The 2023 U-16 Player Pool Thread

Cruz Medina, Micah Burton and Axel Perez.

 

This seems to imply that Heinemann is either leaving or would pick up the 2008s and hand off the 2007s to the new person. I have spent way too much time trying to figure out the U16/U15 thing and still probably don't understand it even though it's probably not that complicated!

 

I think the '07s are still technically the U15s until next year. Then they become the U16s, based in part on this from January:

With the launch of U.S. Soccer’s YNT U-14 Talent ID program in 2019, the U-15 USMNT cycle lasts only one year. The biannual Concacaf Boys’ U-15 Championship is next set to be contested in 2023.​

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...-36-player-training-camp-in-chula-vista-calif

Based on recent CONCACAF U15 history it seems likely that 2023 tournament will be for an even-number YOB, '08 in this case.

 

I actually think it was pretty clear to everyone but me!

 

I was told the u16 August camp is for 2007s.

 

I think they are just going to start the process of moving the 07's up to U-16's a few months early. I don't see how it makes sense any other way. U-17's will be 06's, U-16's will be 07's, and U-15's will be 08's.

 

Snip:

CHICAGO (Aug. 16, 2022) – The U.S. Under-16 Men’s Youth National Team will gather for a 23-player training camp at the Elite Athlete Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. from Aug. 18-24. U-15 MYNT head coach Tom Heinneman will lead the training camp.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Zackory Campagnolo (Orlando City SC), Christian Hodges (Columbus Crew), Patryk Stechnij (Chicago Fire FC)

DEFENDERS (8): Davi Alexandre (New York Red Bulls), Nicholas Almeida (Inter Miami CF), Michael Cortellessa (FC Dallas), Christian McFarlane (New York City FC), James Nyandjo (Charlotte FC), Neil Pierre (Philadelphia Union), Joshua Santiago (LAFC), Jeremiah White (Philadelphia Union)

MIDFIELDERS (7): DeCarlo Guerra (LAFC), Kyrome Lumsden (LAFC), Santiago Morales (Inter Miami CF), Leonardo Orejarena (Barca Residency Academy), Jonathan Shore (New York City FC), Ervin Torres Jr. (Austin FC), Blake Willey (Sacramento Republic FC)

FORWARDS (5): James Arteaga (LAFC), Nimfasha Berchimas (Charlotte FC), Christian Coreas (LA Galaxy), Noah Santos (Portland Timbers), Gavin Turner (D.C. United)​

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...r-u16-mynt-training-camp-in-chula-vista-calif

 

IMO this roster is weak. I like the U-17 one a lot more.

The goalkeepers aren’t too bad. Campagnolo and Stechnij are both good players, but I need to see more of each. I think the federation overall doesn’t like the ‘07 GK options. It’s not the best GK year to begin with, and a few of the better ones IMO they don’t seem to rate (Rinker, Molinaro, Gurrola, Martin). I think we’ll see an ‘08 GK with this group soon.

CB selections continue to be extremely disappointing. CF too. I can’t say I agree with almost any of it or see the logic. Those are our two best positions in this age group.

I think the fullback decisions are going in the right direction. Glad to see McFarlane included. He hadn’t been in the last few. White is good, and he’s once again there. Rivera has been in most of these camps also. If they could just throw Jayden Quezada and Drew Baiera into some of these camps, I would say they are doing well with the fullback selections.

Defensive midfield is obviously the big weakness with this ‘07 group. Guerra will change that. I applaud the federation for what they’ve done with him. He needed to be called into this age group. Don’t fool around. Guatemala has interest and had him in a U-17 camp. He’s an ‘08, so people will say it’s too early to matter. If Guatemala cap-ties this kid at U-17 level and that makes it very difficult for us long term to call him into our program, there’s a good chance the people who say now it doesn’t matter will be saying something very different in a few years.

Willey is an interesting player. He has potential. Needs to physically grow though. If so, he could be a very interesting #6 prospect. Might be similar to what Granados from the ‘06 age group was like a year or two ago. That’s probably what the upside of for Willey in a year or two. Nyandjo is another interesting player. They list him as a Defender. I suspect it’s to play CB. I’ve only seen him as a #6 and my thought process is that’s where he could help this group and would project as long-term. He has potential as an athletic player with some technique, but he’s raw.

I don’t mind some of these other selections. Lumsden is a very good player and a key for this team in midfield. Berchimas clearly has shown he already belongs with this group. Turner is good, Pierre is good, Orejarena is an underrated player. I’ve started to like Torres game a little more. Morales has potential, if he gets taller and quicker. Shore isn’t bad. Hard worker.

Some of the players I want to see included for the first time include Manfroy, Hernandez, Nicholes, Allen, Kei, Craig, Gordon, Franco, Pena, Rinker, Brown, and Crear. I also want to see more of a chance for Ellis, Baiera, Nystrom. I think all those kids have only made one or two camps.

I have no clue what they’re missing with Manfroy and Hernandez. Those two kids are better than every ‘07 on this roster IMO. I think Nicholes is probably considered too raw for them to include. Maybe he’d hurt results, but it’s not as if they don’t ever include raw players. Nyandjo is raw. Pierre is raw, to an extent. Not a good excuse IMO. I think Allen was supposed to be selected and might’ve been one of the final cuts, so he’s probably close and will be included soon. Kei is probably a citizenship issue. Maybe I’m wrong though. Craig still not being included when they include Pierre (who I think is a good player) is disappointing to me. They watch the guy that stands positionally next to Pierre on the field, who I think is simply a better player, and they keep selecting Pierre over Craig. It’s not as if Craig is some no name at a small club either. Brother of a US U-20 international and captained the U-15’s of arguably the best academy in the country.

Gordon and Peña are two others that further my complete lack of understanding of their striker selections. I think both of them are better than the CF’s they call into the ‘07 strikers they call U-16’s or U-17’s. I think Franco was injured for a long time, so that could be why he has yet to be in a camp. Brown is yet another CB that is better than the ones they select IMO. I sense I like Rinker more than most, but I find him better than every other GK in this weak GK age group. I think Crear probably plays at too low of a level for them to select.

 

Just to be technical… Izenia is his mom…

 

What a beautiful name!

 

El mediocampista estadounidense Dino Klapija (2007), integrante de la academia de #NYCFC, se dirigirá a Europa cuando cumpla 16 años. Tiene varias ofertas del Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig y Atlético de Madrid, me dicen fuentes. Cuenta con pasaporte croata 🇭🇷🇺🇸 #USMNT #HNS pic.twitter.com/psDKo34YWR

— Jaime Ojeda (@jaimeor96) August 22, 2022

 

Good reporting by @jaimeor96.

To add to what he has already reported, my understanding is that he will likely be joining RB Leipzig, but nothing confirmed yet. https://t.co/F9ARBUxfq1

— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) August 22, 2022

 

I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback recently about Klapija after initially hearing to watch out for him. I didn’t make much of it initially, but I’ve been told by many people that he’s really good and I’ve been underrating him.

Haven’t went back yet to see what I think. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him play a few times and never took note of his game. Also possible he just missed all the games of his team that I watched.

 

What generation American is he? Not incorporated in youth program Croatian in Germany. I don't like our chances.

 

Caden Glover ('07) was an unannounced addition to this camp. He's a #9 that plays for St. Louis City SC.

 

Why is Etienne Veillard (Seattle's u17s last year and this) not in and around the YNT camps? I think he is a better winger than Gozo and played u17 all last year....

 

They played him U-17 at stretches last season, but as I see it, I think thats more of a reflection of the strategy of the academy then him being better than someone like Gozo and a dominant U-15 player that needed to play up.

Seattle brought up their top two 07's, Veillard and Snyder Brunell, for the important tournaments with the U-17's. They tried to stack their U-17 team as much as they could because it was a very good team, and could've used the boost. Their U-15's weren't good, and had little chance at winning these big tournaments.

I was just watching a bunch of his games the last few days. He has ability, and I think there's a good chance he'll be a pro, but I don't see anything too impressive about him. He's pretty fast, he's active with his dribbling, but I wouldn't say his technique, creativity, soccer IQ, end product is much better than average. I think Gozo is a step or two better in those areas, not that Veillard is a bad player. I don't think he'd be out of place at a YNT camp, but I'm not sure Seattle has any players that must be in these camps. They have like 4-5 prospects in their '07 group (Veillard, Brunell, Shour, Navarette, and Song), but I wouldn't say any are more than above-average prospects for now. It's not their strongest age group.

 

We're getting to the point where we are having 60+ teen prospects worthy of a National Team callups for most of our youth teams, and only 20ish spots for each team called up depending on timing and strategy of each camp. I think it's time we broaden our view of what these camps are all about and how they supplement development. The outdated view is to call in basically the clearly 15 best prospects and then try to find a few more to fill out a roster. Now it's more about players developing and getting recognized and advancing with their club for first team minutes rather than getting recognized for National Team camps.

 

I think you’re completely right.

With all due respect to some of these players getting into these camps, I look at it more as getting 20-25 lucky ones of the good players make it into these full USYNT camps. The other 50+ will have to wait their turn for another time. It might be two months from now. It might be two years from now. Hopefully we keep the ones who could play for Mexico or another country within the pool, but otherwise these camps are not the 1-23 best players in an age group.

In my opinion, the ID camps are a better barometer of the ability of a player. They almost always call all the prospects who could turn into USMNT level players into those, and then from there a few lucky ones make it into the full USYNT camps. If a player is making the ID camps, they (and us fans) should view it as acceptable.

It can get frustrating as a fan and sometimes its hard to believe in hindsight how certain ones weren’t part of the full camps, but these full USYNT camps aren’t the end all be all.

 

The more I watch of MLS Next the more anonymous players jump out to me as prospects and at the moment may not be objectively better than a few others but that's not the point. The point for me isn't to determine which 15 year old is obviously better than the other one. My goal is to see more and more players having the requisite skill to be considered a professional prospect within the realm of having the skills to advance and improve through the development process. In the past far too many players were obviously below the standard of skill, technique, and physical attributes to even be considered, they were just filling a roster spot.