Hypothetical: US World University Games Roster?

i'll go ahead and throw out a couple more names. i am a little bit biased, but what about

alex maslow, jr, gk, furman
clint dempsey, jr, mf, furman

both had outstanding years last year, and both are deserving to be considered for this fantasy team. sandon, have you seen either of these two?? what do you think??

 

whoa, to say that maslow would not even get considered is a bit much. have you seen the kid play. he is amazing in goal. he helped furman to 11 straight shutouts (16 for the year) and over 1,100 consecutive shutout minutes. not to mention that he can put the ball wherever he wants with his drop kick and he can easily land the ball in the other keeper's box. he is one of the main reasons that furman did well in the tournament last year.

im not trying to be rude, but have you ever seen him play, or are you going simply by what you read/hear?? come down to greenville this fall and watch a game with me. this kid really is special.

 

Matt Haefner, Jr., GK, Penn

Third Team All-American last season is another GK who would merit serious consideration. He should be mentioned in the top group.

 

Aren't Haefner and Violante set to go to France to train for a couple of weeks this summer? I read it somewhere but forget the exact details, that tends to happen this time of year. Grading 65 papers and 120 exams written by college students can leave me a bit loopy.

By the way, isn't Erik Violante a French citizen, so he'd be on their team? Ben Dawson, formerly of Penn State, played for Great Britain in the University Games a year or two ago.

I will admit that I haven't seen all of these guys play but here's a lineup I'd like:

GK - Noah Palmer (Maryland)
D - Chris Wingert (St. John's)
D - Erik Violante (Penn - if he's not French)
D - Leonard Griffin (UCLA)
M - Ned Grabavoy (Indiana)
M - Adolfo Gregorio (UCLA)
M - Justin Moose (Wake Forest)
M - David Wagenfuhr (Creighton)
M/F - Dom Mediate (Maryland)
F - Knox Cameron (Michigan)
F - Chad Severs (Penn State)

I will admit my extremely heavy bias, these are just some kids I enjoy watching.

 

Sandon/Hax:

Violante is a US citizen so would be eligible for the US. His father is Portuguese and his mother is American.

I would certainly recommend Haefner for inclusion the World University squad/pool. He is an outstanding goalkeeping prospect who has a bright future ahead of him. Unfortunately for him, he is not as well known because he didn't come through the ODP regional/national circles, but he is a top level goalkeeper.

Hax, you are correct regarding this summer. Both Haefner and Violante are going to train in France under the 21-day "tryout" rule in the Ivy League. They are set to train with Sochaux who is currently tied for fourth in the French Ligue 1.

With that said, you've got a good list going. Keep going!

 

Sandon and B.Fuller-

Thanks for clearing things up on Violante. And who needs a defensive midfielder? Palmer was actually a goof, I had no keeper for a while and meant to go back and add Haefner (I like what I saw from Penn last year) but for some reason added Palmer instead (must be my Maryland bias). I am not high on any of the keepers actually, there wasn't one that sticks out like in previous years, though my criteria also included that I've seen my selections play at least once, I don't like going off word of mouth.

 

hypothetical: US world games. i would add the following forwards for consideration; Joseph Ngwenya Coastal Car., Antilla Vandeigh, ODU, Matt Taylor, UCLA, and Antou Jallow, Wisc. Mil. unless they have left college and i missed it. i think you build any team from the back first, however you must put the ball in the net and these strikers can all finish and have scored in "prime time".

 

Back to the goalkeepers. I for one do think that Furman's Maslow would at least merit consideration. Of all the college keepers I saw last year, he was the best.

He's uncommonly agile and is a tremendous distributor of the ball.

In the games I saw, I would rank him higher than then-Senior Josh Saunders (now in MLS). While I agree with Sandon that there are a number of qualifed keepers, I had the definite impression that we would be seeing Maslow in MLS after graduation.

 

I saw Cronin against Canada in the U-20 WCQ in South Carolina and I wasn't impress at all. He didn't look good on 2 of the 3 goals Canada scored. By the way Canada won the game 3-2.

I'm pretty sure Maslow is a very good GK, I don't know too many GK who can go for 11 consecutive SO. That's very impressive. I think that he doesn't get the recognition because he is playing with Furman, and this board isn't pro-Furman. This board is pro-ACC. Maslow need to get some recognition for what he accomplish last year and he's a former HS All-American.

Yeah you have a lot of good GK in the the NCAA, but this kid should at least get a look by your U-20 coach.

 

Goal Keepers

I haven't seen Alex Maslov play since High School, but he was certainly an effective keeper then. His obvious strengths at that time were his quickness and the distance he could get off his kicks.
The Goal Keeper position is so different in development timing from the rest of soccer positions that mistakes in assessment can be made.
Quickness is the "boutique" skill of keepers. Not to be under or over rated, the keeper that stops shot opportunities, rather than stops shots, has a lot going for him. Cutting off crosses is, in my oppinion, as valuable as shot stoping skills. Distribution strength means you can receive, hold under pressure, and accurately pass to a team-mate; kicking 60+ yards is only a sttength if it's accurately to your own team.
Many goal keepers convert some of these skills in combination with strong teams in front of them, into fine gaa.
Three years ago, I would have said Alex was way too small to be effective at higher levels, but Jon Busch may have given him at least a look!

 

You have to give some props to Ford Williams.

 

Re: Sandon

hey Sand on ur butt, maybe Cameron would have scored 2 more goals in his last 5 games, but are you also suggesting that he would have gotten 5 more assists. That is highly unlikely. And for Thompson at least 4 of his goals came from penalty kicks.



ps: quit swingin on the ACC's nuts

 

hypothetical hypothetical

hey terps rules, go easy on sandin hisbutt. in a hypothetical, he is perfectly within bounds to play "what ifs" to support his hypothetical. remember sandin limits his research to east coasters, national teamers and all conference selections. don't confuse him with PKs, prime time goals, scoreboard or tourney success. look at his original list; he only picks 13 ACC players vs. 6 pac 10, and 5 md. players vs.2 UCLA. i count about 10 of his picks that would have it tough getting play time at UCLA, Cal or Stanford. how's that for a hypothetical.

 

starting 11

first off, sandon, what are you thinking by not starting cochrane. He and chad marshall are the best two college center backs in the country. To start a no name from maryland is just foolish. If you have ever seen cochrane play, he is a force on the field and in most people's opinions should be a candidate for the herman trophy next year. I realize you would like to see new talent in your starting line-up, but if it is shutouts you want, cochrane should be starting.

Next, Cronin is the best option in goal. As for the Furman kid, you can't say that furman kids don't get looks, look at recardo clark, he was a furman kid and he has some of you guys on your knees. About Cronin's Canada game, he wasn't at fault for any of the goals and you obviously didn't see him against el salvador where he was clutch in the last 10 minutes to put the us through to the cup. By the way, he played the whole qualifying tournament while at the same time suffering from mono. One more point, he was voted the best goal keeper in the 20's tournament in spain and that was against opponents from brazil...italy...spain.etc....and he was a year younger. WHat do you have to say now, who else has the same international experience and has proven himself on a high level since he was 15?

 

ps- frank sanfillipo? are you f***ing serious. Have you ever even seen this kid play, all i can say is that naming him to the starting 11 is a joke. Bold statement sandon, bold. try tyson wahl.

 

And your team....

It's intersting all the comments Sandon's team generated, of course that's what he hoped for. I also noticed that none of those commenting put forward a team of their own to defend. It's always easier to destroy than to create.
The comment that 10 of these players would struggle to start for some west coast teams is a loose cannon type swipe. I'm very bias toward Maryland and their players but if any of Sandon's guys transfered we would probably find room in the first eleven for them.
I didn't pick a team because I know I haven't seen enough players throughout the country to defend my choices. I would probably have taken a couple UCLA guys and maybe one from Stanford and then filled up the team with ACC and east coast guys. Why, because those are the palyers I saw actually play last season. I've enjoyed reading the comments and this have been a very good discussion filled with regional bias as most threads tend to be.

 

Here are some of the best returning players from West Coast schools including Creighton.

GK Steve Cronin- Santa Clara
RB CJ Klaas- Washington
CB Chad Marshall- Stanford
CB Ryan Cochrane- Santa Clara
LB Leonard Griffin- UCLA
RM Adolfo Gregorio- UCLA
LM David Wagenfuhrer- Creighton
DM Aaron Lopez- UCLA
AM Memo Arzate- UCSB
F Mike Munoz- Cal
F Alan Gordon- Oregon State

Bench:
F Matt Taylor - UCLA
F Julian Nash- Creighton
CB Troy Roberts- Cal
LB James Twellman- Stanford
AM Gabe Sturm- USF
DM Scott Burcar- USD
D Edwin Miranda- CSUN
F Hector Orellana- CSUF
GK Zach Wells- UCLA

 

Sandon, why not have Grabavoy in your team???