TAKE A BOW @gbusio13 🤯@SportingKC takes the lead.#FuerzaTucson | @VisitTucsonAZ pic.twitter.com/dqSxXVb0Ui— FC Tucson (@FCTucson) April 3, 2021
The Crew are the best or one of the best in MLS. The point is that MLS teams don’t have enough depth to keep talented 18 year old academy players out of minutes. Doesn’t matter if it’s the best or worst team in MLS. There always are available minutes for academy players. MLS clubs need to find those minutes for these players, otherwise they should be punished by losing these players to other teams (MLS or abroad). Crew are getting very lucky right now that these guys haven’t yet signed in Europe and by how archaic MLS rules are.
It's speculation they wouldn't get minutes now. Sign them on the cheap & throw them in games or points that are less meaningful. That should be a lot for really good teams in a league w/ a deep playoff system. It's a matter of will. Downside is low, upside is high. The college system is archaic. Practically nobody outside this country uses it. It shouldn't be utilized as a replacement for real day-to-day training & tougher game development. Players could also try to move overseas the longer you sit on them. There is that risk. The point made by USS about MLS teams' poor depth is a valid one. You have to cultivate it for now & later. This is part of the reason why they do so poorly in CCL, which you guys are in. That will also require rotation for more league game opportunities early in the season when MLS play barely matters. It's when most teams are more apt to experiment.
I suspect that the culprit here is the delay of the U23 team by a year, and that the Crew will have a reserve team next year.
There's that, but they also could sign and loan them like they did with Berhalter. There's gotta be playing time for those guys at USLC or L1 level. I fail to see how letting them turn 18 and going to college was a good idea for anyone.
I'm still hopeful for the U23 league to still happen this year. Why not? They may not have to start exactly when the first team starts, but maybe after the academy season ends in June, allowing for the U19 teams to roll into the reserve league season? They can still play July - October, which will give them a good number of games. I just don't recall how many committed to U23 as some decided to remain in the USL.
19-yr old Andres Jasson has excelled for #NYCFC coach Ronny Deila in preseason - the HG involved in 3 goals."Right now he is the 1st choice on the left side."The full conversation w/ Deila now available here➡️https://t.co/4Sq9J8FuAC@NYCFC #MLS @ThirdRailSC @NYCFCYouth pic.twitter.com/0kFoE2cNeq— Glenn Crooks (@GlennCrooks) April 4, 2021
Wow I hope he is the first choice at LW, and scores/assists a few early on at the expense of some non-US players. We have Pulisic, but otherwise little depth at LW, unless you count Reyna who would be better for us in the middle. Getting ahead of myself, but HG talents on the wings or up top, or a creative CM is certainly more welcome than more RBs. NYCFC could have Sands, Parks, Gray, and this guy. Maybe if we’re lucky we also see Haak.
Busio is going to make a lot of people’s previous opinions on him look incredibly stupid. he’s going to have a great year and get sold this winter.
Busio and quite a few guys at SKC. Cowell in San Jose. Paredes and Nyeman in DC. Bello in Atlanta. Cerillo and Pepi in Dallas. Outside shot at Dante Sealy. Fontana in Philly, but I also think Harriel and McGlynn will get a shot. I'm sure a whole slew of other players.
My starting XI of young mls players in 2021 cowell ——————Pepi —————-Clark —————Busio—————-Bassett —————————tessmann Bello———-sands———Robinson——araujo —————————-Ochoa note* I’m playing with sands at cb because I want tessmann in the XI* Bench —— Fontana, Kessler, Amaya, pomykal , nyeman, A. Morris, Torres, jasson, akinola
All three of Elton Chifamba, Sam Sarver, and Noah Hall all have major gaps in their game to improve on before becoming homegrowns. Columbus ever since Ben Swanson have faded away from sign & stash. As someone who has seen these three play in person several times in the last year I’m going to break down why they haven’t been signed and what they need to improve on. Elton Chifamba has the most to work on. With Nagbe, Artur, Aidan Morris, Isaiah Parente, and Sebastian Berhalter in their system there isn’t a logical reason to add another 6/8 who would be buried for multiple years. Elton physically is not close to being ready for pro minutes. Outside of being clean in possession in the defensive and middle thirds, Elton doesn’t bring any offensive value in the final third yet and doesn’t offset that weakness by having a large passing range. He either needs to bulk up or improve his passing consistency over 30 yards. He also has to really reduce his turnover’s in the final third Sam Sarver, like Elton has to bulk up physically. Sam most importantly has to seriously work on both his soccer IQ and his interplay in the middle and offensive thirds. Right now Sam has one key skill, being fast as hell and good in 1v1 scenarios. But when given both time and space he actually is more likely to turn the ball over than retain possession, a huge hole in his game. Sam basically is the fast kid who can kick and run around you and score. It’s how he scores almost every one of his goals in the DA. The issue is what happens when he plays against men who are just as fast as him and stronger? Sam should flourish under Todd Yagley at IU and put on the muscle he needs. He’ll probably be the best of the three but still has quite a few holes in his game to fix Noah Hall is the closest of the three and at the same time the least likely to be signed. Noah is good at getting forward and his skill on the ball is also good but his defending needs work which as a pro right back is pretty important. He really needs to work on his defensive positioning. Realistically I don’t see Noah signing for the crew and instead heading to Europe. For the Crew, with Levi Stephens and Ramsey Ray in their system they don’t have to sign a player who isn’t fully ready for the pro level yet
Everyone should subscribe to space space space - among other perks, the discerning subscriber will note from the LAFC depth chart behind Bob Bradley that '04 Christian Torres is the 2nd choice left winger, '04 Erik Dueñas is 2nd choice RB, and '04 Tony Leone is 3rd choice LCB. https://t.co/JrnV6gZLgf— We Are Being Overrun in Midfield (@OverrunMidfield) April 5, 2021 Seems like Torres, Leone, and Duenas are in line for some good minutes this year.
Torres was quietly very solid in limited minutes last season. If he can pick up about 700 minutes I think he’ll make a splash.
They’ve been at Mexico camps. That doesn’t mean they won’t play for us. We’ve not had camps in the last year for them to attend. Mexico has.
SKC bumped Kaveh Rad '01 to an MLS contract. https://www.sportingkc.com/post/202...ar-old-center-back-kaveh-rad-homegrown-player
I would've thought Jahon would be more likely to make it than Kaveh, but I think assessing it now that neither were too talented, and Kaveh has made it because his soccer IQ is better. Jahon is more brute force, and his brute force was more flashy than Kaveh, but Kaveh's approach to the game has translated a little better to the pro game.
Kid had some pretty good saves and had good positioning. Hopefully ATL buys him once his loan is done.
Campbell also got a few minutes late on. Bello started. In the other CCL game involving an MLS team, Portland had no thread eligible players in their matchday squad.
I was gratified to see that all of the players Atlanta withheld from Olympic qualifying started that match. If they hadn't, I would have been miffed. I only watched the first 20 or so minutes of the game. To me it looked like Alajuelense really was targeting Bello and his side. He mostly held firm. Big year for him to establish himself as one of the best LBs in the league. Based on what I witnessed last night, Atlanta is going to have a much improved 2021. As far as Portland goes, we know their MO. And that's fine actually. They don't talk the talk. They're clear about their business plan and means of talent acquisition. I'll be interested to see Philly tonight.
They did. Bello still doesn’t do a great job of being aware of his defensive positioning. He still loses focus on that side of the ball and leaves gaps for teams to exploit and play in behind. This is his main weakness separating him from being europe ready in my opinion