There's been a long term trend of bids being turned down for mid-career MLS players who had signed extensions. Those players then subsequently never make a move abroad. So the Reggie Cannon contract was encouraging. Most of the Brazil 2018 WC squad weren't in a top-5 league at 18.
Reynolds is already better. He is physically superior after having his growth spurt. He may be the next guy to hop overseas. I call him into the next usmnt camp and showcase him in Europe. The guy is not far from Alphonso Davies...a physical freak attacking back with crazy acceleration and speed for his size. He has good feet, good vision, and can whip a ball in on a dime.
Mueller is a possibility. He's 24. And remember that the age limit for free agency has come down from 28 to 24 in the new CBA.
Have any details been released on the final signed version of the CBA? I wonder what concessions the players made after not having signed the damn thing before the pandemic hit.
Fully endorse this sentiment. Starting 18 year old left back in MLS, and has been one of Atlanta's most consistent players. 1323077944441511943 is not a valid tweet id
It was put back a year. The PA seem pretty proud of it so I don't think there will be a problem. https://mlsplayers.org/resources/cba
In what has been a season of big struggle and upheaval for Atlanta United, George Bello has provided the franchise a rare bright spark in 2020. @CJSmith91 details his breakthrough.— SCOUTED (@scoutedftbl) November 2, 2020
Bello has been one of the bright spots for AU this season and I think the article was a pretty fair assessment of his strengths/weaknesses. So young to be getting so many minutes... He is certainly a LB w/ real potential for the USMNT in the next cycle. Another, albeit older, US LB who has taken a giant step forward this season is Sam Vines. Earlier this season... I had pretty much written him off as a non-factor for the USMNT... but he has had a very strong 2nd half to the season. And he continued to play well yesterday against Seattle... Not only did he have a great assist... but he was heavily involved w/ the Rapid attack on the regular and consistently helped the team keep the ball near the sideline. Really nice performance. He is starting to really climb my U22 boards. The Rapids have something going with him and Bassett (yet another goal!). Must see TV right now as they fight for their playoff lives. My big down on Sunday goes to Jim Curtin... down one in a game he needs for the Community Shield and he subs out Santos for Burke? Santos has been their best goal scorer of late... and Burke is not even an average striker IMO. Then you pull Aaronson too? I understand giving your players rest but he kept these guys on the pitch quite a few times this season when the game was no longer in doubt. I hope the Union don't lose out on their first trophy because of this.
Good news here................... Hearing Bryan Reynolds has cleared concussion protocols and is good to go.Also I love this BBB picture. pic.twitter.com/SkUCnlaAgJ— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) November 2, 2020
Kid is a beast. He has already come such a long way since the beginning of the season considering the change of position.
You know its 2020 when the senior Mexican national team coach is calling a backup keeper at RSL. 1323781808710918145 is not a valid tweet id
All teams are doing their due diligence. Even teams that once frowned upon the idea of calling up diaspora players now do so.
Here's an effort in the twitterverse at a lineup of US U20 eligibles in MLS this season. These are players born in 2001 or younger. Other than CB, some really nice progress in this group. You wouldn't necessarily expect many 18 year old CBs to play. George Campbell of Atlanta got into a game. We can move Araujo to the other CB slot and start Reynolds on the right. U20 YNT feeder-league @MLS wrapped up its long regular season yesterday. 37 US U20-eligibles (incl. two US U17-eligibles) logged PT this season, for a total of 13,512 minutes. Here's the full list and what a lineup, based on MP, of those who played >90 mins would look like: pic.twitter.com/pdSKQ1yNVc— We Are Being Overrun in Midfield (@OverrunMidfield) November 9, 2020
It isn't all that unusual to not have U20 options getting minutes in the MLS at CB. Not many teams out there that are going to start teenagers at that spot. Just takes more time to develop... both physically and w/ respect to skill. But have to be heartened by the rest of the list. I think Reynolds might be my new favorite on the list. FC Dallas had a tough game to close it out but it wasn't due to Reynolds. I have seen so much growth for him as a player during the course of the year. In the last two games he has been hitting a ton of accurate long balls that make me think a move to CB might be a real possibility... but I am still intrigued with the idea of having him at RB as he would get to show his O skills a bit more and I do love the whip on his crosses.
Sands is eligible for the Olympic team, but not the U20 team. [The Olympic team is usually a U23 team, but since it was delayed a year its a U24 team this cycle. Not really a "youth" team.]
Now that we've had 2002s capped by the full USMNT (Musah, Reyna)................we look to the 2003s. The closest is a player actually performing at the MLS level. Caden Clark. He made quite a splash debuting for New York this year. 1328187587681464323 is not a valid tweet id
Panama scoring there isn't that unfair to us. We've been quite awful in all phases in the second half, both with the starters and the subs.
And they salvage the second half with that goal. Great piece of work by two subs, Ledezma to Soto in their debuts.
Whats the deal with Donovan Pines? He's a 22 year old 6'5 defender who starts and has chipped in 3 goals. Both ASA and WhoScored have him highly rated but I don't see him mentioned outside of @IndividualEleven team of the weeks.
We've discussed him quite a bit on the youth boards. Really good season. Overshadowed by McKenzie. Probably one of a number of options for the upcoming Dec/Jan camps. Right now we'd list him as a possibility for the U23 CONCACAF Championships team. But with good play he could push himself to a bigger role in the summer of 2021.