Perhaps the Conmebol clubs want to showcase their talent to sell to Europe. The U17 and U20 WCs would be a great way to do that. I imagine the clubs are happy to release players for these tournaments in hopes of getting a big transfer fee. The average European may not care or watch, but I bet the scouts do.
The truth is also that Conmebol always value opportunities against European opposition. They take the Club World Cup/Club World Championship way more seriously as well. For them, it's the only chance they have to establish themselves as the world's best, while Europeans tend to take it as a given and value UEFA competitions as much as global ones.
Benjamin Cremaschi is so damn good. Been saying it for years. Has all 4 pillars of the game, especially gritty physicality. Funny how he wasn't even looked at by US Federation until U19. For some reason our Feds favor little futsal players on the man's pitch from U14 to U19. Remember watching him play for Weston as like a 16 year old and thinking "why isn't this guy in a MLS Academy?" He knew. And finally gets in MLS system and Miami pushes him out in favor of playing old international farts. What a joke! I'd want to leave too if I was the kid after that. (Regardless of Miami's bs messaging). We got to get our shit together. These kids are amazing. We are slow AF at scouting in America and then slow AF especially at playing young U20 attackers in the MLS once they arrive. Go tear it up at Parma kid, but first go win a U20 WC!
I’d argue that the Argentinian Football Association is incredibly racist and ethnocentric and they wouldn’t dare have a dual nat American represent their team regardless of his level. Hell, they won’t even allow Argentinians of African descent play for their First Team! Carrizzo and Benj were lucky to make it this far in Arg youth system.
I’ll push back a little and point out that Cremaschi has not done well in MLS, and that he’s still pretty shaky as a passer. He doesn’t really have next level vision or technique. Even against Italy there were some pretty questionable balls that could have gone much worse. He’s always been very good off the ball and a hustler. Combined with some solid physicality and he’s given peer age defenders fits tracking him as long as I’ve been watching him (since MLS Next Pro). Unfortunately against grown/experienced defenders those advantages go away, which we saw in MLS. The Italian defenders have basically no experience against grown ups and like many young players before Cremaschi gave them fits. That doesn’t really fix the massive holes in his game. This is a great environment for him and he is absolutely making the most of it. At the same time we saw Cade Cowell have a similar experience in 2023; the peer age defenders simply could not manage his sheer physical advantages. Since then Cowell has done very little.
Cowell isn't a soccer player period, just a pure athlete. Regarding Cremaschi we will see how he is doing in Italy. His Miami teammates aren't just the next level, they are a couple of levels above of most of our MNT players.
Yes.. it is Matko. He has been in Argentina his whole career with the exception of a spectacularly bad time with Montreal where he's lucky he was able to leave without being prosecuted. He's now at Huracan. But also, American-born Rocco Ríos Novo did well in Argentina's youth teams and has been on loan to a number of places in the states
Benji’s done very well in MLS and his versatility is special. Played both wings, right back and center mid in MLS. Yes his vision will develop but no player is perfect. Messi doesn’t have a right foot. Think of how many more goals the goat could have if he didn’t have to put it back on his left most the time?
Messi's right foot is better than right feet of 99% professional soccer players from top leagues. Enjoy. Agree about Benji though.
Hey listen, Messi is the goat for a reason. My language was performative to make a point about Benji, and I knew 10% of Messi’s career goals were right footed, but my point remains. Of those right footed goals, 90% are slots or chips from inside the spot after he faked left. He’s an iconic dribbler and his left is legendary. Number 11 in that video is a right foot goalaso I’ll give you that (Btw thanks for sharing I thoroughly enjoy.) and maybe a few other right foot shots from outside 15 meters over the past 20 years. That said, there’s no compilation video of him pulling away from his right but I’ve seen it many times over 20 years. His right is not natural and you can see it when the shot distance gets longer and it’s not a volley. Regardless, he doesn’t need to because he’s the goat. But imagine if he had that in his bag too. My point remains. All players have a weakness. Talking about the goat’s defense would have been a cheap shot so I didn’t go there but I hope you see the point I was trying to make earlier regarding Benji. He’s a hell of a player.
Can only give Mitrović so much credit given his GK flub... yeah it sucks Kochen isn't there but he has Beaudry ahead of Beavers and Eyestone? We were all saying that Adam Beaudry was going to cost the US a game with his shaky goalkeeping. He might’ve just cost us the whole tournament. Inexplicable to leave Gavin Beavers on the bench every game. pic.twitter.com/UjlkasmEp0— American Ultras Talk (@usmntaut) October 12, 2025 Beaudry is simply awful. Easily Mitrović's biggest mistake this tournament has been starting him over Beavers.— USMNT Report 🇺🇸🇹🇷 (@USMNTReport) October 12, 2025
No doubt, absolutely moronic. I think Eyestone wasn't released right? But Beavers was available started really hot before tapering off a bit if memory serves, but still, quite clearly, better than Beaudry, and this isn't after the fact, I don't think anyone really knew why Beaudry had the backup job on lock.
Moronic, is this turning this into the "I know everything about goalkeeping thread without watching any of my favorite goalkeepers at all.". The fact of the matter is none of you have watched Diego play in over a year, Beavers hasn't shown much either on months, Beaudry at the very least has had a few USL games under his belt. Ferree had a dozen or so u20 games in the Danish league this year. It is pretty easy to play Monday morning QB, but the fact is, this group of GK'ers need games to prove themselves. It is no easy task for a coach to pick the #2 or #3, especially when their hands are tied by the clubs with their obvious #1 selections. This is life at the u20 level. The best players are not being released. Beaudry was the right move from the beginning. Unfortunately it just didn't work out.
Thank you, Mr. Beaudry! Jk of course. It's just kind of weird when posters with limited history in this forum are so focused on one player given recent events. Beaudry was not good, mate.
Right move was Rick with his 20 MLS starts, who wasn't even considered. It's fine for you not to know about him, just don't look into the mirror while writing long posts starting with word "moronic".
Since my primary focus is the state of development, my biggest post-mortem takeaway was the lack of forward talent. I know we ganged up on Campbell a lot. He has a fair amount of talent but he is not in a good moment. This is why we need to have three or four good candidates at each position. Not sure if GK is also falls under this but I am not convinced. Besides that, highly pleased with the resurgence of defensive talent. Yes some mistakes were made but it's not easy when your starting goalie is pulled last minute. Finally, I think Mitrovic is a decent coach at this level but he seems to have a need to be familiar with players. He will be as good as his early scouting is. That's probably not sustainable for National Team success.
We’ve really turned Kochen into a mythical being when he’s a below average shot stopper at the reserve level. Beaudry wasn’t good but he didn’t lose the game for the USA. Any replacement for Beaudry would make errors, errors are human. Would they be the same errors, probably not, but I don’t think any of the other options save the tournament.
I get it. Domestic forward talent development has been something I've been concerned about and posted opinion on in the past. However, I'd argue that against a low block, the back line and mids have to play forward quicker and be braver to break lines. It's not always on the top line when production is low. Beating low blocks suck and a few cautious sideways or backward passes kill the few would-be chances. Feel like critics that may have never played the game, miss this a lot. Hell I see many experienced coaches who weren't attackers point their fingers at the wrong guys a lot. Ex goalie coaches are the worst at this. Anyway I thought Gozo looked real smooth and Campbell will learn from the experience, and hopefully come back better. It's hard not to press when you're trying to make a moment here or there. Especially if the service is chronically late.