It's about becoming a pool player. Nobody thinks he's a starter, but in the US top 30? In the top 5 or 6 Wing Forward/CM playmaker group? He's already a top 3 playmaker centrally, and I'd put him in the top 6 at WF for u, at worst top 7 (what makes it more nebulous for us is that we have multiple strikers (though 2 of them are injured right now) who can play wing forward as well. But again, he's basically a skeleton key attacking player, he can give you the final pass, he can break you drown through the dribble, he's an excellent ball striker and finisher, and he's slimmed down a good bit since looking like a teenage flintstones kid back in '21-'22. In terms of performance #'s, as a U20 he was a machine (age 18/19 when playing with them), 11 goal contributions with the group, hit the post and cross bar alongside Cowell probably a good combined 4 or 5 times at that tournament (maybe that's my frustration talking). Broke out as an age 19 MLS player with 8 goal contributions in around 15 minutes including 2 playoff goals in '23. This year the sustained breakout in his age 20 season happened with 17 goal contribution in 2600 minutes. Nobody is saying he's a breakout superstar right now like say Cavan or the kids we've got at Dortmund, Pulisic and Reyna back in the day, but he's literally checking every box since his age 19 and 20 seasons in '23 and '24. He should have been called up to the olympic team and that was an absurd snub, and he should have been called up this fall to the senior team and that was a lesser snub but still, to some degree, a self-defeating decision. I don't know if you guys are actively recruiting him, but you sure as hell should be. He's one of the best U23's in our set up in terms of CM/WF prospects bar none, and a singular talent in terms of his skill set. I don't know if he thrives in your set up, but with all the issues you guys have had developing your late stage teenagers the past seven or eight years, he's a perfect pool player to bring and develop within the team structure. I am praying that doesn't happen, but I wont blame him if he chooses to switch. This doesn't have the feel of Araujo or Vargas or Ochoa who got the love and call ups at every level and switched anyway, he's been a bit screwed with in '24, and I get if he's frustrated after having broken out non-stop since May of '23, only to not be called up for practically anything in '24. Hopefully a January call up will help assuage hurt feelings but who knows, maybe he just says he "needs a break" like he did last march and that's a wrap. I'm paranoid at this point, I admit it, but its because he's a guy we can't afford to lose.
He's already doing the job now. I fully expect him to go to Europe, but his club breakout has basically been 2023-2024, in those kinds of situations, as long as they avoid signing stupid extensions, they usually leave age 21-22 if they aren't brought over at age 18ish. Regardless, through his play in MLS, 25 goal contribution the past two years, he's earned the call up.
Anisse Saidi just scored in AFCON U17 Cup of Nations... https://www.philadelphiaunion.com/unionii/players/anisse-saidi/
I'm sure we can go thru all of the roster threads for the last couple of years. I'm sure all of these people criticizing Berhalter for not picking Nathaniel Brown were adamant about his selection in 2023. One thing I've learned since we hired a world class coach in Pochettino. The board is still bitching about player selection, so will bitch about anything. Literally anything.
People here weren't thinking about EITHER Kristoffer Lund vs Nathaniel Brown in 2023 because thinking about obscure second division dual nat fullbacks is NOT THEIR JOB THEY GET PAID MILLIONS TO PERFORM, genius. If this tweet is correct, Berhalter WAS thinking about Lund and Brown, and having discussions with Lund and Brown, and called up Lund and not Brown. And in 2024 (that's one year later), Lund is not playing at all in the second division and not getting called up for important games on a 26 man roster with only 2 fullbacks, whereas Brown is scoring at a rate of "one goal per start" in the first division. That is NOT GREAT in terms of talent evaluation, something that even IQ 50 simpletons surely can't dispute, which is why you're not doing so and instead... BLAMING RANDOM PEOPLE ON AN INTERNET BOARD?? 1855668995644342431 is not a valid tweet id How f*cked up do you have to be even attempt to divert attention to random unpaid people on the internet with zero power, to shield the guy whose actual job it was to do something? Even Baghdad Bob wasn't that shameless.
Even the best talent evaluators aren’t perfect though. Brighton has been as good as anyone at evaluating and developing talent in recent years, and they let Viktor Gyokeres go for a million pounds 3 years ago. He’s now one of the hottest strikers in Europe, and likely to be sold for 50-60x what they sold him for. Also, when you flip out over every mistake, but never give credit when doing things well, you lose a ton of credibility.
no one would have thought 6 years ago that Jedi would be one of the best left backs in the Premier League or Johnny have an impact in La Liga
All USSF/USMNT officials must be perfect talent evaluators. They're held to standards nobody in this industry is. Its just never-ending negative blathering. And because there will always be players overlooked for the national team who end up better than anticipated, these twitter and social media experts will all have more to bitch about. For eternity. ad infinitum. Cuz, guess what? They're not actually fans of the USMNT. They're fans of their own whining about the USSF and USMNT staffs. It doesn't even matter after we hire a world class coach like Pochettino. He's incompetent because he didn't call up a dual-national flavor of the month like Diego Luna.
6 years ago would be a stretch, but from the jump everyone saw what Jedi could be potentially, and Johnny's been supposedly a big target for a wide variety of big 5 leagues for at least 2-2.5 years. Neither of these things are really great examples. Even if Johnny's been largely whatev's with the USMNT, the perception of him in the European scouting community was a prime target for teams, particularly in Serie A and La Liga. Both were pretty clearly well thought of prospects.
Efra Alvarez is doing better in Liga MX than he did in LA Galaxy. He wasn't even getting on the field with LA Galaxy.
I mean I have no idea how good he’ll be but we’re talking about a player who has started a total of two first division games.
Do you believe what you type, or do you just always decide to argue against any and every perceived criticism of the program? Even after T&T in 2018 and not making the WC you simply went after anyone who criticized the program and you haven’t let up since.
Brown's top speed from the last B2 season would place him in the top 25 of this season's B1. It doesn't take a genius talent evaluator to understand pace.
Yeah.... I watched his last game and the kid can run. The USMNT is in dire need of athletes w/ pace. I am still a believer in Wiley's star potential as well so things at LB/LWB are looking up in our pool IMO.
What about the rule that a player can't play a competitive game after he turns 21 if he wants to file a one-time switch?
The hype for these dual nats is that we don't have 2-3 other young LB/CBs doing what Nene and Anrie are doing right now in the Bundesliga. Paredes and Wiley have been injured, Josh Wynder still trying to break into Benfica, Justin Che hasn't yet panned out in Europe, and Lund has been benched in Serie B.