IMO it was an iffy decision. The Italy call up makes him unavailable to the US except for a camp visit which makes it harder for him to integrate in to the US setup in time for 2026. OTOH, it does improve his desirability for European clubs and their fans. So far, it has worked well for him and he looks to be going down the Balogun/Musah growth path.
It seems to me there's a pretty strong preference for Italy. Did he grow up in the US? I feel like every Italian-American I know roots for the Italy team over the US team and is disdainful of US Soccer in general. That said, it will take a lot to make the Italian senior team, I think, because of that bias. So that's an opportunity.
I know your not a fan but Tactical Manager has a pretty in depth interview with him from about a year ago. His dad is Nigerian and his Mom is Canadian/Italian. He was born in the US and played club soccer in the New York area until he was 11. He then had the chance to play for the Red Bulls or to go to Spain and he chose Spain. He said he did so because he thought it would be better for his development. He was called in to the US U15 camp in preparation of the U15 WC which became a Covid casualty. He said that the Fed kinda lost touch with him at that point and it sounded like it was because of the whole Covid thing more than anything. When asked what country he preferred to play for he basically said whichever one offers me the best opportunity. There was no mention of Italy during the entire interview except when he said that his mom was Italian Canadian so that was an option. When asked which pro team he would dream of playing for he said Bayern of all teams. For what it’s worth, and maybe not much, to me the kid looked and gave off the vibe of a typical teenager from the United States.
In a few months we will know better what we can or can't guarantee. And nobody will steal him before that, so it's wait and see situation till deep spring. I like our chances.
We always have 20/20 hindsight when it comes to what USYNTs could have looked like in the past. Even the recent past. People seem to think 50 guys should have been on that roster. Buck, Cremaschi, and a bunch of others also didn't make the cut. Much of that squad was 2003s. Koleosho is a fall 2004. Buck and Cremaschi are 2005s. The 2003s break thru first, and build up an earlier resume. So yes, in theory we could have been calling up a 17/18 year old Koleosho to the U20s. But he hadn't done anything, and a guy like Caden Clark (or whomever) had. But the U20 team we did call up trashed CONCACAF opposition, winning the CONCACAF U20 Championship final 6-0. I mean............
OT I know he's not the most popular figure, but Tac posted the first of a 2 part interview with EPB today that was very insightful. EPB was fairly negative about his time in France and surprisingly said he was unimpressed with the training mindset there was in France where the status quo is good enough and if it doesn't work their fine with that
Ehhh, That U20 tournament was really weird. Dominican Repulbic makes the final!?!?!, Mexico goes down in the QF's to Guatemala of all teams. We did beat a bad Costa Rica and a better Honduras so there's that. But I think the truth about that tournament is that it underlined just how bad things are with conccacrap lately. Canada can't put together youth teams, at all. Mexico's mired in a huge down turn at the U20 level now going back basically 6-8 years depending upon your metric. Costa Rica has been largely horrible at the U20 level for a decade. Guatemala beating Mexico didn't mean they were good, just meant Mexico sucked, at least that day anyway. It's just not good. At all. Even Panama couldn't capitalize on Costa Rica, and Mexico being really down and Canada being a mess as per usual. Maybe I'm wrong, but my memory of Koleosho in '22 was that he was angling for senior team opportunities, not youth team stuff, so I don't know what an U20 offer would have done for him anyway? Wouldn't have hurt, but I think he wanted senior caps by the summer of '22, he wasn't looking to play at a youth world cup (if I'm wrong, correct me, I'm going by my fuzzy memory and nothing else).
I don’t know enough of his mother’s background but from appearances he seems to be about as Italian as Pulisic (who has an Italian grandparent). But maybe someone else knows better and his mom did actually spend time growing up in Italy. But that doesn’t really appear the case based on what I’ve read. Someone like Rossi on the other hand had parents who were themselves Italian immigrants to the US which is a much a stronger tie.
Koleosho wasn’t interested in being on the U20 World Cup team so it’s not like we could have included him if we had wanted too. There were reports that Cremaschi turned down a call up as well but we have less confirmation on that. But I do think generally it was a mistake to take Parades and Pukstas given they weren’t available for much of the tournament and it was a mistake to Tsakiris given he hadn’t played all year coming off injury. In an ideal world you would have slotted Buck, Cremaschi, and Koleosho for those three players (and taken Parades to the Gold Cup).
Wanna play for the US cause you want to represent the shirt? Awesome. Want to play for another country because that’s where your grandpa is from? Also awesome. Just know wherever you pick, the fans will want to see some commitment and that it means something to you.
About U-20, I remembered Cowell plays as left winger and we didn’t have a right winger, so Sullivan played there in qualifier, and Owen Wolfe played there in WC. Kelosheo is a true winger.
All of those players are good and worthy of selection. Tough choices have to be made. Its just an inexact science. You look at the attacking players for the early U20 camps. First camp forwards/wingers. Dante Sealy, who had just moved to PSV. Malick Sanogo of Union Berlin. Brian Gutierrez of Chicago. Cade Cowell of San Jose. Quinn Sullivan of Philly. Diego Luna of RSL. We weren't calling in punks there. Those players were well thought of at the time as well. It hasn't turned out how we wanted for Sealy and Sanogo. By the way, every single one of those players I listed above is also a dual-national. At the time Sanogo was the dual-national we were trying to wrap up. He'd been scoring for fun at the youth levels in Germany. We were thrilled to get him into a camp. On these very boards we were worried about the Mexico-eligible kids like Gutierrez and Luna. Yes, by the end of the cycle we wanted Koleosho. I mean.......U20 cycles are very short. Its not like its a lot of time between when the cycle started and we know Varas (with federation and USMNT leadership) contacted Koleosho. When it comes to dual-nationals its like a game of spinning plates. You're over here worried about Dante Sealy, whose father literally played for the T&T national team..................while the Koleosho plate is wobbling on the other side. Do you get it right all the time? No. You can't.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of players whose criteria for choosing which country to represent in international soccer is "whoever gives me the best opportunity". At least, don't say it out loud.
Also not a fan but I'd rather that then not say anything, soak up a lot of appearances that could have gone to others who want to be there and the fed you've always wanted winks at you and you're gone.
Ironically in the interview he said he wanted to stay in KC but leaving was a financial decision... also learned he had an offer from PSV but chose Man City due to contract length and while he knew he was gonna get loaned out he figured it was better for his CV to go to City
One of those things. SKC at the time had one of the best CB pairings in the history of the league (Besler and Opara). It made sense for EPB to leave. Was City the right choice? In his bank account it was. Its like Miazga going to Chelsea or Trusty going to Arsenal. You know you're going to be loaned out. I'm not a big fan of these "loan armies" that the big clubs have. They just collect and collect talent because they have the money to do so. Chelsea, whose first team is very mediocre...............has 20 players out on loan. That's actually a small number compared to previous years. Some years its over 30. Slonina wouldn't even start in goal for THAT loan army team. Kepa, who was loaned to Real Madrid, would. They sold Mendy, loaned out Kepa and Slonina.................and now start Robert Sanchez. And you sit there and think: Are you actually better off than if you just kept Kepa and Slonina?
I don’t really judge the choices early in the cycle with a new coach who is just getting to know the player pool. I do think we can be overly conservative about integrating new guys who emerge later in the cycle. I think Buck, Cremaschi, and Koleosho all fall into this category (though Koleosho is more of a moot point since he was clearly not interested in being a part of the U20 World Cup). More broadly for any tournament I generally think it’s a mistake to take a player who 1) isn’t going to be available for a good part of that tournament, or 2) has been injured and hasn’t played the entire season. Especially when you have very credible alternatives.