Now that we are qualified, it's time for a thread! Tournament is less than a year away! Ukraine is the defending champions, but did not qualify. Players born on or after 1 January 2003 and on or before 31 December 2007 will be eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team must name a preliminary squad of between 22 and 50 players. From the preliminary squad, the team will name a final squad of 21 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers) by the FIFA deadline. Players in the final squad can be replaced by a player from the preliminary squad due to serious injury or illness up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match. 24 teams will qualify, to be placed in 6 groups of 4. Top 2 in each group (along with top 4 3rd place squads) will advance to 16-team knockout stage. 8 of the 24 nations have already qualified: Indonesia (host), Honduras, United States, England, France, Israel (debut), Italy, and Slovakia. Sources: Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_FIFA_U-20_World_Cup Official FIFA page: https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/u20worldcup Sporting News page: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sp...tournament-indonesia/oqixiyrhr7crocl1cbl358wb
Just from a fixture congestion point of view, the U20WC likely overlaps with the 2023 Nations League in June. There's also the 2023 Gold Cup in July. And of course in 2023, those USMNT events should be "casting a net" events. Just thinking that a year from now there could be players in this age group in line for USMNT opportunities. And not just Pepi, Slonina, etc. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. We have had players at both a U20WC and a Gold Cup in a summer, but it isn't common. Adu and Bradley come to mind.
Good summary here. The problem with net casting next summer is the two biggest USMNT positions of need going forward, defense & striker, don't appear to have solid prospects in this U-20 cycle. And there's already a logjam at the U-20 position of strength, wingers.
Which way do people think we will go on the roster -- will we get players like Paredes? Pepi if he doesn't make the actual World Cup? Or will players like Aaronson or others have moved to places that won't release them and our team be less talented?
From my perspective: Really Unlikely Ricardo Pepi (Jonathon Gomez) Positive Kevin Paredes Caleb Wiley Obed Vargas Justin Che Brian Gutierrez Luca Koleosho (I have no idea how good this guy is, tho) Gabriel Slonina Were they held back or not called in? Moses Nyeman Danny Leyva Dante Sealy Owen Wolff Kayden Pierre Kobi Henry Guys we very well may lose Paxten Aaronson Quinn Sullivan Cade Cowell Caden Clark
I think it will depend on how many of these guys are good enough for either the Nations League or Gold Cup roster. We don't even know if the coach will be Berhalter or someone else, but whoever it is may not want to call in the full A team for either after a full European season that included a midseason World Cup. Paredes for instance seems like he'll be either on the Nations League team or Gold Cup. European teams should hopefully be more open to releases though it doesn't quite overlap with the international window (which runs June 12-June 20). European seasons will still be going when this tournament is starting. I imagine not every MLS team is going to want to release guys just as they weren't willing to do so for the qualifying tournament.
Really difficult to say. We have almost a full calendar year until this squad decision needs to be made, and a ton can happen within a player pool during that time. We also may have a different senior USMNT staff in 2023. So who knows what the strategy will be?
Do you think we prioritize a B team tryout in an off year Nations League or Gold Cup over the U20 World Cup? Let's use Paredes as an example. Let's say that he's doing well at Wolfsburg, but playing LW. He's not necessarily going to usurp our key wingers, so do you think we'd send him to a senior team in a Backup or in a B team version ... or would we want him to go a U20 World Cup. It's youth hardware ... but it's world cup hardware.
I agree with this take. I don't even know what competitions I would prioritize more right now myself, but I do agree that I don't think it's so cut and dry that some B team games against CONCACAF minnows is that much more attractive than the U20 World Cup. The U20 may be a youth tournament and I understand it doesn't really matter, but it certainly it more legitimate a competition than say the Olympics, and we would be playing some really good teams with real prospects. As opposed to what, a Gold Cup where games don't get even slightly interesting until the Final or Semifinal at best and a Nations League that most people still wonder why it exists?
Yeah, and I don't even think we need to play down the Gold Cup / Nations League hardware to make it a question. If we send an A team, a U20 guy is unlikely to play much, especially Nations League, which will be two games. If we do a B team (Gold Cup?), there's more time, true. But by sending a B team, there's an open question of importance with a World Cup. If other teams send B teams, there's reduced competition. And I think how many B team players you want to look at OVER age 20 will play a role.
Will Kobi Henry be an option in there? Just speaking personally, I'm not overly impressed by any of the defenders. I'll take Poster's Privilege -- recommending things from the safety of my keyboard without regard for collateral effects, difficulty of implementation, etc. -- and call for something like Wiley - Che - Henry - Cuevas on the backline. If Paredes becomes available that obviously complicates things a bit, maybe you stick him on the forward line.
It's hard to know since we don't even know who the coach is and what their plan will be for the Nations League or Gold Cup. We probably don't send an A team to both, but who knows which we prioritize or if some guys (like a Pulisic) just get the summer entirely off. The Gold Cup will also have some conflict with European preseason (though not to the extent it did in 2021). Part of it will also come down to what Paredes himself wants to play in. But generally I've always been of the view that the senior team should always come ahead of any youth team. The exception would be someone like Slonina who probably isn't starting in either the Nations League or Gold Cup, but would be for the U20s. I have nothing against Arriola or Morris for instance, but at the start of a new cycle I'd much rather see a Paredes with the senior team than either of them given that they aren't likely to be huge factors next cycle. The other thing is if Paredes is playing regularly with Wolfsburg they probably don't even release him since I don't think the season won't be done when the U20 World Cup starts.
Judging by the last couple WCs, I’d say that guys who are firmly considered part of the senior US team and/or are under consideration for substantial roles with their Euro clubs will not go to the u20 WC. But as others have said, it’s very hard to predict who from the current qualifying group will get Euro moves or who will get a shot with the senior team.
I read that Israel is going to be in this tournament. Given that Indonesia is a Muslim country, I am amazed that Indonesia is allowing that, given the Islamic world's hostility to Israel's existence.
That's old news. Israel has good relationships with most of the neighbors. Not sure what is Indonesia position, but for sure banning FIFA recognised country would cause automatic disqualification. That's FIFA tournament and their rules.
How about the Dominican Republic? The Caribbean country mostly known for being a Baseball power has just qualified for the U20 World Cup.
The coach for DR was denied entry into the country. He coached the team over the phone the last two games.
This is a non-issue. The Indonesian Minister of Youth and Sport and the Indonesian Football Association have said that any qualified nation is welcome to compete and that the Israeli team will be accommodated. https://en.antaranews.com/news/236381/israeli-national-team-can-visit-indonesia-for-u-20-world-cup
In regards to the 2023 Gold Cup, the GC the year after the WC has always been the more important GC. But with no WCQ next cycle, both the ‘23 and ‘25 GC will be treated with big importance. I hope the ‘25 GC is something like 8 CONCACAF teams and 8 guests that can get guaranteed player releases.
As much as I agree w/you on the valuation, what stuck out to me in '19 was how unusual it was that Weah asked specifically and scuttled his relationship with Celtic (and good for him on that count, screw that coach) to get an opportunity to play in that tournament. He really wanted to play despite having played with the mens senior team for Sarachan for a chunk of 2018. Sargent could have played with that team as well, but Berhalter kept him w/the senior side before sending him back to Bremen. My only question is really whether what matters is breaking in w/the US senior team, or breaking through w/his club in Europe? Would Berhalter and/or whomever is the coach then, automatically view him as above the U20's because of his playing time in Europe, or would it be contingent on his specific breakthrough with the senior mens USA team? I'm not sure. My guess would be that players getting serious minutes in Europe won't be going to the U20 Cup, Weah was an abberation, Sargent was the norm circa 2019. What makes it possibly different though is the simple fact that there are so very many guys ahead of these guys right now in terms of the USMNT, how many of them will be so good over the next 12 months that they can push other guys off the national team (barring injury). Personally I think Slolina, Paredes, and a couple of others like Pepi while technically capable of playing in the cup, probably won't. I think they'll be senior team promoted by next summer, but, I could be wrong. Who knows? It depends to me on what these guys do, and what players are injured and if they get worked into the team between the winter of '22-'23 and the spring of '23, otherwise I'd be nearly positive that they'd be U20 bound. What's most exciting for me beyond these tournaments is the possibility that we play in Copa America '24, the fact that it takes place in a non-Gold Cup year is huge, just got to pray that the Nations League nonsense isn't in the way circa mid June to early July 2024. But before that we'll have a great chance to really do some damage at the U20 WC next summer and that's really quite exciting, could we finally break through the QF brick wall? We'll see, we have to get there first, but it's an exciting group. Best of all, you can see a great mix of prospects here w/senior team potential, and B side potential and possibly more. I'm not sure any of this defense will be up for it beyond guys that aren't there like Che and Gomez, but I definitely think some of the CM's and Wing Forwards might be relevant and the keepers for once seem pretty legit (I haven't found any keepers convincing since 2007 other than Steffen in '15) too.