ConigliarosPotential said:
I watched large chunks of this match, and my main thought was to wonder just how bad New Zealand and Myanmar must be. The quality of play was...not good.
Very true, it puts things in perspective. Then again, Ukraine could only tie New Zealand. Youth soccer can be strange.
sachmoney said:
So Zelalem didn't do much besides win that free kick? The whole disappearing thing is not at all surprising as that's been one of the criticisms I've heard about him playing for Arsenal's Reserves.
Zelalem wasn't very influential. Neither was Hyndman, FWIW. It just wasn't a very good night for our midfield. I don't want to excuse the players too much, but I do think you have to look at the tactics. The DM, Marco Delgado, is a limited player both defensively and in his ability to pass, link up, and provide outlets effectively. Our fullbacks are also offensively challenged. Acosta has been playing LB, but he's actually our top DM. He's not altogether comfortable out there. (For some reason Ramos doesn't want to use the only natural LB on the roster, John Requejo.) At RB, Moore looks way out of his depth in every way. He's a black hole out there. Desevio Payne was rested and will be a big improvement in the knockout round. Jamieson was the lone striker -- a role for which he is not well suited -- and on top of that the ref was calling a really tight game with him, which made it extra difficult for him to hold up the ball.
It all added up to a scenario that's tough for possession oriented players. Moore was a turnover machine, his LB and DM didn't always show for the ball when they needed to, the players ahead of them weren't able to hold the ball. Playing with a lone striker meant one less runner to pick out.
Zelalem still clearly has things to work on. In particular (as someone else noted after NZ) he doesn't have much of a left foot and he can be a bit passive. Right now he's more of a classy distributor than a true creator with great vision. One of the US soccer media guys had about 4-5 short clips from the NZ game featuring Rubin and Jamieson throwing up their hands after they made a good run but GZ didn't make the pass when he needed to. And GZ did have a good game against NZ - it's just one element of his game that's missing and bears close monitoring.
Basically to make a long story short (
too late), these games are useful data points but I'd caution against drawing too many big conclusions because under Tab Ramos this group of players will be less than the sum of their parts. I'm not saying they are all secretly world-beaters, but Ramos doesn't have a good tactical track record. Those of us who follow youth national teams closely are nearly unanimous in this opinion.
BTW - although I am a Klinsmann h8r at times, Ramos is pretty much 100% a classic, shitty USSF hire. Well-connected, talks a good game, but where is the experience and track record? It doesn't really matter if our U20 team underperforms a little because of coaching. Development occurs at the club and these players will be what they'll be...U20 has almost no effect on their trajectory. However, it's more than a little disconcerting that a guy who can't organize the midfield of a team he's worked with for two years is also the youth technical director.
