Could Cavan Sullivan be our Lamine Yamal in WC 2026?

As with most leagues there are players that fit that narrative but lately there are players playing with S American teams getting called in from MLS and looking good. Messi himself had no drop off. It's not the best but keeps improving and showing it may be good enough in certain situations.

 

¿Qué?

I'd say that Messi has had quite a bit of drop-off from his professional apex.

 

Well he won player of the year when he first came. He has dropped of course but MLS wasn't the cause and he still plays for Argentina.

 

Cavan with a late appearance again. Once again while Philly was blowing out an Eastern Conference rival. Philly now in playoff position, which looked unclear a little while ago.

PACE from Cavan Sullivan, leaving O'Toole in the dust.#NYCFC #DOOP #MLS #NYCFC #USYNT

📹: MLS/APPLE pic.twitter.com/0WiGe0Vyfh

— José Roberto Nuñez (@JoserNunez91) September 19, 2024

 

Cavan Sullivan nearly gets his first career MLS goal from his brother Quinn's pass. 👀 pic.twitter.com/IsKM4z8BwX

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 23, 2024

 

If you take Pulisic and add Donovan's intelligence, it looks like this kid.

 

Very far from "nearly".

 

Cavan Sullivan whips it in to Frankie Westfield for the lead 😮‍💨❕ #DOOP pic.twitter.com/XlLPueq10q

— Philadelphia Union II (@PhilaUnionII) September 23, 2024

Cavan Sullivan (‘09) today:

35/38 passes (92% accuracy)
1 assist
4 chances created (match-high)
2 big chances created
2 shots on target
2/3 successful dribbles
6/6 long balls
2/4 tackles won
9/13 ground duels won (match-high)
3 fouls drawn (match-high)
8.6 FotMob rating (MOTM) https://t.co/2XgNhj5X4n

— American Ultras Talk (@ameriultrastalk) September 23, 2024

 

Not nearly as athletic as either. Might be a better player but I doubt it

 

His power and placement with both feet from distance is highly advanced.

 

Based on what?

 

How well could anyone remember exactly how athletic Donovan or Pulisic were at 14 years old? If there's footage of either at that age it's probably very limited.
Certainly we don't know how they looked against pros, because we have no data points there.

 

Yeah hard to really judge the athletic ceiling of a 14 year old playing against players much older.

 

I saw some footage of Pulisic at around U15 and he was tiny and not very athletic (Haji was already pretty big by then). I saw Donovan and the U17's at Dallas Cup but he was at least 16 by then. Way too soon to know how fast and quick Cavan will be. A better measure might be his brother but even then brothers aren't identical.

 

Also what does “athletic” mean? Not as quick acceleration? I could believe that

 

There are variables and opinions but since all three are of a similar size (unless Cavan keeps growing which is likely) and positions I agree that it's quickness and speed. There's just no way to compare a kid Cavan's age with kids three or more years older as he will get faster and stronger. For his age he seems very quick and fast and just outran a 17 year old while bodying him in his last game. Don't know where he ends up but I think his athleticism will end up near Donovan and Pulisic.

 

certainly. just wouldn't be surprising if he isn't quite as quick as those two since well they were/are basically near the top of quickness and speed in 10-20 yard increments.

 

Not quite what you're looking for.

 

I was wondering who Cavan Sullivan stared at after putting in this delicious FK delivery (game-winning assist)
-This is what happened ~ I sound like a broken record at this point, but again; the confidence at 14 y/o is amazinghttps://t.co/zTBs5i7c4O https://t.co/p3NAjfnHpx

— The Next Wave (@_TheNextWave_) September 24, 2024

 

I will say that Cavan is progressing faster than I thought he would. From the highlights and reports, it seems like he's become a pretty good, influential player at the MLS NextPro level. I think a good plan for him for 2025 would be to be with the Philly 1st team full-time, get more regular sub appearances, get a few starts when they have injuries, international call-ups, or cup games, and then go play in the U-17 or U-20 WC.

Then in 2026, we could see if he's ready to be a regular starter for Philly, or maybe he moves in that January window to some City farm team in Europe, since he'd be 16 at that point.

 

There's Pulisic stuff out there but I've never seen any Donovan anything until 2000, even missed his tour de force at the '99 U17's because I wasn't even aware there was such a tournament back then.

I'm baffled by the anti-Cavan energy. It's so odd. It's obvious how much potential is there, as for the pace thing, I don't know, Donovan was always insanely fast, and just filled to the gills with stamina until the last year or two, Pulisic has that quick twitchy explosion of pace thing....I don't know if Cavan has that, but the clip from the the weekend's game where he earned a free kick showed his physicality and acceleration.

I just find the haterade on him odd. There's some paranoia that he's getting Adu'd, when he's clearly and obviously not getting Adu'd, and there are definitely out there people who want to be first having negged him, if he doesn't hit as a stud. It's so so so odd to me.

He's got to handle the mental makeup piece, the physical piece, continue to grow as a player and avoid career destroying injuries. It's still a long way, but as a 14 year old now turning 15, he's right on schedule for where he should be as a future star. May not happen, may happen, who knows, but the weird issues some people have are quite odd to me. He's a so far, so good, quite clearly, with his crazy ceiling, and floor. He's actually ahead of my schedule anyway, I didn't expect him to be playing professionally at all until the end of this season or '25 at the earliest and he beat that by several months and looks fine out there and better. It's a weird kind of fan rorshach test to see some of the tweets, posts, and what not about him.

 

Anyone know what's going on with that U17 World Cup? I haven't even found anything referencing concacrap qualifying, let alone the tournament itself. It's quite odd.

 

I found this article on FIFA's official site saying that Qatar will be hosting the now annual tournament every year between 2025 and 2029 (which seems stupid to me...but whatever). I'd guess that means the tournament can't be in the summer?

 

Sounds reasonable to me, too. I take back the potentially "colossal mistake" comment about Cavan being full time with the first team next year, although I am still pretty weary of that possibility.

I don't see him being dominant in MLSNP being such a bad thing and still might prefer a few hundred minutes there, a few hundred (or maybe more) with first team, and a big role with the U17s or 20s for him next year.

 

Throwing your teammates under the bus in public isn't a good thing. Not a good look for Cavan or the people praising it as a positive.

I hope this fuels Vazquez instead of him going in a funk over this. He's an outstanding prospect in his own right and should have been given opportunities from the big club already.

BTW, I don't think that's a good set piece. Looks like he was shooting, but it was redirected. (this has nothing to do w/ Cavan's ability for those who need to put themselves into camps).