Hoppe, Musah, Dike, and Richards are the nominees in my book. And I’ve got to give it to Hoppe for the reasons you mentioned. I’ll be disappointed if a bigger club doesn’t snatch him as one of their top projects.
Shrug. Our previous winners were obvious too. McKennie, Pulisic, Reyna. Just because it was more obvious, doesn't mean it wasn't the better performance.
I'm sure Schalke sucking played a role. But we also can't just assume success. He made some great finishes, and showed composure. But the latter is something all of our strikers have exhibited at one time, and tends to only go for a striker at this level when they lose confidence. I'm not giving bonus points for not rushing a shot 3 times. On the former ... every single one of our places have made great finishes. Sargent, Dike, Weah, everyone. There's a tendency to say "the first time I saw Hoppe he was 3-3 on great finishes so he must be a great finisher!" I've seen Weah cut inside and hit a curling banger and I've seen him screw up a one on one in consecutive games. Finishing is often, especially with younger players, very inconsistent. Some of it is literally luck. When a player makes some of those chips like Hoppe, sometimes the gk kicks the correct leg at the right time and sometimes he doesn't. When they drill one and it goes 5 hole ... how intentional was that? Are we really buying the ball that would have been saved by half in inch either way was struck that perfectly or simply got a bit of luck? People were very mad at me to pointing out that Dike's finishing was unsustainable, but he missed 3 relatively easy opportunities for the USMNT against Northern Ireland and after I pointed it out, he didn't score for Barnsley again. We know that Hoppe can play off a CB shoulder and make a good run behind the defense because it's a repeatable skill and we've seen it more than a few times. We know he can press -- again, highly repeatable and in the control of the player, and we've seen it a lot. We know Hoppe isn't an incompetent finisher because we've seen 3 good finishes. But we haven't seen nearly enough as a fanbase to say he's a good finisher. There were posters on here calling him a locked in starter after the hat trick, calling him a locked in starter after 5g in 3 games. The over / under was set at something like 8 leagues goals and the whole forum smashed the over. And no. Perhaps someone who has watched a LOT more Schalke than me has seen the building blocks, but if we're simply working off the goals scored ... I would not bet on Hoppe's finishing being above average despite those three very nice finishes. And this is not a huge knock -- he held his own at 19/20 in the Bundi, even on a shit team! So kudos and he'll improve. I just don't think he's necessarily differentiated himself from the striker pack, and I'd say from what I've seen, he is rightfully somewhere around the #3/#4/#5 range on my pure striker depth chart.
One to keep an eye on. Young FCD winger/forward on a second training stint to PSV. The scuttlebutt is that the clubs are working out a loan deal (a la Justin Che). Perhaps a potential breakout player for 2022. An FC Dallas spokesperson tells me Dante Sealy is in Eindhoven to train with PSV during the international break and is scheduled to be in the Netherlands until June 8.Also, Brandon Servania's loan with Austrian side SKN St. Pölten is over, & he'll rejoin FCD this week.— Jon Arnold (@ArnoldcommaJon) May 31, 2021
If you’re an up and coming young player with an eye on Europe, why wouldn’t you go to Dallas at this point?
.............................only if MLS homegrown territories don't allow you to or you prefer the opportunity at one of the other top academies better. The NYRB path to Salzburg/Leipzig is clearly attractive to youngsters. Philly is clearly providing a lot of opportunities. SKC is doing really well in their recruiting. Busio comes from North Carolina. But of the 27 MLS clubs, none of them have the track record of FCD. Since FCD has been doing it so long (when Pareja built the academy in 2007), they have a long list of failures that other clubs don't have yet.
FCD puts you in front of the top scouts in the word. Not just on TV...you practice and perform in front of them. That’s what happened to Justin Che, McKennie, and Richards. Why other clubs haven’t worked out similar arrangements with pathways to the Prem, Italy, Spain, and France is beyond me. Red Bulls and NYCFC have a natural pathway, but FCD’s goes directly to Bayern and that has been in place for years. The NY/New England clubs should be knocking down Man U’s, Arsenal’s, and Tottenham’s doors. What about pathways from Miami to Real Madrid? Beckham should have connections.
Hopefully, other clubs will mirror this system with other European clubs. Meanwhile, I wish MLS would loosen its handicaps on salary cap to allow these clubs to loan a player or two. Imagine if FC Dallas could take on loan: Tiago Dantas and Marc Rosa in exchange for two academy players. Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, PSV, etc. would be great clubs to partner with. We can call it the exchange program.
Hoping for big years from... Already capped, would they count? Bryan Reynolds, RB, Roma Owen Otasowie, DM, Wolverhampton Johnny Cardoso, CM, Internacional Konrad de la Fuente, L/RW, Barcelona > ??? ...All these guys are important to develop. Because we’re desperate for depth at DM, it would be key for Otasowie to breakout. If he could just become a rotational player and not crap the bed. He might have an easy in for the team. that said, it would be great if Reynolds could be serviceable at left back too. Already first team players for club: Chris Durkin, DM, St. Truiden > Spezia? Kik Pierie, L/CB, FC Twente (commits) Alex Mighten, R/LW, Nottingham Forest ...We really could use Pierie in this team. Not capped: Justin Che, CB, Bayern Munich Jonathan Gomez, LB, Louisville City > Europe ?? Jonathan Tomkinson, CB, Norwich City Bryang Kayo, DM, Wolfsburg Evan Rotundo, CM, Schalke Malick Sanogo, FW, Union Berlin Folarin Balogun, FW, Arsenal Taylor Booth, CM, St. Polten Jose Gallegos, CM, San Antonio FC > Europe? Dante Sealy, L/RW, FC Dallas > PSV? Federico Olivia, FW, Atletico Madrid ... Justin Che is obviously the main man from this list. Balogun is still one to keep an eye on. ...I don’t know who my “out of nowhere” pick would be. If pushed come to shove, I might say Tomkinson, and hope most for Gomez.
Fair to say that the "most likely" young players to move to Europe after Clark..........................are Dike and Busio. Gianluca's euro passport open a ton of doors that aren't open for others. 🚨🚨🚨(Breaking News)Multiple @SerieA_EN teams have put in bids to @SportingKC for Busio. He’s ready for the move while also on the radar of @USMNT. I’d be shocked if other clubs/leagues don’t get involved soon. #SportingKC #MLS— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) June 4, 2021
Dear Santa, by next year, we really need a left back and defensive midfielder to break out. Oh, and if you can throw in a forward and center back that would be grrreeaat. Thank you.
Dear Santa, Can you please imbue Berhalter with the ability to make adjustments mid-game? The talent will take care of the rest. Thanks.
This thread is over. Any time a candidate scores a goal against Mexico in a competitive game it's done. Thank you Hoppe and Richards. Your services are appreciated. Better luck next year.
Crap, he won last year didn't he? Sorry, still hyped up from the game. Really, there should be a thread when a new legend bursts on the scene.
We need Jonathan Gomez in Gold Cup camp. If he doesn't want to cap tie, just let him hand a la Efra. Flach and Sands also have to be in Gold Cup camp. Amaya too. There is talent out there. Gregg has wasted a lot of time on the LB and backup DM position.
At this point I’d say Brenden is running away with it. Unless we didn’t already award it to Gio. Hard to keep track of these things.
I think Aaronson is making a strong case. Several around here won't count anyone that started in MLS as ever breaking out again.
Aaronson may be the front runner, but because this goes through the entire year and not just club summer to summer season, guys like Richards, Dike, Hoppe, and even a darkhorse like KDLF have a chance to make huge strides forward and nab it late. I'm just happy it appears that several players are in the discussion. The more, the better.
For me Richards is far ahead of Aaronson. He just doesn't play as sexy of a position in which to rack up stats. He plays in a significantly better league than Brenden. I'm not trying to downplay what Brenden has done. I would just say this.........................how many American born 20/21 year olds have started at centerback in top 5 leagues? Somebody should do a statistical analysis of Hoffenheim's defense before and after Chris Richards was installed as a starter. They were a shambles before Chris arrived. Matthew Hoppe's hat trick was against Hoffenheim. I in fact am a top 5 league snob. If you do it at that level, you have me convinced. So I have Richards at #1 and Hoppe at #2 at the halfway point.
Rules seem to change every time I check in here. I understood breakout with the National Team was the standard. My bad.
It can be both. The last few years, there hasn't been important NT games so club data was more weighted. But I would think if someone racks up big important minutes in qualifying, that will be a big factor for me. Both Richards and Aaronson and maybe Musah could do just that.
We also can't discount some of these young MLS options. They're behind the Euro options right now, but guys such as Clark and Busio are in the running. I can see Busio moving this summer and having an even bigger spotlight on him. There are a lot of options in terms of guys that might break out in the first half of the 2021-2022 season in Europe. Its just that a guy like Chris Richards is going to have the full-year resume. I really like this particular twitter thread for Chris Richards info. There's a lot of videos/GIFS in there detailing his strengths and what he still needs to work on. I think we on BigSoccer underestimate how good he was last season after moving to Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim goals against without Chris Richards: 1.81 Hoffenheim goals against with Chris Richards: 1.18 [THREAD] Chris Richards has enjoyed a fruitful loan spell at Hoffenheim. Coming in as a day one starter and making an immediate impact. I made a data visualization highlighting his strengths and will analyze how it translates to on the pitch at his time in Hoffenheim. pic.twitter.com/kENkYImKM0— Caleb Adams (@itscalebadams) May 23, 2021