I was just wondering how many if any of you guys know who this kid is. He's the best goalie I've ever played with/against. That might not be saying much but won the golden glove at an adidas event last year. http://www.usysa.org/mediacenter/N/41484_E.html He's also on the 84 region II ODP team, and is getting a full ride to South Carolina next year. He helped bring his high school team to the state finals in Illinois this year, and they didn't have any business there so it was basically him carrying the team. His club team finished second at nationals last year. I'm not sure what else he's accomplished, but that should be enough to grab anyone's attention.
To the best of my knowledge he has never been called up to a youth national team. His birthday, according to the USYSA stuff given out at the Snickers national championship tournament in Maryland last year, is 9/9/84. So, the only youth national team's he's ever going to be age-eligible for are the current U20 team (83 and younger) and the current U23 team (81 and younger). The current U20 cycle has about 2 months left in it and even less till Thomas Rongen names his roster. Rongen appears to have settled on Santa Clara's Steve Cronin as his No. 1 'keeper with UAB's Clint Baumstark and North Carolina's Ford Williams fighting it out to be Cronin's backup. Other 'keepers he's looked at are Maryland's Noah Palmer and UConn's Adam Schuerman. So, for Guzan to make the U20 team, he'd have to leapfrog 4 of the above goalies in the next month and given that he has yet to be called into a U20 camp and Rongen is reducing, rather than expanding, his player pool as he gets closer to the World Youth Championship (which starts in late March), I'd say Guzan's chances of being a U20 national teamer are pretty slim. That leaves the U23 team, for which the aforementioned players are age-eligible. That means at best he's currenty 6th on the depth chart. But, the U23 team has the Dallas Burn's DJ Countess as a clear No. 1 and DC United's Doug Warren as a clear No. 2. At best, everyone else, is competing for third on the U23 GK depth chart. Besides the U20 goalies, you've got San Jose draft pick Josh Saunders, Curt Spiteri of the A-League's Portland Timbers and several other MLS rookies like LA's Joe Barton and Dallas' David Comfort, PLUS, the 5 aforementioned goalies from the U20 pool. On top of that, there are some other 81s/82s who are in college who are proven at the college level who would have to be considered for a spot on the U23 team before Guzan, like Wake Forest's consensus All-American Will Hesmer and SW Missouri State's Matt Pickens, an Academic All American and All-PDL first teamer, both rising seniors. So, Guzan would have to not only beat out the goalies in the U20 pool but a handful of young professionals and the top seniors in college and do it by the summer of 2004 to get a sniff of the youth national team. I'd say the chances of that are very slim. Even if he has a blinder of a freshman year, the chances of his performance resulting in a callup to the U23 just aren't very good. Sadly, he's could be the next Kasey Keller - and I'm not saying he won't be; in fact, I hope he is and I don't doubt that he's good - and he won't be eligible for a youth national team for most of his college career. That says as much about the current system than it does his ability but that's a debate for another day. (There really should be a program for these late bloomers who are not ready for the senior team but too old for any youth national teams). So, if the kid is all that, the first time we'll likely see him in a US national team uniform is after he's turned pro and makes the senior team.
Guzan was with the U18's (o.k. it would be an U19 USNT since it was made up of '84s and '85s) in Chula Vista last month.
Washington DC-Area bias Sandon - Knowing from your posts that you are from the DC Area (Georgetown), you shouldn't limit your reference points on US goalkeeping pool by including Maryland's Palmer and Virginia's Comfort. Palmer is regarded by many (college and club coaches) as an underachiever in college and Comfort getting drafted in MLS must have been the grace of god (or Bruce Arena) because he appeared to be the weakest of all the goalkeepers in the ACC this season. His major error in the ACC final became the straw that broke UVA's season this year. I find it hard to believe that either were even considered for the U-20s or U-23s (where age eligible). Your posts are usually well-thought and informative, but you also need to stay as unbiased as possible. I appreciate the fact that you do attempt to mention the west coast and midwest as often as possible, but you would probably hurt your own credibility mentioning names like that. For the record, even the terribly shamless George Gelnovatch rated Guzan higher than both of the earlier mentioned goalkeepers, and included him with his US team in Chula Vista in January after Guzan's Region II team gave the US Cavaliers...er, U-18s..fits.
Re: Washington DC-Area bias Please. Sandon's recap of the youth keeper situation is dead accurate. Noah Palmer trained with the U-20 National team last year. He also played regularly with the U-18 NT in 2000/2001. He's been part of the program for a few years. Comfort was drafted by the Dallas Burn. The U-23 keepers will be professional players. IIRC, Sandon posted on the college board that he was unimpressive at UVa. Guzan has little chance to make the U-20/U-23 National teams. FWIW, Guzan shouldn't have been allowed to train with the U-18 NT either, but that is another post.
Re: Washington DC-Area bias Actually, Guzan was already in camp with the U-18s when the Region II team beat them. I seem to recall that he was in goal for the US in that match. He's of a brawny build and demonstrates a lot of intensity. I see him as a good college keeper at USC. Curiously, his club team has used him quite often as a defensive midfielder in big games.
Re: Re: Washington DC-Area bias Maybe that's one of the reasons he's rated so highly. In today's game keepers have to be more adept at handling the ball.
Correct. He played both a sweeper and a central mid position. He would push up to forward if they were losing, like my junior year when my team creamed them. Sorry, I had to toss that in there. He's a damn good field player, but a large part of that is his size ( 6'3" 220.)
I really really doubt that he could play the field at that level. He might have a shot as a keeper. The main reason I started this thread in the first place is that I don't know all that much about the elite youth players, and was wondering is any one else could give me an idea if he had a shot at making it.
I have a crazy idea. How about setting up teams in different cities across the country and having them play each other every week? Think that would help those late bloomers. I hear that's all the rage in Europe. Sorry for the scarcasm, but there's no need for a "late bloomers" program when you have a league. Sachin
first of all, Guzan is no late bloomer. He's been a phenom for his club, Chicago Magic, since he was like 10 years old. He plays with great intensity and can play any position on the field. He's a great keeper because not only is he very big and strong, but he's smart, quick, and agile. Guzan might not ever make the national squad, but he will be a very good college player, at whatever position.
An athletic keeper with good foot skills would probably put him near the top of the goalkeeper pool if he gets noticed by the right people. College will be fine for him, and if he does well, the attention and accolades will come.
Being a "phenom" for the club is very freaking hard. Ned Grabavoy, considered by some to be the best player the club has produced, wasn't even really considered a phenom because he shared the field with C.J. Klaas along with a slew of other talents. Sorry to be off topic, but I've played with the Magic, and I'd like anything that's said to be as true as possible.