Ayo Akinola

[Mike Thompson]

20 hours ago, Blackjack15 said:

The U-17 FIFA World Cup starts 5 days from now (where Akinola will play) with Colombia vs Ghana playing the first game followed by India vs USA 

 

Will be broadcasted on TSN 3 this Friday for anyone interested

[ChuckMe92]

4 hours ago, Brethers8 said:

They've also got Abraham as a potential striker should he decide to switch from England

Yep. Besides Abraham, here's also Chuba Akpom, Dominic Solanke, Jordon Ibe, Ovie Ejaria, Sheyi Ojo, Ademola Lookman, probably others I'm missing. All England youth attackers of Nigerian heritage. There's no chance all of them are making it to England's senior team; I'll go one step further and say it's likely that most of them switch to Nigeria. They're not better than Moses and Iwobi, who switched.

Nigeria is going to look really scary, with their own domestically-developed forward pool (already good in its own right) plus the English-developed dual-nats. So unless Akinola somehow becomes a nearly elite prospect, he will go with either the US or, more likely, Canada.

Edited October 2, 2017 by ChuckMe92

[Blackjack15]

Action starts tomorrow! Who's watching?

[harrycoyster]

40 minutes ago, Blackjack15 said:

Action starts tomorrow! Who's watching?

Pretty sure the first game is Friday morning.

US lost their tune up game 2-1 to African u17 Champions Mali on Tuesday. Akinola was the first sub off the bench.

[ChuckMe92]

I do still believe Akinola will eventually play for Canada, given the promising forward prospects the US has -- plus the eligible dual-nationals playing for major European youth teams who likely won't make it to the senior teams. What's clear from this video is Akinola strongly identifies with the US and wants to play for them as long as the option is open. Keep in mind that Akinola has lived nearly his entire life in Canada -- he moved from Detroit to Brampton before turning age 1 and his birth in Detroit is the only reason he's FIFA-eligible for the US -- so the US's regular integration of him in their camps since U14 level has had a big effect.

 

[Grizzly]

That video makes me hope he never plays for Canada no matter how good he turns out to be. "It means you are representing your team back home, your family?" Is he aware of where he and his family live? If he had lived for a significant amount of time in the US or his family had long roots in the US I could understand it but a son of immigrant parents who moved to Canada before he turned 1 and who is playing for a Canadian club is that much of a proud American? He is entitled to feel how he likes genuine or not and that is how international football is these days. Still I like to think we have a national team where most of the players really want to play for their country for other reasons than that they aren't good enough for the other guys. However, we have at least a couple of other players currently on the team of a similar attitude who I have learned to accept so I guess I would learn to accept him too if he plays for us and of course Zambrano should make decisions based on the good of the team not the emotions and idealism of national team fans.

[BuzzAndSting]

Akinola starting against India.

[harrycoyster]

Akinola has looked terrible for the US in the first 35 mins. Clearly having problems with the heat and has turned the ball over four or five times now. Needs to make something happen to avoid coming off at half.

Edited October 6, 2017 by harrycoyster

[Kent]

I haven't watched the video yet, but is it possible this is a case of a kid getting a camera stuck in his face and he has to come up with something that sounds good? In the spirit of thanksgiving season, it's like when someone thinks its a great idea to go around the table asking what everybody is thankful for. You panic and try to think of something just corny enough to get off the hook and not look like a jerk.

I think I'm mentally preparing myself to hear the video later when I'm at home, because I probably won't like the sounds of it either.

[badname22]

what position is he playing?

[harrycoyster]

20 minutes ago, Kent said:

I haven't watched the video yet, but is it possible this is a case of a kid getting a camera stuck in his face and he has to come up with something that sounds good? In the spirit of thanksgiving season, it's like when someone thinks its a great idea to go around the table asking what everybody is thankful for. You panic and try to think of something just corny enough to get off the hook and not look like a jerk.

I think I'm mentally preparing myself to hear the video later when I'm at home, because I probably won't like the sounds of it either.

It's also not like he has no connection to the US. He's lived in Michigan with his grandparents every summer as a kid IIRC. 

11 minutes ago, badname22 said:

what position is he playing?

Up top with Sargent for the first 20 mins then on the right wing before coming off.

Honestly, he'll be lucky to start another game. Sargent, Weah, Carleton all far more effective. Looked as if Akinola wasn't feeling well from the start.

[Blackjack15]

The USA win the opening game of the U-17 World Cup vs the hosts India by a score of 3-0. Akinola went 66 minutes before being subbed off, the yanks play against Ghana next

[Mike Thompson]

Hopefully he starts again next game although since he didn't take advantage of the opportunity will most likely come off the bench as a sub 

[jpg75]

What does the group of '99 born Forwards look like for the US (looking ahead to the 2019 U20 cycle)?

[Mike Thompson]

9 minutes ago, jpg75 said:

What does the group of '99 born Forwards look like for the US (looking ahead to the 2019 U20 cycle)?

What do you think are his chances to make the jump to the U-20 team over the course of the next 2 years

[jpg75]

3 minutes ago, Mike Thompson said:

What do you think are his chances to make the jump to the U-20 team over the course of the next 2 years

I don't know, that's why i'm asking.

[harrycoyster]

16 minutes ago, jpg75 said:

What does the group of '99 born Forwards look like for the US (looking ahead to the 2019 U20 cycle)?

Sargent and Weah will be the starters, unless they outplay the youth levels. One wears the number 10 shirt for the PSG u18s and the other will likely be in the Werder Bremen first time by 2019 (Sargent signed a contract that guarantees him a spot in the Bremen first team for the 2018-2019 season, if Bremen doesn't put him in the first team he can walk).

Behind them are Nick Taitague, a central attacking midfielder from Schalke who has played up top before, Akinola, and Shaft Brewer who is a u18 striker at RB Leipzig. All of this assuming no players get added to the US program...they have a ton of eligible players playing for European youth teams.

Edited October 6, 2017 by harrycoyster

[Ansem]

Why are we following this guy? He clearly doesn't want to play for us

[harrycoyster]

3 minutes ago, Ansem said:

Why are we following this guy? He clearly doesn't want to play for us

Same reason we follow/ed Ballou, Ferreira, Tomiro, Hedges, and Cristante. They are players that could make a huge impact in our program should they rethink their choice of national program. You either allow all of them or none of them. 

[ChuckMe92]

23 hours ago, harrycoyster said:

Sargent and Weah will be the starters, unless they outplay the youth levels. One wears the number 10 shirt for the PSG u18s and the other will likely be in the Werder Bremen first time by 2019 (Sargent signed a contract that guarantees him a spot in the Bremen first team for the 2018-2019 season, if Bremen doesn't put him in the first team he can walk).

Behind them are Nick Taitague, a central attacking midfielder from Schalke who has played up top before, Akinola, and Shaft Brewer who is a u18 striker at RB Leipzig. All of this assuming no players get added to the US program...they have a ton of eligible players playing for European youth teams.

And besides Ulysses Llanez, who is currently traveling with the US U17s at the World Cup, the other '01 who might well play up a cycle with the 2019 US U20s is Konrad de la Fuente, who stars for FC Barcelona Juvenil B. 5 goals in his first 5 matches so far, has been mentioned frequently on the official La Masia twitter account. Born in Florida but moved to Spain as a toddler; the US was very lucky to discover and recruit him. Speculated that Barcelona refused to release him for the U17 World Cup. They did allow him to attend a mostly-'99 camp to set the stage for the upcoming US U20 cycle, and he was the only '01 attacker in the entire camp. I think it could be argued he's a top-5 US prospect.

Anyway, I'd think Akinola is going to be squeezed out eventually.

[harrycoyster]

11 minutes ago, ChuckMe92 said:

And besides Ulysses Llanez, who is currently traveling with the US U17s at the World Cup, the other '01 who might well play up a cycle with the 2019 US U20s is Konrad de la Fuente, who stars for FC Barcelona Juvenil B. 5 goals in his first 5 matches so far, has been mentioned frequently on the official La Masia twitter account. Born in Florida but moved to Spain as a toddler; the US was very lucky to discover and recruit him. Speculated that Barcelona refused to release him for the U17 World Cup. They did allow him to attend a mostly-'99 camp to set the stage for the upcoming US U20 cycle, and he was the only '01 attacker in the entire camp. I think it could be argued he's a top-5 US prospect.

Anyway, I'd think Akinola is going to be squeezed out eventually.

Yup. Getting back to @Ansem 's question. Akinola is the most likely of the dual-nationals to be playing for Canada within a few years. He's the third best striker prospect the US has in the 2000 age group alone, who are also stacked at the 2001 and 2002 age groups...and it's not like Bobby Wood and Jozy Altidore are 32. 

Akinola is a 5 star TDS prospect. Davies was the only other 5 stars given to a player produced in Canada recently, so that's a pretty big deal. I've been pretty unimpressed with Akinola lately, but he would walk into our u20 team and will probably be getting minutes for TFC next year if he doesn't go overseas. 

[Blackjack15]

Forgot to mention Tyler Adams, even though he's more of an attacking midfielder

[harrycoyster]

11 minutes ago, Blackjack15 said:

Forgot to mention Tyler Adams, even though he's more of an attacking midfielder

I just watched him play 90' against the Caps at RB. He's pretty incredible there, so I think he's a RB/RM going forward.

[Kent]

3 hours ago, harrycoyster said:

will probably be getting minutes for TFC next year if he doesn't go overseas. 

You must be forgetting TFC have Ben Spencer. I expect he will continue to not score and continue to eat up the minutes that Altidore, Giovinco, and Ricketts don't get.

[ChuckMe92]

On 10/6/2017 at 6:07 PM, jpg75 said:

What does the group of '99 born Forwards look like for the US (looking ahead to the 2019 U20 cycle)?

I searched around and found the forward group for the mostly-'99 US camp that will set the stage for the 2019 US U20s:

Forwards (6): Shaft Brewer (RB Leipzig; Sacramento, Calif.), Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona; Miami, Fla.), Griffin Dorsey (Indiana; Evergreen, Colo.), Emmanuel Perez (NC State; Garner, N.C.), Nebiyou Perry (AIK; New York, NY), Nicholas Taitague (Schalke; Midlothian, Va.)

Four Euro-based players, including an arguably top-5-overall US prospect ('01 Konrad) and a top-10-overall one (Taitague). Perez is one of the very best NCAA players and has drawn interest from Spain and Portugal. But this does not include the '00s and '01s at the U17 World Cup (it's 6 plus the highly-rated Llanez, who is only traveling with the team). Sargent, Weah, Carleton, and even Reyes all looked better than Akinola in the opening World Cup match:

FORWARDS (7): Ayo Akinola (Toronto FC; Brampton Ont.), Andrew Carleton (Atlanta United FC; Powder Springs, Ga.), Ulysses Llanez (LA Galaxy; Lynwood, Calif.), Jacobo Reyes (C.F. Monterrey; Houston, Texas), Bryan Reynolds (FC Dallas; Little Elm, Texas), Joshua Sargent (St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri; O'Fallon, Mo.), Tim Weah (Paris Saint-Germain, Rosedale, N.Y.)

Combine these two groups, and you've got the initial forward pool for the 2019 US U20s.