Youth Yanks Abroad, ‘01-‘04 YOBs (and younger): 2019/20 Thread

why does everyone jump to “need to actually play consistently on their first team” as a metric for the USMNT?

In this case, I agree that if (when!!!) they do get consistent major league minutes, they should be locks (which was the point to be fair) but why aren’t we expansive with whom we bring into camps? We’re bringing in plebeian mid-career MLS players at almost every position - if that’s the bar, yeah, I’m bringing those guys into camps ASAP to get a look at them. They’re training at a higher level than their competition every day so that shouldn’t be too hard to acclimatize.

note, I’m neither saying that these emerging talents on the cusp of the majors should be handed a starter’s position nor that elite MLS players don’t belong in the pool.

 

Johan Smith, Gabriel Ferrari, Freddy Adu, and Julian Green are why. You do not hand a kid USMNT when you do not know if they will actually become consistent professional soccer players at a higher level. Just because we have a lot of talented players does not mean that any of them will make it.

Just because a kid makes a game day roster for a team in a good league does not mean he should get a call up. If you watched Vassilev on the field for Villa you definitely did not think "wow this kid is definitely ready for the USMNT". Vassilev is still on the bubble for making the u20's. Just because someone is on a team in a good league does not mean they should be handed call ups. Deandre Yedlin is garbage and is third in the RB depth chart behind Dest and Cannon and plays in the premier league on a mid table team.

 

If Reyna becomes a Pulisic-level player, then our attack will finally be cooking with gas.

 

yeah, if you think a guy who’s been a full time EPL player for three years is garbage and behind Cannon, we’re probably not going to agree on much. The MLS MVP has been a huge disappointment for Yedlin’s team as he’s only starting to score after a year but sure, Yedlin sucks.

should we go down the list of MLS players who have gotten serious minutes under Berhalter and compare them to your list above? Why isn’t there the same distain for talent there?

 

He is a player who has the highest chances of reaching that level or even surpass Pulisic. The difference between him and Pulisic is their mentality. While Pulisic is quieter and humble, Gio is the exact opposite. Gio has been known to talk back to coaches and brutally talk down to inferior teammates which is a very big problem.

 

We have enough film on both Yedlin and Cannon in a USA jersey to draw conclusions. The only thing Yedlin has on Cannon is speed. That's it. Cannon has better skill, passing, crossing, dribbling, and is a much better defender. Yedlin is someone who is consistently being rumored to be replaced or benched at Newcastle and is someone who the fans want benched as well. Just because Yedlin plays in the Prem does not forgive the fact that he is flaming dog shit on the ball and let's in a goal on the back post in every single game that he plays in a USA jersey.

 

There is also the issue of putting the cart before the horse. The most important thing in a young player's career is to settle in and become successful with their club team. International callups can interfere with and distract from the club career, which should not be jeopardized.

 

Well, let's see where Reggie Cannon ends up - it would be great if he secured a multi-year starting spot in a top 100 club like DeAndre has earned.

I have no idea why USMNT fans love to tear down our players, especially those who succeed at maximizing their talents. Yedlin does have world class speed and he uses it to his advantage both for the USMNT and for his club team: note that Yedlin does as well as can be expected when playing against UCL EPL teams.

 

A manager's job would be much easier if all it took was the ability to note players age, experience, health, and current team/league. (Hey, I could make a spreadsheet for that!) The judgement calls are the important ones, and one of those is the decision about when to bring a young player along because it might be good for him and/or strengthen the pool, either now or in the future. And a manager might even make the right call and have it fail for other, possibly even unrelated, reasons. That's the way the ball bounces.

 

My problem with Yedlin is that he has never improved since his 2014 WC. He is still a very poor defender and has very poor ball skills and is bailed out by running a 4.2 40-yard dash. For a premier league player he should be a lot better in a USA shirt than what he is. It is not even biased to say Cannon has been better for the national team, just go look at any game tape and it's obvious which player you would rather have out there.

 

There isn't a great comparison, IMO.

 

Let's wait until he starts playing first team games. Being on the first team is not the same as playing every week for the first team.

 

Gareth Bale? Not as fast, possibly more well-rounded.

 

I would compare Gio to a slower version of Ricardo Kaka

 

Rumors are going around that the Union have signed two academy players. One that I think is a lock to be one of those is Patrick Bohui but the other is unknown because they have a plethora of players born from 2001 to 2004 (only bad year for them is 2002 and they already signed the standout in that age group) who are all good enough to get a HG deal. That academy is producing at a very good rate.

 

Not as fast and doesn’t score anywhere near, as well.

 

Kaka was a much better playmaker. Reyna is a more selfish type of player. He doesn’t have the same caliber of soccer IQ either. There are some similarities athletically.

I see him compared to a lot of these bigger attacking midfielders/wingers from an athletic standpoint, but I think the best comparison athletically is Cristiano Ronaldo. On the whole though, I don’t think there’s any great comparison out there.

 

i am comfortable saying i have no idea what reynas soccer iq is since he looked completely different playing with kids then adults. it does show why he needs to train full time with adults so we can get a better grasp of what his soccer iq is.

 

A cocky streak on the USMNT wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Especially if the player has the skill to back it up.

 

1215678459793543169 is not a valid tweet id

Sagir Arce went the distance for the Morelia U-20s in their 2020 Clausura opener.

During the 2019 Apertura Arce picked up a yellow card in a 10 minute substitute appearance in the league, played 104 minutes in the Copa MX (2 games, 1 start), scored 2 goals in 447 minutes with the U-20s (7 games, 5 starts), and 4 goals in 421 minutes with the U-17s (4 starts).

Also, Ruben Hernandez made his debut for the Queretaro U-20s with a 26 minute substitute appearance during the 2020 Clausura opener this weekend.

 

I can't decide if his soccer IQ is bad (despite being very good) or if its about average, and it can look bad because of conscious decisions on the field he decides to make, even though he knows they are very low-percentage. I think this is something that is apparent in both pro and youth games. This is no different with the Dortmund first team, and with youth teams.

 

No, he plays far different, and less self-centric w/ Dortmund's senior team or even youth team, than he did w/ the US u-17's. Both of whom he's helped overall. That adjustment is reflective of someone w/ a good football i.q. and at least some level of humility.

In comparison, Pulisic plays the same for every team he plays for. I don't think it's ego-centrism, rather below average football i.q., and his heart overriding his head. The only approach he knows to solve any problem or try to help his teams is to play a million miles an hour mentally. So he frequently misses better options on the field. Reyna hasn't been doing that much w/ Dortmund.

And I don't get at all, any questions about his physical ability. He's much stronger than Pulisic to ride off challenges. And he's fast. He's just a long-strider instead of short due to his lankiness. He glides passed opponents.

He has these attributes and has looked like he's belonged in every game against men, even if it was just friendlies. So I don't see why we shouldn't be bullish on his future, even relative to Pulisic.

I think circumstance of the US having more developed academies and Pulisic blazing a trail, taking pressure off the next wave, means we should change our paradigm when it comes to prospects. Have higher expectations when it comes to the best ones.

Pulisic didn't set a level anywhere near realistically insurmountable. He's an off and on starter at bigger clubs and more of an asset than not for the NT but often screws up the squad's functionality. Adams has been better for club and country subsequently. Donovan and Dempsey were better for country before. That European scout declared 20 Pulisics were coming in the next few years. That may have been excessive, but I'm confident Reyna is one of the group. It's OK to get hype now.

 

My point is that playing in MLS/B2/Championship also doesn't mean that they can hack it at the international level as the level of play is above that. How long does it take to see if Trapp, Lovitz, lewis, etc. aren't good enough to play at the international level yet we create a false threshold for high ceiling youth who take a different path?

All this does is create disincentives for players to go to elite programs where it's much harder to make the senior squad. I'm also guessing that it wouldn’t be a bad bet to say that Dortmund's youth teams will have more future UCL players than all of MLS.

 

Getting consistent minutes and making the 18 sporadically is a huge difference. Until they play consistently we don't know if they are going to be a player who can contribute at a high level or someone like Haji Wright who is trash but got minutes at Schalke. Just because a prospect makes the bench of a decent team does not merit a call up. They need to produce at where they are playing or at the very least actually be playing. The only u23's we can call up regardless of playing time currently are Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Weah and Sargent. Every other player does not have proof that they are better than the american counterparts until they play consistently.

 

Where is the proof that non-elite MLS players can compete at the international level? We've seen with our own eyes that's clearly not the case. If we had a full squad of major league players, I'm in full agreement with you. I could also get there if the MLS players we've consistently chosen are All-Star/Best XI candidates or players broadly acknowleged as moving up the ladder.

That's a far cry from where we are and if we're being open minded in that regard, creating a rule that puts Reyna, Ledesma, Llanez and Richards et al behind their U20/17 teammates who took the less-challenging road and stayed in MLS is stupid beyond belief