I really hope he doesn't make this squad, he's simply not good enough atm. This coming from a Galaxy fan.
I agree. Is he needed at LB? No. Acosta, Borges, and Farfan are all ahead of him. At central defense? Nope - even without Glad. CCV, EPB, and Redding are all ahead. Then you have Trusty, and Robinson. Arellano's only case is as a utility defender who can cover across the backline (sort of how Klinsmann justified calling up Orozco for years). The fact that Arellano was flat out cut from the qualifying team kind of puts him on the outside too. But I do think a versatile defender would be a huge advantage for a player on this team
Arellano is emblematic of why the LAG DA lags behind FC Dallas. The coaching is very good. Players gain a good understanding of positioning, how to play, etc., and most of them have a decent level of technical ability, and Arellano seems to check these boxes. All that said, most of them, including Arellano, seem to lack the quickness and athleticism needed to become a top level player. That's why the ceiling for Arellano, as will be the case for most of the other promising prospects at LAG, is MLS journeyman. Some other examples- McBean, Jose Villarreal.
To be fair, you can say the same about the vast majority of the homegrown field players signed by FCD. Garcia, Levya, Luna, Hernandez and company all had some technical ability..........but all lacked the athleticism needed to become an MLS player. Its possible Craft is falling into that same well. Basically, Acosta is a beast.....................and the rest are journeyman. Even Ulloa is now clearly a step behind uber-athletic Grueso/Acosta. I don't believe there will be an FCD U20 on this roster. Craft may go as an alternate or whatever. I don't believe Cannon and Pomykol have been called up by the U20s to this point. There's a lot of competition in Pomykol's spot (and like Taitague, he's eligible for the next cycle), and Fossey's performance at the CONCACAF Championships will keep Cannon out. We'll probably have Weston McKennie there as an academy alumnus. Let's hope Ramos learned this lesson with Javan Torre. Versatility for the sake of versatility can be dangerous.
I doubt we'll see a Torre type player from this point on. As a result of the maturing DA landscape and the HG mechanism we're developing much more depth than ever before, so we should always be able to find a competent player (and backup) for almost every position on the field. Of course we still have a way to go before we consistently produce major talents.
I thought Fossee, Glad, EPB and Lennon were the standouts. Acc to MLS -" Glad, Palmer-Brown and Lennon all earned CONCACAF U-20 Championship Best XI honors, with Palmer-Brown earning the Golden Ball award as the best player at the tournament." I'm was wondering if Zelalem should be considered for a forward spot where we seem to lack ideas/finesse apart from Lennon. What's he doing in Holland?
Here's Zelalem's YA thread: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/veni-vidi-vici-gedion-zelalem-at-vvv.2024050/
#CVFEnglish | Today our [emoji631] #VillarrealC star @mukwelle_akale joined us on #VillarrealSoccerChats! [emoji981] [emoji169] Listen now [emoji117] goo.gl/n9v6ky
Nats Abroad @NatsAbroad 13m13 minutes ago Nats Abroad Retweeted VfBTransfers U-20 goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann is training with VfB Stuttgart's U-23 squad in preparation for the U-20 World Cup that starts in May.https://twitter.com/vfbtransfers/status/843585599537926150 …
I do wonder how much longer Klinsmann's going to be at Cal. With his father's connections, surely he can get a pro opportunity in Europe. We can argue what level that should be, but there should be jobs out there for him.
Agree. That said, Cal has a tremendous goalkeeper coach - Henry Foulk, whom Jurgen used as GK coach for a few US camps - who has a great track record of sending his prodigies to MLS: David Bingham, Stefan Frei, Eric Kronberg, Josh Saunders. He's the big reason Cal has replaced UCLA as "GK U." If you're an American GK in college soccer, there probably isn't a better place to be right now than Cal.
Is it? I was thinking that on opening weekend there were three starting keepers from Maryland, but was too lazy to figure out if that was the most. [Seitz, Steffen, MacMath] Zach will rotate with Howard most of the season, of course. I don't have a problem with keepers staying at elite NCAA programs. What's important is getting games.
He's not getting 'games' now if he's in college. It has to be supplemented by youth 'training' set up by his father's connections. We need to require more of our top youth national team prospects and getting professional games on some level. He's outgrown college soccer.
Perhaps not surprising, but this McKennie profile makes it seem all but a lock that a healthy WM makes the Finals roster. Also: “I followed them in qualifying and read every article I could get my hands on,” McKennie said. “I would watch them over the Internet. It was a very exciting run to watch and very pleasing as well. Tab Ramos tried to get me released for it and we fought very hard, but it didn’t synch with Schalke’s schedule. http://americansoccernow.com/articles/weston-mckennie-on-u-20s-i-think-we-can-win-it
The German U-19 Championship might conflict with the U-20 WC. I wouldn't be sure Schalke releases any of the three. Winning the U-19 Championship is important in Germany. Last season, Pulisic moved down after the season with Dortmund to the U-19's to try to help them win the U-19 Championship.
Does it get anything other than bragging rights? if they move up a division or a solid something then ok but otherwise the WC is a must.
Certainly they might not release him. I could've been more precise in saying not that he will absolutely be on the team, but rather that Tab has seemingly penciled him in. (Not a huge surprise, as I said.) With that said, I would be mildly surprised to see a club refuse to release a youth player to a FIFA championship, particularly if their reason is they want to keep him for some youth league games. Of course, conspiracy theorists might note the absence of any Schalke players on a recent German U20 roster. http://www.dfb.de/u-20-maenner/team-und-trainer/?no_cache=1
Fabian Reese is a Schalke player, on loan to Karlsruher. I have no clue what Schalke will decide to do, but if they lose these three players, their team is pretty much decimated. No team could lose three of their starters, including Wright and McKennie who might be their two best U-19 players, and then play at their normal level, especially considering they already have a few starters injured. Also, even if Schalke doesn't make the U-19 Championship (they currently have a two point advantage on Dortmund in their division), there is a first team game on the 20th, which is the last game of the season. If Schalke has nothing to play for, maybe they'll give some younger players a chance. They might prefer these players playing in the U-20 WC, but given that they rejected call ups for these players before, I don't think its a given.
It doesn't even have to make sense. I still don't know why Reading refused to release Andrija Novakovich. It'll never make sense. What ya hope for is that the USMNT/USYNT/USSF staff has been in constant communication with the club about the players. This isn't a case when the USSF will be calling up on May 10th to request the release of a player on May 20th. There should be a semi-regular dialogue. I can understand a club refusing to release their youth to play on garbage fields in CONCACAF hack-a-thons. The World Cup against the type of potential opponents we have lined up should be considered a good experience, though. At some point you have to let the bird leave the nest.
I know technically Schalke doesn't have to release a youth player but we all need to recognize the importance of both club play AND International play to overall football, the following of the game, and importance to the player. Youth players have no guarantee for full national team caps and participation in a World Cup. The U20 World Cup is important to the player for obvious reasons. That's why most teams won't release top players for odd youth team camps or even qualifying. But for the full championship there is mostly a reason they release them. Remember Andrija Novakovich? Seems silly now.
Edwin Lara made the bench for Pachuca last weekend. He had the game before against FC Dallas been listed on the team sheet, although not in the 18, making you think he might've been one of the last players left off the 18. He'd have to file a one time switch, but he's probably more talented than all our LB's in this cycle, and I think its worth a chance in convincing him. He was maybe the best pro prospect we had in the '99 birth year (probably him or Taitague) until he switched to Mexico. I'm by no means an insider and don't pretend to be 99.9% of the time, but I was told at the time when he switched to Mexico that it was not due to preferring Mexico, instead a conflict he had with Richie Williams. Why not call the guy up? Could he really be any worse than Acosta? If he wants to stick with Mexico, he'll do so. We should at least try calling him up for the U-20 WC.