Hearing our 🇺🇸 U19/U20s beat 🇺🇾 1-0. Just friendlies, but the boys went down to South America and beat Argentina and Uruguay and did not concede a goal. Not bad.— Marcus Chairez (@chai_asc) June 11, 2024 The #U19MYNT secures a hard-fought victory against Uruguay with an own goal, sealing the match. 💪🇺🇸 USA 1 - 0 URU 🇺🇾 pic.twitter.com/x8YLSDX7Lh— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) June 11, 2024 Today's Starting XI: 12 - Adam Beaudry (GK), 2 - Aiden Harangi, 3 - Nolan Norris (Capt.), 5 - Matai Akinmboni, 9 - Marcos Zambrano, 13 - Cruz Medina, 14 - Taha Habroune, 15 - Drew Murray, 20 - CJ Olney, 19 - Paulo Rudisill, 23 - Sergio Oregal Jr.— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) June 11, 2024
It starts at the youth level. Our youth players started dominating Mexico about 7 years ago, now they're doing it at the senior level.
The guys in the U23 and U20 age range will be the core age group come 2030 (along with the players who are eligible and have graduated past the youth teams). And then Cavan Sullivan generation will be the young group for that cycle.
I don’t think this is a particularly good group, but seeing them go down to South America and 1-0 two of the three best teams in South America is very impressive. Contrast that with 5-1 for the senior team at home against Colombia!
We’re also just missing a number of guys from what would be our first choice U20 group. Of course no idea how close Argentina and Uruguay are to their own first choice U20 groups.
Based on what I saw with the last U20s, Obed Vargas would be a terrific addition to this mix of players. Would love to see him with the cream of this bunch. The pool still needs a few things, it seems to me, but he'd be a big piece.
Not only is the current group missing some guys but if we're talking about comparing them to the South Americans for 2030 our group will be further strengthened compared to Argentina by the addition of future dual nat Thiago Messi...
I’m still trying to line him up as the starting QB for Michigan The son of Lionel Messi playing football for the University of Michigan will be the biggest cultural victory America has ever seen https://t.co/NVAQYrW9A0— Daxton (Fire Zac Taylor) (@DaxtonDB1) June 3, 2024
In any case we need a return to the days of two sport athletes... in fact that's really the only way the Messi kids can out-do their dad
Obed Vargas has completed a one-time switch to from the United States to Mexico. Per a FIFA Spokesperson in an email to me: "we can confirm that a change of association request (from USA to Mexico) for Mr. Obed Vargas was accepted on 21 May 2024."— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) June 12, 2024
He's really that pissed he wasn't called in the Olympic team that only has 15 U23 players as a 20 yr old. Wow.
Good luck to him. He had no chance to make the US U-23’s this cycle. Those midfielders he was competing with are simply more accomplished in the game. That one U-23 call was a gesture of goodwill that he was well rated, but realistically he wasn’t going to get many more. His time was always going to be next U-23 cycle. Maybe that wasn’t the reason. Not going to trash the guy. His decision to make, but I don’t see the obvious “this is what prompted that” moment. Confusing, but we’ll now focus on other players.
18 year old. And I don't think the U-23 team had much to do with it. I think he ultimately wanted to play for Mexico. He was a U-20 World Cup starter in 2023. He would have been a U-20 World Cup starter in 2025 He likely would have been an Olympic starter in 2028. Those kind of opportunities are reserved for high level prospects. There's no getting around that. It's certainly not a guarantee he would have emerged as a USMNT player, but he was on an elite pathway. You don't want to loose too many top prospects. Trying to play up a cycle and make an Olympic team is a tough thing to do, and I am sure it is disappointing for him to come up short. But from what I understand, it wasn't a rash decision. He knows what opportunities he had with U.S. Soccer but he just came to understand that his heart was with Mexico and it was probably best for him just to start that process sooner than later.
He will probably be eventually good MLS/MX league player, I'm sceptical of everything above that. Early developed DMs is mostly that: early developers. He isn't Esmir who is definitely highly talented, but still needs some breaks to make Olympics team, neither he is Cremansci who won't make it. Maybe it's that suddenly found love for Mexican soccer, but also, no doubts, that he was overhyped, and that always dangerous for the kids.
Color me skeptical. Having read Araujo's piece, I believe him. But when a player quote comes out like four days before that's bitter about not being on the Olympic team and "losing contact," there's something there. I doubt we get the weird and bitter player's tribune article from Ochoa out of him because I don't think he's wildly immature, but I also know that even for grown, mature adults, decisions are emotional at heart. And he's 18. As much as a love of Mexico is an emotion ... so is disappointment. I guess he's eager to play in the U20 qualifying this summer? Otherwise the timing is unnecessary, but okay.
Even though it is a little unfair to those who are not dual nats, I do think we need to take extra care with those who have the option of switching. Communicate more frequently. Call them up if it is a close call between them and someone who is not a dual nat. I'm guessing Vargas feels a little that he was taken for granted. Maybe a couple of phone conversations would have sorted that out.
Yes, I'm all for the communication and though I'm sounding critical of Vargas here, it's more of a "I hope he did put the proper time into a decision that didn't need to be made now" than anything around him not picking the US.
To hear more interviews like Wynalda, Meola, and Dempsey on Kickin it' every little thing is perceived as a slight real or not. I'm starting to believe that to get to the highest levels of a sport you have to almost be legally declared paranoid. To hear Dempsey complain about the slightest grievance turn into decades long burning hatred surprises me. It probably drives them to borderline rage levels. If Dempsey didn't get hugged and told he was the greatest player he took it as a slight. Arena told him 'thanks for giving your best' another slight. An old hurt Dempsey not called into a camp, another slight. I remember a line from Ray Romano, he said 'if my father hugged me once I would have never gotten so much from the world of comedy' Maybe Greatness comes from not being loved for everything you do or at least always thinking that
I mean think of guys like Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, and Kobe Bryant. There’s definitely a lot of that.
Yeah if his heart was so clearly with Mexico, he would’ve been with them from the start. I don’t think the ideas that he is excited to represent Mexico and that he saw more opportunity there are mutually exclusive. a lot of athletes, especially ones in this generation, are both extremely insecure and overconfident in their abilities. He could feel slighted by not having more opportunities with the U.S. while also looking at a guy like Adams or cardoso (or even Aidan Morris) and think that he might not surpass those guys until they age out. Meanwhile, he might look at how much Mexico is struggling and think that he could be a regular for them in 2-3 years. And I don’t mean any of that as a negative against him.