That's my bad, my comment wasn't initially clear and I had edited it to make it clearer. Llanez and Mendez are good prospects who seem pretty committed to the US. If they want to, I'm all for them moving to Europe at the age of 18 and leaving LAG. Personally, I think the odds of the US getting back Alvarez are low in any case; somewhat better if he stays at LAG but the odds are very much in Mexico's favor regardless.
What is best for Alvarez is to move to Europe as soon as he turns 18 or move to Liga MX before that. It will better his career. The chances he plays in Galaxy are slim. As a US fan I see that if he moves to Europe his chances of playing with the US are zero to none. Or if he plays in Liga MX and becomes something in the level of Jonathan Gonzalez or better than there is no way Mexico will let him go. As I see it only way Efra plays with the US is if he is ignored by the MXNT, similar to what happened to Castillo. At that point, IMO, why the hell should the US take any player that only choose the US because he wasn't accepted in his first option. But whatever happens he still has a long way to go and has a lot more competition coming up in Mexico than he does in the US. With names like Lainez, Joao Maleck and others it will hard to predict who becomes the goods and who doesn't.
Has anybody asked Sigi or Dom or Chris Klein or any of the other geniuses running the Galaxy how close Efrain is to first-team minutes and, if not, what they want to see from him before he gets them?
Seriously, if Efrain was only representing the U.S. this forum would be going nuts for the fact he still hasn’t made a 1st team 18 yet.
I'm probably in the minority but I'd offer him a spot on the Gold Cup roster and sweeten it with a promise of at least a start against one of the minnow teams and a chance in practice/game time for more minutes. By then you hope he's making the LAG game day roster and continuing to show he can dominate up a level. He's an exceptional talent we not only need, but we need to keep from Mexico. So yeah I'd offer him the 23rd spot on the roster 4 years out from the next world cup.
I think there's a very good chance Alvarez would decline even a USMNT senior callup in favor of a ho-hum Mexico U17 or U20 callup, but I agree, call him to the MNT as soon as he's deserving, whenever that is. At least we know we will have tried.
Hell, we called in Ibarra for doing less against similar competition right after the '14 WC. But that was also JK being JK.
The 2017 USL Golden Boot winner (26 y/o Dane Kelly) scored 18 goals in 2,014 minutes last season. Efrain has scored 8 goals in 484 minutes so far this season. That would put Efrain roughly at about 33 goals playing those same minutes. And it's also the manner he's scoring these goals too, showing superb technique and thinking.
For what it's worth, Transfermarkt shows that Ibarra had 12 goals in 6,732 minutes across all NASL competitions with Minnesota. Alvarez has 8 goals in 484 minutes in USL. And to be clear, Ibarra wasn't and isn't USMNT-caliber, but it's food for thought.
I'm not sure that statement is true. Maleck is barely younger than Pulisic and still hasn't played any first team minutes. Lainez is a big time prospect, but we could counter with Carleton. Without even mentioning the guys he is playing with at LAG, we have Sargent, McKennie, Adams, Reyna, Fuentes, Mines, Pynadath, Taitague, Pomykal, Amon, etc. who would be within a couple years of Alvarez. Does Mexico really have as much talent as we do at this age? In my opinion, that must be what is going through his mind right now. He's realizing that the guys on the current national team rosters are not the guys he's going to be playing with. Instead of looking at Vela, Chicharito, Layun, etc. and comparing them to Bradley, Altidore, etc., he's hopefully looking at his peers and realizing the US is actually more talented than Mexico. When he made the decision that he wanted to play for Mexico, it probably seemed pretty obvious that they were the better program. As he looks around at his peers now, that might be making him think a little harder about which squad has the better chance to make some noise internationally...
And finally, the best of the west! Say hello to your West Conference Best XI ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/e0QhtFfNFX— Development Academy (@ussoccer_da) July 8, 2018
Alvarez scores in the DA semifinal vs. Vancouver, assisted by Llanez. Mendez also scored, off another free kick. All three clearly enjoy playing with each other. US Soccer also just put out an article about Llanez and Mendez in which it sounds like both are committed to the US U20s. Alvarez isn't going to switch just because of all this, but his bond with his US LAG teammates will be at least somewhat of a factor moving forward.
U.S. Soccer YNT Twitter mentioning Mendez and Llanez but not Alvarez, who Llanez assisted. We told ya! @aleexm21 with the game winner and @uly_soccer7 with an assist to send @LAGalaxyAcademy to the @ussoccer_acad U-18/19 'ship! 🎉 https://t.co/RLFdOfrxYR— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) July 9, 2018 Edit: check the replies.
I get that he plays for Mexico, but he's still American. What's the strategy here? Give him the cold shoulder because he's playing for another country? They should be shouting from the hilltops that the US developed a player as good as Efra. Their choice in words comes across as petty to me. Call him a former YNT player for all I care. Build bridges, not walls.
It's funny because LAG's academy side in this match was virtually all American, other than their French left back Diedie Traore, and many/most of them have represented USYNTs. LAG's academy has churned out so many USYNT prospects recently. Just awkward to see the USYNT account say "Mendez scored! Also, Llanez got an assist!" (Wait, who scored on Llanez's assist? Mendez or someone else?) Between this and Ramos not even contacting Alvarez to let him know he's watching him, just makes you shake your head.
I was at the match tonight. Alvarez is immensely talented, but he spent most of the game literally at walking pace. Wish he had seemed more interested, if only for my entertainment.
Best player on the field was LAG left back who made a number of dangerous runs and controlled the left side.
hard to promote him with that kind of attitude but how close is he to being ready to play for the first team?
Does he have an attitude? I know nothing about him. I didn't see anyone on the field last night that looked like they were ready for first team minutes. It was an entertaining game but didn't see anyone really take over like you would have wanted. However, I will give them a break on that front as it was pretty pressure packed and intense.
what if, LA Galaxy prefer Efrain to play for Mexico due to the marketing reach? MLS does not = USSF interests. Only when Garber wants to hijack the USSF for MLS marketing purposes does MLS care about USSF.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...varez-remains-open-usmnt-international-switch Think this is pretty much a regurgitation of what we knew before but the article says that he said this on Sunday so maybe it's a new mentality.