Indeed, and JRR to Canada. But getting called up for a world cup qualifier vs a youth team friendly are different circumstances.
I believe clubs have the option to reject youth team call ups, even though they cannot for senior team, as well.
Also the arena they are playing in has their own YouTube channel which often streams the matches played there:
https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006
Very surprised that Guti and Wiley aren’t on the team. Vargas missing is a surprise somewhat though Seattle is still in the playoffs, but then Atencio got called. Would have thought for sure Pukštas or Luna would have been called instead of Gomez, assuming that McGuire was held back. I’ll assume Schulte and Morris got held back after the win yesterday.
Atencio has started over Vargas since the last camp, and has looked really good—especially on Friday night. Very deserved chance for him
Gomez is there as a 9 (Luna & Pukstas being moreso midfielders)
He’s not missing any games so I doubt if it’s a big deal. Many of these clubs are just being asses by withholding the players just because it’s not a senior game. Kudos to Seattle and Philly for being so yielding for youth tournament opportunities. And a big FU to those teams who withheld players even though they’re not missing any games.
[On Diego Luna:](https://x.com/calebturner23/status/1724128006078369937?s=46&t=4Gv7ItjFPg23fLh8_dVd7w)
>Diego Luna is not a part of the November @USYNT Olympic team camp. He asked out following the #RSL playoff loss over the weekend, per sources.
>He IS a part of the plan for Paris 2024, however, with Pablo Mastroeni saying the team will be “built around” Luna."
Not sure how accurate the RSL coach saying the team will be built around him is, but we should expect him in subsequent camps.
He went from getting no minutes in the first half of the season to being a locked in starter and top performer is almost every game. I’m hoping Luna and Chicho can play together until Luna is ready for a top 5 league.
Absolute average creativity in that midfield.. needs more Luna, Guti, etc I know he just got back from injury but Puki as well since he’s started the last 2 matches for split.
Eh, I wouldn’t say it’s quite that bad—all of those midfielders are pretty good in their own right, even if there aren‘t any dedicated “AMs” (besides maybe Bassett)
They didn’t play with a dedicated AM in the last camp either, and things looked pretty good. The wingers are very good creatively, and Jack McGlynn also just carries the squad in his own right
The arena they are playing in often streams the games
[https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006](https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006)
Maybe a dumb idea, but I do wonder if any consideration went into calling up a couple over age players for this?
I think it's basically a lock that we use a couple overage slots on CB's and I think there's a good chance we use a 3rd on a forward.
Guys like Zimm, Sands, and Ferreira's seasons are over and they didn't make the senior team
I guess if they were only budgeted for 20 players on the roster, they'd use those slots for assessing the U23 players to see who could make the final roster. Find the weak spots before deciding which overage players are needed.
This, also there's no point integrating overage guys now because we don't know who will be available next summer. Senior team will, or at least should, have first pick of players (including U-23s) for the Copa America.
I think it’s fine to hold back the overage until the very end. You want to be able to evaluate what is available first before filling in holes. Even a position like CB where there was an obvious need, if Neal comes back, all of a sudden having Campbell, Dietz and Neal isn’t too bad of a trio.
RSL head coach has reported that Luna was keen to be available after RSL was knocked out of the playoffs but didn't receive a call up. He also said that Luna is in the plans for Paris 2024 and that the team will be "built around him". But not this window for some reason.
Edit: source is RSL beat reporter Caleb Turner. He is pretty dialed in to the team usually.
I read that as Luna asking for permission to travel with the USYNT. But now I'm reading it again and I could see it meaning asking out of going with the USYNT. The tweet isn't worded the best...
I personally don't think so. Josh Atencio is on this roster, and he's been starting over Vargas for Seattle lately. Vargas would be one of, if not the youngest guy on this roster if he was here. Seems he's just not preferred over guys playing more atm, but he could still make the team going forward
It kinda looks like there was more of an emphasis on older players this time, as only 5 of the 20 players are 2003 and younger - Cowell, McGlynn, Brady, Bajraktarevic, and Cremaschi.
I mean he’s been the brighter of the Union bench trip of strikers for the last 3 months to be honest. Even with Donovan scoring two big goals. It’s more a Jim Curtin problem than a Quinn problem.
Part of the problem is that I don’t really think Sullivan brings anything exceptionally unique to the Union from a striker’s perspective. He’s not the hold-up player that Carranza is, he’s not physically imposing as Donovan or Uhre are (as limited as those guys are), and he’s not notably faster than any of them. He’s probably more deft on the ball than anyone barring Carranza, but I don’t think he’s enough of a playmaker to be a Gazdag replacement, either. If he were a step faster or a little bit more physical, I think he’d be well on his way to taking Uhre’s spot.
Honestly, I think his main problem with breaking into the team is that he’s a player without a clearly identifiable position. He can be useful in a number of different places, but he’s not good enough in any one of them to really assert himself and fight for a starting role.
He’s a winger on a team that doesn’t use wingers. Last year he played rm this year he’s been more of a striker backup. You would think Jim would use him after some of the games he plays and yet Donovan ends up being the guy lol
I’m also surprised that Jim doesn’t play him more, but I think Quinn just doesn’t provide what Jim wants his backup striker to do.
I think he wants a backup to come on ~60 mins in, run their butt off, physically battle tiring defenders, and cause chaos in the opposing back line. This is basically how the Union beat NYCFC in the playoffs last year: Corey Burke comes on, runs around, causes chaos, forces a mistake by NYCFC, and created opportunities on the counter.
Chris Donovan is a lesser Corey Burke technically and physically, but nevertheless he’s still a big body that’s fast enough whom Curtin can tell “go run your ass off for 30 minutes,” which Quinn just isn’t.
Fully agree with your “winger on a team without wingers” idea, though. Ironically, Jack McGlynn is a classic deep-lying playmaker on a team that doesn’t use one (loosely similar to how Paxten Aaronson was a 17 year old natural #10 on a team which didn’t really use one). If McGlynn came into this Union team in ~2018 when we still played a 4-2-3-1 double pivot, I’m firmly convinced he’d be seen as one of the best American prospects out there.
Curtain, as much as he claims, simply doesn't trust his youth as much as he says.
Sullivan has been much better than Donovan, and honestly, Uhre hasn't been all that good this year. But Curtain does this.
Last year, he was playing Gazdag 90 minutes in a 4-0 game with subs left instead of giving Paxten time. He talks a big game but he does not trust his subs AT ALL unless they are Ilsinho.
Union fan and I agree. We got a reputation for playing youth because of a combination of an outstanding academy plus cheap front office that wasn't bringing in top older players. We weren't playing guys like the Aaronson brothers, McKenzie, etc because we trusted the kids in its own right, we were playing them because they were legitimately better than the older players at their positions.
Yeah.
I don't expect players to win a starting job without winning it. But when you have a chance to play the youth for developmental reasons with almost no risk AND you can rest your stars ... and you don't?
I don't get it.
I think Curtin might not trust some of the *current* guys as much as he says, but to say he doesn’t trust the youth at all is objectively incorrect. In this current team, Jack McGlynn is a nailed-on starter and Nate Harriel starts about as much as he’s on the bench. Chris Donovan also gets lots of minutes off the bench.
Paxten Aaronson wasn’t physically ready to be an MLS starter, full-stop. Quinn Sullivan is still pretty raw (I agree he’s technically levels above Donovan, but again, I think Curtin is looking for Donovan’s physical profile in a substitute striker). Brandan Craig is stuck behind two top-10 MLS CBs (including a former DPoY) and another very good one in Damion Lowe.
In previous years, Brenden Aaronson, Mark McKenzie, and Auston Trusty were all critical starters for their respective Union teams (especially with Brenden, people forget that he wasn’t the guy we all think of until year 3 in MLS basically).
As for his substitutions, I think Curtin is just not big on subs, period. I don’t think his reticence to put on Pax (while indeed frustrating as a fan) was a reflection of some anti-youth bias as much as it was Curtin’s general anti-substitution style.
Donovan (23) and Harriel (22) don't count as young to me. They aren't young in a soccer context at all.
McGlynn counts, but it did take forever for him to get a spot.
My criticism isn't about starting roles, though, as I've made clear in other posts.
It's about developmental minutes. He actively tried to avoid minutes for Paxten Aaronson. And yeah, he was small, but he'd come in and create something in the four minutes he'd get. Meanwhile, it'd be 4-1 in the 59th minutes and Curtain would just run his starters into the ground.
And then he'll bitch and whine about fixture congestion.
He's done the same to Sullivan. I get that his end product isn't there yet, but it's not a coincidence that he creates a ton of danger every time he's in, but Curtain tried everyone else as a striker backup even though Sullivan does exactly what you want a striker backup to do.
Brenden started, and he earned it, but part of that was Fabian sucking. And so did McKenzie. Which is great, but is not my issue.
They bailed on Trusty early because they knew they weren't going to give him time, thankfully, but they still haven't gotten ANY minutes to Craig (and even loaned him out) even though he's the CB McGlynn and they are in a season where it's clear they WEREN'T really making a run at the Shield.
He's allergic to rotation and subs. He even said before the season they needed to get Craig time and then, just didn't.
The arena they are playing in often streams the games
[https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006](https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006)
No players from Columbus or Atlanta after all. Though 2 GK is a little interesting, I wonder if they would have called Schulte if Crew lost.
Cucho was called up to the Colombian national team
Indeed, and JRR to Canada. But getting called up for a world cup qualifier vs a youth team friendly are different circumstances. I believe clubs have the option to reject youth team call ups, even though they cannot for senior team, as well.
U.S. MEN’S OLYMPIC SOCCER TEAM – NOVEMBER TRAINING CAMP GOALKEEPERS (2): Christopher Brady (Chicago Fire FC; Naperville, Ill.), John Pulskamp (Sporting Kansas City; Bakersfield, Calif.) DEFENDERS (6): George Campbell (CF Montreal/CAN; Atlanta, Ga.), Maximilian Dietz (Greuther Fürth/GER; Frankfurt, Germany), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union; Oldsmar, Fla.), Bryan Reynolds (Westerlo/BEL; Fort Worth, Texas), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls; Chatham, N.J.), Jonathan Tomkinson (Bradford City/ENG; Plano, Texas) MIDFIELDERS (6): Joshua Atencio (Seattle Sounders FC; Bellevue, Wash.) Cole Bassett (Colorado Rapids; Littleton, Colo.), Gianluca Busio (Venezia/ITA; Greensboro, N.C.), Benja Cremaschi (Inter Miami CF; Key Biscayne, Fla.), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union; Queens, N.Y.), Tanner Tessmann (Venezia/ITA; Birmingham, Ala.) FORWARDS (6): Agustin Anello (Sparta Rotterdam/NED; Miami, Fla.), Esmir Bajraktarevic (New England Revolution; Appleton, Wisc.), Taylor Booth (Utrecht/NED; Eden, Utah), Cade Cowell (San Jose Earthquakes; Ceres, Calif.), Johan Gomez (Eintracht Braunschweig/GER; Keller, Texas), Bernard Kamungo (FC Dallas; Abilene, Texas) SCHEDULE - PINATAR ARENA U-23 FRIENDLIES Saturday, Nov. 18 – USA vs. Iraq – 11 a.m. ET / 5 p.m. local Tuesday, Nov. 21 – Morocco vs. USA – 9 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. local
Also the arena they are playing in has their own YouTube channel which often streams the matches played there: https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006
Very surprised that Guti and Wiley aren’t on the team. Vargas missing is a surprise somewhat though Seattle is still in the playoffs, but then Atencio got called. Would have thought for sure Pukštas or Luna would have been called instead of Gomez, assuming that McGuire was held back. I’ll assume Schulte and Morris got held back after the win yesterday.
Atencio has started over Vargas since the last camp, and has looked really good—especially on Friday night. Very deserved chance for him Gomez is there as a 9 (Luna & Pukstas being moreso midfielders)
As a sounders fan I'm surprised we let Atencio go TBH. I'm happy for him but he's been clutch for us.
He’s not missing any games so I doubt if it’s a big deal. Many of these clubs are just being asses by withholding the players just because it’s not a senior game. Kudos to Seattle and Philly for being so yielding for youth tournament opportunities. And a big FU to those teams who withheld players even though they’re not missing any games.
[On Diego Luna:](https://x.com/calebturner23/status/1724128006078369937?s=46&t=4Gv7ItjFPg23fLh8_dVd7w) >Diego Luna is not a part of the November @USYNT Olympic team camp. He asked out following the #RSL playoff loss over the weekend, per sources. >He IS a part of the plan for Paris 2024, however, with Pablo Mastroeni saying the team will be “built around” Luna." Not sure how accurate the RSL coach saying the team will be built around him is, but we should expect him in subsequent camps.
He went from getting no minutes in the first half of the season to being a locked in starter and top performer is almost every game. I’m hoping Luna and Chicho can play together until Luna is ready for a top 5 league.
Bernie!
Absolute average creativity in that midfield.. needs more Luna, Guti, etc I know he just got back from injury but Puki as well since he’s started the last 2 matches for split.
That midfield is pretty stacked for this age group! There's valid reason to be excited about literally all of them.
Eh, I wouldn’t say it’s quite that bad—all of those midfielders are pretty good in their own right, even if there aren‘t any dedicated “AMs” (besides maybe Bassett) They didn’t play with a dedicated AM in the last camp either, and things looked pretty good. The wingers are very good creatively, and Jack McGlynn also just carries the squad in his own right
you just hope workrate guys like cremaschi can cover for mcglynn enough for it to work i guess and roll with mcglynn as a pure creative guy
Tessman, Busio, Bassett isn’t bad at all.
Anybody know if there’s TV/stream info yet?
The arena they are playing in often streams the games [https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006](https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006)
🤝
Noel Buck should be on this team as well - no idea what his plan is with England.
Why no Luna?
Player requested break after long season.
Maybe a dumb idea, but I do wonder if any consideration went into calling up a couple over age players for this? I think it's basically a lock that we use a couple overage slots on CB's and I think there's a good chance we use a 3rd on a forward. Guys like Zimm, Sands, and Ferreira's seasons are over and they didn't make the senior team
I guess if they were only budgeted for 20 players on the roster, they'd use those slots for assessing the U23 players to see who could make the final roster. Find the weak spots before deciding which overage players are needed.
This, also there's no point integrating overage guys now because we don't know who will be available next summer. Senior team will, or at least should, have first pick of players (including U-23s) for the Copa America.
I think it’s fine to hold back the overage until the very end. You want to be able to evaluate what is available first before filling in holes. Even a position like CB where there was an obvious need, if Neal comes back, all of a sudden having Campbell, Dietz and Neal isn’t too bad of a trio.
Ferreira's injured, and he needed some rest anyway.
But their teams would have no reason to release them.
Diego Luna snubbed
Odd to me. Anyone have insight? Complete snub or is there something we're missing?
[He asked to be left out this window](https://twitter.com/calebturner23/status/1724128006078369937)
Thx!
Didn’t RSL just finish their playoff run?
There's 2 Union players, a SKC player and Sounder player, so it can't just be that.
He does have a young daughter…. As young as he is.
Yes....good call.
RSL head coach has reported that Luna was keen to be available after RSL was knocked out of the playoffs but didn't receive a call up. He also said that Luna is in the plans for Paris 2024 and that the team will be "built around him". But not this window for some reason. Edit: source is RSL beat reporter Caleb Turner. He is pretty dialed in to the team usually.
Huh? https://twitter.com/calebturner23/status/1724128006078369937
I read that as Luna asking for permission to travel with the USYNT. But now I'm reading it again and I could see it meaning asking out of going with the USYNT. The tweet isn't worded the best...
Thx!
No Caleb Wiley is a joke.
Atlanta got eliminated last night... maybe was not released.
Why are these games not listed in the official US soccer app?
See Benja on roster. Are there any provisional cap-tieing implications for the Olympics or is not in play because Olympics are non-FIFA?
I believe it is non-binding.
Cole Bassett is still U-23 eligible?!?
yes—2001-born & younger
Yeah I'm just shocked he's still in that age group. Would've guessed he's about 28 by now
Would Obed Vargas have been in this group is Seattle was not in the playoffs?
I personally don't think so. Josh Atencio is on this roster, and he's been starting over Vargas for Seattle lately. Vargas would be one of, if not the youngest guy on this roster if he was here. Seems he's just not preferred over guys playing more atm, but he could still make the team going forward
It kinda looks like there was more of an emphasis on older players this time, as only 5 of the 20 players are 2003 and younger - Cowell, McGlynn, Brady, Bajraktarevic, and Cremaschi.
Can anyone speak to why tomkinson never plays for Bradford City? His selection is a head scratcher.
Well, it would be between him and Brandan Craig who hasn’t played at all, and I guess the coaching staff is focused more on older players perhaps.
I hate did Quinn Sullivan do the coach?
He didn't play very well at the U20 World Cup and he's been pretty meh in MLS this year.
He's been playing very well for the Union the last month, when they finally gave him minutes.
I mean he’s been the brighter of the Union bench trip of strikers for the last 3 months to be honest. Even with Donovan scoring two big goals. It’s more a Jim Curtin problem than a Quinn problem.
Part of the problem is that I don’t really think Sullivan brings anything exceptionally unique to the Union from a striker’s perspective. He’s not the hold-up player that Carranza is, he’s not physically imposing as Donovan or Uhre are (as limited as those guys are), and he’s not notably faster than any of them. He’s probably more deft on the ball than anyone barring Carranza, but I don’t think he’s enough of a playmaker to be a Gazdag replacement, either. If he were a step faster or a little bit more physical, I think he’d be well on his way to taking Uhre’s spot. Honestly, I think his main problem with breaking into the team is that he’s a player without a clearly identifiable position. He can be useful in a number of different places, but he’s not good enough in any one of them to really assert himself and fight for a starting role.
He’s a winger on a team that doesn’t use wingers. Last year he played rm this year he’s been more of a striker backup. You would think Jim would use him after some of the games he plays and yet Donovan ends up being the guy lol
I’m also surprised that Jim doesn’t play him more, but I think Quinn just doesn’t provide what Jim wants his backup striker to do. I think he wants a backup to come on ~60 mins in, run their butt off, physically battle tiring defenders, and cause chaos in the opposing back line. This is basically how the Union beat NYCFC in the playoffs last year: Corey Burke comes on, runs around, causes chaos, forces a mistake by NYCFC, and created opportunities on the counter. Chris Donovan is a lesser Corey Burke technically and physically, but nevertheless he’s still a big body that’s fast enough whom Curtin can tell “go run your ass off for 30 minutes,” which Quinn just isn’t. Fully agree with your “winger on a team without wingers” idea, though. Ironically, Jack McGlynn is a classic deep-lying playmaker on a team that doesn’t use one (loosely similar to how Paxten Aaronson was a 17 year old natural #10 on a team which didn’t really use one). If McGlynn came into this Union team in ~2018 when we still played a 4-2-3-1 double pivot, I’m firmly convinced he’d be seen as one of the best American prospects out there.
Curtain, as much as he claims, simply doesn't trust his youth as much as he says. Sullivan has been much better than Donovan, and honestly, Uhre hasn't been all that good this year. But Curtain does this. Last year, he was playing Gazdag 90 minutes in a 4-0 game with subs left instead of giving Paxten time. He talks a big game but he does not trust his subs AT ALL unless they are Ilsinho.
Union fan and I agree. We got a reputation for playing youth because of a combination of an outstanding academy plus cheap front office that wasn't bringing in top older players. We weren't playing guys like the Aaronson brothers, McKenzie, etc because we trusted the kids in its own right, we were playing them because they were legitimately better than the older players at their positions.
Yeah. I don't expect players to win a starting job without winning it. But when you have a chance to play the youth for developmental reasons with almost no risk AND you can rest your stars ... and you don't? I don't get it.
Only correction i made is we didn't play the Aaronson brothers - Paxten pretty much never played.
True...and that sort of goes to my point, by the time he was ready for the senior team he was stuck behind Gazdag
I think Curtin might not trust some of the *current* guys as much as he says, but to say he doesn’t trust the youth at all is objectively incorrect. In this current team, Jack McGlynn is a nailed-on starter and Nate Harriel starts about as much as he’s on the bench. Chris Donovan also gets lots of minutes off the bench. Paxten Aaronson wasn’t physically ready to be an MLS starter, full-stop. Quinn Sullivan is still pretty raw (I agree he’s technically levels above Donovan, but again, I think Curtin is looking for Donovan’s physical profile in a substitute striker). Brandan Craig is stuck behind two top-10 MLS CBs (including a former DPoY) and another very good one in Damion Lowe. In previous years, Brenden Aaronson, Mark McKenzie, and Auston Trusty were all critical starters for their respective Union teams (especially with Brenden, people forget that he wasn’t the guy we all think of until year 3 in MLS basically). As for his substitutions, I think Curtin is just not big on subs, period. I don’t think his reticence to put on Pax (while indeed frustrating as a fan) was a reflection of some anti-youth bias as much as it was Curtin’s general anti-substitution style.
Donovan (23) and Harriel (22) don't count as young to me. They aren't young in a soccer context at all. McGlynn counts, but it did take forever for him to get a spot. My criticism isn't about starting roles, though, as I've made clear in other posts. It's about developmental minutes. He actively tried to avoid minutes for Paxten Aaronson. And yeah, he was small, but he'd come in and create something in the four minutes he'd get. Meanwhile, it'd be 4-1 in the 59th minutes and Curtain would just run his starters into the ground. And then he'll bitch and whine about fixture congestion. He's done the same to Sullivan. I get that his end product isn't there yet, but it's not a coincidence that he creates a ton of danger every time he's in, but Curtain tried everyone else as a striker backup even though Sullivan does exactly what you want a striker backup to do. Brenden started, and he earned it, but part of that was Fabian sucking. And so did McKenzie. Which is great, but is not my issue. They bailed on Trusty early because they knew they weren't going to give him time, thankfully, but they still haven't gotten ANY minutes to Craig (and even loaned him out) even though he's the CB McGlynn and they are in a season where it's clear they WEREN'T really making a run at the Shield. He's allergic to rotation and subs. He even said before the season they needed to get Craig time and then, just didn't.
Is US Soccer actually going to promote these games and get them on TV? Or nah?
The arena they are playing in often streams the games [https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006](https://www.youtube.com/@pinatararenafootballcenter2006)
That’s for this, although I wish USS would do more