All news and information on the next u17 World Cup cycle focusing on the 2004's and the standout 2005's.
To start this off I would like to highlight the significant talent that has already been identified in this cycle's midfield. Evan Rotundo, Kenan Hot, Brendan Craig, Allan Rodriguez, Aethan Yohannes, Rokas Pukstas, and Victor Valdez are all incredibly talented players. Before other guys emerge over the next 4 years this is a fantastic core to begin with.
Time to sticky this and put the sad sacks of 2019 behind us. Of course there's no evidence to believe that the 2021 U17 team will do any better but hope springs eternal.
not a hardcore follower of youth teams outside of major tourneys/qualifying- is there any sign we are going to, you know, hire some coaches for these teams? i get the sense wicky may move to the u20s so that only leaves...every other youth team position. any insight/speculation?
Here's a 50 man shortlist of the players I think should be in consideration to start the cycle. GK(8): Jeff Dewsnup (‘04), Chris Brady (‘04), Gabe Slonina (‘04), Cole Kulhanek (‘04), Damian Alguera (‘04), Antonio Carrera (‘04), Emmanuel Ochoa (‘05), Javier Zaragoza (‘05) RB(5): Justin Reynolds (‘04), Erik Duenas (‘04), Ty Reynolds (‘04), Christopher Sanchez (‘05), Million Evans (‘05) LB(3): Takashi Sasaki (‘04), John Carlos Cortez (‘04), Ryan Lau (‘04) CB (10): Antonio Leone (‘04), Efrain Morales (‘04), Nigel Prince (‘04), Jonathan Dadzie (‘04), Cody Baker (‘04), Nati Clarke (‘05), Pranav DuBroff (‘05), Demitrious Tanks (‘05), Alejandro Cano (‘04), Levi Stephens (‘04) DM(9): Brandan Craig (‘04), Kenan Hot (‘04), Rokas Pukstas (‘04), Ivan Villatoro (‘04), Angel Martinez (‘05), Reed Baker-Whiting (‘05), Jordan Jones (‘05), Francis Jacobs (‘05), Caden Grabfelder (‘05) AM(12): Evan Rotundo (‘04), Quinn Sullivan (‘04), Fede Oliva (‘04), Leo Torres (‘04), Luis Lima (‘04), Alan Carleton (‘05), Jonathan Villal (‘05), Gage Akalu (‘05), Diego Ceja (‘05), Dominic Dubon (‘05), Robert Deziel (‘05), Ty Wilson (‘05) CF (3): Dantouma Toure (‘04), Marcello Mazzola (‘05), Robert Willcot (‘05) For the first camp, this is the 23 I'd call in as I see this as the best 23 right now. Best 23: GK: Dewsnup, Brady, Slonina DF: Reynolds, Duenas, Sasaki, Cortez, Leone, Clarke, Prince, Dadzie MF: Craig, Baker, Hot, Baker-Whiting, Sullivan, Rotundo, Torres, Akalu, Dubon FW: Toure, Mazzola, Oliva This is what I view as the best lineup early in the cycle. Dewsnup Reynolds-Leone-Prince-Clarke Craig-Hot Rotundo Sullivan-Toure-Torres To expand briefly, I think this cycle is going to be better than the 2019 cycle. The 2019 cycle always looked weak, and when the 03's were not incorporated in bigger numbers, it was obvious that cycle would struggle. I think the 04's are a pretty average age group, but that is better than '02, which was the weakest of the current YNT age groups, IMO. I agree with @David Kerr about the midfield. I think this cycle isn't going to be pushed around in the middle of the park, like the last one did. This cycle should have a lot of big CM's who are good on both ends of the field and good in possession. I also think the AM's are going to be above-average, and better than the past cycle, where it was a big problem. Keeper looks good, once again, this cycle. CB is about average, IMO. The pieces are there, but the better players now need to be incorporated into the team at CB. The big weakness is the lack of CF depth. There's absolutely no depth. You have a good starting CF, and nothing in '04 after that, from what I've seen. '05 might have to contribute significantly at CF, but depth definitely looks like a huge problem at CF this cycle. Full-back also looks weak. I don't think it's terrible. RB is probably about average, LB is definitely pretty weak. There also probably isn't a real high level full-back in this age group either. The other big problem would be that I don't think '04 has any top level talents. It has good depth, and a lot of good players, but lacks the absolute star level players, IMO. '05 might be able to contribute to that problem because I think it has no less than 1 top level talent, but it'll depend how quickly the 05's are incorporated into the age group. These are also only 14-15 year old players, so a lot can change with this age group. Early on, here's what I'd just to be the best players in each age group. '04: 1. Quinn Sullivan 2. Dantouma Toure 3. Brandan Craig 4. Evan Rotundo 5. Antonio Leone Sullivan is a very talented all-around attacker. Reminds me of a player like Kaka. He does so many things well, and has incredibly high level playmaking. I don't think he's a star caliber talent, but he's the closest to it from what I've seen, and I think he has the highest potential. Toure is a little raw, but I've been very impressed with what I've seen. Incredible athlete and he's a good finisher. Craig has a great combo of size, technical skill and passing ability. His position is a question, as is his athleticism and defending to a lesser extent. Rotundo is a talented #10, but I'm not sure how his athleticism is going to hold up at higher levels. You'd like him to be more creative than he is. He's a very good playmaker and has a high soccer IQ, but the creativity needs to develop, if the athleticism doesn't. Leone looks like one of the better CB prospects we've developed. Really good athlete, good passer, defense is probably the main question. '05: 1. Nati Clarke 2. Gage Akalu 3. Reed Baker-Whiting 4. Marcello Mazzola 5. Dominic Dubon Clarke is a class above the rest of the 05's. He can play any position on the field because he's that talented in just about every area of the game, but he's best as a CB. Best defensive talent I've seen us produce at this point, IMO, but it's obviously very early, and a lot can change. Akalu is a really talented #10 prospect. Good athlete, playmaking, can score, assist. Good creativity and skill. The main question is his soccer IQ. I'm not convinced about it yet. Baker-Whiting is a tremendously talented box to box mid. Elite work ethic, very good passer, very physical for a player his age and a very good athlete, good soccer IQ, as well. Mazzola is a talented CF. Does most things well. Might not have elite size, and I'm not sure he's the best finisher, but certainly a CF with a lot of tools. Dubon has a lot of skill, playmaking and an elite soccer IQ in AM. Athleticism is about average.
Early top dual-nat seems to be Union Berlin's Malick Sanogo, who could address a need. He's been in one Germany U16 camp but doesn't yet have German citizenship. He does have US and Ivorian citizenship. Joel Imasuen of Hertha BSC and Mansour Ouro-Tagba of 1860 Munich might also be worth a look.
It seemed like we brought in some more dual-nationals this past cycle who were off the radar general dual-national radar (the Brazilian kid, Dietz, Goeggel). I'm all for calling in these players to a camp to see how they'd do. Often times the players at big academies are not as good as DA players, but if they can supplement the US based crop, I don't know why that'd be a bad thing.
Presumably Nike friendlies are happening this year? Most people on here were apprehensive about the current crop of U17’s as they were so pedestrian in the Nike friendlies 2 years in a row, especially compared to how electric Carleton, Sargent and co were the cycle before against good competition.
Will the Nike Friendlies be played this year?. I don't know if Wicky knows this cycle but I imagine he will call a team very similar to the last U15 team that played the concacaf championship this year.
Everything is this is great except you're missing 2 standout 6's: Allan Rodriguez and Aethan Yohannes. Rodriguez almost captained every concacaf u15 championship game and was a top 3 player for us in each game he was in.
Thanks. I wouldn’t doubt that those two will play roles. IMO though, they are two of the players who should be filtered out sooner than later, but I don’t want to be too critical of 15 year old players, so I won’t be any more critical than that.
Is this Quinn Sullivan? https://streamable.com/dkaur 98% sure but the picture isn't great and I've never seen him before. It's from the first half of the Union v NE Revolution in the GA Cup qualifiers.
'04 Atlético Madrid forward/winger Federico Oliva is the fourth-leading scorer of his league. Certainly aiming to be a centerpiece for the start of the next US U17 cycle. https://t.co/4JrNOa7NRV— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) November 9, 2019
Oliva is a good player that should make the team, but what "centerpiece" means? He isn't a certain superstar. Hopefully he isn't the best on the team.
@TheFalseNine can you sticky this thread at the top of the thread list, and unsticky the 2019 U-17 cycle thread? Thank you. I’ve heard rumors the 2004 Nike Friendlies will be in February....— HH (@Harishot) November 9, 2019 I’ve heard this rumor as well, but it will be interesting to see if that’s the case or not— Dom Rotundo (@domrotundo) November 9, 2019
Malick Sanogo needs to be called into the next camp. He's not yet eligible for Germany, if I understand correctly, so we need to get him into our pool for now. He also plays by far the weakest position in the age group.