Parks and recreation in Lisbon: Keaton at NYCFC (on loan from Benfica)

I know the Benfica fans have pointed to Nemanja Matic but you know who his body mechanics, movements and style remind me of more than anyone? Kevin De Bruyne.

 

I would agree as well.

 

Scored:

921377003298873346 is not a valid tweet id

 

This was a friendly - Yes?????

 

Yes. They haven't had a league match since 30 September. Their next official match (match day 10) is this Sunday vs Uniäo Madeira.

 

Thank You

 

This kid is so intriguing, completely different than anything we have ever seen in our pool. Just so smooth on the ball, great vision and changes gears while appearing to run the exact same. Really interesting prospect for me.

 

For me, the kid is a winner, he oozes with confidence like he knows what is going to happen next, you don't think he can do a play and then pulls the rabbit out of the hat like in the clip where he just reaches out with his long leg and passes the ball to himself in mid-air. I wonder how he would perform with Mckennie having his back, interesting thought.for the immediate future.

 

Out with a knock for today’s match.

🚑 Fora das contas de Hélder Cristóvão para este jogo do #SLBenficaB, por motivos clínicos, estão Guga, Filipe Soares e Keaton Parks. pic.twitter.com/0Q1wC08oUV

— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) October 22, 2017

 

Coach Pelaez says he rolled his ankle in Practice on Saturday but should be good for next week.

 

Sadly, still out of the squad due to injury...

🚑 Fora das contas de Hélder Cristóvão, por motivos clínicos, estão Keaton Parks, Filipe Soares e Guga.

— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) October 28, 2017

Fortunately, it's given him the chance to check out his brother's goal keeping for Harvard:

I can’t stop watching this😱

— Keaton Parks (@keaton_parks) October 29, 2017

I hope he's good to go next week, because I'd LOVE to see him called into the upcoming camp... USSF should be rewarding kids who have forged their own path in Europe, and Keaton's playing at a decent enough level that he deserves to be looked at by the USMNT brass.

 

USS shouldn't be acting like people's daddies, giving them positive reinforcement when they follow the program's preferred path, and negative when they don't. Of course not everybody has the same circumstances anyway, and the state of the sport in the country would be worse without a viable league, so some players have to go there even if all had the option of going overseas, which they don't.

Your suggested call-up system sounds an awful lot like the one employed by Klinsmann which contributed to our biggest embarrassment in the country's footballing history. Here's a thought: how about we just call up players on the basis of them having proven a sufficient amount and being still an athletic age? Instead of trying to be their daddies or show how prescient we are.

 

True but he is already in the country and I feel like he will be get spot mins for Benifica soon. He is one to consider for the future, why not call him in if healthy.

 

Klinsmann lost to Trinidad & Tobago and drew to Honduras? Julian Green, Ventura Alvarado, Andrew Wooten, and Timmy Chandler were involved with either of those games?

Look, I get it, you can't just call up kids who move to Europe, and you're putting words in my mouth by suggesting I said that AND you're perpetuating a rumor that creates a convenient straw-man for you and the rest of the "Klinsmann was the REAL problem with US Soccer" crowd... I mean it's not like Jurgen started calling in Perry Kitchen just because he moved across the Atlantic, and he certainly didn't stop playing Beckerman or Wondo even though they were MLS lifers.

Parks moved to Portugal and then to the best team in Portugal without playing for a USDA club or being called into a single USYNT camp... he wasn't even on USSF's radar until he tried to move to Benfica. That's damn impressive.

Lastly (and this is honestly the best reason to call him into the camp at least) he will be a 2 hour drive away from the game...

 

Camp? Maybe. Gameday roster? No.

 

That's what I'm advocating for. I'm not convinced he's even at sub-level, but considering the lack of communication between parks and the USYNTs it'd be nice to have someone at least say "hey, we see what you've made for yourself, and if you start getting senior minutes at Benfica you can be in our plans"

 

One step at a time, he should be called to camp and if he out-performs (Williams? or JG) then why not give him minutes. A player that was frozen for months and then quickly ascend to be one of the best players in a Benefica B team is a remarkable feat for an 18 y.o.

 

I speculated on twitter that the fact he trained with Gil Vicente during his enforced hiatus may have influenced him not being on the squad. I have no idea if it's true but, fwiw, his Mom liked the tweet.

 

Who is Gil Vicente and why does it matter?

 

It's a Portuguese club, and it's who Benfica B played.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Vicente_F.C.

 

20, but still, just going to Portugal straight out of high school having only played amateur club soccer (NPSL level, but still nowhere near the level of dedication required to play pro) is an amazing feat. And yeah, going from half-a-season of no soccer to out-and-out starter for Benfica B means he's got talent worth evaluating.

 

A Renaissance Portuguese poet and playwright.

 

What’s your twitter handle?

 

Holy shit at this video. There are established and celebrated playmakers who couldn’t string together a highlight clip like this.

No surprise Tab wasn’t interested. This kid obviously plays a thinking man’s game.

 

The Portuguese second division midfielders sure give thinking men time to think.

He’s got some silky skills though. It will be interesting to see what he looks like at a higher level.