I think it'd be generous to even say Sealy has been inconsistent. When I say he needs to work on consistency, in different terms, I'm saying I've seen him play well very few times, and the talent we all think he has needs to be something he turns into good performances. Maybe he started to do that at the Nike Friendlies (these players have barely played since), but from what I've seen (I've been watching him play for three seasons now), he hasn't had more than a handful of good games in what must be over 30 games I've seen of him. He's just not been good, but I've tried to put it nicely and say he needs to work on his consistency. I mean he needs to work on consistency of playing well, but there unfortunately has been a consistency with what I've seen of Sealy. Not a good consistency. From what I've heard from people who've watched him way more than I have, its not positive either. Everyone understands that Sealy is a player with potential, but that only goes so far. Lets hope he can show more of what he's shown at the Nike Friendlies. I was only trying to suggest that it'd be pretty inaccurate IMO to say Sealy usually shows well against players his own age. I think its the exact opposite.
I mean, I haven't seen Sealy other than the Nike Friendlies, but the article delves into not just that but the DA Winter Cup, where he had 6 goals in 3 games, and then also that he played well enough with the USYNT to get to practice with the USMNT, which, you know, could mean anything. But that's more than the friendlies. Perhaps it's not a pattern yet, but I think my point is that players change a ton right now and a scouting report on Sealy from a year ago is probably pretty useless at this point.
Well..............for FCD in 2019/2020 he's played zero games against kids his own age. He played three games (two starts and one sub) at the winter showcase up an age group with the U19s and scored 6 goals. We actually have a similar opinion. It all comes down to whether the raw tools that we see on occasion can be polished or not. He's a forward. The one goal he scored for the USL club...............is one that I could have scored. I don't say that often because I have no knees left, but in this case I think I could have scored that one. [I did win two state titles as a youth player, so I'm not starting from scratch.] The moment when Dante Sealy scored his 1st professional goal! ⚽️He's our 9th player to score their first pro goal this season!#WeAreNext pic.twitter.com/4Pq9sIL634— North Texas SC (@northtexasSC) June 3, 2019 2020 was/is going to be a big year for Dante. I was going to use this season to decide what I thought of him. If he excelled with the USL team like Ricardo Pepi did, then I'd have him on track for FCD impact. Just showing up and playing for the USL team doesn't mean anything. You have to be an IMPACT player at USL League One.
I want to be clear that I'm not suggesting Sealy is a failure at this point. I think his game is more raw-talent over performance. I think he has potential, and we'll see if he pans out. If you rate him, it's probably due to the tools and you are betting on an eventual improvement to where those raw tools show up in games more often. I wasn't trying to turn this into a hate-fest of Sealy. I was only trying to point out that I think its highly inaccurate to suggest he tends to do well against players his own age. It's true he's not played much against players his age recently, but I think his lack of consistently good performances is a reason why he should be playing consistently with his age group. I think players should be able to show that they can consistently play well against their own age group before they are promoted to higher levels.
We said the same things about consistency and doing well against players his own age about Bryan Reynolds 3 years ago. He never played players his own age but did well when he did. Still he had obvious holes in his game that eventually led to him being moved to RB and still have us waiting for him to reach his potential. I’ve never been high on Sealy, but he did look very good in the Nike Friendlies. I’m not going to say anything one way or another about his career outlook until we see some more definitive evidence. He’s still too young to decide. But as of yet, I personally don’t rate him as anything but a “wait and see” type of player. Too young to write off, but not going to be a UCL player any time soon like some of our top prospects.
I was never as high on Bryan Reynolds as others. Then again that kid has been around FOREVER.................and only just turned 19. I'm not a big fan of signing kids to homegrown deals at 15. Not only did FCD sign Sealy at 15, he was making more in guaranteed compensation than Reggie Cannon, Jesus Ferreira, and Paxton Pomykal last year. True story. [All three of those guys have signed new contracts since.] Why did they sign him to a first team deal at that salary? I don't know, but they must like him. Sealy has always been seen as a project in my mind. 98% of 15 year olds are projects. Some projects work out; others don't. We'll see. He's now 17. FCD is investing quite a bit in this particular project so I expect they'll want a return. As I said above, Sealy is the kind of young player that I think they'd like to sell at 18. When we look at FCD's first team, one place they don't have a ton of depth is on the wings (He's listed as a forward, but he's not a #9. He's a wide player.) I wouldn't categorize any of FCD's other homegrowns as wingers. So I was thinking that he'd make a debut this season. Maybe in the USOC.
As my coach (in a different sport) said "Everyone can come last, shit happens, people have bad days; but one can't come first by chance unless he is one of the best". Soccer is a team sport, where a bad player might be a game MVP, but to dominate multiple games a player must be one of the best.