Jump to content

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

sebasour

U.S Soccer Lands Yunus Musah

Recommended Posts

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2021/03/15/yunus-musah-commits-play-us-mens-national-team

 

There's a lot of recruitment that goes on in international soccer, since many players have ties to multiple countries. The USMNT just managed to snag a pretty damn big one in Yunus Musah. He's only 18 and getting consistent minutes in La Liga for one of Spain's bigger clubs, Valencia.  He's eligible for England, Ghana, and Italy, and was considered a pretty big longshot for us to land. He's captained The English Youth teams, he's had The English Coach publicly court him, and as recently as a couple weeks ago, reports were swirling that he was going to pick England.

 

He gets thrown on to the list of promising young Americans playing at some of the highest levels of European Soccer, and that list continues to grow each year. For most of the 21st Century The USMNT squad had a spine of MLS, Liga MX, and 2nd tier European League players with maybe a couple big league guys headlining the roster. Right now there's at least one, and in some cases multiple American players at nearly every single position on the field who's playing in one of Europe's top 5 leagues. Most exciting of all, nearly all of them are under the age of 23. The USMNT could soon be at a point where it's no longer reliant on MLS stars.

 

On Thursday our U23 team will begin qualifying for The Tokyo Olympics with what could generously be called a B team, and despite missing nearly ever promising young player that you'd like to see, it's still arguably the most talented team that we've ever sent to an Olympic qualifying tournament. There is a shit load of hype around this program right now.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, sebasour said:

On Thursday our U23 team will begin qualifying for The Tokyo Olympics with what could generously be called a B team, and despite missing nearly ever promising young player that you'd like to see, it's still arguably the most talented team that we've ever sent to an Olympic qualifying tournament. There is a shit load of hype around this program right now.

Honestly the olympic qualifying roster is like a C or D team at some positions at least. It's pretty incredible how many guys in that age group are stuck in Europe getting regular playing time and unable to join the qualifying games. Hopefully the guys who are on the roster can still do enough to qualify... it would make for some pretty fun Olympics action. Mexico qualification roster looks pretty stacked, but the US should still be able to qualify without issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, sebasour said:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2021/03/15/yunus-musah-commits-play-us-mens-national-team

 

There's a lot of recruitment that goes on in international soccer, since many players have ties to multiple countries. The USMNT just managed to snag a pretty damn big one in Yunus Musah. He's only 18 and getting consistent minutes in La Liga for one of Spain's bigger clubs, Valencia.  He's eligible for England, Ghana, and Italy, and was considered a pretty big longshot for us to land. He's captained The English Youth teams, he's had The English Coach publicly court him, and as recently as a couple weeks ago, reports were swirling that he was going to pick England.

 

He gets thrown on to the list of promising young Americans playing at some of the highest levels of European Soccer, and that list continues to grow each year. For most of the 21st Century The USMNT squad had a spine of MLS, Liga MX, and 2nd tier European League players with maybe a couple big league guys headlining the roster. Right now there's at least one, and in some cases multiple American players at nearly every single position on the field who's playing in one of Europe's top 5 leagues. Most exciting of all, nearly all of them are under the age of 23. The USMNT could soon be at a point where it's no longer reliant on MLS stars.

 

On Thursday our U23 team will begin qualifying for The Tokyo Olympics with what could generously be called a B team, and despite missing nearly ever promising young player that you'd like to see, it's still arguably the most talented team that we've ever sent to an Olympic qualifying tournament. There is a shit load of hype around this program right now.

 

 

at this pace and with the youth getting stacked up on the USMNT roster, soccer could become legit in the US before too long.  The pro soccer scene has bored me for years but even there lately there have been many young US pups getting PT that shine and that keeps me interested. Tide is turning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, sebasour said:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2021/03/15/yunus-musah-commits-play-us-mens-national-team

 

There's a lot of recruitment that goes on in international soccer, since many players have ties to multiple countries. The USMNT just managed to snag a pretty damn big one in Yunus Musah. He's only 18 and getting consistent minutes in La Liga for one of Spain's bigger clubs, Valencia.  He's eligible for England, Ghana, and Italy, and was considered a pretty big longshot for us to land. He's captained The English Youth teams, he's had The English Coach publicly court him, and as recently as a couple weeks ago, reports were swirling that he was going to pick England.

 

He gets thrown on to the list of promising young Americans playing at some of the highest levels of European Soccer, and that list continues to grow each year. For most of the 21st Century The USMNT squad had a spine of MLS, Liga MX, and 2nd tier European League players with maybe a couple big league guys headlining the roster. Right now there's at least one, and in some cases multiple American players at nearly every single position on the field who's playing in one of Europe's top 5 leagues. Most exciting of all, nearly all of them are under the age of 23. The USMNT could soon be at a point where it's no longer reliant on MLS stars.

 

On Thursday our U23 team will begin qualifying for The Tokyo Olympics with what could generously be called a B team, and despite missing nearly ever promising young player that you'd like to see, it's still arguably the most talented team that we've ever sent to an Olympic qualifying tournament. There is a shit load of hype around this program right now.

 

 

Maybe a stupid question, but do these national teams recruit these kids like colleges? Fly them out and try to woo them? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have always wanted to get behind the National Team more then every few years during the actual World Cup. Are the matches broadcast on any specific channels I can keep an eye out for or is it pretty random? I’m not a big soccer guy at all but anything US related I’m all in!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, SalinasSpartan said:

Maybe a stupid question, but do these national teams recruit these kids like colleges? Fly them out and try to woo them? 

 

There's some similarities.

 

In the case of Musah, we have an assistant coach who used to work for his club team.  About 2 years ago someone from that club made that assistant coach aware of Musah, and they've apparently had frequent contact since. 

 

In November The US had a couple friendlies.  Friendlies don't lock  you into playing for a country,  so The US coaching staff convinced him to come play for us in those 2 games and checkout the team. 

He said yes, and apparently enjoyed himself because he's staying on board

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, NevadaAllStar said:

I have always wanted to get behind the National Team more then every few years during the actual World Cup. Are the matches broadcast on any specific channels I can keep an eye out for or is it pretty random? I’m not a big soccer guy at all but anything US related I’m all in!

ESPN and FS1 split the rights.

 

 

 

The US will play 2 friendlies at the end of the month. After that it's 2 friendlies and The Nations League in June. A B team Gold Cup in July, and then World Cup Qualifying beings in September.

 

Well play 3 qualifiers in September,  3 in October,  3 in November,  2 in January,  and 3 in March where we'll hopefully have a spot wrapped up

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, SalinasSpartan said:

Maybe a stupid question, but do these national teams recruit these kids like colleges? Fly them out and try to woo them? 

A player needs to be eligible by birth in all but rare situations. His situation was unique in terms of the number of countries he was eligible to play for. You need to have at least a grandparent from a country you wish to represent or be a naturalized citizen. It’s been pretty common in recent years for a young player to be forced to choose between the US and Mexico. A few decades ago when we had more troops in Europe there were half-American players that weren’t good enough to play for their Euro country but were good enough to play for the US. Jermaine Jones was the most recent. Musa was eligible to play for England, Italy and Ghana on the basis of family, but was actually born in the US. He had captained the English Under-15 and Under-18 teams. Players sometimes picked the US because they knew they would play more but in this case Musa likely had a future with the English team. 

Thay Haif Said: Quhat Say Thay? Lat Thame Say

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Old_SD_Dude said:

A player needs to be eligible by birth in all but rare situations. His situation was unique in terms of the number of countries he was eligible to play for. You need to have at least a grandparent from a country you wish to represent or be a naturalized citizen. It’s been pretty common in recent years for a young player to be forced to choose between the US and Mexico. A few decades ago when we had more troops in Europe there were half-American players that weren’t good enough to play for their Euro country but were good enough to play for the US. Jermaine Jones was the most recent. Musa was eligible to play for England, Italy and Ghana on the basis of family, but was actually born in the US. He had captained the English Under-15 and Under-18 teams. Players sometimes picked the US because they knew they would play more but in this case Musa likely had a future with the English team. 

O man if my kid turns in to a soccer prodigy I am making sure she milks the recruiting battle for all it’s worth. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, SalinasSpartan said:

O man if my kid turns in to a soccer prodigy I am making sure she milks the recruiting battle for all it’s worth. 

Unfortunately for US soccer, if a native-born American is a soccer prodigy they’re likely also very good at other sports where they can make a lot more money. 

Thay Haif Said: Quhat Say Thay? Lat Thame Say

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, Old_SD_Dude said:

Unfortunately for US soccer, if a native-born American is a soccer prodigy they’re likely also very good at other sports where they can make a lot more money. 

Just imagine Josh Allen as a center back. With Christian Pulisic providing assists to Lebron James... The US could look like the Aliens from Space Jam if soccer was everyone's 1st choice sport. It will never be that way I think, but it's definitely trending in the right direction

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, NevadaAllStar said:

I have always wanted to get behind the National Team more then every few years during the actual World Cup. Are the matches broadcast on any specific channels I can keep an eye out for or is it pretty random? I’m not a big soccer guy at all but anything US related I’m all in!

I like to watch every US game I can, but it's tricky because some times there are games scheduled that are not necessarily during a recognized international break, so teams might not be required to release guys. Case in point - the upcoming Olympics qualifiers. This year has also been tricky with COVID as regular seasons around the world have had to adjust their schedules and the normal international break windows have had to move around a bit. Most every game with the full national team is available on ESPN or Fox Sports. Some lesser games might be stuck on some obscure channel depending on the location, competition, etc. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Old_SD_Dude said:

Unfortunately for US soccer, if a native-born American is a soccer prodigy they’re likely also very good at other sports where they can make a lot more money. 

Well all kidding aside, on the women’s side soccer may be the most lucrative team sport. Although I doubt there is much recruiting involved there for the U.S., as any woman good enough to have a chance at making the team isn’t going to voluntarily choose to take a pay cut and represent another country. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, SalinasSpartan said:

Well all kidding aside, on the women’s side soccer may be the most lucrative team sport. Although I doubt there is much recruiting involved there for the U.S., as any woman good enough to have a chance at making the team isn’t going to voluntarily choose to take a pay cut and represent another country. 

Yes but they're definitely leaving for their 9 to 5 jobs. The big EPL clubs now have US players in feature roles on the women's teams. Not surprising given the lack of opportunity here.

Thay Haif Said: Quhat Say Thay? Lat Thame Say

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until we have a legitimate threat at striker we have no chance in this next world cup.  

Josh Sargent at Werder Bremen is making some strides. 

Daryl Dike is on a hot streak for Barnsley but that isn't even top flight football.

Hoppe came out hot for Schalke but that balloon is coming down from orbit and Schalke looks a lock to be relegated in the Bundesliga.

Any player in the MLS is comical at this point.  Maybe Mueller at Orlando City. 

But we all know what is going to happen with the Nepotism showed by MLS/US Soccer (or should I say SUM). They are going to roll out a bunch of over the hill players like Jozy to try to drive up the value of MLS on the world stage.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, dshawfan said:

One of my favorite quotes of all time from the Freddy Adu story...when he joined D.C. United at the age of 14, one of the players on the team said his mom brought orange slices for half time! #onlyifyouhadakidinsoccer :D 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...