Wouldn't be surprised to see Alan move on to a club in Europe sooner or later too. There's a big uproar in the Boca youth teams right now. There's turmoil that mimics the 1st team side. Coaches are turning against each other, Chiche' has accused ex top player Schiavi of essentially skating by not knowing what's going on or being much of an influence of what's going on despite his title. I think he's a director or something of youth. That's causing issues and I wouldn't be surprised if Dad leaves with younger son somewhere else. As far as Sonora's talent, I saw loads of it as far as technical/vision went with the U20 side. He just didn't have the chemistry and was the '3rd string' string puller so he had to play what was given to him often played out of position as a d mid or deep lying mid which isn't to his strengths. He plays similar to iniesta, is mobile, but thrives on a ton of touches and movement. He didnt' get that much for the U20 WC side and it showed with how nervous he was. I saw his qualities though and it's obvious Stuttgart does too. He can play as any kind of CM--an 8/10/ LCM, RCM, etc.
I think he's a good player too The problem for Joel and the U-20 team is that his best position in the middle was taken by either Hyndman or Zelalem. He either had to play out wide where he wasn't as good, or come in off the bench. What are you going to do? That team was pretty talented.
I can't say I disagree. Both EASILY above him at where they were at that time. Both could very well go on to be our best ever CMs...or not. Same goes with Joel. He could easily continue to develop and grow past them...but who knows. I felt for the kid though, he looked so uneasy out there wtih his minutes and can sympathize cause I too know how it's like to be that type fo player. He thrives on touches and seeing a lot of the ball...which he didnt get not to mention chemistry/trsut with his teammates weren't there for most part. It's great news he's making waves in Germany even in the second division. VFB are a big club and will be back in top flight footie in no time. I like where he's at and look forward to him getting his PT for the Men's side if he keeps it up. Personally, I am interested in seeing his little bro play but supposedly US Soccer hasn't even tried to reach out to the kid...which is strange.
I don't really know how you can objectively make this claim. Zelalem showed he warranted some hype with his play in New Zealand as well.
Against every opponent we played. It was immediately pretty clear the type of player he is and that he's full of technical ability. That's besides the point though. Objectively speaking, I don't really know how someone can adamantly claim Sonora was the better player at the time. I'm not calling it either way - sometimes it's ok to chalk this stuff to the greater unknown.
I would say that was clear what player he might become. At that moment he was a slow, weak player, not playing any defence. And I don't know whether Sonora was better although I, personally, liked him much more, but Zelalem was immensely hyped back then (and still somewhat hyped now), so Sonora was certainly behind him as AM which a natural position for Sonoma but not Zelalem.
http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/video-of-sonora-360-spin-move.2021141/ Thought he was excellent in the last game he played on the U-20 World Cup team. The video of his 360 spin move in the thread link above between a crowd of players and then passing it of to the wing was a highlight for sure.
I'd argue that it's rarely, if ever, clear what type of player a youth player will become but I definitely disagree with your analysis of Zelalem at the time. He certainly wasn't slow. He was thinking faster than anybody else on the field and he wasn't slow physically either. I remember him regularly making defenders look slow as they tried, and failed, to dispossess him. That's not something slow players are capable of. His lack of physical strength really didn't hurt him much in the tournament either despite playing against tough, physical, athletic teams like Colombia, Serbia and Ukraine. I can tell you personally like Sonora more than Zelalem, that's why I said what I said. Personal feelings aside, I don't see what objective information there was to go on at the time to back the claim that Sonora was a better player than Zelalem. Personally I was hoping to see a lot more of Sonora at the time, unfortunately it didn't happen.
Not in the squad for Stuttgart II on Friday. That would seem to bode well for his chances of being part of the first team squad on Monday, though it does not guarantee anything.
Joel is listed in the first team for tomorrow's opening match against St. Pauli: Mannschaftskader für das Heimspiel gegen den @fcstpauli. #VfBFCSP #VfB pic.twitter.com/CLnAl7D5jb— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) August 7, 2016
I'm all for Sonora doing well, but to say he was better than Zelalem in the U-20s is just asinine or blatant subjectivity. Zelalem looked pretty good for us that whole tourney and displayed the highest talent of anyone on our squad. Sonora... looked pretty bad every time he played. Hope he does well at Stuttgart.
Sorry for the emotional rollercoaster. It's worth noting that according to the lineup graphic on Soccerway, the #10 is an 18 year old Turk named Berkay Özcan who played for Stuttgart U19 last year and is making his pro debut. Özcan would seem to be part of Soñora's competition at AM, along with 26 year old Romanian Alexandru Maxim, who is on the bench today, also. However, it looks like Soñora played mostly on the wing for the reserves last year. I don't know where the club envisions him on their depth chart this year.
He was at Gladbach when Bradley arrived, but was fired a few months later. Then Brooks and Morales at Hertha.
Sonora didn't make it in to the game. Is he fast, at all? It sounded to me like Stuttgart doesn't have any team speed, and they could use some, immediately.