I'm watching the USL championship and Louisville just did that play from the last U17 cycle where Carleton would pretend to get into an argument with the other free kick taker and then take an in-swinger. I guess it was Hack's idea the whole time.
Looks like it will be Turkey, Portugal, and Brazil at this year’s Nike Friendlies. Now if only we had a coach and roster announcement...
https://spfc.net/news.asp?nID=172136 According to this Brazilian website, they’ll play Nov 28, Nov 30, December 2nd.
Heard through the local grapevine that Masango Akale , Mulwelle’s little brother, is one of 24 being called in prior to the Nike Friendlies. 20 of the 24 will play the games.
Have you heard anything about Minnesota United getting U17 and U19 teams into the DA? It's pretty ridiculous that it's taken them this long. That's a marked sign of a dysfunctional franchise.
Agreed on the dysfunction. The slow roll of the academy has been damaging in my opinion. They lost some real talent by handling it this way. Caden Clark (03) has been playing out at Barca Academy the last two years b/c he had no local MLS academy to play with. Ricardo Vera (03) just accepted an offer to go out a play for the Portland Timbers Academy. In addition to these that seem already gone, Tomas Piza (02)was identified through the Alianza program and received invites to trial from Pumas, Leon, Pachuca, and Santos and is currently with Santos trialing. Jack Morris (03) has been training with Columbus and Portland during the last year. If MNUFC is not careful, they may miss out on these boys too. But it does seem they are finally getting their act together and will field a full academy next season. Rumor is that MTA will be leaving the DA to make room for MNUFC. A recent change in a FAQ on MNUFC site bears this out too: Will you add older DA teams? Yes, we will add U16/17 and U18/19 teams for the 2019–20 year. We are working closely with US Soccer on phasing in additional teams. https://www.mnufc.com/academy/faq Hopefully this will not be a case of too little too late for these older teams.
The guys at Scuffed do a good job of reviewing the U17 pool leading up to the Nike Friendlies. The podcast is lengthy, but worth a listen. Check out @zlebmada’s Tweet: Forget the present. Consider the future! Recorded a Thanksgiving Special on the U17 player pool with @USAProspects and @MattsHartman. More than 50 players discussed, state of the pool assessed, dozens of good Twitter questions answered.https://t.co/HRaZaCGxyd— scuffed (@scuffedpod) November 20, 2018
Any more info on these friendlies? I will be in the Tampa Bay area for part of this (if the dates are indeed Nov 28 - Dec 2) and can report on one of our games.
Probably a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday schedule. We've always played the late game on each day. Usually around 7 the first two days, and then during the day on Sunday. The last game is usually also against Brazil.
Wednesday Friday Sunday ... if the Brazilian article is to be believed. I'm just trying to figure out IF the article is to be believed. I will be staying within 15 minutes of the games, on Friday, November 30, if it happens then.
Ocampo-Chavez, Odunze, Saldana, and Yow are on their way to Florida too. Odunze seems to be considered the firm #2 to Las, preferred to Cervantes, Wilson, Wady, etc.
Last year there was a camp prior to the tournament where 24 players were called in, and four were cut, so I wouldn't be sure that every player that is joining the team will play at the tournament. My preferred 24 man roster: GK: Las, Wilson, Cervantes, Odunze DF: Scally, Cuevas, Judge, Gray, Alejandre, Hernandez-Foster, Bello, Gomez MF: Atencio, Stroud, Saldana, Panagos, Nyeman, Yow, Freeman, Dunbar, Costa FW: Ocampo-Chavez, Pepi, Reyna Preferred cuts: Odunze, Cervantes, Hernandez-Foster, Costa Atlanta's first two LB's are now both available, so I think Bello will be available to play here. Busio is still regularly making the bench for SKC, so I don't think he'll be available. Its hard to know for sure though. It might not be known until after this weekend's games.
Bringing a guy in from Europe for his first-ever YNT callup just so you can cut him a few days later is some serious commitment to whatever process it is that is going through your head when you write these posts. Surely you are either the coach himself or the most USYNT-obsessed person ever to grace the internet. Either way, nice to make your acquaintance!
Seeing that this is rumored to begin next week, when will the games and times be OFFICIALLY acknowledged??? Enquiring minds want to know (in order to plan my time down there).
Its usually announced the week of the tournament. I'd guess Monday or Tuesday. Last year our games were Wednesday: 7PM Friday: 7PM Sunday: 5PM
Thanks for the information. But damn, they don't give much advance notice at all. But I will report back here on the Friday game against Turkey (the Brazilian site says that Brazil plays Portugal that day, so we would have to be playing Turkey).
Roster so far: Alejandre, Armour, Costa, Cameron Dunbar (believe it's his first U17 callup), Gray, Hernandez-Foster, Ocampo-Chavez, Odunze, Reilly, Reyna, Saldana, Scally, Yow.