These are the key USMNT ๐บ๐ธ center back prospects right now.
-Neil Pierre (18)
-Andre Chirila (17)
-Ramiz Hamouda (18)
-Ian James (18)
-Christopher Cupps (18)
-Chris Applewhite (18)
-Stuart Hawkins (19)
-Ethan Kohler (20)
-Josh Wynder (21)
@helmethan123 Here are the players I'm talking about that would absolutely be on this roster.
-Sullivan, Albert, Mehmeti, Hall, Gozo, Pierre, Chirila, James, Brunell, Hamouda, Goncalves, dos Santos, Miller, Ellis, Hawkins, H. Miller, Hezarkhani, di Marzi, Shore, Carrizo, Pinter and Terry.
So the Under-20s ๐บ๐ธ have made it to the CONCACAF U20 Championship final while missing 20-30 players.
It's sad that we don't get serious competition in CONCACAF but happy for the boys. Hopefully the beat one of ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐จ๐ฆ on Sunday!
Yeah but you have to pay thousands of dollars and listen to some truly pathetic people drone on about soccer and decide whether or not you're a "good" coach in order to get your B license. It's another way for them to sell their License structures. You MIGHT get a job with us if you pay for all our licenses.
16 year-old Cavan Sullivan ๐บ๐ธ taking responsibility for Philly's result in the meaningless cash-grab cup while some of our senior team players were talking about needing more rest minutes after getting knocked out of the World Cup.
Gonna do a LIVE watch-along for the Under-20s CONCACAF semi-final game against Costa Rica. Would be impressive for our C team to win the whole thing. Come hang!
https://t.co/sM54fgq0Pq
@Ckihoon Yeah I don't see the instincts as a striker. Maybe a withdrawn striker in a front 2 but more of a 10 if you ask me. He's young though, so can still develop instincts in front of goal.
Every time I watch Justin Ellis ๐บ๐ธ I'm more impressed by him. Technique, ability to breeze past players, the vision to see a line-breaking pass & the ability to execute it is rare for a 19 year-old.
@DatWay6997 This is where I give MLS props. Some teams (not all) are doing a much better job with not only development, but trusting the players they develop
โI know he's a good player, but he's hurting our culture.โ
USMNT legend Landon Donovan coached San Diego Loyal, where he created a conflict on purpose and then cut one of his best players to improve team culture.
He was speaking on How Leaders Lead podcast ๐ฃ๏ธ
โWhen I was coaching here in San Diego, things were going a little too well with our team,โ Donovan said.
โWe were playing well, things were going well, but you could see complacency starting to creep into the group.
โBut when you're doing well, you can't just all of a sudden just blow them up and rip them apart in a locker room when you win 3-0, right?
โSo someone I really admire as a leader was Nate Miller, who was our assistant coach at the time and became the head coach and has gone on to great things.
โAnd he would always say the same thing like, we need to create some sort of conflict. Like, we need to find some conflict. We need something now to get these guys' attention.
โAnd we got a great gift. One of our best players was playing out of position, and he wasn't happy about it. But the team was doing well and we were winning.
โAnd so I would say to him, โHey, I know you're frustrated by this, but we're winning and we're doing well.โ
โSo we had a training session, and we watched it back after, and the team this player was on allowed a goal, and he just walked back and wasn't defending, right?
โAnd so I was like, perfect. We have a moment where we can go after one of our best players in front of the team and say, this is unacceptable.
โSo we're showing the video, and I call him out in the video, and I say, โHey, I don't care if you're playing goalie or right back or striker or whatever. If you defend like this, we're never going to get where we want to get to. So you can be mad about you not playing your best position or whatever, but it doesn't matter where you play if you defend like this.โ
โAnd it got a little intense, but he gave us a great gift because he reacted very negatively in front of the group and came after me a little bit.
โBut I was prepared for it. So I was able then to go back at him. And after the meeting, he walked up, and this was the best part, and he said, โHey, I don't think this is the right place for me. I want to get traded.โ
And I said, โOkay, well, we'll try to trade you, but if that can't happen, we're willing also to just cut you, and you can go find a new team too.
โAnd he's like, โFine, I'm done.โ
โSo I went to my owner. In the second division in American soccer, they're not making huge money, but it might have been like a $50,000 deal to cut his contract.
โAnd I said to my owner, โAre we willing to eat this money? It will help the group immensely because he's been a negative impact for a little while here. I know he's a good player, but he's hurting our culture.โ
โAnd the owner said, โDo it. If you need to do it, do it.โ So I went back to him and I said, โOkay, we're done. We're going to cut your contract, and you can go on your way.โ And he said, fine.
โHe came back the next morning, and he said, โI thought about it, and I really think I made a mistake. I really want to be here.โ And I said, โLook, I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen. We already made the decision.โ
โAnd that decision and what it did for the group was massive because if you're willing to cut one of your best players because they're not doing what they should be doing, the rest of the group pays attention, right?
โIt was the best gift we could have gotten.โ