@bshredder , Busio has a EU passport. Have there been any rumblings about him going abroad when he turns 16 and do you know of any specific teams that are maybe interested?
Here's one place: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the9...15-golazo-is-gianluca-busios-breakout-moment/
I've never been able to figure out if Parchman has any actual sources. He has some interesting opinions and you'd think he would have sources due to working for TDS, but then he says some things that seem so ignorant, something any follower of USYNT's should know, things you wouldn't even have to be an "insider" to know. As for this subject, I don't want to be too harsh on any 15 year old kids, but I personally have not been impressed with what I've seen from Busio in what must be like 7 or 8 games I've watched of him by now. He has some tools (nice striker of the ball, fast, gets in good attacking positions), but his overall impact has IMO been underwhelming. I expected him to be better at this level. But he has some potential, so maybe he'll be able to figure that out in the next few years.
interesting...Clarify what you mean here? Parchman comes off as one of the more knowledgeable us youth soccer writers/evaluators. and reading this thread, it seems, just as you tried to knock Sargent to praise Carleton- you are knocking Busio (as to not change your initial opinion), even when the kid flashes very nice skill. At what point do your player evaluations change? will you still 'bash' Sargent if he gets the golden boot in India? Will Busio keep having to score a lot of goals this cycle for you to come around on him as a prospect? it seems a bit odd you haven't "been impressed" with Busio.
Tune in on August 20th at 10:00am ET to view the Under-15 Boy's Championship Final. http://www.concacaf.com/video/final-under-15-boys-championship
Honestly, I haven't been very impressed with Busio, either. The goal he had today was nice, but go back and watch how often he makes a pass that is nowhere near its intended target, tries to dribble through 3 players instead of making an easy pass to an open attacker, or just makes the wrong decision. I actually thought he was the one weak link in the starting lineup today, which looked much better than yesterday.
What? What has he said that is "ignorant"? That is a pretty strong accusation for a guy who has worked with TDS and MLS. Parchman is one who is prone to hyperbole, but hasn't said anything downright ignorant. Busio seems good though. He scores some cool goals against some CONCACAF opponents. I'd like to see him against Mexico and maybe some World Cup opponents to really see what he can do.
I don't keep a list, just from what I can remember (there are more that I don't remember), a few weeks ago on his podcast he claimed that no one has heard anything from Hanif Wright in a year or two, when thats just not true. There have been photographs posted here and he got at least a few lines in USAToday article. He also claimed rather recently that Sargent might be joining Schalke, when I believe its been pretty widely reported of late that he's going to join Werder Bremen. He's not some uber-plugged in youth guru that knows everything. I take his non-opinions with a grain of salt, so when he makes some vague reference to a passport, I don't doubt that its true, but I wouldn't take it as gospel. And I'm not trying to say he's a bad reporter or anything like that, I didn't like to see that he was leaving Sportswriting, as I (mostly) like his work, but I am simply making the point that he does make some notable errors that any person who follows US youth players closely should recognize. And thats fine, not everyone can be like an Adam Schefter of reporting in their sport. I don't expect him to be working phone lines all day to call up every youth coach in the country, etc to get the most up to date information and scour every piece of information on the inter web about these players to post the most up to date news, but there do seem to be some things that slip through his grasp, and I really don't see him breaking a ton of youth news. This isn't just about him though, I think all those Top Drawer Soccer reporters make some errors, Parchman is the most vocal member of their reporting staff, so its easiest to pick out his mistakes. All of them seem generally very knowledgeable, but there are mistakes there to pick out, therefore I don't regard anything they say with such certainty.
CONCACAF says 8/19 at 11 AM ET/8 AM PT: http://www.concacaf.com/category/under-15s-men/schedule-results Saturday, August 19, 2017 Game Time 8:00 am - Sin Confirmar US Soccer also lists 8/19, 11AM ET/8 AM PT: http://www.ussoccer.com/us-under15-...naments/2017-concacaf-u15-championships#tab-4 Aug. 19 Mexico vs. USA 11:00 a.m. IMG Academy I think that Univision Deportes is broadcasting the game tape delayed to Sunday because of their schedule commitments to other matches on Saturday. I doubt that CONCACAF rescheduled the match just to get a live telecast.
I'd say Eskilson and Clark are probably more of the researchers, while Parchman wrote more and has less of those press releases because having him do that day in, day out rough work would be a waste of his writing talents. I'm sure if he has information, it's correct, while he's probably less in tune than the other two guys. He obviously communicates with them all the time and is much the purveyor of their information. Parchman also attended a lot of games to scout players and help rank them. The other two guys are more like Brian in that they really wanted to interview players and get news about them, from them. I think he just had different interests. A lot of times, the info about players comes from Clark and Eskilson, but Parchman really enjoys writing the "grand scheme" articles, like about coaching problems, college coaches, scouting, and overall problems with the landscape. I miss Parchman already. I always thought it was weird that someone that entertaining to read wrote about soccer.
Parchman's retirement is a loss first and foremost because he delved into the obscure weeds of YNT and youth soccer to an extent unmatched by other commentators. He covered angles that nobody else bothered with and dealt with weird details that mostly only people on this forum would bother with. I find that his writing style feels overwrought and forced, but whatever.
^ This. I understand the outpouring of love for Parchman now thats hes leaving but he was so prone to hype and hyperbole that I had to unfollow him from twitter even though he posts important youth news from time to time.
This is the last time Alvarez (#10) was capped with us, in June 2016 at a tournament in Zagreb. He faces his old teammates -- Las, Alejandre, Bello, Reyna, Gaines, Busio, Fuentes, etc. -- today.
We lost. La @FMF felicita a la Selección Nacional de México Sub 15 por el título obtenido en el Campeonato de la categoría de la CONCACAF— Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (@FMF) August 19, 2017
No word on what the actual score was, but Univision Sports and CONCACAF YouTube page are supposed to have it on replay at 10 AM ET tomorrow. Kinda interested to see what the interaction between Alvarez and the US U15s will look like. Obviously it's business on the pitch, but it's got to be a little weird, from both perspectives, to be facing each other. For example, based on past highlights, Peter Stroud (#2 in the photo above) looked to be quite friendly with Alvarez when they were US teammates. I'm sure Alvarez was (maybe still is) good friends with others, too.
Yikes, that first goal allowed by Las is shocking. He was tremendous at the Italy tournament and has been tremendous for the Fire academy. Surprising patch of poor form. No actual highlights for us shown, 2-0 loss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=GAQRNfyQ6io
Alvarez is Mexico's best player. I really sense some bad karma there. Whatever, I'm proud of the talent we have.
Kind of knew that we'd have a hard time scoring goals against a good team. There just isn't much going for this team offensively, it was lacking whether they can put goals by bad teams or not.