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

It is all a matter of whether they win their group or are eliminated with no hope before the last couple of group matches. The UCL roster is really an expanded roster, larger than the typical match day 18. It does give the coaches the freedom to throw out young players, especially when a group fate has already been determined. As such, he is likely to get included in teh roster (fingers crossed), but being included and even playing in a UCL match or two would not necessarily signify that he is in their regular plans. Playing in league matches will determine how much faith the staff have in him.

 

It's definitely not out of the question, both Ruben Dias and Diogo made the jump from B to senior team last season and both started several matches in the CL.

EDIT: Joao Carvalho also started one match after making the jump.

 

Sure, but Keaton could play against the #4 seed in the group and in the dead rubbers against the likes of Bayern or Man U while Benfica rest the established players for the weekend's top-4 clash domestically,

And, of course, the mid-week CL and Europa League games will leave the established players tired or injured an open up starting slots at the weekend. That's where Keaton will need to get his PT. Dead rubber CL group appearances are nice and all, but the league games are where he stakes bis claim to First Xi status

 

I'm not too worried about playing time. The botton half of the table in Portugese first division is just slightly better than a good 2nd division team in Portugal. He will get minutes in those fixtures.

 

IDK. Starting to feel more and more like Steve Sampson.

 

Well Joao Carvalho has completed his move to Forest so that should open more time up.

 

I also agree that maybe he wasn't a good fit for the France game but he should have played the Ireland game

 

it would have been good to see him under pressure, as the Bolivians gave us tons of space. where as the Irish pressed. That makes a huge difference in how players are able to pass effectively. I would have liked to have seen that too, in order to see how he reacted.

 

Remember that Benfica doesn't get an automatic ticket to the group stage, they're in the third qualifying round. Parks might be able to get time in then.

 

As long as he does well in pre-season training, I think Keaton's got a good shot at the bench for these matches. Benfica are pretty shallow in the midfield at the moment: Carvalho's has been sold, Goncalves' loan could force Zivkovic out to the wing, and the latest reports claim that Krovinovic won't be training until late August - Early September and probably won't see the pitch until October or November. Rumor has it that Samaris is forcing his way out of Benfica, leaving just two central mids in the first team... of course, Rui Vitoria might be doing some more shopping this summer, so who knows.

 

I know this sub is for club and not country, but we won't hear anything from Benfica until they start camp in 2 weeks, so here's a thing: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/06/19/armchair-analyst-well-you-asked-it-2026-usmnt-roster

Matt Doyle believes Keaton will be the US' starting no.8 in 2026. I think his assessment of Keaton is spot on (weak defending on non-aerial 1v1s, so so good in possession / attack). I don't always agree with Doyle (I think he overrates MLS players, and why wouldn't he, you don't bite the hand that feeds), but I am with him re: Keaton and Weston.

 

Maybe by 2022 but who knows what kind of players we're gonna be producing by 2026.

 

Predictions for 2026?

 

I've been saying this for a while: Parks & McKennie complement each other quite well, at least from what I've seen. If both pan out, it'd be big for us, perhaps even more important than having Pulisic as our main threat.

It's a big IF though.

 

Oh, for sure. But, as the kids said 6 years ago: YOLO.

FWIW, Benfica's training camp will begin on June 28th with the first pre-season friendly to be played on July 10th against **reads scrawled note** Bielsa's Leeds? Until then, why not speculate wildly?

 

All I know is that it's not necessarily a good thing if the core 2026 USMNT players are McKennie, Pulisic, Parks, Adams, CCV, Miazga, EPB, Robinson, Sargent, Weah, Steffen etc.

Sure, some of them will make it. Hopefully a majority do.

But if ALL of them do, that will be a huge problem. It will essentially mean that there will be zero competition on the team over the next 8 years, the same predictable players will always be getting called up, few players who are VERY young (10-15) now will succeed in pushing them out, there won't be any players who bloom late (over 23), and the result will be an entitled core group of players.

Sound familiar?

 

Yup. Pulisic needs someone to get him th ball in dangerous spots, enter Parks

 

Meh, who cares? We already qualified.

 

True, but if Klinsmann is rehired I'm sure he could find a way of reversing that . . .

 

History doesn't have to repeat itself does it? We could find a coach with the smarts to slowly work in some super pups in rare minutes.

In the meantime I'm just going to smile over that list of names and hope they all DO come together as dreamed. I could use 2 cycles of US soccer to wake the rest of the world up. Even if the fall is hard.

 

I've seen nothing yet to suggest Parks is as good as the players you listed were when they played in the UCL. Hell, I'd be thrilled if he ended up as good as Hejduk and Spector were in their primes.

 

And how would you feel if he ends up being better?


Keaton's mom is at least as powerful as Spector's.

 

he also said bradford jameison could be a possibility.

soooooo picking out a soccer team could be, quite literally, the dumbest thing one could do

 

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Here's my Keaton video. Thoroughly impressed with the way that he plays and picks out passes. Definitely needs to get much stronger however as he does get bodied off the ball a lot. Really hope he can get substantial time this season for the first team.