I know it sounds odd, but we should pass back to Garces more. He's really made some nifty connections with both feet right on the money all tournament....it's pretty shocking since I don't think I've really ever seen that from a US keeper before. I'd imagine England is going to press a bit...don't be afraid to pass back, gentlemen!
You are preaching to the choir lol. Garces is quietly excellent. There's a continued narrative around GK's his age that "they all have some potential and make mistakes, check back in five years", but I don't think that applies to Garces. It applies to most (probably the other two keepers on this roster), but Garces is one of this team's best players, as far as I'm concerned, and I think if we have a game when we give up a lot of shots, people will see. The feet part gets underplayed, but its really important. That is such a big bonus for a team to have someone who can start the attack themselves, and doesn't need to just kick it long when pressured.
First of all, I'd like to point out that the one player the US really could have used today was the much-maligned AJ Vasquez. I, personally, find that hilariously ironic. On a more general note, today marks the death of one of our most promising U17 cycles. I wouldn't be surprised, at all, if more than the usual 2-3 players play for the national team. We're no England, but this tournament as a whole, and even the final game, was quite promising. Durkin reached the limelight, Carleton became a 10, and many others, like Dest, Sands, Goslin, Acosta, Weah, and Garces, proved that we haven't seen the last of them just yet. Coaching didn't help results, but now that the cycle is over, the results matter even less. In terms of recent events given the national team scale, this team provided some hope that the best is yet to come, not only for us BigSoccer nerds but for a wide audience of soccer fans in the US. It's been a great year for youth teams, youth players, and youth soccer as a whole. This was an extremely successful cycle, and I hope the trend continues for years to come.
Absolutely, best U-17 cycle we've had so far. I hope people don't expect this again next cycle though. Only thing I'd disagree with is that this team would have no use for Vasquez. They have a use for a CB, but not Vasquez. We might've not gotten out of the group if he was starting. I don't wish the guy any injuries, but him not playing helped us out. I think Hackworth's biggest problem this cycle was not trusting any younger players. What were our two biggest problems this cycle? CM and CB. Why couldn't Araujo get a runout, which would've allowed us to move Durkin into midfield. What about Toledo, Sepulveda? The '01 year has some really good CB's, Hackworth gave none of them a chance. Even just talking about the better '00 CB's, why was Arteaga cut from the team and why didn't Shaver play at all? And then with CM, Hackworth gave Ferri way too long of a leash. Booth should've taken over his starting spot early in this year. I also thought his choices of 01's he had on the roster was very poor. Booth was good, but Vassilev, I just don't see much talent there, and Reynolds is so raw even for a player in his own age group, he has no clue at a higher age group. We could've definitely used someone like de la Fuente instead of Akinola or even Llanez.
Yup and we have players left off that have potential too. So I think we should produce a lot of quality players this cycle
Huh, you usually have your ear on the ground more than anybody else. That's not good news to me. This level of quality is what we should have as a baseline, not a peak.
I think it depends. Eventually, we should improve over time. Right now, I don't expect this level of talent every year. Early on, '02 looks very average to me without Alvarez. Too early to know about '03 but I even think the '01 year seems rather average. '00 was very strong. Look at what followed '98, '99 is looking incredibly weak.