I sure hope Ferreira is a citizen now or very soon but still no confirmation and that worries me. It's such a long and arduous process that until it is confirmed I still worry.
He’s still very young so I’m not too worried about it. It’ll come soon enough hopefully by U20 WC time
I don't think they are too good to play in the U-20 WC. 2011: James Rodriguez, Kalidou Koulibaly, Antoine Griezmann, Alexandre Lacazette, Isco, Koke, Alex Sandro, Casemiro, Philippe Coutinho, Mohamed Salah 2013: Alphonse Areola, Paul Pogba, Samuel Umtiti, Florian Thauvin, Suso, Paco Alcacer, Juan Bernat, Saul, Joao Cancelo, Harry Kane, John Stones, Eric Dier, Jose Gimenez 2015: Angel Correa, Florian Grillitsch, Davinson Sanchez, Andre Silva, Gelson Martins, Goncalo Guedes, Gaston Pereiro, Nahitan Nandez, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Gabriel Jesus, Malcom, Julian Weigl, Julian Brandt
Why do they need to play in the Gold Cup? Whether we finish first or second will depend on Sargent and Adams? Of course it won't.
I see no reason why Pulisic should be cemented as our peak. McK, Adams and Sargent are on a similar path and there is barely any age difference. This is the new normal. Five years ago, a guy in Wright's situation would have been outstanding. Now he is meh. That said we might have to adjust expectations for EPB. He is 21 and has yet to have a top five league start and it doesn't look like he will.
Come on. Of course Sargent and especially Adams could influence whether or not the US beats Mexico. That's not even the main reason. If we follow the same pattern as last cycle, the semifinal round of CONCACAF WCQ will start in November. As we all know too well, Berhalter was hired about a year later than necessary, and now has a limited amount of time to establish a system. The Gold Cup is the major opportunity to do so, as he otherwise has only January camp, a pair of friendlies in March, and CONCACAF Nations League games in September and October. Taking Sargent and Adams away from the Gold Cup when the team is developing a new identity and culture would be a big mistake.
Those loanees always have it difficult their first couple of years in Europe, so I wouldn't put as much stock in playing time as you are. Look at what's happening with Miazga. EPB has done well for both teams he's played for, but he's a loanee. Any mistakes, and he'll go right to the bench.
I completely disagree, but here's another reason to have those two playing at the U-20 WC instead of the Gold Cup. The Gold Cup doesn't end until July 7. After that, they'll get 2-3 weeks off. It'll be late July before they rejoin their teams in preseason. Missing over half of the preseason is not a good idea for two players who are trying to break in at the club level. The U-20 WC ends June 15. They'd be ready to join their teams right when preseason begins.
I suppose that Berhalter might want a few reps of his NT in actual competition against other CONCACAF NTs before qualifiers.
The Scuffed young prospect fantasy teams were released today, with Matt, Adam, and Joey drafting in that order, 20 players each. Limited to players born 1997-later who aren't capped by the senior USMNT. Here are the teams (** is dual-national representing another nation): Matt @Matthew Hartman Starting lineup: Marcinkowski; Bello, Richards, Leone, Scally; Durkin, Gray, Llanez, Reyna; Sealy, Toure Bench: Trusty, Fuentes, Rotundo, B. Lennon, B. Scott, K. Hot, Balogun**, Vines, Bohui Adam @zlebmada Starting lineup: Ochoa; Hernandez-Foster, McKenzie, Glad, Lindsey; Servania, Mendez, Ledezma; Carleton, Taitague, Pepi Bench: Nyeman, Rennicks, M. Vargas, Atencio, Garces, A. Herrera, E. McCue, Ferri, Dunbar Joey @CreightonMCFCjoey Starting lineup: Las; Gloster, J. Maher, Araujo, Dest; Booth, Roberts, Zelalem; Sabbi, de la Fuente, Soto Bench: Busio, Alvarez**, Hilton, M. Ritaccio, Brummett, A. Martinez, Alcala**, D. Robles, Muse And here's a 20-man squad of undrafted guys I threw together who were either overlooked in the draft or simply not rated enough by the podcast. Perhaps other, better guys I'm missing. Not including any dual-nats on foreign YNTs like Pierie or Perea. Also left out Ferreira, Carrera, Letayf from FC Dallas as I'm unsure of their citizenship. Undrafted Starting lineup: Klinsmann; D. Acosta, Akanyirige, J. Reynolds, Fossey; Sands, B. Craig, Hoffmann; Pomykal, Ocampo-Chavez, Wright Bench: Dos Santos, J. Gomez, M. Cuevas, A. Keita, Otasowie, Bassett, F. Oliva, Kelman, Ebobisse
If I'm the MNT coach, which I am not, I figure that 2022 is a ways off and what I need next year is for as many players as possible to take whatever steps forward with their games and careers I think are needed for them to be ready to compete when I start making difficult roster choices down the line. Their positions within the pool as it currently stands certainly matter, but only so much. If, for example, I see a guy as a potential leader, maybe I put him with his age group to give him an opportunity to demonstrate that. Same goes if I see him as a candidate for a possible position switch down the line. On the other hand, maybe a guy needs to get pushed around a bit or would benefit from some exposure. Or maybe he's just my best option at a given spot at any level. In other words, lots of moving parts, and I see no need to apply some kind of blanket rule to the situation just to satisfy BigSoccer. One perhaps-minor observation is that if I, the coach, who is not actually the coach, think it's important to be at the 2021 Confederations Cup for WC preparation reasons, I'm halfway there already by virtue of having won the 2017 Gold Cup. Does anyone know what happens if we win next year's GC? Would that negate the CONCACAF playoff, or would we still need to win something else?
If we win the GC, we automatically qualify for the Confederations Cup. If we lose, will play a one game playoff against the GC winner like we did in October 2015.
I'm not as avid a watcher of the youth national teams as others here, but my feeling is that the purpose of youth national teams is to develop players for the senior national team. Once a player is firmly a contributing member of the senior team, they're done with the youth team, even if they're still young enough to play. There might be some exceptions if, say, the 3 other top forwards got hurt right before the u-20 WC and Sargent goes to the u-20s to fill that hole. Also, taking the guys who are already appearing for the senior team out of the pictures give opportunities to guys behind them in the pecking order, who might not be quite as talented, but could fulfill a higher percentage of their potential with more experience and exposure. For instance, I don't think guys like Llanez, Mendez, Rennicks, Servania, etc. get the boost in hype that they got from CONCACAF u-20 qualifying if guys like Sargent, Weah, and Adams are there taking minutes and shouldering more of the responsibility. I'd say that the guys in the former group benefitted more from being given big roles than the guys in the latter group would have. And that goes double for the actual u-20 WC. It's a real chance for less hyped guys to have breakout performances and get offers to improve their club situation. Sargent, Weah, and Adams probably don't need that (maybe you could argue that Weah does, but Sargent and Adams seem to be in pretty good situations).
I pretty much agree with what you're saying but an alternate take would be to get the best of the U20's together as they will be the real core of the team going forward and playing together and if they could make a deep run or win the tournament would be a big boost for their confidence and the whole men's program that could surely use that boost. I do like your boosting backups (right now) careers though.
Just checking in to note that I count 41 of 64 guys called in this U20 cycle as having pro contracts already. That doesn't count Adams or Weah (pros, but not called in by Ramos), Perez (is it official?), Soto (not 100% clear he's a pro) or a few others who seem likely to sign soon enough. Last cycle, 54 of 87 (52%) guys had pro contracts by the time the Finals happened, not counting Pulisic. In 2015, 47 of 79 (59%).
I think I like your team the best, but I don't think @CreightonMCFCjoey's team is far behind. I saw Maher play last year. Looked really good for the DA level, but I don't know that he belongs in the high level pro environment. You also have a better bench IMO and I'm not sure about Zelalem's inclusion there.
If we are looking for markers of the depth of our youth talent pool, this draft exercise -- which is already limited to only uncapped players -- is certainly one... There are some legit prospects that are STILL on the board after 80 names have been called: Haak, Palomino, Freeman, G. Acosta, Goslin, etc.
My own attempt at picking a team from the players not drafted. Goalies: Wilson, E. Lopez, Slonina Defenders: Cuevas, Fossey, Akanyirige, Keita, J. Reynolds, Craig, Acosta, J. Gomez Midfielders: Sands, Tessman, Mihailovic, Asensio, Penagos, Pomykal, Hundley, Duke, Freeman Forwards: Wright, Ebobisse, Ocampo-Chavez HM's: Silva, Vom Steeg, Olosunde, Crain, Hoffmann, Bassett, Goslin, Palomino, Perez, Sarver, Bwana, Kellman, Vazquez, Stojanovic Wilson Akanyirige-Keita-Acosta Cuevas-Sands-Tessman-Gomez Pomykal Wright-Ocampo Chavez
That’s a pretty good team there. They pulled out a couple guys I’m not familiar with so I can’t really say anything definitively, but I would’ve thought Danny Acosta would’ve been taken. Especially over Herrera. I know Herrera played this year and Acosta didn’t, but we are talking about taking these players for a tournament 8 years from now. I also will say that 03s-05s will play some sort of a role in our roster by 2026 but we have no real clue which ones will at this point. It was a fun listen tho and it’d also be fun to keep up with those rosters over the next 8 years
Does Siad Haji have no level for the U20 team? From what I've seen, it seems to be a "10" with good pace and a pretty decent hit, also has a good dribble, something similar to Hundley and is a good passer. I find it strange that he has only been called to a single camp in this cycle, considering that they have called Amaya and Dorsey.
I'm told Orlando City is also working on a deal to acquire former #USMNT Under-20 left back Danilo Acosta from Real Salt Lake. #RSL figured to move Acosta after he was benched in favor of Aaron Herrera, and after the team recently acquired Donny Toia in the re-entry draft. #OCSC— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) December 27, 2018 I’ve never been a fan of Acosta, but I didn’t think he would get shipped out for Aaron Herrera of all people. This seems like a good deal cuz it clearly wasn’t a good fit for Acosta in Salt Lake. Kudos to them for trading him instead of holding some grudge against him and letting his career rot on the bench.
A team that wants to try and sign its talented young players can’t afford to get a rep that they will wreck your career. Good for both parties that this takes place.