Whitecaps U18 In USSDA Playoffs

[Grizzly]

^Yeah I knew that would send at least one person searching to prove me wrong lol. It always does. But he was a wimp in MLS...could be a sign he worked hard and improved. He would have had to...do you remember watching him limp around the pitch game after game and begging to come off? Horrible fitness.

The article doesn't really prove you wrong and I just looked him up in the "wonder what happened to him" sense and it proved a bit more interesting than I expected. He didn't even make it on his hometown club in the NASL. Ethiopia used to have a good team but after years of famine and war they have to rebuild their soccer team. They only have one professional non-dometic player currently on their team, a player who plays in Belgium. Time will tell if their current good run is indicative of undiscovered talent or is just a one-off. Possibly Fuad will get a professional contract out of this in a league that suits his playing style more but just as likely he will return to Minnesota and start another career. Still if Ethiopia does qualify it would be an amazing story that a guy who was cut from TFC and Minnesota plays in the World Cup.

[madmonte]

The article doesn't really prove you wrong and I just looked him up in the "wonder what happened to him" sense and it proved a bit more interesting than I expected. He didn't even make it on his hometown club in the NASL. Ethiopia used to have a good team but after years of famine and war they have to rebuild their soccer team. They only have one professional non-dometic player currently on their team, a player who plays in Belgium. Time will tell if their current good run is indicative of undiscovered talent or is just a one-off. Possibly Fuad will get a professional contract out of this in a league that suits his playing style more but just as likely he will return to Minnesota and start another career. Still if Ethiopia does qualify it would be an amazing story that a guy who was cut from TFC and Minnesota plays in the World Cup.

Don't worry it wasn't meant that way. Let me put it this way...it almost sent ME searching to do it too, but I went...naaaah! I have to imagine that Ethiopia is extremely excited as a nation right now

[youllneverwalkalone]

Not really sure about this. Regardless of the size of the current national team I don't recall either their national team or more importantly their league being full of large players. By South American standards I would agree the Brazilian players are large but not by world standards. And even if that were true your argument that small Brazilian players are successful in MLS because they are used to playing against large players as opposed to North American players doesn't really make sense. Since MLS is a large physical league, shouldn't small MLS players be equally capable of success since they are also always playing against large players and are constantly getting bossed off the ball?

The reason small Brazilian players are successful both in their own league and abroad is they are playing in a highly technical league which negates some of the advantages of size. Small technical players will have difficulty in a league that is not technical and very physical. In order for them to succeed they also need at least some similarly skilled players to play with. 5 years ago I think both Camillo and Felipe would have struggled in MLS as they would have been isolated and there is a limit to how much one sole technically gifted player can defeat physical defending on his own. The reason they are succeeding now is that while MLS is still fairly physical it is also rapidly getting a lot more technical. When I watch Felipe he is not succeeding merely because of his own technical ability but also because he has skilled teammates he can play give and go with so when he does have the ball he is often in open space and any physical play by a defender results in a foul. One can see now how many of the traditional MLS physical defenders who relied on their size are struggling. In the next decade they will become a dying breed and those larger players who want to succeed will also have to develop better ball skills. If Brustos, Froese and Essa are technically good enough they will succeed in MLS especially in the MLS that will exist by the time they break into the first team.

I do hope you are correct that MLS is becoming a more technical league. In Vancouver, I don't think the technical players are the one's who have advanced through the club. Even now, everyone is talking about Sam Adekugbe being ready to"play with men" whereas nobody ever speaks of Yassin Essa, even though he's scored more goals in USSDA in the last two seasons than anyone else at the U18 level. This may be a limitation of the current staff more so than a comment on the league. However, of the domestic players who have historically gone through NCAA and succeeded at the draft, most depend heavily on physical attributes and less on technique. I don't know why Camilo and Felipe didn't progress to a high level in Brasil, but I suspect size does have something to do with it.

My point with these guys, and I'd add Teibert here as well, is that they have somehow learned to compete harder than their size may suggest. This lack of physical competitiveness maybe Essa's problem, I don't know for sure. I doubt very much he's getting an MLS contract though, which I can't see being the case in most other leagues where a guy scores 39 goals in 40 odd matches at the U18 level, many of which from the wing.

[ag futbol]

I always make the argument in that while MLS teams might like to play physical, by world standards the league isn't as physical as you might think. If you have a footballer who comes from one of the better systems out there, he's used to guys who are probably more physical than the average MLS player and more technical too. MLS teams don't look very physically imposing when playing high quality foreign sides.

[ThiKu]

Essa has 39 goals in 40 matches, mostly as a winger!? How is he not considered a better signing than Heinemann? Let alone Huitema who has torn apart u16 and u18 at better than a goal per game.

And ya, no one can tell me Klazura is better than Adekugbe. Maybe right now more effective, but the better player? Not a chance by all accounts.

[ag futbol]

My point with these guys, and I'd add Teibert here as well, is that they have somehow learned to compete harder than their size may suggest. This lack of physical competitiveness maybe Essa's problem, I don't know for sure. I doubt very much he's getting an MLS contract though, which I can't see being the case in most other leagues where a guy scores 39 goals in 40 odd matches at the U18 level, many of which from the wing.

Just goes to show you how messed up the pyramid is here in North America. He's doing everything you'd ask a young player to do but there's no opportunity to get to the next level. Hopefully he gets to the NASL or USL Pro. That's still preferable to the college route IMO.

[Grizzly]

I do hope you are correct that MLS is becoming a more technical league. In Vancouver, I don't think the technical players are the one's who have advanced through the club. Even now, everyone is talking about Sam Adekugbe being ready to"play with men" whereas nobody ever speaks of Yassin Essa, even though he's scored more goals in USSDA in the last two seasons than anyone else at the U18 level. This may be a limitation of the current staff more so than a comment on the league. However, of the domestic players who have historically gone through NCAA and succeeded at the draft, most depend heavily on physical attributes and less on technique. I don't know why Camilo and Felipe didn't progress to a high level in Brasil, but I suspect size does have something to do with it.

My point with these guys, and I'd add Teibert here as well, is that they have somehow learned to compete harder than their size may suggest. This lack of physical competitiveness maybe Essa's problem, I don't know for sure. I doubt very much he's getting an MLS contract though, which I can't see being the case in most other leagues where a guy scores 39 goals in 40 odd matches at the U18 level, many of which from the wing.

If technical players are not progressing in your club that has to with your coaching staff. Still I would not place a lot of faith in chatter and would wait to see who actually gets promoted to the first team first. Obviously MLS is not changing character overnight. I just see more and more technically skilled players amongst the traditional physical and athletic players not just on the Impact but on the teams we play. And I also see those players who do rely on their size or athleticism over technique struggling against the more technical players particularly the small ones because if they are physical with them they knock them over and draw fouls.

I am not sure what you mean with your question about Felipe and Camilo not progressing in Brazil because of their size. They did not progress in Brazil because they both left it at a young age particularly Felipe who left for Europe at 18. Both are still pretty young with Felipe at 22 and Camilo at 24 and both are earning a lot more than they probably would be at this stage if they had stayed in Brazil hence the reason why they did not stay to fight their way up the Brazilian ladder. Now I do agree they are able to compete harder against physically larger players than some other smaller players. When I see how often Felipe is fouled and manhandled by larger players during a game I sometimes wonder how he lasts a season. He just takes the foul and gets up and starts playing again. I can't recall him ever having any extensive injury while some of our larger players spend half the season injured. Possibly he just has a rugged build and is able to take a lot of punishment. Plus part of surviving as a small player is going down easy which both Felipe and Camilo are good at as are most Brazilians. Possibly that is something our players need to learn, as much as I am not a fan of diving a small player does need to make a large one think twice about trying to manhandle him.

[Lord Bob]

Compared to guys like Clarke and Huitema Essa's scoring rate isn't so amazing, and he's never really struck me as a guy with the all-round tools to get an MLS contract as a teenager. This is when it would be great if we had nine professional teams in this country and one could afford to stick him on their roster as a twentieth man, see what happened.

[shamrock]

Essa has 39 goals in 40 matches, mostly as a winger!? How is he not considered a better signing than Heinemann? Let alone Huitema who has torn apart u16 and u18 at better than a goal per game.

And ya, no one can tell me Klazura is better than Adekugbe. Maybe right now more effective, but the better player? Not a chance by all accounts.

Problem is, USSDA doesn't say anything. It's playing against boys. Guys like Felipe learned to deal with bigger guys early, by using their feet. You'd have to watch them against grown men, who can use their strength against them if they don't have the skills otherwise.

Also, drawing fauls is also technical ability, if you're not strong, you have to be smart. Teibert is a good example, he's not big, but he sure has a leftfoot to put the ball anywhere he likes to. This is better than just being strong.

Having said that, and this is were the argument about the Brazilian national team players come about, if you have the choice, you'd probably want to have technical AND strong. And they sure have choices down there.

It also has to do with position. Nobody wants a small keeper in the goal or in the backline (centre). Then maybe some strikers should be big for a certain type of play, but otherwise, on other positions it can be dwarfs as far as I'm concerned. I don't think Wesley Sneijder should be any bigger, as it would slow down his game.

[maccaliam]

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere but here are the goals scored by the U18s in the last playoff round. There are some solid looking prospects (and a couple dodgy goal celebrations ) there.

[Macksam]

Bustos, despite his small size, will be fine in MLS.

Now that I voiced my opinion on the matter, nothing more needs to be said.

[madmonte]

Problem is, USSDA doesn't say anything. It's playing against boys. Guys like Felipe learned to deal with bigger guys early, by using their feet. You'd have to watch them against grown men, who can use their strength against them if they don't have the skills otherwise.

Also, drawing fauls is also technical ability, if you're not strong, you have to be smart. Teibert is a good example, he's not big, but he sure has a leftfoot to put the ball anywhere he likes to. This is better than just being strong.

Having said that, and this is were the argument about the Brazilian national team players come about, if you have the choice, you'd probably want to have technical AND strong. And they sure have choices down there.

It also has to do with position. Nobody wants a small keeper in the goal or in the backline (centre). Then maybe some strikers should be big for a certain type of play, but otherwise, on other positions it can be dwarfs as far as I'm concerned. I don't think Wesley Sneijder should be any bigger, as it would slow down his game.

I think the difference between a player drawing the foul cheaply and not, and the difference between them, is about to get highlighted to the utmost extent in Barcelona, if you watch for it. Watch Neymar, watch Messi, and see which player does what.

[masster]

The U18s won their first game on Sunday, 3-1 over Seattle. They lost 1-0 to red bull New York today. They will need a victory in their last game on Thursday and some help from Seattle in order to make the final.

[youllneverwalkalone]

Not looking good. Seattle lost 5-1 in their match.