GK: Ochoa, Shakes, Las D: Scally, Hernandez-Foster, Bello, Jonathan Gomez, Araujo, Akanyirige, Campbell, Sepulveda M: Booth, Bassett, Morris, Cardoso, Tessman, Atencio, Llanez, de la Fuente, F: Ocampo-Chavez, Reyna, Hoppe, Uly
Interesting that you included 3 defenders from the U17 World Cup team that many have said was the worst performance ever by the US. The defense was exceptionally bad at the tournament. I think we get so caught up the in the reputation of these players that we keep saying how great they are even if they have several bad performances in a row.
IMO, definitely Gallegos. I think he’s one of the better players in this age group that is rarely talked about. The question will be whether he can find a consistent footing with San Antonio for the upcoming season to make a run at the qualifying team. I also think long-term there are questions about whether lower league clubs can develop young Americans. There are very few success stories, even less than MLS. I think Arriaga is more of the roster filler type that we saw make the qualifying team last cycle. It seems like this cycle these types will not play as much of a role, but we’ve used worse players before, he has some potential to be a good professional footballer and RSL has developed young players well.
Short term Gallegos but Arriaga is in a club that actually cares about developing and playing their youth. When looking at long term USMNT potential neither are really guys who are 5-star prospects...but then again neither was someone like Sebastian Saucedo who was a bench u20 player but has come a long way because his club has put their faith in him.
Regarding Otasowie, do we have any reason to believe that he prefers the US over England? Or where he stacks up in English U20 pool? Is it Nigeria that he is also eligible for? Seems like we shouldn't be penciling him in for this cycle given his supposed stronger ties to England, but I don't know.
Yes, Owen is eligible for the US, England, and Nigeria. As far as I know, the US is the only national team he's played for. @bshredder have you talked to him about this?
Caught some Taylor Booth over the weekend and liked what I saw from him as a pure No. 6 for the Bayern U19s. You can watch the whole match here if you're so inclined: I cut a few clips here: Booth missed Aug & Sept with injury, but has now started 7 straight for the Bayern U19s including in a 1-1 draw at Red Star Belgrade in UEFA Youth League last week. Played as a 6. Looks eerily similar to Michael Bradley in the role, except he occasionally shows this kind of burst pic.twitter.com/2PL219Zcgg— scuffed (@scuffedpod) December 2, 2019
Booth's ability to keep possession no matter the circumstance is underrated. Even under pressure or making a hard pass in the final third he still keeps the ball. If the next u20 coach wants someone like that then Booth needs to be the locked in starter. If they want someone who is more of a bulldog to be hard to play through in the midfield then Johnny Cardoso should be that guy. Both are the best ynt 6's we've had since Tyler Adams (who was an 8 for Tab) in my opinion.
They typically have a camp in January. Last time at the start of the cycle in January they had the summit but this time it will most likely be just the u20 team with the standout 02's and 03's. I would not expect to see Uly Llanez and Gio Reyna there as they are most likely going to get promoted to their first teams over the winter break as bundesliga clubs do with their top prospects.
Potential U20 MNT candidates from college F Gabe Segal, Stanford M Aidan Morris, Indiana GK Patrick Schulte, Saint Louis D Nico Benalcazar, Wake Forest GK Kristopher Shakes, Penn State D Blake Malone, North Carolina F Liam Butts, Penn State GK Owen Finnerty, Michigan https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/col...tial-u20-mnt-candidates-from-college_aid47364 Not including the blurbs written, but interesting article on TopDrawer. Stanford, Wake Forest, have gotten to the Elite 8 so far.
Curious for your detailed thoughts, @ussoccer97531 and anyone else, on the centerback situation. 1. Jacob Akanyirige played right back exclusively for Reno FC in USL. Is his future still as a centerback? 2. George Campbell looks like a good defender from what I've seen, but on the ball he's a nightmare. Pretty much the opposite of a ball-playing centerback. Is there nobody better? 3. What about Owen Otasowie? Why wouldn't you call him in? He looks like the best of the lot, though admittedly he hasn't been healthy for more than a month at a time for some while. 4. What about Josh Atencio or Tanner Tessmann -- isn't there a good chance one or both of those will be experienced enough at centerback come June that they could break into this roster as a central defender?
Akanyirige is being turned into a RB. With San Jose in their academy teams, he played exclusively at CB (from the games I saw), but maybe they think he's too short. He's listed at 5'11. He's not even 18 yet, so he could definitely grow, but he's not one of these 6'3 or 6'4 CB's. He'd be on the shorter side for a CB. The same thing applies with Araujo. I think he's a CB. I don't see the problem with a 5'10 CB, if he's as athletic as Araujo is. His club team disagrees. I think there's an incorrect emphasis in this country on size from CB's. A lot of good athletes with good defensive skills at 5'10-6'1 are now playing outside back (Araujo, Akanyirige, Scally) and we are producing less CB's, but that's an entirely different discussion. I personally don't see Atencio as a CB. I don't like the idea of moving natural #6's to CB. The fundamentals of the positions are so different, and I think you often see that manifest itself in positioning problems and ball-watching. Tessman has size, but is really more of an offensive style of CM than a defensive one. Otasowie is somewhere in-between the problem of Atencio and the one of Tessman. I see him as more of a box to box CM. He has a lot of tools, but I believe he's naturally a midfielder growing up, he's raw to begin with as a midfielder, he's had so many injuries, I don't believe he's been in a US camp in over a year, and now we don't know if he prefers USA over England. Too many questions for me to pencil him in for a spot yet at CB, although its an option. Maybe Casey Walls could be another option, but it's always hard to figure out which players are options to play up a cycle. Weak group at CB this cycle, especially with the position changes of Araujo and Akanyirige.
No sure, maybe it was Reno coach Ian Russell’s call? I’m also unsure why he and Fuentes only play some U-19 games while guys like Casey Walls and Cade Cowell seem to play almost all of the ones they can.
Akanyirige and Fuentes probably don't play all the U-19 games because the team feels they are a little older than Walls and Cowell, and need less consistent playing time at the academy level. They probably only play with the U-19's to keep sharp from time to time. What makes no sense is why all these players don't play more for Reno. I think SJ should change their USL affiliate for next season, and also implement their own USL team. I think its rather inexcusable that their HGP's are developing by playing out of position and getting low minutes to service USL players that are contracted to Reno.
At this point and what the DA is trying to fix in a very, very controversial game is the lack of competition at the DA. Akanyirige and Fuentes are too good for the DA but are kept there because of a very poorly ran MLS and USL team. It’s frustrating watching clubs botch their USL teams when they have Seattle, NYRB, Galaxy, and Dallas right there to show them how it’s done. There is no excuse to not have a fully functional pathway anymore. Houston with Tab at the helm should fix this quickly.