Never had the slightest sign that Richardson wants to play for us. Don't know why, but all we can do is continue recruiting until he's locked forever more. He's one like Rossi, where I'm not gonna blame anyone for losing him. He never seemed in to begin with. Just need to approach this the same way every time: recruit hard, be able to get out of your seat, and say, genuinely, "We did all we could," if you can say that w/o any caveats. Whomever we lose, it aint on us. Like Rossi.
Richardson is another one for whom I think the loss of the 2021 U20 cycle may have hurt us. Maybe we could have established a relationship with him thru the USYNTs like we do with other foreign-born players (Dest is the best example). Or maybe if we'd qualified for the 2020 Olympics (played in 2021), he'd have been an option as well. I'd have to think about that pool. We had lots of good midfielders eligible for that team, but many wouldn't have been there. They'd have been at the 2021 Gold Cup. But I totally agree with you. I never really thought Richardson was coming our way. His comments about it were very ambiguous. And of course, the ASN piece spun them as if there was still very much a US option. They got all of these quotes about how Richardson's father wanted him to play for the States. Those were his father's comments, not Amir's.
Koleosho. Another one we might have been able to establish a better relationship with if the 2021 USYNT cycles weren't cancelled. In 2022 we tried calling him up to our U20s. Canada did call him up to their senior team in 2022, but he departed camp without a cap. Then Italy came in. He chose Italy U19s over the Canadian senior team. So that's where his mind is. By the way, to this date he's only appeared in 9 first team club soccer games. 6 for Espanyol and 3 for Burnley. So its not like trying to call him up to our U20s in 2022 was some sort of disgrace. In 2022 our mind was on the World Cup, not expanding the pool to teenagers that had played less than 10 first team games.
Kimbrough who recently signed a contract with Sac Rep as a 13 yr old and was MVP at the Bassevelde U13 Cup was just called up to the Mex U16's. As far as I can tell he's never been called by our YNTs.
To be fair he’s 13 so it’s not crazy that he’s never been called up by a US youth team. I’m sure he will in the future.
"In his time with Republic FC, Kimbrough was also selected to participate in his first U.S. Youth National Team ID Center last October." I don't know what this is, but seems US Soccer is on him.
At those youngest ages groups, we just have localized Talent ID camps around the country with USYNT coaches. According to the USSF, over 4000 boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 15 attended them in 2022 alone. Then we assemble from those kids the U15 national team that competes in the U15 CONCACAF Championships. Who won the U15 CONCACAF Championships in 2023? Well, well, well..........that was the United States. Just rampaged thru that event beating Mexico 4-2 in the final. The star was that kid Cavan Sullivan of the Union. Youth watchers think that kid can be special. That roster was all-MLS. Jude Terry of LAFC and Julian Hall of NYRB are also names you see mentioned a lot. Hall signed signed a homegrown contract. It's not easy to make our U15 national team. Kimbrough is a 2010. Our youngest player on the U15s was a 2009. What does it mean that this player was at a Mexico U16 camp? Nothing. It means nothing.
Yeah, sure, we beat Mexico 4-2, but if MLS had never been founded to ******** up our national team, we would have won 6-0.-bsky
Tim Ream did an interview with Cremaschi on his podcast. Talks a lot about his experience in camp and it sounds like he definitely enjoyed himself. Talked a bit also about his conversations with Messi about playing to Argentina which have mostly revolved discussion about Javier Mascherano (who is the Argentina U20 coach and who Messi knows well). https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...ionel-messi-as-a/id1576620650?i=1000628723088
I have to see the tactical side of his game. As of rn his an amazing 13-year-old but his 5'9-10. So we have to see how good is he with the ball. He still have 5 years before we can tell how good is he.
looks like tyler bindon is going with new zealand. A thread on Tyler BindonI spoke to Bindon this morning from England who acknowledged he has had interest from New Zealand and the United States (he played for the U.S. U-19s in 2023 under Marko Mitrovic). - Bindon has told me that his decision is to represent New Zealand1/ https://t.co/IwWmmH4jpD— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) September 25, 2023
Yeah, I've never seen him play, and he's young and might be on a steep trajectory of improvement, but it's long way from League 1 to getting USMNT call-ups these days. He might be good enough in a few years, but New Zealand offers him a much quicker path to senior team call-ups.
Don't know who he is, but both parents were national team players in sports for New Zealand, so it kinda makes more than a little sense that his ties there are strong. Good luck to him. I have no idea if this is a major loss or not, seems more speculative loss than anything.
Good question. We don't have a lot of CBs in the pipeline, so from that perspective losing a young player getting minutes at a European club kinda sucks. But I suspect -- at the risk of appearing on Freezing Cold Takes -- that this will ultimately be a Tyler Boyd-level loss.
It wouldn't take a few years, especially for the youth teams. For this upcoming u-20 cycle, he'd be our best performing cb to do date. Even for the last he'd only be behind Jalen Neal. For the Olympics, he'd surely be on the roster as of right now, maybe starting. I mean after Neal, we're having to look at overages, converts (Tessmann, Atencio), & borderline guys ala Campbell. Starting at CB for Reading when he's 18 is impressive. It put him on a good trajectory for one of our cb prospects. Though improvement isn't linear and not everyone translates. This loss hurts a bit, no doubt. It's not Julian Araujo-level, but just below that probably. Though I say this not having seen him. Just looking the resume, metrics, & listening to club fans. He could just be another Charlie Kelman though.
my best friend is a reading supporter, so ive kept tabs on him- 18, good size, left-footed, can play cb or lb, seems to be doing pretty well at obviously a lower level. theres no reason for him to be on anyones radar or getting callups now, its a matter of a very high potential youth cb when ive seen a ton of posts lately about how we are really weak in that area. alas...
Keep in mind New Zealand has also qualified for the Olympics. I mean, his mother played for New Zealand. 77 caps. His father captained the New Zealand volleyball team. This seems like one that was destined to get away. Can't win 'em all, and its hard to know what the likelihood of winning this one was. Would it have been nice to get another CB into our Olympic pool? Sure thing. Of course.
A potential dual national: There's a 23-year-old MLS star who just got his Green Card. He has already been called up to a Colombia camp but has not yet been capped. Won't be a citizen for at least 6 yrs unless he marries an American. https://www.newyorkredbulls.com/new...ian-defender-andres-reyes-to-new-mls-contract
https://x.com/magicalxavi/status/1707375177577996560?s=46&t=0uUUWA9pLK10W6ZLR14ASg Comp of Julian Araujo defending Vinicius Junior and acquitting himself quite well. He is one that got away, isn’t he.
No. He was always leaning El Tri, imo. His success is great for MLS, though. Araujo, Larin, Taty, Davies, Reyna, McKennie, Adams, Turner, Ream, Almiron, Paredes, Scally. The league including its academies is establishing a solid record in the Top-4.
In theory. He wrote a column about his heart being with Mexico that should have quashed all longing for him on these boards. While playing with the US, his dream was always to be with Mexico. For some reason, people still criticize the USSF for "letting him get away." The USSF and USMNT was very aggressive with him calling him "up" a U20 cycle and U23 cycle. Offered him a place on a Gold Cup roster that he turned down because he didn't want to cap-tie himself to the USMNT. We can't hold a gun to the head of players and force them to play for us. Worth noting that Araujo wasn't a homegrown academy signing for the Galaxy. They actually had to trade targeted allocation money to Colorado in order to move up in the waiver order. Just an astute signing of a young player that they then developed. Would we all like for Araujo to be in our pool? Of course. But you can't have everything you want in this world. He didn't want to play for us.