He's not starting today's match, which officially means nothing. They play two games this week, so there will be probably be complete lineup turnover. the 2nd game is against Holland. 1109122960470786051 is not a valid tweet id
The dates I've seen for CONCACAF U23s are October 3-15. I don't know if that's officially confirmed. MLS playoffs start October 19, after the regular season ends October 6, with an international break in between. Assuming the same format as years past, the winner-take-all semifinals would be during the break.
For those who care. I believe at halftime there was a complete changeover of players. I can't find one starting player playing in the second half.
Apparently they got smoked by Egypt 2-0. Lots of work for Kreis to do 1109154430937636864 is not a valid tweet id
I watched the first have and I don't see the terrible players that some folks are saying. It was a tight marking game from either side which is the way is played at the higher caliber of youth games. The weakest player in our side was Wright, Farfan, I'll give Sabbi a pass because they went to his side most of the time. This kid Pine, was my first time I saw him play, he is a bit tentative with his passes, he would rather give the ball to CCV instead. I thought Jones did well except for his gaffe. The team is going to click better once Robinson and Sargent are included with the first half side.
This team was legit awful. Turned it on and thought it was a U15 game or something. Then when I heard U23 I thought maybe a bunch of USL or MLS scrubs. Then saw the lineup and it was all our "good" players who we're all clamoring to be on the full side. They had zero chances on goal. Egypt wasn't that good either, just a couple lucky rolls (and a terrible clearance straight to an Egypt player on the 6 for their first goal). Problem is why aren't we dominating Egypt with our top U23 players? Very ominous.
Not really For the same reason that we wouldn't dominate the Egyptian National team. They are a mid-level African team. We are a mid-level CONCACAF team. Do you think playing qualifiers away against Cameroon and Nigeria is any easier than playing in San Jose or Tegucigalpa? The Egyptians aren't the creme of African football but they are always competitive. And qualifying out of Africa is VERY competitive, just ask Bob Bradley.
Yeah, I guess. Except for a bunch of players who we're all hoping are going to take us to the "next level", beating Egypt should be routine. If you're assuming we're kinda the same as always (mid-level), then obviously it's a normal result. I was hoping for the former, but seeing the latter. You were assuming the latter, seeing the latter.
So you have young guys who think they should be above several who were named to the roster. They get snubbed (or SUM'd) and 'invited' to play for the U23's. I'm sure the enthusiasm is bubbling over. Oh yeah, about a week before the first game and with a newly named coach who they may or may not have any respect for, especially after being coached in Europe. Wonder how long Egypt's team has had a coach. And practices. Anyone thinking all you had to do was put Sargent (Dnp?) and Weah in there and it's victory time aren't thinking right IMO. Give them a couple weeks of practice with a decent coach (?) and then let's see. This is as much on our incompetent USSF/SUM as it is the team that played a scrimmage after just being named.
Sargent played entire 2nd half. Weah played too I think. Suppose if Egypt was practicing together for a month, it'd make sense. But I kinda doubt it. And was hoping our talent would prevail anyhow. Not good, and I don't think any excuses being offered make it better.
This is why you play friendlies. It was the first game under the new coach with a group that had really never played together before (this is the first U23 game of the cycle.) And of course it wasn't close to our "best" U23 team. Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, etc. were with the senior team. And many of our MLS players weren't released., as well as some of the Euros (Erik Palmer-Brown for instance). And of course even more of the pool was with the U20 team that also has a camp this week. This was a "casting a wide net" camp. If players fail and look incapable of playing at this level, then the coaching staff also learns from that.
Laughable. Those three you referenced aren't with the u23s anymore, and never will be again. So we're just referencing them for what? How many u23 players are on egypts full team? Point is, you'd like to see our best u23 talent ever be able to beat Egypt. It's not a travesty, and it's not ideal. Just a disappointing result that shouldn't be explained away by referencing Pulisic, like he's somehow involved.
All I'm saying is that if folks are saying "Our U23s are crap! We don't have any talent at that level! Its another "lost generation!"...………………...we need to remember that we had four U23s with the senior USMNT this week. Our U23 talent from a progam-wide viewpoint is as good as its ever been. The idea isn't to win U23 games in March of 2019 at a meaningless camp. Its to win senior USMNT games when it matters. I'd have been thrilled if Weah, CCV and Sargent were also with the senior USMNT and the U23s looked even more devoid of talent. This particular U23 roster is a real hodge-podge of players that really isn't remotely close to our best U23 team. Heck, once the U20 World Cup ends this summer...…………………...then players like Soto (Hannover), Mendez (Freiburg), Ledesma (PSV), Dest (Ajax), Gloster (Hannover) Durkin (DCU), Pomykal (FCD), Richards (Bayern Munich), Llanez (Wolfsburg), Booth (Bayern), Scott (Cologne), and on and on...……………...will be pulled into this U23 group. So will all of the MLS players that weren't released for this camp. Worried about right back on this team? Well, we've got Cannon (FCD), Lennon (RSL), Duncan (NYRB) not at this camp...…..on top of Dest. We can go thru all of the positions like that. Two UNion central defenders that already have senior USMNT callups aren't there (Trusty and McKenziie). Neither is Justen Glad or Erik Palmer-Brown or I can keep going...…………... This particular group against Egypt was a real mish-mash. And by the way, that's OK. We want to have a camp...…………….might as well...……….so get the players that you can get. The result itself is meaningless. If they'd lost 7-0 to Egypt, so what?
I agree with these games being meaningless in the sense of the score. We switched all 11 players at halftime. You don't do that to win a game.
So why play? Kids had no clue what was going on, got smoked, looked terrible doing it. Why we talking like Egypt put out this team that has been practicing for a year together nonstop? All of these games are a hodgepodge of players on each side, that's pretty much what national teams are. I really don't care about the score either (tho the play itself was horrendous too), but I just can't get on board with the "ehhh, means nothing". If it means nothing, don't play. If it means something, take something from it, good or bad. This was a bad performance. Fine, it's not a huge deal either way, but a good performance with our high end talent (numerous players having already been with the full nat'l team, vs. the U20 players mentioned previously) was what I was hoping for/expecting.
This about it. They only got scored once because of an error in the first have against an Egyptian team that has played together for over a year vs our boys that just got off the plane to play together for the first time. To me, the glass is half full.
Because if you even identify one player that can be moved from the fringes of the U23 squad to a more firm role moving forward, then it was a worthwhile exercise. Just as an example of the players that aren't at this U23 camp, FCD has SEVEN US U23-eligible players in their gameday roster against Colorado today: Cannon, Pomykal, Cerrillo, Servania, Nelson, Roberts, and Ferreira (whose citizenship is reportedly imminent). .@ChickfilA Starting XI: For the fourth time in club history, FC Dallas will start five Homegrowns in a match: https://t.co/BcaNm3lLnA#FCDvCOL | #DTID pic.twitter.com/ancdJG58UN— FC Dallas (@FCDallas) March 23, 2019
Does final score matter now? Or is it just style of play? Because the US didn't look good at all, and also lost. You have the makings of a "everyone gets a trophy" excuse here. Has Egypt played for a year together? Best I can tell from a quick google search their last game was in October? And they are all domestic players outside of 1 guy? I don't get this. These seem to be mostly U19 guys? How many are better than Sargent? Weah? CCV? Robinson? These guys are all better than your Dallas guys, are all playing (albeit sporadically) for leagues equal or better than MLS. And have all been involved in the USMNT setup. Yet they lost to a bunch of domestic based Egypt U23s, and got played off the park doing it. Look, I don't really care that much about the result (it's more long term club form/minutes/progression). It's just this nonstop positivity (claiming U19 guys are better than guys who most wanted with the full team) which is real weird to me. If nothing matters with this group, let's close this thread and not comment on it further. If a bunch of talented U23s (5-6 of which we want to be with senior side) lose to a team of domestic Egyptian players, I'd say that's not great, and it's certainly worth pointing out. You have literally nothing good to say about it, so instead it's just "it doesn't matter now". What would be a concern for you guys? At what point do you say "whoops, that's not great"? It seems to be nothing, so why even have this thread at all?
Dude. It was the first U23 game of the cycle with a new coach and a group of players that haven't played together before. And most of those players weren't our "best" U23s. Let's let the coaching staff and player pool come into sharper focus and gel for 6 months before we get too concerned. Why have this thread here? I don't know. We have extensive threads in the youth national teams forum discussing the U23s.
And even the best players in this group did not play together, they were split into first and second half games.