Sandon's point is well taken. You can quickly name 6 or 7 more obvious players -- Beasley, Donovan, Convey, Gray, Gooch, and maybe Quaranta -- and once you do that, well, a lot of the guys going on this trip have got to be considered pretenders, not contenders.
I also intrigued by this guy. However, I had a strange feeling that he gets to play for Liverpool because his father is a coach at the Liverpool academy. But I do not see anything wrong with that. He probably gets talents.... he can maximize his potentials with his connections.
Akwari has trained with the Burn and Yi with DC United. I'm read here that Akwari never signed a contract but Yi did, so Akwari could return to UCLA, but haven't heard that is going to do that so........? Some who've watched Yi say he could play in MLS now. One other thing - if Donovan plays regularly with Leverkeusen for the next 2 seasons, is there any thought out there that maybe the 2004 summer Olympics are not the best thing for him, that maybe he'd be better served taken a bit of a rest, especially as he'll also be in the midst of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying by then?
Other way around ... Zak's father relocated to Liverpool because his son was wanted by their youth academy. Whitbread has earned his position -- at the youth level, he's big-time. Incidentally, Liverpool's youth team won the double in England this past season.
Perhaps, he needs a rest. The CONCACAF WCQ will be starting in the summer of 2004. I think CONCACAF will arrange the schedule so that only a few games will be played before the Olympics. It won't be in the midst of WCQ.
I am not saying that he was helped by his father. I am sure that he gets where he is all by himself. But I am sure that his father must push him harder than other kids at the academy. I see no problem with that. I would be happy if I am in his position.
Here's a potential starting lineup for qualifying: GK - DJ Countess RB - Oguchi Onyewu CB - Kelly Gray CB - Zach Whitbred LB - Phil Salyer DM - Jordan Stone RM - Santino Quaranta LM - DaMarcus Beasley AM - Bobby Convey F - Landon Donovan F - Conor Casey and the seven subs... GK - Steve Cronin D - Alex Yi D - Ricky Lewis M - Ricardo Clark M - Brad Davis M - Kyle Martino F - Eddie Johnson In bold are the players who are on the England tour which puts a lot of the other guys on this trip "on the bubble." I picked the starters I did because I think when all is said and done, come qualifying, this will be our most talented and experienced lineup. As for the subs, I picked Cronin over Warren because he'll get games playing in qualifying and the UAE while Warren has been mainly a backup so Cronin's PT should get him the nod even though he's a bit younger. Lewis has all the skills to be a great wingback (it's not a stretch to see him passing Salyer) and he can play on the left or right so that makes him an ideal backup wing back. Once he gets with a pro club, I think Yi is really gonna blossom and he'll be a solid reserve at center back. Clark is a great athlete who can play either D-mid or right md and with just 7 subs, versatility is important. He could be a good late game sub if you want to push Quaranta to forward. At left mid, Davis is a great attacking player and he showed on the 20s he's dangerous off the bench. Like Lewis, Martino could easily end up the starter but for now I have him as the back up playmaking mid. The backup forward spot was a tough call between Buddle and Johnson but ultimately I picked EJ because he has good size, like Buddle, and is probably a little more skilled. Others not on this trip who could sneak into the lineup are Justin Mapp, Devin Barclay, David Johnson, Frankie Simek, Mike Magee, Chad Marshall and Raul Palomares.
Wouldn't they have already signed? All that stuff went down before the WC and maybe even early '02. It's very strange to me. If I were Yi I'd look at the A-league. Same goes for Akwari. I'm not saying they won't contribute in MLS, just that they'd see a whole hell of a lot more playing time in the A-league than they would in the contracted MLS.
Whitbread's dad is a Brit, right? Why wouldn't he want his son to play for England? That's going to be a touch and go situation I'm afraid, especially if the kid's got world class ability. Isn't he eligible for the U20 WC next year?
Does he have Salyer's ball skills? Phil is quite silky on the ball despite his 'just decent' speed over distance.
I've never seen Whitbread play, and I'm not being a smartass with this question, but is he good enough to play for England's youth teams? Maybe thats the reason he chose to play for us. Edit: Are we going to be able to view these matches?
Are you dreaming? The only hope would be FSW--but they'll only show us the replays of the Olympic qualifiers, not the friendlies that they play in.
Don't get us wrong either, we want the kid to play for the Yanks. We welcome him with open arms. It just seems like there's more to it than meets the eye at this point.
The obvious conclusion is that Whitbread's not quite good enough. He's doing well to earn reserve team playing time shortly after his 18th birthday. Still, Liverpool has a couple of guys who got the reserve team call-up even sooner, and they're the club's youth internationals.
Correction. He earned reserve team playing time before his 18th birthday. Whitbred was born in October of 84 - like Santino - so he still has a few months to go before he turns 18. Like Quaranta, he'll be one of the youngest players in the U20 and U23 pool. As for why he chose the US over England, odds are it's because he figures his chances for playing time and an international career are greater with the US than they are with England. Yeah, that partly means he thinks his chances of cracking the English starting XI in a World Cup aren't as good as the US and that likely means he doesn't think he's good enough to crack the senior team's starting lineup. But, with England having backs like Ashley Cole and Les Ferdinand who are still fairly young, compared to the likes of Jeff Agoos, Greg Berhalter and Eddie Pope, well, what decision would most of you make if playing was your objective. So maybe he's not as good as Ashley Cole but if he's better than Berhalter the US is still better off. Another point is that playing for the US gives him a chance to play in the Olympics; if he plays for England, there's no Olympics. Because England competes in the Olympics as part of the United Kingdom, they don't enter in the soccer competition because the UK isn't a member of FIFA (it's individual components, like Scotland, N. Ireland and England are). And, at the youth level, the US U20s have had more success of late than the Brits, who don't put much emphasis on the World Youth Championships. So maybe he wants to have a good youth international career to prepare him for playing with the senior team and he figures the US is the better choice for that. Playing for England means they may not even qualify out of Europe while the US will very likely qualify out of CONCACAF. And I'm sure he and his dad did their homework and figured out that the US has a lot of exciting and talented young attacking players but has a pretty big hole in the back so the addition of a good young back could enable the 20s and Olympians to do some good things and perhaps he wanted to be part of that. Perhaps he wanted it for the exposure to other clubs a good young player gets, figuring if he plays well for the US it puts pressure on Liverpool to either play him with the first team or sell him to a team that will play him. Basically, there is a chance he isn't good enough to play for England but there are also a lot of good reasons why someone who is good enough to play for England would still choose to play for the US. So as long as he's choosing to play for us, I'm just gonna be psyched that a 6-3 left-footed 17-year old with Liverpool reserve team experience is now part of our U20 and U23 pool.
Any chance you're mis-reading a date? To the English, 10/1/84 means January 10th, 1984. Another point is that playing for the US gives him a chance to play in the Olympics; if he plays for England, there's no Olympics. OTOH, the European Cup is much more appealing than the Gold Cup. And playing for a European national team would involve much less travel.
quote from sandon: --------------------------------------------------Here's a potential starting lineup for qualifying: GK - DJ Countess RB - Oguchi Onyewu CB - Kelly Gray CB - Zach Whitbred LB - Phil Salyer DM - Jordan Stone RM - Santino Quaranta LM - DaMarcus Beasley AM - Bobby Convey F - Landon Donovan F - Conor Casey and the seven subs... GK - Steve Cronin D - Alex Yi D - Ricky Lewis M - Ricardo Clark M - Brad Davis M - Kyle Martino F - Eddie Johnson In bold are the players who are on the England tour which puts a lot of the other guys on this trip "on the bubble." -------------------------------------------------- ...plus, as has been mentioned before, there are the overage players that will be added - probably in midfield and defense (including goal) - because the coaches like some maturity in those tough pressure-packed positions. a whole lot of these tour players are definitely on the bubble. i tell you, we've come a long way!!
Not only is there a chance, there's a good chance! DoH! To be honest, I never thought of that and now feel kinda silly. Thanls for pointing that out.
Man I totally agree. We are going to have a really strong and deep team for the Olympics. Our attacking midfielders and forwards are going to be killer. Quaranta and Beasley on the wings is going to be a wonderful sight. I'm really only worried about our defense. I've never seen any of those proposed starters play except for Grey and while he is quite good I've only seen him in either a midfield role or as a center back that goes forward quite a bit (effectively). Whitbred becomes very important!
Does anyone know Whitbread's story? Was he born in the US, or is he an English product of an American parent?
Sandon's point is well taken. You can quickly name 6 or 7 more obvious players -- Beasley, Donovan, Convey, Gray, Gooch, and maybe Quaranta -- and once you do that, well, a lot of the guys going on this trip have got to be considered pretenders, not contenders. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- there definitely will be some new players. In the next two years players emerge and others fade away. Alot of the players that keep getting mention on this board were on the 20's and if I remember correctly they didn't get out of the bracket.
Whitbread was born in the US, and (IIRC) his mom is from here. His English father Barry was (IIRC) not a distinguished player, but he rose to become head coach of Singapore's national team. In 1998, he led them to victory in the Tiger Cup. Along the way, Singapore beat vastly bigger nations, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam in the final, which was played in Hanoi. Mr. Whitbread left his position in Singapore in order to follow his son to the Liverpool soccer academy, where he coached the U-15 boys last season.
Excellent pool and one I'd be very happy with. IMHO, Clark and Johnson will win the Dmid and Forward spots though. -Tron
to expand on another point previously touched on: let's also remember that with the current development of donovan, beasley and even quaranta, it may be that by the time we need these players in greece in '04 they'd be on somebody's team in europe (we know that this is almost certain to be the case with l.d.), and that team may not want to release them. that would be a good thing in general, but not so good for our olympic team in particular. the development of our players may be too fast for our own olympic good.