How do we know Lennart Maloney is American? EDIT: Never mind, I see his thread in YA Academy now. Searched for Lennart (his name on T'markt) but the club lists it as Lennard.
Credit goes to @DC_Dave for Florida-born-and-raised '97 Andrew Booth, who has played for South Florida Surf in the PDL and FIU Panthers in NCAA. His FIU profile says he was invited to a Jamaica U20 camp in 2016. He might be with Torquay United in England right now though I'm not entirely sure. http://www.fiusports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4808 http://www.fiusports.com/news/2016/...d-to-jamaica-national-u-20-training-camp.aspx
https://www.socceramerica.com/article/74193/tab-ramos-on-2017-development-academy-finals-and-m.html Tab Ramos on Efrain Alvarez: One of the biggest stars of the weekend, Alvarez, has been playing for Mexico’s national team program. Will he decide to change his mind come back to the U.S. national team? “I don’t know,” says Ramos. “We’d like to have him play for us. “But I’m a very big believer that those decisions are not just about environment and they’re not just about national teams. They’re about feeling. ‘Do I feel like I want to represent the U.S.?' And I believe that’s something that’s not mentioned often enough. “Sometimes the culture you grow up in trumps the country you’re born in. And that’s just a fact. That has nothing to do with teams. I keep hearing out there that we lose all these players to the Mexican national team, and that’s just not the case. How many players have we lost to the Mexican senior national team? Who’s a great Mexican national team player who’s an American who we don’t have? “But there are always going to be players who will decide to play for Mexico because that’s who they identify with and I think all we can do, and we do this, is let them know everything we have to offer and how much we want them. But in the end, I value the cultural experiences that they get. And if a player identifies playing for Mexico, that’s a feeling. Something that we should respect.” I think this hints that the USSF has continued to contact Alvarez but he has continued to decline them for Mexico. Also, the US hasn't been entirely afraid to call up '02s to the US U16 side (Gio Reyna, for one), yet Alvarez has been playing only with the Mexico U15s. Alvarez would certainly be deserving of a US U16 callup. So it could be the case that he declined even playing up a year with the US, in favor of simply playing the conventional age group for Mexico, as Will Parchman has speculated. LAG's Efrain Alvarez: -With the Mexico U15 team at the Gradisca tourney-Not with the U16 MNT at Montaigu-Reach your conclusions https://t.co/KshFCzRRN6— Will Parchman (@WillParchman) April 11, 2017 The best hope for him to rejoin the US is to remain at LAG and continue to be in the environment of the some dozen-and-a-half academy teammates who are all USYNTers, including his main partner-in-crime on the pitch, Ulysses Llanez, who has rejoined the US for now. LAG academy has among the most US youth players in the country. I get the sense Llanez rejoined in part because he realized he loved to play with his fellow LAGers for the US (looked quite happy in multiple photos of just LAG academy players in US uniform), so I'd hope Alvarez can at some point feel the same. With all the interest Alvarez is drawing, if he moves away from US soil anytime soon, particularly to a Liga MX youth academy and living/playing only with Mexican teammates, then good luck getting him back.
Yup. We lose very few USYNT/future USMNT-quality youngsters that have remained in the MLS and domestic development structure...............to any nation. Quite a number have gone to a Mexican camp or two, or even play for Mexican teams in official FIFA competitions, but they do come back to the US. For example Jesse Gonzalez. Why? Each decision is different I'm sure.............. Ramos is certainly right that the US has never lost a player to Mexico that ended up being an important senior national team player. Miguel Angel Ponce may have gotten more caps for the USMNT than he ended up getting for Mexico (12) due to the position he plays, but if he'd committed to the US he wouldn't be a "difference making" type of player at major events. And it should be noted that Ponce was born in Sacramento, but moved to the Tijuana area when he was a baby. He did attend school in San Ysidro, right on the US side of the border. What I'm saying is even though he attended high school in the US, Ponce's story is pretty different than Alvarez'. What we need to work against is losing a "difference making" kind of player to Mexico. When we see a kid like Alvarez with high potential, we just have to work to keep them in the fold. All you can so is let the kid know how much he's wanted and valued, and keep at it. Until he's cap-tied, there's no harm in trying............................... I do think that there are certain academies in the US that are HEAVILY influenced by Mexican-Americans and Mexican nationals. And they're heavily scouted by the FMF now (LAG, FCD, etc.). So if we're going to lose a difference making player to the FMF, it kinda makes sense to me that he's going to come from one of those academies. For instance, the US seems to be ignoring Padilla of FCD, one of the players of the year in the U16DA. I'm sure the US isn't the only nation scouting Padilla........................
Surely there's no reason to think that Alvarez, who was already a star in our program, switched to Mexico just because he thought he deserved to play with the U.S. U16s rather than the U15s. Should we offer him a spot with the U17 squad? Who knows, maybe we already have. Staying in touch with dual-eligible players, even after they've appeared for other countries, seems important. But he seems like a guy who just -- wanted to play for Mexico.
Yup. Although this is very hard to know. As Ramos said in that interview, if a kid just flat out wants to play for Mexico.....................then what are we supposed to do? Kidnap them? I prefer when kids aren't wishy-washy about this, but we know this decision is very difficult for them. They love both countries, and they probably feel that no matter what they decide they're letting a set of people that have mentored/supported/encouraged/etc. them down.................. I always remember the comments by Rossi. He said that when he lived in the states he "felt" Italian. When he lived in Europe, he "felt" American. So when a Mexican-American like Llanez or Alvarez or Jesse Gonzalez, etc. is in the US...............they probably connect strongly with their family to Mexico. But when they visit Mexico or train with Mexican national teams.............some probably realize that culturally-speaking they're actually very American. The MLS Homegrowns just talk about their Chipotle cards a lot. Imagine going to a Mexican national team camp and talking about your Chipotle card. They'd mock you out of the room. Best appearance ever!!😁 Got to work the line at Chipotle. Thanks for having us @ChipotleTweets @MoHernandez92 pic.twitter.com/BpoMHvZrHz— Victor Ulloa (@ulloa_victor) October 9, 2014
Of course it is, since it would require both a straight answer directly from the horse's mouth and a substantial degree of self-knowledge from the horse himself. In the case of Alvarez, however, this seems pretty straightforward. He was already seen as a top U.S. prospect, so it's not like he had to leave for more recognition or opportunity. He switched over young, so it's not like he was lured away to play in a major tournament. For practical purposes, Mexico's program, generally speaking, is at the same level as ours in terms of qualifying for major events. For whatever his reason or combination of reasons might be, it seems pretty likely that he just preferred Mexico.
Tab Ramos: "If a [Mexican-American] identifies playing for MEX, that’s a feeling. Something that we should respect.” https://t.co/tJ3XkmNJ7u— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) July 18, 2017 No clue if this belongs in here or not, but thought this was interesting.
If you watched Mexico games with your daddy when you were young, you're probably gonna want to play for them when you grow up.
Leander article on the battle for Mexican-American players: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...o-war-for-prospects-tests-players-allegiances [Jesse] Gonzalez made Mexico's preliminary squad but was cut from the final Olympic team in favor of a veteran goalkeeper, Alfredo Talavera, drafted in for his experience. "I was really upset," Gonzalez remembers. Then the call-ups stopped coming altogether. At the root of the conflict is the Mexico federation's policy to actively recruit in the United States. With an extensive scouting apparatus for its youth national teams, the FMF collects multiple reports on potential additions. When three or four positive reports come in from different scouts or coaches, the player gets the call. And with scouts permanently based in Los Angeles and Texas, where much of the country's Mexican-American population is concentrated, the FMF has a fertile field from which to choose new players. "To us, it's not so [much] a concern where they're born," says Dennis te Kloese, director of Mexico's youth national teams. "If they have the Mexican nationality and are eligible to play for Mexico, they're candidates to represent our national teams. This is one of the unique situations in the world where so many people of one nationality live in another country. Of course, to the Mexican federation, this is an opportunity." Which makes it sort of remarkable how civil this ongoing border war over young soccer talent is. There seems to be a universal understanding, in both camps, that they are dealing with teenagers who often are ill-equipped to make decisions that could very well shape the course of their nascent careers.
Great article. This battle will only continue to grow. The latest domestic-based U14 BNT squad had what appears to be 10 Mexican-American players (based on last names), and there's little doubt the FMF are watching them.
Well, at least they're leaving no stone uncovered at US Soccer. Amazingly unaware statement. If you're trying to, ya know, court, Hispanic players at least act like you give a shit about looking at them in their own community.
I didn't catch it at first, but reading over the article again, Ramos says that Llanez is now committed to the US program, something I hadn't been sure of even with his return to the US U16s. Snip: Consider the story of Ulysses Llanez of the L.A. Galaxy academy. Llanez scored both goals for the under-14 U.S. boys national team in a 2-0 victory over Real Madrid in 2015. The next year, he scored twice in a 2-1 win over England. Six weeks later, he accepted an invitation to a Mexico under-16 training camp. By June of this year, he was back in the U.S. program with its under-16s. "He's an elite player," U.S. Soccer youth technical director and under-20 head coach Tab Ramos says. "We talked to him before he went to Mexico. He decided anyway to go to Mexico and see what that was like, and he's decided now he only wants to play for us. I think that's a great sign for us. We'd rather they don't go in the first place. But the pull, either from the family or the feeling of playing for Mexico, is something that we sometimes have to allow time for."
This might be too conspiratorial, but this would seem like a pretty strong indication that he'll be in India, assuming he's healthy. Otherwise there would be no reason for such a strong commitment, since the next binding event for him is presumably his U20 cycle, which is the one after the one that's about to start. Or, I suppose, maybe he just really wants to play for the U.S...
If that's the case, which it could well be, a spot on the U17 WC roster is well-deserved for him. I've been thinking about what would happen if the US were to offer the same to Alvarez, who has a strong case to deserve it based on pure merit, no matter his age. I think we all know, deep down, he'd deserve a spot. We called up and even started an '00 at the U20 WC, after all. As demonstrated with Saief and Gonzalez, the USSF recently hasn't been afraid to swoop in for an eligible player from a foreign NT/YNT if he deserves a US callup at a certain level, even with the reports that Gonzalez wanted to play for Mexico. And unlike them, Alvarez does have USYNT experience. Of course, Alvarez would turn down even our U17s if he simply wants to play for Mexico as long as he possibly can. Maybe they've already offered and he declined. If he were to accept it -- the U17 WC stage being more significant than a ho-hum U16 callup -- despite not being committed to the US like Llanez is, it could backfire if he then files a one-time switch to continue to play for Mexico. Then again, one might argue, it might be our best shot at getting him back, to not just provisionally cap-tie him but also show we really do value him that much. My guess is he would turn down any US youth callup to stick with Mexico as long as he possibly can, and will get provisionally cap-tied to them at the 2019 U17 WCQ/WC.
It is certainly impolitic. But realistically, events like theirs should be for club scouting, not national teams. (Though it's reasonable to ask whether the kind of players Alianza attracts are otherwise exposed to NT programs and vice versa.)
Good news: Padilla received his first US callup ever today for a U17 training camp. He's presumably in contention for the U17 WC.
I know this doesn't quite fit in our discussion vis-a-vi the USSF and FMF, but I find the topic interesting. Liga MX has decided that only Mexican-born ladies can play in their newly formed Women's League. That means even the American-born women that play for the Mexican national team are ineligible for this league. This tells us a little bit about the attitude some within the Mexican soccer infrastructure have towards US-born players. They're Mexican, but not Mexican. There are players like Veronica Perez, who's played for El Tri 89 times, that are being told they can't play in a league for Mexicans. http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/ar...ue-restricts-rosters-native-born-players-only I suspect that at times American-born men like Jesse Gonzalez also encounter this attitude...........................
In part. But if Mexico finds a player in the US because the USSF didn't bother to scout an event they knew Mexico was scouting, that's not just bad optics but bad management.
It might be that they want to stop depending on American players, which I get. I am sure there is some part of it where they are viewed as "true" Mexicans but I think it has more to do with them wanting to not depend on the US to develop their women's NT.
I 100% agree that it would reflect poorly on the U.S. if Mexico picked up a national team player at an open tryout held in the United States.
But the league is primarily a U23 league with maybe 3 overage players per team. That means you won't have the traditional Mexican-American player who goes through HS to college. The article identified 6 players affected by the decision. Seems silly to cut off the small number of players who are likely already committed to Mexico, but who aren't able to catch on with NWSL or in Europe.