U.S. U20 March 2023 Friendlies: PBP When Available

Yup, totally agree. Soccer is such a weak-link game and I thought Cuevas, Alvarado and even Luna were making it difficult for their teammates -- exacerbated by Gomez and Paredes being fine, but hardly stars. Given that it's a little impressive the team was able to put up a fight at all. For me, Varas will have to cycle out Cuevas and probably Alvarado, though I'm not sure great replacements are at hand. (Che and Buck maybe?)

 

We don't have a lot of players who can do the things Luna can do, but there's certainly times where he's doing more harm than good. Varas needs to keep him on a tight leash and get him out of a game if he's losing effectiveness. He has a spark, though, and when he's on he makes the team so much more dangerous.

Alvarado on the other hand - central midfield is the deepest position in the pool by a fair margin. If he can't pull his weight, than any of Tsakiris, Wolff, Cremaschi, or Gutierrez can. There's no need to wait on a guy who isn't playing at a high level and isn't performing in the minutes he does get.

 

No doubt California teams weren't pulling their weight, though San Jose is working now. LAG are crippled by a bunch of factors.

Also, LAFC is brand new -- people bitch about SD or Sacramento getting in, but it is 40 million people. Even if LAG and SJ had been killing it .. it's such a big area with soooo many people.

There's lots of borderline guys like Long, Lletget, Arriola. But it's not good enough.

 

I love watching Luna, but I hope he picks up at the rest of his game. Even dude like Nico Lodeiro worked on defense at an MLS level. I just don't think he will ever be good enough on offense to be a complete liability otherwise at any reasonable level.

I've never seen Cremaschi play, and Gutierrez is a 10/winger -- though honestly he might actually be the best 10 we have in this pool.

But Wolff and Buck are playing very well, and are pretty stout defensively. Alvarado was fantastic in the CCAF, so I'm not sure if this was one bad game against a really strong opponent or a drop in form.

Tsakiris I love. I do wonder if he wouldn't have gotten a bit tossed around out there against France.

 

The locks in my mind are Slonina, Wiley, Craig, Neal, Aaronson, Sullivan, Parades, McGlynn, Cowell, and Edelman. Chris Brady would probably be a lock too if was likely to get released, and Jonathan Gomez seems pretty close to being one too. Che is probably fairly close to being one too given his versatility.

The midfield seems to have lots of good options and it's hard to say who else will be there from Pukstas, Buck, Wolff, Tsakiris, Alvarado, Cremaschi, Vargas, and Clark.

 

Halliday and Gutierrez might be next to locks as well.

 

Yeah, they're pathetic, and it's really hurting the program. We got excuses for so many years from LA Galaxy fans. They were trying to pee on our heads and tell us it was raining. As if, for that period, that area that was so fruitful previously, was just not producing any talent. They weren't developing it, due to the emphasis on the wrong attributes and players (Kleibans in part). They weren't integrating it. Arena was focused on making the roster as experienced as possible at the time. Then guys were either steered to Mexico under Dennis Te Kloese, or convinced to stagnate their development by sitting out until they could move to Europe.

So far, there's similar things happening in LAFC, as much as they sold their youth program. They haven't integrated anyone, yet. Many of their kids jumped ship to Mexico too, incidentally. LAFC has more of an excuse because they're the Man City of MLS (ironically w/ NYCFC here). But: a) they should realize they're not playing for all the marbles, and b) if LAG has the philosophy to finally have a functional youth program, then they could have a competitive advantage. They aren't the sexy LA club anymore.

 

Gutierrez seems close, but also seems one of the least likely to get released from the MLS contingent.

Halliday seems like he's moved ahead of Cuevas but I wouldn't put him in lock territory.

 

He was a weak link in the camp in the 2nd edition of Revelations Cup. So it's now trending toward 2 straight camps. And the indications are becoming he was a 1-camp wonder, doesn't translate outside of CCAF, or has had his development stagnated due to not playing much for Kleiban FC.

 

Yeah, I thought he was great at CONCACAF and was starting to earn minutes for Vizela. So far, so good (even better than good). Then the Revelations Cup, which I didn't attack much importance to. Sciaretta started to hint the coaching staff was not exactly in love with him. (Starting to get worried). He hasn't gotten any minutes since November. (Getting more worried.) Now this performance (very concerned). To me he looks like he's stagnated, to your point, and hopefully there are enough CMs of a high caliber to replace him.

That said, I don't particularly blame the Kleibans here. They got him to a reasonable level -- at a certain point you gotta earn your keep as a prospect.

 

Another early developer. No outstanding qualities, will be surpassed by many pretty soon.

 

I know this is an U20 thread but with all this doom and gloom about how bad we are I thought this fact has to also be incorporated into the equation. We beat Argentina 3-1 at U19 level too.

FINAL:#U19MYNT Friendly

🇦🇷 ARG 1 - 3 USA 🇺🇸

⚽️ 12’ - Sergio Oregel
⚽️ 30’ - Korede Osundina
⚽️ 59’ - Rodrigo Neri pic.twitter.com/LW4uFNLpzo

— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 24, 2023

 

This was Argentina’s U17 team.

 

France fell 2-1 to the Netherlands in the very next match. So maybe not a given to win the WC, just another one of the better sides in the world, who we made look like unstoppable forces.

I don't think there's any way to tell with our own eyes if we made the necessary improvements, on account the game's already started, and I see no streams.

U20 ENGLAND ⚽️ U20 USA pic.twitter.com/vihFGnqLR1

— Fernando Priego Coach (@fernandompcoach) March 25, 2023

 

I think US Soccer posted there was no stream available but I was hoping to at least see a lineup.

 

The US U-20 XI today vs England #USYNT pic.twitter.com/DoiI0TWzoc

— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) March 25, 2023

 

They said the same thing last game, but we were able to find one from France's end. England, the most covered footballing nation in the world, ironically isn't covering it either. It would be funny if it turned out Serbia did too.

 

HT | Plenty of positives and 45 to go, let's keep pushing!

🇺🇸 1-2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #U20MYNT

— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 25, 2023

 

It was their U12 team...

 

51' | Goal USA, all tied up now! Lovely back heel goal from Owen Wolff, played in by Kevin Paredes.

🇺🇸 2-2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #U20MYNT

— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 25, 2023

 

FT | Tough result. We go again on Tuesday against Serbia U-21.

🇺🇸 2-4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #U20MYNT

— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 25, 2023

 

Back to reality.