If people have to choose, who are the '02s who will emerge later this cycle and beyond? The, as they say, Cannon/McKennie/Mihailovic/Dest/Richards/Cerrillo/Ledezma/Mendez/Aaronsen/Soto of this age group. I'm not talking '03s who aren't here because they're young, I'm talking unknown/underrated guys who just aren't called up in their own age group right now.
I was really impressed with that first half, except for the finishing. The second half I’m going to blame on fatigue. The pressing + quick ball movement stopped. Busio was one donkey touch after another, Armour is a frustrating player who tries hard, and I like AOC but not on the wing. I won’t even bother mentioning the bench. Still feeling pretty positive about the group as a whole though. Some of their biggest shortcomings have the potential to turn into strengths before the WC (Bello @ LB, Nyeman on the field).
Whose making definitive conclusions? A lot of these players haven't even began their pro careers, but assessments about the quality of the age group are made all the time in the U-17 age group. The same thing is going to happen to the 04's and then the 06's and then the 08's. Thats how this stuff goes. Discussion isn't suspended because of the obvious fact that we can't make definitive conclusions on the careers of these players. I don't have time to go back and watch the first half. I'll take the word of the many people who said we played great. One half shouldn't be changing anyone's opinion, regardless of how good or bad.
Kaya Ignacio, Mario Penagos, Seth Wilson, Max Trejo, Takumi Ikeda, Kyle Linhares (haven't seen him play, but good stats), Cristian Escribano, Brennan Klein
It’s not just one half. We dominated Canada, too. You can say Canada is Canada, but Canada beat Haiti, and by all accounts, Haiti was at least as good as Mexico. We basically dominated qualifying for all but the first half and the last half, +ET. The only difference is fatigue killed us. Maybe it was partly Mexico’s tactical adjustments and not just fatigue, we don’t know, but I know fatigue completely took Reyna and Busio out of the game. I’m not the biggest fan of this group, and I have my reservations about many of the individual players, but they played well together and grew as the tournament went on. Reyna and Busio especially looked better later in the tournament, despite some horrible finishing the last two games. At the very least, this team showed the ability to work together and play in a system. They didn’t have the best ability to improvise and definitely had some things to work on, but there were no 2-1 squeakers against minnows like most U17s cycles have. That means something.
I agree. The scoreline surely does not reflect on what actually happened in the game. I was completely impressed with the way the US sliced through the Mex defense. The Soccer gods did not support their play, however. The team is gifted and the best U-17 play I have seen. Yet, some are better than others and they are all U-17s. They are prone to mistakes they won't make in 6 mo, 1 yr or 2 yr. Bodes well for both this team and the near future US national teams of all ages. I'm looking forward to seeing more.
After track of Reyna for some time, I believe he is a elite talent and special. The most impressive thing about him is his first touch. Usually we say good first touch means a player can get close control of the ball, but some elite players can have many tricks and changes when they touch the ball, including stop the ball + dribble past defenders for one touch. Reyna has it and It will really help him at higher level. His tempo is different, not flashy, but effective. He usually dribble or pass on the half beat. At this moment, I will be pissed off if someone told me Carleton is a better talent than Reyna.
At the u-17 level carleton was better mainly because of end product. Reyna might be better pro because of size and athleticism
Abraham Rodriguez, Masango Akale, Ray Serrano, Cameron Dunbar and Julian Anderson I think they could be too.
I don't agree that its very simple. The media will hype certain players for their reasons, but they never hyped Carleton. Then again, they don't watch more than a handful or two of the games during the cycle, so hype doesn't matter. In my opinion, this cycle has lacked a standout attacking talent at any position. There are some good prospects in the team, but there hasn't been anyone whose consistently dominated at this level, which we've seen in recent cycles from a few players. Maybe if Alvarez had stayed in the US set-up, he could've been an attacking standout the caliber of what we've seen from some recent U-17 attacking standouts. I also think the lack of games this cycle played a part in there being no standout. Less games and less team cohesion. There are players who aren't dominant U-17 players who end up being good prospects for the senior team a few years after the end of the U-17 cycle. A better comparable to Reyna would be Weah. Weah played a lot for the U-17's, but didn't dominate. He was the third best attacker in his own team. Most thought throughout that he was a very good prospect, which I think would be a better player to compare Reyna to if you want to make a comparison. You are comparing apples and oranges with Reyna and Carleton.
I think he has all the physical tools and skills to be an elite talent, but definitely needs some tactical work. Thankfully he will be in one of the best environments in the world and if things go accordingly, will be one that replaces Sancho after BVB sells him for $150 million.
Reyna dominated Mexico in that first half. He was far and away the best player on the field and it was the best performance of the tournament (for one half). He looked like everything just clicked overnight and he corrected his faults just like that. I’m a far bigger Carleton fan than I am a Reyna fan, but if Reyna can play like that more consistently, he will dominate the World Cup, too.
What's wrong with you? You ask my reason to compare them. It's my reason, not opinion, I know if it is simple or not. And why cannot I compare Reyna and Carleton? You thinks Reyna and Weah are two didn't dominate and Carleton are one dominate, so you call them apple and orange? First, whether or not dominanted is just your opinion, many not agree; second, it is not the reason to stop people to compare.
I think the reason you mentioned Carleton (as opposed to any other good attacking player to come through the U-17's in recent cycles or not mentioning any other player) is because you want to be yet another to throw some more criticism towards Carleton. I don't think you would've mentioned Sargent, Weah, Pulisic, Wright, Perez, Rubin, Flores to name a few attacking players who've been high profile players through the U-17 team in recent cycles. Carleton is a different case with a lot of fans. There's a widespread need to criticize him from some of you.
I heard the Top Drawer Soccer podcast with Scuffed (hey man, hows it going?) regarding a recap of the 17's tournament. I was a little confused as to some of the positions they took but one that caught me really by surprise was the praise for Gray as being excellent as a CB. To me, that seems like a realllll stretch. Decent, even passable but to say excellent seems a bit much. He seemed shaky and never really took to the comfort on the ball I like to see in CB. To be fair, no CB besides KHF shone in this tournament so he did play as well as the other CB's on the roster.
If you think I just want to bash Carleton that's your problem not mine. I thought Reyna is a top prospect for USA. When I mentioned Carleton, at least means I rate Carleton and know he is a top card in his U17 cycle. I just don't think Carleton is that good, it's like you think Reyna or Busio are not good enough, any problem? I already showed my criticism on Carleton last year so I don't need to criticize him more. I don't think Carleton dominanted in U17 WC, or he should be in FIFA's first eleven award, or hyped by British or other Europe media considering we played against England. He had one excellent game, against Paraguay, in other game he was turnover machines. That's my opinion, just like you doubt Reyna's soccer IQ or selfishness, which is subjective, so why act like we are all Carleton haters? Should I call you Reyna hater?
Fwiw I wasn’t a huge Gray fan before the tournament but thought he showed very well. However, I have been consistently pessimistic about his passing ability since the Nike Friendlies. Imo it’s inconsistent at best. I do think he shows some very good defensive instincts though and can improve his passing.
Agree to disagree! I thought Gray was a monster against Mexico. I guess you could argue he misjudged the Alvarez ball to Munoz in the first half but that was a world class pass from a surprising spot. I don't think any CB in our pool cuts it out. And I did not think Gray was shaky! Thought his passing was somewhere between more than adequate and a genuine advantage for us, he won physical battles, he was clean on the ball and he has the ability to step past a guy on the dribble. Might be undersized long-term but I feel more comfortable with him at CB than I do with December 2018 Mason Judge at CB (Judge might be much better now).
Gray's passing doesn't need to be better than adequate either. When you can dribble with the ball past a defender and buy yourself extra time to advance the ball up the field, there's near no difference in accomplishing building from the back. He reminds me of Mark McKenzie in that respect. I don't think McKenzie is more than an average passer, but he's very mobile and buys himself extra time (that his teammate Trusty does not) because of it.
That's a nice skill set to have in your arsenal as lately forwards don't seem to do free kicks as much as they used to. I like how the ball seems to gain speed at the end. That is the mark of a great free kick.