There is a big difference between 16 and 17. That year of development is huge. I just remembered another 17 year old who made a WC team. Brazil took a 17 year old Ronaldo to the 1994 WC but didn't play him. Messi made his senior team debut at 18 and WC debut at 19. Btw I'm curious about what position you think Cavan ultimately plays as a senior player. The positional progression of some of the game's greatest players is interesting to mull over. Pele started as a forward and gradually moved more into a midfield playmaker role. Cristiano Ronaldo was a wide player who moved more centrally as he got older. Messi is more a jack of all trades. But I perceive the progression in his case as being given more and more of a free role. Sometimes it appears to be as a false 9 but basically it is a free role. But maybe that is misleading. His movements are creative and deceptive but I think also subtly structured to work within a team context. His best teammates definitely make their runs using cues from Messi.
Pele went at 16 if I am not mistaken, but it is important to note the names we are using right now and remember that he is only 12.... Adu was making commercials with Pele when he was 14? Look how that turned out. Adu wasn't exactly a difference maker at any of our World Cups let alone a 16-17 year old debutant. An awful lot can happen between 12 and 14, let alone 12 and 17.
I think if Adu comes through American soccer’s in today’s environment he has a much better chance at panning out in his long term career. But who knows, Adu is a huge case study for why a career move can bury you if not chosen carefully
Freddy would have had a much better chance to be a decent pro, but his physical limitations were always going to be a problem.
They haven’t scored more than two goals in their last 18 competitive games. It’s time the veteran core takes a seat and kids get a run out.
@PhilaUnion Cole Turner’s 🚀 penalty! pic.twitter.com/MbUcywHuOF— Philadelphia Union II (@PhilaUnionII) April 25, 2022
I attended this match and it was ill tempered and absolutely ruined by bad officiating. The Fire II had 4 players with youth national teams and I'm confident Philly missed players as well. It was the first time I saw the Fire's Allan Rodriguez play live. I'm not sure he's a true #6 defensively, but he was dropping 40 yard balls on a dime like Pirlo in the body of Maradona. I can see why he was made captain of the US U-15s the last time they were assembled.
While a quiet start to the season for the HG midfielders Harriel continues to impress. His stats are pretty crazy so far: https://fbref.com/en/players/b3edbeff/Nathan-Harriel There is a lot of bright green next to the defensive stats there...
Imma need Jim to rotate the squad at least once. There is literally no competition. I would love to say no need for rotation because we're number 1 but we are not going to keep it up and need to create legitimate competition.
Watching Bedoya and Flach try to do anything in possession causes one to have an aneurysm. I’m really not sure what has changed so dramatically with this club, that they are almost adverse to playing young American talent (harriel is 21, let’s relax with “young”) I really thought at least ONE of the three kids would’ve gotten some legitimate time. They’ve gone from a must watch MLS team, to one that you just check FotMob to see if he makes any subs in the 88th minute.
coincidentally an article came out today that kinda touched on that point: https://www.inquirer.com/soccer/us-open-cup-philadelphia-union-orlando-city-20220509.html “It’s been difficult to get the minutes this season as starters because the first group has performed so well,” Curtin said. “We’ve been beaten once all season, so there hasn’t been a real reason to change too much or tinker with the starting lineup.” That’s not the only reason why Curtin hasn’t had to tinker. The Union haven’t played a midweek game yet this year, so everyone’s been able to get full rest after a game.
Regardless of no midweek matches so far, that MF is going to have no legs by the end of the season. Especially since there's a strong chance the young kids are gone for a month at U20 WCQ. Even if there weren't young talents of interest on this forum, I'd be concerned about the lack of rotation if that was the team I supported.
Several #USMNT prospects set to start tomorrow for #DOOP including Paxten Aaronson, Jack McGlynn, and Quinn Sullivan. https://t.co/JTXQOPHTlp— Larry Henry Jr (@lhenry019) May 9, 2022
When are we going to see Brandan Craig? This kid hasn't even debuted yet. I will be disappointed if he does not see the field tomorrow. He's been on the bench three times the last two seasons, and hasn't played one minute yet.
Philly is playing fine, but not so well that they can't rotate more. I mean..................four teams in the West have the same or more points than them (LAFC, Austin, LAG, and Dallas). They're not actually scoring enough goals at the moment. 15 goals in 10 games. That's worse than San Jose. There certainly can be a rationale for shaking things up, particularly with the attacking players. Paxten Aaronson and Jack McGlynn in particular aren't 16 year old prospects. They both turn 19 in a couple of months. We have a lot of 2003s getting lots of playing time out there. Our top 2003s were getting moves to Europe based on their first team play LAST season (Pepi, Paredes, Gomez, etc.). Based on the talent at his disposal, Curtin should be absolutely willing to start those young players. And he shouldn't need the fixture congestion of the USOC to do it. Harriel is already 21. Not really a kid. He's older than Julian Araujo and Bryan Reynolds. Hooray for getting him in the lineup.
Yeah... aside from Harriel winning the RB job Jim has been very stingy WRT playing Pax, Jack and Quinn. I will certainly be tuning in to watch the cup match. Hopefully the kids will have a good showing.
Curtain should be rotating more, if only to rest Bedoya, who can barely move as it. That said, Leon Flach just turned 21. So he's not exactly ancient. Harriel and Flach.
Problem is just because you're winning doesn't mean you shouldn't be making changes. Both Bayern and Dortmund play "prospects" more minus than curtain does and they have higher stakes and no playoffs. If a young player is outperforming in training you play them especially when they are homegrown players.
They get 5 subs. I want to see 1) McGlynn in for Flach at LCM 2) Flach moved to CDM for Martinez 3) Pax in for Gazdag (who never gets subbed) 4) Sullivan for either forward 5) Craig at either CB 6) Anyone for Bedoya (Pax, Sullivan, Turner) Obviously the game circumstances matter... but those are the primary youth subs/starts I would like to see. The 1st one is the only one we see regularly.
If I were Curtain and trying to win games, the piece I'm probably not moving much is Martinez out of CDM unless it's a blowout. I like Flach; but I think that's a mistake. Other than that, though, McGlynn can sub in at both CMs, Paxten should come on for Gazdag when they are winning, and Sullivan can play all over the place. I think it has actually cost Philly a few points -- and Curtain should learn from Vermes, whose teams collapse every damn year -- you can't keep this up.
Curtain rotated last year, so I think he will over the course of the season. Still early, Union have been relatively injury free, no mid-week games, no YC suspensions, no games during international breaks and the only players that have been away from the team were the younger players who went to Argentina with the U20s and missed games. The biggest issue to me is that they are really not getting much run off the bench. Couple minutes here or there...never coming in in the 60-65th.