Here were the lineups from yesterday: USA: Cody Cropper; Kofi Sarkodie, Sebastien Ibeagha, Anthony Brooks, Sean Cunningham; Dillon Powers (capt.), Luis Gil, Kelyn Rowe; Terrence Boyd, Conor Doyle, Josh Gatt Subs:,Sacir Hot, Jerome Kiesewetter, Daniel Potts, Conor Shanosky, Brian Sylvestre, Danny Toia, Victor Ulloa Head Coach: Tab Ramos FRA: Jonathan Ligali; Loris Nery, Florian Lejeune, Sebastien Faure, Loic Damour, Enzo Reale, Yanni Tafer, Gille Sunu (capt.), Andy Delort, Anthony Knockaert, Maxime Colin Subs: Marc Vidal, Nego, Rakotdhrisoo, Maxime Bourgeouis, Thomas Fontaines, Lionel Carole, Cedric Bakambu Head Coach: Jacques Geisseghardt
They have one completely meaningless game left, might finish 8th-10th in the division South/Southwest.
Bshredder, are you hearing anything about what the establishment likes about the next cycle (outside of Brooks)? I'm particularly interested in Gil...since he has been at so many camps over the past couple of years the people in the know have to have formed an opinion by now.
I don't think you can tell by that lineup per se. Could have been 4-4-2 Boyd and Doyle as forwards. Gatt on the right, Gil on the left. Rowe as AM and Powers as DM. If Boyd was #14 he looks like one large athletic individual.
But with three real forwards, an attacking right back and no dmid. I'm not saying the US should hire him, but that's a good approach to help young players develop. I'm not prepared to be too negative on Cropper, either. That play was harder than it looked, and no keeper looks good if you only see the goals he allows.
For us, yes that's the best way to know. But the US coaches have seen him plenty in training and matches close up. They probably have as good of an idea as any on what they have.
Yup. To me it's slightly disconcerting that RSL keeps sending Gil to all of these youth competitions. He was just down with their U18/19 team at the Dallas Cup, and then they turned around and immediately sent him to this tournament. At this point I'd rather that he was training with RSL's first team, and making a real push for playing time with them. Plenty of 17/18 year olds get playing time in MLS. FCD had three U20's on their bench in their last match (Moises Hernandez and Mexican U20s Luna and Leyva), and started Colombian U20 Castillo in the match. It's not that going to these tournaments don't have developmental value for Gil. I just wish RSL thought he was too important to let go for them. After Morales got hurt, I thought Gil would at least be ready for sub appearances. I know he's young, but if he's as good as people keep saying he is..........then he should be with RSL. He's the age Najar was last year, for instance. Give him a shot Jason!!
I'm sure they think they have a talented young player who's ultimate judgement for full National Team duty will be based on how he competes and develops to become a positive first team contributing member with RSL over the next few years. Any other thoughts is purely mental masturbation.
Very true, the cycle has barely started though. Surely there will be some more young guys that emerge at the position.
It's pretty similar to Agudelo at this time last year. NYRB was comfortable letting him go to youth tourneys to get some 90 minute games in him. Luis has also played in every official RSL reserve game I believe.
I agree but isn't the point of a board like bs mental masturbation? It's not like we are changing things...it's precisely for prognostication.
The 4-3-3 is a great system to work out of for development purposes. Rongen's problem with it was his refusal to change even when it was clear it wasn't working, in games that mattered. For friendlies you might as well stick with it no matter how it works.
I haven't followed YNTs for very long, so maybe I don't understand that these games don't really mean much, but what an impressive showing. After looking at France's roster, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_national_under-20_football_team, to think that this team should have beaten them, yet didn't even qualify for the U-20 WC is a head-scratcher.
Youth results are so unpredictable and bizarre, it really doesn't matter what the score is (unless it's an important tournament, naturally). What matters is how they play, and apparently they played well vs. France. They didn't play that bad in qualifying (though well below their potential), but the actual results are, as always, pretty wild. As the DA and MLS Academies grow, the importance of the YNTs in general will diminish. It'll always been interesting and fun to watch, because we see all the best of the best in one place, but their actual importance is on the wane. That's a good thing.
Bingo. For all the, he is a Euro who was with Ajax crap, TR showed all the errors US coaches of the old guard have always showed. Inability to read/make proper changes during the course of a match. Red, white and blue through and through in that regard. I really hope Tab takes the job. I said the same thing when Wilmer was hired, and I know a lot about Wilmer. I don't know how great of a coach he will be overall...time will tell. However he is a change from the usual hires of the past. Tab, while well known to us, is not a USSF crony. On that alone he is a step in the right direction. He wants creativity and will demand respect. A good basis to start with. I don't know what kind of X's or O's guy he will be, or can he communicate effectively, but he is the type of guy who has to be given a shot. Never know...just like Wilmer he may surprise us.
A pretty straightforward game summary ... http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/sections/youth2.php?article_id=27268 What time do we play today?