I get grief for pushing for non first team players like Green was but if you have a pile of goals for the II team and they just won't promote you, that's "form" and "not your fault." A well scouted NT would treat you as "would be first team anywhere else." I do think it matters what his next step is. This is not Klinsi with eyeball measure of talent. This is Berhalter head in the clouds assessing player form from spreadsheets. He lags the club coach's take on players. He rarely anticipates that a player is about to break out. This punishes players who make more ambitious choices or ones with a longer horizon. He will favor some MLS kid who starts who didn't use to impress anyone over former U20 stars working their way up at tough clubs. Precisely backwards IMO. But you aren't getting any credit for being promising. There's a list of Wood Green Weah type players who haven't put themselves in good situations next gig. Weah in particular I said drop down further than from 1st to 2nd in the league. All he did was go from a cup player or loanee to a bench player. With all that implies for someone at Barca 2. I'd look at Holland or lower down Spain. If he drops down 1-2 league table spots he's just repeating Weah's mistake.
Which is all well and good but now we're touting someone for being subbed off the bench at half time at Bayern 2.
I took it as they looked at a half dozen kids in a break trial and thought they'd give one a chance. He was the one. It matters what he does with the chance. To me the buy option would make it more serious. They WANTED Richards. The buy option is they've already priced you. This is more like we'll give him some training and see what happens. They risk him upping his price but a handful of spring games are probably not blowing his price up, and not putting a price to him probably means he wasn't assessed as god like. I think it's possible he ends up back with FCD or sold elsewhere in Germany. I think Bayern 2 is a nice shop window regardless. I think the people going all fanboy on it are forgetting it's Bayern and could take you years to break in, if ever. How many goals did Green have there in the youth system? And he ended up a cup player for them.
At that age depending on his family they can still grow some. Personally I think aerial ability matters more than sheer height. An athletic back can get up with anyone he needs to. Omar could be taller than his man and still get outjumped. To me a marking back needs to be fast enough to run with Mbappe and able to jump with the target types. You don't get that from a stick figure.
Shrug. Bayern and FCD are partners. If they want Che, a transfer can be arranged pretty easily. We'll see............................. Either way, Justin was going to be playing for NTSC this season. Playing for Bayern II in the German 3rd division against adult pros is a better developmental opportunity for these 6 months. The plan is actually to send young FCD players there EVERY year. Last year they had a plan to send some for 6 months, and then COVID happened. Justin was able to go over before the age of 18 due to his German passport. In fact, he's talked about being "undecided" about Germany or the US as a path forward. He's also eligible for Russia if I remember correctly. His is an interesting story. I don't believe he's ever been capped by a US youth team.
I'm familiar with the linkup. I know he's only there because he's also German. I think at his age and progression playing anywhere pro is doing well. As opposed to rotting. I'm not sure whether someone that young is better served in age groups in a learning atmosphere or on a II team looking for a more finished product. Whoever was touting "Richards was 2 years slower," well, they invested more education in him. Maybe FCD wouldn't let him go to just be an academy kid. But that's more of a learning situation. A II team is going to be a harsher appraisal. You are either ready or not. I would actually prefer to be in Richards' spot. Grooming the trainee as opposed to getting transfer scrutiny age 17. Either ready or not. It's a nice departure from NT, yes, but it's a loan without a buy option. He could be back at NT in a few weeks.
He needs something to happen because he was NT all last season and all-league. The value of that is tapped out. Either Dallas plays him or he gets sold abroad. I don't believe in ambition for ambition's sake^^^ but after all-league at his age he'd do well to be someplace tougher.*** Permanently. Not on loan-go-round. ^^^I prefer the career approach of Haaland. Small ladder steps and set yourself up for success. Too many US kids it's like how direct and fast can I get to the hardest teams to break into. The agent does well by that. I am not sure the list of kids who signed City or Chelsea or Spurs really do soccer wise. Kyle Scott? Miazga? Mixx? etc. ****Some career decisions the fanboys talk about players who did ok like they dominated their league. The distinction matters if the idea is to be much more ambitious next time. Dempsey or Donovan dominated MLS. Some of these kids it's like how about they just do a solid MLS job for a year or two before you have them off to Dortmund in your head. If you're barely productive in MLS how do we really think B.1 or EPL will go. Now, if they send you to the age groups, fine, but many are headed for loan hell instead. They nominally sign at x. They were barely ready for FCD much less x. They get loaned from x. Maybe stay at FCD til you master that, or sign someplace closer to the level of FCD, Holland, Championship, Scandinavia, Austria.
of course he has to be mobile but height is looked for in a CB I agree, he may still not done growing.
Sure. I also like the smaller step moves. But Bayern Munich has "right of first refusal" on these FCD academy players. If they want them, they can have them. And they'll get them at a bargain of a price, like they did with Chris Richards. There's no point complaining about it. There will be a top American prospect from FCD at Bayern EVERY year. I think in the past calendar two years, 10 different FCD players have gone over to Bayern for training/trials. That includes Ricardo Pepi. Justin Che was the loanee that made the most sense this time. Maybe it'll be Dante Sealy in the fall. I don't know. He only recently turned 18, so hasn't been eligible until now. Name an FCD homegrown player and they've had a trial/training session at Bayern. Bryan Reynolds went over three times. The most recent time was the fall of 2019 right before the COVID shutdown. Apparently..................Bayern passed. If people are skeptical about Justin Che, that's fine. I don't know what they're basing that on, but that's fine. He's a 17 year old CB starting against adult pros in the German 3rd division. Are people expecting a polished player that doesn't make mistakes? He didn't even play CB most of the time at NTSC. He played right back.
Haha. You said it was a bad sign he was subbed off. Then it is pointed out he didn't start, the team played badly in defense, and the coach brought him in to settle things. And that is bad too according to you; the exact opposite of what you said. Whatever. If you want to write something negative, just get the facts correct.
Caden is learning how to cook a nutritious sports performance meal. This is his first attempt at it. “Pretty Good Job” pic.twitter.com/FVhJOUCO5y— Chris Clark (@ChrisClarkCoach) April 27, 2021 Important update.
FCD now has 13 homegrowns u Plus..........................Che played most of last year as a right back when he was with FCD/NTSC. And well enough that he was named to the USL League One "All League Team" as a 16 year old. He's only 17 now. Let's see how he develops. Its Bayern frickin' Munich that's using him as a centerback. I think they know what they're doing. FCD signed another RB to a homegrown deal yesterday. Collin has the skill-set of Cannon/Reynolds. He's another converted forward like those two. He's got pace, ability to take guys on one-v-on, and is also a pretty good crosser of the ball. Homegrown No. 32We've signed right back and Academy product Collin Smith.— FC Dallas (@FCDallas) April 28, 2021
Meh. Cannavaro. I had a HS coach who loved tall backs. He wasn't very good at his job. The paradigmatic tall back is someone like Omar or Brooks. Meh. I would rather have Pope or Boca. Can mark, tall enough they can win clearing headers and score goals. I'd rather have them a little shorter, speedy, and with hops than ground bound and slow. I am not even sure why there is a vogue for tall backs when the fashion has gone to 433 and speed and ball on the ground. Maybe this is why Mbappe destroys people.
I guess we did a study way back in 2004 https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/height-and-center-backs.99399/ and here is another one https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/qualities-of-a-good-center-back.1491086/
I don't think subbed on at half is that much better than subbed on at half, for backs, as a status indicator. For the right person it would be an opportunity, I turned my first college sub into starting next game. But until then I had sat the first game plus 60 and objectively was the backup. Shouldn't have been, but was.
Back height to me is a fashion thing and often the idea of confused coaches. It goes in cycles or in and out with coaching changes. Cannavaro was a starting CB at 5'9" for possibly the best defensive world cup team ever, Italy 2006. But he was presumably picked for defending alone and not for a confused compromised muddle of notions. And so that team could defend like hell. And obviously his height didn't really matter. My experience coaches who want really tall backs are often thinking about offense, not defense. Header goals, foot skills, and they grab Omar instead of Opara, who is shorter and sloppier but marks people out of games. And then we know how the story ends. To me it typically lacks rigor because they are often confused about who the bigger productive offensive threat is. Eg, Long is the best attacker now by far, but few would admit it. They then tend to ignore the bad games the stick figure has, because we are favoring the abstract over the concrete.
fwiw we have jumped on any number of silly fashion ideas. not just stick figure backs who can't mark. we were very good at traditional keeping. we are poor at sweeper keeper -- cost ourselves goals pretending -- and have lost our shot stopper edge to regional keepers like navas. no one seems to notice qualification and trophies follow navas around. we also at least occasionally would have wingbacks like dolo who could actually excel both ways. "what's the latest european trend we can mimic?"
Really? How many players do we have in Italy Spain France Portugal Eastern Europe EPL who actually play there and don't get loaned out Things have improved, but seriously And then coaching the whole reason for the Marsch parade is he is like the lonely exception among passport holders and dual nationals who have basically never worked here as adults For example, do you really believe David Wagner is better than a list of MLS coaches? Or, more pointedly, do you really think those MLS coaches are worse than what they have, including the revolving door of, say, marginal English coaches? Coyle came here to coach Houston and sucked. Porter Arena Bradley Vanney Vermes Schmetzer (who racks up trophies and no one notices) We basically have in recent memory Hammarby -- hired because AEG -- fired GB after a stint Bradley's list of positive stops but then to get an EPL team it took American owners at Swansea, which trigger protests and him basically getting kneecapped Red Bull's affection for Marsch -- owner again I think in Germany our players get treated fairly well, not much elsewhere I think our coaches need the Marines invading to get hired anywhere outside the borders And that's setting aside the gross distortion that is the English work permit scheme...... Sorry, but us imitating how they treat us is asking for the spinal problems associated with placing a kick me sign properly on your own back
Italy and Spain have non-EU maximums which means players without Euro passports have to be amazing to get a sniff. France - why would they spend what little money they have on foreign Americans when they sit on arguably the hottest talent bed in Europe and get a ton of players from Africa via Contineau (sp?) agreement nations. Portugal - Has a history of not playing players at lower levels and prefers Brazilians who speak Portuguese rather than most other foreigners. Only the Spanish are the other minority group of players who get a look there. Eastern Europe - for the most part they can't/don't pay wages that compare to even MLS and unless you have the passport or speak the language it's very hard to make it there. Netherlands - You didn't mention this one but non-EU wage minimums keep even the 18 year olds on a free out. EPL - before Bret exit players have to have a work permit to get a sniff and as you saw with our 2018 WC team none of our players were good enough to buy and play there. Things are improving and it's much easier to qualify for work permit and I expect the # of Americans there to increase but it won't happen overnight and England is going to have to prove it's better than Germany as a place to start for our prospects.
As for coaches to get licensed abroad they have to have sponsors. Which means a club as to be involved to get to take the classes. Why bring foreign American coaches when there are a ton of native guys who are already there and want to get licensed too. Wagner had the passport and was living there. How many guys want to take Matarazzo's route and toil in regionalliga or be youth coaches in a foreign nation where they don't speak the language fluently and get paid peanuts till they reach a sufficient level to actually coach somewhere decent in the future? We need to increase the number and quality of coaching here before we worry about more guys like Marsh going over or current players staying abroad to get their licenses there instead of coming home. That's the most likely route to increase our coaching footprint in Europe.
We've had more U20 minutes in top 5 leagues than Italy (so far anyway). Fact. More than Brazil and Argentina too. And we're charging up the charts in terms of U23 minutes. One of the major obstacles facing the American soccer community is an almost crippling inferiority complex.