In 2011, certain posters were struggling to keep their hands out of their pants while reading who made the u-20 team for the Concacaf championships. The u-17 team was also hyped up a bit.
Those of us who follow the YNT closely, know that this team is, without a doubt, more talented than previous cycles. C. Pulisic is way better technically than Luis Gil and Sebastian Lleget. Our forwards have better soccer IQs and ball skills than those of previous cycles, including Jack Mac.
Indeed. We've seen the same story before, doing well in friendlies and not so well when the time to roll arrives.
Rubio's U17 team didn't even qualify for the U17 World Cup. Does that mean that him and his teammates were sh*t? The talent is there. Plenty of talented U17 teams from ar0und the world, have failed to win the WC in the past. Belgium is a perfect example of a team that has never won anything but has produced some great talent.
Exciting to see our guys play attractive soccer. I'm of the mindset that we have made improvements, but also had a solid base at the amateur level. If we can maintain this level of competitiveness at the U-20 / U-23 level, then we'll be on to something new. Finally, most important part of all of this is identifying and producing players for the senior national team. I think winning matters, in the sense that it helps foster a winning mentality, but is not the sole measurable.
Yup. In a sense, for the U17 group winning isn't the primary purpose. I don't care if we lose every game we play as long as we're developing kids in the proper manner. However, fostering a winning attitude is also important to some degree. It should be noted that every damn U17 and U20 cycle we on the youth boards say "THIS IS THE BEST US U17 TEAM EVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEER!!!" Then they go out and lose to Uzbekistan........................... I will say that this particular cycle has played in a lot of competitions against a high level of competition, and they keep winning. Now, we don't necessarily know that England or Brazil or whomever is actually bringing their "best team" to play us........................but we beat the guys they put on the field. I actually DO believe that we currently have our best U17, U18, and U20 teams assembled. How? Partly gut feeling and partly my own eyeballs. Could these U17s get to CONCACAF qualifying and play poorly? Sure, I guess so. They're kids and still learning...................... [Although I think our U23s aren't the best group assembled as of right now. Our best U23 team actually didn't qualify for the Olympics. The 2004 team of Beckerman, Beasley, Brad Davis, Donovan, Convey, Marshall, Gaven, Eddie Johnson, Nat Borchers, etc. was. Conor Casey and Oguchi Onyewu not released by their clubs, and a couple of guys like Edson Buddle and Ricardo Clark were injured. That team had the misfortune of facing Mexico in Guadalajara in the do-or-die game in front of 60k rabid fans.]
I think there is way too much emphasis put on the results that our youth teams have been getting. Instead, we should be concentrating on the individual talent. If you look back a few cycles, I'm sure we were saying that those were the most talented individuals that they've seen from the US. In 2011, people were probably saying the same thing about Marc Pelosi. It might have actually been true, but there are tons of factors that get in the way of a top youth player becoming a top player in the world. Pelosi looked to be on his way to breaking into the Liverpool team as a teenager, but then he suffered a serious injury and hasn't recovered his top ability yet. There are tons of things that can stop many of these individuals from being top player's, but I believe the talent level of the current top U-17's is better than the talent level of any previous U-17 crop. If the current U-17 team doesn't qualify for the U-17 WC or doesn't play well in the U-17 WC, then that'll be disappointing. I think we should look at the bigger picture either way. This group has more individual talent than any other group of player's. I don't think its crazy for us to look at some of these U-17 players and say these are the best individual talents we've had at this level ever, or at least in a really long time. The USA is starting to produce better soccer players, so each crop should be better than the previous one. That's the way it works if you are improving. Your players should be better than the previous cycle, and thats what seems to be happening.
And he has spent how many hours with them? Hugo Perez, who has possibly been fired by JK, brought many of these players into the program.
The 22-29 folks belong to arena and bradleys programs. they are the guys over the national team. they look at youth and help bring people up. you think arena didnt look at youth at all. or bradley didnt at all? of course he did. for better or for worse the head coach has some kind of steering on the ship. it doesnt have to be complete control but its your tenure. what do you help to make it work in your tenure? jurgen has visited youth squads and has worked with the youth coaches and opened up communication between all levels. this has already been talked about by the youth coaches. there are TONS of plaudits to give out for developing a player. it isnt a one stop shop by any means. just as arena gets credit for his tenure so do bradley and so will jurgen. and on down the line. no choice in the matter. if they chose to ignore it and not look into developing players at all. so be it. that is their legacy. if they chose to watch it and see who is growing and who to pick up for the future. so be it. each coach has their legacy. bruce is one of the best talent identifiers in the states. he did a heck of a job in his tenure in many ways.
Jurgen doesn't automatically get the blame for the poor youth results under his leadership or the credit for the good. Same with all the other head coaches. The forces that produce the players are mostly out of a single person's control. If JK had coached all of these guys on a club's youth team or directly oversaw that system and then brought them into the first team he would get some credit. Simply put the fact that JK is the coach and we have a class of U-17's who look very talented early in the cycle have almost nothing to do with each other.
We've only played one game since the World Cup. You wanted him to start a youth movement in qualifying and the run-up to the World Cup?
They are performing well. The U17 team has beaten the likes of England, and Brazil, and tied Australia. They had a strong showing down in Mexico this summer, and many of the players seem to have futures on European clubs. From here, we just have to hope they develop and actually pan out.
I think this group is performing well so far. I just don't think producing results in all these youth world cups is so important. One thing people seem to forget is that we still have bad coach's coaching these kids on the youth national teams. Let these kids get to Europe and see where they go from there. They'll have much better coaching, and that'll be a much better judge of how good they are and what they can achieve in soccer. So far so good from this group. The individual talent in this current U-17 crop seems to be better than in any previous U-17 team.
In years past the U17 was outperforming opponents by sheer physical superiority, their game was one dimensional, a simplified English version. Now they still have the physical attributes but now they can also beat you with their combination play.