Link to last year’s thread: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/youth-yanks-abroad-01-04-yobs-and-younger-2018-19-thread.2084999/
'03 FCD and US U16 CB Justin Che is now in Frankfurt, likely training or trialing with Eintracht Frankfurt. He's previously been at Bremen (likely with Werder), and before that was at VfB Stuttgart and TSG Hoffenheim.— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) July 20, 2019 '04 M Lucas Tamarez calls himself Italian-American in his Instagram bio. He played today for Hoffenheim U16s.https://t.co/FWl8LMj8J0https://t.co/4Lm3sHOgpb— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) July 20, 2019
Che is having a hell of a German tour right now. I’m super jealous that the kids get these opportunities.
Our @BarcaAcademyAZ alum @MatthewHoppe9 starting off his u-19 @s04_en career in top form. Scored 2 in first scrimmage of the season, 2-1 win. Then a team leading 4 goals in the recent tournament. Video of 2 goals today vs @FCNurnberg:https://t.co/nrGI9VkuIw #USMNT #BarçaFamily— Miha Kline (@MihaKline7) July 21, 2019
BVB manager Lucien Favre on 16-year-old Gio Reyna working with the first-team "He doesn't have any problems training with us. The first impression is very good." https://t.co/CN81zCHCs3— Arthur Kogan (@artur_kogan) July 21, 2019
Bill Simmons talks a lot about how players who grew up while their dads were playing in pro locker rooms have a really easy time transitioning to the pro level because they grew up in that environment. It's come up a lot lately with Donovan Mitchell. He didn't necessarily look like a top 5 pick (and wasn't) in college, but he finished second in RotY voting because of how quickly he adjusted. I'd assume that will help Gio a ton as well.
This has been discussed a lot. When Michael Bradley was coming up he talked about not only his father's influence, but being a young player around the guys his dad coached. It's sort of trendy to talk about Michael's supposed failures and his diminished physical abilities but it's hard to argue against his feel for the game. Some credit has to go to the interactions described above, and I think that Gio will show signs of that as well.
I did an interview with Matthew Hoppe, who is in the middle of preseason with @s04_en's U19 team. https://t.co/WX9G3cicbb— Travis Clark (@travismclark) July 22, 2019
From what little I've seen, I'm actually somewhat optimistic about Hoppe's chances of making it at Schalke (or at worst, a step or two down the ladder in Europe): - Prolific scorer at the DA level with 58 goals in 61 games; - Good size at 6-2 170 as of last year; - Seems to be both relatively fast and skilled from his Hudl highlights; - Upper quartile (I assume) youth coaching at Barca Academy; - Promising start at Schalke thus far; - Seems confident and mature from his interviews. Really excited that we seem to be developing more and more players with a high degree of both athleticism and skill. We'll see how it goes, but I think he's one to keep an eye on.
I believe thinking their had to be a choice between the two led to the lost generation. For a long time US players were described as just big, strong athletes with little to no skill. The opposing argument was that there were tons of very skilled Hispanic players that didn't get a chance to compete in ODP, MLS, College and the National teams. The pendulum then swung the other way for a couple of cycles where a lot of very skilled but not very athletic Hispanic kids were given spots on the youth national teams. FC Dallas learned hard lessons from their first crop of HG's that US youth teams are learning now. It's not a choice between athletic and skilled. The task is to find players with both. Now we're seeing big athletic Hispanic players like Reyna and a lot of bigger and skilled players from all races. If they aren't as athletic they better be terriers ala Pomykal. Maybe US Soccer needed to go through the desert to get to the promised land on the other side.
From what I’ve seen, he’s athletic enough, like a Sargent. I don’t think he’s a great athlete that is going to be one of the fastest players on the field.
Reyna is still playing with the Dortmund first team past the American leg of their preseason. Immanuel #Pherai und Gio #Reyna trainieren aktuell weiter mit dem Profiteam und könnten auch mit ins Trainingslager nach Bad Ragaz fahren [Ruhr Nachrichten]— BVBJugend (@BVBJugend) July 24, 2019
Hearing that U.S. U15 BNT midfielder Rokas Pukstas is training with Manchester United this week. He figures to be a key player for the US during upcoming Concacaf Championship— J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) July 25, 2019
Reyna played today for the BVB first team again. 1155188291949383680 is not a valid tweet id I usually try to stay away from posting news here about dual-nationals who aren't in the US program currently, but this goal from Balogun is outrageous. Man like @FBalogun67 🔥🔥🔥#ArsenalXI 🔴 pic.twitter.com/9fDNBQiDjG— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) July 27, 2019
You should include the context. He wouldn't have played if not for an unforeseen injury changing their plans leading him to sub on. Then he was subbed out himself at the start of the second half already. But in the opportunity he fell into, he jogged with it. Again, didn't look out of place. However, to make that impression to where he's making the 1st team straight out of preseason, he's probably gotta finish a couple of those chances and know when to fit out. Not a big deal if he's demoted to the u-19's at his age. Then would have to try and be the man there and follow the Puli path. Get worked in off the bench by either winter or get a cup of coffee late in the season b4 truly breaking through next season.
I think too much is being made of Reyna playing with the first team during this preseason. Richards played with the first team last preseason, and he's very unlikely to ever play for Bayern Munich's first team. If you have a player from the USA in your academy, why not bring him on the preseason trip to the USA? If you look at the roster of Borussia Dortmund, they don't have many young players who came through their academy getting minutes.They have a lot of veteran players. I think there's an outside chance that Reyna eventually makes it into their first team. Thats to say nothing about his ability. It's very unlikely for any player. If you are very talented, it's still not likely. I also see nothing impressive about that every touch video, but I didn't see the game and its a high level of play, so its good to see how Reyna does against a very high level of competition.
The reality is that we have so few decent prospects in Europe when compared to the big footballing nations that it's somewhat understandable that there's a hopeful fixation on any of them when they get a 1st team look of any sort. So few prospects from any nation actually make it to a 1st team anywhere, and the odds are so much greater to make it to Bayern, or Dortmund, or any of the better clubs in the top leagues. The statistics do not favor Richards or Reyna, or even Dest, although given his start against PSV he might have a shot. Still, it's not a certainty he makes it at Ajax either. However, all of them should have decent pro careers somewhere. The key is, and always has been, to produce a greater number of quality prospects. The numbers will yield a corresponding increase in players who make it. So, for example, if out of 21 players on any U20 team there is interest from better clubs in the top leagues in say, 10 players rather than just two or three the chances increases for a few of them making it. Right now, if I look at the U17s beyond Reyna who else has the potential to eventually catch on with a good club? Nobody really, except for perhaps Kobe, but in his case his guidance/management does him no great favors. From among the '03s maybe Nyeman, but it's still too early to tell. When scouts assess the young players from Brasil or France, for example, they see a load of prospects, players that clubs like Barcelona, Man City, etc. would be interested in. Most of them never make it to those first teams, but there always seem to be a few that do.
I was actually impressed with how many times the players used him, seemingly looking for him. That doesn't happen on veteran teams all the time with super young newbies.
The goal was never for Reyna to be with the BVB first team at the beginning of the season, so why are we even talking about that as part of the equation... The odds are not against Reyna or Dest at all. They are playing for clubs who have shown that they want to promote from within in the case of Dest or that they know exactly what they are looking for and how to develop them in the case of Reyna. It would be a disappointment if either of them do not make it to their respective first teams at this point. Richards is in a completely different situation. And I think there are a lot more U17s that will be in top four leagues than you suggest. In addition to Reyna and Kobe, who is a no-brainer, Bello, Busio, Pepi, Leyva, and probably a couple others are on that track.
My longterm case for Reyna went something like this: 1. Skill 2. Athleticism 3. Exposure to the pro game/upbringing 4. Signing with BVB 5. Positions he can play Which taken together provide a path to earlier high-level playing time that can then be built on. Preseason friendlies don’t provide many concrete takeaways. The most I can say is that Reyna doesn’t look incompetent and Dortmund has him somewhere on the edges of their depth chart, which I wasn’t expecting until the winter training camp.
Booth had been injured recently. He was playing up an age group with the reserve team early in preseason. From what I read, the Bayern fans rate him higher than they rate Richards. 1155594043721703429 is not a valid tweet id
With much of the discussion centered around the players who played in the recent U20 WCQ and the young players who play domestically I sort of forgot about Booth. He's very good. He could be the key player for us in CM for the 2021 U20 team.