Which overseas YA interests you most ?

I'm most looking forward to seeing the dude from Royal Standard de Liège.

I won't attempt to spell his name, cause I will get it wrong. But you all know who I'm talking about.

 

Adu in a year or two.

 

im excited about danny for one. i think adu is alreadys howing hell break through very soon, same goes for spector. im looking foward to cooper...a foward with size and skill who can score with regularity. thats what we need most at the nat level to me.




forza inter

 

wouldn't all YAs be overseas, unless technically they were playing in Canada or Mexico then I suppose you wouldn't have to go over a sea...

 

Not a bad choice to have to make. It will be interesting to see who surfaces as our next generation. Look at the '02 WC team that was so successful. How many of those players would we have guessed would be there in '98? I doubt O'Brien, Beasley, Mastroenni, Mathis, or Llamosa would've been on most people's radar screen.

 

Don't forget Oguchi Onyewu, who was supposedly the best defender in his US U-20 team. If he nails down a regular starting spot for Standard Liege, he'll be playing in the UEFA Cup and will probably also turn out the most seasoned of the candidates. In any case, most of them are similar: center backs capable of playing right back.

I'd really like to see Onyewu mostly because it would be nice to see, for a change, an American defender who can dribble his way out of trouble if he has to. He showed some pretty outrageous ball skill playing for the U-20s.

I'd also like to see how Karbassiyoon pans out at left back.

Kenny Cooper, Jr. may have had his chance for a cap delayed by the emergence of Conor Casey and Brian Ching as potential high-quality target forwards. I, for one, am not as eager to see him playing for the nats when we're at least three deep in his position.

 

I'd say that there are 4 players from the list who I"m REALLY looking forward to seeing in a USMNT jersey:

Freddy Adu
Jonathan Spector
Zak Whitbread
Danny Szetela

I would say that I don't see the need to RUSH any of these players. I'm sure that their skills will earn them their spot on the USMNT in due time.

 

Weah Jr.

We need fwds more than defenders.

 

Not sure we NEED forwards, but I think it's a lot more LIKELY that the first of the bunch is an attacking player rather than a defending/holding player. The latter mature later and a big part of the job is based on experience and reading the game, which tends to favor older players.

Not only is Adu not in the ballpark of a callup, he's not even on his way to the stadium.

So my $$ would have to be on Spector and anyone that might be able to play right-side midfield (although I like Gaven's chances to take the spot).

 

Personally, it's the guys that I've never actually seen play-

In order of anticipation, I'd say:

Simek
Cooper
Karbassiyoon
Onyewu

I've at least SEEN most of the other hot topics at least a time or two. I'm just quite ready to see them play and make my own opinion. I've read so much about many of them.

Given the systems that Simek, Cooper, and Karbassiyoon are in, it just makes me that much more optimistic.

 

I know where most of these guys play:

Spector / ManU
Whitbread / Liverpool
Simek / Arsenal
Cooper Jr. / ManU
Adu / D.C. United
Szetela / Columbus Crew

But where does Karbassiyoon play & what position?? I must admit that I've NEVER heard of him.

 

Karb is at Arsenal, he went there as a striker but was moved to left back towards the end of last season.

Article on position change

 

I'd say Onyewu, Spector and Whitbred.

All 3 I've seen play in World Youth Cups for the USA. I like what each brings in addition to them being at least 6' tall.

I believe that Onyewu has a bigger chance because he's been developing at his own pace in relative obscurity, similar to that of Cory Gibbs. Next thing you know Gibbs is considered an almost indispensible player who is most likely first in line to be a starter in the center of defense when Pope or Boca is out. I'd love for Onyewu to mimic this. And I think he will. All he has to do is keep maintaining, plugging away for his club and in no time, he'll get some PT from Bruce. I see him on the '06 squad even.

 

O'Brien and Llamosa were alternates for the '98 squad...

 

Given the quality of our finishing over the last year or two I'd have to say that need is a pretty apt description of our situation at forward. Casey has shown promise but has not delievered quite yet. McBride is getting on in years. Ching is an unknown comodity having not had much of an opportunity to play with the nats. Regardless of whether they are a target type player who can play well with the ball at his feet or a more withdrawn player I think we need to find some guys who can bury it.

For that reason I would have to go with Cooper.

Adu is brilliant with the ball but I think he is still learning how to play without it. I hope it's that and not just laziness.

Spector may be a mainstay for us but if he never panned out we would still have solid options in the back for the future with marshall, boca, gibbs, simek all very young.

Simek: see Spector

Szetela has some nice potential but again we have a lot of young talented midfielders.

Danny K./Whitbread - these both can be very key players for the usmnt future but I believe they both play the left back position. That puts them in a similar situation as spector and simek.

Onyewu as a right sided defender might also be particularly interesting to watch. I think he got his first start the other day and allegedly showed well.

 

Thanks for the info & the link, OneGoodKnee. Sounds like the kid might have a future at LB for Arsenal and, maybe even, for the USMNT.

Hopefully, he'll get a shot playing first-team football at Arsenal by next year, like he said in the article.

 

As I'm reading the posts, I realized that I left a player off my original list & he SHOULD be included......Oguchi Onyewu.

I've heard GREAT things about Onyewu, like his size (over 6 ft. tall IIRC) & skill, and am keeping tabs on his club career in Belgium. I believe he's moved from La Louviere to Standard Liege.

Hopefully, Oguchi can become Eddie Pope's "understudy" so that Oguchi can become our #1 CB in the future.

All these "potentially" great backs for the USMNT leaves me wishing that we had that kind of "potential" at the forward position, outside of Freddy Adu.

 

cooper... anyone who thinks brian ching and conor casey are quality at the nat team level must've hit their heads pretty hard.

We've got plenty of young talent in the midfield and defense, so cooper's progress is a definite must watch. The 1 thing holding him back is he is behind rvn, saha, smith, and 1 other (bellion/ogs... etc), and him not being included in the us tour means he'll prolly be stuck on the reserve squad another season unless a foward or two goes down with an injury.

 

very unfair to Ching- he has done nothing but impress since joining MLS.He has also done well with his small USMNT time. Never rule out the underdog without the big resume. Personally, I am very impressed with the guy, his skills, his work ethic.

 

The newest one to first team football.

 

I agree with Metroflip and think Gooch is a darkhorse for the '06 squad.

 

Has anybody here even seen Cooper play???

Isn't he at Man U because his dad has connections?

Why isn't he on the tour?