Absolutely no IMO to Cade Cowell playing up a cycle. I don't even like the idea of giving him games in his own age group. I think Cowell is a classic early developer. He can look like he physically belongs and does some helpful stuff in a game of professionals that makes you say he must have extremely high potential if he can have any impact on a professional game at 16, but when you see him at lower levels when he has to be an initiator, he doesn't have that level of talent. This U-20 team is also still a youth team, not a professional one. We have to be picking players that help the team win in a non-professional setting. While you can't pick the team entirely on what their potential is, I also think you have to factor that in. If its close, you take the players with higher potential that will probably receive more benefit (and your NT could eventually receive more benefit) from having that player take part in in high-level YNT games.
You say its not nepotism and then lay out a bunch of reasons why he is getting advantages over others. For example...why is he playing now? You say "highly peculiar" that all of a sudden he is playing games" Look no further than the roster. He literally has beaten out Aiden Morris and that's it. The thinnest part of this roster is at CM so its not like he somehow jumping a bunch of guys to play. With more subs, the heat and the tournament-style they are playing in he saw the field for a bit. "viewed as a high-level prospect" By who? You can barely find a mention of him in Crew fan land. No one is clamoring for him to even be a starter let alone something else. I don't even know where this claim would come from at this point for someone who has played 81 minutes. The kid played pretty well in a few games and thats all. Seems like you are making these huge leaps based on a few random posters/twitter comments Last thing I will say is this, Caleb Porter is not someone who is going to push a player because of their parents. I have had the opportunity to be around Caleb for almost 15 years and talk with people close to him. That is just not his style. I would also say I didn't want the Crew to hire him for a variety of reasons.
Columbus has signed one HGP directly from their academy: Ben Swanson '97. I think it's a big stretch to suggest that Seb Berhalter is being privileged because of his last name. It's one thing when there's a YNT coach who might feel pressure from up the managerial chain at the federation. But why would Caleb Porter give a F about the Berhalter family? Here's what Porter thinks about those associated with the USSF establishment: Let's also keep in mind that Berhalter has played 81 minutes in MLS, he's never been called up to the YNTs past the U16 level, and nobody actually considers him to be an especially elite prospect among his peers in his age cohort. We have enough problems. We don't need to invent ones that aren't there.
We also have to take into account that player development is not linear. Kids who weren’t called up at younger age groups rise up and become ynt mainstays all the time. Will Sebastian make the u20’s? Probably not. Ahead of him in the 6 depth chart is both Johnny Cardoso and Taylor Booth who will both guaranteed be on the team. The only spot that’s relatively open in that team is the backup spot behind Tanner Tessmann. If Taylor Booth is moved to the 8 then that would realistically give Sebastian a chance at being that new backup 6 especially because Sebastian did play very well in his chances with the Crew so far. The guys he would have to beat there would be Aidan Morris (he already did), Danny Leyva, and Justin Haak and it isn’t unreasonable to think he can’t do that with consistent performances in MLS like his game against the Red Bull’s.
Side note: this is well before I started following YNTs, but I have to imagine Kenny Arena's U20 career was at least a little dubious.
Please, friends, do my spreadsheets a favor and take a look at the "01" tab on my U20 callup tracker to remind yourself of that bygone era. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lfMvt087D65kHEJtitNuODh4dPgpKCQTi6Ae9VJ2c0g/edit?usp=sharing The pool completely missed Herc Gomez and Goodson, who both ended up playing in World Cups. (Jermaine Jones wasn't in the mix for us yet.) These were the days when the U20 pool was more or less the previous U17 pool; Suhnholz only called up 32 guys that I could find. I seem to recall that the main "controversy" in that group at the time was over Beckerman (which I guess would imply Arena too) though I don't recall his injury timeline exactly. I may be making this up. And, for the record, we both lost to China in group play and and ended up advancing, in part because of Arena's goal against Ukraine. Our big result was this blowout of Chile: Good times.
I never claimed that there's anything nefarious from Gregg's end. I do believe he's getting advantages because of who his father is, but I've been pretty clear that I'm not going to put that on his father and I don't put it on Jonathan Klinsmann's father when he got those advantages. These types of players tend to get these types of advantages. I think we all understand that, but what I'm suggesting is that I'd hope its not going to happen with this team, and I think the possibility that it will happen needs to be raised. I don't think Sebastian Berhalter was even mentioned in the thread until recently by anyone as a player that should make the team, so I'm making the point that people need to be prepared for the possibility that no one thinks he deserves to be on the team, and he pops up on it because of who his father is. As to his current place with the Crew, my point wasn't about how he compares to the other central midfielders on the current roster. It was that no one viewed him as a player who would even be signed prior to age 20 or later (if even that), and then he signs at age 18 in a period of time that his father has his most prominence as a soccer figure in this country. It all seems a little peculiar that his status has elevated so much exactly right now. It could be a coincidence, but like with Jonathan Klinsmann, I think it's probably not. I'm not blaming his father for that, but I think we'd all be naive to think that who his father is hasn't played a large part of the fact that we are even discussing Sebastian Berhalter with any regular frequency in this forum.
I appreciate the correction about Swanson. I had forgotten about him. You are also correct that they can send players to Pittsburgh, but its not the same thing as having your own team. I think your mistake here in the part I quoted is being so sure he won't make the team. I would bet the opposite. I will think he makes it until we have reason to believe he doesn't. I'm not even criticizing your analysis of the situation because he's probably not good enough to make the team, as you mentioned, but the question will be whether that will actually matter in his case. I don't think it will. I hope I'm wrong. As to the point about development not being linear, it's a valid point and one that cannot be ignored. It was debated when Jonathan Klinsmann ascended during his U-20 cycle, but as I think we are seeing now a few years beyond that cycle, it wasn't a case of that. He simply has never become a good player. It would've been one thing if the keepers were rotated, but there was never any question that he would play all the important games and minutes.
I have to hope that Gregg will be better than Bruce Arena definitely forced his son into that team because he’s a massive douche
The shit storm on this website during his U20 tenure... Then he scored a goal against Ukraine in the U20 WC. And the shit storm got even shittier.
You're holding it against him he has physical tools already for that to be an asset against men. That's a good thing. It's one of the least improvable aspects and he has it out the way. He also has shown the ability to beat opponents to the end line off the dribble and whip in a good cross. It's mostly a shoulder fake and downshift, not any exotic moves, but he pulls it either way, and his off foot from what I've seen is passable. He's shown some level of maturity to pick his spots, and defer sometimes, though this is work in progress, as it is for most young players. His work-rate + defense is really impressive. He doesn't lack confidence. That would be senseless to not incorporate him heavily into the u-17's & he's viable for the u-20's playing up a cycle if he can expand his role in an impressive SJ attacking core. Not lacking in proof or potential relative to these respective levels. It's very much a false equivalency w/ a Busio-type. An affinity for Cowell is easy to understand.
Cade has a hard group to break into for the 2023 u20’s but he should be given a look. Playing well at the MLS level should never be overlooked and it should be a bar that is set for other players trying to make the team. For the u20’s it all depends on who is available and who isn’t. Winger is the best position in this cycle with Gio, Uly, KDLF, and Cam Harper who are all fantastic prospects. After them you have guys like Matko Milijevic and Indiana Vassilev who are also interesting prospects. Cade first has to show that he is the top winger in the 03’s as both Dante Sealy and Kevin Paredes have shown in past youth national team camps that they’re a level above the rest currently. Dante is the only 2003 winger called up to the u20’s so far. Personally, i think the only 03 that is good enough for this cycle is Ricardo Pepi. The other 03’s are either in deep positions, late bloomers (Moses Nyeman), or both. Also Cade can’t play for the u17’s as that age group is for 04’s and younger. Cade is a u18 currently.
I have been really impressed with his variety of soccer/non-soccer tools. There are some things a coach just can't teach. For an 03, he doesn't look out of place one bit.
All good points. Of course, Gio is not going to play U20s again. And Uly might not as well. There's still a good decent amount of competition, and not a ton of need for Cowell to play up unless he really breaks through. The last point I quoted is also just super interesting to me, because Cowell is one of those players who is going to be pretty young for both the U17 and U20 World Cups they'd be eligible for (well, the first one they'd be eligible for). But if he were 2.5 months younger, he'd be the oldest kid eligible for the U17 World Cup. As you point out, he'd be eligible for the 2023 U20 World Cup, but in terms of visibility, he might not need that at that point.
I would have 100% agreed with you on this as recently as March. I've since heard anecdotal stories that make me think I was wrong about his prospects. By all accounts, he seems to be the "anti-Freddy Adu". Even though both developed much earlier than their peers (leaving out the birthdate debate for Freddy), Cowell appears to be much more motivated to work his ass off to get to the next level. I was told he was fast in middle school but wanted to improve more so he trained privately with a sprinting coach to improve his technique. He basically trained like he was going to the Olympics. Even though most of Freddy Adu's coaches gave up on him after a period of time, so far all of Cade's coaches are huge fans of him. Over the past year he has moved up and down between U-17 and U-19 DA teams, Reno 1868 (USL) and of course the first team. He has never shown an attitude of being "too good" for any of those teams and all coaches really were happy to have him on the roster. He also has never complained about the position he was asked to play or complained about not starting or how many minutes he got to play (unlike some players I heard about). He acts very coachable. The Quakes gave him a nutrition and weight training program for the quarantine and he CRUSHED it. He looks like he's in his mid 20s physically. He's been working on his weaknesses non-stop and has improved in defense dramatically. Wondo is also a great influence I hear. If Cowell picks up the professionalism of Wondo, I think he can go many levels higher than he is now. He said since the day he signed a homegrown contract that his dream was to play in Europe. The Quakes promised they would work to make that a reality if he put in the work. So far I see him doing it...
Still none of this will end up meriting u20 consideration as there’s still better guys ahead of him even without Gio and Uly. But his age group he can still stake a claim. You have to really excel and essentially be playing on a big European tram to be withheld from the u20‘s so there’s no chance Cade will. For Cade it isn’t a matter of physicality, it is on the ball skill. Cade is behind other players in his age group for on the ball skill and will need to step it up quickly.
I will try my best to keep an open mind to improvements Cowell has made. We don't need to limit the pool at this point. Players will improve at different rates. I wouldn't have thought that Cowell improving anywhere near enough to deserve a place on this team playing up a cycle was even something worth contemplating, but I'll try to watch for these improvements. A lot of what you said is interesting and I've thought a lot about how much this stuff matters, and how much it should actually be weighted. I've come to conclude that I don't care that much about the professionalism, coachability, motivation, athletic training parts that you mention. I think the impact of all of that is overrated. I played soccer and a lot of other sports growing up, so I experienced why people take the intangibles parts of athletics as seriously as they do. Now trying to analyze it as best as I can combining everything I know on how much these areas should matter, I certainly understand why people talk up these areas, but I think it should only be a tiebreaker. I think a team has their best chance to win games by playing its best players and in an instance like this, a YNT does most in trying to help with influencing development of players to eventually help the NT by giving a platform to the most talented players. This is also what I've concluded you see in the decisions teams tend to make. Not all, but most. The players whose intangibles are considered an outsized part of their profile as a player don't last long. Also, with a team like this, rarely does a team keep a kid off the team if that kid rates great in this areas. The few instances they do, it's usually a very big problem. Getting to the current team, I'm not going to drag any specific kid's name through the mud on the public forum, but I've heard some stories about kids that will likely make this team that are problems in these areas, and you would have no idea because USSF and their clubs teams don't care, and will try to cover it up, if they need to. To put a wrap on my theory and how it concerns Cowell, I appreciate reading something like this. Your post was very informative about Cowell. It's certainly a convincing argument and I will take into account that he might've improved and become a better player, but I personally don't put much stock into any of the extra intangibles you mentioned if I don't see improvements on the field and better play compared to the other options.
Yeah, longshot for sure but his improvements have been impressive to me. He showed some flashes here and there last year but disappeared for 4-5 months late summer/early fall. He had to turn down national team camp invites with an undisclosed injury. I personally think he just picked up the common teenager disease mono and the Quakes kept it quiet. Once he got his strength back he has consistently improved and I’d argue he used his quarantine time to his advantage. Matias Almeyda has said he really likes Cowell so we’ll see if that confidence can propel him to another level.
almeyda really a wild card for cade and other san jose kids. he can really command a level of respect that seems unusual in mls and you get a kid willing to be pushed and a manager who knows nothing but pushing and maybe you get an usual leap forward in development
I have high hopes for San Jose under Almeyda. He commands respect in the way that Pareja did in Dallas. Players and kids WANTED to play for and develop with "El Profe" in Dallas. I kinda see the same going on in San Jose. We may be in for some development surprises there...................... I do like that we've gotten to the point on these threads that we're arguing about which 16 year olds getting MLS minutes are actually worthy of USYNTs. When we get back going with the USYTs Cade is one I call up to the U18s or U19s. If everybody is available for the U20s, I wouldn't select him. But when is everybody available? Keep giving players like this opportunities to prove themselves.
Agree with most of what you wrote about Almeyda but both of us know that not ALL Dallas HG kids were given opportunities under Pareja and thus not all really WANTED to play for and develop under his tutelage.