JDG2 named 9th best teenaged player in the world

[bc_soccer_fan]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2093-2114323,00.html

[Bertuzzi44]

"9. Jonathan De Guzman (Feyenoord and Canada)"

damn right!

[An Observer]

A bit to british-centric, but still very nice to see that De Guzman's talents are being mentioned in the same breath as Messi, Adu, and Fabregas. Lennon actually reminds me of Peters. Very similar player with pace, good on the ball, and decent crossing ability. Lets hope that Peters can adapt next year and become our Lennon.

[nolando]

quote:Originally posted by An Observer

A bit to british-centric, but still very nice to see that De Guzman's talents are being mentioned in the same breath as Messi, Adu, and Fabregas. Lennon actually reminds me of Peters. Very similar player with pace, good on the ball, and decent crossing ability. Lets hope that Peters can adapt next year and become our Lennon.

(Please oh Mod Gods, PLEASE don't deem this post as offensive or, gasp, baiting, for I promised my unborn children they would grow up in a world where it would be okay to speak their mind in open forums even on controvertial worldly topics like the direction of the Men's Canadian Soccer program......Well, at the risk of being heckled daily and having virtually all of my personal details posted on here without my permission while all including mods sit back and laugh...well, here goes)

I for one could almost cry at the description, "An attacking midfielder with an explosive shot." Doesn't that sound just perfect in our lineup? I could almost lick my lips. How many guys have Holger and Frank alone tried to turn into just this tag?? Sob.......sniff...At least with Hargreaves you could say the guy wouldnt singlehandedly and regularly have the potential to turn the tide of a game or a qualifying run. This kid I dunno.

[Daniel]

Isn't that a description of Dero? Only he never hits the net...

[john tv]

It will be in the Globe, Norm Dacosta The Star is on his way to Montral and would try to do something and the Sun is looking into this, stay tuned.

Great amazing fantastic news.Feyenoord won today.

[SCF08]

Im not so sure about that list. I think Guzzie should be higher in that table. What is Adu doing in there?? Probably the most overrated talent in the world as is Ryan Babel in 10th position. What a joke....

I also think he should be above John Obi Mikel. So Guzzie in 7th position and Adu and Babel out of the top 10 and Obi Mikel 1 place below Guzzie. That is a much more realistic list with Sergio Aguero also taking a spot.

[bettermirror]

de guz ahead of mikel? what is your reasoning? (i obviously would prefer de guz above him, but have only ever seen mikel utterly dominate u20's and have not seen de guz play more than highlights.)

[john tv]

I am a little big surprised by the very few reactions on this amazing news. Anyway just thought I pass on my congratulations to Bobby. It must be amazing to be a father of any one of these two sons never mind this even more amazing rating of Jonathan.

So Bobby thanks for all you great efforts and it sure is paying of more than big time,it is out of this world and beyond.

[SCF08]

quote:Originally posted by bettermirror

de guz ahead of mikel? what is your reasoning? (i obviously would prefer de guz above him, but have only ever seen mikel utterly dominate u20's and have not seen de guz play more than highlights.)

Obi Mikel is a bit of a selfish player who has its ups and downs. When Obi Mikel is having a bad match he really is having a bad match and then he doesnt contribute anything defensively. Jonathan's tactical/positioning skills are outstanding just like most dutch players so when he is not playing well by not providing balls to strikers etc. he still outplays his man on midfield and prevent the other team to score. Guzzie's workrate is also much and much better as Obi Mikel. Thats why I think he should be above Mikel and higher up the list. He is one of the best youth talents ever from Feyenoord (easily in top 10).

1.Van Persie (Arsenal)

2.Kalou (Feyenoord)

3.De Guzman (Feyenoord)

This would be my top 3 youth talents of the past five years produced by Feyenoord. De Guzman will definately go past Kalou soon because Kalou is already playing his second year in the 1st team.

[El Hombre]

quote:Originally posted by john tv

I am a little big surprised by the very few reactions on this amazing news.

What were you expecting exactly?

The thing is most Canadian soccer fans have been following Jon's progress for awhile now and have always known that he was a very special talent, so to see him in this list doesn't come as that big a surprise. It is nice to see him get some recognition though.

We know he's damn good. Now the rest of the world is finding out.

[john tv]

El what, I did not expect this at all I knew he was very good but that good among billions of soccer players, it's amazing, which is not even close to really how amazing this is.

So this is once in your life time soccer thing and you expected it.

I don't think that for as long as you live you will see this again, mr blasee.

[youllneverwalkalone]

Might any cautious optimism expressed on a Canada supporters board have something to do with the fact the kid has yet to play for Canada -despite several invites? If he were to show up, say for this Brasil series, we will be experiencing a once in a lifetime event in Canadian sports. Still seems like a big "if" though.

[john tv]

Of course it is a very big "if". I would love to see him play for Canada and to be very honest knowing my involment in soccer in scarborough I might even feel a real part of it,but this thing is way beyond what we know or ever have experienced.When I realized what was going on over there I went jusy about nuts. this is the thing I worked for so hard and never ever did it even crossd my mind that among all these little soccer faces this kid was there. I am sure I saw him play. his father even ask me to find a tape were he scored a fabulous goal.It is all so unreal in my eyes and thanks god I was there without knowing but my enthousiasm may have somethind to do with it.Gentlemen this guy in todays huge and i mean huge world of soccer is one of the very best and he is as Canadian as you can get.I have no say so about his future and if he chooses to play for holland so be it, but sofar it is still Canada and with hese young players coming through he may even contemplate to stay with us, thinking we have the team, who knows. he knows our feelings very well.Hey he is one of the best soccer players in the world our kid from Scarborough,it is totally unreal and you know what even with my extremely wild imagination , never crossed my mind that this would happen, but there it is.I remember when the Ajax youth team was up here playing in the Robbie. Guess who was on the team, both de Boer brothers and Brian Roy.They gave a soccer camp and the hierchy of Ajax was there i mean the who is who in soccer and they said that they were very impressed with the young Canadian soccer players. In fact they never expected this level.

When they lost in the quarter final I believed them.did not before.

[Cheeta]

Well, good for you john and anybody else involved at the pre-teen level. Lots of fun but boy, headaches to-boot I am sure.

It's just that I have a hard time taking seriously any roll which calls Freddy Who into their top ten. These lists are just fun but I think that may be stretching things just a little. Don't follow these things like maybe I should but Freddy Who? And you came to this conclusion based on what? What he showed over the last year?

O-kay....think maybe I'm gonna just sit on the fence on this one for a little while longer.

Re; Lennon compared to Peters. Yeah, now that you mention it, can see that a bit too. Not a big Peters fan yet but there may be something there well worth keeping a carefull eye on. Peters ability at his age to cross a purposeful ball in under pace caught the attention. Think Lennon has about 2 inchs on Jamie though, which roughly means a 10% height advantage.

[Daniel]

This isn't news, it's a ranking.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

quote:Originally posted by Daniel

This isn't news, it's a ranking.

Exactly, it is not a news story. It is one man's opinion. Some opinions are worth more than others, to be sure, but it is still an opinion, and a ranking, and totally subjective.

I know this is going to sound odd coming from me, a Barça fan, but as is Messi has still not done that much, apart from winning the world U-20s with Argentina. And he was not alone doing it, and not the first either. He has a long way to go.

I say this to indicate my view that such rankings often rely on media noise and flashes whoever is opinionating might have seen on tv. Messi's case is helped by Barça being strong, but he is not a key player on the team this year. Cesc has been helped by the last three Champion's games (marvellous no doubt), at least he assumes responsibility for the whole team working on the pitch, though Arsenal has had a mediocre year. Julian would be even higher ranked, I truly believe, if his side had not fallen apart a bit these last two months and he'd helped them more clearly to stay in the title race instead of hanging on for third in Holland.

Isn't his teammate Kalou still a teen, I think he'd be higher ranked. Also would have to put Sergio Ramos in there. I am sure there are a few guys that could and should have been in a list of this nature who have been ignored, like some rising stars in S. America.

[Curtis Armada]

Soccer is a team sport so it’s very difficult to judge a player. There are so many criteria to take into consideration such as; contribution to the team, goals, assists, defensive saves, skills, consistency, mistakes, past accomplishments, etc…. IMHO forwards and attacking mids receive a lot more recognition than defenders and defensive mids.

I agree it’s only a ranking and the ranking maybe biased but it’s always good publicity especially when one of your own is included. I’m sure that everyone has their own opinion on who should be included in the “Top Ten Teenage Talents in the World” and I’m guessing that half on the “Top Ten” that was listed with the inclusion of JDG2 would be on their own list. In addition to JDG2’s accomplishments, wasn’t he voted top player and top scorer of A1 (U19) at the age of 17 before he became professional?

How much it the recognition worth? I guess it depends which reputable media is doing the ranking. Whatever the case, it’s an accomplishment to be voted in any top ten categories in the world and certainly deserves an applause.

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

Exactly, it is not a news story. It is one man's opinion. Some opinions are worth more than others, to be sure, but it is still an opinion, and a ranking, and totally subjective.

I know this is going to sound odd coming from me, a Barça fan, but as is Messi has still not done that much, apart from winning the world U-20s with Argentina. And he was not alone doing it, and not the first either. He has a long way to go.

I say this to indicate my view that such rankings often rely on media noise and flashes whoever is opinionating might have seen on tv. Messi's case is helped by Barça being strong, but he is not a key player on the team this year. Cesc has been helped by the last three Champion's games (marvellous no doubt), at least he assumes responsibility for the whole team working on the pitch, though Arsenal has had a mediocre year. Julian would be even higher ranked, I truly believe, if his side had not fallen apart a bit these last two months and he'd helped them more clearly to stay in the title race instead of hanging on for third in Holland.

Isn't his teammate Kalou still a teen, I think he'd be higher ranked. Also would have to put Sergio Ramos in there. I am sure there are a few guys that could and should have been in a list of this nature who have been ignored, like some rising stars in S. America.

[Curtis Armada]

Speaking of Rankings, Below are Dutch Rankings;

The Dutch sportsmagazine "Sportweek" evaluated the first half of the dutch soccer season. They gave ratings for the best team, top scorer etc.

The meteor like rise of Jonathan de Guzman was expressed in the tabel with the rating for the best 15 players of the first half.

Number 1 and 2 were Cocu and Farfan, both with PSV and with a rating of 6.94 out of a (im)possible 10.

Jonathan was 3d, rated 6.92, leaving behind him Dirk Kuyt at number 4, rated 6.83 and also leaving behind him the topscorer for the moment, the 10 million euro signing of Ajax, Huntelaar.

You might think that is not a high rating, 6.92. But the Dutch and in particular the Dutch press are hard to please. He just played a limited number of games, but managed to put all the soccer power houses on alert.

http://www.fr-fans.nl/

# (oud) Speler Totaal aantal punten Gespeelde wedstrijden Totaal aantal stemmen

01. (01.) Dirk Kuijt 783 34 (9450)

02. (02.) Jonathan de Guzman 583 28 (6376)

03. (03.) Serginho Greene 466 32 (2814)

04. (05.) Salomon Kalou 451 34 (2606)

05. (04.) Patrick Lodewijks 436 27 (3000)

06. (06.) André Bahia 373 34 (1601)

07. (07.) Patrick Paauwe 336 31 (1272)

08. (08.) Hossam Ghaly 288 19 (1630)

09. (09.) Ron Vlaar 243 13 (1430)

10. (11.) Romeo Castelen 224 22 (1346)

10. (10.) Pascal Bosschaart 224 28 (776)

12. (12.) Ali Boussaboun 195 27 (821)

13. (13.) Sebastián Pardo 189 21 (1192)

14. (14.) Nick Hofs 183 12 (1960)

15. (17.) Pieter Collen 123 7 (1050)

16. (15.) Alexander Östlund 122 19 (293)

17. (16.) Pierre van Hooijdonk 118 8 (1019)

18. (17.) Diego Biseswar 107 7 (1132)

19. (19.) Shinji Ono 102 5 (466)

20. (20.) Michael Aerts 89 8 (316)

21. (21.) Tim Vincken 63 4 (358)

22. (22.) Royston Drenthe 35 3 (117)

23. (23.) Karim Saïdi 35 4 (57)

24. (24.) Ferne Snoijl 32 7 (82)

25. - Sherif Ekramy 22 1 (261)

26. (25.) John Owoeri 18 2 (59)

27. (26.) Alfred Schreuder 16 1 (119)

28. (27.) Chris Gyan 14 1 (86)

http://feyenoord.netwerk.to/forums/mos.php

Speler Score

1 Dirk Kuyt 114,0

2 Jonathan De Guzman 60,0

3 Patrick Lodewijks 55,0

4 Salomon Kalou 44,0

5 Serginho Greene 34,0

6 Ron Vlaar 25,0

7 Andre Bahia 21,0

8 Romeo Castelen 19,0

9 Niemand 18,0

9 Nicky Hofs 18,0

11 Hossam Ghali 15,0

12 Sebastián Pardo 12,0

13 Patrick Paauwe 10,0

14 Pierre van Hooijdonk 9,0

15 Shinji Ono 7,5

15 Diego Biseswar 7,5

17 Pieter Collen 7,0

18 Ali Boussabon 6,0

18 Tim Vincken 6,0

20 Alfred Schreuder 5,0

21 Pascal Bosschaart 2,0

quote:Originally posted by Curtis Armada

Soccer is a team sport so it’s very difficult to judge a player. There are so many criteria to take into consideration such as; contribution to the team, goals, assists, defensive saves, skills, consistency, mistakes, past accomplishments, etc…. IMHO forwards and attacking mids receive a lot more recognition than defenders and defensive mids.

I agree it’s only a ranking and the ranking maybe biased but it’s always good publicity especially when one of your own is included. I’m sure that everyone has their own opinion on who should be included in the “Top Ten Teenage Talents in the World” and I’m guessing that half on the “Top Ten” that was listed with the inclusion of JDG2 would be on their own list. In addition to JDG2’s accomplishments, wasn’t he voted top player and top scorer of A1 (U19) at the age of 17 before he became professional?

How much it the recognition worth? I guess it depends which reputable media is doing the ranking. Whatever the case, it’s an accomplishment to be voted in any top ten categories in the world and certainly deserves an applause.

[john tv]

I am glad to see that some of you finally starting to grasp what our boy from Scarborough has accomplished. Never mind the world, how about Holland to begin with.Now about the World,I assume that it is indeed a subjective thing, but these guys really know what they are doing and this is not a one man opinion thing, this is well thought through and weighted in many different ways. It is to me so amazing it is one of the very best things i have ever experienced in my 68 years. Good stuff Jonathan and keep up the good work in Holland.

Hartelijk gefeliciteerd jij bent de beste.