Hmmm, he does play in a 4-3-3 ... but he's the only right forward in the world whose favorite player is Pirlo.
How good is Robben's cross or C. Ronaldo's? I guess Eddie L is a very typical English old-style winger. Even England right now more goes with J. Cole. I grew up with great ball skill and great vision and a good rifle on the goal. So I either play in the center mid or a wide attack on a 4-3-3 on the left side. My left foot cannot do shIt to cross, but I can either cut inside and leash a cannon on the goal or go to endline to cut back a pass that have all the players running into it, and may finish by my guys or the own goals. I think that is kind of wide player we should get.
Not with his surname. Is eligible for a Euro passport, though, which could eventually prove useful on the (very) small chance that he's good enough to play abroad.
Good stuff. Yeah, that is suggestive. If a player is good enough to be invited two years up to this camp, that would seem to be a VERY strong indicator that they are Bradenton material. One year up would seem to be a candidate too.
Scanning through the pictures, here's another curiosity ... Asian/Pacific Islanders (14, a little over 10%) - Abolfathi - Doan - Felipe - Ferner - Forbess - Han - Huang - Kadam - Lee - Osorio - Shibuya - Sih - Tarr - Uy Obviously, I don't know all these kids' backgrounds, but I doubt I've over-counted ... maybe Lee Nguyen is starting a trend? (But of course, this is nothing compared to the approaching wave of Lithuanian-American talent. )
That seems plausible, although from what I've seen of our current U-20s, doesn't it seem as though this trend is reversed? With the exception of Adu, who seems like he'll end up playing in the middle, I believe that most of the players who have a track record of being pushed wide are righties ... Kirk, McCarty, Zizzo, Rogers, Szetela, Barrera. Not disagreeing with you, just pointing it out.
I do not see the name of a player who I thought was the best I saw at Jefferson Cup this past year (watching the U/15 boys top division). I am wondering how these players were selected because the player I am thinking of certainly looked better than some of the names listed here that also played in that bracket. i
I don't believe true center mids feel that way. I watched the Region II U16s and there was this one kid who is currently at Adidas whose passes were a foward's dream. Problem was the forwards were a little too excited with the ball and either shot it over the net or too wide. From personal experience, it is easier to handle being a flank player as the players are coming at you from less directions.
Know Mike Grella he went to duke and was a solid player but hasnt lived up to hype equivalent to Ngyen. He is a ver nice kid and good player. To the person who asked how they are mostly connections because some of the kids there suck. It will probably be very tough to get spotted for this unless you have direct connections although they are scouting all the mokor tourneys. It really is mostly BS I play with kids who are there or went their and some are worse then others if you know what I mean.
On the Adidas ESP website, many of the players are listed as graduating in 2008 when actually they will be graduating in 2007 because of the Residency program.
I've heard some people say that typically the first 40-50 players at the camp are very good, and then there's a fall-off. Not having gone I can't say. But I notice here in So. Calif. that there are some very skillful players (predominantly of Mexican background) who fall by the wayside as they get to 14-15. Some of it is lack of discipline, poor home life, frustration in school. But as clubs do a better job at outreach and support we should see more make it to adidas-esp and then to Div 1 schools and the pros. I notice that over the last 5-6 years, the ODP pools in Cal South (particularly among boys) have increasingly had more Latino players, so the clubs are doing a better job. And I hope that other states and regions will likewise do a better job in keeping the more talented players, regardless of background, in the sport.
ESP seems to overlook great players for players with ODP credentials. I heard 80% of particicpants are all ODP. You pay you Play. Many players I am sure have been overlooked and many college coaches are recogninzing this inadequancy in the system
That may help explain the absence of the player I saw at Jefferson Cup. I watch / coach an awful lot of top level soccer at the U/15 - U/17 levels and this player was the best ball distributing and winning center mid I have seen. He looked about 5'8" but won every ball, beat national pool players consistently 1 v 1 and then hit teamates with killer passes. He played for a Pennsylvania team called LDC and his last name was Wolf. Maybe he does not do ODP
While it's true we still allow some talented players to fall through the cracks, the situation is improving, at least here in So. Calif. I know a number of coaches are constantly scouring Latino leagues for players, and the most talented are usually picked up by some club. Also, the recent Cal South ODP pools have a much higher number of Latino players when compared to even 4-5 years ago. Also, some of the top clubs will allocate one or two scholarships for very talented players who have limited means. It obviously is not the ideal setup (pay to play), but gradually over time we'll start to see the bigger clubs getting better financial support so they can offer more grants. And of course long term we're hoping that the MLS clubs themselves will have vertically integrated youth teams where NOBODY pays to play. But that's a few years off.
Austin is a solid keeper. he came out and trained with the SD Gauchos PDL team for a little while and i was suprised when i found out how old he was. he stopped coming to practice for a while, but i guess its cause he was at this ESP camp.
In Virginia, you pay about $40 for the District tryout, and a little over $100 if selected, maybe $150. Then, if you make state ODP, you pay about $250. In January, you play a weekend tournament in North Carolina against other state ODP teams, so you need a couple of nights at a hotel. Another tourney at the end of February. Every second year, a more expensive trip out of state (Germany for some age groups, out west in the USA for others). Some kids decline the trip to Germany due to finances. For them, the total cost of a year of ODP, district plus state, with exposure to college coaches at ODP tourneys is about $600 including a few hotel room nights. There are scholarship moneys available to reduce that number quite a bit. Not free, still pay for play, but compared to signing up for a travel team at a club, no big deal, especially with the scholarships based on need.
I'm gonna assume Gonzalez won the Golden BOOT and not Glove. This kid's legend just continues to grow. Thanks for the info, btw. Is there a link with the kid's picked for the all-star team? And, will Connoly be doing his recap of the better players like he has in past years.
All-Stars are up at Adidas-ESP.com under Awards. Looks like a good camp for little brothers (Barrera & Norman), Red Bulls (Amaya & Kassel), and Greg Garza (according to GersMan, a terrific left winger who was born in '91 and has been trained in Brazil) ... perhaps not so good a camp for some kids who have YNT experience but didn't get recognized.
Adding a few more goods and bads ... Good for The Class of 2008. They're younger than the '07s, so there weren't as many '08s in camp, but of the ones who were, a higher percentage were named All-Stars. Bad for Illinois (7 participants; 0 All-Stars), Georgia (6; 0), and Florida (5; 0). Good for California (18 participants; 9 All-Stars) and New York (10; 5). Good for FC Delco (4 participants; 3 All-Stars) and Scott Gallagher (3 participants; 2 All-Stars). Bad for the selection committee, which left a huge portion of the country under-represented. Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, and Oklahoma had only one player each (combined: 4 participants; 4 All-Stars), and with the exception of Missouri, the states in between them had no invitees at all. Also, considering that last year's only Alabama player (Bill Dworsky) won the Golden Boot, you'd think they might give another Alabama kid a shot this year ... or at least a kid from Mississippi or Louisiana.
http://www.adidas-esp.com/Home/2006 Team Rosters ALL-STARS.mht Of the players on the two all-star teams I've identified the following as residency players: Josh Lambo ('90) Edgar Barajas ('89) Danny Barrera ('90) Brandyn Bumpas ('89) Thomas Meyer ('90) Jesse Paredes ('90) David MacVane ('90) Alex Dixon, inj. ('90) In addition, Victor Yanez ('90?) is a former residency player. All the '90s are scheduled to graduate in '08, and if they were not in residency they'd probably graduate in '09, so they're clearly in the youngest group at camp. Of the residency '90s who were not chosen for the all-star teams, how much of that was due to lesser physical size/strength when compared to those that were is hard to guess. Some other interesting observations about this camp--- Abdusalam Ibrahim, a '91 residency player who was invited to the adidas-ESP camp, was a late scratch. However, he's listed on the roster that will be attending an Atlanta Training Camp beginning July 13. http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/soccer/index.jsp.html U-17 MNT TO HOLD TRAINING CAMP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: The U.S. Under-17 ’90 Men’s National Team will travel to Atlanta, Ga., on Thursday, July 13, for a seven-day training camp at the University of Georgia. U.S. Under-17 head coach John Hackworth has named a 31-player roster for the camp, 19 of which are part of U.S. Soccer’s U-17 Residency Program. The other 13 are non-Residency players that he is looking at to possibly invite into U.S. Soccer’s U-17 Residency Program full-time starting in the fall. All of the players in the camp were born in 1990 or 1991 and are eligible for the FIFA U-17 World Cup next year in South Korea. During the camp, the U.S. is scheduled to play the Augusta Fireball club team on Tuesday, July 18. More games may be added in the near future. U-17 MNT Roster - Atlanta Training Camp GOALKEEPERS (3): Josh Lambo (Middleton, Wis.), Zac MacMath (St. Petersburg, Fla.), David Meves (Arlington Heights, Ill.); DEFENDERS (8): Brice Carr (Mequon, Wis.) Alonzo Carter (Fairfax, Va.), Gregory Garza (Grapevine, Texas), Christian Ibeagha (Edmond, Okla.), Brandon Lee (Tenafly, N.J.), TJ Nelson (Garland, Texas), Evan Raynr (Calabasas, Calif.), Howard Turk (Fairfax, Va.); MIDFIELDERS (12): Alex Dixon (Humble, Texas) Tevin Jackson (Baltimore, Md.), Jared Jeffrey (Dallas, Texas), Brendan King (Naperville, Ill.), Axel Levry (Fort Washington, Md.), Amobi Okugo (Sacramento, Calif.), Jesse Paredes (Los Angeles, Calif.), Dane Shea (College Station, Texas), Kirk Urso (Lombard, Ill.), Matthew Uy (New Hyde Park, N.Y.), Daniel Wenzel (Federal Way, Wash.), Brandon Zimmerman (Pasco, Wash.); FORWARDS (8): Danny Barerra (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Bryan Dominguez (Atlanta, Ga.), Abdusalam Ibrahim (Richfield, Minn.), Paul Islas (Fresno, Calif.), Archie Karpeh (Circle Pines, Minn.), Ellis McLoughlin (Seattle, Wash.), Israel Sesay (Gaithersburg, Md.), Sheanon Williams (Boston, Mass.). U-17 MNT Schedule - Atlanta Training Camp Date Opponent July 18 Augusta Fireball I note several others in this Atlanta camp who attended the adidas-ESP camp, and are under consideration for residency slots in the fall: Brice Carr, Gregory Garza, Christian Ibeagha, Evan Raynr, and both Garza and Ibeagha were all-stars at adidas-ESP.