Man-Child Back to School

Thanks for posting the link.

Say it with me now: With the first pick in the 2006 Major League Soccer SuperDraft, CD Chivas USA selects Marvell Wynne, defender from UCLA and the adidas Elite program.

 

This guy is smart and he has his priorities right.

Education + Soccer > Soccer. Unless you get a million dollar contract that degree will pay dividends for the 30 years AFTER you hang up your boots.

 

No he's not and either are you if you go with that logic. You can always go back to school. I hope he plays oversea. What can Chivas teach him? if anything he learned from the U20 experience. The development program in the US is nothing like the S. Americans and Europeans

 

I agree...you can always go back to school if soccer doesn't work out. But you can't get your prime athletic years back once they've passed you by. This is a valuable time for him, and if soccer is his career goal, he ought to seriously consider going pro now.

I think he was being coy with that comment. I'm not saying he won't go back to UCLA, but I do think he is very interested in the offers coming his way.

 

It's still strange to me.

Look at some of these names that have been thrown around for Feilhaber:

- Hamburg
- Hertha Berlin
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Borussia Mönchengladbach
- Real Betis
- Espanyol
- Mallorca
- Ajax
- PSV Eindhoven

Even if only half of them are legit it is still pretty damn impressive. And Wynne stirred up at least as much attention in the press, probably more. He just wants to play things cool with a safe and diplomatic answer.

 

There is one thing different between Benny and Wynne--Benny has everyting ready. The only thing he needs is that the playing experience. In contrast, Wynne needs to learn a LOT of things technically and tactically. Benny is closing to be a starter in first team.

 

Not necessarily. Its all on the person to decide. I know if I stopped school right now to go do something else. Nothing in me would ever be able to bring me back. Im sure hes the same way, yet on the other end of the arguement theres others who are more of the do it when i say it type. Like i said it depends on what type of person you are, and im sure hes going with his instincts and staying in school.

 

Only if he changes his name to something Hispanic

 

Marvello Wynnez? i don't think a name change will be necessary. he's got the physcial attributes that someone will take a chance on him, but i agree that he's not getting the same looks as benny because he still has a lot of work (mostly technical, but some tactical) to do. it also may be that whatever inquiries he's getting are involving only nominal financial benefit to him and that he's hearing about all the risk that they would be taking as a negotiating tactic. not surprising if his response to that would be to want to return to school where he is loved, ... and also possible that he's using the threat of returning to school as his own negotiating tactic.

 

Like Matt Taylor?

 

I don't disagree with this. However, Ellinger overlooked Marvell once before and I don't see him suddenly admiting he missed one with the 17s. He'll pick one of his current or former Bradenton boys like Jacob Peterson Nathan Sturgis.

Of course, this assumes he isn't canned before the draft!

 

fixed your post

 

Nah, just anything Brazilian will do as well.... Chivas fans love anything Brazilian -sounding..

Marvellinho Wynneiro...

 

The Univision/ Telefutura PBP announcer Pablo Ramirez, apparently under no pressure from his employer to get the Anglo names right, referred to him as "Marvin Wine".

That's Spanish enough.

BTW, I think he would learn from Hans Westerhof, though I am not so sure about John Elinger. My hunch is that he will make himself available for the MLS draft early 2,006 and then field offers from here and abroad. Right now, the Euros have no reasons to be generous with their coffers.

 

It's a matter of when, not if, this kid gets serious European offers. If we get to watch him for a while in MLS before that happens, no complaints here. No matter who selects him, he starts from day one, and probably starts dominatng shortly thereafter.

 

I thought Marvel played very nicely, too.

But I admit to being confused. What is it exactly that makes Marvel an automatic European selection?

I'm not being a wise guy. I'm genuinely confused. Here's my perspective: My son has a young friend who was a nationally ranked age-group sprinter last year. If you take the national ranking that this boy earned for the 100 meters last year at his particular age group, and you seek out the man in the 17/18 year old group who had a similar ranking in 200 meters, you get 21.98. (The logic is slightly weird but I think reasonable.) I believe that Marvel ran about 21.8 in the 200 meters. So ... this kid would appear to be something like a 12-year Marvel, right down to the strong physique and slightly above-average height.

This boy is also relatively technical (if not brilliantly so) soccer player, since he has been playing the sport year around in a travel program since he was 8 years old. This is the only sport that he plays competitively.

Yet - I don't get a sense that anybody regards him as potential future national material. His club coach likes him but I don't hear raves. He made the State ODP team but he never got a sniff at the Regional level. Nobody is saying, "Man look at that kid, he's just too much physically for anybody to handle."

I guess what I'm saying is that I hear about Marvel being a unique physical specimen, so good that other teams have to take him. There's gotta be more to the argument than that.

 

He said in the interview that he was never able to attend the regional ODP camps.

 

I think that you need to read my argument more closely. This isn't about whether Marvel attended regional camps.

 

Ah...you were referring to the other kid. Sorry for jumping on you.

 

To do a player justice, you have to describe more than just his running times. I think the thing people loved about Wynne in the U-20 WC was the almost force-of-nature aspect of his game. The way he used his speed to chase down attackers who were well past him. The way he inexhaustibly charged upfield to join the attack. His build. His determination. It was eye-catching. American soccer fans are a bit insecure about the athleticism of our soccer players compared to that of other American professional athletes. What Wynne did was a kind of perfect eye candy for them.

And I say that not to diminish him because I was impressed by him, too. But it's like praising players who can dribble and show composure on the ball, which Americans sometimes think is a bit rare in our brand of soccer. It's eye-catching. One watches it and starts to see a bunch of possibilities. And based on what I've read about youth soccer and ODP, catching the eye is the only thing your friend's son should have cared about at tryouts. Not a fair system of evaluation at all, it seems, so you have to play into it. Wynne did, whether he knew it or not. That's my guess.

 

Thank you. This is exactly the type of answer I was looking for -- plus, I think that you might be correct.

None of which should demean Marvel's achievement. Give him credit, he played on the highest World Stage for his age group, and he did just fine.

Trust me, there are many more potential Marvels out there, somewhere in the system, if people want to hunt them down. They might not be much good for becoming our future #10, but you could probably build a pretty nice back line with those guys.

 

I would argue that as a player there is a lot more to Wynne's game then just speed/strength. I thought he positioned himself well, made-for the most part- excellent challenges, passed the ball out of the back decently and showed great footwork in tight space and under pressure. The only partof his game that I would call sub-par was his crossing. Now I know there are those who would disagree with this assesment, but thats why I thought he was a no brainer pick up for a mid level Euro team looking to bring along a serious prospect.