If you see Ferreira before the test maybe you could make certain he knows that Alabama was not one of the original 13 colonies.
This tournament will take place outside a competitive senior window, so we should be able to bring a pretty strong team. MLS is always amenable for the marketing and some development purposes. European clubs should release youth players near call-ups to the first team because this still should be good experience and some added evidence for them. And I think they should be able to finagle some from 1st teams since it's an international window and these aren't friendlies. Some players who seem to have really helped their cases in this week's camp have been Toye, Aaronson, Dotson, and maybe Soto. Ferreira frustratingly wasn't eligible still, but should be by the spring. I figure Reyna will skip a level once he's done with the u-17 WC, and may actually be a focal point w/ his squad. Already reportedly impressed in practices w/ the u-23 b-team. Llanez was also to be part of this camp if healthy. The cm can be fortified by Pomykal and Yueill shifting back and forth between the u-23's and senior team. Same thing goes for Cannon and A. Robinson at fb. Maybe we see Dest sent there if he commits to the program and could get released. Miles Robinson could be transferred to this cb grouping. Bayern Munich could be swayed on Richards at that point. Sands may well be healthy. Even if the elite youth players like Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Sargent, and Weah have permanently graduated; this can be a loaded group. Remember the riffraff that was being trotted out there last cycle? Most of those guys are at lower levels or out of football completely.
We've had Euro teams decline invitations for players to these types of youth events for no reason whatsoever. Andrija Novakovich stands out as an example. I have a sneaking suspicion that any players at the recently completed U23 camp have been made available in advance. The USSF, Kreis, etc. have presumably been in contact with these clubs. So Soto, Gloster, and Mendez in particular have been made available. At least.................we haven't been told a flat no. Soto's the hard one to predict as he might not be at Hannover following the next transfer window. There are players not at this camp, like say Chris Richards, and you wonder if we've already been told to take a hike. Let's hope not.
Well, each club is going to make their own choice individually. I think in general though the USS has leverage over at the least the European clubs who are deciding to release players (or not) who can also double as senior national teamers. It's a game of chicken. Not one we could play when it's youth team friendly vs. senior team friendly. But it's different when we're talking youth team tourney vs. senior team friendly. The former can reasonably take priority. Circumstances can always change dramatically for bad or good when it comes to availability of players in camps several months apart. At least the European clubs couldn't make any promises they could keep. And you never know; a couple of the MLS'ers could be European players by then, changing the equation.
The USSF doesn't have any leverage. Euro clubs can decline any youth callup and they don't need to provide a reason. They can just not feel like it that day. That's why the USSF, Kreis, etc. have presumably had proactive discussions with clubs about this particular tournament. Some clubs value these types of experiences. Others don't. Schalke in recent times has been one that hasn't, for instance. We've had a bunch of youth callups from Schalke declined and its hard to figure out why sometimes. Just like they apparently declined the callup of Hoppe this past week to our U20s. Why? Who knows. They don't need a reason.
The leverage is that if they decline the youth NT call-up we'll just add them to the senior team roster that window anyway. So they don't gain anything from it. The only rub is it would have to be believable. It obviously would be in the case of Dest, and maybe a Weah or Amon if we and they are so inclined.
I heard a game commentator say Pulisic wants to go to the Olympics and will ask his club to be released for the games.
I'm excited about what's going on with some of the 2019 U20 players. It's almost like there's a friendly competition to see "who's next." It looks like Dest is the first to move up (but of course we don't know if he's finally committed to the U.S.). Then we have Pomykal, who some are already pencilling in as the next M for the USMNT. But it seems his club play has levelled off a bit, so is he the USMNT flavor of the month? I feel like people have jumped on the bandwagon too soon. He's a good player, but does he do any one thing really well? Now there's Richie Ledezma at Jong PSV. While he hasn't yet made it to the full team his great showing yesterday lead many to believe that he'll soon move up to the 1st team. When will that happen, who knows, but his technical ability is very apparent, so there's great hope that he's next up.
How we do in this cycle will be largely determined by if our young players grow up quickly enough. Not just if the younger group get old enough to contribute but also the more established group becoming more consistent international players (like McKennie). I don't think Pomykal is quite the creator that Ledezma is -- but he does almost everything well. In that sense, he more of a modern player in that his likely only weakness is his relatively small size. He can do a bit of everything, and he's a better offensive player than he generally shows when plays further back. Richie is a heck of an offensive player, but is generally acknowledged to be more offensively focused and may need to get a bit better on defense all around. Either way, it's super exciting. I just hope everyone grows up quick.
Pomykal to me looks like toast. He looks totally worn out. He made a huge splash early in the season, then played in all of those U20 World Cup games. Had a bit of a hamstring issue when he came back. Was subsequently called into USMNT camp, where he probably trained hard. He's not playing the same as he did earlier in the year. I'm really curious to see the "scratching the chalkboard" analysis of his performance yesterday versus one of his games from earlier in the year. Guys like Aaronson and Parks are playing much better than Pax right at this moment. Ledesma? Surely looked awesome yesterday in Holland (I admittedly only saw the highlights). Mendez is getting on the field for Ajax. Cappis is starting at Hobro today. This is the great thing about developing a depth of talent. A youngster can't have a huge dip in form without falling back in the pecking order. Gotta maintain a high level of performance and consistency.
Pomykal does several things very well. That's the attraction. Not only does he do several things very well, but he's a leader by example on the field. There's a reason why Pomykal was the captain and midfield star of a Tab Ramos-coached team featuring both Mendez and Ledezma. Paxton did several things much better.
ICYMI:Mark McKenzie shines in Union’s statement game against LAFC’s stars https://t.co/1ZfyNE2FRe— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) September 16, 2019
https://sbisoccer.com/2019/09/risin...ezma-confirms-contact-from-mexican-federation According to Soccer By Ives, Ledezma was not included in the last U23 camp, which is fine, but he hasn’t heard so much as a text from US Soccer since the U20 World Cup, which is not - especially considering that he is progressing well at his club. Now Mexico are calling him in for a camp and Richie is listening to what they have to say. Regardless of how good Richie Ledezma becomes or doesn’t become, this is just incredibly sloppy, lazy behavior on the part of US Soccer. If Richie Ledezma isn’t called into a camp, let him know why. Let him know what you think of his progress at his club. Mexico have a former national team player assigned just to track and contact players. The US? Not so much Again, this kind of incompetence doesn’t matter until it does. It is disappointing that we are so incredibly naive from a organizational perspective. Maybe we lose him to Mexico anyway or maybe he turns out to be not that good but, holy cow. This really makes me question their competence.
I have brought up this issue before but there is a USSF following in this boards that will deny there is such an issue. I suppose they are keeping their USSF connections is a good standing.
I personally think its a global competence problem at the USSF, and not arrogance. I don't find Berhalter arrogant in the slightest. Or Kreis. Or Ramos. Or Stewart. I just think that collectively they drop the ball on some things. And let's be fair, the USSF is woefully short-staffed. Those guys are juggling a hell of a lot of balls in the air at once. They need to separate some jobs. They need to separate the U20 coaching gig from the youth technical director job. I don't know if it still does, but previously the youth technical director job also was technically in charge of the USSF Development Academy. Ramos can't be expected to scout U20 kids all around the world, coach the kids in camps, be in touch will all those kids and clubs...……………..while keeping an eye on all of the kids outside of his age group. Its too much. I'm sure Berhalter will be in touch with Ledezma shortly. He was just conducting camps and coaching the USMNT in games. That's a full-time job for a month in preparation and execution. You know why Berhalter probably didn't call Ledezma prior to that USMNT camp? Because Ledezma hadn't done anything!!!! In July Berhalter couldn't call Ledezma and say 'I've been watching your performances and want you to know that I see you in our plans." He couldn't do that because the Jong PSV season just started for Pete's sake. How about the kids do something AND THEN the USMNT coach calls. That's what's happened just now. Berhalter can watch those Jong PSV games and have something intelligent to say to Richie. People say...……...well then we should have called him a couple months ago. You mean, when he was at the U20 World Cup with the US squad? We needed to pull him aside at the World Cup and say "I know you're wearing a US jersey right now, but I want you to know the US is interested in you playing for them." Really? The USMNT coach gets involved when players earn his attention thru performance. Prior to that it should be the youth technical director (who's juggling tons of roles) and age appropriate coach. In Richie's case that should be Jason Kreis. Now why Jason Kreis hasn't been in touch with Richie is beyond me. That's incompetence. That's who dropped the ball here. You know why Jason dropped the ball? Because he has a job with Inter Miami. Again...………..somebody juggling too many balls in the air at once.
can someone name these players for me? i think i can identify mckenzie, toye, and freese. but i may be confused on llanez and mendez, and i simply don’t know the others. https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2019/09/match-report-us-u23-mnt-vs-japan
There is no conspiracy theory in your post involving Bradleys, anti-latino maneuvering, or MLS. Not enough tin-foil-hattage to be true.
Low, low standards that need to be raised in a concrete, tangible way. This is not some foggy grey area that we can never understand. This is super clear and has a ton of co-conspirators. Every single person in this program needs to constantly be reminding everybody else that, and this is not exactly rocket science, when you don’t deal with people for long stretches of time but you are also competing for their services with other countries, exactly how you communicate with those players becomes disproportionately important and cannot be left to chance or circumstance. There were no checks to make sure everything was getting done. When you aren’t planning and executing training in anticipation of a game every week THIS is the job. You don’t get a break. You get THIS. It needs to be done with national team level competence or else the program isn’t...well...competent.