Yes, but they aren't just obscure friendly camps, it's the U20 WC. So...be careful what you wish for! Coming to a USYNT forum near you:
Here's an interesting story on the right place, right time rise of Olsen: Two years ago: Thomas Olsen was graduating from Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas and preparing to head to the University of San Diego as a walk-on goalkeeper. Last year: Olsen was completing his freshman year as a redshirt on a roster filled with talented, experienced keepers. Last fall: Olsen began the season as the backup behind fifth-year senior Drew Ilijevski, the starter during USD’s run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 2012. Now: Olsen is in New Zealand with the U.S. national team that opens the under-20 World Cup against Myanmar on Friday night. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/may/28/soccer-usd-thomas-olsen-u20-world-cup-us/
So far Moore, Allen, Jamieson IV and Sonora are looking like bad selections. The rest doesn't look too bad. Turner for Moore seems like such an easy decision though.
Tab really likes moore, not sure turner is that much of an upgrade. He looks good going forward but he does not defend and as a defender your number 1 responsibility is to defend. We can agree moore has been poor.
Not impressed with Sonora's impact in this tournament at all. I still maintain Flores didn't do enough in qualifying to be a must-have player on this roster, but it's hard to imagine your boy doing any worse than Sonora. I think Roldan deserved to make this team as well and could have potentially taken that spot. Pfeffer was another option. I was expecting more out of Allen given his start to the MLS season. Not sure who we could have taken besides him. Think Jameson IV is doing fine. Not his fault that Tab seems set on playing him as a target forward, although injuries and players not being released have forced his hand a bit. No kidding.
I think Sonora and Roldan are way too similar. Really good with the ball in tight spaces, great passing range, but both are positional tweeners. I think you take one of the two, and Tab chose Sonora. No real problem with that. Allen just isn't that good. People were saying he's not good before his injury, and now we are seeing it again. Fast player, can play a number of positions but he's a player who hasn't played that well for the U-20's before or after his injury. I'm not sure we need so many of these athletes like Jamieson, Allen and Tall. We could've used another creative attacking midfielder capable of playing AM, LM or RM like Flores. BJ's game just bothers me. He is such an infuriating player to watch. He plays like he's 5'8, he's so loose with the ball and his work rate is really questionable at times. I'm not so sure someone else should've been picked, but I really don't like how he's playing.
Anyone that could contribute. Allen is a very limited player that has not contributed to the u20 team since being invited to camps.
A lot of pretty bad players have had some success in MLS like Allen and Pfeffer. A player like Jamieson who isn't necessarily bad, but just really raw is being exposed as that in the U-20 WC. In MLS, he's had some success. If anyone saw Tab's comments, he rates easy MLS playing time over being in Europe in an environment where its hard to get playing time.
So... when does Mexico start losing their mind about their U-20 performance?! 2-0 Losses to powerhouses Serbia and Mail sandwiched around a last minute win over Uruguay.
No shame in losing to Serbia. Although I do feel Mexico has long underachieved as a whole considering their population and love for the sport.
Tab called in the likes of CCV, Payne, Requejo, Moore, Sonora, Tall, Zelalem, and also originally called in Novakovich and Canouse. Of those 9, only really Payne has seen any meaningful 1st team time with their club and he hasn't even seen a lot. Arriola was relegated back to Tijuana's reserves this past season too. I had a couple small quibbles with his roster selection, but tactically he's far worse and unfortunately I doubt he's going anywhere.
To be fair, Pfeffer had made the 24 man roster over players in Europe like Flores, Yomba and Gooch. Tab must've just thought that Zelalem was too good of a player not to give a spot. I'm not even disagreeing with you about his actions, I'm speaking about his words. He spoke about how first team minutes factored in when selecting the squad. I agree that he's a hypocrite, but I do think a player like Allen really only got on the team because of his first team minutes.
You are putting too much stock in a few youth games and ignoring all of the MLS players who have had successful careers in MLS and with the national team. I think the MLS guys are in a better spot than a guy like Flores because 90% of the time youth players who are seen as being top prospects are expected to progress quickly enough to compete with first team players or go out on loan with big clubs. If you stay with the reserves for a certain amount of time you really aren't going to make it with the first team. A player like Flores is at that point. This upcoming season, He is going to need show his some real top level quality to his coaches if he is going to progress at Dortmund. At these big European clubs youth players have to have impact when they get put in these situations or coaches move on to the next guy like, say Pulisic who will be competing against Flores on Dortmund's u-19's this upcoming season. I actually hope this snub puts a huge chip on his shoulder which pushes him to the next level. That is much more important than playing in this tournament. Ramos left him off squad because he just rates Sonora. I don't know why, in actual games he seems to deal with physicality much worse than Flores.
I know everyone wants to always bring Flores up whenever I'm involved in the discussion, but I wasn't making reference to him with that post. I simply just think that some of these MLS players getting minutes with the U-20's are not quality players. There are so many examples of players getting minutes in MLS pre-20 or at 20 who don't amount to much.
Again how is Allen not amounting too much? He is currently a useful player for RSL. Are predicting that he is going to regress?
He's looked out of place at a tournament that showcases the best U-20 talent in the world. Not all of these players are going to make it at a level higher than MLS. In fact, many won't. I think its a safe bet that Allen might have an MLS career, but nothing at a higher level.