The current state of our youth national teams

"They cite myriad reasons why the national team has slid down the Asian pole, the most common of which are:"

The article then goes on to list many problems familiar to US fans.

 

The article list problems familiar to US fans, that we've greatly improved upon or fixed.

 

I'm not suggesting Ordonez couldn't have been called into the US U-20 team. I also think what he's done at this tournament is a relevant data point.

However, all of this seems like revisionist history to me. Was anyone calling for him to be on the U-20 team prior to the last two weeks? I know many didn't pay close attention until recently, so thats part of it, but I also think a big part of it is that he was on the fringe of the US roster with about 20-25 other players who could've taken one of the last few spots, and he wasn't picked.

 

Ordonez could still end up playing for the USA.

 

Not sure how anyone can have any major complaints about the youth programs right now. The proof is in the pudding, as the program has been getting very good results and producing tons of very high level players for going on 8 years now. The generally accepted timeline is that is takes 8-12 years to fully develop a player over the course of their youth. The investment and organizational development that started long ago is just now paying off. Given the pace of growth in those things even more recently, I expect this platform is still at the beginning of it's capability.

The success of the US team in this competition has not been a surprise at all. The revelation has come from seeing American players impact other nations in such a positive manner. Of course, Azcona and Ordonez stick out among them, but there are a bunch of other dual nationals playing well, too. That shows how deep -- and, frankly, how good -- our pool of players is.

These players are a cherry on top for US Soccer more than they are a sign of anything that has to change. Some of them will probably end up playing for the US if that opportunity arises, but most will probably continue playing with the country of their heritage. Personally, I plan to root hard for these players whether they are playing for the US or not.

 

My concern is the lack of youth team programs since the pandemic.

Let's face it with all the lawsuits going on USSF saw it as a chance to save money.

 

Turns out Paxten Aaronson is a pretty good 9.

 

Apparently our under 17 team played in May.

 

Fair enough. My point wasn't that Ordonez was a complete unknown before the tournament. Instead, it's that there wasn't this same reaction before the tournament as there is now. He deserved more of a look with the US program, but it wasn't like we left off one of the most obvious selections. If that was the case, the opinions would've been pretty unanimous at the time.

 

Our U17s, U19s and U20s, are very good. We still need to keep improving but I think that we're doing a good job, so far.

 

I'd upgrade to "very good" when you factor in the depth of the pool and club situations. Also, the fact that the younger age groups appear to be just as strong shows that this current level is sustainable, which is the most important thing.

 

Basically the Ordonez situation is what you see with, say, France in miniature. If you produce a lot of good players, and many of those good players are multicultural, even if you do a good job projecting a lot of the second-choice players are going to end up being good and playing for other nations.

 

Can the USA still call up Ordóñez or would he have to file a one-time switch if he wanted to play for the US?

 

Not for the U20 level. He could still switch to the US for the senior USMNT.
As could the DR players like Azcona.

I don't know about the U23 level. As this was the CONCACAF qualifier for the Olympics, they may be ineligible to play at the Olympics.

But our pool is so deep that I don't know why people stress about these sorts of things. If Ordonez "gets away" then its next man up.

 

It's less about the age level (U20 or U23) and more about the specific tournament. A young player could play in one U20 qualifying cycle and then switch to another nation for the following cycle if he is the right age. This tournament is the qualifier for the Olympics, so generally that precludes you from switching to take part in the Olympics. That's why we assume Tillman & Balogun aren't eligible to switch to the US for the Olympics because they played in the UEFA tournament that serves as a qualifier for the Olympics.

 

It's very sustainable. We are producing as good or better players than those late 90's age groups.

I think the real test will become how we start producing those types of players that Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City are bidding 50M+ for as teenagers. As good as it is to see Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim, Augsburg type clubs 2-20M for American teenagers, thats not the same thing as bidding for Vinicius, Rodrygo, Tchouameni. Thats how you start producing world class players. Neymar didn't work his way up. Neither did Mbappe. Those guys at 17-18 were worth huge sums that would've broken the American transfer record.

Yes, some players for these countries work their way up from smaller clubs to become good enough for the top clubs in the world. We hope some of these players do, but until we start producing those easy world class players that there's no doubt will be capable of playing for the top clubs in the world then at best we are looking at Uruguay, Croatia, Belgium territory. We can eventually get to the top, but we are still a significant way off the top-level like Brazil, France, England, Spain.

 

Yep. The depth of talent that is playing or will be playing at top European levels soon is a huge step in that direction. That depth of talent provides a platform for a higher level of development to occur with the next generation(s). This whole process has been amazing to watch, and hopefully it continues as it has. The infrastructure and culture are almost there, and that plus the talent is the formula that makes it possible to produce world class players (without it being a fluke/one-off).

 

My personal milestone for US youth development was to be better than Mexico. I think it is clear that we are at this point. Some of that is due to Mexico's clear turn away from youth development but mostly it has been the creation of all of our development infrastructure.

Not sure what is the next step now. It would seem we should consolidate as a full fledged talent exporter to top 20 teams. France is the ideal but I would like to find an intermediate milestone not sure which.