Training with the big boys today: Sechs #U19-Jungs heute im #S04-Profi-Training: @HajiWright, @WMckennie, Phil #Halbauer, Tobias #Fleckstein, Luke #Hemmerich & @NTaitague 🙌🙌 pic.twitter.com/4mA6Fl6CJX— Knappenschmiede (@knappenschmiede) March 22, 2017
The German Youth System just flat out does it better than anyone else.....i do admire the Portuguese as well
Weston #McKennie, Haji #Wright & Nick #Taitague training with the pro team today. Tomorrow they're on the squad for the friendly vs Hanover pic.twitter.com/X8LZaCo7HD— Volker Barth (@barthvolker) March 22, 2017 It looks as if all 3 Americans could feature for Schalke tomorrow in a friendly vs Hanover.
Can someone explain (in a friendly way) why there are so many of these friendlies today and tomorrow. Playing younger players makes a lot of sense, obviously, but aren't these games burdensome at this point in the season?
Thanks, and I understand that the opportunity is there, but it seems like a good opportunity to rest. And I would guess the veterans who are not called up to national duty will rest, and younger, lesser-used players will get their chance. Many teams think it's worth doing, obviously.
Rest and recovery needs are tracked and already factored in. The performance data most likely shows that playing a training match over the break is more conducive to peak competitive performance than actual time off.
From what I've read, the other three aren't first team quality. If they were, they probably would've been called up to their German age group during the international break. I'm pretty sure one or two of them aren't even every game starters. The non-Americans on their U-19 team who might be good enough to get a chance with their first team are Karakas, Kubler, Goller and Kruger, based on what I've read. I don't think its any coincidence that the American trio were brought in by a team with the best academy in Germany. They were brought in because they think these three have first team futures. The game tomorrow is at 2:30 ET, I think. Its supposed to be streamed.
hope all three of them make it to the top.... but, just going by the odds.... it takes a lot of kids playing in the german youth system in order to produce one good one. i know we think that all three are good. but just going by the odds, i'd be suprised if more than one of them make it - if that.
Schalke has scouted 10s of thousands of players to find the 5 best per year to play for their U19 team, which is 15-5-1, top of their league ahead of BVB and Bayer. Some teams beat the odds for a reason, the hope is that our guys are the reason.
Its not like these three are good just because they play for Schalke. There have been a number of players who I thought got hype just because of the team they played for, but all three of these players were known quantities before they joined Schalke. I'd consider all three of them to be top 10 American prospects 20 or under. So how about we just give Schalke some credit and not assume they randomly picked American players to sign? Is it really impossible that we might be starting to produce a few more players per age group who can eventually make it at big clubs?
Didn't make the friendly roster: Congrats to all the guys who got some game time today with the First team @s04 !! Unfortunately couldn't participate due to injury.— Haji Wright (@HajiWright) March 23, 2017
No one is taking away from their talent, just pointing out the very reasonable fact that the odds of all three reaching the level we hope is slim. Of course everyone on this board wants them to succeed.
I looked at the photos from training yesterday, didn't see anything noticeable. Hopefully its just a minor injury. He had already gotten his first team debut in a friendly, so he was ahead of these players in that aspect already.
Anything about what? The game? the injury? I don't think anyone has any clue how he got injured. I watched the second half, McKennie did pretty well, Taitague barely touched the ball, didn't get that many minutes.