Preston would be OK Bijev was born in Bulgaria, but moved here at a very young age. Like, say..............Benny Feilhaber.
If Wood could have stayed healthy, he probably would have gotten quite a few appearances for 1860. And could certainly have made a push for a U23 qualifying roster spot. But it wasn't meant to be................. [Before somebody smacks me in the head and says he's too young.........Bobby Wood is older than Juan Agudelo. By like 5 days or something ]
Well, the Italian national team could probably beat Hansa Rostock. On the club level, though, you are correct. Let's keep in mind that Bijev is eligible for the U-19 Bundesliga this year. Instead, he's been playing up with the reserves and now with the first team. That's what you want to see -- young players ahead of the curve. It doesn't guarantee success, but it's a good indicator of talent.
Has anyone see Bijev play. I saw one report that described him as having surprising quickness for someone his size (6 ft I believe). Looking at the match report for today's game, it looks like he subbed in for a mid. I'm wondering what kind of player he is. Target player? Wide player? It is interesting to spectulate how the forwards on the U20s might be deployed. Assuming we play the usual 4-3-3, there is room for a 9, for a 10 and for two wide players. Just guessing, I'd say Salgado is the 9, Kiesewetter the 10, and Bijev and maybe Koroma wide. Pineda or Renken could also feature as a 10. And what about McBean, how would he fit in with this kind of setup? Is he a target player?
I think he's a face to goal type forward. From what I know that is. He played both central midfield and forward in his DA career. But I'm no expert.
By the way he is a match summary from the last camp in February. Bijev scored in that match and from the lineup I'm guessing he was the 9: Scoring Summary: 1 2 F USA 2 0 2 FCD 1 1 2 USA – Daniel Cuevas 20 USA – Villyan Bijev 24 FCD – Jonathon Top 44 FCD – Ruben Luna (Andrew Wiedeman) 83 Lineups: USA: 1-Tomas Gomez; 2-Boyd Okwuonu (Capt.), 9-Walker Zimmerman, 5-Christian Dean, 3-Juan Pablo Ocegueda; 8-Mikey Lopez, 6-Seth Casiple (Benji Joya, 77), 10-Daniel Cuevas; 7-Victor Pineda (21-Sean Okoli, 80), 4-Villyan Bijev (Dan Metzger, 65), 11-Daniel Garcia (Collin Martin, 46). Subs not used:18-Jesus Guzman, 12-Eric Miller, 25-AJ Cochran, 14-Javan Torre, 17-Alex Guido.
impressive? that's expected. impressive is being 17 and playing first team mins EPL like Ross barkley, wilshere, oxlade.
Any word on whether there were injuries or suspensions that led to this opportunity? Either way, it's clearly a good thing. He's the only teenager they've used all year.
Bijev is fairly tall, but he is skinny as a rail. He's definitely not a bruising #9 type. It will be interesting to see what Ramos does if Bijev turns out to be one of our best U-20 players, but is neither a true #9 nor a winger. Will he change formation to accomodate our talent? It's too soon to know whether that is even necessary -- maybe Bijev can fit in a 4-3-3 or maybe he's not good enough to build the formation around him. It's something to watch for, though.
my bad...i forgot the USA'd bar for excellence is lower than the rest of the world and it's the latter I espouse
Adam Henley is and he's younger than all of those mentioned, the only 1994 to play in the EPL this year, and he's played more than Barkely.
I think the chances of ever seeing Adam in a USA shirt are pretty low- he's well enmeshed in the Welch set up and that's where his Mom would like him to play. Even if he decides to test the waters, I'd suspect that England would be his next choice and he's probably good enough for their youth teams. Would love for him to pick the USA, but I think it's a long shot- he just doesn't have a strong connection with us.
By my count there's 18 other players 19 and younger who played in the 2BL this season: 15 of them are German and only 3 are nonGerman (one of those is Bobby Wood).
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2012/04/what-should-vancouver-do-with-salgado.html#more from yesterday.I understand not wanting to trade him, but why the well wouldn't they loan him somewhere? WHY?
Eh, I'm slightly optimistic as he came out and said he's keeping his options open, which is never good to hear for the country he's already provisionally cap tied to. But that's irrelevant. He's still an American. He was born here and his dad still lives here. As for a strong connection, it may not be as strong as someone who lives here every day, but his connection is stronger than most of the germericans currently playing for us as his mom said on his YA thread that he visits his dad in Tennessee every year. Anyway, my point was that someone who is American is doing the same thing as Oxlade, Wilshire, and Barkley.
I highly doubt it's a long shot. Wales, for obvious reasons, work harder to keep their elite players but the US is a better team and has a better chance in the WC. Forget about everything else, players always go for the bigger team if they think they have a good chance.
Henley would be one of our top prospects anywhere period. Unfortunately like first star said, I think he's a long shot.