#u.s. soccer Sergino Dest could be U.S. Soccer’s ‘Next Big Thing’ | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gadgetsrevv · 5 years

Text

Sergino Dest could be U.S. Soccer’s ‘Next Big Thing’ but even if he’s not, he’s proof of progress

Gregg Berhalter speaks highly of new USMNT first team members Sergino Dest and Paxton Pomykal, after naming his 26-player squad for upcoming friendlies.

Gregg Berhalter previews USMNT vs. Mexico and how Josh Sargent used missing out on the Gold Cup as a positive.

The list of American soccer’s Next Big Things extends back further than you might think, at least all the way to Steve Snow.

Uh, who?

Snow was the Parade Magazine High School Player of the Year in 1988. In suburban Chicago, he scored a goal in 49 consecutive high school games and earned a place on the 1989 U.S. Under-20 World Cup team. Snow scored five goals in seven qualification games and then another three more at the tournament in Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. came in fourth, still their best-ever U20 finish. After attending Indiana University for a year, he turned pro in 1990 and signed Belgian outfit Standard Liege.

— Borden: Pulisic isn not your wonder boy anymore — Carlisle: Way too early look at USMNT for 2022 — Schoenfeld: Former phenom Adu is not giving up just yet

How good was Snow? Former USMNT midfielder Chris Henderson told MLSSoccer.com in 2014 that, “From 1985-1989, he was the best forward in the country. He was the best goalscorer I’ve ever played with.” However, Snow soon struggled with injuries and had a falling out with U.S. Soccer at the 1992 Olympics. He was benched for the tournament-opening 2-1 loss to Italy, and told reporters after the game, “This team cannot play at all without me. This team wouldn’t be here without me.” He played and scored in both of the side’s remaining group games, but never made another appearance for the full national team. After a couple years of professional indoor soccer, Snow was out of the sport completely by 1995.

This, of course, is a cycle that American soccer fans are by now all too familiar with. There’s a savior identified at a young age. Then there’s a brief period of initial senior-level excitement. Then the impossible expectations are never met, for one reason or another. And then the cycle starts over again, and the U.S. men’s national team remains in the same spot it’s been in for the last 30 years: somewhere between, say, the 15th and 40th best team in the world.

Could 18-year-old full-back Sergino Dest be U.S. Soccer’s ‘Next Big Thing?’

John O’Brien, Freddy Adu, Juan Agudelo, Bobby Convey, Santino Quaranta, Julian Green, etc. — there’s a starting XI and a full bench worth of prospects who failed to live up to the hype. But the reality is that most youth prospects globally don’t become high-level professional players, and a microscopic sliver of them go on to become what one might consider “world class”. Case and point, in 2007, World Soccer magazine published a list of the 50 most exciting teenagers on the planet. On the cover were Giovani dos Santos, who’s currently playing in Liga MX with Club America, Alexandre Pato, who’s back in Brazil with Sao Paulo after two years in China, and Anderson, who once played for Man United but now plays for Adana Demirspor, a club in the Turkish second division.

“Everyone has their own progress,” USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter told the media on Monday, ahead of the team’s upcoming friendlies against Mexico and Uruguay. “The speed in which they continue to progress is unpredictable.”

The goal for any national soccer federation is to simply create more top-level talent, and the way to do that isn’t to hope for one player to appear and suddenly change a country’s fortunes. Rather, it’s to build an environment where there isn’t just one top prospect in a generation, but 10, so when seven of them don’t pan out, you’re still left with three more. In other words, the more raffle tickets you have, the better your chances of winning.

The U.S. still isn’t close to reaching the kind of talent production seen in France or now England, but things have slowly started to change. Perhaps that’s why there’s an 18-year-old American starting for a team that made the Champions League semifinals last year, and it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.

—

Sergino Dest was born in Almere, Netherlands in 2000. He initially played for a local club before joining Dutch giants Ajax in 2012. After six seasons in what might be Europe’s premier talent-development factory, Dest was promoted to the Amsterdam club’s second team, Jong Ajax, last year. He made 17 appearances in the Dutch second division and then went on to star for the U.S. at this past summer’s U20 World Cup. Come August, he was starting for Ajax, as they overcame Cypriot power APOEL, 2-0, in Champions League qualification playoff-round. And this week he earned his first USMNT call-up.

Sergino Dest has broken into the starting XI at Ajax and now must decide between playing internationally for the U.S. or Holland.

“For him, he got his opportunity, he seized his opportunity, and now he’s a starter for Ajax, a semifinalist in the Champions League,” Berhalter said. “That’s an unbelievable story. You can never tell when it happens, who it’s gonna happen to, but Sergino’s in a good moment now, and we wanna capitalize on that.”

Dest, whose mother is Dutch and whose father was an American serviceman stationed in the Netherlands, has all the outlines of a top-tier modern full-back. He’s rangy enough to get up and down the sideline without throwing a team’s defensive structure out of whack, but he’s also comfortable coming infield and functioning from more traditional midfield positions — whether it’s progressing the ball up the field, maintaining possession, or play-making around the opponent’s goal.

He’s got the kind of slick, 360-degree range of movement that’s rare among players who spend most of their minutes cramped up against the sideline. It’s only a couple games, but the youngster completed 90 percent of his passes and won a higher percentage of 50-50 duels than any other full-back during UCL qualification. In the final match against APOEL, a 2-0 home win, he created two chances, in addition to completing a higher percentage of his passes and winning a higher percentage of duels than any other player on the field. Not bad for an 18-year-old.

Ajax were then drawn into a Champions League group with two other Americans: Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, and Lille’s Timothy Weah. Another, Tyler Adams, will also participate in the competition with RB Leipzig. Not one of those players is old enough to buy a beer in the States yet, and they represent a growing trend within U.S. Soccer: there are more Americans playing in professional academies than ever before.

According to US Soccer, the 2017-through-2018 cycle of youth national team players featured around 50 international-based players called in for the U14 through U20 teams. For the 2018-19 cycle, that number jumped up to about 70.

“We have continued to expand our talent identification structure both domestically and abroad, with the goal of locating and developing the best players wherever they are,” said Earnie Stewart, U.S. Soccer’s sporting director. “The results of those efforts are reflected in the makeup of our youth national team rosters, and will ultimately benefit the senior team.”

At the 2009 U20 World Cup, 10 of the U.S.’s 21 players were either playing college soccer at the time or were associated with American clubs below the MLS level. Only three guys on that roster were playing for European teams at the time. Fast forward 10 years, and every player on this past summer’s team was either with an MLS side or a European club. In fact, more than half of that roster came from Europe. Thanks to globalized scouting networks at most top clubs and an increasing interest and investment in American players, just about every big club in Europe now has at least one American somewhere in its pipeline.

Stateside, every MLS club now has its own academy, and all but two of them (Minnesota and D.C. United) are free. One added side effect of MLS’s continued expansion is the growth of affordable, high-level training in a sport that has tended to weed out lower-income, non-white kids due to high participation costs or lack of a nearby club. The U.S. remains humongous and 24 MLS clubs aren’t close enough to cover it, but the current situation is better than the one where Clint Dempsey‘s parents had to completely rearrange their lives just so their son could get to and from practice.

On the most recent USMNT roster of 26 players, 10 spent time in an MLS academy and another 10 were at a European club before their 21st birthday. Tyler Adams, who isn’t on the current roster due to injury but is expected to be one of the team’s stars over the next decade, came up through the New York Red Bull academy and then signed with RB Leipzig when he was 19. Weston McKennie came up with FC Dallas and joined Schalke when he was 18. When healthy, both of them are already starters for two of the better clubs in the Bundesliga. While Christian Pulisic has shown enough to suggest that America’s Next Big Thing might finally actually become The Big Thing, he’s also going to be flanked by a collection of young talent that exists, in part, because of a developmental environment that never existed for a prior generation.

Whether that group actually includes Dest isn’t a sure thing yet. Although he’s represented the US at U17 and U20 levels, he is still eligible to play for the Netherlands. If he does end up representing the country in which he was born, that could end up being a big blow the USMNT. Long-term, though, the goal should be to finally get to the point where the future of a single player isn’t so closely tied with the future fortunes of the team. The numbers aren’t there yet, but they’re moving in the right direction.

//due to VPPA compliance we can not send keywords through URLs implicitly in the US var countryValue = $.cookie("country"); if(!!countryValue && countryValue !== "us") {

$.ajax({ url: '//pixel.mathtag.com/event/js?mt_id=694557&mt_adid=137010&v1=&v2=&v3=&s1=&s2=&s3=', dataType: 'script', cache: true }); } (function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=116656161708917";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "facebook-jssdk")); Source link

via wordpress https://ift.tt/2NMWJVn

#Uncategorized #Ajax #Sergino Dest #u.s. soccer Sergino Dest could be U.S. Soccer’s ‘Next Big Thing’

0 notes

foreversuperstrong · 5 years

Photo

Sergino Dest could be U.S. Soccer's 'Next Big Thing,' but even if he's not, he's proof of progress

#Sports News #Online

0 notes

gadgetsrevv · 5 years

Text

USMNT depth chart: where they’re strong and where they should worry ahead of World Cup 2022

It has been eight months and 13 matches since Gregg Berhalter took over as head coach of the United States men’s national team. He arrived with a mandate to remake a floundering program in his image, a project that’s very much still a work in progress. The manager spent his time handing starts to new players, evaluating the veterans and attempting to find a lineup that gets the most out of the available talent.

As World Cup qualifying approaches next year and the Nations Cup begins in October, it’s time to take a look at where the players stand.

(Note: Each player appears once, even if he could fit into multiple spots.)

Goalkeeper

1. Zack Steffen, Fortuna Dusseldorf (loan) 2. Brad Guzan, Atlanta United FC 3. Sean Johnson, NYCFC

It’s Steffen and then everyone else in the player pool. The Manchester City goalkeeper, on loan at Fortuna Düsseldorf, continues to improve his shot-stopping ability and positioning and is off to a strong start in the Bundesliga. He struggles with distribution, however, and needs to get better in this regard if Berhalter’s build from the back system is going to work.

– U.S. show they’re way behind Mexico – O’Hanlon: Is Dest the USMNT’s next big thing? – Dyer: How a Nobel Prize winner helped Reggie Cannon break through for USMNT

Guzan, Johnson, Ethan Horvath, Jesse Gonzalez and others are capable, if not spectacular, backups.

Left-back

1. Daniel Lovitz, Montreal Impact 2. Tim Ream, Fulham 3. Sergino Dest, Ajax

This position is a perpetual weak spot for the Americans. Lovitz is fine, Ream is better but accident prone, and Dest is just 18. The latter, who was solid and also a teenager against Mexico in his first start, could rocket up this list with a good couple of months for the Dutch giants in the Eredivisie and the Champions League.

Other potential options include Antonee Robinson, oft-injured Greg Garza, U-20 star Chris Gloster and even Fabian Johnson. (Remember when FabJo was the U.S.’s best player at four or five positions?)

The good news: Berhalter has a lot of options. The bad: None of those fully solves his problem.

Left-side center-back

1. John Brooks, VfL Wolfsburg 2. Matt Miazga, Reading FC (loan) 3. Chris Richards, FC Bayern Munich II

Right-side center-back

1. Aaron Long, New York Red Bulls 2. Walker Zimmerman, LAFC 3. Miles Robinson, Atlanta United FC

Can John Brooks stay healthy? If he does, one of the two center-back jobs is his for the next half-decade at least. But the Wolfsburg center-back can’t maintain fitness. For that matter, Miazga is on the shelf with a serious injury. In the immediate moment, Long and Zimmerman are the starters.

Richards, a standout in the U-20 World Cup, is raw but has line-breaking potential. Omar Gonzalez, Tim Parker, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Erik Palmer-Brown, Justen Glad, Miles Robinson, Austin Trusty and a handful of others could figure into the mix as well.

Right-back

1. DeAndre Yedlin, Newcastle United 2. Reggie Cannon, FC Dallas 3. Nick Lima, San Jose Earthquakes

Yedlin gets the nod due to his experience, though Cannon has had the strongest 12 months of pretty much any player in the U.S. national team picture. In another six months or a year, we might see Cannon lock down the right-back role with Yedlin pushing further up the field, but we’re not there quite yet.

Lima presents a serviceable option in a panic, though it’s not likely to come to that, and Shaq Moore’s a wild card who could push for more chances.

Defensive midfielder

1. Tyler Adams, RB Leipzig 2. Michael Bradley, Toronto FC 3. Wil Trapp, Columbus Crew SC

Has any player in the history of U.S. Soccer moved up the ranks for club and country as quickly as Adams? In two years, he has gone from “who is this kid?” to a Champions League starter. Still just 20, the RB Leipzig midfielder could be the American engine for a decade.

Bradley is still Bradley, the smartest player on the field even if he has slowed down a half-step. Trapp’s the best leader on the team, a guy who could make a roster for that ability alone. Alfredo Morales and Russell Canouse could play roles here too.

Attacking midfielder

1. Weston McKennie, Schalke 04 2. Duane Holmes, Derby County 3. Paxton Pomykal, FC Dallas

Attacking midfielder

1. Sebastian Lletget, LA Galaxy 2. Darlington Nagbe, Atlanta United FC 3. Cristian Roldan, Seattle Sounders FC

Berhalter could go a lot of ways with this group, including installing Pulisic back in midfield, but the McKennie/Lletget combination is the most potent if — and this is a big if — they can stay healthy and learn to play together. Holmes showed excellent promise in limited time, and Pomykal could start pressing sooner rather than later.

Nagbe remains an enigma, notably turning down a recent call-up, and Roldan is fine. Jackson Yueill and Djordje Mihailovic are two younger players who should continue to get shots if they continue to grow as players.

Pulisic is the undisputed leader of this new-look U.S. men’s team, but the depth around him looks worryingly thin at key positions.

Left wing

1. Christian Pulisic, Chelsea 2. Paul Arriola, D.C. United 3. Tim Weah, Lille

While Pulisic can be considered the best American player at multiple positions, he’s best served out on the wing, where he can get the ball in space and attack defenders. (At least that’s the idea.) Arriola is a much more limited player who nonetheless finds ways to produce in the U.S. coach’s system. (Odds are Berhalter starts him on the right wing.)

Weah, 19, has enough imagination for the entire group but needs to improve his decision-making and impactfulness across an entire match (and get healthy).

Right wing

1. Jordan Morris, Seattle Sounders FC 2. Tyler Boyd, Besiktas 3. Jonathan Lewis, Colorado Rapids

Boyd burst onto the scene at the Gold Cup, demonstrating flair and a cannon for a shot. Yet he hasn’t quite grasped Berhalter’s system, holding the ball for too long. Former wonderboy Morris transformed his game from pacey forward to robust winger, bringing a nuanced understanding to his physical gifts. Lewis might never be more than a spark plug for club or country, but he’s a fun prospect.

Striker

1. Josh Sargent, Werder Bremen 2. Jozy Altidore, Toronto FC 3. Gyasi Zardes, Columbus Crew SC

If Berhalter faced a must-win game, he might choose to start Altidore, who’s very much a known quantity at this point. But Sargent should be the call in upcoming games, as a player with a much higher ceiling whose continued improvement could help transform the U.S. squad. As for Zardes, sure for now, but his days are numbered.

One question for the near future: Can red-hot Minnesota United forward Mason Toye force his way into the conversation, or will he come crashing back down to earth?

//due to VPPA compliance we can not send keywords through URLs implicitly in the US var countryValue = $.cookie("country"); if(!!countryValue && countryValue !== "us") {

via wordpress https://ift.tt/2LGlVKE

#Uncategorized #Blog #Christian Pulisic #united states USMNT depth chart: where they’re strong and wh

0 notes

gadgetsrevv · 5 years

Text

Christian Pulisic makes USMNT roster, Sergino Dest absent amid Netherlands link

Former USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann offers his opinion on Christian Pulisic’s start at Chelsea and what the American star needs to do to be successful.

Jurgen Klinsmann explains why the CONCACAF Nations League is bad for the U.S. and Mexico during an exclusive interview with ESPN.

Despite reports he was at odds with MLS while coach of the USMNT, Jurgen Klinsmann discusses the importance of the league for young U.S. players.

In an exclusive interview with ESPN, Jurgen Klinsmann assesses the talent in the U.S. player pool and stresses the importance of youth development.

Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Jozy Altidore headline the 26-man U.S. roster as manager Gregg Berhalter prepares his side for its initial foray into the CONCACAF Nations League.

Ajax defender and dual national Sergino Dest, who has attracted interest from Netherlands national team manager Ronald Koeman, is a notable absentee.

– World Cup 2022 qualifying: All you need to know – Sergino Dest could be USMNT’s next big thing – Pulisic Watch: How U.S. star is doing at Chelsea

A revised World Cup qualifying format for CONCACAF will use the FIFA World Rankings to determine which teams advance to the final round Hexagonal, due to begin next year. While the U.S. — currently ranked second in CONCACAF — is a shoe-in to make it to that stage, the Nations League will have an impact on those rankings.

Teams not ranked inside the top six aren’t completely shutout of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, but will instead have to go through a second, more rigorous playoff track involving 29 teams and between 14-16 additional qualifying matches for each, just for the opportunity to claim the final spot. That gives the U.S.’s group opponents, Cuba and Canada, plenty to play for. The U.S. faces Cuba at Audi Field on Oct. 11, and will play Canada at Toronto’s BMO Field four days later.

“This is competitive soccer. Any time there is a trophy on the line and in the inaugural Nations League tournament, we want to put ourselves in a position to win,” Berhalter said. “One thing that’s important is we continue to bring some of the younger guys along, integrate some new players into camp, but also have a familiar base. Most of the guys have been in camp before, understand how we want to play, and we think that continuity will help in our performance.”

Berhalter has more of his first-choice roster available thanks to the return from injury of Newcastle United defender DeAndre Yedlin and Reading defender Matt Miazga. The same can’t be said for RB Leipzig midfielder Tyler Adams and Lille forward Tim Weah. Adams recently returned to training following a groin injury, but has yet to see minutes with his club. Weah is dealing with a hamstring injury.

Much focus remains on the 18-year-old Dest, who has broken into Ajax’s first team this season following some excellent performances for the U.S. at last summer’s FIFA U20 World Cup. Dest appeared in two matches for the U.S. during the last international window, but an appearance in the Nations League would tie him to the U.S. permanently. Koeman recently met with the defender to gauge his interest in playing for the Dutch. Berhalter has been in contact as well, yet Dest isn’t on the roster for these two games.

“I understand there is going to be a lot of attention surrounding the availability of Sergino in this next camp,” he said. “I’ve had conversations with Sergino, the conversations were positive, and the content of these conversations is going to remain private.”

The biggest surprise among the invitees is midfielder Brenden Aaronson. Aaronson has enjoyed a breakthrough season with the Philadelphia Union, scoring three goals and adding two assists in 27 appearances. He has also impressed in training camps with the U.S. U23 team.

“There are two things that standout about Brenden. The first thing is that he’s getting regular minutes, and the second is that he’s playing for a team that’s doing really well,” Berhalter said. “We always look for that combination. He’s a very agile player, very aware between the lines, able to give solutions offensively and very secure on the ball. He’s another case of getting a younger guy into the program, getting our eyes on him and also letting him understand what it means to be in with the full men’s national team.”

The roster also includes the Toronto FC duo of Altidore and Michael Bradley, who will have the unique opportunity of facing Canada in their club’s home stadium.

“I think it’s very important to have veterans in the team; for them to share the heritage of what it means to be a United States men’s national team player,” Berhalter said. “For them in particular to go back to Toronto and play a game of this magnitude is special. We know they will be familiar with their surroundings, we know they will be familiar with the opponent — playing with some of the Canadian guys at TFC — so we think it’s a great opportunity for them.

USMNT ROSTER BY POSITION (Club; Caps/Goals):

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Atlanta United FC; 61/0), Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 8/0), Zack Steffen (Fortuna Düsseldorf/GER; 16/0)

DEFENDERS (8): Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas; 8/0), Nick Lima (San Jose Earthquakes; 8/0), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 13/2), Daniel Lovitz (Montreal Impact/CAN; 10/0), Matt Miazga (Reading/ENG; 17/1), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 36/1), DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United/ENG; 59/0), Walker Zimmerman (LAFC; 11/2)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Brenden Aaronson (Philadelphia Union; 0/0), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC/CAN; 150/17), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 11/2), Weston McKennie (Schalke/GER; 15/3), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 32/13), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC; 16/0), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 20/0), Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; 3/0)

FORWARDS (7): Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC/CAN; 115/42), Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 28/5), Corey Baird (Real Salt Lake; 4/0), Tyler Boyd (Besiktas/TUR; 7/2), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC; 35/6), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/GER; 9/2), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew SC; 53/10)

//due to VPPA compliance we can not send keywords through URLs implicitly in the US var countryValue = $.cookie("country"); if(!!countryValue && countryValue !== "us") {

via wordpress https://ift.tt/2n2rfzG

#Uncategorized #Ajax Amsterdam #Chelsea #Christian Pulisic #FIFA World Cup Qualifying - AFC/CONCACAF

0 notes

gadgetsrevv · 5 years

Text

USMNT teen Dest pens Ajax extension to 2022

Gregg Berhalter speaks highly of new USMNT first team members Sergino Dest and Paxton Pomykal, after naming his 26-player squad for upcoming friendlies.

U.S. under-20 defender Sergino Dest assisted Donny van de Beek’s goal in Ajax’s preseason loss vs. Panathinaikos.

United States international Sergino Dest has signed a contract extension at Ajax, which will keep him at the club until 2022.

Dest, who made his Ajax debut in the 2-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven in the Johan Cruyff Shield, has played seven times for the reigning Dutch champions.

– Sergino Dest could be U.S. Soccer’s ‘Next Big Thing’

The 18-year-old also made his international bow as the U.S. were beaten 3-0 by Mexico.

He has been a regular for Ajax this season, having appeared in seven of their nine matches so far — and started the past two games, including the crucial Champions League playoff second leg against APOEL Nicosia.

Dest, who was born in the Netherlands, could still change his national allegiance, having made only two international friendly appearances for the USMNT so far.

//due to VPPA compliance we can not send keywords through URLs implicitly in the US var countryValue = $.cookie("country"); if(!!countryValue && countryValue !== "us") {

via wordpress https://ift.tt/2Q5k9bh

#Uncategorized #Ajax Amsterdam #Dutch Eredivisie #Sergino Dest #Transfers #united states USMNT teen D

0 notes