USA vs Ecuador U-20's Monday, May 22nd 4 AM (ET) Fox Sports 1 Incheon Football Stadium Incheon, South Korea Ecuador Squad: Mostly a domestic team with a couple players who play on reserve teams in Europe. Both Sierra and Cabezas earned their first and only senior team cap 3 months ago in a non FIFA date friendly win over Honduras. In qualifying they hosted and finished second in The South American Youth Championship. That is impressive but it was a pretty weird tournament, the final six team round saw Argentina, Brazil and Colombia finishing at the bottom 3 of the table which is not something you generally expect to see in South American Tournaments. They were in a 3 way tie for second and only avoided elimination by one point. Brazil actually blew a 2-0 lead against them in the final 20 minutes, which would have kept them from qualifying.
This USA team should beat Ecuador; of all the SA teams in the tournament they are probably the weakest. It will probably be a boring game as the strength of the USA is entirely in the back. Estupiñan and Cabezas are good but only 3 of Ecuador's 11 qualifying goals came from their forwards, and 5 came from penalties. I trust our midfield to be able to blunt their attack, and we should have the quality to slot one in ourselves. Obviously the question for this team is where the goals will come from. We might have to gut out a low scoring win and a draw or two to advance.
Fox Soccer 2GO should have the replays right? Anyone know how fast they put the games up after they end? Thinking about getting it for this. Was hoping to get a free month but cant find any promos for that.
Are these matches actually going to be televised on one of the Fox channels? Or just streamed? I have no intention of getting up at 3 am but, if I can DVR or see it delayed on FS2GO, I would love to see the matches.
I mean, for the first time since 2009 (without the eligible Jozy and Adu) the US U-20 team is trying to compete at the World Cup without most of its best players available. The U.S. team is kinda playing with the house's money. It'd be one thing if US Soccer wasn't producing players at the moment. It's just been producing players that are actually wanted by their clubs (in addition to a few injuries). If it is able to win without its best, then its an outstanding sign. Just have fun with it.
This is a great take. I imagine this is why many of the full World Cup winning teams never win these youth tournaments.
The Euro nations in particular view these youth tournaments as a means to an end not an end unto themselves. There are certain nations known for talent development that rarely do well at the U20 World Cup. They often don't even qualify. Holland has never even made the semifinal of a U20 World Cup. Neither has recent youth development darling, Belgium. Germany hasn't advanced to a semifinal since re-unification. Italy has never advanced to a semifinal. South Americans take youth competitions pretty seriously as Argentina & Brazil are constantly trying to outdo each other. So Argentina and Brazil have won 11 of the 20 U20 World Cups. They try as best they can to take their best available squads. Basically, my view is just to sit back and enjoy. Read into results at U17 and U20 World Cups at your own peril. It really doesn't mean what some on these boards seem to think it means. Its not an accurate reflection of future success from a national team point of view. Now......................it is the first competition where future individual stars start to emerge. Messi, Aguero, Pogba were all standouts at this event. But plenty of Golden Ball and Golden Boot winners are journeyman pros.
Can we bring in the kids from Schalke now? Rumor has it they are beloved by the club and fans. Die US-Bubis waren echt spitze! Von Wright und McKennie liest man ja bereits oefter aber Nick Taitague war heute technich grossartig.— Marie Schulte-Bockum (@marieschubo) May 16, 2017 I was compelled by the last U20 WC and would like to see the boys go far.
We're generally pretty quick to point out what's wrong with American youth development or what needs improve and I can't help but feel like some of the changes and some of really good work that's been done by American youth coaches in the last five years doesnt get the praise it deserves. Three Americans arrived at Schalke in the past year and all pretty much walked into starting roles with Schalke's U19. Schalke. Not some nice local German academy. Perennial three-star academy rated Schalke. A club that typically targets teenagers with the potential to develop into a Mesut Ozil, a Leroy Sane, a Julian Draxxler, etc for recruitment now sees American developed players at 16 - 18 and says, "yea we can work with that." I would have been skeptical if you had told me so 5 years ago.
Its turning into a chore to even get 11 competent players on the field. Diamond midfield Marcinkowski Redding-Palmer Brown-Carter Vickers-Glad Adams Williamson-Jones Zelalem Lennon-Ebobisse
Let's skip the what I want starting XI and predict what Tab will likely put out there. He'll use a 4-3-3 and Klinsmann is starting at GK.
So probably Klinsmann Herrera-Glad-Carter Vickers-Acosta Palmer Brown-Adams Zelalem Lennon-Sabbi-de la Torre
Exhibit A in this regard is Pulisic. He went to Dortmund soon after his 16th birthday and made his debut a calendar year later. These clubs all have scouts now that really look at the US. We see them swarming at competitions like the Dallas Cup. And the success of Pulisic may mean clubs are more likely to take a chance on other American youngsters. Isaiah Young just moved to Bremen, McKinze Gaines at Wolfsburg, the Schalke boys................the list goes on. They're all in search of the "next Christian Pulisic."
I'm basing my prediction of what Tab will do based off of what @ussoccer97531 projected with a few changes. Klinsmann Herrera-Redding-Carter Vickers-Acosta Palmer Brown-Adams Zelalem Lennon - Sargent - Saucedo