MLS academies are doing excellent all around! Not bad for a league that added academies just a little over a decade ago.
Day 2 Games Lyon vs. NYCFC: I thought that Cooper Flax ('04) did a respectable job. He's playing up a year against a powerhouse European academy, and wasn't one of the worst players on the NYCFC team. He was playing as a #6, and for the most part, was able to circulate the ball from deep and make a couple of defensive interventions. He looked like had a good passing range and defensive instincts, but he was a little slow and physically weak. I think against his own age group this wouldn't be against an issue, but he was playing up a year, so it gets exacerbated. It was somewhat reminiscent of what you'd see from James Sands in the NYCFC first team. Nothing else of note. We've now seen two years in a row that the best NYCFC academy players play in the U-19's. River Plate vs. RSL: Chris Garcia ('03) has elite speed on the wing, and very good ball control. He's capable of dribbling inside or outside. One thing I like is that he's always looking to create an attacking chance when he gets the ball. You can coach a player to make better decisions, you can't coach a player to be more talented. The rest of the game needs work, but there's definitely high level talent there. Brennan Klein ('02) has put in a few nice performances in a row in goal for RSL. I don't know if he looks like a great prospect, in terms of tools, but his play in the two games has stood out. West Ham vs. FC Dallas: Most of the usual suspects played as expected. FC Dallas was the better team in this game, but West Ham did a great job counter-attacking, so they ended up winning 2-1. I thought Dante Sealy ('03) was slightly better in this game than the first game. He drew some fouls and wasn't losing the ball as much. Ricardo Pepi ('03) didn't look as dominant as one might expect, but he scored a PK in the last minute of the game. The two CB's and RB, Justin Che ('03), Nico Carrera ('02) and Cristian Escribano ('02) didn't come off looking too good on the goals. Bad defending, and the lack of Diego Letayf ('02) showed up on these two goals, IMO. LA Galaxy vs. Penarol: I saw a lot of people complimenting Kobe Hernandez-Foster's ('02) performance in this game, but I am going to take a different view. I thought he was too loose defensively. The whole first half he was caught up field every time LA Galaxy lost the ball. The LCB should've been red-carded with the amount of challenges he had to put in defending counters because Hernandez-Foster wasn't back to defend. They eventually took the LCB out because he was on a yellow, and moved KHF to LCB. He did better in the second half with his positioning, but he was partly culpable on the corner-kick goal. I like his attacking play and athleticism. He had a nice assist, but he needs to work on the defensive side of the game. I haven't seen much from Jonathan Perez ('03) at RW in a few recent games I've seen of him at the position. He's not a winger. Move him inside to CAM, and develop him there. Even as a #10, I'm not sure he's earned the reputation that some want to give him. Mauricio Cuevas ('03) played well. A little defensively naive at times, but nothing too bad on his part, and going forward he was excellent. Tremendous technique for a fullback. Adam Saldana ('02) didn't stand out in a holding midfield role. I've soured on his game this season. He wasn't bad in this game, but you'd expect more from a player who has been a starter for the U-17 NT for large stretches of this cycle. Atlanta vs. Ulsan Hyundai: Very little of note in this game. Efrain Morales ('04) came off the bench. He played as a roaming CM, and added little. His passing wasn't very good. It was hard to tell if he didn't have a good passing range or if he had an inaccurate game with his passing. I thought it was the latter, but I'd need to see more to make a more accurate determination. I thought he showed good composure on the ball, and moved well for a 6'1-6'2 player. He could've done better with his defensive positioning, but it looked more like he was asked to run around the field as a box to box midfielder in this game than a defensive midfielder. Midtylland vs. San Jose: I thought Casey Walls ('03) had a bad game. His passing wasn't sharp, and his defending wasn't good. Gilbert Fuentes ('02) played better than what I had previously seen. He had a lot of good ideas to advance the ball forward in midfield. His combination play was very good. I still don't see more than average passing vision, which I think is problematic for a player who plays his style of game, but he did score a goal and was one of the better players on the field. Very little from Cade Cowell ('03). I'm not sure why he's on an MLS contract. He has talent, but he's very raw. He probably shouldn't even be playing regularly at the U-19 level. He'd be better off trying to be the best player in the U-17 team.
Maybe that lack of intelligence to play on the defense is due to the fact that initially he was a striker and then he became a defender for some reason, but I share your opinion that Kobe on offense looks much better than when he defends.
U15 final ends 1-1 after extra time between TFC and Chivas. TFC player walks up to hit the final penalty to win it all......and Chivas keeper saves it to force extra penalties. Chivas then score and TFC misses again and Chivas win. TFC played well in tournament. It sucks as a supporter to think "somehow they'll blow it" and then it comes true.
He's definitely a work in progress, but he is technically good, athletic, and seems to have a good attitude, so hopefully he'll improve his defending.
That's just tactically how the Galaxy academy plays with Kobe. They give him a lot of freedom and he pinches in almost as a CM when the ball is on the right side of the field.
I'm encouraged TFC didn't win kick and run style using physically mature players. They beat 4 Mexican squads playing the right way. Hopefully those players will continue to progress.
I was surprised by the great improvement in the Canadian academies (and football in general too). Toronto, Vancouver and to a lesser extent Montreal are working a lot with their youth. It is a great sign for Canadian football and why not for the United States, as players like Akinola, Odunze or Cambridge (were or are) players in the Canadian academies.
The Canadian academies have done a good job the last few years. The bigger problem has been the bridge to first team minutes and lack of Canadian pro opportunities.
Seattle 0 Valencia 0 HT. The announcers keep saying "the best two teams in the tournament." They should be saying the best team in the tournament (Valencia) and leave it at that. The gulf is enormous. Almost to a man, better technically, better tactical sense, much better movement off the ball, much better timing of when to press, and when to surround a Seattle player. With the score 0-0 I suppose anything can happen, but it's like two ships passing in the night, with several Valencia players destined for 1st team La Liga play, and Seattle players- ????
Really?? It seems evenly matched to me. Lots of longball from both teams. And AOC misses an open net.
As a parent of a GK I have to admit playing out of the back at all cost is bad for my heart..well done Sounders!
Wow.. what a game. Valencia had more of the chances but Seattle wasn’t too far behind them. I came away impressed with AOC, Leyva, Atencio, and Serrano. Especially Leyva showed true class at the end consoling one of the Valencia players at the end, that kid already looks like he’s going to be a star
I still think Valencia is a better team, but ... they lose to Seattle 1-0 in OT. Despite my view I have to give Seattle props for having a great mentality and never backing down. It is a nice accomplishment to finally have an MLS team in the final, and then win it.
I dunno they played twice with both teams splitting 1-0 wins. Nothing really stood out to me that would identify Valencia as the vastly better team. If anything a few of the Sounders players stood out as the best players on the field.
Seattle looked the better team in the first half. 2nd half on was Valencia with it opening up for Seattle in the final minutes.
Re-ranking the teams: (1) 1. Sounders - Champs and beat some world class teams on the way. Leyva and AOC were solid and probably managed to live up to their hype. Tactically showed flair and pragmatism without any weaknesses on the pitch. Moving Atencio to CB could be genius, but we'll have to wait and see. (2) 2. FCD - Played admirably and flashed depth of their academy not only at Dallas Cup, but also in MLS this weekend. Pepi was strong and showed that there is not much, if any room between him and AOC on the U17 depth chart even at a year younger. Escribano, Carrera, and Che were solid. Rodriguez better than solid. (3) 3. LA (could also include Efra) - Also played well. Dunbar solidified himself as a super sub in my book and Kobe was terrific, certainly putting a bid in for a starting spot for the US 17s. (4) 4. DC - Very good top end talent with some young players as well. Nyeman and Kayo are high ceiling types of midfielders and Dipietro is a classy attacking player. Fuentes and Paredes are nice. Yow wasn't there, and I want to see more of Lindgard in the back. (NR) 5. Vancouver - I didn't watch them but they must be good... (9) 6. Columbus - Tactically still one of the best run squads. Berhalter's imprint is still working, and players like Wolf, Wolff, and Sarver are very talented. (6) 7. NYC (once included Reyna) - Not a great showing, but they showed some quality how they were trying to play. They also had Gray and Scally playing in Dallas Cup. (NR) 8. Toronto - The little bit of them that I watched, they were pretty good. (NR) 9. Chicago - Showed some real potentially while bringing a group of players mostly playing up an age group. (10) 10. SKC - Freeman is potentionally a great player. I didn't see much else, although viewing was limited. (5) NR. Union - A little bit of a disappointment this competition. I didn't watch them much, so maybe there's more than I saw. (7) NR. Atlanta - Didn't show much... Bello could be there of course, but you can see how playing with this team is not what he needs for his development. (8) NR. San Jose - Fuentes was good. Others disappointed.
The Valencia players overall have a better understanding of time and space, have better off the ball movement, and are better technically. Seattle's competitive desire and perseverance won the day. Yes, Seattle has several individual players who excelled, but overall Valencia is a better team, and their best players will eventually play at a higher level than any of the Seattle players.
Not sure at all. On average their players will play at higher levels, but none of them was so impressive that you can say that they'll play at higher levels than the best Seattle players. That was a solid starless Valencia team.
I think you're right in the overall assessment, but I think that Seattle showed they are capable of sticking with Valencia. Considering the relative levels that these two squads are used to competing at, the fact that Seattle was basically right there was exciting. I don't think that the gap in quality, understanding, etc. was something that could not be made up with more time in intense environments. Whether or not USL and then MLS are the right places for that, I'm not sure. I do think it can be in a lot of situations for a lot of players. I might disagree with you in that I think the gap in player quality was not about talent, but more so about pedigree, and that is not exactly something that translates over the long term as players wind through their career. Just look at the growth that Seattle showed from the first Valencia meeting to the second, and that supports the theory that this Seattle team would be every bit as impressive if they had similar experiences/opportunities in terms of training and competition. This was a big event, and I think that is a major takeaway -- even as the process of creating this environment is already well underway.
It's up to MLS and it's individual clubs to seek out the highest levels of competition to challenge its academy teams. This sort of tournament is invaluable. It should be 3-4 times per year rather than once. Players learn there is no margin of error unlike playing in the D.A. The Whitecaps and Impact have multiple academy teams in Europe this week at various tournaments. FC Dallas and a few other clubs often play in international tournaments. But they all need to do it more often.
Valencia players were crying after this match, shows how important this tourney is becoming. Give it another few years and the best academies in the world will be begging to be involved every year. Obviously Adidas sponsored clubs will be involved but this is on its way to be like a quasi academy World Cup.
Check out @ChuckMe92Soccer’s Tweet: Three US U17s claimed the top individual GA Cup awards. F Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez was awarded the Golden Boot, DM Danny Leyva the Golden Ball, and Whitecaps GK Chituru Odunze the Golden Glove. Would predict them all to be on the U17 qualifying roster. https://t.co/0XKAV1osC0— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) April 21, 2019
It also shows that the step-up to even USL from U-17 is step. Seattle's U17 won the GenAdidas Cup over teams like Valencia's U17 team, but the Tacoma Defiance where a lot of these same players play professionally are -19 GD in USL Championship through 8 games.