Nice write up about Maddie at CONCACAF U20. Really looking forward to seeing her play this fall. She really turned a corner during the NCAA last fall, and it was clear that she would be a starter from then on. Well, it turns out that she is now a starter for the U20s, having never been invited to a US soccer camp until a month before the CONCACAF tourney started. Anson was very high on her at the end of the season last fall, having made real progress during the season, and it would seem that he knows what he's looking at. https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2023/06/shes-maddie-from-minnesota
MEXICO DEFEATS THE UNITED STATES AND WINS THE CONCACAF WOMEN'S U-20 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL! 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/AEpC4oONG1— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 4, 2023 Shocking
If you think the result is shocking….You should actually watch the game. The style of play and how they were encouraged to play is much more shocking than the score. It was streaming on YouTube. I feel like I’m beating a dead horse at this point….but, it’s embarrassing to have a roster like that and score 3 goals total against Costa Rica and Mexico. The second half was rec level tactics. I’m done harping on it.
C'mon. They don't spend much time with them. Youth players develop in their club environments. US missed a PK that would have put them up. They outplayed them statistically (I did not see the game).
The ID system has been broken for a long time. A country this size needs incentives to be better aligned. I don’t think you can ID individuals efficiently if you can’t set them up in a way to show what they are capable of.
Total kickball soccer. Boot it forward and hope to win the second ball or third ball. The US was sending free kicks from deep in their own half toward the top of the box and hoping for a loose ball to squirt luckily to an open player. Almost like they didn’t have the confidence that they could move the ball down the field. The offense consisted of every player trying to beat multiple players on the dribble. Head down and dribble…lose the ball / possession multiple times in a row and no worries….keep trying same thing. As a coach…I couldn’t believe this was the plan. The Costa Rica game was a little better and the US should have had a couple more goals, but the Costa keeper played out of her mind. That said….the US had 1 goal in the run of play and would have been tied with Costa Rica if not for an excellent free kick. Lastly, Gamero is a real player and she was the only one that could execute the sophisticated US game plan of dribble by multiple defenders and make an individual great play to score. Game is on you tube.
I would like to add Kudos to the impactful young ladies playing for the Mexican team who are actually "overlooked" Mexican-Americans. They did a phenomenal job and scored some clutch goals against U.S. I agree with the consensus, a lot of boom ball.
I didn't have an issue with the strategy and tactics. It was a lack of versatility and adjustments made. The US made almost no adjustments in strategy, how it subbed, and who it relied on the most. Simple things that even the TV people were suggesting like switching players from side of the field to another. They never seemed to try anything. This was highlighted in the rotation. When the first game was canceled the the group stage became a lot more condensed. The first thing I thought about was rotation. The player rotation had to increase, but it didn't. The roster was so unbelievably deep. It's embarrassing to think that the coaches thought they would somehow lose their massive possession advantage if they rotated a few players more regularly. It really showed in the final two games with a lack of energy in the final third. The best player for the US in the final, Onyeka Gamero, rotated heavily during the tournament. It showed.
I believe I have read in various articles in the US Soccer site in the last three or so that there is an effort to have the U15, U17 and U20 teams training with the same basic tactics and strategy, but with the turnover of coaches in the U15s and 17s I don't think that is working well. Further, if those same basics are not emphasized at the various clubs (or for the U-20s, colleges) that the players return to, then, it's going to be a real jolt to try to change habits when you go to the short term camps and then to the tournaments. Regarding babranski's, comment about playing more of their rosters, I will note that the 15s and 17s have done more of that and seem to not have problems with it.
Well, TIme to change the subject. TDS has apparently decided to change its policy on 5 star prospects. For a deade there have been only 1,2, or may be up to 4 five-stars per age group. It kind looks like they looked at the 2023 class and noticed that with the departure of Alyssa Thompson, they were real short on 5 stars. So all of a sudden there are 7 5-star players listed... and three were awarded to UNC signees! Whew! Talk about zero to 60! It kinda makes sense with Savannah King who has been a U17 and U20 regular starter for 3 years now with different coaches. But Melina Rebimbas who did not make the U-20 team (maybe she did not want to), and Evelyn Shores who was declined for the U-17 and U20s WC teams also got bumped up to 5 stars. NOT that being on an youth national team at the U17 or U20 level proves anything. And lo and behold the 2024 class just got bumped up to 6 5-stars. Now.... if this star rating thing turns out to have any correlation to ending up on the senior national team or to guarantee wins at the U20 level or to end up with NCAA cup winners, I will be surprised... even if, of course, there is nothing to prove causation. (I am convinced that championship teams work together as a team, and don't just get the ball to super stud...) But thanks to TDS for their insight and great judgment to pick out the best.
I forgot... other interesting look at the incoming classes. TDS now has FSU with the second best incoming class, with Stanford third. The ACC top echelon looks good through the TDS lens with Virginia awarded with 2 5-star players this year and Duke 1, but next year Duke will get 2 more along with Stanford and UNC. It will get interesting with Virginia, FSU, UNC, and Dook dukeing it out for the next few years but then loosing to Clemson, Virginia Tech, or Wake.... but then will the ACC be worrying about being eclipsed in WOSO by the Big 10 teams from southern Califorrnia? (Dang its late...I gotta stop musing...)
TDS define a 5* player as Best of the Best - A player who ranks in the highest percentile of his/her peers and is coveted by coaches and scouts, pro and college alike. Such a player has command of the technical, tactical, mental and physical elements of the game, including the emotional maturity to handle success and be a good team member. These players also possess all the intangibles that make them the best of the best. based on the definition, there would have to be a certain number of them every year. That said, I'm sure some years are stronger than others. It's worth remembering that TDS makes money via subscriptions and parents are part of the client base.
Stumbled on to something I didn't know about that is involving UNC soccer alums. It's called "The Soccer Tournament" and apparently played a 4 day series of games at Cary recently. It's a new thing that presents a "World Cup" style group then single elimination tournament with 32 entries 7v7, 65y x 45y smaller fields, 20 minute halves, substitutes like hockey on the run, and no offside rule (2 40 minute games per day.). The winner takes home a million dollars to split up amongst the team personnel, Everyone else hopefully has fun for the weekend. Well it seems that some key UNC soccer alumns cobbled together the only female entry. 16 players on the roster 10 of them UNC grads. (not counting Mia Hamm, the head coach, 6 assistant coaches (2 from UNC). As an old fan I recognized all of the players on the roster including Kristine Lilly Heavey ('92 grad), Cat Reddick Whitehill, Kendal Fletcher, and, of course, Heather O'Reilly, Lori Chalupny Lawson, and more (even from Virginia such as Lori Lindsey, or Johanna Lohman from PSU, or Schuyler Debree (Duke) or (Stephanie McCaffrey (BC). And the more recent UNC players Casey Nogueira Loyd, Hanna Gardner, and Lindsey Harris. I watched a few high-light reels from the tournament, The men's teams were all fast, mostly quite fit and mostly in their 20s or early 30s, and had great ball skills and really nice short passing games. The embarrassing reel was the US Women team vs the Wrexham Red Dragons. Without the offside rule, the men just toyed with the women;s defense. With short passing 6 yards out back and forth in front of the goal to get easy open shots. The defenders seemed dazed and standing still. But I LOVED seeing Lindsey Harris at work again! She was really active and stopped bunches of goals. 11-0 could have easily been 22-0 if it weren't for her scrambling and reflexes. Cheers!
Yes, Soccerhunter got it right. A bizarre match to watch. Lindsey Harris was getting shelled and yet making spectacular saves against The Dragons. The word was that she was kind of auditioning for the NWSL as she recently left a Portugal team for played exactly one match last season. She's now listed as playong for the Houston Dash
I only got a rough draft up before time expired--. I wanted to say that Lindsey might help the Dash make the NWSL playoffs--she's replacing an injured keeper. She's also from Houston and Austin. Good luck to her!
Thought someone would post about this. I guess this is the "earliest" a player can commit these days? You assume programs like UNC are likely fighting off kids who want to commit right away but this one looks legit. I am blessed to announce my verbal commitment to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I want to thank God, my coach/mom, family and my teammates for making my dream come true.@uncwomenssoccer@ConcordeFire06G@ConcordeSoccer @TopDrawerSoccer @PrepSoccer pic.twitter.com/dCdS4TLucO— @CameronMaynor2025 (@cameron_maynor) June 18, 2023
Yea, its over. Instead of flying around the country doing ID camps and trying to get a coaches attention, you can just focus on developing your game and strength & fitness and academics. Imagine that.