I'm not saying it's a guarantee that either of these players will be world class, but I just don't see the sense in doubting such incredible talent.
MLS is not the Bundesliga, EPL, or even at the level of national team games. More than half the league doesn't have the personnel to press competently, certainly not enough to keep hyper skilled lesser athletes off the field.
Alvarez was involved in both Galaxy goals... Zlatan, Alvarez power Galaxy to victory over Fire But the Galaxy, with a penchant for Hollywood narratives in MLS matches, brought Alvarez on as a game-changing sub in the 60th minute. Just eight minutes later, Alvarez played a curving cross into the path of Steres, who finally bested Ousted to equalize. Then Alvarez played a role in the game-winning goal, playing in sub Chris Pontius for a dangerous shot which caromed off the crossbar ... right into the path of Zlatan, who headed in his first goal of the new season. The top rated comment... can't really argue with it: The Soccer Nerd: Efra is 4 years younger and already looks better than Djorde and Djorde got a start for the USMNT. LA Galaxy Homegrown Efrain Alvarez sparks comeback win on MLS debut Welcome to the big leagues, @efrain_alvarez1 👏@LAGalaxyAcademy ➡️ @LAGalaxyII ➡️ #LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/lalYwRglKr— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) March 3, 2019 What a play from the 16-year-old @efrain_alvarez1 👀@Dsteres44 gets things level at @dignityhealthsp! #LAvCHI pic.twitter.com/UqKYKp2IEd— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) March 3, 2019 After the Whistle ft. @efrain_alvarez1...and some media advice from @Ibra_official 😂 | @RippleFoods pic.twitter.com/EQNWQom8kG— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) March 3, 2019 16 Y 8 M 13 D - At 16 years, eight months and 13 days, @efrain_alvarez1 is the second-youngest #MLS player since 2007 to record an assist, and youngest since 2007 to do so in his first game. Debutant. #LAGalaxy— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) March 3, 2019 Zlatan said he was ready: "One thing is for sure, there is no other 16-year-old close to him in this league." 👌 @Ibra_official on what he sees from @efrain_alvarez1. pic.twitter.com/tlQcqxroy1— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) March 1, 2019
Efra scrum postgame was no joke. Here’s a photo i took while nearly falling over pic.twitter.com/vOPhMfHMry— Adam Serrano (@AdamSerrano) March 3, 2019
I mean it is equally true that he is both offensively brilliant at 16, but needs to learn how to be effective defensively.
Pues aunque quieran... hay mucho trato directo entre México y la familia de Efraín.— Eric Gomez (@EricGomez86) March 3, 2019 Was reading through this thread from this Mexican reporter and he’s saying even if the US wants to call up Efra to the U20 WC they wouldn’t be able to. Because apparently there’s a contract in place with Efra’s family and Mexico for him to play in the U17 WC with Mexico. Thought it was interesting
I know "trato" gets translated as "treaty or contract" but in the context of that sentence it really means "communication" or "keeping in touch".
Alvarez hype train building... Some are already dreaming about him switching back to the US A man can only dream. 🇺🇸 #USMNT pic.twitter.com/buJks1fs4t— Arthur Kogan (@artur_kogan) March 3, 2019 MLS poll had him as the best debut, over slightly bigger names
Why was Fabian even there? Him and Nani, nothing special Week 1. Though perhaps there's slim pickings of newcomers.
I thought the assist was pretty great to be honest. The thing that gives Efra the "It" factor to me is his ability to make quick decisions and execute with either foot. If you watch the assist from the behind goal cam you can see one option is a cutback with his right foot to the top of the box to a wide open player; he at any point could have gone with that if Steres wasn't free. Incredible vision, decision making, and ability to execute in one play. I still believe that the average USMNT fan (not BigSoccer YNT nerds) will never embrace him because he's not a "run fast try hard" type. Stylistically he's a better fit for FMF than the USA, even though he's the most talented teenager in North America.
I think a lot of the Alvarez discussion is similar to the Jonathan Gonzalez discussion. Alvarez gets pumped up beyond his level because he's a Mexican-American dual national that has shown interest in playing for Mexico. I think the way some people think those players hold more value to our program than players who aren't Mexican-American dual nationals who have shown interest in playing for Mexico. It appears as if "beating Mexico" is whats most important here, not having the player in the player pool. There is not this discussion surrounding Araujo, Ocampo-Chavez, Llanez (not anymore) because they are in the US program. If they switched, it would change. We all know if Busio wanted to play for Italy or Las wanted to play for Poland, these discussions wouldn't occur as much. Malik Tillman played in that same U-15 NT for the USA, and switched to Germany. He's a similar (or better) prospect than Alvarez, but no one is discussing him preferring to play for Germany. Jonathan Gonzalez playing for Mexico was the worst thing to ever happen to the NT, but Kik Pierie (a much better player) playing for Netherlands barely gets discussed. I don't think we should cater our program to any dual-nationals. They either want to play for the USA or not. You can try to convince them, but the considerations to give them preference should be minimal or non-existent. I think Alvarez is a talented kid, but I don't see him as some ultra-prospect that some bill him as. I think I said this before he decided to play for Mexico, as well. In a weak '02 year, he might be the best field player. I think its close in that top-tier with players like Alvarez, Scally, Bello, Ocampo-Chavez, Reyna. None of them are such great prospects, IMO. Alvarez possesses tremendous end-product, technique and good creativity. However, his fitness hurts his game. He's a huge negative on the defensive side of the ball. The effort isn't there to play defense. Its apparent in his play. His fitness also hurts his offensive game. He's stationary. There are players in the system who aren't great athletes, but they are in good shape and have good work rates. Alvarez stands still, and calls for the ball. That style will not work in the highest level games. There's so little separating teams at the highest levels. They cannot afford a passenger. I think he has the makings of a pretty good athlete, if he improved his fitness. When he gets going, he can beat players off the dribble, and has good power. Until he improves that, something around "Blanco level" is about as good as he'll be. If he improves that part of his game, he could play on a big team in Europe. He has the raw talent for it.
I don't know about the Tillman or Pierie parts. Efrain is obviously talked about a lot because he's a US-eligible player doing stuff offensively in MLS that Americans at his age haven't done before. Tillman and Pierie aren't American raised, aren't in America, and didn't have an extended period of playing for US youth teams. Efra might be the first American attacker to come through MLS and move for a sizable transfer fee in forever. Of course there's a lot of anger that he doesn't want to play for the US. If he was on US youth teams right now, there'd be 5x the amount of hype about him.
I think its the opposite. I think he's talked about as much as he is because he doesn't play for the USA, and to some people this is about beating Mexico. Busio had an assist in his second career game, and that was a season ago, so at a younger age compared to Alvarez this season. He's barely talked about compared to Alvarez. Carleton had an assist in his second game for Atlanta (Cup game), and he's almost only talked about negatively. Those are the handy examples of attacking mids. There could be comparisons to players at other positions. Alvarez has only played one MLS game. We've seen a number of young Americans have some degree of success at Alvarez age. To each their own though. Alvarez is a talented player. I don't think anyone's denying that. The degree and how much his Mexican-American dual nationality factors are the main questions I think people disagree over.
If Andrew Carleton had 12 goals in USL as a 15/16 year old, this poster would be hyping him more than at present (if possible). Of course this poster is throwing cold water on efra even after that stellar performance. Like clockwork.
On Sunday's ESPNFC, Herc Gomez said that his sources in the Mexican Federation said that they are going to put the full-court press on him and "expect" him to be available for the Gold Cup. He also said he thought that his ultimate choice is still up in the air.
There's no evidence of this. It's all hearsay. We hear that Mexico is working behind the scenes, and people assume that we aren't. Ricardo Pepi just returned back to US programs. Edwin Lara just returned back to US programs. [I can list 20 other examples.] Do people think this happens without US coaches/staff working behind the scenes? People talk about the FMF officials and recruiters a lot. These kids don't switch unless THEY WANT TO. Whether they think it'll be better for their careers or if Mexico is closer to their heart......................THEY WANT TO. When a player like Jonathan Gonzalez switches, folks try to look for somebody to blame. They blame Sarachan, Ramos, or whomever. You can't put a gun to his head and force him to play for the US. He knew he could play for either, and he chose Mexico. The amount of emotional energy people on these boards waste on players that don't want to play for us is astonishing.
Then how come they still lose more often than not? They're actively looking for Mexican-American players, and there's only a small handful that have ever switched. We could probably name most of them, because switching is highly-publicized... and rare.
I don't understand it either. Its easy for some to deflect the fact that these players prefer to play for other NT's by blaming USSF. Gonzalez is playing for Mexico because he preferred to play for Mexico, not because of Thomas Rongen.
if we are being honest, how many players that **both mexico and usa wanted** and that player turned out to be a good national team player?