CONCACAF U20 qualifying (for the cycle ending in 2025) + preparation & news

[VinceA]

12 hours ago, phresh said:

I did not ding him at all, nor did I make a comment about his development or potential. I simply stated that Next Pro is not a high enough level to help the boys compete for medals at the international level. That obviously doesn’t mean that all Next Pro players will be unimpactful at this level, but the general point remains

In what world are we in a position to compete for medals? I just want to qualify for tournaments. Guys playing in game situation environments weekly will always help more than guys playing in academy set ups. Especially at the 19-20 year old range.

[phresh]

16 minutes ago, VinceA said:

In what world are we in a position to compete for medals? I just want to qualify for tournaments. Guys playing in game situation environments weekly will always help more than guys playing in academy set ups. Especially at the 19-20 year old range.

At the senior level, we do. I don't see why we shouldn't aim for the same at youth level. I was talking regional tourneys, not World Cups. I agree that generally, playing at pro level trumps playing academy, but there are obviously exceptions. 

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by phresh

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 10/11/2023 at 3:10 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Trinidad will host.

On 10/11/2023 at 11:34 AM, Ivan said:

Well, if we can't beat T & T with the players we have, we don't deserve to qualify.

On 10/11/2023 at 12:57 PM, Borjans Sweatpants said:

Bring on the competition.

Trinidad and Tobago have a new youth coach, Brian Haynes:

https://www.guardian.co.tt/sports/ttfa-appoints-haynes-u20-mens-football-coach-6.2.1842079.936f81120f

I don't often wish ill of people but let's hope he's not the best 😅

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

As kind of a U17 WC post-mortem I'll ask the question again:

On 9/29/2023 at 9:09 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

If we start with our U17 team as the baseline, after our final match at the U17 World Cup, we can essentially play the "Who would you cut from that squad for an older '05 player?" game.

So, who do you want to see again in February at the U20 qualifying?

Who should be cut for an older '05 player?

[Shway]

1 hour ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

As kind of a U17 WC post-mortem I'll ask the question again:

So, who do you want to see again in February at the U20 qualifying?

Who should be cut for an older '05 player?

The coach first. He has thee most losing recording ever for a national team coach. (I don't know if that's true, but I believe it)

[VinceA]

Any 05 and later playing pro needs to be on the team. However it feels like we have less U20 eligible guys playing pro right now than we did last cycle.

I think the obvious guys are Tahid (who is also eligible next cycle), Tavernier, Bunbury, Pearlman, Stefanovic, Kane, and Cameron.

 

edit: Assuming he gets more minutes next year, Orange County's Ben Norris should get an invitation.

Edited November 16, 2023 by VinceA

[Footyeh]

Only 4 players I can see being involved from this U17 group are Kavernier, Rigopoulos, Stefanovic and Tahid.  

Hate to say it, but this upcoming U20 cycle is WEAK.  We'll need 10+ players to really start getting serious minutes in this next year and even then, qualifiers for us begins in February so we are behind.

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

1 hour ago, Footyeh said:

and even then, qualifiers for us begins in February so we are behind.

I think all of USL, MLS, MLS Next Pro and CanPL all start too late to get any real idea from their seasons.

Except for those players based in Europe it will be difficult to gage their form over the two months prior to the tournament.

[Dominic94]

Not sure Bunbury is any good to be honest 

[phresh]

1 minute ago, Dominic94 said:

Not sure Bunbury is any good to be honest 

There are almost no strikers in that age group playing at a higher level than Next Pro

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

On 11/2/2023 at 4:54 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Trinidad and Tobago have a new youth coach, Brian Haynes

https://newsday.co.tt/2023/12/20/coach-brian-haynes-the-door-is-open-to-new-u20-soca-warriors/

"Haynes currently has roughly 50 players engaged in daily screening sessions at the Ato Boldon Stadium training field" 

😳 Daily sessions!

Sounds like T & T's coach will really know his player pool and the players will know each other very well by February.

[PopePouri]

It helps that most things T&T are within like 5 miles of each other.

[sose]

1 hour ago, PopePouri said:

It helps that most things T&T are within like 5 miles of each other.

no ballers live in Couva

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Another article on T & T and their youth teams:

https://wired868.com/2024/01/03/talent-right-down-to-the-30th-player-tt-u-20-and-u-17-teams-tipped-to-shine/

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Haitian-Canadian Angelo Jean-Baptiste who trained as a coach in Canada and is Montreal-based will be the Haitian U20 coach. I would keep an eye on their roster this February for dual-nationals.

----------

Edit:

Guyana U20s may also have some Canadians

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2024/01/22/sports/golden-jags-u20-head-coach-to-spearhead-preparation-following-arrival-td/

 

Edit 2:

The Jamaica squad for friendlies against T&T:

 

Edited January 23 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Trinidad and Tobago U20 will host Jamaica U20 for two friendlies in mid-February, just before qualifying begins.

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/coach-wall-confirms-u20-camp-in-tt-ahead-of-concacaf-qualifiers/amp/

Those Trinis 🇹🇹 will be ready. 😬

I hope the CSA saved money that was going to go towards Camp Poutine for our U20 boys. Being in camp for a few days before flying to Trinidad would be nice.

[Borjans Sweatpants]

2005 and younger, so we're looking at this (unless I'm mistaken; thanks @Xavier.!) :

Edited January 12 by Borjans Sweatpants

[SpursFlu]

I hope our guys have been practicing soccer. Sounds like Trinidad and Haiti have been doing a lot of practicing soccer

Edited January 12 by SpursFlu

[Borjans Sweatpants]

So if ideal / unrealistic squad is something like (might be nothing like this, mainly going from above lists and speculating) :
 

                                     Swiderski

Cameron -- De Fougerolles -- Pearlman -- Gherasimenkov

                           Kane -- Biello -- Badwal

                         Costa -- Diallo -- Stewart-Baynes
 

Wonder what the squad will look like. I assume a lot of the above wouldn't be part. 

[narduch]

I noticed Biello has joined CF Montreal's pre season training 

[Borjans Sweatpants]

29 minutes ago, narduch said:

I noticed Biello has joined CF Montreal's pre season training 

De Montigny as well

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

More news about T & T's U20 prep:

https://thettfa.com/news/tt-and-jamaica-u-20-men-to-play-3-warm-up-matches-in-trinidad/

https://wired868.com/2024/01/21/haynes-targets-impressive-debut-as-tt-u-20s-prepare-for-jamaica-friendlies/

https://www.guardian.co.tt/sports/tt-u20s-to-host-jamaica-in-concacaf-warmup-series-6.2.1905078.236523d61b

[JamesF]

Trinidad beat Jamaica 3-2 in there first friendly, Jamaica close to full power there squad had 6 MLS academy players as well as one England based player, Jamaica looked to have the better players but lacked cohesion, the quality wasn't great in this match and the field wasn't either but it still showed Trinidad aren't no slouch we also will be playing in Trinidad so the pitch won't be to far from this one.

 

 

 

[dyslexic nam]

Anyone who just assumes we are going to roll over T&T hasn’t been paying attention.  They are doing everything they can to prep for this game and our entire footy landscape is hemorrhaging.   In the bell curve of importance, the March game could end up being one of the biggest let down moments since 8-1 and our association is just casually sauntering towards that conclusion.    

[SpursFlu]

15 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

Anyone who just assumes we are going to roll over T&T hasn’t been paying attention.  They are doing everything they can to prep for this game and our entire footy landscape is hemorrhaging.   In the bell curve of importance, the March game could end up being one of the biggest let down moments since 8-1 and our association is just casually sauntering towards that conclusion.    

I think it be closer then people think. I'm saying we edge them out 4-1. But at halftime it's only 2-0