Actually, I'm almost positive D'Allesandro has only just turned 21, not 23. My friend at school who is an exchange student from Argentina, let me have the sports paper from Argentina and there was a section about D'Allesandro and how he just had his birthday. I'm almost positive that he's just turned 21, maybe a month ago.
For the U.S. 1. Tim Howard (24) 2. Carlos Bocanegra (24) 3. Bobby Convey (20) 4. Kyle Martino (22) 5. Edson Buddle (22) A little further down the road . . . . 1. Freddy Adu (14 in a couple days) 2. Memo Gonzalez (17) 3. Justin Mapp (18) 4. Craig Capano (17) 5. Eddie Gaven (16)
Nice picks. When I look at Howard and Bocanegra I dont really think of them as up and coming. I think they are here now and will only improve. Since they are more defensive they will be older when they reach their peak. Ricardo Clark needs to be in that mix somewhere. The under 20 defenseman that plays at Stanford should be in there too but maybe we have to wait until he turns pro. Cant remember his name now. I think the other center def. is Cochrane?
Where they in any particular order or do you really think that Vjatsheslav Zahhovaiko deserves to be in 4th place...?
I've already heard multiple Dutch commentators say the same thing, so I won't have to look that hard, which is a good thing because I'm pretty lazy. vd Vaart has been used more as striker this season than as a midfielder, and is still being used as a striker if I'm not mistaken, so not so much scoring from a midfield position. Not that amount of goals is a definite way to find out which player is 'better', unless you think Kuyt and Buffel are both 'better' than vd Vaart as well. edit: numerous = 2
of course goal totals are not a 'definite' way to determine whos better... but when the difference is so overwhelming, its a pretty good clue - btw neither buffel nor kuyt has outscored VDV, who, yes, was moved to withdrawn striker after mido left
Kuyt had scored more than vd Vaart before today's games, and Buffel had 1 more or was tied, not sure...at any rate please don't tell me you just spoiled that vd Vaart is going to score today? And with van Persie: he was kept on the sidelines for pretty much the entire first half of the season because of disciplinary reasons, and was also moved from left wing to a striker position after the winterstop. Having more competition up front at Feyenoord than vd Vaart has at Ajax. (i.e. a bigger chance to get subbed, also less chance to score)
True, I consider them to be here now, but the thing was Rising Stars, and I don't think they've made an impact on a big stage yet. When that happens, I'll say they've arrived as stars, such as the World Cup or even the Confederations Cup this summer. You're talking about the big guy Chad Marshall at Stanford. He's fantastic, but the others just beat him to my list. Ricardo Clark is another good player, but we were only allowed five spots and I chose the others over him. I really think Eddie Gaven is going to be good. We'll just have to wait, but I think he'll be something special.
well oscar we're just gonna disagree i guess (but i think you're mad LOL) - HOWEVER, before today's games: VDV 18/20 eredivisie only (20/26 all competitions) kuyt 18/32 (18/33) buffel 16/30 (16/37) vanP 8/16 (8/17) besides, you forgot to remember the bundle of matches that VDV has missed - not to mention those missing around him when he did play: suddenly he became the veteran out there - as the bergkamp era ends for the oranje, so begins the van der vaart era i sayeth
the great thing about the future of the US Nats: several different young american players (at a variety of positions no less) have been listed within this thread - the funny thing is that nobody's top 5 can draw much criticism because the youth talent pool is crowded with exciting prospects - if only 25% of these kids evolve into the players we think they can become... look out 25 or younger in the US pipeline: adu, alvarez, ashe, DMB, beckerman, bocanegra, a. brown, burciaga, buddle, califf, capano, carroll, casey, cherundolo, clark, convey, countess, davis, diraimando, donovan, eskandarian, garcia, gaven, gibbs, gonzalez, gray, howard, jaqua, d. johnson, e. johnson, levesque, lewis, magee, mapp, marshall, martino, onyewu, quaranta, rimando, robinson, schmidt, simek, spector, s. thompson, thorrington, twellman, walker, yi
I think we're the only country left whose top youngsters are still amateurs especially if you include Yeo Hyo-jin. Even the American youth players play professionally now. On a side note, isn't Jung having major problems cracking Anyang right now? Also, watch out for Son Seung-joon. He is my pick to "click." He's in the Suwon system.
vd vaart had 17 goals before yesterday's game (seeing as his total is 18 today) you did spoil that he was going to score Kuyt had 18 before yesterday's game. 18 > 17 And if you add the goals of all the competitions, today these would be the numbers: VDV 20/28 vanPersie 15/28 (Kuyt 20/38)
Jung recently scored two goals for Anyang. His tally is up to three goals now, five goals behind the leading scorer.
Isn't he the one who's half-Black and half-Korean? Didn't know he was playing for Suwon's youth team.
Thats true, but the problem is american young players start off as good as anyone talent wise. Its during the high school and college development years that it all goes down the crapper. That and they have no viable role models to emulate or learn from because a lot of american soccer players dont watch south american or european soccer. US has already been done, so I'll do my other love Italy: 1) Antonio Cassano (21, Roma) 2) Andrea Pirlo (22, Milan) 3) Alex Pinardi (Atalanta) 4) Guiseppe Sculi (Modena) 5) Daniele Bonera (23, Parma) I could be wrong on those ages. Other mentionables: Marco Borriello (21, Milan - at Empoli), Fabrizio Miccoli (had an Azzurri call up, 23, Perugia - contract owned by Juventus), Enzo Maresca (Piacenza - contract owned by Juventus)
how in the world could i spoil that he was going to score 12 hours after the match?!?! - and i did misspeak (miswrite?) when i referred to all competitions: i was not including friendlies or amstel cup, forgive me) - and does kuyt take PKs (VDV does not) besides my initial point related to strike rate - again show me how the others' have superior strike rates...
#1 The post where you said Kuyt and Buffel didn't outscore VDV was just a few hours (3 or 4?) after the game had ended. #2 I watch the highlights show, which gets shown over here 2 hours after you pretty much said VDV had scored. #3 you spoiler you Why would I include goals from friendlies? The goals you didn't list were from the Amstel Cup and the UEFA Cup. But hey, far be it from me to be a party pooper: VDV 24/31 vanPersie 21/31 Now what I would like to see is how many minutes of those 31 games they've played, because I'm pretty damn sure van Persie has a better strike rate when you look at those. But like I said, goals isn't the only factor to determine which player is better.
well if i spoiled it was inadvertant - i was using planetfootball (which does include uef cup matches, but not amstel cup and friendly) but youre right we're just playing ping pong with these numbers - i will see more of vanP next season when i live nearby - kuyt is sweet, i wish we'd snaked him from feyemoord - buffel i admit is fantastic - given one, i'd pick VDV everytime - he has the spirit, work rate, skills and knack for the moment that not only makes him 1 of HOLLAND's brightest 5... IMO it makes him 1 of the world's brightest 5.... easy
---------MINOR CORRECTION---------- D'Alessandro ~> 4/15/81 = 23 Romagnoli ~> 3/17/81 = 23 Cavenaghi ~> 9/21/83 =19 Saviola ~> 11/12/81 =22 Aimar ~> 11/3/79 =23 Milito ~> 7/9/80 =22 THIS IS really their ages & b-days. D'Alessandro & Romagnoli just had b-days...Saviola WILL be 23 at the end of the year, Aimar 24 at the end of the year and Milito 23 in July.
US to 5 rising stars: 1. Tim Howard 2. DeMarcus Beasley 3. Santino Quaranta 4. Freddy Adu 5. Ryan Suarez