Yes, but were not talking about Messi here.... he was a good player at the U20 World Cup.... not even great.
Sure, but he was playing up an age group, which if you study player development in ANY sport is one of the best predictors for success. Soccer? Maybe less so then say baseball, but still a predictor nonetheless.
Yes, but players like Akale, Perez, and Wright should have been called up in front of him anyways. Trust me, I like the kids game but he is so far down the list of deserving players its embarrassing for our federation.
Dude.... It was a training call-up for a prospect in a meaningless friendly in which he did not play and the US got a decent result and blooded some newer, younger players. Nothing egregious or outrageous happened here. The worst-case scenario is Josh learned how far he has to go to be ready for the full team. For one of our top prospects, at a position where we don't have much quality depth, that's not a bad thing. There really is no scandal here.
Honestly think it's kind of a stretch to even call it a "call-up". Sargent wasn't on the bench for the Portugal game. It's a training stint since he had nothing else to do with his time - he was never going to play.
According to Wikipedia, yes, qualification will take place in October 2019. I'm sure we'll see some U-23 programming next year, but it's virtually impossible to say what or when before a permanent senior team manager and/or technical director is hired.
So you could make a starting lineup for the 23s almost exclusively with players who have made first-team debuts in Europe or Mexico this fall. (Well, some debuted previously.) ----------------------------------Klinnsman ----------------????---------- ----????-----Cater-Vickers---------A.Robinson -------------------------------------Gonzalez ------------De La Torre----------------------------------------Amon -----------------------------------McKennie -------------------------------Pulisic --------------------------------------------Wright BENCH Parks Gaines Torres Perez (debuted last year) Of course, this greatly reduces the chances they'll acctually be available to the US for Olympic qualifying. But it's still a pretty productive sign for the YNTs.
I've never seen a cycle like this before. By 2020 we might have an entire starting line up in major European leagues.
I agree. The question is whether its an outlier or not. '98 has been great all along, '97 became great after an iffy start, '99 is coming into form, '00 might even be better than '98. But those are only four years. What do we have from '01-'04? Its hard to know yet, can we be sure its better than '93-'96? I can't say for sure yet that it is. If '01-'04 is anywhere near as good as '97-'00, we've actually improved a lot. If not, we've produced a golden generation from '97-'00, which is good, but every country does so.
I'm just guessing here, but I'd be surprised if it's '93-'96 bad and surprised if it's '97-'00 good. Here's a dart throw at the 5 best players from each group that US development can take credit for (don't crucify me, just go with me here) '93: Yedlin, Zimmerman, Trapp, Stanko, Davis '94: Morris, Vincent, Manneh, Lima, Alex Crognale? '95: Miazga, Acosta, Roldan, Arriola, Gooch somewhat, and 3 keepers '96: Hyndman, Shaq, Rubin?, Bradford Jamieson?, Joel Sonora? '97: EPB, Parks, Glad, Redding, Lennon '98: CP, McKennie, Haji, Perez, LDLT, and just ridiculous depth '99: Gonzalez, Adams, Taitague, Pomykal, Scott, Torres '00: Carleton, Sargent, Durkin, Weah, Ferreira, and it seems like a lot of depth The first 4 are definitely worse at the top, but for all but '95, I struggle to get past 5 players useful for a club MLS level or above. That's insanely atrocious. My guess is somewhere in the middle, just because I expect to have the same depth, but Pulisic's are always going to be anomalies. This is the first real generation of kids who can watch every game on TV and play FIFA all the time.
Too early to know. I think these players are better, but none of them have played a first team pro game yet.
You could put Perez at right back as he's played there in Serie A I suspect that by the end of the 2017-2018 Euro season, we'll have a couple more Euro debuts. Palmer-Brown will probably be loaned out and get some game time, for instance. I've been hoping that Taitague gets a garbage time appearance for Schalke at the end of this year like McKennie did last year. There are some others. By the way, the kid that's been a complete and total mystery to me for a year now is Mukwelle Akale. The trail has gone cold.
Clint, he's been injured and only recently (this week, I believe) made an appearance with Villareal's C team and then started a match. I think someone (maybe @Giggsy1986?) posted a link to the match in Akale's YAA thread. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/mukwelle-akale-to-sign-with-villarreal.2003776/page-59
If I were to judge depth on these groups - with the caveat that it gets hazy the younger they get - I would qualify the following: '93 F '94 F '95 B '96 D '97 B+ '98 A '99 tending towards A '00 tending towards A Historically, I would say that we have been a nation that gets D and C more often than a solid B.
He's been a fringe player to this point, but '97 left-footed midfielder Jonathan Suarez made his Copa MX starting debut a few days ago for Cimarrones de Sonora, where he is on loan, and helped defeat his parent club Querétaro. Yesterday, he made his Ascenso MX starting debut vs. Celaya and scored the winning goal. He had a few U20 callups last cycle and was a standby player for the CONCACAF U20s. ⏰54' G⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽LLL de nuestro equipo marcado por Jonathan Suárez🐏 @CimarronesFC 1-0 @TorosCelayaCD 🐂#DaleCimarrón 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/ixBGmgs0Dz— Cimarrones de Sonora (@CimarronesFC) January 27, 2018 ⚽️ VIDEO: Te mostramos el gol de @CimarronesFC 🐏, se estrena el "Spaghetti" Jonathan Suárez @johnny_1110 con asistencia de Jesús "Kechu" López @Keshuu97 de @AscensoMX pic.twitter.com/VQP6VXOYyY— Score MX 🇲🇽 (@Score_MX) January 27, 2018
Six U23-eligible players called up for the senior national team's game against Paraguay next week. Erik Palmer-Brown, Antonee Robinson and Cameron Carter-Vickers (all 97s), Weston McKennie (98), Tyler Adams (99) and Tim Weah (00) will all get a camp together.
I wish there was a U23 camp for the 97s and 98s who aren't in this camp. Of course, that would require some actual decisive leadership and action from Soccer House.
I would personally love to see some kind of post-U20 program beyond the Olympic program, even if it's something pretty light meant mostly (or entirely) for amateur players. Dumb idea: CONCACAF could create a regional U23 tournament held every two years, alternating with Olympic qualifying. Auto-qualify a few big teams and let the smaller ones that might benefit from the games battle it out for the other spots. Make it semi-official (like the U15s) if you want.
Five U23-eligible players have now been capped by the US senior team. Christian Pulisic (98) - 20 Tyler Adams (99) - 3 Cameron Carter-Vickers (97) - 2 Weston McKennie (98) - 1 Timothy Weah (00) - 1 Six more have been called up for at least one USMNT camp but have yet to get capped: Dani Acosta (97), Justen Glad (97), Brooks Lennon (97), Erik Palmer-Brown (97), Antonee Robinson (97) and Josh Sargent (00).
Who'd like to pitch a theoretical qualifying roster made up entirely (no cheating) of players based, or likely to be based, within CONCACAF, targeting a tournament sometime in early 2019? Let's say two GKs and 18 field players, based on the size of the last group.
Me! Me! This is straight out of my spreadsheets so the ages are just their age at time of the olympics. Also, I cut just about everyone who I think has a chance of going to Europe in the next year. Forwards: Strikers: -Jeremy Ebobisse (Portland, 23) -Brandon Vazquez (Atlanta, 21) Left Wingers: -Andrew Carleton (Atlanta, 20) -Sebastian Saucedo (Salt Lake, 23) Right Wingers: -Paxton Pomykal (Dallas, 20) -Brooks Lennon (Salt Lake, 22) Midfielders: Central Midfielders: -Jackson Yueill (San Jose, 23) -Cameron Lindley (Orlando, 22) Holding Midfielders: -Derrick Jones (Philadelphia, 23) -Chris Goslin (Atlanta, 20) -James Sands (NYCFC, 19) Defenders: Left Backs: -Danny Acosta (Salt Lake, 22) -Marco Farfan (Portland, 21)/Matthew Real (Philadelphia, 20) Center Backs: -Justen Glad (Salt Lake, 23) -Auston Trusty (Philadelphia, 21) -Tommy Redding (Red Bulls, 23) Right Backs: -Reggie Cannon (Dallas, 22) -Jaylin Lindsey (Kansas City, 20) Goalies: -JT Marcinkowski (San Jose, 23) -Justin Vom Steeg (LA Galaxy, 23) I cut Adams and Durkin since I think they'll both leave, but I foresee quite a bit of defensive issues in midfield with this roster.