I think he’s capable of playing fast- quick touches, consistently aggressive movement and the baseline skill set to pull it off. He doesn’t shy from contact and he seems to have a low center of gravity. I think he’s an 8. My biggest concern as far is his ceiling is he’s a little further along physically than a lot of “technical” prospects his age. I don’t think he has 50% physical advancement/improvement in his future. It’s more 20-25% that looks possible. That said, he isn’t that far away physically at this point, which gives him a higher, more determinate floor. It’s not always one or the other- I’m fairly confident that Jalen Neal will put on enough muscle to be a physical beast (but it can take place very slowly, as with Chris Richards, who seems to still be bulking up- likely passing his Bayern window of opportunity at least for now).
Alvarado is very solid and will maybe have a nice pro career in Europe (maybe like LDLT), but he's not close to the #1 prospect from this roster, and multiple European scouts would tell you that. His physical ability won't get him there. Alvarado at #1 and not even having Sullivan or Cowell in your top 8 is puzzling. The way Sullivan has physically grown in the past year has made me more higher on him. Aaronson will likely move to Salzburg within the next year, and it won't be based on his brother's abilities either. Alvarado will be lucky if he ends up at Salzburg in the prime of his career. Development isn't linear but 18 y/o Cowell blows 18 y/o Jordan Morris out of the water. And that's not even counting that I ultimately think wingback would be Cowell's best position in the long run. Of course in the cyclical world of soccer, wingbacks might barely exist in 4 years. I think Cowell finds his way because his athletic abilities and work ethic are off the charts good. He just needs to make very measured club moves when he moves to Europe within the next year or so.
I think Alvarado’s athleticism is very underrated. He’s not McKennie athletically, but I think he’s more athletic, more physical, and a better ball winner than de La Torre. He’s about the same height and as tough with his tackling ability as Musah. He’s not as fast, and that does matter some, but I wouldn’t say that area is a weakness for him. He has long strides, takes good angles, and knows how to leverage his body well.
Your points make sense. On the other hand the modern game has moved on to where top level athleticism, so long as it is accompanied by the other required qualities, such as technical skill, tactical sense, etc., is at a premium. Musah has flaws that he needs to improve on but his acceleration is top notch, and for that reason he will be in demand.
I lived in Valencia for almost 4 years. Have a lot of friends there. On his YA thread I have given the opinions fans have of him. They love him. What they say is that they need to get the English out of his game and Spanish him up. Once they do that they will have a top LaLiga player. They were super encouraged with how he played the last third of the season. If he can continue his tactical/technical education his ceiling is very high. Very Spanish of them.
If y’all want another CB for the u20/23 player pool Here’s a very good oneAnrie Chase 🇯🇵🇺🇸 Birth place: 🇯🇵Position: CB Age group: 04 Team: Stuttgart 🇩🇪Int experience: 🇯🇵 u20 & u23#USMNT #USYNT pic.twitter.com/LPJGnxUNSw— Edgar Moreno 🇺🇸🇲🇽 (@ConcacafEdgar) July 8, 2022
Didn't know where to put this. Just watched 1st half of USL Championship game between SD Loyal and LA Galaxy II. My main focus was on U20 player Jalen Neal. Los Dos is up 3-0 at half, playing up a man due a hand ball red card. In a game like this Neal has had time and space and he sent a lovely ball which was crossed from the right wing and hammered in for their 2nd goal. At times he looked almost effortless but then he had a sloppy pass which thankfully wasn't punished. If he wants to find time with the 1st team he'll have to be more focused and not have those giveaways. But you can see the potential.
As long as he makes them a lot of money they will probably be OK with it! The fans simply love him. Aways smiling, always trying, always engaging with them when possible. The personality we see with the US certainly exists in Spain. They expect a much greater impact this season. If it doesn‘t happen then we will see what they say, but everyone, inc myself, is very optimistic.
The USL discussion usually goes in this thread. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/y...in-season-thread.2120012/page-6#post-40615796
So, who wants to name the guys who really need to be in contention for the U20s but haven't been at all yet? Limit your nominations to guys with 1) no callups under Varas and 2) no previous USMNT involvement. Previous U19s callups are OK. And to keep it from getting too speculative, which might be unfair whatever, keep it to 03s and 04s, or make a really good case why a younger player should be on the list. The more detail (scouting reports, clips, explanations of who they'd replace) the better.
I made a list recently for @Dave Marino-Nachison’s question. GK (7): Dewsnup ('04), Jones ('03), Cordes ('03), Tibbetts ('04), Sunderland ('03), Emmings ('04), Reyes ('03)— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) June 20, 2022 DF (17): Freeman ('04), Reynolds ('04), Duenas ('04), Smith ('03), Clarke ('05), Baker ('04), Prince ('04), Kinzner ('03), Wynder ('05), Marshall ('05), Alvarez ('03), Foster ('03), Viviani ('04), Velasquez ('04), Travis ('04), Padelford ('03), Cobian ('04)— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) June 20, 2022 DM/CM (13): Nyeman ('03), Chifamba ('03), Nydegger ('03), Booth ('04), Morales ('04), Hot ('04), Gilman ('04), Raines ('05), Baker-Whiting ('05), Barrera ('04), Ordonez ('05), McCloud ('04), Wolff ('04)— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) June 20, 2022 AM/Wing (16): Paredes ('03), Bernal ('03), Garcia ('03), Freeman ('03), Aboukoura ('04), Salley ('04), Oliva ('04), Rotundo ('04), Villal ('05), Faupel ('05), Valencia ('05), Torres ('04), Toure ('04), Nava ('03), Borso ('04), Jaime ('04)— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) June 20, 2022 CF (11): Mitchell ('03), Sarver ('03), Roou ('03), Weah ('03), Ikoba ('03), Bezerra ('03), Yapi ('04), Otoya ('04), Osundina ('04), Sullins ('04), Thaggard ('05)— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) June 20, 2022 These players, discount the 05’s, and then add Boima Cummins (‘03) who was the one player I forgot initially. The ones who are most realistic to be part of the U-20 WC team are Dewsnup, Freeman, Nyeman, O. Wolff, and maybe we get one or two of the college guys (Mitchell, Sarver, Roou, Chifamba). Who they replace? I’d look at the team differently. Build the team from scratch. A lot of the players from the qualifying team will end up making it, but they aren’t defending spots. They should have to earn them, like everyone else.
Are you assuming Paredes will be with the senior team / not available? Because I'd imagine he'd be up there.
I get the sentiment here -- I was thinking more along the lines that now we have a sense of how Varas wants the team to play, so if someone new joins, injury/availability issue aside, it's presumably because he thinks the new guy will either help them do that more effectively than someone else, or add an option he didn't previously have.
Maybe, but it’s not like this is a real cohesive team that plays a lot of games together. That qualifying team played only 7 games. The players who didn’t make that team were called into other camps, so they aren’t new additions to the group. I hope Varas attitude is to build the best team from scratch. I think we will be eliminated early if the attitude is different than that. 10 months of development is a long time.
I mean, sure? I doubt you're saying that your preference is that Varas should call in an entirely different team for the finals on principle, unless in a general way he believes doing so would give him the best possible team he can assemble. That seems kind of self-evident. In any case, as I was suggesting with the post that started this conversation, while I suppose there are some guys who Varas has called up who he didn't think much of and might not want to see again, I certainly assume that the actual pool of guys he does like is bigger than the qualifying roster and the MNT guys, and spots are in play. That's why I framed the question around guys who might deserve to be added to the mix, based on what we know now. As you say, a lot of guys might jump into the picture, and others could drop out for whatever reason.
I was thinking about this last night for some reason. There's a chance for Niko Tsakiris and Tyler Wolff to make this U20 World Cup roster. Josh Wolff was on the U20WC roster in 1997 and Shaun Tsakiris in 1999. Are there other father/son combos that both have been on US U20 WC rosters? There must be more, but I can't think of them. The obvious father/son combo is the Reyna's, but neither of them did. Bryan Reynolds and his father Keith both played for the U17s, but neither played for the U20s. Gregg Berhalter did, but not Sebastian. Hmmm........Tim Twellman played for the USMNT, but not the U20s. So the Twellmans are out. The Gyau's didn't.
Definitely not actually an answer, but Josh Perez had some U20 caps, and his uncle Hugo played in the U20 finals for the U.S. Christian Onalfo also had a cup of coffee at that level while his father Curt made the finals. There might be others along those lines but probably not many. Seb Berhalter missed his chance because of Covid...
You can include Owen Wolff for the Tyler Wolff discussion. I think Owen actually has a better chance to make this team. Didn't Matthew Corcoran's father play for the US U-17's? Owen Presthus father has one USMNT cap. Jeremiah White's father also has one USMNT cap. Those three won't be part of the U-20's this cycle, but maybe in a future cycle, and all could be potential options for the U-17's this cycle.
Feels like Slonina going to Chelsea in January makes it much more likely he'll get released for the U20 World Cup.
Slonina is going to be either in Chelsea’s second team or on loan for quite a bit of time so unless he’s on loan and actually getting minutes there’s a pretty good chance he goes to the u20 World Cup now
Don't you think him staying with Chicago and getting first team first division minutes is better than Chelsea 2nd team for a year or two?