The 2023 U-15 Player Pool Thread

Wonder if Cavan will be with the 08s.

 

I think Philadelphia Union U-15’s have an international tournament going on during the camp, but I suspect he will play a part for the ‘08 YNT when he’s available to play for them. If he was an ‘08 we’d be talking about him as one of the best, if not the best, ‘08’s and he’s a year younger than them, so he should certainly be involved with the team.

 

By that time is the beginning of the MLS Next season so they should be back in time

 

Ph. Union players not being released to attend, due to a European trip at the same time.

 

There were 3 Philly players called in, Cavan was not one of them for this camp. Not surprising given that the 10 is arguably the strongest position of this age group so there isn’t a need to call up an 09

 

I think it is surprising- being that I haven't seen a better 08 or 09 player. For national teams you should call in your best eligible players- end of! I would love to know who the 3 Philly players were and if one was the other attacking mid (I'm sure it was). It would be hilarious if Germany called Cavan in considering he has the passport.

 

Who are the 10’s? Who are some of the names to know?

 

I haven’t heard yet, but I suspect the three are LeBlanc, Johnson, and Saidi. All good prospects, but he’s better (IMO a lot better) than all three right now. Consider that he’s a year younger, and you are talking about a completely different caliber of prospect. That’s not a slight on any of those kids. They deserve those call ups IMO, but if this is all merit, he’s called up for this roster.

 

This is what I was getting at- I like LeBlanc a lot- he's a great prospect and may end up being the better player one day- but as of now he's a step or two below Cavan and they play the same position. You just hope there's a good reason for the snub.

 

Maximo Carrizo, Lionel Gitau, and Omar Marquez for now I’d be okay with calling in over Cavan. Cavan has a higher ceiling than all of them but he also will have his own YNT age group to dominate and an additional 4 years of extra YNT eligibility than the 08’s so there is minimal need to jam him into this group

 

We should be keeping a wide net with all national teams, but especially at this age level.

I don't think people should be thinking of things as "snubs" at all -- there's no definitive 23 at this point, and there's definitely not when moving up an age group.

Really just arguing with the terminology.

 

Maximo was offered a spot in the u15 camp (upcoming 2008’s) but they declined it. Not sure that a player should be moved into an older YNT pool at this age unless they’re that much further ahead of their own age group and the top option of the older age. The 07’s have options who at that age bracket would be more impactful than Maximo would, just like how Maximo would be more impactful at the 2008 level compared to 09 Cavan Sullivan. The u15 YNT is the right level for Maximo currently. Ideally it also would be for DeCarlo Guerra and Nimfasha Berchimas as well but the 07’s are really thin at 6 and winger and those two are arguably the best options. This would have also been Maximo’s first chance to be integrated into the 2008 pool which will be the group that goes to the u17 World Cup in 3 years, unfortunate for YNT fans that they declined

 

Don't care, 2008 will switch sides 5 times before being capped. Let him learn how easy that would be to get on Argentinian MNT. They are too proud to have predatory strategy a la Mexico.

 

I realize it’s a high bar, but I think he’s good enough to be playing with the 07’s. Just as I think it'd be fair to say Cavan Sullivan would likely be a top 5 '08 in current performance and would be right there with Carrizo as the best long term prospect, I think Carrizo is right there among the top 5 07's in current performance and I would say he's a better long-term prospect than any of them. I think if Carrizo was called into the U-16's, he'd be the best player, certainly the best among that roster IMO. I think Carrizo is actually very underrated. He's right there with Sullivan in terms of long-term potential IMO, but he doesn't yet get the same hype.

Thats to take nothing away from Sullivan, who I think is as good as the hype he gets, but most don't realize how good Carrizo is. The single best performance I saw at the U-15 level last season was Carrizo against Philadelphia Union. I try not to feed the hype of players entering their U-14 and U-15 years too much, so I don't want to make any huge proclamations about how his career will turn out, but Carrizo is not only the average talented 14 year old prospect. There's no guarantee he pans out and he has a long way to go before he matters towards the USMNT, but I would say Carrizo is the best '08 I've seen by a pretty long way right now. I haven't seen all of the best ones, but I have an idea of the usual caliber of a top talent in an age group and most age groups don't have a player with Carrizo's talent.

Is it time to panic? No, it's 2+ years until there's any cap-tying games for an '08. Also, while I don't think it's particularly compelling to say he's only 14 and therefore it doesn't matter, there's always some degree of uncertainty when a player is years away from being a senior NT level player. I think though that we shouldn't say it doesn't matter. There's a good chance in three years it's going to matter a lot towards the senior team.

 

A lot of this I agree with. I do worry a little bit about Maximo’s physical development but among the 10’s he’s probably top 5 if you put him the 07’s. But until it’s time to really play competitive matches which doesn’t happen until u17’s I think it’s best to play within your own YNT age group unless you are the top option at your position in the older age group (which for the 07’s is Axel Perez and Santiago Morales).

I also think Maximo should try out an Argentina camp at this age. I don’t worry much about losing a usa born and raised player to a South American country and the camp experience would be very valuable to his development. Based on how strong the 08 cycle is so far I wouldn’t be shocked if we are better than Argentina at this age

 

Who is he underrated by? He’s the youngest homegrown on record. How many games/mins has he played since March? Not playing much is probably the main driver for not getting an invite to 07 camp. Also 07 age has no meaningful games on the horizon so like Kerr said , not top #10 above best 07s, so not sure missing that camp means much. Seems silly that he passed on the 08 camp.
Great games at the U15 level should be expected. How he adapts to 17s and next pro level will be telling.
Hopefully he stays healthy during these pivotal years, doesn’t rush to get injured playing vs men, and gets consistent playing time.

 

I don't think being the youngest HG on record is hype. Thats more of an accomplishment. By hype I mean people talking about his game. How often does his name come up on this website? How often does his name come up twitter, reddit, top drawer soccer? I think for a player who is on the overall trajectory he's on he's not as known by the American soccer community as some similarly aged players. I'm not saying either that he's a complete unknown. For an '08 he's one of the players discussed the most early on, but I think generally there are a lot of young players whose hype way exceeds their ability and Carrizo is the opposite. I think his ability exceeds his early hype.

I think you're right that a big part of it is that he missed so much time in the Spring. I'm trying not to hype up Carrizo (or any of these players) too much, but I think if he had been playing for all of the Spring and got the chance to play at tournaments like GA Cup, MLS NEXT Playoffs, and potentially participated in some of these youth camps for USYNT's, I think Carrizo would be more of a household name instead of only a player that people that very closely follow the youth teams know about.