So Simon Becher is a big target forward from Connecticut who did well in the , USSDA, scoring 19 goals in 2016/17 and 14 the following year. http://oakw.ussoccerda.com/sam/teams/index.php?team=1401305&player=28676567 He was part of the Mega camp last year but hadn't been heard from with the YNTs since. As Dave noted, it was a bit of a surprise that a player as regarded as Becher chose to go to Holy Cross, a program that isn't even a power in its own (barely) mid-Major conference. Thus it's not surprising he's currently listed as unattached. I suspect that means he's looking to transfer and were I a betting man I'd say he'll end up at UConn (state school) or a Catholic (I'm assuming the only reason a prospect like this chooses Holy Cross is for religious reasons) power like Boston College, Notre Dame, St. John's or Georgetown. (Note: I am not a betting man.) I happened to catch a Holy Cross game against BC last fall and Becher showed well against the ACC team, scoring a nice goal and being a nuisance for the Eagles defense. BC has a couple of pro prospects but Becher looked as good as any of them.
Has anybody checked in on our favorite president of the Andrew Carleton Fan Club to see how he's handling the news of his exclusion from this camp?
Interesting that the U19 roster lists Matt Hundley as being with the Colorado Rapids. Certainly we've seen US Soccer goof on these things before, but I wonder if these means he's left UCLA and signed a HG deal.
it's interesting that Perry got called up since he's not even a regular in the Koln II team, even struggled last season in U19/II. But then I remembered that sometimes USA football likes to call up players even if they struggle at their clubs. Another reason for call up is because he's a dual, keep him in the program.
Are we sure he actually was excluded or like Nagbe and Guzan wasn't called in because Atlanta has early CCL games?
I'm not saying that waht's happened but could be. He's had a rough couple of months so he could still be being punished or the new coach may want to see for himself.
My concern with Ferreira is my (mis?)understanding of the FIFA rule. I thought that the rule was that if a player was not naturalized by age 18 to the country for which he/she wanted to play, that player then required a 5 year (consecutive) residency after that naturalization age in order to be eligible to play for that country (and of course I recognize that you can ask for an exemption, which may or not be granted). Can someone who has knowledge off the top of their head please tell me I'm wrong and straighten me out?
I think you're right but the exemption is easy to get if you aren't trying to circumvent the rules. He's been in Texas since 12 years old and never left. This isn't a mercenary citizenship.
There is no "under 18 loophole" at all. When a player naturalizes to a new citizenship (meaning one that he wasn't eligible for by birth or family heritage), he must live 5 years in that country after turning 18 to be eligible to play for that country. If interpreted strictly, no player could play for a new country until turning at least 23 (and that meant, especially for American players, they had to pass up opportunities to play overseas until then). FIFA does grant waivers for this rule and lots of players (like Gedion Zelalem) have been granted the eligibility to play for their new country at youth levels. While Ferreira wouldn't be eligible until turning 23 otherwise, he likely will be given a waiver to play for the US since the move to the country wasn't an attempt to make him eligible to play for the US.
Hmmmm, interesting. I guess I need to find the rule and delve into it. It seems I did completely misunderstand (or overestimated) the role of turning 18.
Out of interest, I did some research and it appears the last US callup Edwin Lara accepted was for the U17s in August 2014 for the Copa de Naciones in Mexico City, where presumably he caught the eye of FMF scouts. By September, he was courted and flipped, certainly in part due to conflicts with Williams. So this will be the first time in over four years he's represented the US. Of the 24 players on the current U-20 roster, Carranza and Taitague are the only ones Lara has previously played with.
I might be the vice president of the Andrew Carleton Fan Club... Bello is not in the U17 camp either. Likely conclusion is that ATL didn't release them. I wouldn't be surprised if Carleton is in/ends up in the Adams/Sargent class of players who have surpassed the U20s. This definitely doesn't make any sense at the moment, but the start to the CCL/MLS season will tell us a lot. Weah seems to be in that group, but I'm not sure that he should be (definitely would not rate him ahead of AC). How many players were not released in 2017? With a deeper pool and more players overseas, we might should be prepared for even more unavailable players this tournament. Could guys like Llanez, Mendez, and Soto be withheld, for instance?
It's changed over time, though the only big change on this rule was a move from 2 years to the current 5. Here's the current statute: Any player who refers to art. 5 par. 1 to assume a new nationality and who has not played international football in accordance with art. 5 par. 2 shall be eligible to play for the new representative team only if he fulfils one of the following conditions: (a) He was born on the territory of the relevant association; (b) His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant association; (c) His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant association; (d) He has lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association.
Bello (177 min./3 games) Carleton(161 min./7 games) for 2018. Bello will probably be getting more minutes this year since Garza left. How can Carleton be higher up in the pecking order?
LOL no. And I hate the term “surpassed” the U20 level. Sargent, Adams, and maybe Weah haven’t “surpassed” the U20 level. It’s that the senior team finds them to be too important to release for the U20’s when there’s an important senior tournament weeks from the U20 WC. That is absolutely not the case with Carleton currently.
This is exactly why Ramos will continue to call in as many different players as possible. Based on past experience he realizes that getting all the players he wants for the WC roster is a dicey proposition, so developing depth at every position is a necessity. Given the peculiarities of clubs releasing players I wonder how close anyone will get to picking the 21 that will go to Poland.
You’d think that with how many players had “conflicts” with Williams that the fed would think, “maybe this guy isn’t a good fit...”
It's such a USSF move to bring in an insider retread like Curt Onalfo to oversee the U19s. Ultimately the manager of the U19s in this camp is not consequential, but as a matter of principle I wish the USSF would invite lesser-known up-and-coming guys to be guest coaches. Meritocracy is good.
You should then explain to all of us (since you are more knowledgeable) why none of the Atlanta players are in this camp. If you have the answer, I think everyone would like to know. But its clear here what your aim is. You tried to throw shade at Carleton (and those who aren't anti-Carleton).
Jesus Ferreira is very close to his citizenship (the paperwork's in the mail... during a shutdown of the government): https://www.fcdallas.com/post/2019/...-ferreira-testing-water-us-u-20s-january-camp
seriously none of you know that Atlanta U19 is playing a tournament in Germany that starts this weekend? Atlanta is in the same group as Liverpool, Schalke and Stuttgart. Also happens to be an 8 team tournament.
U-20: Nice to see Garces and Muse back in the U-20 NT. I think they should be the other two keepers aside from Scott that get picked for the U-20 WC team. Hopefully they show well in this camp. Keita belongs here. He's been very under the radar the last year. I think he might earn a spot on the U-20 WC team. Better player than Rogers, IMO. Durkin listed in defense? Seems like a bad idea to play him at CB, but roster listings often don't matter. Nice to see Taitague back into the U-20 fold, and Ferreira into the U-20 fold for the first time. I haven't seen Fernandez or Becher play, so it'll be interesting to see how they stack up. There's a lot of roster fodder that doesn't belong on the U-20 WC team (Real, Salas, Zarris, Carranza, Dorsey, Akinola, Fontana, Perry), but its a camp in January. Not all the best players will be released. U-19: I haven't seen Reynolds play. I believe he's a RB, but I'm not sure. Why is Zawadzki listed as a defender (presumably CB)? He's more of a #6. I saw Sousa play recently. Talented kid who can make some plays. I'm not sure about his soccer IQ, and I think he's more of a winger, so it seems like the idea here is to use him as a full-back. Is this Malone's first YNT call up? Well deserved, if so. Why is Sands in the U-19 camp instead of U-20? There's a lot of roster fodder in the U-20 camp. Does Ramos really rate Sands ability that little? Hundley belongs in the U-20 camp. He's been getting a raw deal from US Soccer the last year or so. Two other players I would've liked to see here are Charlie Asensio and Will Crain, Atlanta United academy kids that are now playing college soccer. Garces is the only Atlanta United property in this camp. None of their pros made this camp, so maybe thats indication that they could be signing pro deals with Atlanta United before the start of the season. U-17: Too many retreads. Not a very good roster. I'll be interested to see how some of the newer players from Europe (van Hees and Soares) do. The guy they called in from Spain to the Nike Friendlies didn't look to be any good, so playing at a good academy doesn't guarantee that you belong in the U-17 NT. Only '03 is Pepi, who belongs. The issue is the lack of other 03's. Our 02's are not good enough that they can keep the better 03's out of this team. Most of the better 02's are on this roster, but the one who isn't is Bello. That goes back to the Atlanta United problem. It seems like they are going to be the hold out in MLS that isn't going to release players for YNT's. They've now done this multiple times for their YNT players that were not important parts of their first team when they failed to release them. It would be best if our YNT players could start avoiding signing pro contracts with that team. They are bad news for young Americans on many fronts.