@TrickHog, let's close the other 2018 thread. Congrats to Lletget for making the final 23 man January camp roster for the USMNT. Interesting to see if he starts either game against Panama or Costa Rica. Congrats also to Zardes who made the forward list. Was surprised by the Acosta cut, but he's been underwhelming at times...
Interesting about Acosta as it seemed that DS have him plenty of opportunities before the January camp. Conversely, I don't recall Zardes getting many opportunities.
I think the people who got cut either picked up minor injuries , underperformed, or just don't fit or understand the system. Lleget seems to be the guy who impresses everyone he plays with and for. I'm happy he made the 23 and I'm hoping he gets to play a good chunk of minutes in the friendlies. Apparently there's some people in the US soccer world that think Alex Mendez may make his senior USMNT debut this year. Really we wished we signed him to a homegrown contract. Kids the real deal.
Hopefully the Galaxy will start offering players contracts at an earlier age before they are poached.
Seems to me that the current system has to change. Academies invest in developing many prospects and the ones that work out are free to leave.
Mendez was offered a contract by the Galaxy. That's really not the issue. MLS academy kids are going to continue to skip MLS until their respective teams prove there is a way forward for these players in MLS, particularly in attacking positions. Those spots are always filled with expensive foreign players (many of whom aren't that good anyway) and always will be. Fanbases bitch already bitch if their owners aren't spending millions on bringing in DPs. No Galaxy academy kid is ever going to get playing time over guys the Galaxy have invested huge salaries and transfer fees into regardless of how much potential that prospect has. No Galaxy academy kid is going to displace Zlatan regardless of their respective levels of play and when he leaves the Galaxy will find another superstar. The more money comes in to MLS and the more quickly foreign players get green cards (which really is an insult to the hard working immigrants in this country whose journeys to green cards are often extremely long and difficult, while plenty of foreigners in MLS get their green cards with no intention of staying here long term), the more quickly we'll see academy players leave. The more we see academy players leave, the harder these billionaire owners in MLS are going to look at whether academies are necessary. You want your academy kids to sign? Give them a reason to. Invest your future in them. I really hope that DTK has a vision for this.
Which touches on two other issues: compensation from the club that signs one of these wonderkinds, and whether the soccer fans in the US would actually pay to watch a kid even if his skills were close to the name player. I suspect, at least in LA, the answer is no, so the owners are in a bind.
?? If an academy kid could score anywhere close to Zlatan's rate the Galaxy would be offering millions to get his signature. I don't see the bias against US players that you see. The very best players developed in MLS academies mostly ditch the US and go to Europe. If they aren't good enough to get signed in Europe but are good enough to contribute to an MLS roster they are usually given that shot. I don't think we have any Academy or GII players who are tearing it up at the lower levels and then not being given a shot to work their way to the first team. Now a completely different argument is the extent which MLS should be allowing more skilled foreign players access to our league since they will be displacing US players. Most soccer leagues not named Brazil struggle with this issue. EPL certainly has. It had a choice - insist on more spots reserved for native born players or become the best league in the world. They took the latter route but there is still a lot of complaining about the policy hurting their national team. Personally I want to see higher quality soccer in MLS. I want to see the product reach a level that it will be of national interest, TV money pours in, we can lure the best players from around the world. And some day I can talk about yesterdays game at work without getting a blank look. I also hope that the US some day will be producing a higher number of players who can play at that level. We need to be producing more Donovans/Bradleys/Clints/Beasleys rather than pretending BJIV/Lassiter/Mendiola just need more playing time.
6000 tickets sold to tomorrow’s game. USSF has a lot of work to do to make people feel excited about this team again.
I think the first issue is the big problem. My impression is that US law around youth and contracts is why it’s hard for US youth development clubs to get any piece of the pie when one of their players gets signed.
Ready for Panama. Introducing the first #USMNT starting XI of 2019!Lineup notes 📝 » https://t.co/D8G9T9e5Ka pic.twitter.com/JnVvHMat90— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) January 27, 2019 Zardes starts. Lletget on the bench Honoring a legend of our sport tonight. Thank you for everything, Sigi. 🙏#RIPSigi | https://t.co/XzuoJR8agl pic.twitter.com/CRH9HZELOW— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) January 27, 2019
Beautiful announcement and moment of silence honoring the remarkable life and career of Sigi Schmid before #USAvPAN. Nice touch from @ussoccer. #USMNT pic.twitter.com/myF1aFhuIT— Sebastian Salazar (@SebiSalazarFUT) January 28, 2019
Lleget with a nice run. Wins the ball drives forward and feeds Zardes in for a shot and rebound which he skyed. Zardes has been active but not the best
Watched most of the game and getting to know all those young strangers. Berhalter's choices were interesting. I was fascinated by Long as captain and new wingers and fullbacks and stuff. I'm crap at evaluating anything so will look forward to your wisdom and wish them all well. Too bad Lletget wasn't standing there for that tap in.
Pleasantly surprised! I thought the boys did really well. Don’t feel like anyone played themselves off the roster and it felt like a few people (Lima, Roldan, Zimmerman) solidified their place. First time I’ve really watched a match in a while and came away feeling positive about it. I had a hard time recognizing some players but that’s more with me not following this team closely for a few years. Glad to say I’m willing to start watching religiously again. I thought we looked defensively sound and showed some promise offensively albeit against a weak team. It’ll be interesting to see a FULL strength USMNT soon. My only worry is that we wasted last year so integrating everyone will be difficult. I love Zardes because he does some things really well, but holy hell does he screw up easy chances. Can’t say I’d be excited to see him in another camp. B+ for Berhalter.
I am excited for this new cycle. Lots of good young players playing in europe. Plus we have some older players like Jozy and Bradley who seemed fired up again.
It's hard to tell hard of a dive that was. At the speed he was running any contact can throw you off balance and contact certainly feels worse than it actually is. At first glance it looks like there was maybe a clip or no contact. Meh. I enjoyed lletgets spell. He is one of the few attacking midfielders we have who can beat people with a dribble alone.
I hate going on the nats boards, they have Zardes' Derangement something fierce. A few recognize his good qualities while also talking about his weakness in finishing and first touch... You know I have a player in my football manager mobile 19 game who resembles him. The mental capabilities are all there, it's just his technical abilities need work. Tell me if that resembles him. If only his technical abilities matched with his ability to read the game and get into dangerous positions well. he is recommended as a defensive forward. Pretty apt.
Gyasi had trouble finishing, but his hold and layoff game was really good. He kept the ball moving at crucial times with his back to the goal.
It wasn't so much whether he was clipped slightly or not. It was the pulling up of his pins a full 3 seconds after the supposed contact for the express purpose of fooling the ref into calling a PK that was the issue. Not necessarily a bad thing to practice the dark arts so you can use them when really needed, but he must be careful not to do it too often to get a reputation. Save it for the WC!
First half over 0-0. Seb is a sub, Gyasi had a decent half. Had a few normal flubs that could easily be attributed to receiving the ball in a bad spot. Thought he was one of the few who did well enough as it seems our best forays forward came through him.