04/24/24
June 11, 2005
U.S. under-20's beat four time Youth World Champion Argentina 1-0: This was a great game for the U.S. Freddy Adu, Chad Barrett, Jonathon Spector, Quenti Westberg and Marvell Wynne...a player I've never seen...had terrific games. Wynne is a brilliant player and if you haven't seen this kid, have a look soon. He's 19 and in school at UCLA. Next up for the Americans: Germany.
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY to soccer at 02:37 PM - 15 comments
OUT STANDING
posted by maclmn at 06:26 PM on June 11, 2005
this is the future of US soccer. these r the guys who'll be playing in the 2010 World Cup - exciting stuff.
posted by worldcup2002 at 07:54 PM on June 11, 2005
Does anyone know who Barrett is?
posted by StarFucker at 10:23 PM on June 11, 2005
Barrett plays for the Chicago Fire in MLS. We played some good game today, that's for sure. Looking forward to Tuesday and the matchup against Germany.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:56 PM on June 11, 2005
Come off it, it's the U20s. How many U20s go on to have a glittering international career? It's surprisingly small. Still, well done USA.
posted by salmacis at 05:44 AM on June 12, 2005
Sal's right. Very few U20s go on to anything special. Still, it's a good result and I learnt something new - I never knew Jonathan Spector was a Yank.
posted by squealy at 09:12 AM on June 12, 2005
squealy and salmacis are right. For whatever reason, the vast majority of U-20s stars just don't cut it with the big boys but I say again, watch Marvell Wynne. He plays right back and may be the best athlete I've ever seen in an American uniform. A great match-up would see him against Holland's Owusu-Abeyie of Arsenal. These two would burn up the side of the pitch with their pace and I would love to see it.
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 09:58 AM on June 12, 2005
The Argies are a world soccer power in youth as well as seniors. Its a huge win. Wynne impressed me as well. Don't discredit the accomplishments of the youth, its a great foundation for the future. Also, taking nothing away from them, frankly, America's best youth are playing basketball, American football, baseball, ice hockey and track & field. If as little as 10% of our best athletes played soccer instead of the other sports we'd get close to dominating. Great job!
posted by AmericanGooner at 02:18 PM on June 12, 2005
AG, you're new here (which is fine, we love new regulars) but you ought to know that Sal and Squealy are longtime members who add a very knowledgable English contingent to our discussions. How many American sports board do you know that have two EPL fantasy leagues, one for MLS and even one for Champions League? Have to agree that Wynne impressed and if we do the same against Germany that's a big credit to our national squads. OTOH, I also agree that most U20s who rise above the level of, say, career MLS journeymen are probably mostly already playing on a senior side (Adu, Westerberg, Szetela, Gaven, Barrett, Spector from the American team, for instance).
posted by billsaysthis at 10:45 PM on June 12, 2005
americangooner really summed up usa soccers problem . as a former u20 player there is so much clamor over football,baseball and basketball that soccer gets overlooked. there is a very large and talented pool of soccer players yet there is no promotions for players at any level unless they r the next Pele which will never happen ,it is only a matter of time before we really start seeing wat american soccer can really do.
posted by capt_sin_city at 05:49 AM on June 13, 2005
/blush mode I certainly didn't mean to take anything away from the USA U20 team as it's clearly a great result. However, speaking from experience of the England U20s it just seems that great results and inspirational performances hardly ever seem to transfer to full international football in the long term. Maybe that's because our coaching and development is poor in England or maybe it's that it's such a big step up from U20 to full international level. I wouldn't like you guys to get upset just because you don't win the 2010 World Cup.
posted by squealy at 05:56 AM on June 13, 2005
I wouldn't like you guys to get upset just because you don't win the 2010 World Cup This is a good point. We Americans are generally so competitve and ambitious that we assume the logical step from the quarter-final appearance in WC 2002 would be the semi-final or final and then win the whole thing in 2014. Remember, England effectively created the sport and they've only won the World Cup once (and we haven't stopped hearing about it for 39 years). It's important to look at all the footballing nations with a much richer pedigree in the sport than we have, and they've never won the biggest prize: Holland, Spain, Portugal, The Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia) and Mexico. All these countries currently sit in the Top 10 of FIFA's dubious ranking system. The improvement every four years is marginal unless a Pele' or Maradona comes around. If improvement is made, all those countries improve at basically the same rate. What we saw with the U.S. going from finishing 32nd in France '98 to the quarter-finals in Korea/Japan '02 is rare and will be extremely difficult to duplicate, even thought we know we have a better team. America's best youth are playing basketball, American football, baseball, ice hockey and track & field Absolutely true and for me this is all about one thing: money. If MLS paid even 20% of the contracts given to top players in other sports there would be a definite shift but I don't see how that will happen as long as sponsor-paid talking heads run down the sport. The guys who play in MLS now play for the love of the game with about 80% of the players making salaries less than $100,000. Since I first started playing the sport in 1970 I've said I hope we win the World Cup before I die...so I hope we get crackin'!
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 07:33 AM on June 13, 2005
salmacisYour nuts.Do some research.Times have changed.The future is our U20's mixed with kids going to college right now.Look it up Internationally.Simmular situations we dont have 14,15,16,year old pros here in the states.With exception of Adu. USA all the way.
posted by HOE.O.K. at 02:11 PM on June 13, 2005
squealy, the sad fact is we (the nation as a whole) doesn't get upset is because we (generally speaking) don't care. We get upset about not winning international championships of things we DO care about. For instance, Basketball. The world started catching up so we started using NBA players. I think you'll see a far more competitive senior team in a decade. Our youth organization AYSO has to do one thing though. It has to bring the game to the inner city. PC, code word for blacks and some latinos. Our best basketball players, and a lot of our gridiron/am. football players come from these areas. Also, we need a soccer toe hold in the talent rich but american football dominated south. In every other part of the world soccer is a workingmans or poor mans sport. In America its a suburban sport of the middle class. AYSO is trying to build a presense in the inner city but its nascent. If we had a youth league in say the top 5 metro areas (NY, LA, Philly, Chicago, Houston) I guarantee you, we'd see a half a dozen 'Freddy Adus' from all those 8, 9 and 10 year olds. Even the best suburban players aren't playing soccer. Its changing. Lastly, I think to help it along, the U.S. mens team needs a 'Miracle on Ice' type of performance. Ice Hockey wasn't that big in the '70s, only in northern cities with a strong NHL presense (Boston, Detroit, Chicago), then we won '80 Olympics and now the U.S. is usually no worse than 2nd or 3rd in international comps. A semi or final for the U.S. mens team in soccer could do the trick.
posted by AmericanGooner at 02:44 PM on June 13, 2005
HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!Lets go U.S.A. I love to hear that shit.