Why? You don't think there are people doing this type of U14 analysis in Argentina, Holland, and Spain? Of course there are........................... I think we all understand that this is a volatile type of age group to make any projections at. Kids are bubbling up and down, up and down, appearing and disappearing all the time. And we see very few of them with our own eyes. But hey, if folks want to put in the leg work..................be my guest.
Just ignore him. He has emotional issues. He does this at least a few times a month. His act is getting old.
I definitely do not want to hurry with the boy, but DC United's Isaac Espinal must be one of the best '05 I've seen. I've seen some DC United U14 games and he really impressed me. He is fast, great ability to dribble and a great shot. He won the Golden Boot in one of the last U14 camps.
Next week, there's supposed to be not only a US U16 camp but also a US U14 ID camp in California. It seems that it's only LA County/Orange County area for those called up. Jacobs is the one who signed a pro deal with OCSC.
These are just the local youth training centers. 90 minute sessions. There’s also one in DC, NY, and Chicago for 05/06 boys on the same day. https://www.ussoccer.com/talent-identification/ynt-identification-centers-calendar
This is very interesting. It seems to support the idea that talent is increasingly concentrating at the MLS DAs. I would have expected the roster to be dominated by players from LAFC and LAG, but not nearly to the extent it has. Also, there is only one player from Pateadores, one from TFA (which does so well at the younger ages), and none from Real So Cal.
I would second this. Soccer is obviously very subjective, and I am not going to name any particular kids, but one of the players hyped by TopDrawerSoccer as being great in possession made a few splashy shots but continually lost the ball in possession. I read their recap of one of the camps I attended and wondered whether they were actually there watching because their summary did not match up to reality. US Soccer keeps promoting kids who physically develop early, in many cases missing prospects who project better longer-term. A requisite level of athleticism is important, but ask yourself this - is it easier for a kid to catch up physically (particularly if they are younger) or to develop a brain? Decision-making, vision, anticipation - these qualities are not prioritized highly enough in US Soccer. Looking at who scores the most goals at 14 is lazy.
This team will play a tournament in Poland soon. I think they are still part of the U14 team although the tournament says it's a U15 team. https://www.sportingkcacademy.com/news_article/show/1057698 GOALKEEPERS (2): Victor Gomez (FC Dallas), Emmanuel Ochoa (San Jose Earthquakes) DEFENDERS (6): Edwin Avalos (Monarcas Morelia/MEX), Nati Clarke (Sporting Kansas City), Pranav DuBroff (FC Dallas), Joshua Hardin (Seattle Sounders FC), Angel Martinez (Seattle Sounders FC), Nolan Norris (FC Dallas) MIDFIELDERS (6): Julio Benitez (Real Salt Lake AZ), Robert Deziel (Celta Vigo/ESP), Diego Hernandez (FC Dallas), Francis Jacobs (Orange County SC), Jordan Jones (FC Dallas), Sergio Oregel (Chicago Fire) FORWARDS (6): Gage Akalu (Sporting Kansas City), Reed Baker-Whiting (Seattle Sounders FC), Italo Jenkins (Atlanta United FC), Kevin Kelley (FC Dallas), Anthony Ramirez (FC Dallas), Robert Willcot (LAFC)
Not that bad, IMO, and these rosters for younger age groups are always hit or miss. I think they added too many FCD players. I’d also question the addition of Jenkins without adding some of the better Atlanta players. I’m not even sure Jenkins is a great athlete, he’s just much taller and heavier than his competition. His height and weight probably is probably comparable to the height and weight of a 30 year old strong #9. The Union players are also missing from this camp. Deziel is the guy who had success at Real Madrid before leaving. How he compares to the players playing locally will be interesting to find out.
I know very little about these players, but I do know that Ochoa was named the top GK at the June US U14 camp, so perhaps he's the main starter. According to his past IG story, he's already 6-foot-1. He was developed at Santa Cruz Breakers before moving to SJE this summer. I dug up Avalos from the Liga MX website about 14-15 months ago and created a thread. Decent chance the USSF first discovered him through BigSoccer, which is not a bad thing at all. Deziel is quite possibly another BigSoccer scalp; his thread was created over two years ago by ussoccer97531.
A little info on the 7 FCD kids that made this squad. Seven FC Dallas Academy players named to US U15 team Yes. Seven.Out of 20 in the US Squad.https://t.co/pd2bNuZkCe— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) October 18, 2019
is that an achievement for dallas or just a really lazy approach to player identification or a bit of both?
Both I would think. Though I imagine it's also partly that all those guys know each other and the familiarity helps in a short camp. It should be also much easier to see which of them are the weakest link and then start expanding the pool to look for better players elsewhere. But if there are five possible players for one spot and they're all somewhat similar then going with the guy who already practices with several other players on your team on a regular basis makes sense.
that makes good sense, but i also wonder that you dont get stuck with a bunch of very good players who play on a very good team and in turn all look great. this way of looking at teams is tough for outlier kids who if you allow me a slight exaggeration to make my point unbelievably good players on woefully bad teams.
While its fun and exciting to be called into the first camp/tournament for an age group, this is still an age where things literally change week by week. The camp for this group was back in early June, I believe. So keep in mind some of these kids were selected almost 5 months the ago. Another reason we see so many FCD kids is possibly due to the fact that they have high level experience playing against International club competition. Winning that tournament in Munich was no small task and those kids may not be blinded by the bright lights of their first YNT tournament.
The latter, IMO. It’s just way too many. I think half of those players is fair. You could make an argument for about five of them IMO, and so 3-4 making it wouldn’t be unusual, although I’m not even sure I’d have more than one on the team.
Probably too many. What I would say is that folks on the ground down in Frisco seem to think this is an incredibly talented group. They just demolished Solar 7-0. I haven't seen enough with my own eyes to really know one way or another. At some point I'll have to provide a rundown of all the players that have been called up to international duty from the FCD academy (plus alumni in the first team and elsewhere) in the last calendar year. Its an insane number. If there's one thing we know its that if you're playing well at the FCD academy, you're going to get scouted extensively. And you're gonna get international opportunities. Their international callup announcements actually have a sponsor! Maybe they get 7 callups because they just take these opportunities for youngsters very seriously. .@UHC International Call-Up 🇺🇸 Seven Academy players traveled to Poland with the U-15 @USYNT for a UEFA Development Tournament from Oct. 17-26. https://t.co/xsSVqm8dNA— FC Dallas Youth (@FCDallasYouth) October 18, 2019
I have seen this team play quite a few times. While I agree that 7 seems like a lot, I don’t think any are of them are undeserving. As a matter of fact, there are another 3/4 players that didn’t get called in to this team that I would argue are just as deserving. It’s funny to read Buzz’s articles on this team sometimes, because you are getting kids called into YNT camps that have started 2 and 3 games out of 6. They rotate this a squad a bunch due to the sheer amount of talent, so I bet we will see additional names from this FCD team in future camps.
I'm not directing this at anyone in particular because I feel like a lot of people make this mistake, but I think we often hear how there aren't wrong choices for YNT's in this age group because they are all U-15 players and development is unpredictable. I think there are wrong choices. If you watch enough games at this level, you notice that there are a crop of 25-30, (give or take 10 depending on the strength of the age group), who are simply better players, more impactful and more talented. If the question is whether FCD has 7 prospects in this age group who are worthwhile prospects to keep track of, I wouldn't disagree with that, but some of these players simply are not as talented and don't play as well as their counterparts in other academies. I don't want to get into exact names of which of the Dallas players I think don't belong, but in my uninformed opinion, I think there are clearly a few much better prospects who aren't in this camp. To me, this is exactly how you get a situation where Quinn Sullivan might be the best player in the whole 2004 age group, has been a high caliber prospect for a few years (maybe longer), yet has never been in a USYNT camp. I'm not saying I have the answers for what the team should be, but one thing I am pretty sure about is that the process for picking the team doesn't line up with what it should be. I'm sure there was someone in the room when the roster was being picked pointing to some youth result for FCD or using the old cliche about how no one could predict anything because the players in this age group have a lot of development left. To me, that's a nothing proclamation that belittles the point of a U-15 NT. If thats the viewpoint, they should completely scrap the U-15 NT. I think everyone realizes that, and takes that into account. The best 20-25 will be a lot different in this age group in 5 years. Thats a given, and is a waste of time to discuss because everyone acknowledges the truth. From the little I've heard, the selection process for picking these rosters can be shady. It's influenced by things it shouldn't be. I'm sure its like that in all countries though, so thats not only a criticism of USSF. Hopefully the good players in this age group show well in front of European scouts, USSF can watch the lesser players in their own jersey, see that they don't belong, and start weeding them out to have a better roster the next camp.
What should be the criteria for making a U14 or U15 roster? I haven’t seen the numbers, but since you only get 2-3 U17 players to contribute to the national team, it’s got to be almost no one here. Is this more about the team as an end in itself? More about establishing the goal of winning a spot? Or should selections be on potential and not who is the best right now?
The interesting thing about 7 FCD players at this age is that it is usually the opposite with one to no players taken and then more as they get older. What does it mean? I have no idea and I really don’t put lots of stock until U17-U20. Right now they’re just cups of coffee and hopefully lots of gets get at least a cup.