I thought I'd start a new one for 2011. This is where we track the progress of potential U23 and U20 players in MLS and abroad. We'll start with a list. U-23 MLS Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire) Bill Hamid (DC United) Michael Stephens, Brian Perk (Los Angeles Galaxy) Blair Gavin, Jorge Flores, Gerson Mayen (Chivas USA) Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes) Anthony Wallace (Colorado Rapids) Kyle Davies, Peri Marosevic, Brek Shea, Andrew Wiedeman, Josh Lambo (FC Dallas) Danny Cruz (Houston Dynamo) Dilly Duka (Columbus Crew) Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City) Abroad Miguel Ángel Ponce (Chivas) Isaac Acuña (Querétaro) Joe Benny Corona (Club Léon) Bryan Arguez, Tony Taylor (Estoril-Praia) Joseph Bendik (Sogndal) Mikkel Diskerud (Stabæk) Kenneth Di Vita Jensen (Hønefoss) Greg Eckhardt (VPS) Giuseppe Nazzani (AS Gubbio, on loan from Bologna) Jozy Altidore (Villarreal) Freddy Adu (Purgatory F.C.) Abroad Reserves Shawn Barry (LASK Linz) Jared Jeffrey (Mainz 05) Jamel Johnson (FC Fyn) Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin) Andrew Wooten (Kaiserslautern) Timothy Chandler (Nürnberg) Victor Sánchez García (Club Léon) John Paul López (Estudiantes Tecos) Martín Monroy (Tigres UANL) Omar Elmasri (Tigres UANL) Mario Ledezma (Chivas) Alexander Mendoza (Pumas UNAM) Michael Muñiz (Querétaro) U-20 MLS Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls) Tristan Bowen, César Zamora, Bryan de la Fuente (Chivas USA) Conor Shanosky, Ethan White (DC United) Moises Hernandez, Victor Ulloa(?) (FC Dallas) Davy Armstrong (Colorado Rapids) Francisco Navas (Houston Dynamo) Jack McInerney, Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union) Zac MacMath, Zarek Valentin, Kofi Sarkodie, Perry Kitchen (MLS draft) Stefan Jerome, Bryan Dominguez (Miami FC) Abroad Josh Gatt (SC Rheindorf Altach) Greg Garza (Estoril-Praia) Sebastian Troupe (Bærum SK) Alex Zahavi (Maccabi Haifa) Conor Doyle (Derby County) Abroad Reserves Parker Walsh, Joshua Smith, Zachary Steinberger (Karlsruher SC) Shaquille Phillips, Carlos Martinez (Energie Cottbus) Joseph-Claude Gyau (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) Terrence Boyd (Hertha Berlin) Bobby Wood (1860 Munich) Samir Badr (FC Porto) Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United) Alex Molano (Dinamo Zagreb) George Pantelic (FK Rad) Julian Stahler (Örgryte IS) Ventura Alvarado (Club América) Mario Arrieta (Indios de Ciudad Juárez) Edgar Contreras (Estudiantes Tecos) Cristian Flores (Club Tijuana) Víctor Garza, Daniel Navarro, Emilio Orozco, Moisés Orozco, Ismael Ruiz (Tigres UANL) Kevin Huezo (Pachuca) Ernest Nungaray (Monarcas Morelia) Justin Pérez (Monterrey) Roberto Romero (Cruz Azul) Free Agents of note Gale Agbossoumonde Korey Veeder Fuad Ibrahim U-18 These are players who are eligible for the 2013 U-20 World Cup (or even younger). Some of them will play at the 2011 U-20 World Cup. Victor Pineda (Chicago Fire) Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake) Jonathan Kempin (Sporting Kansas City) Diego Fagundez (New England Revolution) Zach Pfeffer (Philadelphia Union) Omar Salgado (MLS Draft) John Anthony Brooks, Jerome Kiesewetter (Hertha Berlin) Tyrone McCargo (Greuther Fürth) Matthew Dunn (FC Köln) Fabian Hürzeler (Bayern Munich) Ralph Smith (Kaiserslautern) Jason McGlothern (FC Nürnberg) Will Packwood (Birmingham City) Danny Potts (West Ham United) Cody Cropper (Ipswich Town) Jamie Reid (Exeter City) Joaquin Hernández (Indios de Ciudad Juárez) Bernabé Magaña Cisneros (Pumas UNAM) Jaime Frias (Chivas) Uvaldo Luna Martínez, Daniel Medina, Juan Pablo Ocegueda, Christian Rico, Jesús Rochin (Tigres UANL) Erik Sánchez (Jaguares de Chiapas)
And while Germany's lower leagues will be dormant through the end of January, Mexico was back in action this week, which meant that many YAs were busy. Goals: Ernest Nungaray Notes: Victor Garza debuts for Tigres U20, moving up from Tigres' Segunda Division team International U-23 Miguel Ángel Ponce – 90 minutes and a yellow, Chivas Tony Taylor – 31 minutes, Estoril Jozy Altidore, Isaac Acuña, Giuseppe Nazzani – dressed but didn't play --- Omar Elmasri dressed but didn't play, Tigres U20 U-20 Ernest Nungaray – 52 minutes, goal, Monarcas U20 Víctor Garza – 38 minutes, Tigres U20 Kevin Huezo – 26 minutes, Pachuca U20 Roberto Romero – dressed but didn't play U-18 Juan Pablo Ocegueda – 90 minutes, Tigres U20. Youngest starter on the team by almost a year and I think I've read he's a left back... Uvaldo Luna – 87 minutes, Tigres U17 Erik Sánchez – 71 minutes, Jaguares U17 Jesús Rochin – 3 minutes, Tigres U17 Bernabé Magaña Cisneros – dressed but didn't play, Pumas U17
We have some really strong depth in the youth ranks. The 2014 senior team may look a lot different than a lot of people are predicting.
I have looked before andI don't think he is, but on the good side he's been in the US a long time so the possibility of him having a green card are probably good. He maybe able to gain citizenship shortly after turning 18
Love the list. Not sure he meets the criteria but can we add Charles Renken, hopefully by this Summer he playing games.
Nope. He's appeared in very young YNT camps (U-14, U-15), but that's not proof of citizenship. It does indicate that the USSF knows about him and is presumably guiding him through the citizenship process. He's a '95 so he likely won't come into the U-20 picture until the 2015 cycle. I'm going to go ahead and track him with a little asterisk, I guess. Sure, he's on the list, just glossed over him when I typed it up.
Birmingham City U18 played a derby game with Aston Villa U18 on Jan 6, but it usually takes quite some time for City to post a match report. Anyway, Villa won 3-0.
Great job on this thread. How about Kevin Rozo of Millionarios in Colombia who was called up to a u-17 scrimmage? Michael Hoyos has chosen Argentina, but maybe Kevin Hoyos is worth following. Also Nicholas Gaitan at Argentino Juniors, who has been in u-17 camps.
If you can dig up information on them, feel free to post it here. From what I've seen, every single club from the Rio Grande to Tierra del Fuego has website that looks like a 7th grade project that received a C-, but only because the teacher felt bad for the kid. The only site that doesn't totally suck is that of the Mexican Federation, which has tons of info, although it's extremely clunky from an aesthetic standpoint. German and Scandinavian clubs tend to have the most helpful websites.
Great job. You can add Adrian Ruelas to U-20 Abroad Reserves for Santos Laguna. I wonder if he'll be able to crack the 1st team during the Clausura?
You can add Jonathan Top to the list of U18s in MLS, as he's been signed as FC Dallas' fifth homegrown player. http://www.fcdallas.com/news/2011/01/fc-dallas-signs-fifth-home-grown-player
The following players now have a contract and an MLS club: U-18 FW Omar Salgado (Vancouver Whitecaps) U-20 GK Zac MacMath (Philadelphia Union) DF Zarek Valentin (Chivas USA) DF Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo) DF/MF Perry Kitchen (DC United) U-23 FW Will Bruin (Houston Dynamo) FW Corey Hertzog (New York Red Bulls) The following U-23-eligible players were drafted, but need to make their teams: DF Rich Balchan (Columbus Crew) DF Bilal Duckett (Vancouver Whitecaps) DF Colin Givens (Colorado Rapids) DF Tyler Lassiter (New York Red Bulls) DF Demitrius Omphroy (Toronto FC) DF Chris Taylor (Portland Timbers) MF Cole Grossman (Columbus Crew) MF Ryan Kinne (New England Revolution) MF Jon Okafor (Chivas USA) MF Konrad Warzycha (Sporting Kansas City) I think our key U-20 players went to good places. Chivas USA has a very crowded roster and a lot of defenders, but few who stand out. It also stands to reason that Fraser is going to do a lot of housecleaning and since many of the mediocre players aren't "his" guys, when all is said and done Zarek Valentin could have a good shot at RB right out of the gate. Few GKs can come into the league and expect to start right away. MacMath probably won't be an exception, but at least he's in a place with an ancient stopgap (Mondragon) and a mediocre incumbent (Knighton). In a normal year, I'd half expect him to make a push for the starting job midway through the season (a la Sean Johnson), but his U-20 duties will make that difficult to accomplish. DC United needs so much help that Kitchen will get plenty of playing time one way or the other. Salgado was going to be a project no matter where he ended up. It's too early to say what his prospects for 2011 are given the current state of Vancouver's roster. At the moment, he's the only forward. The one pick I didn't understand was Kofi Sarkodie. He's going to a team that just signed Hunter Freeman and who also has Danny Cruz and Corey Ashe available at RM. It just seems like a strange allocation of resources for Houston and I'm not sure how they envision it all working. As far as the U-23 goes, it's harder to say. Our collection of 89 and 90 forwards is horrible outside of Altidore and Bunbury, but our collection of 91s and 92s means that adding Bruin and Hertzog to the pro ranks isn't so crucial. It will be interesting to see what they do anyway. It's good to see the list of incoming U-23s to be slanted towards defenders, at least in terms of quantity. I don't know if anybody from that group will be all that great, but I'm glad that a whole bunch will be in MLS. It would be great to see just one or two develop into somebody who can at least contend for a spot. At the end of the last season, the only U-23 defenders in MLS were Ike Opara, Kyle Davies, Anthony Wallace, Sheanon Williams, and homegrown players Bryan de la Fuente and Moises Hernandez. It doesn't look like our 89s and 90s have much defensive talent abroad (with the exception of Ponce...) so we're going to depend on the 89+90 MLS bunch and the current U-20 crowd. More competition is good.
Kofi to right mid? He plays as if he is one. Houston wasn't very dynamic and I can see Dom possibly thinking like this. Freeman can stop gap at left back also. Maybe he sees both of them switching and marauding constantly? Ashe is what he is. Good sub and stop gap starter. Nothing more. Cruz? Is he really any more than that also? He's got a work rate, but...
I think Cruz has the potential to be more than Corey Ashe. In his defense, his development curve has already exceeded expectations; he was definitely a reach of a GA signing, but he's doing better than several guys in the (quite strong) '09 GA class. He'll never be a very technical player, but he's more or less made good at the MLS level. The key is whether or not he can take the next step. (Which I suppose can be said about dozens of MLS players...) The thing about Cruz is that he started playing soccer very late. While it's correct to point out that his development was stunted because of that, the book closed on that aspect of his career long ago. The upside, in my opinion, is that he might be able to continue to improve later in his career moreso than the typical player. Part of the reason that 25 year olds don't magically get a better touch isn't that it's impossible to improve at 25, but rather it's unlikely that you'll suddenly gain an ability after trying and failing to do so repeatedly for 20 years. I guess it all adds up to me having a more bullish opinion on Cruz than most. Basically, I think his ceiling is an outer fringe NT player -- the kind who will be in a January camp or two, but never see any time outside of that. But these days, you can win MLS titles on the backs of outer fringe NT players. Of course, there's no telling if any player will reach his ceiling. Let's hope he doesn't wind up on the Robbie Rogers Hamster Cage career track. If the Dynamo see Sarkodie as an elite RM, then I guess it would make sense to grab that talent off the board. It's just that the Dynamo have more pressing issues that need fixing than the Cruz/Ashe tandem and there were other good players available. The selection of Sarkodie only makes sense for them if they think he's markedly more talented than the available forwards and whatever else they need.
He played at Akron as if he was one. Akron vs Oakland and Buffalo he didn't need to play defense. Why all this Kofi Sarkodie can't play defense just because he hasn't narrative. Is he physically unable to play defense due to lack of quickness, is he too stupid to understand and learn the basic concepts of how to play defense, does he have a bad attitude to simply not want to play defense insisting, 'hey I'm an attacking player'? and not want to work hard playing defense at the pro level? A resounding no on all accounts. He is physically gifted strong and quick. He is uncommonly smart with a 3.8 GPA. I wish I did that well. He is respectful, articulate and humble during interviews and by all account a great team player and teammate. Of course he'll need sometime playing defense against stronger, faster, better players just like everyone that was drafted and not quite up to professional soccer demands. Let's not do a 'Brek Shea' on him and insist he is a midfielder when by all accounts his skill set could be USMNT special as a RB, not a RM. He can probably play RM the same way Marvell Wynne played some RM becasue of his speed, the same way Brek Shea can play WM, the same way average skilled players can play in MLS and play well but in no way can make the jump to be uncommonly special at the International level.
I'm just trying to make sense of it. Somehow. If Freeman plays on the left it clears a lot up, but having signed Freeman there has to be some plan in Dom's head. It's hard for me to see a head to head for right back with Freeman with so many other needs, as others have pointed out. I think Sakordie is in a good situation with Dom, and while I don't doubt him as a person (how can I?) I have as a fullback. Dynamic yes. A fullback I trust? Eh. Most were gaga over him as lil as 6 mths ago then something happened. TR agrees with me, but as I said in another thread, that could be a bad thing, as TR and D are not a good match. I guess there is time for more moves of course and I'm sure something could happen. Who was the left back for Houston? Maybe Freeman is going there. As for Cruz. Yea. I know his story out of Vegas. I agree that he has come far but I'm not sure how much further he can go. He was very pedestrian in his approach (understandable), and it made him easy to defend. Hey, no one said someone isn't going to get cut.
I have a question about Salgado. He won't turn 18 until Sept. 10, and under current FIFA rules players who are playing outside their home country can't begin playing games until their 18th birthday. Obviously, this is a potential roadblock in getting Omar the games he needs to stay in the mix for a roster spot on the '11 U20 team (both qualifying & the WC). I'm wondering if FIFA would grant a special case exemption to the rule, inasmuch as Canadian 1st league soccer has been effectively integrated into the U.S. league (MLS). If FIFA doesn't buy this argument I suppose Vancouver can loan him to a U.S.-based USL club.
I was about to say the same thing. The question I have, though, is will he maybe be available in the reserve league? I know that college players can play in the league and not lose eligibility (or something to that effect), so maybe Salgado can play for the reserves and still be coached by the Whitecaps staff until he can sign in September?
I believe there is an exception. Fuad Ibrahim, for example, had no issues moving to Toronto and seeing the field. In fact, he was still 16 when he scored his first MLS goal while playing for Toronto.
Although it hasn't been officially announced yet, some sites are reporting that Sean Cunningham has signed (or will sign when he turns 18) with Molde. He's a left-footed defender who is listed as a '94 by USSoccer, but I think that they have his birth year wrong (it wouldn't be the first time) and he is actually a '93. So together with Gatt, there are now 2 young Americans at Molde.
Vancouver shouldn't do anything to send Salgado anywhere. FIFA does not take precedence over Canadian sovereignty. If Canadian law allows Salgado to work there, then FIFA can jump in a lake.
Josue Soto, an '89, and Alex Dixon, a '90, have signed homegrown contracts with the Houston Dynamo. http://www.houstondynamo.com/news/2011/01/dynamo-offer-contracts-academy-players