Why all the hype?

He's pre-MLS. Whether or not that disqualifies him from this discussion, I dunno.

 

Luckily your old high school team didn't attend Euro 2004 then.

(you went to high school?)

 

I just want to directly make a point a few people have nudged at. Philipiakos and Spector are in a somewhat different category than guys like Demerit and Cooper and even Onyewu, in that the Nats have gaping holes at right mid (if we don't want Reyna there, and don't want to play Dempsey or someone as a non-wing wing) and left back.

 

while I agree with your frustration at hearing people talk up players they've never seen play, you've gone about in just about the worst way possible. Your combatative attitude is not needed here.

As for why people talk up these players, it's a lot to do with the "grass is greener" syndrome. It's the same reason people talk about giving young MLS players a shot based on their draft position or reserve game box scores.

 

Because the US Youth System has cracks, that some very good players can/will fall through. Peter Phillipakos could be Benny Feilhaber's first incarnation. THANK GOD, Sigi Schmid has a Son at UCLA. Things may have been different had his boy went to UC-Santa Barbara, or some other UC school (I'm ignorant of California geography)

 

This post is wrong on so many other levels. Quite possibly the worst post ever.

 

Excellent post MLSNHTOWN. Thanks. Alas, there is a lot of talk about these young men way to early. I took a particular intrest in Karby,as I am an Ipswich fan. Some folks were calling for him to be capped right now, others that he'll start in Germany. This for a player who's played a handful of games in the CCC and league cup! Madness. I don't get it. The USMNT has never had more depth, so let players really earn their spot.

 

The main reason people are interested in guys that have not been seen, is we have seen too much of guys like Vanney, Armas, Zavagnin, Kirvoski, et al

 

You obviously missed my point... my point was the number of players in MLS who WERE NOT successful. Just look at some old draft records... and that's only the guys who were drafted. Did you read my posts at all?
And if you include guys like Convey and Quaranta I can't really respect your list too much. Hartman? I thought we were talking about guys that were good players. Say what you will about someone like Kirovski but he's better than Hartman and Klein.

As far as your old high school team beating the Greeks, I challenge you to win Euro 2008. Good Luck! I challenge your team not to lose by at least 10 goals... which is probably more than the Greeks scored in the whole Euro 2004. You have no clue what is going on...

 

Its not about what Greece did in '02 (your HS team still would have gotten crushed by them then) or what the USA did in '02. That never enters into it.
You compared YOUR HS team to GREECE NOW. They aren't as great as they were in '04 now, but its still inane to compare them to a US high school team. They should try harder... but again, that isn't the issue you brought up.

 

Why we are so hype on those young players?

Damn. Because we are fans of USA National Team. We are excited about our new generations, NO MATTER if they are in Europe, such as Cooper, Karb, Peter, Simak, Zak, J Johnson, etc., or they are in MLS, such as Dempsey, Marshall, Gaven, Szetela, Bradley, Adu, etc., or they are in HS or in U-20.

If you feel someone calls for those kids into the camp without being deserved, that is fine. You can enjoy to watch Hedjuk, Sanneh, Pope, and Armas for their great performance. But never, ever to make funs of our players name. If you don't have respect for the next generation of US players no matter where they are playing, you are not deserved to be a fan of USA National Team.

 

Who buys hype anyway? Mitch Kupchak maybe, but, really...it's fun to guess who might be worth seeing on the big team.

Truth tho, owners and NT coaches have all the video they want...nobody who's quality languishes for long in Bulgarian 2.

Hey, I liked Olympiakos...they had this guy Rivaldo...decent left foot.

 

Terrible terrible thread. The guy who started this thread is a close minded moron. His general point was good. That there is too much of an obsession on young, unproven players. But he goes too far. To say that going to Europe is hurtful to the development of players is ridiculous. For the love of god, he included Ryan Caugherty on his 'bad' list. I played the guy in high school and he didn't score against our team. He didn't start every game for Wake Forest. Hartman, please. Spector is a lot further along in Europe than he would be playing for Columbus.

 

Let's just give all responsible for calling in players to Bruce, he is the one who is on top right now.

 

I can also list 6 guys who are older than Spector... its not that hard. All you've done is list guys who have more playing experience overall than Spector because they are older!

 

Re: What is your point?

So a player is a success if exhibits a high quality of play. I gather that the level at which he plays is also important when you make this assessment.

It is logical to expect more American players to develop in the MLS simply because there are more opportunities for Americans to play first team ball in the MLS. The bulk of every starting line up in the MLS will be made up of Americans. However, many people feel that the level of play in the top European leagues is significantly higher than it is in the MLS, I agree with that view. Consequently, if we accept your premise that the level of play is important when determining who is a success the elite level of player that we all hope to see wearing a US jersey is more likely to be developed in those higher level leagues. Therefore, as USMNT fans we become interested in those players who are in, or may be in, those higher level leagues.

We currently have available a significant quantity of professional players, thank you MLS, the next step is to grow the quality of our top 11. I think that those elite level players will rise to that status in a higher level of competition such as that found in top European leagues. Therefore I become interested in players who have the opportunity to gain that experience.

You follow?

Ralston and Kirovski have about equal number of quality games for the USMNT. Twellman is well below either of those players in terms of quality performances for the USMNT. Is it important when determining who is a success to consider a temporal factor when considering who is a success. i.e. Is Beasley a more successful USMNT player than Pope?

 

He said that about Caugherty because there was no hype with Caugherty. He was never very good to begin with, so the fact that he isn't great right now isn't his team in Europe's fault for not developing him well enough. He probably couldn't have made MLS if he hadn't started for Wake Forest. That was his point.

 

Does the phrase... "I went to a soccer board and a boxing match broke out.......?" I love the cat fighting that is going on in here.