Looks like Gio scored his 2nd goal in 6 games yesterday in a 6-1 win over Leverkusen U19. Couldn't find a video of it. Anyone know what happened to Llanez? He had 6 goals in 4 games for U19 Wolfsburg... but hasn't been on the squad over the last several weeks.
Thanks. He has had an amazing start to the season. BTW... Pretty sure a lot of you know this... but I didn't. Looks like Yahoo does a weekly roundup of US players abroad: https://sports.yahoo.com/americans-abroad-weekend-roundup-015151248.html Nice to see it in summary.... but I am a bit miffed that: 1) so many of our players are injured 2) summaries focusing on said players always finalized with: "There's no timeline for his return". Regarding #2. It seems like the time table for returns in sports like baseball and football are common knowledge but they are very hush-hush in soccer. It really bums me out. Again, the one that pisses me off the most is Tyler Adams. Leipzig are so good right now... I am literally clamoring for his return. It feels like it has been forever.
Most disappointing season in MLS for a youngster? Andrew Carleton...………………… He's doing great for ATL2, and just can't get a look with the first team. 🔥🔥🔥@andrewcarleton7 just did THAT. pic.twitter.com/7vWdmyWkZi— ATL UTD 2 (@atlutd2) September 26, 2019
WHO is telling the US teams that they must start every build up from the back? We’re so damn predictable.
From the u17 World Cup Las - is he unable to kick the ball? Scally - most influential player today. Gray - garbage Kobe - garbage Armour - garbage Leyva - Meh Saldana - Meh x 2 Reyna - Promising but looks out of sync with this team. I don’t think he owns his position. Busio - Same as Reyna. Nice header. Pepi - Sadly, garbage today. I’ve seen him play well but he’s sucked today. Yow - Weak little boy
i see reyna the way a lot of people see pulisic (or more accurately weah)- i think he can be much more effective wide, with more time and space on the ball. i think eventually he will be a central player but right now i think its not the best fit. he likes to be on the ball (arguably too much) says he would benefit from playing wide, hes crazy selfish (not in a totally bad way) says striker. the first game of any youth tourney is pretty all over the place, but i wasnt crazy about how berhaltery we looked. limiting our "best" player included.
When you say Scally was the most influential player in helping the opponent? He was abysmal. Either he or Yow were the worst players on the field. Yow's issues were mostly physical, Scally's were mostly mental. Basically all he did besides a cross that somewhat fortunately found Busio (it was into a good area but not targeting anybody) was do some speculative take-on that resulted in a TO, pass it straight out of bounds, over-commit and get run by, or not rotate. He's stunk in every game I've seen him at fb. He should be tried at cb finally because as a fb it's not happnin cap'n.
Dest has now vaulted to the top of this competition. He went from a reserve player and U20 participant, to starting for Ajax, starting in the Champions League, and starting for the USMNT. The only thing holding him back was whether he would be eligible at the end of the year...
No doubt. I'd say its down to Dest and Sargent in terms of the Euro contingent. There are others that may make a 2nd half push, but those to have a big lead right now. I don't know if we can award a winner from the MLS ranks. Its almost like a separate award. Pomykal had a huge early lead. Did others like Brenden Aaronson pass him towards the end? Some might suggest so. I don't. I think it goes to Pax.
I think as it stands Dest#1, Sargent#2 The third is still undecided. Pax started strong but was nursing injuries the later part, Aaronson looks promising. I like Cappi as a strong #3 place at this juncture.
I think Ledezma is on the cusp. If the game this weekend had gone differently, he would have probably made his debut. He should be called in to November camp and play at least some minutes versus Cuba.
Yup. Now that Dest is on board, the next recruit is Ledezma. He seems to be "all in" with regards to the US program on his twitter feed, etc. But we should still be aggressive with his recruitment as he's a dual national that Mexico has been after. I have no issue with calling him in for Cuba. Usually I want to wait before a youngsters does something.............anything............in first team football before calling up to the senior USMNT. But hell, its the League of Nations against Cuba. He does start pretty far behind Dest and Sargent in terms of the Breakout Youngster of the Year award, though.
The US was more than fair to Dest along the way and it ended up working out. The same thing would have occurred w/ Jonathan Gonzalez if he was called up to that Portugal camp, or even kept in contact w/, not to mention if the US had not just missed the WC. That was a comedy of errors which led to it. Ledezma is a player who grew up in the US and like you mentioned seems to be all-in on the US. If his desire to play for the country is so low that he needs to be called up out of the 2nd division in the Netherlands w/ zero goals or assists against non Jong sides, then so be it. The other players on your roster will also resent the manager for it if players get preferential treatment simply due to circumstance. We complain about this when players are called up simply because they were in Jan. camp where Gregg first instilled the system. It's compounding mistakes.
The problem with Jonathan Gonzalez was a little different. When he was trying to make his decision there was no USSF Prez, no technical director, no permanent USMNT coach, no U23 coach, etc. etc. He wanted to gain some assurance that he was part of the plan moving forward...............and there was nobody there who could do that for him. Tab Ramos was there, but he's the U20 coach. Dest knows what he's getting himself into. When it comes to Ledezma, I think this is easy. Two camps ago we called up Pomykal. Last camp we called up Aaronson. So there's a nice roster spot to slide Ledezma into for this camp.
When it comes to those analogs, Aaronson didn't play in the competitive camp like this one is, and Pomykal only played a few minutes while excluding him from these games in favor of Ledezma would mean less of a chance to win. Pomykal has been more impactful against a higher level of competition when health has afforded him the opportunity. And he should be rested. Last game he played for FCD he was very impactful off the bench. Parks also should get a spot over Ledezma atm. And Joe Corona. Julian Green. Duane Holmes. I could come up w/ a lot of guys, if the objective is to win now and in the near future, which is what we'll judge Gregg on if he doesn't, and eventually the brass will as well. Being a company man and a board members brother will take you far, but the embarrassment/financial losses do have an eventual limit.
If he plays for PSV this week, he is instantly in the pool. That is the weird rule that GB seems to be operating under. But he has been consistent so far. I doubt anyone that has been in camp with Lovitz and Baird would lose morale about Ledezma getting called. Ledezma had a goal and two assists (or was it two goals and an assist) in the U23 game in their last camp. As GB showed with Aaronsen, doing well with the U23s can also get you a call. There is no special treatment. He is playing for a big club, in a good league, and excelled in U23 camp. That is all it takes and that is more than it takes for an MLS player.
It's less than most MLS domestics, let alone that should get called up for the senior NT. He doesn't play in a good league. He plays in the Dutch 2nd division and like I said he's got zero goals + assists against non youth/reserve sides. If he plays in the Dutch 1st division, not much better than MLS, and even if it's for PSV in this case it's a byproduct of circumstance. A bunch of players who could play at his position are unavailable, so he makes a 21 man bench, and could get in a game for garbage minutes. It's analogous to Haji Wright playing a few games for Schalke, Julian Green for Bayern in Champion's League, Stanko for Freiburg, Shelton for Paderborn, etc. It's about if you look like you belong for a few-game sample at least. Hell, you could make a better case for Reyna because of the position he plays and looking good in several friendlies for Dortmund. There's no argument for Ledezma other than let's cap-tie him and it's a weak one too as I already displayed.
If playing for PSV is no big deal, why are we making such a big deal of Dest then if he is just a kid playing the equivalent of the Colorado Rapids? Breaking into the PSV first team gets you an invite to USMNT camp. Why you have to actually break in, if you are good enough, is another issue. Reyna does play for BVB's U19 team. If he gets into the first team, he will be called in too. That is the reality of our player pool. PSV has no injury crises, he did not make the bench for a cup game against a 3rd tier side. He did not make the bench for a dead rubber UCL game. He worked his butt off, proved he was at the level. The Mexican team that just crushed us 3-0 started a player from PSV. In any case, he was a stand out at the last U23 camp, which alone is enough. Don't worry, your boy Roldan won't be dropped. Gregg has spent too much time teaching him the System to drop him now.
Oh, you went there, huh. He's not my boy. I'm ambivalent about Roldan. One day he's one player, the next he's another. That's reflected in the ball-winning stats. That's the reason I used to like him. I want ball-winners for the cm, and he had no glaring weaknesses as corroborated by Whoscored's objective evaluation. He warranted a shot from extended club excellence in a respectable league. His call-up was unnecessarily delayed, he couldn't handle the pressure and declined, it appears. But he had played well off the bench in the last couple of competitive national team games. So he didn't warrant dropping. Now he does. You adjust w/ enough new info. That doesn't exist for Ledezma. I'm not one of these people who has joined a continental tribe or has boys and am trying to lock in my roster years ahead of time and then just blindly sticking w/ those guys like this is my fantasy team like some seem to want to advocating for Ledezma and Mendez call-ups. If they give you a reliable sample, then great, pull the trigger. But you're acting like he's arrived as PSV 1st team standard because he's played for the 2nd team, has no goals+assists against a non Jong side, and now got a circumstantial call-up. It's exactly like Haji Wright. The only difference could be what he does with the opportunity. Why be deceptive to try and make your point, man? He's physically immature, could get roughed up in CONCACAF, and hurt his confidence. Don't know if it even helps you long-term, let alone short. Are you going to give our manager a free pass if he doesn't beat both Canada and Cuba because he picked another poor roster/lineup, just for different reasons? I somehow doubt it. I certainly won't. Then I definitely want him gone.
??? What point are you talking about? I answered a question about his presence on the bench and the reasons for a possibility he will be on it the next match too.
Exactly, and I used your account as corroboration that the reasons he may play for PSV's 1st team are circumstantial, i.e.: injury and red cards to competition; as of now. I was directing my comment about being deceptive toward Patrick, because he was disingenuously claiming unavailability of Ledezma's competition was not the primary reason for his call-up to the first team. If it was directed toward you, I would have responded to you in the thread in which it was originally made.
Ledezma does play in the Dutch 2nd division with Jong PSV. We've called up players to the full national team from the Dutch 2nd division recently. Andrija Novakovich for his debut when he was at Telstar for instance. I have no problem whatsoever if we do a little "casting a wide net" for these upcoming games. And yes, I have no problem if Ledezma gets into a USMNT camp and only plays a few minutes. Or doesn't play at all. Pomykal and Aaronson got a little taste of what being a USMNTer is all about. So no problem if its Ledezma or Mendez or whomever this time. Also probably depends if there's a U23 camp during the November window.