Maybe grouchy could start this year's wagering thread by listing our 11 best players, and we could select who will miss the opener due to injury. I'd bet there'd be quite a number ofpeople who would get a point though
In 1990 I read some articles like that about the Atlanta Braves. They didn't think much of youngsters Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Ron Gant, & David Justice. By the end of 1991 those writers were proven wrong. A normal, objective expectancy curve for the development of players with their age and experience projects Szetela, Gaven, Ward, Marshall, at least, and possibly some others, as future national team players in the next World Cup. The key point is, you can't predict the future performance of young players by analysing their past. Assess veterans, 26 or 27, by their past. For young players, to get a handle on their future performance you must compare them to other young players of their age and experience from years past, and imagine them progressing along similar lines. Bottom line: the future of the Columbus Crew is pretty damned bright.
For every 1991 Atlanta Braves there are ten 2006 Kansas City Royals. Everybody can rely on potential to get to the big show, but you've got to do more than run around and talk about how good you're going to be -- eventually, you've got to show it. While the players you listed should, in fact develop into NT regulars (although I'd argue Marshall might already be falling too far behind), don't forget that four years ago we were deeply concerned how we'd survive with all the time that Edson Buddle and Kyle Martino were going to miss as starters for the MNT during the 2006 WC qualifying cycle...
I remember when the Braves signed Terry Pendelton and Sid Bream in the offseason, I turned to my uncle and told him the Braves were going to the World Series. He laughed at me.
Friedel and Mais had already played in europe. So they were hardly developmental players or young prospects. Despite this, I think we have a demonstrated pattern of being unable to develop talent. I hope Sigi can reverse this trend. I think he won't be around long enough to do so.
He played in 18 games and scored twice, and Wolfsburg was in the second division at the time. I would still count him as developing by the time the Crew got their hands on him. After all, he hadn't been called up to the MNT since an initial look-see in 1993 until he started playing - and scoring goals - for the Crew. Re: Legal's point about the Braves - at least the Braves players had indeed shown sniffs of what was to come by 1990. Smoltz had been an All-Star in 1989. Justice was Rookie of the Year in '90. Ron Gant was 4th in RoY voting in '88. And, of course, 1990 was the year the Braves hired Bobby Cox. I'm not seeing the parallels with the '07 Crew so much, to be honest.
Are you sure about Mais??? Where did he play? Now *Lapper* played in Europe at Wolfsburg too, but I didn't think Mais had.
Mais never played for a professional team other than the Crew. He went straight from Indiana to full-time training with the Olympic team (he played with the US World University Games team in '95), then to the Crew when MLS started play.
Part of the "problem" isn't with Chad, it's with the presumption that defenders and players generally will naturally "develop" or "progress." Or a problem with the assumption that a relatively brief period of success - say, a rookie year - guarantees continued succes in the future. If you let yourself become dependent upon "future development" you can easily be let down. Lots of young players don't progress, they regress or just stay where they are. (As a once-persistent admirer of KMart, I know this.) Lots of fancied players never make it. Lots of unfancied players do make it. Some players mature in their late teens, some in their late twenties. I doubt that there is "A normal, objective expectancy curve for the development of players" - that the whole idea is just a myth. That's why player development should be only one lesser component of roster construction. Moreover, the reputation of some coaches for "spotting talent" might just be a statistical anomaly; given that all coaches are trying to do this, its inevitable that some will some of the time. To call this a "talent" in a coach or any other person might be pushing it "Bottom line" : relying on youth development is not a plan, its the absence of options, a last resort, because 1) its unpredictable and 2) players never, by definition, play to their potentional, but to the level where they actually are. Aside from the fact that he (like everyone) may have hidden limitations that are being discovered, the "problem" with Chad is that he's not working out according to the Crew plan. A mistake the Crew also made with KMart and are likely to be repeating right now, many times over.
Chad was stuck with Ezra at RB and a rotating door at LB, you try holding down a defense with that. Plug in goalkeepers of the Noah Palmer caliber, and I think I can let the '06 season slide. I'd like to see what Chad can do this year, with guys like Hejduk, Szetela and Oughton back in the mix. Also, with regards to the article Bill read, I don't think you can deny that we have some very good prospects on our squad, besides Szetela. Gaven, I truly believe, is the must under-rated and overly critisized player in the MLS. The only American I'd rather have on the flank just left for the EPL, and if we can shore up a good AM by the start of the season, watch out for Gaven to push 15 goals at the outside mid. I also think that Ward has a very good chance at making the full squad at some point, maybe not in the next three years, but we have to remember that Szetela and he are only 19. Gaven is 20? I think that if you're being mentioned as having the potential for making the full men's squad at 19 and 20, you're probably doing something right.
Just wow. First, and I'm not sure you even realize this, but you've pretty much agreed with what we said about Chad -- he'll be better with better veteran players around him. Having said that, if you look at last year's goals scored against us, there were way too many where you find yourself thinking either "Chad's ballwatching" or "Chad's a step slow to the spot". Not MNT material. I'll agree with what you've said about Danny & Ward, and their ages, but that utter rubbish you typed about Eddie Gaven is beyond silly, at this point. I'd be willing to say there might be ten US wingers still in MLS I'd taken over Gaven right now. He's regressed considerably the past few years, either because the league's caught up with what he initially brought to the table, and he's doing nothing different, or because that initial burst was a fluke. Right now, I'd hope for A instead of B.
Really? He's regressed? Let's look at where he played last year and who he played with. Once again, as with Marshall, Gaven was surrounded by new players every week, and often times he himself was out of position. When he was in position, he was counting on guys with minimal experience (or simply guys that wouldn't make a roster on any other professional team) to get him the ball. Let's look at his previous season to that, since I think you can at least agree that if Marshall gets a bit of a pass for the lack of talent/consistency around him, so should Gaven. In his final season with the Metrostars, I believe Gaven had 7 goals and 7 assists. That's pretty decent for a 19 year old outside midfielder that missed about a month or so due to the World Championships. Oh, and that doesn't count the two or three goals he created by being fouled either in or around the box, where Guevera or Djorkaeff would end up taking the PK. But yeah, maybe you're right...
That's nice, though you are talking about his second season with the Metro, not his last. In his last season, he had 8 goals and 4 asists - still nice. However, he played 29 and 28 games in those seasons, so he didn't really miss many MLS matches at all. For comparison, Brian "Norway? He sucks!" West scored 6 goals and 6 assists in HIS third season in MLS, also in 28 games.
First off, I don't give Marshall a bit of a pass for any reason last year. It was his third year in the pros, and he took a step (or two) backwards. For that matter, I think you could easily say his rookie season was his best, with a slight dropoff in year two, and a more pronounced drop last season. Here's how I look at it -- even if all 10 guys around you suck, that doesn't mean you have to suck, too. I'm sure there were goals where Chad was trying to cover for teammates mistakes, but there were goals, and near goals, where teammates were trying to cover for Chad. Plus, I think this was the first year he wasn't invited to the MNT camp in January, where basically half of MLS goes. His game has regressed, and I think whether he can regain that level he had back in year one is one of our biggest question marks entering the season... along with Gaven. I'm not saying either guy isn't talented, or can't be NT level players. My concern is they've both taken a step back from where they were a year or two earlier. Gaven had more reasons to struggle -- younger kid, tossed on a new team right before the season, revolving door policy at forward and in the midfield -- but, to me, he also got a lot more of a chance to show what he had than anyone else on the team (playing 300 more minutes than Chad, who was 2nd in minutes). Simply put, regardless of how poorly he played, Sigi kept putting him out there, week after week. My problems with Gaven last year was that his shooting was both awful (as in, not shooting when he needed to, and not being able to put the shot on frame), he seemed slow-footed, and slow to make decisions on the field which caused him to be dispossessed frequently. He showed better late, though, so perhaps he was already turning it around, but for a kid who was MLS First XI in 2004, and was getting the Europe chatter, I think he's a long way from that right now.
There is no listing in any old Crew media guides of Mais ever playing pro anywhere but Columbus, Ohio.
Once again, Mais never played for any other professional team than the Crew. In fact, here's a nice piece of MLS trivia: Mais is only one of two players who were initial allocations in 1996 to have no prior professional experience. Who was the other?