The second half the USA played with more energy and actually went into duels and pressured Canada. I think it interesting people are down on Reyna. To me, he was clearly the best on the field. So many times a team mate would get into trouble in possession and send an absolute hospital ball towards Reyna. Even with Canadians all over him, he usually turned with those balls and kept possession cycling. The end of the first half when the team panicked a bit, he dribbled to oblivion a few times. But no so much in the second. He drew many fouls in dangerous areas, one led to a goal. He set up another goal when he and Scally dribbled in the corner for awhile, he drew what seemed like a dozen corners, the USA scored off one of them. Reyna was clearly not ready for 90 and was pretty gassed even when he hit the free kick. Fuentes was pretty good when he came in. Scally was generally good. The wingers ahead of him were not much help. Yow was pretty poor and missed easy passes many times. De Vries seems a very direct player. Alejandre scored the second, but he was pretty poor. He had two plays to make all game on defense and failed both times (one was a goal and one not). He moved the ball slowly along the back line or would just kick it to Canada's GK. Kobe is too short and can't really bring his game from the CB position. Kayo was better in the second half. Nothing great, just more energy and maybe less nerves. Pepi couldn't get on the end of anything. Leyva, Armour didn't really stand out. Busio is a fascinating player. He was pretty poor and displayed a poor first touch and lack of passing ability. But he can finish. Maybe he is just another Zardes that can use his trampoline first touch to direct balls on net but nothing else. Maybe he is like Weah at this age as a guy between positions and not overly technical but who found the goal. There was one 4 v 2 the USA had down 0-2, one of the only times Canada was caught out. Busio was fed the ball and he basically tripped over it, stumbled, bumbled, then just let it behind him for the Canada player to take. The second half was good. Wicky calmed the team down but also got them to be more aggressive. If this game had ended in a tie, it would have been very ugly for Barbados.
Scaly? I didn’t really see Canada’s two goals so I don’t know who was at fault, but Scally looked good from what I saw in the first half. Literally everyone else was awful tho.
I thought Busio looked pretty good in the second half. He had a definite sense of urgency and seemed like he really woke up. Funny cuz I was ready to sub him out at halftime. He doesn’t make the runs down the wing and just doesn’t seem comfortable in the position, but desire can go a long way at this level. Contrary to some, I was not impressed with Reyna. He’s just not a 10. He doesn’t have the creativity or vision necessary to make the passes that cut apart a back line. He tried to dribble through every defender, and while he’s a very good technical player, he consistently tries to get too fancy instead of making the right play. Yow doesn’t have the ability to create goals in the attacking third. Armour just doesn’t look very good. I thought pretty much everyone else was bad in the first half but came alive and played better in the second.
I think Scally was the worst player on the field. Looked absolutely lost on defense and useless coming forward.
That’s not what I saw at all (in the first half). He made tons of overlapping runs that Yow or one of the three midfielders ignored. He kept possession and helped disrupt the counter, as well as made a few good defensive plays. That’s just what I saw but like I said, I was distracted. I’ll take another look.
I thought he was the worst player on the field. He was directly at fault for the second goal. I must've watched a different game than you did.
Against players his own age, Scally plays as a right wing back, and doesn't provide the defensive efforts he should. He's done with this with NYCFC at youth level and with this team. He obviously has the defensive skills needed. With the NYCFC first team, he looks much better defensively. I think it might have something to do with trying to do too much. If you know you are really good and can get away with playing a loose style, you might employ the style Scally employs with this team. With NYCFC, his runs forward are smarter and more measured. I'd like to see him used at CB in this team, and Cuevas at RB. As good as Scally is, he's not the most technical RB.
Busio with the U17’s and Busio with SKC are not close to the same player. Don’t think Vermes has ever played him as a winger. With SKC he’s a very solid ball circulator, gets fouled a ton, and is sneaky good defensively.
Our u17 coach has a record of poor performance as a YNT manager with no objective qualifications or demonstrated ability to coach at this level. How does he get this job? Who knows. Did he lose his job after not qualifying last cycle? Nope. So, should Canada have played their best players? You bet. Why didn't they? Probably because the coach is an idiot and will never be held accountable in any objective way. That's what's it like to be a Canada supporter. Stuck in 1990.
I saw similar with the SKC youth teams to what he's shown in this team. I don't think I've ever seen Busio be the best player on the field. @zlebmada recently made a point on his podcast that I agree with. Busio's end product in the SKC team has mostly come off of mistakes by the other team. He may not have the talent to be a big difference maker from the run of play and a consistent chance creator from attacking midfield. What you are saying with being a good ball circulator, drawing fouls and contributing defensively could be a good player, but does he have enough talent to run an offense? He produces end product in all teams. You can't question that about his game. I think the questions will continue until he starts playing better why a player with his reputation doesn't play better from the run of play. This is a guy whose produced starting level numbers in MLS now playing in a competition where 95% of the players will never be good enough to make an MLS roster. He might not have the capability his production with SKC indicates he should. Some players produce well early in the pros, but lack huge potential that their early pro production indicates they should have.
I'd also like to see him at CB, he grew a lot and might have lost some quickness and can't mark shifty little players in the open field anymore.
On this team he might be a victim of the system. The roster screams "skinny diamond". There are no wingers on this team as Busio isn't a winger and Yow isn't a starter, but there are two good forwards, Reyna at # 10 with Busio and Fuentes/Kayo. But generally I'm starting to understand your scepticism . For me it's just a lack of the bench.
Every time he was left alone against Nelson we were in trouble. He was also making unnecessary fouls and got a yellow for his efforts. When overlapping runs don't work both players are at fault and the team is exposed for counterattacks.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=432036627361234 The replay is still up on FB if anyone hasn't seen it yet. I haven't, and I'm interested since there's so many differing opinions.
He improved as he came more central. The field in his area of attack in the first half, when he was really poor, had multiple players slipping. Not slipping only at full speed, under pressure, but just jogging with nobody around. I will take your word for it on his touch and passing as I have only seen limited minutes of him with SKC, and most of that was him not involved in build up or possession but getting on the end of stuff and finishing.
As a USA fan, watching these tournaments, especially this new expanded format in the last U20 tournament, it is a definite strategy to rest your players against the USA (and probably Mexico in the other group) and then go for second with fresh players. Another way to look at it is to play more defensive players and try to minimize GD. The games are very condensed. The same strategy was used by teams against the USWNT in their recent qualifying. Which was a factor in why they had a 30-0 goal difference or something that stupid until the final.
Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but wouldn't you have written about the same thing about Weah during 2017 qualifying? Weah was coming off the bench iirc, and most thought he was all name with a hard erratic shot who got goals on great assists or defensive mistakes. Weah improved many of the problems Busio showed tremendously in very little time.
I liked the Yellow. That Canada player had a hard foul for a yellow earlier in the game (on Reyna I think) and came close to getting another one just before. Scally cleaned him out good the next time he touched the ball. Sorry, but in CONCACAF it has to be done.
I always thought Weah was a big talent. Busio, I’m not so sure. I also wouldn’t use him as a success story yet. He could be, but he’s not yet in the Adams or McKennie category. He’s a talented young player with potential, but he’s often given some mantle that he’s not yet reached. He’s not more proven than Durkin, for example. The only difference is the federation hypes one and not the other.
I thought Reyna's performance was embarrassing. Yes, he got the assist and the goal and he drew a lot of fouls, but the assist was just a hopeful looping ball that Busio produced a moment of class from, the goal was a free kick that most professional goalkeepers are gonna stop with no trouble, and the foul-drawing was part of the overall problem. He doesn't release the ball. Almost every time he touched it he lingered on the ball. And he gave it away cheaply and repeatedly. That's bad enough, but the global effect of his unwillingness to pass was even worse: Any sort of rhythm we had in possession died at his feet. This is embarrassing because it's obvious to anyone who watches, and yet it's the same thing we saw at the Nike Friendlies. Dude! This is a youth national team! I don't care how good you are, you can't play like a 10-yr-old ballhog in a rec league. We had a lot of problems yesterday before we clawed back in the second half (which is an awesome credit to Wicky for his control of the locker room, btw). Scally and Armour lost their men on the first Canada goal, Leyva had a horrible giveaway that led to the second goal. Busio was atrocious in the first half. Pepi barely saw the ball. Yow was too sloppy to make any sort of difference. Kayo was out of sync. But the biggest problem IMO was Reyna. Is Wicky (and was Tsakiris) telling Reyna to put his head down and go at people every time he touches the ball? Is he ignoring instruction from coaches to keep the ball (and himself) moving? Either way, it's shocking. Something has to be done about it.
poster A - "player X looked really good" poster B - "player X was trash" poster C- "player Y isnt a 10" poster D - "player Y has great technical skill and vision" lol.. a quick reminder u17 analysis is always funny.
When it comes to these types of tournaments...................its survive and advance. Our goal with this team is to peak in the quarterfinal. Did our team play their best? No. Sometimes I do need to remind myself that we no longer have a full-time residential academy. So now we have 15-16 year olds getting together in sporadic camps. Playing for coach who hasn't worked with them much. So its not surprising to me that we struggle from a team perspective in the first game. I'm expecting that this team is going to improve game by game in this tournament. The talent is there. Wicky will really be able to build on this. Mexico didn't play great in their first game, eeking it out against Jamaica. Honduras played poorly, as they lost to Haiti. At the U17 level, results can be all over the place. So when you come out with a win against a non-minnow, you say "job done."
It is funny how someone can see the same game so different. There were phases to the game and phases to Reyna. I have not, and probably will not be able to, rewatch. I assume Adam has. The three phases were: Before 0-2, After 0-2 before Half, Second half. Before 0-2: I thought Reyna was moving the ball along. Several times he passed to Yow, but the return was poor and never got to Reyna. Reyna hit a big diagonal switch to an open Busio, who lets it bounce off him and loses it. Many times Scally and Reyna would work it up and Yow would lose it. As Adam writes, everyone around Reyna was terrible. After 0-2: You can almost see Reyna decide that he is not going to pass the ball to these players that keep losing it. He does combine with Scally to get possession, but then mostly tries to dribble. The first dribble he beats four Canadians and loses out to the last one right before going in on goal. Maybe he got full of himself after that as he tries it again and again. But in reality, it was no worse an option than passing to Yow or anyone else. BTW, through the whole game, there is very little movement ahead of Reyna or any midfielder. Players were very static. So, he doesn't release it sure, but there was nobody to pass to. But maybe he has his head down so nobody bothers to make a run? Second Half: Has Reyna played much lately? He looked very winded. But there is no denying he is key in all three goals. He assists on the first. You can say he dribbles then floats one, but he dribbled then got something in the box with 4 USA attackers there. Compared to the crosses Busio was hitting (30 yards beyond the far post), this one is well placed. He wins the corner probably (he must have won 90% of the corners) and takes the corner that leads to the great Kobe strike and Alejandre mop-up. He draws the foul and scores the free kick. Reyna is not Mendez, he is not Pulisic, he is his own player. He is willing to take a hard foul to get multiple dangerous set pieces. On the 3rd goal, he does very well to get in between the defender and the ball and get the foul. With a CONCACAF ref, that is not an easy play to get a call. Maybe the vision and passing will come. I just don't think that is his game and knocking him for it, while ignoring what he does do, is off. You can knock Wicky for putting him where he is not the most suited. But Vision and Passing to split lines doesn't work if nobody is making the run. Maybe Pepi was and Reyna didn't see it. That is the kind of thing that is hard to see watching once. Maybe that is what Adam saw. But against a bunker, down 2-0, where you have the ball but no actual offense in the final third, getting set pieces and putting the ball in the "mixer" is not a bad Plan B.
3rd Degree agreed with you by pointing out how Rodriguez with FCD's U17's would quickly spray the ball around to get Pepi more touches.
And, if we're being realistic, most of these players will be borderline professionals at best. Switzerland won the 2009 U-17 World Cup, so those guys are entering what is ostensibly their prime now, and there are like 4 players from that team that are worth much of anything. So yeah, a lot of these kids are going to be flawed, and they'll remain that way, but hopefully a couple guys come through and contribute to the growth of the game here. That also means that negative critiques are going to be right more often than not, which is a great cycle for the constant pessimism of BigSoccer.