Carleton looked sloppy again. Technique, which was something that made him truly unique at youth level, continues to let him down at the professional level, and his decision making is generally poor.
This is the first time I watch Carleton play for nearly one year, not positive. He was still a turnover machine. 1 good play after 4 turnovers won't help him on the higher level.
Reed Baker-Whiting makes his second USL appearance as a 2005. This game has not been as good for him as his last game. He looks more lost this game and his first involvement was getting beat and picking up a yellow. If you’re that young any pro level experience is a positive experience
NYRB-Hartford: Caden Clark (‘03): I believe this was the first time I’ve seen him play. Maybe I saw him play briefly before, but first time I can remember. I was not impressed. He was playing as a #10 in this game. The skillset does not look like that of a top ‘03, which is the reputation he gets. I think the strengths in his game are that he makes good decisions, gets himself into good positions, isn’t a bad athlete and can combine. The weaknesses are that he doesn’t appear to have much in the way of real attacking skills. He lacked dribbling ability, creativity, passing vision, his finishing didn’t look great either. He may be more of a #8, depending on if he can be converted into more of a defensive player. Then again, I’d like to see him play more before saying this more concretely. Joe Fala (‘97): I think this guy is going to be really good. You might’ve not heard of him, but NYRB have made a habit of unearthing players who they’ve developed into very good players. I’ll start with the obvious, Fala is 6’7, and he moves very well for a 6’7 player. There are CB’s 6’0-6’2 who don’t move any better than him. I don’t see speed as a problem in his game, at all. Quickness might be a slight problem, but a lot of CB’s aren’t quick. Athletically, he’s very good. He also is good passing the ball out of the back. He has good foot skills, and I think that’s because he was a striker in college soccer. He’s also great in the air, which anyone could’ve figured out without watching him play. He was playing LB in this game to start out, and it went a lot better than I would’ve thought. He’s a CB long-term. Also a late December birthday (12/29), so that’s something else to keep in mind. Wasn’t even drafted into MLS. I think he’ll be in MLS by the start of next season. Dantouma Toure (‘04): He was subbed on late and was ineffective. He couldn’t beat players. Lost the ball multiple times. Good learning experience for him in his first career pro game. Jake Lacava (‘01): Replaced Clark. Didn’t add much. Has some quickness dribbling the ball. Very fringe level prospect. Daniel Edelman (‘03): Subbed on even later than Toure. I don’t even know if he touched the ball. Indy-SKC II: Andrew Carleton (‘00): He had a respectable performance. It was better than the first game, but he had a sure assist robbed by the keeper, while last game he had an assist that wasn’t robbed by the keeper. Slim margins that effect how performances are viewed. He was sharper in this game. Moved the ball well, drew fouls, had a few shots on target. It’d be nice if his teammates were better because his soccer IQ, combination play, vision, creativity gets stifled playing with bad players. Cam Lindley (‘97): I can see that this is going to be a bad fit for him. He’s a deep-lying playmaker, and he was subbed on to play as a #8. He was able to make some interceptions and play some nice passes, but I don’t see any type of high ceiling as a #8. As a #6, he can be a NT player if he improves his defense. He is a very talented deep-lying playmaker. Brooks Thompson (‘02): Brilliant performance. Clear MOTM. He kept the score from being a complete rout. He must’ve made close to 10 saves, and one of them was one of the best saves you’ll see all year. Decision making was good, has good height, and clearly good reflexes. Improved his stock a lot from what I had previously seen. Kaveh Rad (‘01): Slightly below average performance. Made a few mistakes with getting beat for speed or getting outmuscled. He’ll need to learn better positioning and how to defend against bigger, stronger, faster players. Wilson Harris (‘99): Isolated up top. Scored a goal on the counter by beating the CB for pace and rounding the keeper. Good athlete, has some ability to hold up the ball. Not much in the way of soccer skill. Could carve out a career as a lower-level MLS striker. Union II-Pittsburgh: Ben Martino (‘02): He gave up a lot of goals, but I don’t think any of them were his fault. Very good size (about 6’5-6’6), good in the air, didn’t show any young keeper mistakes. Not good with his feet. Reflexes didn’t look the best, but I’ll need to see more stoppable shots to judge this better. Ben Ofeimu (‘00): He played about as well as anyone on his team. He has very good size, he’s well built (maybe too well built), he has good speed for a CB, he reads the game well, good in the air, and isn’t bad passing the ball out of the back. I think he has the makings of a first team signing pretty soon. The only complaint I had was that he made some very sloppy and needless errors. I would chalk these up to a 19 year old. Dante Huckaby (‘03): Well off the pace of the game. Struggled a lot with positioning, passing, reading the game, getting outmuscled. To put it nicely, I don’t think he’s ready for pro soccer. Very raw player, if I was to put it nicely. Nathan Harriel (‘01): His performance was a lot like Ofeimu’s. He was one of his teams better players, but made some very sloppy plays. He had to clean up some things, So I can see why his first team contract is for next season and not this one, but he does show good speed, defensive ability, and is adequate going forward. I’ve never typed him for a high ceiling player though. Axel Picazo (‘01): Very isolated. Had a nice offensive sequence or two. Can’t blame an attacking player in a game like this. Quinn Sullivan (‘04): Similar to Picazo. Barely got a touch of the ball. Can’t blame an attacking player in a game they are chasing the ball the whole game. Others: Jack Jasinski (‘03) came in to start the second half, and held his own defensively, which is more than most others on his team during this game. Danny Flores (‘02) barely got a touch of the ball after coming on. I think he’s more of a #8, but he was playing as a #10 in this game. Selmir Miscic (‘03) came on late and might’ve kicked the ball once or twice.
@watke Please put Sota Kitahara on your watch list. Had a great game yesterday for Sounders 2 against T2 if you are looking for good performances from the weekend.
Among other youth-eligibles, there was an '04 named Cullen Wilkerson who made the Timbers 2 squad for the first time yesterday. Just putting his name here as I've never heard of him. So far, six current U17-eligibles have played in USL. Austin Brummett (last season), Caleb Wiley, Victor Valdez, Reed Baker-Whiting, Dantouma Toure, Quinn Sullivan in that order. I think Wilkerson and Leo Torres are the others to have made a USL matchday squad. A few '04s have made MLS squads in the current tournament.
Missed this one: Stavros Zarokostas '97 signed with Charleston Battery in May. Not too many pros from the Ocean State! https://www.nesoccerjournal.com/stavros-zarokostas-signs-with-charleston-battery-i-want-to-develop/
Missed the rescheduled San Antonio game, did Gallegos make an appearance? Google doesn’t list the USL games anymore, and hasn’t been listing the MLS lineups even after a game is over.
Greenville signs local kid to an academy contract: He's back! 🙌We have re-signed local midfielder and @FurmanSoccer commit, @conordowler7, to an academy contract for the 2020 season.#TogetherWeTriumph— Greenville Triumph SC (@GVLTriumph) July 22, 2020
What’s interesting about some of these USL signings are that these players aren’t even playing for these clubs academies. Connor played for CESA who will no doubt be a feeder for Charlotte FC now
Looks like a standstill #10. Great passing/shooting. Good height. Alex Mendez/Efrain Alvarez style player.
I wonder what separates a kid like this from the Mendez and Efra's of the world, besides recognition.
It's likely talent or exposure, which is a wide dispersion of career outcomes for this guy, so it doesn't narrow things down much. They may be a lot better at that kind of stuff. These highlights are impressive, but do we even know the level of competition? It's one thing to play incredible through balls or shoot it into the top corner from 25 yards with no pressure against a bunch of future cooks and cleaners that you process the game a lot faster than, are significantly more skilled than, are more athletic than. It's completely different in a high pressure game with a lot of very talented players who are professionals or are very close to it. As far as we know so far, those players simply are more capable of showcasing their ability against good competition. Maybe this guy will be, but there's no track record of it yet, so until then, it's a mystery.
That's true, it's just disappointing that kids like this may not ever get higher-level opportunities. For example, if this kid performs very well at the USL League One level, it probably wouldn't mean anything, I feel like there is very little upward mobility in the American soccer pyramid.
Thats certainly a problem. An example of this is Jose Gallegos. People are hugely excited about him, and they should be because he's a good player. Where's the track record of USL selling a player like him to MLS or Europe? There's more of a track record with these talented young players in USL of these players signing with these clubs on short-term deals, and then signing at a high level eventually on a free transfer due to the exposure they got with YNT's (Wright, Taitague, Kayo, etc.). They are making these moves to different levels on their own, not because these lower level clubs are moving them onto higher levels to make themselves money.
Completely true, for one it never made much sense to me that Kayo would get a move to a solid Bundesliga team when he was nothing spectacular in the USL, while a guy like Gallegos has been great at the USL at a similar age, hopefully he gets a move to Europe, I think that a move to MLS for him would probably not be too successful.
an '02 headed to UCLA if the college season happens We're excited to announce our first DA signing of the 2020 season, @derricksilvaa, of @RSLArizona Academy here in Tucson.Let's welcome Tommy Silva to the #MenInBlack 🙌👏👏#LegendsStartHere @tucsonsports @uslfanpage @storytellerpr @arizonadailystar @kgun9 @news4tucson pic.twitter.com/49PN9vJnDW— FC Tucson (@FCTucson) July 22, 2020
Is it just me or does he look pretty darn tall? when he let loose on a couple sprints he doesn’t completely lack speed. He has some good tools: size, touch, vision - probably doesn’t make it to his highest level playing as a 10 though unless there is more to him then those highlights. I’d say move him further pack the field and he probably has more potential.
Thoughts on the Union2/NYRB2 game Dante Huckaby still needs to develop. He has a Mark McKenzie like projection but he showed that playing as a 17 year old CB in the USL is risky. The Red Bulls midfielders were all great. Caden Clarke I thought looked much better today and was connecting with teammates and being more creative in the attack. Caden’s game reminds me a lot of Brendan Aaronson except Caden is a little better in the attacking third (or at least was in the DA). Both Jake LaCava and Daniel Edelman had fantastic games. Both controlled the midfield very well. Stock up for both in my eyes Dantouma Toure is a player who I think people need to sell their stock in him. He is fast and a good dribbler but that is it. He does not pick his head up to pass unless he has literally no other options. He also has a terribly low IQ which is a huge red flag. You can’t succeed being just fast forever, eventually it will catch up to you. Brandon Craig is still a solid right back despite growing a ton in the past year. He has some work to do defensively but he is by now means a bad defender. He is good going forward and played some dangerous balls in his 45 minutes of play. The jury is still out on Quinn Sullivan. Quinn’s stock fluctuates for me. He was amazing in the 2018/19 season and then cooled off in the fall 2019 season. He still reads the game very well and his touch is there. I need to see Quinn play more than 10 minutes to really picture where he is as a prospect. I still think Quinn can reach a very high level.
You watch way more than I do so I'm not going to argue on your analysis but in this case I do wonder if it's just a matter that players haven't been as talented or had an opportunity to move. USL is very young. Who knows what SAFC is going to do with Gallegos or what his agent will arrange? If there was a bad track record I'd agree wholeheartedly but there really isn't any record at all so let's see what happens before we condemn SAFC and Gallegos as being trampled under by lack of opportunities. I imagine in a non-covid world he was trying to angle himself for a better gig abroad. Hopefully he can still find that or a MLS spot further up the ladder.