The roster
GK, Konstantinos Kyriazis, Real Salt Lake
GK, Matt White, Philadelphia Union
LB, Linkon Ream, Real Salt Lake
RB, Daniel Barrett, Houston Dynamo
RB, Nash Dearmin, Inter Miami
CB, Ethan Degny, OGC Nice
CB, Tyson Espy, Orange County SC
CB, Kenneth Hoban, El Paso Locomotive
DM, Levi Katsell, New England Revolution
CM, Shae Cruijff-Beane, Gimnàstic de Tarragona
CM, Xander Newstead, Ajax
AM, Xavier Aguilar, Nashville SC
AM, Jai Bansoodeb, Brentford FC
AM, Jordan De Oliveira, Flamengo
AM, Paul Sokoloff, Red Bull New York
AM, David Uranga Forero, Inter Miami
W, Mattheo Dimareli, Houston Dynamo
W, Immanuel Ewing, Columbus Crew
W, Amir Henry, Atlanta United
CF, Aaron Medina, LA Galaxy
Roster reactions
I applaud U.S. Soccer for investing in this camp. It didn’t need to fund a second 2009 camp while the U-17 World Cup is running, but it did and it’s appreciated. The programming has been fantastic the last couple of years.
It’s fair to say this roster is a combination of the “2009 B team” and some players U.S. Soccer has wanted to take a look at but didn’t feel it had the chance to while the “A team” prepared for the World Cup. There are six players on this roster I would have selected to the World Cup roster: Ream, Dearmin, Degny, Espy, Bansoodeb and Dimareli. Seven players are receiving their first full U.S. camp invite: Kyriazis, Hoban, Katsell, Cruijff-Beane, Aguilar, De Oliveira and Uranga Forero.
Goalkeepers
The goalkeeping depth in this class isn’t super strong. White has been GK4 for some time. Kyriazis is an interesting profile. He has elite size and has played for Greece at the U17 level.
Right-backs
Barrett held down the RB1 spot for this class for a while. From the outside, it looked like a dip in form followed by an injury at a bad time ended his chances of making the World Cup team. I’ve always liked Dearmin’s skill set. I believe he’s one of the top right-backs in this class, and he may have been overlooked and not given enough opportunities, though there may be reasons we’re not seeing.
Left-backs
Ream is the de facto left-back on this roster, even though he’s more of a very two-footed right-back who can play on the left. That versatility is precisely why I would have selected him to the World Cup roster. He doesn’t have any elite traits, but he does a lot of important things at an adequate level.
Center-backs
From what I’ve seen, Espy and Degny are a better starting center-back duo than what the World Cup team is taking. Hoban is an interesting prospect. He played a bit in USL-C last year and did okay. He has also been with the Mexican Youth National Team. There are a few other players I would have liked to see here if available, namely Josh Munson (RBNY, in the last camp), RJ White (Inter Miami) and Mateo McLean (LA Galaxy).
Pivots
The class is weak on pivots, so it’s easy to understand why there aren’t many on this roster. Katsell is the only true pivot. Newstead is more of a free eight. I’m not sure what Cruijff-Beane plays. He’s listed as a midfielder, which can mean a lot of different things. He’s reportedly the grandson of Dutch legend Johan Cruyff, and he’s a player I had no idea about before this roster came out.
Attacking midfielders
I count five attacking midfielders on this roster. Very U.S. Soccer. Bansoodeb and Sokoloff have had a number of opportunities with the A team. Aguilar is a new name I haven’t seen much of. De Oliveira is an interesting one. He has some impressive clips and plays for one of the greatest talent factories in the world, Brazilian giant Flamengo, but I’ve never seen him in a full-game context. Uranga Forero has been at the top of many MLS academies’ wish lists for a while, and Inter Miami finally convinced him to sign this season. He has only played for Venezuela to date, but he’s a very technical and creative left-footed number ten.
Wingers
All three wingers have been in camps before, and Dimareli and Ewing have been in a lot of them. I like Henry more as a right-back long term. He has the profile for it, but in my opinion he doesn’t have the attacking dynamism to stay at winger.
Center-forward
Medina was in close competition with Kashan Hines for the CF2 spot at the World Cup but ultimately wasn’t selected. Assuming the other options were available, the fact that U.S. Soccer didn’t call in another striker for this camp says a lot about what it thinks of the rest of the striker pool in this class.
Roster grade: B+
I really like the concept, and obviously I like a lot of the selections since I would have had them on the World Cup team. Of the new names, De Oliveira and Uranga Forero are the most interesting to me, and if they perform well, they could become regulars with the A team.
