As a reminder, the FIFA U-20 World Cup was supposed to take place this year, before it was canceled due to covid. I just felt like taking a look to see just how good our team could have been (and which players could have used it as a springboard for the full national team conversation).
As a reminder, here's the roster from the 2019 U-20 World Cup
GK Brady Scott, David Ochoa, CJ dos Santos
CB Chris Richards, Mark McKenzie, Aboubacar Keita
RB Sergiño Dest, Julian Araujo
LB Chris Gloster, Matt Real
DM Chris Durkin, Edwin Cerrillo
CM Paxton Pomykal, Brandon Servania
AM Richie Ledezma, Alex Mendez
Wing Tim Weah, Uly Llanez, Konrad de la Fuente
ST Sebastian Soto, Justin Rennicks
Players in bold have appeared for the full national team since. What an incredible group! Tyler Adams and Josh Sargent weren't able to be included with the squad, Brenden Aaronson, Christian Cappis, and James Sands were left off by choice, and players like Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah, Bryan Reynolds, Daryl Dike, Sam Vines, and Niko Gioacchini hadn't emerged yet. Ayo Akinola was on the original U20 squad, but got hurt, and was replaced by Julian Araujo. Jesús Ferreira wasn't yet US-eligible, I believe.
A lot of people these days are asking if we are currently experiencing a "Golden Generation" of talent coming through, or if this is just the beginning of a US talent pool that should continue to be impressive for years and generations to come. That's a difficult question to answer, and much of your answer will depend on what you think about the Development Academy folding and being replaced by MLS Next.
However, I think it's reasonable to believe that we could have fielded just as strong of a U20 squad this year as we did two years ago. Let's take a look at some of the options:
GK: David Ochoa seems like an easy choice for the starter, after performing well in the '19 World Cup and backstopping Real Monarchs to the USL Championship title in 2019. 2020 seems like a wasted year, as he stayed with RSL's first team (covid prevented players from switching seamlessly between MLS and USL sides). He only got one game in MLS, the last game of the year. However, he's still only 20, and has shown incredible promise for the future.
Elsewhere, there is:
- Chituru Odunze (18), bouncing back between Leicester's U18s and U23s and occasionally training with their first team, and has been in camp with the full USMNT
- Damian Las (18), playing for Fulham's U18s and U23s
- Ethan Wady (19), playing for Chelsea's U23s since back from a loan in the English 6th division
- Alex Borto (17), has gotten quite a lot of run with Fulham's U18s
- Abraham Rodriguez (18), has shown promise in USL with Colorado Springs
- Aaron Cervantes (18), moved to the Rangers system from Orange County SC in USL
- Luca Lewis (20), signed as a homegrown with the Red Bulls after leaving the Torino U19s
- Leo Sepulveda (19), playing with Salamanca's first team in the Spanish 3rd division
- Jonathan Tomkinson (18), playing with Norwich City's U-23s
- Nico Carrera (18), with Holstein Kiel's U-19s
- Hayden Sargis (18), started for independent USL side Sacramento Republic in 2020
- Justin Che (17), on loan with Bayern Munich U-19 from FC Dallas
- Eric Ameyaw (18), with Fulham U-23s
- Mason Judge (18), with Eintracht Frankfurt U-19s
Wing: Alex Mighten (18) would be another huge "get" if we could recruit him away from the England setup. There's also Uly Llanez (19), Konrad de la Fuente (19), Cameron Harper (19), Cade Cowell (17), and Kevin Paredes (17).
ST: If we can't steal Folarin Balogun (19) from England, Malik Tillman (18) from Germany, or Santiago Muñoz (18) from Mexico, we'll have to settle for Matthew Hoppe (20), if Schalke will even release him. Oh, and there's also Ricardo Pepi (18), and don't forget about Johan Gomez (19) making waves with FC Porto's reserves in Portugal.
If you strip away all the dual-nationals, and take away guys like Reyna and Musah who definitely would not be released, here's what a roster could potentially look like. Questionable club releases are in parentheses, with potential replacements listed behind them:
GK: Chituru Odunze, David Ochoa, Damian Las
CB: Owen Otasowie, Leo Sepulveda, Jonathan Tomkinson
RB: (Bryan Reynolds), Julian Araujo (Joe Scally can replace Reynolds)
LB: George Bello, Kobe Hernandez
DM: (Johnny Cardoso), Gianluca Busio
CM: Tanner Tessmann, Taylor Booth (Bryang Kayo can replace Booth, moving Booth to DM)
AM: Caden Clark, Jose Gallegos
Wing: (Konrad de la Fuente), Uly Llanez, Cameron Harper (Cowell or Paredes can replace Konrad)
ST: (Matthew Hoppe), Ricardo Pepi (Johan Gomez can replace Hoppe)
So there's a quick look at some of the talent coming down the pipeline. I'm really bummed for these guys that they won't have a chance to shine against their age group this year. Thankfully, four of them are included in the U23 qualifying squad (Ochoa, Araujo, Johnny, Llanez).
What do you think of this group?
Does it look like our talent funnel is continuing to churn out high-quality prospects?
Which of these guys do you think could make an impact for the full USMNT soon?
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