Ah, I see Federico Oliva moved from Atletico Madrid to UD Almería (YYA link)... still he's 18, is he no longer considered a legit prospect? Also how does a kid like Rodrigo Neri already have a Wikipedia page? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Neri
I vaguely recall that FIFA made a special exception for the 2016 version that wouldn't necessarily apply if we were merely an invitee to a normal edition held in South America.
We'll see. I have confidence that we're going to continue having these "hits" coming out of our domestic youth ranks. Now.............its undoubtedly true that Dest, Antonee, Musah, Weah (partially), etc. didn't come out of those programs. Dual-national recruiting from our global diaspora is part of our success story. [Maybe...............Balogun is next. We'll see.] But there's a lot of talent right now in the states, and the pipeline will continue to flow. Will they be as good as Pulisic and Reyna? Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see. Pulisic and Reyna were able to go over to Europe early with Euro passports. I mean...........look at Germany. Supposedly one of the best developmental nations in the world. They had huge holes on their national team at the World Cup. Fullbacks. #9s.
Oliva seems to have fallen out of our USYNTs at the moment. That's not to say he can't come back. There's always been some skepticism there. One thing I've learned after 30 years of watching USYNTs. People get ridiculously excited by having dual-national kids in big Euro academies. The "success rate" of those kids seems infinitesimally small. For every Sergino Dest in an age group, there's a huge number of Euro-based kids we track at big clubs that just disappear. Some make it to first team soccer and don't seem to develop. So will Adrien Gil of Barcelona make it? I don't know, but we've had quite a number of kids at Barcelona over the last 20 years. Only de la Fuente made it to a USMNT cap, and he's in a bad spot right now in club soccer. Most of those kids don't even get to Barca B.
Maybe you're right. Without WCQers, etc. to worry about, I bet we can negotiate the release of most of our top players for the Copa America. I'm not as worried as others about it. Maybe we tell concerned Euro clubs that we'll call players up for Copa, but in return won't release them for other mid-season international windows that year.
Let's get back to it! Pretty pumped for the EFL Championship to resume this weekend, especially for Monday's West Brom/Sunderland clash. Daryl Dike back fit and among the XI options. #USMNT pic.twitter.com/fskxNuxzIK— Larry Henry Jr (@lhenry019) December 6, 2022 Chris Richards appears in training! First session: ✅#CPFC | @regnumcarya pic.twitter.com/ljTV1k0tRV— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) December 5, 2022
I wouldn't be so sure about that. There'd likely be a break for the group stage of a potential Copa (until an invite is extended to and accepted and signed, I'm not going to assume this is happening). The Olympics would likely fall during the Leagues Cup, so teams may be more willing to let some of the young players go to the Olympics if they are called up. The Olympics lasts two weeks.
If that was indeed the case for the 2016 edition, I wonder if they wouldn't also make the exception for the 2024 edition since we won't be playing in any WC qualifiers. A case can certainly be made by USSF for such an exception.
Yank-a-thon friendly today. Club Friendly🇺🇸🆚🇺🇸🧐Reggie starting for BoavistaLDLT on the bench for Celta Vigo🖥️➡️https://t.co/ysl2JtIwR2 pic.twitter.com/2si2wAzXEd— 🇺🇸 ⚽ east (@eastdeflection) December 7, 2022
Copa América is a summer tournament that Euro clubs are used to sending tons of players to. They also will be sending tons of players to the Euros at the same time. I have a hard time seeing them forcing their top American players to stick around for lonely training sessions. The only sticking point I could see is if Concacaf tries to schedule some nations league nonsense that summer too. The Olympics are a little tougher, but this one is early enough in the summer that I’d expect to get most of the U23s we want for it (as long as they aren’t also playing in the Copa).
Yep. The timing of the Copa America, and the needs of the team suggest to me anyway that it's a lock that it will be an "A" team event, whereas the Olympics will be our U23 players that aren't A teamers or can get released (a handful), and a couple of vets for the overage. Expecting us to get our senior players for both is a fools errand, much like the Gold Cup in '21 (to me anyway). Players get a vacation AND they have club demands that start being an issue in July. The first Olympic matches don't even start until the 24th when most clubs are fully engaged in preseason. The positive side though is that historically, clubs seem to like to use the Olympics as a shop window for young stars, it rarely seems like teams can't get anyone released, so I'd suspect we'd be able to get most of the U23's we wanted other than those locked into Copa America.
Its not about that. Euro clubs are REQUIRED to release South American players for the Copa America. They are not required to release players for guest teams, which is what we'd be. They don't even have to provide a reason. In 2007 we reportedly had trouble getting some key players released for the Copa America. So we sent our "A" team to the Gold Cup (which clubs are required to release players to) and a real backup/fringe team to the Copa America. It was still worth it as a couple of those fringe players were retained with the group moving forward. [Kljestan, Beckerman, Davies, Guzan, etc. had 0-1 caps going into in.] I think we'll be able to negotiate with clubs, but you never know. Its not as straightforward as we'd want it to be. Worth pointing out, obviously, that MLS clubs aren't required to release players either. And with every passing cycle, they've been more reluctant to release key players when they don't have to. Atlanta, for instance, refused to release players for the Olympic qualifiers in 2020. People say "oh yeah, we'll get any MLS players we want." Not so fast.
So begins the great CB race for 2026. I welcome this fight Richards, MRob, Trusty, EPB……. Maybe Sands takes the Tim Ream helm? I like the talent. I like it a lot and …… aaaaannnnddddd don’t write off Zimmerman. Don’t even write off 30 year old options like Tim Parker. CB is different…… it just is. Tim team learned everyone
I know a lot of people, including @bshredder have weighed in on this, but I highly suspect that we would get help from FIFA on release requirements given 2026 hosting.
Heck................if we have to send a domestic "B" team to the Copa America, then so be it. That still has a lot of value in terms of player identification. We should send teams to every event we can this cycle across age groups. Pan Am Games. Toulon Tournament. Milk Cup. Whatever. Send the best squad we can get. If that's NCAA players, then do it!! Keep expanding the pool over the first two years.
Yeah.. 2016 was the only time FIFA granted an exemption for the Copa America to allow all teams to participate equally. There were no guest team restrictions. IMHO, guest team restrictions make everything unworkable. My understanding now is that in 2024, it is looking like there will be a similar exemption (for all teams, not just the USMNT). Not done yet, but it seems to be the case.
Where FIFA corruption works in our favor. It sounds could potentially be a test event in 2025 (like the Arab Cup last year), which seems like might be an expanded Gold Cup with some guest teams, but I’d love to see them bring back the Confederations Cup.
To me, it seems like an insane thing to worry about. Look at Chelsea. You think they’d let their players go for the euros and the Copa (currently only applies to Thiago Silva), and try to tell CP he can’t play? And he’ll just sit there and take it? That would be a great way to piss off players and a bunch of fans. This isn’t like releasing guys for the Olympics while the season is getting started.
What exactly does the US have to prepare? It's not like the USA has to build 8 currently non-existent stadiums, build a non-existent city on the dessert, build mass transit systems, and build hotels that don't currently exist or anything. FIFA already knows that the 2026 WC is going to have multiple Brinks Trucks pulling into it's HQ in Zurich full of Cash. Oh wait....by then we'll just be paying them in Bitcoin.....
I am far from a MLS hater (it's my favorite league, my most watched league, and I've been a Quakes season ticket holder for over a decade), but league quality matters... it's great that MLS is producing talented players but they need to be moved along to "Yanks Abroad" Players from the Premier League have scored almost twice as many goals as the next best league represented at the World Cup 🤯 pic.twitter.com/KkOpJVe1r5— Transfermarkt.co.uk (@TMuk_news) December 8, 2022 The only goal scorers from MLS have been two Euro star DPs who came over in the last year... at least Australia and Mexico actually produced theirs... having said that Brandon Vazquez should definitely have made our roster.
We're getting there. True story. This 2022 World Cup is really the first one we've had with MLS homegrown academy players. That's how new our academy programs are. Half of MLS has been founded since 2011. [In 2014 we had Yedlin, but he was sorta a homegrown in name only.] We're trying to catch up to nations with generations worth of a head start. And I get it, we want to be France or Spain tomorrow. All I'm saying is that if we take a step back and look at the quality of youngsters coming out of our relatively new academies (McKennie, Aaronson, Adams, and company).........its pretty awesome. And we're at just the start of that wave. And yes, MLS clubs are selling their best young players to Europe with regularity. Paxten Aaronson to Frankfurt, Gabriel Slonina to Chelsea, etc. are just the most recent. There are all sorts of rumors swirling about other young players right now. Sometimes those moves don't work out too. (See Justin Che, who's disappeared since moving to Hoffenheim)
In an ideal world MLS is selling players ready to contribute immediately around age 18-19 (with some loaned back for additional seasoning) after having contributed significantly for at least a season in MLS. That’s the Brazilian league model, although IMO those teams have sold a bit too early in the last decade or so and could’ve reaped even more profit had they hung onto guys an extra year.