Easy for me to say, but an ambitious academy setup in Houston with a good staff should have a chance to attract players from up and down the Gulf, though of course Dallas is formidable competition and there is a lot of other action in the region, from Monterrey all the way over to Miami. New Orleans doesn't have a DA club...
LA Galaxy II's Junior Gonzalez to fill in as head coach at U.S. YNT camp for U-17s (2002s) who didn't go to Brazil. Also at the camp: U-16s (2003s) and two yet to be named foreign teams. https://t.co/DfeqWZENrU— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) November 6, 2019
Paunovic is now available. Who knows what he wants to do, but if I am U.S. Soccer, I'd reach out for an interview for the U-20 gig. 1) Coached American players 2) Won the U-20 WC He wasn't great for Chicago, but I am not necessarily convinced it was his fault. There was a lot of things wrong with Chicago
3) He doesn't have to relocate to living in Chicago and soccer house. He's already there. Brian, this makes too much sense to actually happen.
By the way, the schedule for the CONCACAF U20 Championships was just released. This tournament is going to be upon us before we know it. Concacaf Announces Details for 2020 Concacaf Men’s Under-20 Championship 🗞 >> https://t.co/9Njs9MLR9S#CU20 #LoveForOurGame— Concacaf (@Concacaf) November 12, 2019 An official draw to sort the participating teams into the qualifying and group stage groups, as well as the parings for the round of 16, will take place on Wednesday, November 20, 2019.
That might partially explain why the Nike Friendlies are being used a bit differently this year, at least for the '02s, though I can guess at other reasons.
This will most likely result in Wicky being moved up to the 20's. The tournament is now 5 months earlier than it was for the last cycle giving ussoccer a lot less time to identify, hire, and integrate a coach into the team before qualifying begins. They will most likely only get 3 camps, with one being right before qualifying.
I like it. No guarantees but makes it a better chance that the likes of Uly, Booth, Reyna, Konrad, etc. are released.
I normally don't like to watch these CONCACAF youth qualifiers but these U20s are gonna score a lot of goals. I expect a few Hat-tricks from Uly, if he plays.
I don't like the idea of the tournament being so early in the cycle. If you are going to hold the qualifying tournament so early, the U-20 WC could then be every year. What's the point of having nearly a year between qualifying and the U-20 WC?
https://www.espn.com/soccer/new-yor...is-a-sign-of-whats-to-come-from-mls-academies Does Joe Scally have a chance of cracking the US U20 teams roster? I know he is an 02, and won't be in Germany until deep into the cycle. How about the other NYCFC academy defender briefly mentioned in this article, Nico Benalcazar, at Wake Forest? EDIT: clarity
Not for a while.................. I mean, Gladbach is actually sitting in first place in the Bundesliga right now. Our elite of the elite prospects seem to take a year (McKennie, Sargent, etc.) before being a real first team option. I'm not sure Scally is in that category either.
I don't see why not......................... When we look at the fullbacks that were called up to the last camp, it wasn't an insurmountable list of competition. I mean, Kevin Bonilla of FCD was on that roster at right back. He's not getting a Bundesliga offer any time soon...................................
He was the starting RB, for better or worse, on the last U17 squad that generally forms much of the core of the next U20. However, because of the three year gap, he'll also have to compete with any '01s that weren't eligible. Julian Araujo, who has played RW, RB and CB, was on that squad as an '01. So that's probably his first competition. I don't know of too many more 18 year old RBs. Bryan Reynolds from FC Dallas. Sebastian Anderson from the Rapids, who backed up Scally. And I'm sure other contenders will appear.
Now that the tournament is in June, here's my next projection for the team. GK: Ochoa, Las DF: Scally, Hernandez-Foster, Bello, Jonathan Gomez, Araujo, Akanyirige, Campbell MF: Booth, Bassett, Tessman, Atencio, Llanez, de la Fuente, two of Nyeman/Milijevic/Gallegos FW: Ocampo-Chavez, Reyna, Hoppe Others in contention: Wilson, Cuevas, Malone, Gray, Carrera, A. Reynolds, Ramsey, Haak, Hoffmann, Martinez, Chifamba, Otasowie, Duke, Penagos, Harper, Palomino, Roberts, Busio, Dunbar, Pepi, Johan Gomez, Kelman, Pepi, Cardoso, Diaz Goalie is very cut and dry. Ochoa is a returning player, so he'll be there. Las is the best keeper in the age group, so he should be there, as well. Hopefully there's a keeper competition, but I wouldn't doubt that since Ochoa is returning, he's the starter, and the places fill in from there. When we add a third keeper for the U-20 WC, Wilson is the clear cut choice, and probably should be the back up to Las over Ochoa. Defense has a lot fewer options than some other positions. I think there are three LB's that need to be on the roster, so we'll need to do some maneuvering of positions again. Can Gomez or KHF be the back up RB or play CB? I think that'll have to be how it is. I wouldn't guarantee Gomez or Bello spots yet. Gomez is playing up an age group, so he needs to prove he can do that (players always struggle with this) and Bello probably starts off lower on the depth chart, so both could still not make the team, and instead we take two LB's instead of three. RB is very weak. After Scally, I can't find a player who deserves to make the team. If we need to add another, I think you have to go to Cuevas, but I think he's probably not good enough to play up an age group. CB is also weak. Araujo is the incumbent, I also think Akanyirige and Campbell are good options. Outside of that, we are lacking good options. Malone is an option, but will be out of season. Carrera, Gray and Ramsey also might have a chance, but are not the greatest options either. CM is very competitive. Booth and Tessman both have spots, IMO. Atencio deserves a spot as a back up holding mid, and I think we probably need another workhorse style of player in there, so I'd add Bassett. There's definitely some competition for spots though. Hoffmann could take a spot as a technically inclined #8. He might even be an option as a RB. Haak is probably the main alternative to Atencio as a #6. Martinez and Duke are utility players who can play a bunch of roles, mostly as #8's, but I think probably will miss out due to the sheer numbers. Chifamba should an option to play up a year, but I suspect he's not yet eligible, so I doubt he'll factor in. Penagos is an option as a #8. Otasowie is another utility player (like Martinez and Duke) that can play a number of positions. I'm not going to mention Leyva as an option because I think we saw at the U-17 WC that he doesn't have the athleticism to play up an age group at the international level, so I wouldn't consider him an option, although he otherwise would be. There's also some competition in the attacking mid spots. Llanez and de la Fuente are locks as returners. I think we'll have to see about Nyeman's citizenship by June. If he doesn't have it, he won't be on the team. Even then, he has to prove he deserves to play up an age group, like with Gomez. Milijevic probably also would claim a spot, but does he want to play for the USA or would he prefer Argentina or Croatia? I don't think it's clear which country he wants to play for. If one of the two isn't on the team, Gallegos takes the next spot. Harper is a player who I find it hard to leave off the roster, but there's a lot of depth in his position. Palomino probably misses out due to his club situation. Had it been more settled, he might take a spot. Roberts, Busio, Dunbar are some lesser options who could also take spots, but I think there are clear better options than all of them. Striker is harder to predict. I'd start out with the presumption that Reyna and AOC will take spots. The third spot should go to more of a target forward. I think Pepi has struggled a lot playing in higher age groups. Hoppe is struggling at Schalke. I'll go with Hoppe for now over Pepi, but either could take that spot. If neither earns it, we could even consider some other style CF's like Johan Gomez, Diaz or Kelman, but Gomez is struggling to start his season, Diaz might be done playing for USYNT's with his recent Puerto Rico call ups, Kelman is injured, and probably more of a depth option than anything. Cardoso is a wild card. I don't think anyone has any idea how good he is. He could take the bigger CF spot, as he's 6'0 and capable of holding the ball up
My team GK: Ochoa, Las, Odunze RB: Araujo, Scally CB: Campbell, Carerra, Sepulveda, Otasowie LB: Kobe, Sousa DM: Cardoso, Booth CM: Bassett, Ritaccio AM: Mihilevic, Roberts W: Uly, Reyna, Konrad ST: Kelman, Pepi, Hoppe (if Kelman is injured)
Gomez is a good player. But he is not better than Kobe or Travian Sousa. Kobe is our best LB prospect by far and Sousa is a good player with 2 years on Gomez which makes a difference at this level. Gomez has had a pretty good showing at the Nike Friendlies but if we needed a first choice team for the 20's he is not in it which is the downside to being one of the youngest players in a cycle of 3 age groups. He's a lock starter for the 18's and needs to lock down the starting LB role for Dallas before we give him a u20 call up as Bello could very well be an Atlanta starter and Kobe in the fall of 2020 could very realistically become a bundesliga starter.
Eh, Kobe is such a different player at LB. He’s always been the alpha talent on the field anytime I’ve seen play there. He’ll be able to choose any club in Europe he wants when he turns 18 (just not England). A few years back, we’d have our LB eggs in on Sam Vines. Now a 20 y/o consistent MLS starter (who did well against Carlos Vela) is not even a top 5 LB prospect in our youth ranks.
Kobe is an excellent attacking LB. How good he will be defending against bigger faster (he isn't super fast) wingers remains to be seen, and yes, all of a sudden, LB position is a strength of youth teams.