J-Camp has had less importance in recent years. This is the first one in a while that might genuinely help the team. At GK and CB, hopefully. There are more players than usual that I actually want to get a look at (Luna, Cowell, Schulte, Freese, Guzan, Ragen, Zim, Neal). And take a look at a wild card like Markanich. Get a look at Morris up top.
Perhaps, Kochen will be allowed play the Jan 18th match. This will be a stronger group than in recent years. -----------------------Farrington/Agyemang--------- ------Cowell/Clark-----Luna/Jackson---------Sullivan/Rothrock ----------------Sands/Atencio--Bassett/Cremaschi --Arfsten/Tolkin-----------------------------------------------Roldan/Harriel -------------Zimmmerman/Ragen-----Robinson/Padelford---- --------------------Kochen/Schulte/Celentano
What do you think of Luna and Neal? I havent see either play in a while, but only two that caught my eye from your list. Do either have interest from abroad and do think either is close to being able to fit in with the USMNT?
Rumors are Luna has interest. We will see in the winter window. If he is able to be at January camp he might have a chance to catch Poch's eye.
Luna has the skill, vision and mentality to play at a top level. Athleticism is the question mark. There's a chance he will explode when playing with smarter players. Also a chance he can't handle the speed. Neal, I don't watch enough of. But he is the oldest and most experienced of our CB prospects. So you gotta hope he takes a big step next year.
Do you know where? Sorry to be lazy. I love his player profile is so different than what usually comes out of MLS. His athleticism could obviously hold him back, but would to see him make a jump and show out. It is still crazy to me we can't some more Hispanic players Hispanic influenced players into our program.
I've like what both bring when I have seen them. It is just about them raising their level. Not necessarily for this thread (but maybe available), but I saw clips of the young kid with our u20s on the books at Augsburg. Very interesting skillset.
I understand the concerns about athleticism, but can get behind this argument. We desperately need more players that fit the criteria you mention. Why not try to give these types of players shots to see if they can impact the team with these skillsets and develop or limit the impact of their weaknesses.
Athletic ability needs to meet a minimum threshold. McGlynn didn't look to meet that at the Olympics.
Mixed in w/ some good ideas you usually have some really bad ideas. - Yea, let's waste another cap on a reservist kid keeper instead of actually checking out a more proven, ready adult like Freese or Schulte. Asking for Turner to be the only option in '26. - Tolkin's killing it in the playoffs, was good in the Olympics, & v. Colombia's domestic side. But let's take a flyer on an older possibly system guy who may well be an MLS lifer. - A proven nat'l team failure in Roldan over DeJuan Jones who's succeeded. - 2 vet cb's so not testing out a promising guy like Ragen. Having Padelford as your prospect instead of Neal who was advanced & still at times looked good but was recovering from injury. - 2 potentially 1 yr wonder cf's as so many collegiates have shown to be, instead of guys who've backed it up for yrs like Morris, Ferreira, & White. That would be a gross January camp lineup.
1. The list was not a depth chart. 2. A flier could be taken on McGlynn as an a-mid. Even in a 4123, he could possibly work were the other 2 mids very athletic. It's all about balance. McGlynn would need to bring some serious playmaking skills to the table, though. 3. Left-footer, Leon Flach, could also be a possibility at LB 4. Roldan hasn't 'failed' at RB. And he has been solid in his limited time at CM for the National Team, but RB is a place of need. 5. Morris is through at international level. Too bad about the injuies. White is a nice MLSer
There were a lot of thresholds not met at the Olympics. Singling out that doesn’t seem productive to me. If busio can get A team call ups I don’t see a problem calling up Mcglynn to a January camp
Hopefully McGlynn is sold to Europe in January, so it's a moot point. By the way, Luna has yet to be contacted by the Pochettino staff. I'm not sure how much evaluation of the MLS pool that staff has been able to do. Since officially taking over in September, much of the pool has barely played. Only the few with deep playoff runs have made a lot of starts. Not much of a chance for most of the domestic pool to make an impression. So the staff is probably now starting to watch a lot of video for January. Perhaps getting input from USYNT staff like Mitrovic and USSF staff like Onyewu. Who knows? RSL star Luna yet to hear from USMNT since Pochettino arrival When asked if he'd heard from anybody at U.S. Soccer since Mauricio Pochettino took over as USMNT head coach in September, Luna replied: “I have not had any conversations or phone calls with any of the U.S. staff." Luna was then asked if he'd heard from Mexico, and the playmaker said he hadn't been contacted by El Tri either. "I haven’t heard from either, no," Luna said.
By the way, Tolkin is another who might not be there. Rumors in the twitterverse of them signing Chilean international left back Marcelo Morales from U. de Chile. Tolkin replacement?
Wonder if it makes more sense to hold camp in December rather than January, in order to not miss on players moving abroad.
Nah. That's just the way it goes. Opens a door for somebody else. It's not going to prevent those guys moving to Europe from getting a look at a later point. MLS playoffs now go into December too! They seem to drag on forever. We're still only in the conference semifinals this weekend. One young player that's moving up my board to take a look at in January is Baker-Whiting of Seattle. Very versatile player. He's seemed to have lined up everywhere for Seattle. Last night he was left wing. Only an 05. Eligible for the U20 World Cup later this year. He had a couple of injury problems and apparently Seattle didn't release him to a couple of camps. We therefore haven't seen him too often in a US jersey for the core teams. He's only had 1 cap for the U20s this cycle. People have Atencio in their depth charts for this camp, but is Baker-Whiting a better prospect? Hmmm.........my opinion is yes.. Reed Baker-Whiting's "positions played" chart on transfermarkt.......................... LB, LM, LW, DM, CM, ACM, RM, RB. And its like 8-10 games played at most of those positions. He seems like a young player that they just want to get on the field. Where there's a spot open, they use him. But maybe he's been hurt by not having a truly settled position the last couple of years.
You really need to update your playbook. I think you are about 20 years out of date. This response is crazy. So in a camp that is mostly useless and the most optimistic MLS fans are hoping to find one or two guys that there is some use and you want to give the 24th best prospect out of a weak pool the spot of some one potential. Not sure who that helps other than an undeserving player and league. Right, because there are so many opportunities for fringe Euro based players. Couple that with ever increasing Euro based pool and it is likely whatever MLS player people are excited about going abroad will likely see no opportunities in the nest two years. I was curious about what stupid format they are using this year and how late they run. I wasted about 5 mins on the leagues website and every time I clicked on link thinking this would be the page that would tell me, the article said I had to sign in. Interesting marketing trick. Anyway, the final is Dec 7th. No reason there couldn't be a camp with a game between th 14th and 21st. Now that MLS is considering following what the rest of the world does even though the league and its fans have mocked anyone suggesting it, this silly little camp will end. Hopefully they take the chance to have a camp in May/June for prospects when the whole pool is available.
They've held games in December, in addition to January, before. If they did that this time, you'd also say it was the right decision.