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OT: Soccer thread

Deep breath. They were outplayed by a clearly superior team (which, unlike Belgium, has a new generation on the way.) Losing Eustaquio was devastating.

Anyway, still have a bunch of young guys with lots of promise up front. Kone needs to move to Europe. Jumping in the cue in the world’s biggest sport just doesn’t happen.

We need a whole new D. We need those academies to produce and get them into the MLS in the next couple of years. Not sure what pipeline looks like.
 
Artnes said:
Another Davies level player coming through the youth system would be nice but a long shot to expect
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I only pay attention to the program with half of an eye, but yeah there don't appear to be anything close to a Davies levels prospect in the pipeline. Marshall & Priso over here both look good. A handful of kids playing academy football in Europe for big league clubs, another small handful playing meaningful development football for big league clubs (Corbeanu, Koleosho)

Really we're just looking for the next generation to be good professionals capable of playing for okay clubs in top leagues and replacing some of the mid tier MLS guys currently playing key roles for us.

It's nice to have a backbone of good MLS pros for the long ass qualification process, but for the big tournies we really need to have a starting 11 full of guys playing pro in the top leagues.
 
Miller (25) and Johnston (24) are both youngish and athletic so you could maybe hope for some improvement there at least.
 
zeke said:
Miller (25) and Johnston (24) are both youngish and athletic so you could maybe hope for some improvement there at least.
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Have to find a replacement for Vitoria though, any improvement from the current group might be tempered by that.
 
A big youth push in enrollment will help development. Qualifying this year and an automatic spot in 2026 should help drive up numbers

Davies being a home grown talent through local youth systems shows it can be done. His level of talent is the exception and not the rule but with proper funding to help find high level coaching and building proper indoor training facilities there is no reason they cant get on the same level as the mid tier programs around the world
 
The whole D group needs to replaced, to be honest. Miller and Johnston will do the job in CONCACAF, but not much more. Their development has maxed out that this point, they just need to stay fit and play on a regular basis for the next qualification cycle.

Vitoria is done.
 
MindzEye said:
Nah, I think we're further ahead than that. Twenty years ago we had Steve Nash and nothing. Guys who had played Canadian university and random ass euro league professional ball.

I think we're closer to ~8 years behind the CanBall program tbh. Canada seems to be at the stage where they're generating interesting prospects every year, and top club prospects every few years. By 2026 the MLS guys will be the minority of the program and our starting 11 will feature mostly 1st team guys from the big euro leagues it looks like. Not full of guys who play for top teams in top leagues like Davies, but guys who play for mid table teams in big leagues, yeah.
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Yeah I may have rounded way up from your 8 years but also mindful that the hurdles are way higher — more countries to compete with in soccer and more word class players required to have even a mildly competitive team. Any weak link on that giant pitch will certainly be exploited.
 
In other news, who are folks here rooting for now? I have a soft spot for the Yanks but willing to explore other options
 
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