His team mate from Luxembourg gave France a fright when he several times could have scored the winner, but had to settle with a draw in a WC qualifier. Unfortunately they folded major league against Sweden. Still pissed about that. So if his team mate can give France a scare, why shouldnot Nova be able to scare the Portuguese.
In any case, I think that we can say that tactically, technically and physically he is above this level.
Novakovich went 90 in a 3-1 victory over Go Ahead Eagles. Didn't record a goal or assist. Had one taken off the board on a late offsides call. Can't vouch for the legitimacy of it, but from the half or so I saw, the ref was giving him a hard time. Could have drawn a red on a breakaway where he was hauled down from behind, and had a couple smooth turns around the box where he was getting his shirt pulled relentlessly. In spite of his goal total so far this year, it's much more opportunity creating that is his strength right now, not finishing. I'd say that's actually somewhat of a weakness. It was framed as him getting stoned thrice on a breakaway. You see that a fair amount in the pbp's. I caught him missing a one-touch slot home attempt that the top strikers make easy work of. A few of his goals are on pk's. But he really has a deft touch, can turn a defender on a post up, dribble by them, and has intelligent movement. Can finish efficiently when the ball isn't moving much nor he has to. Imprecision kind of comes with a territory for a particularly tall striker. A somewhat rich man's Bjorn Johnsen.
Which one of you were lecturing me the other week on how scoring in the Dutch 2nd division doesn't merit a callup? We just called in some 16 year olds, without a club. Now tell me again about your philosophy. We are gonna totally end up Neven Subotonic-ing this guy. And I'd lay down money that this guy will prove out. You have to be an imbicile to watch him play and not know this is our best forward talent. I'm thinking talent scouting is the biggest weakness in US soccer. I'll enjoy watching him play for Serbia, but would prefer to watch him play with Pulisic in a US kit.
Back off that ledge man. I agree that Andrija should definitely be in the pool but don't tear down a kid to build up another. Sarge was scoring goals with the crest on his chest not that long ago so the staff probably knows him better. He also just signed with Bremen so he has a club even if he can't play for them yet. Andrija is not going to play for Serbia and his situation is nothing like Subotic. Unlike Subotic, he was born and raised here until he went abroad at 18 and unlike Subotic, he, to my knowledge, hasn't been insulted by one of our youth coaches. His situation is similar to Pulisic's IMO. He only has a foreign passport to play in Europe. Nothing more, nothing less.
Not sure if it was here or reddit, but apparently his family is very Serbian. Unlike Pulisic, speak Serbian at home, Dad is Serbian nationalist or something, mom hardly knows English. I think Novakovich has more youth national team goals than Sargeant. Not gonna look it up, cuz well, it's kiddie soccer, and i'm not into kiddie soccer. If I were him, I'd consider it an insult not getting called in behind a 16 year old without a club, while I'm banging in goals at a pretty good clip. Again, pretty sure this will be a Neven Subotic #2.
I don't know anything about his home life honestly so you may be right. As for the stats though, Andrija has played for the U-17, 18 and 20 teams w/ a total of 6 goals from 14 games in '13-'14. Sargent has played for the U-17 and 20 teams w/ a total of 29 goals from 49 games in '15-'17. Again I do agree with you in that Andrija should be called up soon. Either way we can cap-tie him until 2019 GC at the earliest. I just don't think that we are going to lose him.
Plus, Subotic spent several formative years in Germany (from six to eleven) before moving the the US and is quite open about the fact that he feels most at home in Germany. IIRC he's on record as regretting that he didn't play for Germany or maybe it was explore the possibility of playing for Germany more.
Pulisic grandfather came from Croatia. Maybe he wanted to integrate asap into US mainstream culture and didn't pass on much to his son and maybe he chose to not pass on much to Christian.
"Mom hardly knows English." That's quite an achievement, since she is a) a UK passport holder because b) she was was raised in the UK while her father was playing for Oxford and c) graduated High School there. As for Pulisic, the Pulisic family is Croatian, so they'd hardly speak Serbian at home (the languages are very close, but the differences are apparent to fluent speakers). Try a little research before you post. A little thinking wouldn't do any harm either.
6'4 strikers who can score in Europe don't grow often on American trees It seems often the taller you are, the more lame you are at scoring. Except for say Zlatan.
Stopping reading the post there. For reasons well discussed above. That place has lost most of its charm.
You may be talking to me. And you're still being ridiculous. Two wrongs don't make a right. I wouldn't have called up Sargent either. But at least Sargent wasn't in a system for a couple years in Europe, let alone a 2nd division, without having emerged yet for whatever reason. He's had to wait to join one, artificially. Now, yes it is pertinent that Novakovich is still in a 2nd division, and a considerably worse one than the team he was associated with before. And he's scored a whole 4 non pk goals in 12 league starts in it. Wow, that's some kind of resume. Maybe put him in the top 50 of US fw's right now. Determining which players to call up to the national team isn't a prediction contest. I even am one of the few to be projecting him to the 2022 team right now. But am not so deluded or imbecilic to think I can make 100% projections off play in the Dutch 2nd division. If he's good enough it should become more clear eventually, at which point he can be tried then. Not like Serbia's standards are so low as yours, nor are his ties to another country as firm as Subotic's, to make them a serious threat. Be more rational and understand the obvious points people are making. But I'm sure this will turn into an erroneous I told ya so later if he has success here, even though I've been one of his biggest believers for quite a while.
Sometimes I wish people just would enjoy the journy with the guy and not make all kind of all or not wishful thinking or whatever. He obviously is having a good time and who knows what comes from it. Remember Dries Mertens not so long ago plaued in this league and Eredivisie teams were hesitant to take the chance. FC Utrecht took it in the end and Dries never looked back. Who knows what is in the future for Nova? I hope for him a Dries Mertens like rise. Would be good for the league to be able to show another diamond polished there, would be good for the USA soccer landscape to have such a star out of nowhere (hope my thread title is a cristal ball revelation) and it would tell alot of youngsters in the USA the impossible does sometimes happen. But for now, just enjoy the ride.
I'm just saying, this is the systemic problem--Sacharin--college coach, MLS guy. Instead of calling up the guy scoring in France 2nd division 6'3", and Nova, 6'4--we are calling up essentially ODP youth players. Fine. All for looking at new talent. But why not look at the guy in France and this kid? And there is a very real chance of losing him to Serbia.
https://www.ad.nl/nederlands-voetbal/ajax-speelt-gelijk-in-oefenduel-met-telstar~a35cfd7c/ Ajax speelt gelijk in oefenduel met Telstar Ajax heeft vandaag in een oefenwedstrijd gelijkgespeeld tegen Telstar. Het duel van de Amsterdammers tegen de subtopper uit de Jupiler League eindigde in 1-1. ANP/Marieke de Ruijter 09-11-17, 14:51 2 M Het besloten duel werd gespeeld op jeugdcomplex De Toekomst. Ajax speelde met een mix van eerste elftal- en jeugdspelers. Onder meer David Neres, Siem de Jong, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar en Nick Viergever stonden in de basis. Benjamin van Leer stond in het doel. In verband met interlandverplichtingen waren de internationals van Ajax niet van de partij.
Ajax played Telstar in a friendly with a mix of pros and youth, including Huntelaar and drew 1-1. I couldn't tell from the Ajax article if Novakovich played or not.
He probably would have. The deal for the smaller club is that they put their own players in the shop window and a good performance gives their fans some warm feelings inside. Doubly if the game was at Telstar. Andrija is on loan, but the second would still apply. For the bigger club, the benefit is playing the other guys' best/near-best XI gives their guys a decent workout, without which they may as well stay at home and play their U-23 side. Having Andrija on the field for at least 45' is part of that.
I don't know about the "very real chance" of losing him, but agree it makes sense to call up the "local" professionals who are performing. There's no limit on the number of bodies we can bring into a camp. Unless these guys really wanted to stay with their clubs for professional reasons, I see only upside in bringing them to the camp.