Robinson just needs some more experience defensively. He, naively, gets too square and to tight on the sideline depending on his pace to let him recover, instead of (a) funneling the attacker where he wants them to go and (b) giving himself some margin for error. He’ll figure it out, but this is his first experience against top level comp like Costa.
Well, first experience at the international level at least. He’s not the first defender to struggle with that at a young age
Seems like I made this post an eternity ago, but it is only 3 months. Here is how I would put the U20 (no GKs) uncapped pool today: 1. Mendez 2. Dest 3. Ledezma 4. Bello 5. Richards 6. Reyna 7. Llanez 8. Soto 9. De La Fuente 10. Carleton 11. Hoffman 12. Pomykal 13. Booth 14. Taitague 15. Z. Jones 16. Gloster 17. Durkin 18. Scally 19. Araujo 20. McGann
So when Ryan Babel got transferred from Ajax to Liverpool while Suarez was being transferred from Groningen to Ajax that meant Babel > Suarez because Liverpool > Ajax. That thinking is brain dead. It’s the equivalent of letting the Forbes richest club list do the thinking for oneself. Players from smaller clubs and leagues develop and surpass current starters all the time. Judging who can make that jump and why is at the heart of actual talent identification. Close mindedness is an inefficiency generator that results from the inability to process information accurately. If someone can’t do that they should admit it to themselves and make predictions with the requisite level of humility.
Can we change this thread to the top 30 prospects? There are a lot of good names that were left off that list
Many guys that should have been on the list actually have a cap or multiple caps thanks to 14 months of just calling up any youngster with a pulse. Not saying they didn't deserve it, but these guys are still young: Sargent Weah Cannon Amon De La Torre Olosunde Carter-Vickers And these probable starters are all 21 or under: Pulisic Adams McKennie Robinson
Here's what I'd list for the U-23's, U-20's and U-18's and below. I rank mostly on potential. Current ability matters to some extent, but not completely. These are not finished products and not every player has the same start to their career. U-23's: 1. Pulisic-'98 2. McKennie-'98 3. Palmer-Brown-'97 4. Glad-'97 5. Acosta-'97 6. Wright-'98 7. Parks-'97 8. Cannon-'98 9. A. Robinson-'97 10. Carter-Vickers-'97 11. Mihailovic-'98 12. Trusty-'98 13. Perez-'98 14. Ebobisse-'97 15. Sabbi-'97 16. Lewis-'97 17. Vazquez-'97 18. Lennon-'97 19. de la Torre-'98 20. Fossey-'98 HM: Vom Steeg('97), Bwana('97), Zelalem('97), Olosunde('97), U-20's: 1. Carleton-'00 2. Sargent-'00 3. Soto-'00 4. Durkin-'00 5. Pomykal-'99 6. Adams-'99 7. Weah-'00 8. Richards-'00 9. Dest-'00 10. Amon-'99 11. Garces-'00 12. McKenzie-'99 13. Gloster-'00 14. Ledezma-'00 15. Taitague-'00 16. Mendez-'00 17. Sands-'00 18. Servania-'99 19. B. Scott-'99 20. Hundley-'00 HM: Lindsey('00), Rennicks('99), Goslin('00), Keita('00), Crain('00), E. Lopez('99), Muse('99), Asensio('00) U-18 and below 1. Nyeman-'03 2. Scally-'02 3. de la Fuente-'01 4. Araujo-'01 5. Las-'02 6. Akanyirige-'01 6. Ocampo-Chavez-'02 7. Booth-'01 8. Bello-'02 9. Rotundo-'04 10. Reyna-'02 11. Jonathan Gomez-'03 12. Llanez-'01 13. Cuevas-'03 14. Tessman-'01 15. Penagos-'02 16. Duke-'01 17. Dunbar-'02 18. Atencio-'02 19. Toure-'04 20. Craig-'04 HM's: Stojanovic('01), Roberts('01), Palomino('01), Gray('02), Busio('02), Wilson('02), Pepi('03), Freeman('03)
At this time two years ago we didn’t think the u20 group had the depth that it looks to have now so maybe the u17 group will develop the same way
I suppose I could put my list on here as well. But then I realized how players' performances change so much from week to week until they finally level off at a point where we have a much better read on their long term prospects. Case in point is Haji Wright. His biggest supporter on these boards has been ussoccer97531, and he's taken some criticism (not as much as his support of Carleton, but that's a very different discussion) for sticking to his support. Meanwhile, it looked like Wright would never progress beyond the U23s. Circumstances at Schalke (injuries at F, general lack of offensive production, etc.) forced Tedesco's hand, and he started Wright against Hoffenheim, and that didn't work well, as Haji looked out of place. After that performance many thought Wright would not see the field for the 1st team again for a long time, but no, Tedesco stuck with him, and he came off the bench against Augsburg today, and actually looked OK. What does this mean? Who knows. It can go in so many different directions. But the larger point is that Wright is still a young player, with all the ups and downs that go with that. Tedesco obviously believes he's shown enough to warrant call ups. Will this continue? Who knows.
You can't write a name on the 2022 roster in pen nor bury a player at these age ranges. Wright is 20, and many already had written him off (just to use the pun probably). Altidore didn't have his breakthrough AZ season until he was 22-23. Dempsey and McBride were much older. These kids are going to have swings in form, sometimes wild swings. That is why the sheer numbers of them is the most encouraging as things sort themselves out over the next 3-8 years.
I think they just have an injury crisis and Haji is getting time out of necessity. He has struggled to my eye and I’d be shocked if he stays in the lineup much. But hopefully I’ll be wrong.
Fingers crossed but if Adams can crack the lineup we’ll have four Bundesliga regulars under under 21 which considering the last like twenty years of this program is an almost unbelievable cause of optimism
Wright has always been a long-term project. People were saying this going back to his days as a U-17. He was a remarkably good youth player with incredible talent, but also incredibly raw. It's much easier to teach Wright to bring a good mentality every game or make better on-field decisions (like not being half a step offside on the offside goal from yesterday) than to teach a player without much talent to trap a long ball out of the air without it rolling away or teach them to strike the ball into the top corner with either foot. He might never figure it out, but he's improved in the last couple of years. It doesn't matter that much if he makes it at Schalke, if he can help the NT. He's probably too raw right now to be of much help to Schalke. Give him a couple of years of development with regular game time at a good level, and he might figure it out. I think a lot misunderstand his trajectory as a footballer. He's been a big name for years and since he hasn't yet done well in the pro game they assume he won't make it, misunderstanding that it was likely going to take him a few years to figure out the pro game. He's a victim of his own talent to be able to have big success at youth level, despite being very raw.
I think you underestimate two things: 1. Haji's skill level and technical ability 2. Schalke's willingness to let a "raw" young American figure some things out on the fly They've really got nothing to lose given their depth chart and table position, so I think he will get a fair shot. I'd say the chances are much more likely that he follows the McKennie route than the Flores route.
If anyone underrates Haji's technical abilities, it's certainly not @ussoccer97531. He's always been a big proponent of Haji being a technical player and not at all effective of using his large frame. Haji's the striker version of the golden retriever that thinks he's a lap dog.
ok, word. I was referring to the "raw" criticism, but I guess @ussoccer97531 is commenting more to lack of experience rather than lack of ability.
We have rarely had four of any age. In addition, what is most significant is that we are finally starting to get numbers of young Americans that were raised in the US. They aren't Americans developed by Germans....
Marlon Fossey has been recovering from significant injury. 1067551373720473600 is not a valid tweet id We keep hearing reports about Zelalem in training at Arsenal, but that hasn't led to anything................... Zelalem looks great in training after 16-month injury nightmare http://dailycannon.com/2018/10/gedion-zelalem-injury/
is zelalem looking like a less athletically gifted nagbe type ceiling? a metronome without the final cutting pass?
Its so long since any of us have actually seen him playing 90 minute games, that its really hard to say....................... He played 28 games for Rangers in 2015/2016, and he did play OK in those games. He withstood the physical rigors of the Scottish Championship. It takes some reminding that athleticism was never his strongest suit anyway.