USMNT: To Rüssia With Love

[Titans Bastard]

The USSF is trying to recruit a German-American forward at Bayern....sound familiar? This time it is Timothy Tillmann, who has been playing for Bayern's U19 team and thus far has gotten good reviews. I don't know enough about him to really say how good a prospect he is. However, he's played fairly regularly for Germany's youth national teams, but hasn't yet appeared in any of the bigger YNT competitions - e.g. UEFA U17 qualifiers. That means that he wouldn't need to file a one-time switch and it also means the DFB likes him but doesn't (or at least hasn't) considered him among the very best prospects of his age cohort.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1616/concacaf/2017/02/08/32475852/were-on-top-of-it-us-soccer-trying-to-lock-down-bayern?ICID=HP_HN_1

 

[Infield Infidel]

Apparently Barca tried to get Tillman from Bayern
http://www.espnfc.com/story/3055736/barcelona-failed-in-bid-for-bayern-munich-teen-timothy-tillman-agent

 

[wonderland]

I hope these lottery tickets don't hurt a lot of good US prospects. Signing at a big club at such a young age seems like a good way to kill your career. Similar to good English prospects jumping to a big club to sit on the bench and collect better wages.

 

[Infield Infidel]

At least at Barca a player not up to snuff can play on the B team in the 2nd division. At Bayern the best would be a loan because Bayern II is capped at 3Liga, so they have less control over development

 

[Titans Bastard]

The CONCACAF U-20 Championship starts next Friday. The USSF has released the roster for the tournament, which serves as a qualification for the 2017 U-20 World Cup.

CONCACAF has changed the format of the tournament again in a way that I think will benefit the US.

1) Three groups of four play a single round robin, the top two in each group advance
2) Two groups of three play a single round robin, the top two in each group qualify for the U20 WC
3) The two group winners from stage 2 play a final

Since you can qualify without winning the first or second group stage, it's a format that is forgiving of a hiccup.

The US has never won the CONCACAF U20s outright, though we have been "co-champions" a few times from 1998-2007 when there were multiple qualifying groups and no final match. Outside of that time period, we've been runners-up six times.


The roster:

GK
Jonathan Klinsmann (University of California)
J.T. Marcinkowski (Georgetown)

DF
Danny Acosta (Real Salt Lake)
Marlon Fossey (Fulham)
Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake)
Aaron Herrera (University of New Mexico)
Erik Palmer-Brown (Sporting Kansas City)
Tommy Redding (Orlando City)
Auston Trusty (Philadelphia Union)

MF
Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls)
Luca de la Torre (Fulham)
Jonathan Gonzalez (Monterrey)
Jeremiah Gutjahr (Indiana University)
Sebastian Saucedo (Real Salt Lake)
Eryk Williamson (University of Maryland)

FW
Coy Craft (FC Dallas)
Jeremy Ebobisse (Portland Timbers)
Brooks Lennon (Real Salt Lake)
Jonathan Lewis (New York City FC)
Emmanuel Sabbi (Las Palmas)

It's a weird roster. CB is strong, even in the absence of Cameron Carter-Vickers. EPB is the captain, both Glad and Redding have good pro experience compared to past U20 CBs. Fullback is a big concern. Fossey is a converted winger who is good going forward, but is still figuring it out defensively. I'm not sure Herrera is any great shakes. And there are zero natural LBs on the roster. Based on the fact that he's listed as a defender, I'm going to guess that DM Danny Acosta will play LB? I don't know.

Adams will anchor the midfield at DM. De la Torre looked like a classy midfielder for the U17s, but it's hard to know how he's progressed at Fulham. Gutjahr, a part-time starter at Indiana last year, is a head-scratcher. Williamson is a Ramos favorite who can fill several roles in the midfield. DC tried to sign him this winter, but he seems to have his eyes on Europe. Saucedo should be the #10. Gonzalez is a little mysterious to me, but like Adams he's playing up a cycle and is supposed to be good.

I expect Ebobisse to lead the line, with the other guys listed as forwards as outside attackers in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3.


Some notables who aren't on the roster due to injury and/or unavailability and/or Tab doesn't like them:

GK Justin Vom Steeg (Fortuna Düsseldorf)
RB Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas)
RB Matthew Olosunde (Manchester United)
CB Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur)
CB Miles Robinson (Atlanta United)
LB Marcello Borges (University of Michigan)
CM Gedion Zelalem (VVV Venlo)
CM Weston McKennie (Schalke)
CM Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes)
CM Cameron Lindley (University of North Carolina)
AM Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund)
AM Josh Perez (Fiorentina)
AM Mukwelle Akale (Villarreal)
AM Nick Taitague (Schalke)
AM McKinze Gaines (Wolfsburg)
FW Brandon Vazquez (Atlanta United)
FW Haji Wright (Schalke)
FW Kai Koreniuk (Vitesse)

 

[Titans Bastard]

Some USMNT notes:

 

[Jed Zeppelin]

It's nice that 5 of the staunchest members of the starting XI merit consideration.

 

[Titans Bastard]

It's nice that 5 of the staunchest members of the starting XI merit consideration.

Indeed, though there has been a running theory that when Arena, Howard, and others have bashed "German-Americans" they were really talking about "Timmy Chandler" - that Arena is talking about Chandler as a piece of the team suggests that it's not true, at least, in the case of Bruce. Of course, Chandler is having quite a strong season and it would be foolish to not at least try to get him to replicate his Bundesliga form on the international stage.

Lichaj could be a useful RB/LB backup, especially because Arena is toying with the idea of using FJ as an attacker again.

 

[Titans Bastard]

New kit:

It will be debuted against Honduras.

It's better than this monstrosity:

 

[tims4wins]

Still sucks. Are we Portugal?

 

[Jed Zeppelin]

One Nation. One Team. One color.

Morris needs to work on his stock photo pose.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Still sucks. Are we Portugal?

Among others.



I miss the Where's Waldos.

 

[Jimy Hendrix]

The sleeve details on those Nike templates that are supposed to make them feel less half-assed somehow makes them feel *more* half-assed than if they were just like blank 100% single-shade red.

 

[Infield Infidel]

Back in the USSA?

 

[Tangled Up In Red]

Egad. Hideous.

 

[Titans Bastard]

U-20 qualifying begins today with what will likely be the toughest match of the initial group stage against Panama. The US U-20s are often forced to grind out results in CONCACAF qualifying and it's rare for the team to breeze through qualifying. At the moment, the team is missing a number of its best players, but there should be enough talent to make it through. That being said, there are clear holes at certain positions and the Tab Ramos-coached teams rarely look good, so you never know.

The top two from our group (USA, Panama, Haiti, St. Kitts) advance to a second group stage. I've seen conflicting kickoff times; the game today starts at either 3:30 or 4pm and will be on Univision Deportes and supposedly, Facebook Live via CONCACAF.

A guess at a lineup:

Ebobisse
Saucedo -- Williamson -- Lewis
Adams -- Palmer-Brown
Acosta -- Redding -- Glad -- Fossey
Klinsmann​

A 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 ish lineup. There are no true LBs in the squad, but apparently RSL is in the process of converting Danny Acosta to the position. Palmer-Brown is a CB, but Ramos has talked about using him in the midfield. We don't have great DMs this cycle, but have a lot of solid CBs. Adams is a good prospect from the next U20 cycle playing up. If Palmer-Brown starts at CB, we'd probably see Jonathan Gonzalez or Luca de la Torre slide into CM. I'm not sold on Williamson as a #10; it may be better to slide Saucedo inside and start Lennon on the wings. However, Tab is a Williamson guy. Lewis is a guy whose stock has risen considerably over the last year and NYCFC gave up a small fortune to be able to draft him. Ebobisse has consistently produced up top all cycle. Fossey is supposed to be an interesting RB prospect -- exciting going forward, a little sketchy defensively, as he is a winger conversion project at Fulham.

 

[Titans Bastard]

The U-20s are underway against Panama right now. There's a livestream here:

https://www.facebook.com/concacafcom/

The USSF couldn't be bothered to tweet a graphic that shows who is starting where, but I believe this is how they are lining up:

DLT will probably play ahead of Adams and Palmer-Brown though.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Wow, 18th minute, a Panama player stomps Tyler Adams' ankle and sees straight red.

 

[Titans Bastard]

lol, 1-0 Panama after a perfectly placed shot in a rare attack.

US looking like a Tab Ramos-coached team -- no ideas offensively. EPB's distribution at DM is mediocre, but defensively he's a man among boys.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Very unimpressive stuff from the US. Despite playing a man up for most of the first half, they were able to create almost no danger. The midfield balance was very defensive from the start and Ebobisse has been on an island. Predictable crosses to a lone forward seems to be the game plan so far.

Fucking Tab Ramos. This is the product of a coach who is the USSF Youth Technical Director...

 

[Titans Bastard]

Ebobisse rattles the crossbar with a header off a cross from Lennon.

 

[Titans Bastard]

1-0 FT. Brutal performance from the US.

 

[Titans Bastard]

1-0 FT. Brutal performance from the US.

This says it all:

Boehm: US U-20 men lay an egg of historic proportions vs. Panama

 

[Senator Donut]

This says it all:

Boehm: US U-20 men lay an egg of historic proportions vs. Panama

When you posted that starting lineup, I thought I missed something about Erik Palmer-Brown playing in the midfield. Nope, it was just another Tab Ramos experiment. Why are you taking perhaps the most accomplished player on the roster and playing him out of position?

 

[Titans Bastard]

When you posted that starting lineup, I thought I missed something about Erik Palmer-Brown playing in the midfield. Nope, it was just another Tab Ramos experiment. Why are you taking perhaps the most accomplished player on the roster and playing him out of position?

Because as a coach, Ramos is like Klinsmann but with even worse tactics and no charisma. He makes strange roster choices, uses players out of position, and his teams usually look disorganized, unprepared, and bereft of ideas. They can usually keep it tight at the back as they did in 2015 thanks to some great stuff from Miazga and CCV in particular, but aside from the backline, his teams exhibit little creativity, very poor movement, and no attacking identity.

The players today are not above scrutiny and many showed mediocre technique and a lack of imagination. However, when a bunch of 19 year olds haven't been prepared well for a game, they're not likely to play to the best of their ability.

It is an ongoing joke and travesty that Tab Ramos is not only the U-20 coach, but the Youth Technical Director, ostensibly in charge of youth and coaching development in this country. His coaching experience consists of a short stint for a local club in NJ and now three cycles with the U-20s. He is lucky that in 2015 he had two great CBs for the U-20 level and wound up with a ridiculous draw at the WC (NZ = easiest seed by far b/c they were hosts + Myanmar)

It is a larger ongoing joke and travesty that the USSF refuses to hold coaches accountable until absolutely forced to. This is true for the men and the women, for youth teams and senior teams. And that's on Sunil.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Panama's goalscorer from yesterday's game plays for Iowa Western Community College. Their starting GK plays college soccer....in England. Only two US starters have played even a single minute of college soccer. Sad!

 

[Titans Bastard]

USA U-20s beat Haiti 4-1 today after going down early again. On-loan RSL winger Brooks Lennon scored a hat trick.

Haiti were poor and the US team didn't look that great again. NYCFC winger Jonathan Lewis was a bright spot; his performance was miles better than the work Sebastian Saucedo put in against Panama.

El Salvador surprisingly beat Costa Rica the other day. The US is likely to finish #2 in Group B, which means they need to finish in the top two in second stage group with the winners of A and C. That's likely to be Mexico and El Salvador now. Even though El Salvador was able to beat Costa Rica, I'd like to avoid the hosts (CR) in a must-win game if at all possible. We'd definitely lose to Mexico, but could scrape to a second place finish over El Salvador in the second phase, and with it WC qualification.

St. Kitts & Nevis are up next.

 

[Conigliaro's Potential]

Panama's goalscorer from yesterday's game plays for Iowa Western Community College. Their starting GK plays college soccer....in England. Only two US starters have played even a single minute of college soccer. Sad!

I missed this post at the weekend, but that fact is truly remarkable. College soccer in England is barely intramural level; if you're not training with a professional/semi-pro/part-time club somewhere, anywhere on the league pyramid, you're playing this game recreationally and not seriously. (Just thought I'd emphasize that for anyone who may not fathom just how different university sports are outside of the USA.)

 

[Jed Zeppelin]

I missed this post at the weekend, but that fact is truly remarkable. College soccer in England is barely intramural level; if you're not training with a professional/semi-pro/part-time club somewhere, anywhere on the league pyramid, you're playing this game recreationally and not seriously. (Just thought I'd emphasize that for anyone who may not fathom just how different university sports are outside of the USA.)

Yeah, that's wild. I studied abroad in York and was forever after able to say I played college soccer.

 

[Titans Bastard]

U-20s beat St. Kitts & Nevis 4-1 on Friday and finished second in the group behind Panama.

In the next phase, the U-20s have been placed in a group with the winners of Groups A (Mexico) and C (El Salvador). The top two qualify for the WC, so basically we just need to get by El Salvador.

I'm not at all convinced that we'll be able to do it. This US team has looked unimpressive (missing some players + we're not world beaters anyway + Tab sucks) and El Salvador did well in Central American qualifying and won their group ahead of hosts Costa Rica.

 

[InstaFace]

Timmy Chandler looked like absolute dogshit against Hertha Berlin (and a healthy John Brooks, who looked good to me, in limited opportunities as his team was bossing the match). To the point where the announcers were openly blaming him for one of the goals.

I hope we have a good plan at FB that doesn't involve Fabian Johnson getting pushed back there, and also doesn't involve random dudes out of their depth being asked to clean up runs to the endline.

 

[Titans Bastard]

I'd celebrate a tie against Mexico, but I expect a loss. All that really matters is that we finish ahead of El Salvador, though.

Good to see that Tyler Adams is back; clearly, his injury against Panama wasn't as bad as feared. Starting DLT on the wing over Jonathan Lewis is suspect based on how they've looked so far, although to be fair DLT has only played centrally thus far. Acosta at LB will be a weakness as always.

 

[Titans Bastard]

EPB scores off a corner, 1-0 USA. The US hasn't created much danger other than that set piece, but Mexico hasn't also hasn't threatened much. Not sure that this is a particularly strong El Tri team either.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Good team defense in this one. US has been in controls so far and Palmer-Brown has been dominant, even in an unfamiliar DM role. The offense still isn't very watchable, though.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Jurgen is in the house!

Still 1-0 in the 65th minute. Craft just came on for Ebobisse, who has been largely disappointing this week.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Hearing Jonathan Klinsmann shout at the defense is weird. I keeping expecting him to start yelling "Michael....MICHAEL!!!!"

 

[SoxFanInCali]

4 minutes of added time.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Well, that was unexpectedly awesome.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Jonathan Lewis totally bottled a breakaway in stoppage time, but he at least got a corner out of it and the US killed the game. 1-0, FT. Apparently it's the first US win over Mexico at the U20 level since 1986. That sounds a little more dramatic than it really is because they were seeded in different groups from 1998-2007 and in that format, there was no final, so they never had a chance to play.

Anyway, I'm really surprised the US won and I'm really surprised how toothless Mexico looked. They really had nothing, though perhaps we should give some credit to the DMs and defenders. I like EPB and Glad (CBs) quite a bit and Adams (DM) seems promising, too. Adams could well be the captain for the next U20 cycle.

Mexico plays El Salvador next. If Mexico fails to win, we qualify for the WC. If they win, we just need to avoid a loss to El Salvador to qualify. If Mexico wins and we lose, there's still a chance to get in on tiebreakers.

 

[Titans Bastard]

A few other thoughts:

Mexico's coach is Marco Antonio Ruiz. We should ask him what it feels like to be completely out-coached by Tab Ramos.

This was Mexico U20's first CONCACAF loss since 2009.

Luca de la Torre has learned how to CONCACAF:

 

[dirtynine]

Decent look at 5 US-based young guns to pay attention to (thanks to TB and the current U20 activity they're already on our radar, but thought it was worth the share). Players mentioned are

Zack Steffen (GK, Crew)
Tyler Adams (MF, RBNY)
Brooks Lennon (MF/F, RSL)
Erik Palmer-Brown (CB, SKC)
Andrew Carleton (MF, ATL Utd)

 

[Titans Bastard]

Decent look at 5 US-based young guns to pay attention to (thanks to TB and the current U20 activity they're already on our radar, but thought it was worth the share). Players mentioned are

Zack Steffen (GK, Crew)
Tyler Adams (MF, RBNY)
Brooks Lennon (MF/F, RSL)
Erik Palmer-Brown (CB, SKC)
Andrew Carleton (MF, ATL Utd)

Yes, I like this group. I rate Lennon a little below the rest, but YMMV.

EPB is legit. So is Justen Glad at RSL, who I believe has more pro experience than any other YNT-eligible player at the moment. (Second is probably Tyler Adams even though he turned 18 a few weeks ago; he already has 30+ USL appearance for NYRB II and will get much more MLS experience this year because McCarty was sold.)

Despite the article's billing, Steffen hasn't been a youth international since the day we got knocked out of Olympic qualifying in October 2015 (he's now too old for any YNTs), but I guess GKs move on a different time scale. Columbus has really cleared the deck for him to start this year and I hope he does well. His profile has fallen below that of his former YNT teammate Ethan Horvath because Horvath became a regular starter in Norway, had a nice run against some sizable clubs in the Europa League, and has been in the USMNT mix...but I'm not convinced that Horvath is the better prospect.

Carleton is currently the most hyped player in our U17s. I feel like every good attacking midfielder in the U17s for the next 10 years is going to be the "next Pulisic". I don't know about that because Carleton lacks Pulisic's athleticism. However, I think he has better technique and more flair.

I like to imagine what this would look like if Gyasi Zardes were in Carleton's place...

 

[Titans Bastard]

Mexico beat El Salvador 5-1 today, which means that the US has all but qualified for the U20 WC. On Friday, they just need to do better than a three goal loss.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Start the citizenship clock on Jack Harrison...

 

[Titans Bastard]

Tonight's lineup:



Auston Trusty, who is a big CB, is making his first appearance at the tournament at LB. That might not work well, but regular LB Danny Acosta hasn't been any good anyway.

Ebobisse hasn't had a great tournament, so Sabbi gets a chance at CF.


Since El Salvador got pounded by Mexico 6-1, the US will qualify for the U20 WC as long as they don't lose by three goals or more thanks to the tiebreaker scenarios. A draw or win will mean the team will advance to the CONCACAF final against Honduras.

 

[Titans Bastard]

2-0 USA, cruising after 25 minutes.

 

[Investor 11]

Wow!!! Williamson with a golazo from prob just shy of 25 yards out. 2-0 US in the 26th minute

 

[Titans Bastard]

 

[Pesky Pole]

The ref has completely lost control of this game. Someone is going to get hurt.

 

[Pesky Pole]

So three red cards later, we're 10 v 9