The coming boom in multi-eligible player recruitment

The big 4 dual nat battles that will take place over the 2026 cycle span will be for Phillipe Sandler, Bryan Okoh, Folarin Balogun, and Yunus Musah. These three are all on track to have extremely successful careers at the highest levels in Europe and would greatly benefit the USMNT.

Sandler could help the USMNT immediately. He is young and plays regularly at a high level already. If I’m Gregg then I’m calling him up to the next available camp.

Balogun and Musah are impossible for the 2022 cycle but should be priorities for 2026. Balogun is in a spot we need and despite being very talented may not likely be in the England picture because of how ridiculously good they are. Yunus Musah however is a big prospect for England and has worn the armband for them before. When people gripe and complain about Weston McKennie not being the most polished player on the ball then they should take a look at Yunus who would be a good player to overtake Weston. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Yunus get a Valencia first team debut next season.

we could definitely potentially see Bryan Okoh accept a call up since Bryan is making it known that he is not decided on any of the 4 countries he’s eligible for. Bryan would walk into the u20 starting lineup as he’s a monster of a LCB who is good defensively and good on the ball. Leo Sepulveda is the weak link in the ideal u20 starting lineup currently and that issue could be quickly addressed with Bryan’s inclusion. Bryan would also turn the 2023 u20’s into a legit powerhouse and definite u20 World Cup favorites. Whether he would start next to Justin Che, Casey Walls, or Antonio Leone is tbd

 

I think the 2006’s will be the youngest group to get a real look for the USMNT for the 2026 cycle unless we see a freak talent from the 07’s/08’s. But the 2006’s also have an abnormal amount of diamond (Pulisic/Reyna level) talents. I personally think the 2006’s will become even better than the 2003’s. Bajung Darboe, Aaron Heard, Matthew Corcoran, and Alex Wesolowsky are the 4 who are safely USMNT players that I think are exceptionally elite talents.

Adrian Gill and Ransford Gyan are the dual nat 06’s who will be the biggest battles. Adrian has accepted a call up for Catalonia already and it is unknown who he favors between Spain and the USA. Seeing as how Adrian is the highest rated 06 midfielder in the best academy in the world makes him top priority.

Ransford Gyan is a player who I recently discovered after looking at the US Club Soccer international tour roster that sadly never got to happen. Ransford is another 10 who has an elite combination of technical, tactical, and athletic skill. This kid dominated Real Madrid at the International Champions Cup. Ransford is eligible for Ghana and may possibly be the son of Asamoah Gyan which would obviously complicate things (I think he may be or it’s pure coincidence that there’s a player who is young enough to be Asamoah’s son who is also an absolute beast on the field). The only weakness in Ransford’s game is that he’s super left footed (just as one footed as Richie Ledezma) but he made my jaw drop watching his game film. This kid is another top priority and if there’s any chance we can get him I’d send Brian McBride, Gregg Berhalter, and Ernie Stewart to his doorstep as soon as possible. This kid is a freak talent

 

I’ve seen a couple people say he may be and it was purely speculation. I have no idea if he is or isn’t his son. I thought maybe he is and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Maybe he’s related somehow but it’s unknown

 

If Kik Pierie gets himself sorted out at FC Twente, he's a guy who may help fill the void at CB. Good pedigree who has no shot at playing for the Orange.

 

If Kik does I still think there’s some options we have already who’d be above him

 

That is a great format for it, I really appreciate this work! I would also potentially add in a column for assumed interest level.

Also Bryan Okoh is a 2003.

 

I would bet good money that one of the major dual nat battles during this time frame will be over someone that is not on anyone's radar right now.

In general, we have a pretty bad track record of predicting who relevant dual nats will be. Someone like Timmy Chandler snuck up on us because for a while he was a low-profile guy who seemed stuck in reserve teams. Meanwhile, people were losing their shit over Alex Zahavi and Fabian Hürzeler. I think the four players you chose are sensible picks and that there's evidence that can be cited to justify excitement about all of them. But I'd also venture to say that it's quite likely that half of them won't reach USMNT level in their careers. Youth prospects are tricky.

 

I agree with @Balerion's point, but a player like Sandler probably isn't a youth prospect anymore. He's playing at a level that should put him in the USMNT pool right now.

I think with the others, you are right that it's hard to pick exactly who will be helpful to our NT. @David Kerr mentioned some of the obvious ones, but I'd also include players like Malik Tillman ('02), Kik Pierie ('00), Maurice Malone ('00). Do Mexican dual-nationals get included into the picture? If so, players such as Efrain Alvarez ('02), Johnny Perez ('03), Santiago Munoz ('02), Alex Alcala ('05) will very likely be among the dual-national battles.

There are also many lesser dual-nats playing for Mexico. We can't be sure who turns into a real NT level player, and who doesn't. We have to keep in mind that a number of Mexican-American dual-nationals currently in our program like Julian Araujo ('01), Ulysses Llanez ('01), Jonathan Gomez ('03), Mauricio Cuevas ('03) could turn into dual-national recruiting battles between USA and Mexico. What if an unheralded player pops up getting playing time in Mexico. That'll likely be a recruiting battle.

What about dual-nationals for other countries currently considered safely in our set-up? Do we have to worry about if Dantouma Toure ('04) will play for Guinea? What about Moses Nyeman ('03) playing for Liberia, Elton Chifamba ('03) playing for Zimbabwe, George Bello playing for Nigeria ('02), Damian Las ('02) playing for Poland, Nati Clarke ('05) playing for Ethiopia, Gage Akalu ('05) playing for Ethiopia? It's likely all these guys play for us, if they are good enough, but chances are a few of these countries try to recruit these players (and others), and we have to do some real recruiting of non-Mexican American players in our own set-up.

There are some dual-nationals that are probably very talented players that we don't even know are eligible for the USA. What if a player like Alejandro Iturbe is actually eligible for the USA? Then there are some players that we don't keep close track of, but could certainly put themselves on the radar. The starting keeper for Argentina at the most recent U-17 WC was US eligible. Sergio Dutra Alves ('02) has played a number of YNT games in recent years for Portugal. How can you count out a player like that? What about players like Nils Froling ('00), Timothy Tillman ('99), Julian Ryerson ('97)? We don't know how good these players will become. It's not a high bar to get into the USMNT.

 

The USA/Mexico dual nats are the ones who I think we have the highest probability of losing them. The first four you mentioned (Efra, Johnny Perez, Santi Muñoz, and Alex Alcala) all will likely be using the USA as their backup plan as they seem to prefer Mexico. Alex Alcala’s loyalty is unknown currently so we could sway him.

A player who I think were at high risk of defecting is Antonio Leone. Tony wasn’t happy after his last ynt camp where they benched him to evaluate the other center backs more. Tony isn’t hiding that he’s willing to accept Mexico call ups and has been in a Mexico camp most recently.

The second group of Mexico prospects you named seem to be the exact opposite. They’re all guys that Mexico want but prefer the USA. I think as long as we don’t totally exclude them then we will en up cap tying them in the near future.

The group of African prospects certainly could play for their native countries but I think most of them want to play for the USA first until that door is completely shut. They probably look at a few of them like we’ve been looking at Jordan Siebatcheu the last 5 years.

Malik Tillmann could become another Siebatcheu/Balogun. He has explicitly stated numerous times now that he plays for just Germany but everyone knows how deep Germany’s program is. It will take at least 5 years to get Malik to switch over until he has no shot.

 

a few things breaking right and it doesn’t become inconceivable that canada really poses problems. would love to see them sharpen the usa while maintaining little brother status and smoke el tri

 

I would think Nigeria is just about the sweet spot to be attractive to Dual Nationals. I'm not at all worried about Liberia or Ethiopia, because they offer basically no chance of World Cup football. Likewise I'm not worried about Germany or England, because, let's face it, not many people are going to be good enough to play for those teams. Nigeria is right in the goldilocks zone though, very good chance of WC football, very good chance of playing time. If I were a Daryl Dike level prospect, it'd be a pretty easy sell to play for Nigeria, unless I become a USMNT-lock.

 

I can confirm Gregg Berhalter has spoken with FC Midtjylland d-mid Jens Cajuste. Cajuste would need to file a 1-time switch to play for the #USMNT. I believe US Soccer is also reexamining the rules to determine if he could play immediately after approval of a switch.

— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) October 9, 2020

 

He's not a YNT but there's also Frandtzy Pierrot, who was born and raised in the US, played college soccer then signed in Belgium. He's already cap-tired to Haiti.