2014 Core Players: I thought it would interesting to see if we had concensus on who the core players and those that should be GETTING MINUTES AND A LOOK WITH THE TEAM for 2014 in Brazil. Here's my list. I'm sure I've missed some obvious choices on the prospect list, I'm still waking up. Core: Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Guzan, Jozy, Gooch, Davies, Spector, Holden, Benny, Torres, Bornstein, Adu, Pearce, Rogers Bring 'em in for a look or looks: Najar * if he wants to play for us Diskerud * if he wants to play for us Gyau * if we wants to play for us Lletget Lihaj Bedoya Cameron Shea McCarty Orozco Alston Opara Seitz Boss Renken McInerney Who did I miss?
Funes Mori isn't a citizen. You can count him out unless something drastic happens. Hoyos, we may be too late with him. IIRC, he was invited by Maradona to travel with the Argentina to the World Cup as a practice squad member (or something like that). Seems he's getting the full court press from them. Difficult to resist that kind of temptation. There's still hope with Hoyos. A U20 WC or camp call-up and his reaction to it should go a long way toward spelling out his intentions.
Funes Mori still has family here and lived here for like 8 years. There is time as long as Argentina does not call him up. As for Hoyos, you are probably right about the temptation being there. I hope we can find a way to convince him he could get SENIOR NATIONALTEAM playing time sooner here(Hence the Gold Cup reference. I doubt Maradona or the next Argentine manager would call him up for Copa America.)
mwanga is formerly from congo, and was on the losing side of the civil war there... still 18, and he has had a knack for scoring in mls http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/player/danny-mwanga 4 goals in 386 minutes...ah, that's almost 1 per match... nowak surely will push him towards being american... was recently interviewed and said his goal was world cup... turned down going to france for playing in mls... big kid 6-2 and growing , good speed...would be a good match with jozy as lead guy...
Funes Mori isn't eligible for the USMNT, and will play for Argentina. I believe he actually has been a part of the Argentine U20 squad recently for training. It's a non-issue. Hoyos is a different matter. It's hard to know how much turnover there's going to be from now until 2014. The core of this team is very young. For all we know the lineup for the 2014 World Cup could be. -----Davies-----Jozy------- Donovan-Bradley-Torres--Dempsey Bornstein-Gooch-Marshall-Spector -----------Howard------------- I hope not.........but it's possible. Particularly the front 6. (and Edu, Clark, Feilhaber, Holden, etc. aren't going anywhere either). Neither are the last cuts from this world cup team in the midfield: Bedoya, Rogers, Adu, etc. Projecting which young players will end up being "international quality" is a tough game. Lichaj may end up being great........or he may end up being below Marvell Wynne on the right-back depth chart. That's part of what actually makes THIS PERIOD the most fun of any WC cycle for me personally. I get too overly stressed during the World Cup. What I find fun is the hope and uncertainty of the new cycle starting. Bob Bradley capped over 100 players this cycle. The next coach will undoubtedly do the same (assuming it's not Bob).
Edu is the obvious choice you're missing in your core list. And I know people don't want to hear this, but Kljestan is going to be a part of the core too.
I don't want to just be a homer. . .but have you watched Michael Stephens this year? I think if you're looking at defensive prospects, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin and AJ De La Garza aren't bad options.
I suspect Mwanga will end up being US-eligible. I'm still not certian he's international quality, but it's worth finding out. I'm intruiged by another couple of MLS rookies this season. Michael Stephens Amobi Okugo Zach Loyd And maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe Teal Bunbury. Most of us assumed that since his dad is a Canadian Soccer Hall of Famer, and he represented them at the U17 and U20 level, that he'd end up playing for them. But he recently made some comments in the press that indicated that he's still undecided. I'm not sure he'll end up being good enough, but he's certainly an interesting talent.
I think the defense has a strong probability of being better than it was this cycle, in spite of people's fears to the contrary. In central defense, I hope these players emerge: 1. Oguchi Onyewu 2. Geoff Cameron (after injury) 3. Omar Gonzalez 4. Sean Franklin (I know he plays full back for LA. I think his best minutes have been in the middle.) 5. Gale Agbossoumonde 6. Kyle Davies In the midfield, I want to see the US build on a three-man central midfield: ------- CM ----- CM ------------ DM With that alignment, the US can take advantage of its best young talent and the depth of that talent. Players competing for the CM spots: 1. Michael Bradley 2. Stuart Holden 3. Jose Torres 4. Benny Feilhaber 5. Sacha Kljestan 6. Sebastian Lletget 7. Luis Gil Competing for the DM spot: 1. Maurice Edu 2. Ricardo Clark 3. Michael Stephens 4. Dax McCarty
Everything that you just said, but we do need to add something: Jozy (Charlie?) MUST learn how to perform as a lone striker, and our midfielders MUST learn how not to get in each other's way in the midfield. These two problems are why we couldn't play this formation this cycle. However, it's still the formation that gets our best talent on the pitch, and we have four years to learn it.
I just want to throw this out there... Franco Carraccio was with that traveling Argie practice squad for World Cup 2006. If you don't recognize the name, he signed with Houston in 2007 from Arsenal de Sarandi, and was seriously, incomprehensibly out of his depth in MLS. He lasted about half a season, was cut, then had a tryout with that historically bad NYRB squad and lasted about 2 days. I think he later caught on with some second or 3rd division side in Ecuador (or one of those lesser known South American leagues), but I could be wrong about that. The point? Sure, it's only one example, but it just shows that being called into that Argentine U-20 traveling practice roster is not necessarily an indicator of future success. Franco, while he did show some interesting flashes, didn't have anything approaching US nats-level talent, much less Argentina. I wouldn't take Hoyos' inclusion on that U-20 squad as an indication that he's banging on the door of their first team, or even that he's a shoo-in for ours, should he choose the US.
Just in keeping with what others have been saying above: During this cycle, our two best prime age field players were both wide attacking mids who liked to cut inside. So we built our formation around their strengths. In this upcoming cycle, early indications are that our best prime age talent is going to be in the center of midfield. So yeah, it would be a good idea to find a formation that maximizes their strengths, and if we have more than 2 of them playing at a high level, then we might also want to look for ways to get more than 2 of them on the field at the same time.
Of course, Donovan and Dempsey, probably aren't going anywhere. And at the start of the 2014 qualifying cycle, they probably will still be our best two players. Are you guys thinking of this type of formation? ------------Jozy------------ Donovan-------------Dempsey ------Feilhaber-Bradley------ ------------Edu------------ Spector-Gooch-Marshall--Alston ----------Howard--------------
Something like that. The main problem with that right now is that Jozy isn't quite ready to be a lone striker in that formation - where there won't be even be an attacking mid to support him or pull defenders away. He has all the tools to be a terrific lone striker in the long run - someone with pace, technique, and physicality that can get you goals, relieve pressure from the midfield, and cause defenders headaches running straight at them without a great deal of support - but we may be 3 or 4 years away from seeing that from him. I'm also skeptical that both Donovan and Dempsey will be starting in four years, simply because it's extremely rare to have two attacking midfielders their age (in 2014) starting in a World Cup.
I would actually put Jozy as the left attacking forward, as I think Charlie has a better future as a lone forward.
If Davies' development hasn't been greatly hindered by the injuries he sustained, then yeah that opens up a lot of options.
Danny Mwanga has a greencard, is on the way to citizenship and wants to play for USA. Check the YNT board.
Marcus Tracy Edgar Castillo Jared Jeffrey Daniel Williams (a 20 year old German-American right back playing in Germany for Freiburg)
Really? That's awesome. I had thought I read a quote from Mwanga pretty much intimating that he wanted to play international football for his mother country. He's been here for a while, I was wondering if he'd be more apt to represent the US.
From this: http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/snet-725492 Hi all, Thanks for your comments. Danny told me he is in possession of a Green Card and as such does not count as a foreigner in MLS. He hopes to be an American in the coming years and that he'd like to play for America. Regards, Leander Schaerlaeckens