The other players I’ve seen tried there at the very early mini camps were Tsarkis and Raines. Alcala also plays a lot of 10. I believe Oregal from Fire was on the Poland trip as a 10. For all these players though I either didn’t think 10 was their best position or they just weren’t top prospects, so in short, no.
I like Tsakiris and Raines a lot but I think both would be very good 8’s. Oregal is a good player but like Diego Hernandez just doesn’t blow me away. It is a definite gap in this age group.
I don’t have a lot of knowledge about how this process actually works but had the opportunity to attend the west coast mini camp in ‘19, and see some of these players in the ‘19 summer showcase. I was surprised by the difference in where players had played for YNT camp and where they played for their clubs. Pretty much across the board I thought the clubs had the players in their better positions. Is it typical for YNT’s to move players around? It’s also possible the players just looked better in their club positions because they were more comfortable overall than playing with kids they had never met. Couple examples, saw Baker-Whiting was listed as a forward on the Poland trip. I’ve only ever seen him played as a 6 or 8 with sounders. Raines played as a forward and 10 at camp, my son’s team played him a couple times last year and I saw him at the showcase and he was always in the 6. Benitez was played at the 6 at mini camp but at the 10 for RSL. Again, I have no clue how this works but was surprised how many kids were moved to different positions. Especially when they all seemed better in their club spots.
At the younger age groups this can happen in the first camps but it pretty quickly gets ironed out as the quality truly emerges with their clubs. The exceptions for players getting played out of place will often be for converting a full back or 6 to a center back at the u17 level.
the generational component is the biggest part of growing a 'soccer culture' imo. my favorite prospects in sports are the kids of almost but not quites
LB: I'm a fan of Rouse. I think he's a pretty good option at LB. Anderson Cruz has some good ability going forward, but cannot defend. Evan Jimerson is another player I like. Maybe he won't have the athleticism for the position, but I think he plays a well-rounded game, aside from that. Carlos Diaz is a player I was very impressed with, but I'm not sure he's eligible yet. Miguel Gonzalez is a player who can deputize here. He's in that LB/CB tweener category. Doesn't have the offensive skills or athleticism to be a great LB, might not be big enough to be a CB. The position isn't looking great yet, but there are some options. #10: This position isn't a problem, at all, IMO. There are a bunch of players I like here. Akalu, Deziel, Carleton, Villal, Ceja, Rocha, Arellano, Ramirez and Dubon. A few of those guys might not be #10's right now or might be able to play a few different positions, but I think it's one of the main strengths of the age group.
I'm a big fan. He's a very dangerous attacking player. Can do some of everything. Very quick feet, has creativity, can run with the ball, score, assist. The soccer IQ can be a problem at times, but it's not bad. Very consistent and productive player. Rarely plays a bad game. Can play CAM, LW, RW. Left-footed. I think he's among the better attacking midfielders in the youth national team system, but he's not can't miss and a sure-thing to be lining up for Real Madrid in five years. He has a long way to go. Might make it, might not. I know @bpet15 isn't a fan.
A bit of a ball hog and not the strongest player for his age. Both are problems that can be fixed. I need to see Gage compete against u17’s where he’ll be challenged physically and have to be quicker with his passing. Good with both feet and very creative. I think he can play the 10 but I like him best on the left wing
Not sure I’d put it like that, but fair play. He’s a very good YNT player, I am just yet unconvinced he’s a sure fire pro product.
Good info, thanks. How would you say he ranks compared to other youngish wingers in the pool, say Sealy and Dunbar?
Unsure of if he’s better than Sealy. If Dante decides he wants to show up and play like in the Nike Friendlies or DA games last fall then I don’t think he’ll be that good. But Akalu is a more consistent player than Sealy is. I’m not sure Akalu is a youth national team lock. The 2005’s have Chris Thaggard, Serge Ngoma, Dominic Dubon, Anthony Ramirez, Damon Rouse, Gabriel Enriquez, Ricardo Garcia, Felipe Valencia, Ty Wilson, and more to compete with. The 2005 winger class is absolutely loaded. Gage may want to start playing as a 10 more to guarantee a YNT spot for himself
Yeah, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. That’s how I term things. You don’t rate his game as highly as some others do, could be another way to put it.
A much better talent than those guys. I’m not a huge fan of Sealy though, so I acknowledge some people would say Sealy’s on the same level. I think Akalu is within the top 10 or so players in the YNT system. I consider him to be the second best ‘05 right now.
You are right about Sealy, but I’ve long been a fan of Dunbar, maybe the original Dunbar fan among people on this website. With Sealy, I’m amenable to changing my opinion, if he continues to show some more consistency.
Are there any original fans of Sealy? He's a really interesting case. He's kind of a total mystery to FCD fans/watchers. There are games when Sealy looks unplayable, and games when Sealy looks decidedly mediocre. Its just all over the place. He played about 1000 minutes in the USL last season, which is pretty good for a 16 year old. He showed flashes against adult professionals, but nothing spectacular. He looked like a really raw 16 year old that needed a lot of work before first team consideration. However, the piece below has a pretty good description of his time over the last 6 months. Against youngsters his own age, Dante tends to do pretty well. This could be a player on the rise. We'll see. If the raw tools that we've seen can start to be polished, we may have something with this player. The Dangling Sword: A Portrait of FC Dallas’ Dante Sealy https://www.bigdsoccer.com/2020/5/9/21251773/the-dangling-sword-fc-dallas-dante-sealy Instead of joining FCD peers on their trip to Bayern Munich, Sealy stayed behind and competed with the US U16s in their last event of the cycle – the Nike Friendlies in Florida. There, he played more minutes than any other US player (again, I’m pretty sure but not 100%), captained the team twice in three games, scored twice and assisted another, and generally looked like the most dangerous attacking player for a team that won the tournament by going undefeated. Weeks later, he played for the FC Dallas U19s, scoring six goals and adding at least one assist as they went undefeated in three games in the DA Winter Cup. A month later, he was invited to the USYNT U20 camp in January as the youngest player on the roster, and apparently impressed enough executing the coaches’ concepts that he was one of two players invited to train with the senior USMNT. Just after pre-season started with FC Dallas, he left again to train with Dutch heavyweights PSV. Upon returning, he went through FC Dallas’ pre-season and then started working heavily with NTSC again, scoring goals and looking highly effective in their scrimmages against USL-Championship opponents – a good sign considering his struggles last season. At that point, the pandemic hit and his rise was put on hold
I'm sure that guy put time into writing that, I respect his right to an opinion and I'm not criticizing you (@Clint Eastwood) for linking that, but I didn't think it was a very apt description of Sealy. The guy said he watched four games of Sealy, the Nike Friendlies Tournament and one DA game, so I wouldn't say he has a good picture of Sealy's contributions in the DA. I think if one is basing their judgment mostly on the best set of games a player has played recently, they are going to get a distorted picture. There were some things I agreed with, but a lot to disagree about.
Its hard to get a picture of Dante Sealy. He's so young that he was/is eligible for FCD's U17 academy team this season. He was essentially playing up two levels with FCD's USL team in the fall. He didn't light the world on fire, but he was also playing against adult pros as a 16 year old. [We know he's not a Pulisic or Reyna who excelled at that age. That's not in the equation.] But when he does play on youth teams whether for the US or FCD (which is rare now)..................he tends to do pretty well. Honestly? I think this is a player that FCD was/is hoping to sell at his 18th birthday. I think they signed him to be Chris Richards II. They've let him train at Euro clubs including PSV months ago. Any training stint like that is really a trial in disguise. Now the question is whether those clubs will bite. I don't know.
Sealy was on an unbelievable hot streak but has been ridiculously inconsistent his entire career. Going through puberty and growing into his body will have an affect on that. If Dante can return to the late 2019 form and maintain it then he would immediately become one of the top 2003 prospects.
While this is probably factual, I'd say that: We really shouldn't dock young players nearly as much for inconsistency as older players, especially if they play up an age at all When a young player hits a hot streak, there's a much greater chance that it's an actual permanent increase in ability than when an older player has a nice run of form.