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Hope?

HuffyCane

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Dec 25, 2004
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Indiana Vassilev made his debut for Villa in a league tie over the weekend playing about 30 minutes and holding his own.

And Claudio’s son Gio Reyna may be the next big thing at Dortmund if Sancho is sold. He’s only 17 and made his Bundesliga debut as well on the weekend. M

Vassilev has a bit of a better pedigree than Sargent but I’m not sold on either. Both need significant maturity.

Gio is a little more intriguing. He’s a playmaker who likes to track back and defend with punishment. In other words, a dose of what American needs. Whether he is ready to do it against grown men in Azteca next year is a different story. But we may have an extra place for the USMNT offense to pivot on the pitch besides Pulisic very shortly. Which opens up some tantalizing possibilities just like when we had his old man and John O’Brien.

I try really hard not to get my hopes up with young USA players abroad, but these two could be special and end our bunker shape and incompetent out of the back attempts. We might really be able to stretch the field to the chalk like what Berhalter likes to talk about doing but can’t seem to make it work.
 
I do like our young talent and there are a good number of them in position to get the sort of club experience that can really pay off. Hope they can make it. We should be competitive in this sport even with all the road blocks we place in our own way.
 
Young Reyna should be perfect for the Olympic call-up as well as any under-18,20 or 21 MNT call ups for tournaments. Hell, why not the Sr. team. Beer?halter has two-thirds of the current camp as young MLS first-cap guys & this kid's tearing it up for Dortmund.
 
Indiana Vassilev made his debut for Villa in a league tie over the weekend playing about 30 minutes and holding his own.

And Claudio’s son Gio Reyna may be the next big thing at Dortmund if Sancho is sold. He’s only 17 and made his Bundesliga debut as well on the weekend. M

Vassilev has a bit of a better pedigree than Sargent but I’m not sold on either. Both need significant maturity.

Gio is a little more intriguing. He’s a playmaker who likes to track back and defend with punishment. In other words, a dose of what American needs. Whether he is ready to do it against grown men in Azteca next year is a different story. But we may have an extra place for the USMNT offense to pivot on the pitch besides Pulisic very shortly. Which opens up some tantalizing possibilities just like when we had his old man and John O’Brien.

I try really hard not to get my hopes up with young USA players abroad, but these two could be special and end our bunker shape and incompetent out of the back attempts. We might really be able to stretch the field to the chalk like what Berhalter likes to talk about doing but can’t seem to make it work.
I like Gio a lot. Good player and pace and much more physical (what I recall anyway) than his dad was. I'm hoping he is more durable than Claudio too. Claudio always seemed to be hampered by lingering injuries...not enough to necessarily keep him out of big matches, but certainly hamper his effectiveness in them.
 
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Young Reyna should be perfect for the Olympic call-up as well as any under-18,20 or 21 MNT call ups for tournaments. Hell, why not the Sr. team. Beer?halter has two-thirds of the current camp as young MLS first-cap guys & this kid's tearing it up for Dortmund.
Juan Agudelo not having enough caps to get a work permit for the EPL cost MLS $6 million from Stoke. MLS, SUM and USSF are all still controlled by Gulati and colleagues. They’ve never forgot it. So it will be young MLS for the foreseeable future. Pumping up the caps to increase chances of sale and improve chances of a permit.
 
So......it's all about the Benjamins. To hell with qualifying for the WC. "Hey Gregg, please do your best with who we tell you to use and if your team doesn't qualify, we're sorry about your inability to get another job as a coach. But maybe, just maybe, we'll get a fat permit fee or transfer fee down the road". Just sickening! The whole crew(past & present) running those august institutions ought to be strung up by their gone-adz.
 
More like they couldn’t find anyone to take the job under those conditions - not to mention the headaches our women’s program causes. Klinsmann was right about a lot of things. He was just too arrogant to see he wasn’t the one to fix them
 
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Forgot to post this last week.

For those who didn’t already see it, a golazo from Gio

 
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A little more lanky than his Daddy, but that same low to the ground side stepping moves.
 
Are we going to get a second bite at the cherry? Seems like the US has several young prospects that may grow into stars. Some already showing signs of high level play at good clubs in big competitions. Seems we have a good mix of positions as well, is this a real golden generation?
 
Are we going to get a second bite at the cherry? Seems like the US has several young prospects that may grow into stars. Some already showing signs of high level play at good clubs in big competitions. Seems we have a good mix of positions as well, is this a real golden generation?
I hope so. There was a significant drop in talent in 96-97 coming up and the ‘90 and ‘94 players covered up that hole with their inspired and experienced play. As they aged out, we were exposed in ‘98. Embarrassed. But the ‘99-‘00 Olympic team had close to a dozen guys under 23 who went on to cap for the team and had HUGE impacts. Landon among them. They were the core of the 2002 team. Let’s hope you are right and a new core of players is coming together who is gonna go out and beat Spain and punch Mexico in the mouth.
 
One can hope, but the powers that be must let Beer?halter call them up. If they're not playing in MLS, they'll have to be Pulisic good to get a call up. Speaking of CP, it's been over two months since he saw the pitch. That adductor muscle injury he got in practice still has him on the shelf, although he's been practicing some. Maybe vs Bayern Munich in the Ch Lg coming up.
 
One can hope, but the powers that be must let Beer?halter call them up. If they're not playing in MLS, they'll have to be Pulisic good to get a call up. Speaking of CP, it's been over two months since he saw the pitch. That adductor muscle injury he got in practice still has him on the shelf, although he's been practicing some. Maybe vs Bayern Munich in the Ch Lg coming up.
Those injuries are tough to overcome. And Chelsea has been struggling without him. They looked terrible in their loss to ManU on Monday. Abraham didn't play so that hurt them as well.

Weah is also hurt again and is looking at significant time away from the field. Arriola is also hurt and will miss significant time (torn ACL, 6 months probably before he can resume practicing at full speed). More pressing for me is the need to find an actual goalkeeper who is well rounded. Steffen is a good shot stopper. His feet are awful and cause more problems than its worth to be honest. That's where Guzan's strength is...his distribution. But Guzan's age doesn't help him.
 
Guzan is not the answer. Love the gloves he signed and gave to me after the tie in Mexico, but the Polar Bear needs to drift quietly away on a comfortable iceberg he deserves for his years of service.
 
Guzan is not the answer. Love the gloves he signed and gave to me after the tie in Mexico, but the Polar Bear needs to drift quietly away on a comfortable iceberg he deserves for his years of service.
I'm not saying he is the answer, but he is the best the US has right now in terms of being a complete GK.

Where is Klinsmann's son? That kid can flat out play the GK position. He was pretty much a fixture for the US youth teams recently and played as the U20 GK in both the CONCACAF U20 championships and for the U20 WC. He did get a couple of call-ups and on the roster for some friendlies for the senior team. I believe he is in line to be one of the U23 GKs for Olympic qualifying. He's a definite shot stopper and he has excellent feet and decision making in distribution.

I haven't seen anything out of Steffen, Hamid, or Johnson. Sure they're all great shot stoppers but GKs need to be so much more than that these days.
 
his mouth on social media got him in trouble at Hertha and they sold him to some Swiss team. He’s probably not a realistic always available option
 
I'm not saying he is the answer, but he is the best the US has right now in terms of being a complete GK.

Where is Klinsmann's son? That kid can flat out play the GK position. He was pretty much a fixture for the US youth teams recently and played as the U20 GK in both the CONCACAF U20 championships and for the U20 WC. He did get a couple of call-ups and on the roster for some friendlies for the senior team. I believe he is in line to be one of the U23 GKs for Olympic qualifying. He's a definite shot stopper and he has excellent feet and decision making in distribution.

I haven't seen anything out of Steffen, Hamid, or Johnson. Sure they're all great shot stoppers but GKs need to be so much more than that these days.

No way no how. Steffan or horvath over that clown
 
Ethan Horvath is my pick. Come on Beer?halter-give the kid a chance!
 
No way no how. Steffan or horvath over that clown
Steffen will cost the US more goals than he saves one and it has nothing to do with his ability to stop shots. For every great save that probably should have been a goal, he makes 3-4 mistakes in distribution or as a pass back option that costs the US. And I'm not exaggerating.
 
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Kreis released the 20 man roster for the Olympic qualifying. No Reyna, McKennie. Reggie Cannon is there though along with some other names we've been talking about on here. Just reading through the names, looked like a pretty solid squad. Will have a tough tough qualifying group (Costa Rica, Mexico, Dominican Republic).
 
Hopefully that means Gio and Weston are senior squad. Cannon being lower likely means there’s no room on the right for him right now with Yedlin and the two new dual nationals fighting for the spot. Depth. What a miracle.
 
Hopefully that means Gio and Weston are senior squad. Cannon being lower likely means there’s no room on the right for him right now with Yedlin and the two new dual nationals fighting for the spot. Depth. What a miracle.
I liked what I saw of Cannon last summer. And I know Gio and Weston are both destined for senior team contributions but having them play in qualifying events like this gives them more experience. Calling them in for the Olympics is also a good thing too as would calling in a healthy Pulisic to be honest. They all need to be playing in some big int'l events.
 
Speaking of a healthy CP, he hasn't played since 01/01/2020. The groin/adductor injury in practice has had him in rehab ever since. Lately he has been back in training but I don't know if it's with the Chelsea first team or lower. Word is the kid is "desparate" to get back on the pitch.
 
Hallelujah! Now, if Jay Beer?halter and Sunil the Bugatti fade slowly into the sunset...................!
 
Since no one is talking football or basketball, let's not talk some futbol. How ironic, CP just begins to get his mojo back from injury and European futbol gets sacked. Same goes for Tyler Adams. Speaking of whom, he came off the bench for Leipzig in the last Ch Lg match played and does fine. Leipzig is doing fine as well(3rd in the Bundesliga) and in the ChLg quarterfinals after demolishing Tottenham. I think they play a very attractive style of futbol with the youngest coach in the league(32) to take a team to the ChLg Q's. Of course, no one knows when or if there will be any futbol at any level anywhere for a long while.
 
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More Hope! A guy named Will Wilson, an alleged marketing genious & the uncle of Andrew Luck, takes over for Cordeiro. Also, Jay Beer?halter is out! This guy basically ran the USSF & not well. Most staff quit under him, not to mention being the "brains" behind the year long effort to "find" a coach for the MNT....which turned out to be his brother. Word is he was very upset to not get Cordeiro's job & just quit. So sad..Ha!!
 
He will do alright. He’s a football guy but was at Soccer United Marketing for awhile, so he’s still part of the Swamp. The women’s union helped vet him and that will help. FYI Cordero is not gone, he’s still on the Board, he’s just not in charge.
 
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I miss EPL, MLS, Bundesliga, etc. Right now my soccer fix is watching replays of the Women's World Cup and now ESPN is running old MLS games. 1996 MLS Cup in Foxboro (rain drenched soaking field with standing water) between DC and Galaxy. The uniforms were GOD awful. Keeper for Galaxy was Jorge Campos. My son looks at it and asks "Why is the screen so narrow" (non HD square aspect ratio). Then he says..."that keeper looks really short...is it the aspect ratio?" I look up Campos...Campos was 5'6". My son is 2" taller than Campos was, my son is only 14. He aspires to be a keeper at a higher level so seeing guys who are shorter being able to play gives him hope. My son is still growing too.

They then had the 2001 MLS Cup on as well as a 2007 preseason game between Galaxy (1st with Beckham part of the squad) and Chelsea who was stacked and coming off of 2 EPL titles. Drogba, Wright-Phillips, JohnTerry, and Peter Cech as the Chelsea keeper. Drogba, in his prime was a freaking monster. I hadn't realized how good he was as I didn't really pay attention to any pro soccer until after my son started playing. Drogba was a far cry of what he was when he came to Tulsa a couple of summer's ago as part of Phoenix Rising (and he was still ridiculous at age 40 compared to USL players). Galaxy had Landon Donovan. The level of play for LA was very high in that match and a lot of it started with Donovan in the middle.
 
They say Nick Rimando is 5’9”. That’s generous. He coaches at the RSL summer camps. I’d send your son. 20 years and 20 caps is a heck of a role model.
 
For anyone (yawn!) still interested in the USMNT, here's some news. One of Beer?halter's boyz ist kaput! Man, Zach Steffen's career might be over after not one, but two knee ligament things in a row. He recovers from one & immediately blows it out again at practice. I imagine his club team (Cleveland?) is very worried as well.
 
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They cleaned house in the front office last week but I’ve been too busy to make some calls and find out what the inside deal was. But the academy went away but more importantly there were scouting and front office people who had input on player selection on the men’s side that got the boot too.
 
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They cleaned house in the front office last week but I’ve been too busy to make some calls and find out what the inside deal was. But the academy went away but more importantly there were scouting and front office people who had input on player selection on the men’s side that got the boot too.
This is a good thing. There needed to be a complete overhaul of the player ID and development process.
 
This is a good thing. There needed to be a complete overhaul of the player ID and development process.
It’s more of a reversion to where it was before as I understand it. MLS Academies will play a bigger role in ID now, Supplementing the traditional state cup/play to play/tourney system.
 
Huffy, Bla...please help me understand. The MLS Academies bigger role sounds like a good thing. But who's IDing the up & comers in the Jr. MNT's, not to mention the Euro players-all of whom have been mostly AWOL in the last several matches with results that have generally sucked. I guess we don't know yet & the proof will be in the call-ups when practice & games start up again.
 
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