There has been a looooot of push back from the Mexican-American community ever since USSF has stopped allowing transfers before 18. Case in point, J. Gonzalez. FIFA has good intentions here and a valid point that young players from third world countries need to be protected. The problem is that there are plenty of young guys who don't need that protection and have career opportunities go by. A simple solution would be for FIFA to put an exception to the ruling where young players can move freely to any country where they have citizenship.
According to Ricardo Pepi's agent, there's going to be a US camp (presumably U17) in January and Pepi has accepted the callup. https://www.instagram.com/p/BrohupxnjNt/
There's a new coach for the U-17's, which might explain the roster. Bit of a coaching merry-go-round a-happening with the YNTs.It's noted in today's roster announcement that former U19 coach Dave van den Bergh is now the U17 coach. The new U19 coach is Curt Onalfo. Shaun Tsakiris, who coached the U17s at the Nike Friendlies, not mentioned. pic.twitter.com/Ue3gjCSBWW— scuffed (@scuffedpod) January 4, 2019
First saw him as a coach for Dave Dir's old ASG club team. The one where Acosta started and Oscar Pareja, Bobby Rhine and others did skill training every Friday. Dir actually has a coaching tree under him that's sort of hidden as he was never really rated highly himself. Pareja, Kreis, Zarco, Leonel Alvarez, Cassar and more I have forgotten. Sort of the anti-GOB's (from the Arena / Bradley tree. van den Burgh is a Dutch coach who play winger for FCD/Burn (I can't remember which) and lets hope he turns out better than Rongen.
Hey...………….those early Burn teams also featured Hugo Sanchez. Future Mexico and Liga MX coach, of course. And also John Kerr, long-serving coach at Duke. Alain Sutter, who would go on to coach the Swiss national team. Tom Soehn, future DC United and Vancouver coach. We could probably come up with a bunch more. Oh, Darren Sawatzky……..….right? Long time Sounders assistant that now coaches FC Tuscon. Also a bunch of front office types like Garth Lagerway and Matt Jordan. By the way, trivia question that only a Dallas Burn fan could love. Dave Dir was technically the first employee in MLS history. Hired in 1994 before the league existed to be director of player personnel. He was in charge of putting together the first player pool for the drafts, etc. Then he left that job to be Dallas coach. A sneaky really important person in the early history of the league. But we digress...……………………...
Didn't know that about Sutter. He was really good and could have been one of the league greats if not for stepping into a hole in practice and ruining his hip. Back then the team trained at a prep school and had a mobile home trailer as their locker room. The league has truly come a long way in the last 15 or so years. I wonder if Atlanta had been an initial team instead of Dallas and suffered through playing at various too big stadiums in the early years along with being obviously not a major sport in years 1-10ish and Jones had done what Blank did would their roles be reversed?
Recently I saw that the Concacaf Championship will be held in Bradenton between April and May, at some point it was speculated that it would be played in Nicaragua, but considering what happened in the women's championship and its political problems, it was not a safe place For the development of the championship. Actually, there is not much information about the tournament and what I have found are pages in Spanish that sometimes are not very reliable, but with respect to the championship, it seems that Concacaf wants to maintain the classification format as in the U20 classification (a site Salvadoran website confirms this through its coach, but previously it spoke of 12 participating teams, so I want to clarify that the information is practically nil and that we would have to wait for a confirmation from Concacaf, but Bradenton is expected to be the host).
I've been able to confirm that FCD u17 Nico Carrera is in the final stages of US Citizenship process, like Jesus Ferreira. (don't ask me for specifics, I know nothing about how the process works)In addition, word is a US U17 call up is waiting when he gets it done.— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) January 22, 2019
I know nothing about him that isn't findable online, but he appears to be a big '02 D who was with Pachuca, born in Mexico. FCD's '03 GK Antonio Carrera is his little brother.
To be honest, I've only seen a couple of games of his from the recent winter showcase games that were streamed. The one thing that stands out about him is how tall/big he is for a U17. Body hasn't filled out. He's lanky, but of course Chris Richards was really lanky when I first saw him. There have been folks talking about him as a potential future homegrown signing. Of course they talk about 20 other kids that way. Its hard watching FCD U17s and knowing what to think. They rarely face stiff competition. They're 12-0-0 in the DA with a goal differential of +42. I've said before that I think they have a chance to go undefeated in the DA this season. So how does a kid play when he's outside of that system? Maybe @Runhard can offer more. Or perhaps @ussoccer97531 watched more of his winter showcase games than I did. Buzz's thoughts: https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/so...scouting-fc-dallas-academy-u17s-u19s-solar-sc #37 Nico Carrera has a Matt Hedges body already (6'2" 162 Lbs). He plays center back and is super aggressive, not physically, but tactically. Lots of range and tight marketing, frequent checks up and back, recovers fast, and puts a body on everyone who comes through the middle. Progression for him will come on the mental side, game reading and advanced tactics, perhaps some discipline in shape. Lots of upside though.
Good in the air. Reads the game well defensively and defends well. Above-average passer. Mobility isn't bad for a player his height, but its more problematic for a player of any height. He's been very good at the DA level this season after uneven play last season. He can help the U-17 NT. He'll probably have a pro career, but may not be a great prospect due to his mobility. I recently suggested that he should be called into the U-17 NT once I was alerted that he may be close to citizenship.
When you are 6'2 and only 162 pounds for a 16 y.o. your body has lots to catch up. Maybe he will grow strong and become a quicker player.
Sounds about right from my limiting viewing. In a recent column Buzz indicated he gets "Matt Miazga vibes" from the young Carrera. We'll see. He's got a long way to go. Worth reminding ourselves that Matt Miazga had zero U17 caps. Walker Zimmerman had zero. Aaron Long had zero. Mark McKenzie had zero I believe. Auston Trusty? Zero? I can keep going.
It's almost like we're talking about a position where you can't truly judge a player until they reach full adult growth.
My first impressions of him came last year when he played poorly in a few DA showcase games but since then he seems to have gotten better. He is big and good in the air but I don't like his passing so much as he seems to make too many errant passes. He is not the fastest or quickest but uses his brain to be in the right place at the right time. I don't rate him as a US National team guy yet but he is still young and FCD is very high on him.
It's certainly true that many U17 CBs never amount to anything and many of our best CBs weren't highly rated as U17s, but Trusty played at the 2015 U17 World Cup.
Best 20 for qualifying. 1. Las 2. Wilson Battle for #2, and it shouldn't be much of a battle, although USSF still refuses to call in Wilson. 3. Scally 4. Bello 5. Cuevas 6. Gomez 7. Carrera 8. Gray 9. Alejandre Lack of #'s in central defense, so this team might have to try some players at CB who don't usually play the position. I think Cuevas and Gomez could play outside CB in a 3 man backline, while Scally could play CB in any formation. Carrera gives the team a taller CB who shouldn't be a huge liability at this level. 10. Atencio 11. Nyeman 12. Chifamba 13. Saldana 14. Busio 15. Freeman 16. Dunbar 17. Sarver I think Atencio is the top #6 in this age group, although USSF doesn't seem to agree. Nyeman is the best CM/AM. Both of those players should be starting. Chifamba is looking like the best option as a back up #8. I think his defensive reads are still too raw to have him play a big role, but if you need a #8 off the bench to give a two way effort in there, he can do that. Spot 13 is the one that is up for grabs. I think it could be Saldana or Stroud. You need a back up to Atencio in that holding spot. I think Saldana makes more sense because if you want another true defensive midfielder, you can use Gray at DM. It makes more sense to use a player with versatility to play the 6 and 8 for that spot, considering there's not much separating the two players. The attacking mid options are not great here, so two of the four are from the younger age group. I don't see Busio having the impact that some think he can have, but the position is weak enough that he's nearly a lock for a position due to his spot in an MLS team. Freeman (the better prospect among the two SKC attackers) could add some offensive creativity off the bench. Dunbar adds a good winger threat from the start due to his dribbling and athleticism. Sarver, like Chifamba, is too raw to give a big role, but his pure speed can help this team off the bench late in a game. 18. Ocampo-Chavez 19. Reyna 20. Pepi I'd like to se a two striker formation with AOC and Reyna. Pepi can give the team a different style of CF off the bench. A couple of potential formations Las Cuevas-Carrera-Gomez Scally-Atencio-Gray-Bello Nyeman Reyna-AOC Las Cuevas-Scally-Gray-Bello Atencio-Saldana Nyeman Reyna-AOC-Dunbar Las Scally-Gray-Carrera-Gomez Atencio-Bello Nyeman Reyna-AOC-Dunbar
@ussoccer97531 Do you feel like this group is coming together? I know you've been down on them compared to last cycle, but there looks like a lot of quality in this squad, and that is without Fuentes, Palomino, Stroud, etc. listed.
Has he been in a camp or competition this cycle? What is it about him that makes you such a big fan of his? Also, why do you omit Yow?
I don't regard the rosters that the coaching staff picks. They will make their decisions and thats their job to do that, but as a fan of our NT, I'm giving my own opinion. Nyeman is by far the best player in his age group from what I've seen. I don't think thats about being a fan. I think thats about analyzing the U-17 pool. Some years the talent is more bunched up. 2003 has a clear top-talent. Yow tends to score some goals from the wing, but I don't know if he brings anything other than occasional goal-scoring. Is there a reason I shouldn't omit Yow? Maybe you know more about his game than I do. I was impressed in what I saw last season, and I said that he was underrated. After watching him play a few more games recently, I think his stock went up too much, and he belongs more as a fringe player in the age group.
Nyeman isn’t great at tackling. He’s pretty much great at everything else. He’s fast, he’s good technically, his soccer IQ is off the charts, he has a good shot and finishing ability, and his creativity is far above anyone in his age group. He was easily the best player in every game I saw him in last year as a 14 year old in the U17 DA. Is Nyeman hurt again? He’s only played 3 games with the u17s and none with the U19s.