet id
He's young enough for u-20. We could see him at the World Cup if he's not too vital to Red Bulls by then. Both the u20 WC and u23 olympic qualifying squads should be really strong by our standards. Hopefully then careers don't get stunted by MLS' or Europe's suspect integration of Americans.
the thing is that we have three years. While that isn't necessarily all that much time, it is plenty of time for 1-4 relatively lightly regarded or very young players to take a big step and end up in contention for 2022...if not a key part of the first 11 ala Pulisic. Just in the past few years we have had Pulisic, McKennie and Adams who I would argue have reached very lofty levels in a time frame which is likely much shorter than most can honestly argue they foresaw. How many believed Pulisic would make such a fast and successful jump to the first team? McKennie? Same question. Adams? rinse and repeat. What is one thing they all have in common? Aside from the fact that they all play important roles in very good teams in a top 4 league they are all 20 yrs old. Who are the young players in the 17 yr age range that aren't mentioned above? Durkin, Sands, Bello, Busio, Aaronson, etc not even naming any European talent. Might we have at least one more player in the next 3 years that has an impact similar to Pulisic, McKennie or Adams? Time will tell but it is far from impossible. How about a relatively late bloomer or two (one that is 19-22 now and hoping for a breakthrough now? How about Reggie Cannon, Pomykal, Fernandez, Robinson, Mihailovic, Ebobisse, Basset etc. (again, that is only naming MLS talent...we still have players in Europe that haven't made the big time yet.
Yup. It just depends who's available for Olympic qualifying and then (fingers crossed) the Olympics themselves. Getting these players released can be a challenge. As of now our "best" Olympic qualifying team might look something like this: ------------------Sargent------------- Amon---------Pulisic-------Weah ---------Adams--------McKennie--- Robinson-----CCV----EB---------Cannon ------------------Scott------------------------ I pulled that out of my ass so I'm sure I made some terrible mistakes. But anyway, my point is that its possible that 8 or so of that "best XI" won't be on the Olympic qualifying team. They'll be fully integrated USMNT players (Pulisic, Adams, McKennie) or they won't be released by their clubs. No club ever has to release any youth player for any youth event. So figuring out what the Olympic qualifying team is going to be..................is a colossal crapshoot. I remember last Olympic cycle we never had anything close to our best Olympic team at any U23 event. Not even the qualifiers themselves. We started some real shrapnel in defense............................partly because we couldn't get Yedlin, Brooks, etc. released.
Partially transferring over the related discussion from the youth boards... Miles Robinson has had a more impressive 6-game stretch than any of our u-23 eligible cb's. EPB's most intriguing play has come as a cdm. His pro career as a cb has been ho-hum. He's surviving. Robinson is thriving, and doing so under high pressure, in do or die games, against strikers who could just as easily be in top European leagues. All while showing tremendous physical potential and vastly improving passing skills. He's been tidy while making plenty of line splitting passes under pressure. CCV has less physical ability, probably worse ball skills, and has seemingly plateaued in the Championship. I think the pecking order is being grandfathered in. Amon is overrated I think. Didn't play a ton of minutes, which goes both ways, and contributed a couple goals and a couple assists this season, in Denmark. He doesn't have good touch and vision. That's a problem spot, but I think the U.S. will eventually do better. Right now they'd be better served with Mihailovic as the 10 and Pulisic out wide. The one place where we may be hurting is keeper. Scott looked good for u-20's. But he has to be a 1st teamer by then. Otherwise that may open the door for a Marcinkowski, if he's spearheading Earthquakes. Fans wanted him to start this season but their franchise is dysfunctional. Might require a surprise late emergence.
Keeper is a surprisingly thin position for this Olympic cycle. Should we qualify from CONCACAF (a big if seeing as we've failed 3 of our last 4 tries), that's a prime position to consider for one of the three veteran squad members. But that's putting the cart before the horse...………………………… Our upcoming Olympic camp roster is going to be really interesting. For those that didn't see it, the roster for our upcoming U20 camp was just released as well. Its the last camp before the U20 World Cup I believe. Anyway...…………. https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...-20-players-pre-world-cup-training-camp-spain [Before people freak out about exclusions, some of them might be with the U23s or not released by their clubs. Adams is with the senior USMNT.] GOALKEEPERS (2): C.J. Dos Santos (Benfica/POR; Philadelphia, Pa.; 1/0), Trey Muse (Seattle Sounders FC; Louisville, Ky.; 0/0) DEFENDERS (6): Sergino Dest (Ajax/NED; Almere-Stad, Netherlands; 6/1), Chris Gloster (Hannover 96/GER; South Orange, N.J.; 9/0), Aboubacar Keita (Columbus Crew SC; Columbus, Ohio; 0/0), Jaylin Lindsey (Sporting Kansas City; Charlotte, N.C.; 5/0), Matthew Real (Philadelphia Union; Drexel Hill, Pa.; 8/0), Chris Richards (Bayern Munich/GER; Hoover, Ala.; 6/0) MIDFIELDERS (6): Frankie Amaya (FC Cincinnati; Santa Ana, Calif.; 11/1), Christian Cappis (Hobro/DEN; Katy, Texas; 2/0); Andrew Carleton (Atlanta United FC; Powder Springs, Ga.; 5/2), , Chris Durkin (D.C. United; Glen Allen, Va.; 0/0), Alex Mendez (Freiburg/GER; Los Angeles, Calif.; 13/8), Juan Pablo Torres (New York City FC; Lilburn, Ga.; 10/4) FORWARDS (6): Ayo Akinola (Toronto FC/CAN; Detroit, Mich.; 10/9), Jonathan Amon (Nordsjaelland/DEN; Summerville, S.C.; 0/0), Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona/ESP; Barcelona, Spain; 0/0), Ulysses Llanez (Unattached; Lynwood, Calif.; 9/7), Justin Rennicks (New England Revolution; Hamilton, Mass.; 12/6), Sebastian Soto (Hannover 96/GER; San Diego, Calif.; 3/2) Of these players, the ones I'm thinking are closest to a big breakout in club soccer, and a subsequent breakout to the full national team are...…………..Alex Mendez of Freiburg, Sebastian Soto and Chris Gloster of Hannover, and Sergio Dest of Ajax. I won't be surprised if a couple of these players get debuts towards the end of this Euro club season, setting themselves up for more real advancement in our USMNT/USYNT program over the next year and a half. The name that really jumps out at people is Konrad de la Fuente of Barcelona. Its been quite a long time since we've seen him at a US camp. I just think he might be a little farther away from breaking out. Also, Uly Llanez is listed as unattached, but is heading to the Bundesliga. The team we keep hearing in connection to him is Wolfsburg.
A couple of league debuts last night for US youth national teamers. Julian Araujo of the Galaxy and John Nelson of FC Dallas. Both are versatile U20 defenders. By the way, FC Dallas had 5 U20 players in their 18 (Pomykal, Cerrillo, Roberts, Ferreira, Nelson). WIth international callups taking players out for next week...………….that's going to increase to 6, maybe 7 (Servania and Reynolds). 74' - @texashealth Substitution 🔄Maruquinhos Pedroso OUT@Nelson_J14 INJohnny Nelson making his @mls debut.Watch: @texas21Listen: https://t.co/Np9YZzF4E8, 1270AM en español#CLBvFCD | #DTID pic.twitter.com/xavox80a1K— FC Dallas (@FCDallas) March 16, 2019 Well done tonight, @ChrisPontius13 👏@julian__araujo enters to make his #LAGalaxy debut. pic.twitter.com/tA9AcolUc4— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) March 17, 2019
I hope Ferreira does as well as his dad at Dallas one day. High standard to live up to with an MLS MVP and all.