Much Adu........

Nothing new there. But let me get this out the way: I have a friend that has a friend that has a brother that has a girlfriend that has an uncle that says Adu is at least 17 years old.

 

way old news. AND you can tell by how tall he is that he's at least 32... insert more jingoist reasoning here...

 

"... the only American youth who has the potential to succeed in Europe" according to Internazionale youth director Piero Ausillo. I would think it's a bit difficult for other American youth when you can't get a real chance on the pitch over there. Both Donovan and Beasley seemed to do well in the World Cup. The USA youth teams seem to do well in the international tournaments, yet can't crack those teams at the bottom of the table in Europe?

Other than my rant, looking forward to Freddy putting on the USA jersey for his debut internationally.

 

You know, this gets me every time in every sport I see it in:

Scouts and other player evaluators who don't know the nature of the job that they do.

That Ausillo statement is simply 100% not true and it doesn't matter whether you replace "American" with any other nationaility of your choosing.

That these scouts are _so_ confident of their own abilities that they _know_ who will be good and who won't a decade ahead of time is absolutely stunning.

Bad scouts:

Player A: "will be great"
Player B: "not good enough"
Player C: "not good enough"

Good scouts:

Player A: 10% chance of greatness, good = 30%, decent = 35%, Not good enough = 25%

Player B: 2% chance of greatness, good = 25%, decent = 25%, not good enough = 48%

Player C: 0% chance of greatness, good = 1%, decent = 15%, not good enough = 84%

I don't understand why scouts feel they have to be absolute about things that clearly haven't been determined yet.

Every big time professional sport is littered with players who at one time or another were written off as "non-prospects" before hard work and finally a decent break led them to become stars.

Scouts and coaches in all sports continue to lack flexibility with their own evaluations, and it continues to stifle the growth of players and the level of talent for the club they're evaluating for. The above statement reflects this weakness.

Sorry for the rant. GO FREDDY!!

 

Yeah... the only American youth with the potential to play in Europe. Give me a break. That is the most stupid thing I have ever read. What a jerkoff.

 

Especially considering the number of Americans doing well in Europe right now.

 

I stopped worrying about what Euro scouts have to say when a German scout a few years back said he was most impressed with Carey Talley and Danny Calif among MLS defenders.

 

From what I understand, that quote may have been translated incorrectly. It's been seen here on BS before. It should read "potential to star" in Europe. For all the baby steps YAs have made across the pond, none of them could be regarded yet as stars. Freddy could.

 

Re: Re: Much Adu........

I seem to recall Arsenal hype re: Califf, which shows that everybody can have a bad day at the office.

 

Silly Question: How do you pronounce his last name? Is it "Much Adu About Nothing?" or is it more like the Brazillian midfielder, Edu, who plays for the Gunners?

 

Jeff Bradley had the chance to watch Freddy yesterday in a behind-closed-doors scrimmage between the main US squad and the U-17s. Check his First XI for the full story (http://www.majorleaguesoccer.com/content/03/firstXI0204.html), but here's some of what he says about Freddy:

"He moves nicely around the field, receives passes well, and can make pretty quick, simple plays. However, whenever Freddy tried to spin a little magic, he was stripped easily by the likes of Sasha Victorine, Dan Califf and Carlos Bocanegra. So, I cannot report that Freddy Is Ready. I can tell you the kid is strong, has tremendous balance and a nice touch on the ball."

 

Jeff Bradley

Great, great article.

Too much good stuff to respond to in one place. But two things struck me.

1) His description of the U17s' haplessness vs. the full National team was both enlightening and unsurprising. Enlightening in that, in contrast to statements that are sometimes made on these boards, the real difference between kid soccer and adult soccer isn't size or speed. It's technique and tactics -- knowing what to do with the ball under greater pressure. Unsurprising in that there's no way any U17 team could deal with the U.S. National Team's speed of play.

Sounds like we have the right raw material in the U17s. From here onwards, it's about coaching and game play -- will these kids receive the experience they need to notch up their games?

Pre-MLS, pre-Bradenton, you'd probably have to say "Not really." Now, I think, the correct answer is, "Sure, why not?"

2) The Europe vs. MLS comment on conditioning was very provocative. I'll have to digest that one for a while.

 

Re: Jeff Bradley

i absolutely agree. the only thing is that we need ten Brandentons. maybe thats a bit much but you know what i mean. remember when da Bruce was still deciding on a new contract and that was one of the main points that he made. that he wanted to make sure that the US was willing to continue and step up development of it's young players. beyond brandenton being a logical place to have a pre-match camp, it makes you believe that da Bruce might be trying to emphasize the importance of the place. it's a wonderfull start but how far are we going to get with only one true training academy and only 40 kids in some kind of true developmental reserve team. we need to at least tripple that number or put another zero behind it. Bradley used to scream about this all the time with reserve teams, the cost of developing players into awesome quality professionals would be way less than spending a ton trying to market average ones.