The least our federation can do is schedule some games against Germany's U17s so Las can get a nice contract with whoever he wants.
AOC nearly ties it after a Scally cross. Announcer is asking why KHF is taking set pieces. Apparently he hasn't taken them well. Las made another save earlier. I think he's up to five good saves in this game.
Las with two more saves. Brazil is starting to play better now after we started out the second half much better.
Scally scores the PK. Straight down the middle. Announcer didn't think it was a good penalty, but he still scored.
Sounds like we had a much better second half. Las, AOC, Scally, Gray, Pepi, Yow all played well, if you go off the radio commentary.
Ussoccer97531, who do you think are the top forwards are in this cycle? I havent followed this cycle as closely as the last one, so I cant really say. But from the USSDA player pages, it seems something like this: Reyna, Yow, Redzic, Freeman, AOC Also, do you think there is a huge drop off from the last cycle because the talent is just not there or do you think its due to poor scouting?
Does anyone think Jack Imperato at Villareal will be called up for this cycle? It seems like we struggle to maintain possesioj in the midfield. This is the type of player we can use
@CBF_Futebol 2 - 3 @ussoccer (Sun 14-10-18) in an U17s International Youth Tournament at @TheDabbers stadium, Nantwich - @jjscally_10 scores the winning goal for the USA from the penalty mark and celebrates with teammates pic.twitter.com/g9Uk5kDIvi— Jonathan (@jono1971) October 14, 2018 Edit: #19 in the celebration there is Pepi, so it seems he's integrating well into the squad.
Timm, Ocampo-Chavez is the best attacker, in my opinion. Not a very typical American CF. He's not small or un-athletic, but he's not going to stack up well physically to Weah, Sargent, Soto, etc. Very mobile, good dribbler. Creates a lot of chances by himself or for teammates, which isn't that common for most US CF's. Most of them need good service. Good in build up play, can run the channels and interchange with the other attackers. Hard worker, although he's more of a 5'8 or 5'9 striker, so he's not going to win every header. Scores goals in a variety of ways. D. Lopez and Pepi are comparable for the best back up #9, but Pepi is a year younger, so I'd give him the advantage if we are picking a roster. I don't think you can roster both of them. Too similar in how they play. Big target guys. Pepi has a little more variety in his game. Tireless worker. He's always making something happen. Reyna's best position is hard to figure out. I think you could put him anywhere along the front line, although I prefer him playing as a striker, so he's another option there. He's good and one of the better players in the '02 year, but I think if the standard here is that he follows in Pulisic's footsteps in breaking through at Dortmund, I don't think he has that level of talent. Busio is another one who could probably play anywhere in the attack. I think he's probably best used as a winger. I'm not a huge fan of how he plays, but I know some others like what he shows. I mentioned Freeman and Redzic yesterday. I don't see either as starter level players for this cycle. Freeman could be a decent back up #10 (and the versatility to be a 3rd, 4th option at the wing spots and CF). He's at a disadvantage for a starting spot because he's a year younger. Redzic is more of a fringe guy, and I think he should be competing with someone like Yow for a spot on the roster as a back up winger. I don't think there's a huge difference in ability, but I like Yow's game slightly more. Better technician, more end-product, IMO. You could also make a case for neither of them in the team. Neither of them were on the best 20 man roster I posted here (https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2019-u17-world-cup-cycle.2076693/page-14) about a month ago. Besides those two, I like Cameron Dunbar of LA Galaxy. He's a skilled and creative winger. Plays a little like Cameron Duke of SKC, if you are familiar with how he plays. I don't know why Dunbar hasn't received a call up yet. I continue to say he deserves to be in this team. Sam Sarver is another player who I'd advocate to get a call up to this team. He's a goal-scoring winger with blistering pace. He's from the '03 year, so that might be why he hasn't been called up yet. Admittedly, I've seen less of him than most of these other players, but I was very impressed in the few games I saw of him. Nyeman factors in majorly here. When he gets fit, he should be one of the first names on the team sheet. I think he's the only difference making attacking mid in this age group, but there's a danger in being reliant on a player who is coming off a second lengthy injury in the past year, an '03 who has yet to receive any call ups to the U-17 roster, and probably the youngest player in contention for a spot on the team this cycle. There are others. Josh Pynadath is a winger at Ajax. I haven't seen him play, so I can't say whether he deserves to be in this team. His place in the Ajax team makes me think he doesn't. Dunning of Feyenoord was at the Mexico tournament. I don't believe I've seen him play. Cade Cowell ('03) was at the recent Mexico tournament, and apparently did pretty well. He's a track-athlete style winger from what I can gather. I have yet to see him play, so I can't say whether he deserves to be in this team. I like Daniel Robles creativity. He's a #10 from the Sounders, but more of a fringe player that could get one of the last spots in attack. What about the Quieroz kid from Rayo Vallecano? He should get called in to see if he's any good. Serrano, Jasson, Fuentes are options. I don't rate what any of them bring, but they are players in the attack who have gotten games this cycle and probably will be part of the team in upcoming tournaments. I think I've seen Imperato play once, but I was not paying particularly close attention to him (or that game), so I can't say whether he's good enough. I'm probably forgetting a player or two who has gotten some recent call ups or deserves one, but thats all that comes to mind right now. I think a big part of the attacking problems is the lack of Alvarez. This attack would be a lot closer to the one from the past two cycles with him in the team. He was produced in our system, but defected. I'd chalk that up to getting unlucky that a player you developed preferred to play for another country. I think the system worked here in producing decent qualify '02 attackers, but when you lose probably the best of them (or the second best), its going to effect your results. I don't think the '02 year is without talent or a very weak year, but the big talents aren't at the positions where players garner a lot of attention (wingers, attacking mids, central mids). The keeper, the two full-backs are three of the five best players, IMO. Its a different type of team from the last two cycles that had a lot of talent concentrated in CM, winger, attacking midfield, striker. For the later year of the cycle ('03), I think it looks like a weak year with a star player (Nyeman), but a big drop off after that. Still, a couple players from that year who could help here (Freeman, Pepi, Cuevas, etc), but outside of Nyeman you probably aren't going to get more than back up contributors to this cycle's team.
Our U17s got to hang out with child actor Seth Carr. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo7T1f5lL7v/?taken-by=sethbcarr
The problem is they are being coached like a college team (or every senior USMNT for the past decade). Ever since Hackworth took over from Van den Bergh it's turned into get the ball wide and run. Tsakiris is doing the same thing. There is no emphasis on playing through the middle, so therefore the coaching staff doesn't value personnel who can control a game and dictate the tempo in the center of the field. The CDM is being coached to sit high when we have the ball and allow the center backs to start the attack rather than come back and get it, so therefore the majority of the play ends up being run through the outside backs and not the middle where, theoretically, your best ballhandlers and passers reside. Central midfielders who pass the ball 70-80 times/game for their DA clubs are seeing the ball half that amount with the U17MNT because the coaching style hasn't progressed with today's game. It's not that there aren't players who can run the middle, it's more a staff that wants that position to be manned by someone with a different set of attributes. For instance, last week against Argentina (who were coached by Pablo Aimar, by the way) the starting CDM was an '03 right back. Just think about that. THE STARTING CDM WAS AN '03 RIGHT BACK. Who benefits? Surely not the youngster who is being denied the opportunity to show what he can do at his natural position, and surely not the CM's who are losing playing time so a U16 coach can audition for the U17 job by trying to show that "his players" can take their spots. And surely not the team, based on the results. US Soccer needs to hire a coach who knows how to play today's possession-oriented game and can evaluate talent based on the desire to play that way, and not a coach who played for the Rochester Rhinos or Carolina Crunch 15 years ago and has proven to be adept at keeping a job by scouting athleticism and managing games by keeping it as low risk and close as possible. Otherwise the U17 age group will continue to be the age where our Mens National Teams start to fall behind the rest of the world despite the strides we're taking with the DA.
I absolutely refuse to think about that until I know who is that mysterious kid is, and who else is playing and which positions. It seems that you are the only one in the know, so any info instead of a rant would be appreciated.
A correspondent who was in the stadium for the Brazil game sent a brief note that said the U.S. had the better of the second half, Brazil the first; he was not particularly effusive about any player but praised Las, as well as the first-half performance of Robles and the second half of Saldana.