Hudson definitely hyped Zendejas. If he can do nothing else but be a catalyst to get him to commit, he will have been successful. Zendejas is a guy the US could use today, but maybe even moreso in a couple of years when he's in his prime.
I'm not sure that Zendejas is all that eager to commit, though. Zendejas was very, very careful to remain extremely non-committal and clearly does not like to be questioned about his national team future. If Mexico wants him, he might well be theirs.
I took it more that it’s just not a subject he really wanted to talk about. I also think that given that neither team has a head coach at current, I could understand not wanting to commit without knowing how the coach sees you fitting in with the team. All Hudson can do is call him in March (which would be cap tying).
The last asking price was a seat on the WC roster (or at least a fair shot). What would it take for him to commit now?
May be more about which team he feels more comfortable with. Mexico did themselves no favors with try to coerce him to sign retroactively but he could still feel more comfortable with their players and is waiting to see how their GM and coaches end up and how ours do.
I hope we get a manager who sees Aaronson as a wing and Reyna and Tillman as 10/8 types. I like a wing forward rotation of Pulisic, Weah, Aaronson and Zendejas. Those are all threats, but of different types.
I only mean this is just his second season in the first division. He'll be a more complete player and finished product with a couple more seasons of experience.
It looks like the teams will qualify through the Nations League that starts this fall. Guess we'll have to see who wins the right to offer him a spot!
It’s a tough choice. It’s easier to play with Mexico, but there is an opportunity with the US to blaze the trail for more Mexican Americans to begin feeling more comfortable associating with the American team and their American side. It makes it easier that Zendejas has history with the Pulisic group and that this group has credibility as the next big thing in the region. People want to be part of that. I think that Zendejas absolutely could be a significant player in the group.
True, but so have a bunch of other players who have bolted for Mexico (and, Serbia, memorably). I have no special insight into the mind or motivations of Zendejas. He could stick around. He's obviously interested enough to accept the camp call-up even though it's January Camp while he's in season with Club America and we currently have no head coach, so perhaps that means something.
No. I'm saying that we can't feel confident that he'll choose to be cap-tied by us if he thinks that Mexico might also be interested. At least not until he accepts the call in March...
He decision probably comes imminently, though. If he ever wants to represent Mexico, he needs to file a one-time switch...............which cap-ties him too. So he's only got a couple of months. I do think that there a quite a lot of good players coming thru the US U20s, etc. that play the same type of position. So the opportunity is NOW.
Yes and he also has a history with FC Dallas and I wonder how many of the recent callups from players with FCD affiliation he knows well and / or played with? I know I saw a Pomykal interview where he said Zendejas was a year older and was gushing about him. That would put him in the McKinney age range with Cannon and Ferreira near by. HG with FCD along with Acosta.
Zendejas was very close to Pulisic, they even roomed together. I would be surprised if he selects MX.
Wasn't it Haji Wright that roomed with Pulisic in Bradenton? Anyway................we're up to 7 members of that U17 World Cup team with full national team caps after Vasquez and Zendejas. A very good haul for a U17 team. I would say an 8th is extremely like as Auston Trusty was also on that team. If people want to know just how little the U17 level means, that group struggled at the CONCACAF U17 Championships and didn't win a game at the World Cup.
I read it was Pulisic. The one I thought for sure was going to also succeed from that age group is Olosunde (RB).
Anthony Hudson: "physical loading" dictates lineup decisions. For both games, starting basis is deciding on 5 players who can/have to go 90 minutes. Then it's dividing up minutes of another 12 players. #USMNT— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) January 27, 2023
Technically McKennie was part of the group, but he wasn’t part of the U17 World Cup team or for qualifying. So we are at 6, with the 7 likely coming soon as you said. I don’t know they struggled in qualifying either. They lost one game of 6 they played, and had a total goal difference of 9. They definitely struggled in the U17 World Cup though.
IIRC, Pulisic and the interviewer for his book talk on a couple of occasions about who his closest friends are. The one name that I recognized as somebody who only somewhat follows the youth national teams was Nick Taitugue.
7 guys with caps. The guy you might be forgetting on that World Cup squad is Olosunde. Capped early in this past cycle in that Bolivia friendly. Poor Matt Olosunde. A speed guy who has never been the same after a series of injuries (Achilles injury in particular.) Pulisic Wright Zendejas Vazquez Adams de la Torre Olosunde