I watched the U-17 tournament from February this week. I thought they weren’t as bad at this tournament as what the results might suggest. I thought the last U-17 cycle was a lost cause very early on because the players weren’t there, as well as the results. I think this age group has talent, although the coaching so far with this ‘04 age group has been horrendous and I think the lack of a coach is affecting player selection. The big revelation to me at that tournament from a US perspective was Zach Booth ('04). I thought I had seen him play a number of times with RSL, but he looked like a different player than what I had seen previously. I think I might’ve mixed up his jersey number with another player at RSL because the difference was stark. Or maybe the kid has just improved a lot this season. The way I see it, he’s a similar caliber prospect to his brother and one of the better players in this age group. He plays a similar style to Taylor, but is more of an offensive type of player that tries to get box to box. Taylor is more of a holding midfielder, but the differences are incredibly minimal IMO. Among the others I hadn’t seen play before, Caleb Wiley ('04) was the only one I liked. Good athlete, the rest of his game is average across the board, but that should play at the pro level, considering he’s a LB. Not a high ceiling, but maybe something like a left footed Jaylin Lindsey could be a likely outcome. I didn’t mind Kobe Henry ('04) either. He’s adequate on the ball (dribbling and passing), good mobility. Has defensive questions and also might be a CB/RB tweener. Jordan Jones ('05) held his own, which is better than some others, and playing up a year is impressive. I don’t think Antonio Leone ('04), Evan Rotundo ('04) and Dantouma Toure ('04) will be stars, but all are good players, and show it rather consistently. Federico Oliva ('04) has the Reyna starter kit of size, speed, athleticism, dribbling and combination play. I’m not sure he’s as good technically with passing and shooting, but he can play anywhere in attack. He’ll be a valuable player this cycle for his versatility, even if he doesn’t pan out as a high level pro. The goalies are the least of the problems this cycle. I’d merely like to see more of a competition because I don’t think anointing Gabe Slonina ('04) as the starter so early on is the best idea. But he’s not going to be the reason why this team is bad this cycle, if they are. I don’t mind any of the non-Leone CB’s used at this tournament, but I don’t think it was a good mix for the roster and tactically the non-Leone CB’s were awful. Who plays next to Leone has been a big problem since this age group started their YNT careers. I think there’s some talent and depth in the pool of CB’s, but the coaches have to put a better product on the field than they’ve been doing.
I think Rotundo has a chance to be a star long term but he has to bulk up. When you are slow and weak you are going to struggle no matter how clean you are on the ball. I also agree that Booth stood out at this tournament. I think the 8 spot will be a toss up between him and Rokas Pukstas although I do not think that Zack is as good as Taylor who I think is an exceptional player. I would like to see Jeff Dewsnup be given a shot in goal and Nigel Price or Brandan Craig get the start next to Leone as I think they are the next two best CB's for this cycle. Caleb Wiley is good enough for this cycle but the left backs are weak compared to the 2002's, I don't see Wiley becoming better than Bello even with Bello's consistent injury issues that have hurt his development.
I don't see it. He doesn't have enough of an offensive impact right now for me to think as the players he goes against get bigger, more athletic and more physical that he'll be able to have any type of positive offensive impact. Physically, he already is struggling against his peers, which limits him to an east to west style of football. He rarely is thinking N-S, and making an attempt at the goal. He loses all foot races, and is one of the smallest players on the pitch. He brings nothing from dribbling and minimal creativity. I think that's the the real key here. There are plenty of players at this level that are undersized and mediocre athletes, but they try to make plays offensively. It might not always succeed, but they have an aggressive offensive approach. Rotundo doesn't. He plays a very steady game with his passing and soccer IQ. He can play some very good switches, and he weights passes extremely well. He's excellent at shuffling side to side to provide outlets for his wingers, and to provide overloads in numbers. He's a very good complimentary player. If you can fit him in the team to play a key role in the half spaces of the width of the field and to be a key component in possession in the 25 meters before the penalty box, he will have a good impact on the team. At higher levels, I don't know if there's such high potential. He's also only 15-16, so he might develop physically or athletically. If he can, he'd be much more suited as a #8 than a #10. Or if you use him as a #10, its not as a final third type of #10, its as a deeper-lying #10. I think he has a very high floor and will be a good player, even if he doesn't develop in these regards, but I don't see him as the type of player that right now looks to have the potential to be a big star in Europe.
The biggest improvement I think he can make to get to the next level is the recognition and movement into pockets of space off the ball. Something that someone like Brendan Aaronson is fantastic at. If he can check his shoulder more to help plan his actions before he turns with the ball he can be lethal. His ability to plan 2-3 steps ahead doesn’t look like it’s there yet which is pretty common for his age, Gio Reyna didn’t have that quality at this point either. In an age group with no real super star prospects he easily has a top 5 floor among all of the 2004 attacking prospects.
I have to say I disagree. I was having this exact discussion (about his movement) with someone recently, and we agreed that one of the areas that sets him apart is how he makes threatening runs off the ball into open space. In fact, I think along with his passing vision that his soccer IQ (areas like seeing plays develop a step ahead, having a feel for where players are on the field, having a feel of what situation calls for what movement) is top notch. With Reyna, it's hard to say if that part of his game wasn't there or if it looked like he lacked a soccer IQ because he knew he could play a selfish style in youth soccer. I remember this discussion was had many times here on this website because what you said was something that a lot of people saw. The seamless transition he's made into the top level of football in Europe makes me think it might've been the latter.
Just a few. But every time I'm ready to be impressed and every time that's the same YMNT/MLS talent. Neither the highlights above are super impressive. Not sure that he is a better prospect than younger Aronson from what I've seen. Do you have any links to some of his better games?
I don't think the highlight video is well put together. They look worse when good plays go onto the video as opposed to only the great plays. It spaces out your mind too much instead of seeing about the 20 best highlight plays in a row that a player made during the season and that makes a player look more talented than if you see a variance of great and good plays. Someone like @watke or @ShaftBrewer would make it look more professional because they make so many of them. It's a lot harder when it's not done by someone who does these videos on a regular basis. Paxten Aaronson is not much above being a complete non-prospect level of player. If his brother wasn't a hyped player, I nearly guarantee that no one here (aside from maybe one or two) would have even heard of the kid. Sullivan has already been promoted to the U-19's at the Union, meanwhile Aaronson is still with the U-17's, despite being a full age group older. They aren't comparable players in almost any sense, aside from playing the same position. Here are two games. The second game is spread out over three links, as the feed went down a few times.
It happened to be one of the games that I've seen. Gomez had a very poor second half, but he is at a different level, Sullivan not that much, and Aronson is a pretty good for no prospect. Both keepers were good.
Here is my breakdown of the 2004's: https://chasingacup.com/a-breakdown-of-the-2004-age-group/ I'm expecting debate over the next three posts so bring it on
I don't know how good Sanogo is (never seen him play), but his goal scoring numbers are very good, and he's playing against older competition already. This can't be bad, even if he's not that good. Expand the pool, and see how he stacks up. If he was going to be at the cancelled camp, I suspect he'll be at a camp not long after play resumes. 1250136142835585024 is not a valid tweet id
Great work on this article. I see a few new names that haven't been to camps before so I'd like to see how these players respond before commenting on strengths and weaknesses. I'm in the camp that thinks US Soccer has continued to bring some players in their camps longer than they should have. Some outstanding youth players fizzle out around the U15/16 age groups and some rise out of nowhere.
The pool will change in huge ways over the next year and I'm going to be publishing a player ranking page as well as a u17/u20 depth chart page to report on it. Prospects rise and fall out of no where so it should be noted continuously. An example is that I rated Quinn Sullivan at the top of that age group for a while but then he has gone on a complete cold streak and has not shown up on the stat sheet a lot this season which I think a player of his caliber as a 10/winger should be. it will be interesting to see who rises/falls. i think Evan Rotundo will fall the most over the next year.
https://www.soccernation.com/qa-wit...R_AXZx_D3jMzVaLFGPtQQbwnWWn70WKpgLIYXe7zL6D3U Soccer Nation interview with Evan. Looks like he will be going to Europe this summer. The part I like the most: "Soccer in the US is getting better, but everyone knows that Europe is where players should go if they want to continue to push themselves and develop.” Smart kid.
What is everyone’s starting 11 and depth pieces for this cycle? I’d love to hear opinions on this. ussoccer97531 has voiced his opinion and backed it up well and I’d love to hear others thoughts as well
1-Brady(Slonina) 2. Clarke(Reynolds) 3. ? 4. Craig 5. Leone 6. Allen Rodriguez(Baker-Whiting) 7. Oliva(Sullivan) 8. Raines( Hot) 9. Sanogo 10. Rotundo (Valdez) 11. Yapi (Akalu) I don’t know enough about most of the defenders to come up with more than one I feel confident in. I could see Reynolds starting at left back. I’ve seen a lot of play from all the mids listed as well as most of the rest that are in that tier, and can see a lot variations but this is my best guess at the moment. If Sanago does not play with the US I could see Oliva up top.