From what I've seen of Rotundo, skill wise, he's probably there. The question is athleticism. Pulisic has world class quickness -- and displayed it very young. Reyna has all the physical measurables to be a great player to go with his skill. That Dortmund is even looking is impressive. But I suspect that when they do evaluations of foreign prospects, they are looking for players with the upside to be strong performers in the BL / be sold for a lot, and it's not a surprise they grabbed two of the highest potential US prospect in the last five years.
Evan Rotundo does have a French passport and has been on a complete tour of Europe in 2019. Personally I don't think he is athletic enough and hasn't shown the creativity as a 10 to be a wonder kind capable of breaking into Dortmund but he is good enough for a Bundesliga team. No one besides Quinn Sullivan in that age group has shown me that they're a Champions league knockout team level player yet but ites still early so who knows
My opinion on Rotundo has come down a lot, as well. I think he’s a very good passer. He has some of the best passing vision in the youth player pool and he’s good in combination play. He also has a very high soccer IQ. I fully expect him to be a good professional footballer, but I don’t see enough in chance creation outside of standstill passing. I had initially thought he had similarities to Carleton, but as I’ve watched more, I don’t see that top level creativity from Rotundo. He’s a good player though, and I think he’d do well in the Borussia Dortmund academy, but I don’t think he’s the caliber of player that’s going to make it into the first team there. I think he’s the type of player that needs to break in at a lower level first and establish himself.
Don't quite agree there. He had good quickness at the U17 WC but Christian wasn't blowing past people there. Some 6-12 months later, you could notice he had grown stronger and had really developed an elite burst. But there at least needs to be a good base of athleticism at 16-17 y/o. I think everyone saw how Josh Perez would pan out when it came to athleticism.
I'll just have to disagree. You can still see the Nike friendlies where he was playing as a 14/15 year old in the U16s and blowing past Brazilian players with the first step. Just had that burst at that point. It's been a long time since I've seen the U17 WC but I felt like he was always very quick for his age.
I went back to add on and edit, but Christian still had a very good base of athleticism. If that's not shown by the time you're in that 16 y/o range, it's not likely not going to develop to a high level. Christian wasn't Landon/Beasley U17 fast.
Christian was 100% Landon/Beasley U17 fast. He straight up glided past players at that level. Christian and Gio have the perfect combo of athleticism and skill needed to make it at a club like Dortmund. I think that Rotundo is more skilled than both but severely less athletic which is a very big problem. His next problem is even though he is very skilled, he isn’t lethal from range like Alex Mendez as a 10. He has to better his final third play to be elite on a global level if he would want to break through at a Dortmund. Evan will have a great career and could very well be at that level at his peak but he shouldn’t go there right away and become the next Junior Flores. I don’t think the 2004 age group has a kid of that level. I can’t even say Quinn Sullivan because I haven’t seen him tested at a high enough level yet.
I remember Pulisic at the U17 WC blowing by Brazilian players. That whole WC, he would do so in the beginning of the game and the other team would triple him and that would be the end of any offense for the US. I would say it was one move, push the ball and run by. His 1 v 1 game is much more sophisticated now. Flores didn't fail because of poor scouting or a lack of athleticism. He simply was injured for half a decade. I think he is still hurt. He is not an example of anything, as you can get injured in college, the DA, MLS, or anywhere.
I followed Flores extremely close because I wanted to see guys from my age group actually succeed (and they all flopped) but Flores was a combination of injuries + having a little too much Andrew Carleton in him. Flores picked up a couple ankle injuries in 2014/15 but it was not enough time missed to say that he never got a first team chance. He missed an entire year of games from 2013-2014 and went to Dortmund and was moved to the u19's immediately. His second season there he barely got off the bench for BVB 2 and picked up an ankle injury. He was healthy again by 2015 and when it was time for the u20 World Cup he had been cut. Then in 2017 and 2018 he picked up some pretty significant injuries. Flores was a rotation player for the reserve team when healthy.
While several Bayern II players were called up to train with the first team this Winter, Taylor Booth (@TBLaRoca23) has been called up and starts in a friendly today against Greuther Fürth! Tim Tillman gets the start for Fürth as well, his first action for the club after his move https://t.co/OpUX1a4JDX— Bundimericans (@bundimericans) January 10, 2020
Gio Reyna scored for Dortmund's first team today in a friendly against Feyenoord.https://t.co/jzy5gAcGrE— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) January 11, 2020
Adrian Gill scores for Barcelona’s Infantil A. https://t.co/TA4AeJpDlQ— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) January 12, 2020
Gio Reyna officially promoted to the first team. He may still potentially play a couple u19 games but he will now train full time with the pro's. He is following the same path as Christian Pulisic almost identically between going to Dortmund at 16, getting last in his u17 WC group, getting a chance at the January mid-season window, and breaking into the lineup in the Spring.
so he is probably done with youth national teams and unbelievable as it sounds is on a path to make his senior team debut this year too? what about the olympics for him?
Probably not as the MNT still have winger depth (Pulisic, Weah, Morris, Arriola) that if there is a competition that is better for Gio (u20 WC is a better competition for a player than anything in Concacaf unless they play in the Copa America). After seeing how Sargent got dropped from the USMNT we should not write off players for ynt's unless they are lock starters which Gio has very little chance of becoming before the summer of 2021. Gio is much better off leading a ynt than being the 4th option at the winger spot (he'd beat out Arriola but not Morris or Weah). Also with numerous reports that Uly is further from the first team than we anticipated I would expect to potentially not lose a single player to the USMNT this cycle. Vassilev and Otasowie need to actually play consistently on their first teams before they are viewed as USMNT locks as well. Currently we don't know if they're going to even be in their first teams after January.
i dunno if i can live in a world where gio reyna getting minutes for the first team of dortmund in the bundesliga proper gets passed over for jordan morris and paul arriola. also the matter of his seeming to have been playing more centrally this winter.
I had an error in the other post. Gio would have to beat out Pulisic, Weah, Morris, and Boyd for a spot on the roster which will be difficult at his age. Gio will only be turning 20 during Qatar and by the 2030 WC he will only be 28 so there is no need to rush him into the team for a position that actually has some depth. But he should be given a shot at Olympic Qualifying.
The USMNT needs quality regardless of age. Morris and Boyd don’t provide that, and Boyd has been terrible for the most part for the USMNT.