CONCACAF U15 Championship: August 13-19, Fla.

No final Mexico U15 squad released yet, but I'd imagine their current U15 camp is in preparation for the tournament, and Alvarez is there. Assuming he's on Mexico's final roster, it could be the first opportunity to face his '02 former YNT teammates.

 

Do we think CONCACAF might televise these games? Its technically one of their "championships".

 

I can't believe how stacked the forwards are in this age. Just in this group there's already a very good front three in Busio, Gaines, and Reyna. I haven't seen too much of the other guys, but there's also Alvarez and Pynadeth in this group. That's stacked.

Also, another interesting tidbit is that two of the best defenders in this age group are both left backs- Bello and Scally.

 

If we include Alvarez as part of the '02 pool, we have to include Malik Tillman of Bayern too (#14):

And Max Goeggel of VfB Stuttgart (#18) is probably up there as well. A stacked group, and more will emerge. Ocampo Chavez has already made his USL starting debut with Sounders 2.

 

Good question. I don't think it would -- my impression was only starting at U17 -- but could be wrong.

 

The GK, Las, is really talented as well and I believe he's eligible for a passport, hopefully he's in Europe a year or two from now if so.

Anyone know which, if any, of the midfielders are notable?

 

Fuentes is really highly rated by San Jose. They say hes the best player they've seen come through there.

 

Thanks for the info. I do agree "CONCACAF U__ Championship" certainly sounds like a provisionally-cap-tying event on the surface.

I looked up the 2013 tournament, and the US didn't participate in it. If we had, that could have been a giveaway via Abraham Romero, who was one of our top three U15 keepers at the time (him, W. Pulisic, Silva) and might have played. Then we'd know whether or not he had to file a one-time switch to play for Mexico YNTs.

Looking at the players from the 2013 version, the only one I recognize is Justin McMaster, who has played for Jamaican youth teams, and intriguingly was at a US U18 camp earlier this year. We know for a fact he is provisionally tied to Jamaica -- but did it occur in 2013 with the CONCACAF U15s, or in 2015 with the U17s? No way to tell for sure, as far as I know.

If indeed it's a binding tournament, then from the US perspective, I don't mind all that much. I sense Alvarez will be provisionally cap-tied anyway during Mexico's 2019 U17 cycle if this U15 tournament doesn't do it, and he probably isn't going to be accepting a US callup anytime soon. Our best shot at him would still be a Jesse Gonzalez-type situation in the future. Meanwhile, we would get to provisionally cap-tie the likes of Alejandre, Fuentes, and Ocampo Chavez (assuming they are Mex-Ams), who are among the highest-rated of the '02 class and who it wouldn't be surprising if the FMF are eyeing.

 

One more point I'll add: if this is indeed a binding tournament, then wow, Mexico did so very well for themselves to incorporate Alvarez at U15 level. That's probably the earliest a USA-based Mexican-American has ever been added to the El Tri youth system. Imagine if they had waited until their 2018 U16 cycle or 2019 U17 cycle to try to incorporate Alvarez, but he had already been provisionally cap-tied to the US at this U15 tournament. Alas.

 

I read somewhere that all 40 teams are there to play in a round robin thing, but only those 8 teams in the two groups are advancing to the semis and subsequently the finals.

 

Can't be a true round robin, that would be 39 games in 6 days? Even 20 teams in two groups is excessive.

 

I want to second this question. Anyone aware of any streams that might be available for this game?

 

I think the other 32 are in their own groups of 4.

 

Some early thoughts on this age group from what I've observed so far. I've been brushing up on this age group the last few days, watching a lot of game tape from these players, I think I've watched or have tape to watch on the majority of these players. I'm not completely done, so if I have any more thoughts on these players I'll add it, but I thought I might as well share my opinion on these players. Not gonna shag any 14 or 15 year old kids through the mud, so not naming a player is an indication of my opinion, most likely.

Its a very solid group. Not many players who "wow" you (except Bello at times), but there are many good players in this group. Alvarez would probably be the best player in this group right now, although I like Bello's potential to be better eventually. Defensively, this group looks very good, and I think its good offensively. Midfield is a problem, don't think I've watched a good midfielder yet in this '02 group, thats gonna have to be figured out eventually for this age group.

Las is a man child in net. Completely agree with the one who mentioned him. European teams should be lining up, if he has an EU passport. He's a tall keeper with good reflexes, good command of his area, yells at his defenders lol, not bad with his feet. I like the CB's, as well. Alejandre is among my favorite 02's. He's a little on the short side for a CB. Maybe only like 5'8 or 5'9 right now, but he's only 15, so he has some time to get to like 6'0. If he does, he can be a really good CB prospect. He has everything but the aerial game, especially the quickness and how he reads the game, such a smart player. I also like Judge and Nielsen. They are both bigger CB's than Alejandre, like another 3 or so inches taller. All of them are good defensively and can pass the ball, mobility is fine for the two taller players, very good for Alejandre. If Alejandre doesn't grow much, he could still be a quality #6, the other two look like CB's long term.

Everyone knows about Bello. He's slowly becoming a really big name at LB. He has the most potential of any player on this team, IMO. He has the type of game where theoretically he could be a world class player if he puts it all together, I think he's the best prospect for this age group. He's an incredible athlete, good defensively, explosive as any US player I've seen, runs the line, good coming inside, technically very good, good passer, excellent dribbler, good crosser, can take set pieces. Bello's just missing some experience, he makes some naive plays, a little too overeager at times both offensively and defensively, but he's still such an impactful player already. He has all the tools in a similar way to how EPB has all the tools at CB. Scally is another really good full-back. I'm not sure I see the same level of potential as Bello, but the kid is big, really good defensively, athletic, good going forward, good passer, smart player, really good in the air for a full-back. He's also born on the last day of 2002. He's a full-back right now, but I think he could play a number of positions (RB, CB, #6, #8).

Gaines plays just like his brother. I'm still not sure if he's gonna be better or just as good. Its the same type of game though. Really fast up the wing, lanky winger, good work rate, looking to beat players with speed or put in a cross. Busio is an interesting player, I can't figure out yet what I think of his game, but there is talent there. He can play a number of positions, I think I favor him playing as a winger. He's an athletic player with good speed, has some technical ability, good with interplay, has a nose for goal, good in the air and good with free kicks. Just seems a little inconsistent right now, but he's only 15. Besides Bello, Reyna's the other player everyone knows about. Reyna's very good, not sure I think he's a star, but definitely one of the best players in this age group. Silky smooth playmaking attacking mid. Nice technical ability, not bad 1v1, good passer, smart player, plays both sides of the ball, can score goals from the run of play and set pieces. He's not dominant, but gives good performances nearly every game. Ocampo-Chavez is the other attacking player who's game I really like. Decent size CF (although not a target man), relatively good speed, finds space for himself, good in the air, enough technical ability, good finisher, hard worker. Has a little bit of everything in his game.

 

Here's what USSF had to say about the tournament format:

The USA have been placed into the top class of the tournament, Division 1. 32 additional CONCACAF teams are competing across two separate Divisions, 2 and 3, but will not participate in a semifinal or final.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...-news-u15bnt-concacaf-u15-championship-roster

Here's a link to the schedule:
https://www.ussoccer.com/~/media/fi...acaf-u15-boys-championship-schedule.pdf?la=en

I saw somewhere over the weekend the entire group breakdown, but I can't remember where I saw it. I'll keep looking.

And I'm pretty sure that FIFA provisional cap-tying doesn't reach down to under U17s, but I'll have to do some looking to find that. Since FIFA tournaments start at U17s, it seems they wouldn't be in favor of forcing provisional cap-tying on players in younger tournaments.

I'll see what I can find.

 

It was hiding at the T&T website:

Group A – Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica and Panama,
Group B - T&T, Costa Rica, United States and Canada
Group C – El Salvador, Bermuda, Martinique and Cuba,
Group D – Haiti, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Curacao,
Group E – Puerto Rico, Belize, Barbados and Guadeloupe,
Group F – St Lucia, Suriname, Guyana and St Kitts/Nevis,
Group G – Aruba, Cayman Islands, Bonaire and Saint Martin,
Group H- Antigua/Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica and Sint Maarten,
Group I – Bahamas, US Virgin Islands, French Guiana and St Vincent/Grenadines and
Group J - British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos.

I thought Groups A & B were a bit stacked...

 

Guatemala is missing.

 

That may be related to this:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-fifa-guatemala-idUSKCN12S2ET

 

Wait, so they could play 5 games in 7 days???

 

Don't worry, they have a deep roster of...18 players.

I think games are only 70 minutes, though.

 

Hearing that @ussoccer_ynt leads Canada 2-0 at half at the 2017 CONCACAF U15 Tournament. @SportingKC Gianluca Busio with both goals.

— J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) August 13, 2017