We've been the better side this 2nd Half so far. Then our GK spills the ball on the ground to the Dutch player and scores easily. one a piece on the terrible GK'ing.
First off, anyone know who the tiny kid is for the Netherlands with the dreads that's absolutely insane? I feel like I've seen him before in articles or stuff, but he's incredible to watch. Feel like I'm watching a guy that's going to be playing at a huge club in a few years. Also, our RW, who I think is Jose Rivas, looks good at this level, but it's kind of hard for me to consider a 15 year old with a full beard a good prospect.
So, is Xuxuh an inverted full back? He seems to favor his left foot for a lot of situations but I've really never heard of him playing anywhere besides RB.
That was an ugly tournament for us. I though Xuxuh started at LB in the Japan game but I could be wrong. Obviously it's still early so a lot of these talents will be decent with the right coaching, but we were run off the field in every game. How many of them participated in the Torneo Della Nazione? We did very well in that, though it was a U-15 group.
That was for '02s. Reyna was the only one on this roster involved in that tournament. It's obviously early but the 02/03 group looks incredibly promising.
He's okay, IMO. Seb Saucedo-ish. Has some ability, but he tries to do too much. If you are Pulisic, Carleton, Pomykal, etc you can do that, not when you are an average talent. I like a number of these players, but I think some of these players are far off this level. I think Defreitas-Hansen, Xuxuh, Araujo, Sepulveda, Martinez, Anaya, Booth, Roberts, Reynolds, Llanez, Rivas, Stojanovic and Gonzalez are good enough. Reyna also, but this isn't his age group, so i won't count him. Thats 13 average or better players, so not so bad. We have another few who I know are quality players who weren't picked for this tournament, so I think if the bottom 1/4 of the roster is picked better, all the best players are called in next time, and we get some better luck, this age group isn't bad. Yup, he's #19. He played LB the first game. And I don't think we were run off the field in every game. I thought we were the better team in the first two games, and just didn't get the scores that how the game was played would indicate. In this game, Netherlands was better, but I don't think they were 5-2 better. I think we had a bit of bad luck, along with probably more errors than any team. I don't think we were run off the field though. This team played nice football, just didn't get good results.
I actually thought it was quite interesting. He's two footed enough that he's still able to play RB like any right footed player, but it allows him to cut inside and play more incisive passes. I'm not saying it as a bad thing, but I just found it really interesting that he's left footed when all I've heard is him playing right back his whole career.
Check out @3four3's Tweet: Uly Llanez in Japan with the U-16 #USYNT (that went 0-3 vs Guinea, Japan, Holland) awarded Player of the Tournament. #LAGalaxy #3four3 pic.twitter.com/b6N0B7LY2w— 3four3 (@3four3) June 18, 2017
Think I got a better idea of how good/bad some of these players are. We've gotten two U-16 tournaments televised within the last few months, which is very good. We hadn't seen much of the 01's. This would be my best 23 for this group. Any players missing from the 23? GK: Ochoa, Defreitas-Hansen, Shakes Defenders: Xuxuh, Hoffmann, Martinez, Duke, Araujo, Sepulveda, Rangel, Slonina Midfielders: Anaya, Booth, Vassilev, Berhalter, Llanez, Roberts, Rivas, Gonzalez Forwards: de la Fuente, Reynolds, Stojanovic, Segal Defreitas-Hansen Xuxuh-Araujo-Sepulveda-Martinez Booth-Vassilev de la Fuente (Dembele style role) Reynolds-Stojanovic-Llanez
Here's the clip of Llanez that made me scratch my head btw, if anyone is wondering. He's a great player, don't get me wrong, but I really don't want to see too much of this.
That's misleading. He won player of the team for the U.S. The Japanese #10 won player of the tournament.
I'm a little skeptical that this was just an honest mistake. Notice how he took the time to point out the U.S. went 0 - 3. Gary has had a couple of particularly suspect moments on twitter the past few weeks.
Taylor Booth goal: Didn't get the results we wanted, but still a great experience in Japan🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Zxc9oaCRWK— Taylor Booth (@TBLaRoca23) June 19, 2017