# New U20 camp



## Soccer43 (May 22, 2021)

These call ups are often curious

*U.S. Soccer U20 Women’s National Team Virtual Camp Roster - May 2021*
Devi Dudley (Clemson), Makenna Morris (Clemson), Taylor Huff (Tennessee), Abi Brighton (Vanderbilt), Amber Nguyen(Vanderbilt), Dilary Heredia-Beltran (West Virginia), Eliza Turner (McLean Youth Soccer/Georgetown), Dasia Torbert (UCLA), Michaela Rosenbaum (UCLA), Reilyn Turner (UCLA), Aislynn Crowder (UCLA), Isabel Loza (UCLA), Smith Hunter (Harvard), Maronne Suzuki (San Diego), Olivia Migli (Duke), Michelle Cooper (IMG Academy/Duke), Nya Harrison (San Diego Surf/Stanford), Karly Reeves (San Diego Surf/Santa Clara), Alia Skinner (Virginia Tech), Grace Watkins (Duke)

how do you play on one of the lowest performing teams all year, have no stats of doing anything in college or before and yet now you are one of the 20 best players in the whole country?  Hmmmmmm

and then there are the national champions with only one player from that team and then 5 players from a team that bombed out in 3rd round of championships.

Curious on how decisions are made - often comes across as possibly some money exchanging hands behind the scenes for some picks.  Don’t see the rationale


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## Carlsbad7 (May 22, 2021)

Womens soccer in the US is better than anywhere else in the world + proves it. Who cares if you take the #1 or #5 pick for each each position. It doesnt matter,  they're still going to win.

Maybe when the rest of the world catches up it will matter.


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## SoccerFan4Life (May 22, 2021)

Soccer43 said:


> These call ups are often curious
> Curious on how decisions are made - often comes across as possibly some money exchanging hands behind the scenes for some picks.  Don’t see the rationale



 My niece is on that list and I can assure you that no money was exchanged.    I have no clue how they come up with the list but here’s some potential rational based on what my niece accomplished. 

1.she was on the u16 yoruj national team
2. UCLA was the top incoming  soccer freshman class last year. 
3. UCLA had a great run this year. 
4.US scouts watching college games???  This one is just an assumption


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## Soccerfan2 (May 22, 2021)

SoccerFan4Life said:


> My niece is on that list and I can assure you that no money was exchanged.    I have no clue how they come up with the list but here’s some potential rational based on what my niece accomplished.
> 
> 1.she was on the u16 yoruj national team
> 2. UCLA was the top incoming  soccer freshman class last year.
> ...


Don’t mind the naysayers. It’s easy to be a critic - no special skills required.


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## Soccer43 (May 22, 2021)

I never said all - I said some


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## espola (May 22, 2021)

Soccer43 said:


> I never said all - I said some


Which ones?


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## Soccer43 (May 22, 2021)

If you look at the list - some seem legit and some are curious-  I like the football  combine approach - come and perform and collect factual numbers of performance metrics,  look at the numbers to see who makes the cut - but soccer does it by personalities and  personal choices by individuals that have many personal motives - it isnt objective.  But since they only pick one or two out of hundreds for the full team it does matter if they call up miscellaneous players that don’t have many concrete achievements to demonstrate their excellence.


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## espola (May 23, 2021)

Soccer43 said:


> If you look at the list - some seem legit and some are curious-  I like the football  combine approach - come and perform and collect factual numbers of performance metrics,  look at the numbers to see who makes the cut - but soccer does it by personalities and  personal choices by individuals that have many personal motives - it isnt objective.  But since they only pick one or two out of hundreds for the full team it does matter if they call up miscellaneous players that don’t have many concrete achievements to demonstrate their excellence.


Which ones are curious?


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## Soccer43 (May 23, 2021)

This isn’t about one player or calling out an individual but more commentary on the system.  Since you are pressing on individual examples here is one that is curious:  Maronne Suzuki.  Her team finished last in their conference which, except for a couple teams, is a low level conference.  Only 4 goals for with 28 goals allowed.  She had only 2 shots on goal, no goals, no assists, but started every game and played a lot of minutes.  As a midfielder your job is to create goal scoring opportunities and also defend against offensive attacks.  They had a -24 GD.  Pre college doesn’t seem to have many strong accolades.  These numbers don’t support being one of the 24 best in the country when there are other players that have proven themselves on the field this past year.  If the scouts saw brilliance somewhere it doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t play out on the field in concrete performance.

Only one player from Santa Clara, current national champions.  No players from FSU, finalists.  Maybe US Soccer sees the individual as better than the whole.  Mia Hamm said individuals win games but teams win championships.  Seems like we saw that this year in the NCAA tournament.  Many individual superstars do not make a solid team.  We have all seen teams win that were not expected to succeed but they did so because of combined talent and chemistry.  Will US continue to thrive with this approach of individuals?   I guess this summer will give some more data on that question.  I am curious to see if the rest of the world is catching up on athleticism and will even the playing field.


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## SoccerFan4Life (May 23, 2021)

Soccer 43, you have some valid points but remember that picking players to make a team is not an exact science.   Every country has controversy when picking a national team. It comes down to what the coach values and the pieces needed for the system.    Keep in mind this is a virtual training and they could  end up calling a separate group of players during the next call.


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## Soccer43 (May 23, 2021)

Except for odd players here and there the same players are selected at this age, regardless of their performances on the field.    The youth teams have not done well at the higher international competitions - look at the U17 WWC as an example.  Will that change with the new coaching staff now?  At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter because 100’s of players involved in the YNT system yet only one or two will be selected to continue on to the Full team.  

MP was one superstar but maybe not going to make the Olympic team at this point and didn’t do much last time around.  AS and OS also called in over and over but will they be on the summer roster?  I just think it would be more interesting to have a concrete competitive environment where players earn that roster spot based on performance metrics - not by personalities, favoritism, cronyism, etc.


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## espola (May 23, 2021)

Soccer43 said:


> This isn’t about one player or calling out an individual but more commentary on the system.  Since you are pressing on individual examples here is one that is curious:  Maronne Suzuki.  Her team finished last in their conference which, except for a couple teams, is a low level conference.  Only 4 goals for with 28 goals allowed.  She had only 2 shots on goal, no goals, no assists, but started every game and played a lot of minutes.  As a midfielder your job is to create goal scoring opportunities and also defend against offensive attacks.  They had a -24 GD.  Pre college doesn’t seem to have many strong accolades.  These numbers don’t support being one of the 24 best in the country when there are other players that have proven themselves on the field this past year.  If the scouts saw brilliance somewhere it doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t play out on the field in concrete performance.
> 
> Only one player from Santa Clara, current national champions.  No players from FSU, finalists.  Maybe US Soccer sees the individual as better than the whole.  Mia Hamm said individuals win games but teams win championships.  Seems like we saw that this year in the NCAA tournament.  Many individual superstars do not make a solid team.  We have all seen teams win that were not expected to succeed but they did so because of combined talent and chemistry.  Will US continue to thrive with this approach of individuals?   I guess this summer will give some more data on that question.  I am curious to see if the rest of the world is catching up on athleticism and will even the playing field.


re Suzuki:  I googled her when I first saw the list because of the USD connection and found a couple of highlight videos.  Based on those, she could play on pretty much any team she wants.


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## espola (May 23, 2021)

Soccer43 said:


> Except for odd players here and there the same players are selected at this age, regardless of their performances on the field.    The youth teams have not done well at the higher international competitions - look at the U17 WWC as an example.  Will that change with the new coaching staff now?  At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter because 100’s of players involved in the YNT system yet only one or two will be selected to continue on to the Full team.
> 
> MP was one superstar but maybe not going to make the Olympic team at this point and didn’t do much last time around.  AS and OS also called in over and over but will they be on the summer roster?  I just think it would be more interesting to have a concrete competitive environment where players earn that roster spot based on performance metrics - not by personalities, favoritism, cronyism, etc.


I'm pretty sure most of this list was already in place before the NCAA playoffs started.


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## Emma (May 23, 2021)

Soccer43 said:


> Except for odd players here and there the same players are selected at this age, regardless of their performances on the field.    The youth teams have not done well at the higher international competitions - look at the U17 WWC as an example.  Will that change with the new coaching staff now?  At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter because 100’s of players involved in the YNT system yet only one or two will be selected to continue on to the Full team.
> 
> MP was one superstar but maybe not going to make the Olympic team at this point and didn’t do much last time around.  AS and OS also called in over and over but will they be on the summer roster?  I just think it would be more interesting to have a concrete competitive environment where players earn that roster spot based on performance metrics - not by personalities, favoritism, cronyism, etc.


Good midfielders can't make assists if their forwards can't score.  Good midfielders can't prevent goals that are played into the Defense.  Good midfielders can prevent blow outs and keep the games closer.  Unless you have seen a player play, I think it's a little unfair to say they're not good enough.  The best teams win championships or games but they may not necessarily have the number one player on the field.


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## Soccer43 (May 23, 2021)

I was very clear that my comments were based strictly on the stats and that it didn’t make sense from that perspective.  Maybe all these players are the most amazing but my statement is that the stats don’t support it and that I would love to see a performance based selection like they do at football combines.  You can find highlight videos and small clips that look like a player is strong but who is the opponent?  Everyone can look like a superstar against a lower level opponent.   Also, if you are one of the few best midfielders in the country you should be able to make a difference in games.   If forwards aren’t scoring goals it doesn’t stop the midfielder from scoring goals directly.


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## rainbow_unicorn (May 24, 2021)

Soccer43 said:


> I was very clear that my comments were based strictly on the stats and that it didn’t make sense from that perspective.  Maybe all these players are the most amazing but my statement is that the stats don’t support it and that I would love to see a performance based selection like they do at football combines.  You can find highlight videos and small clips that look like a player is strong but who is the opponent?  Everyone can look like a superstar against a lower level opponent.   Also, if you are one of the few best midfielders in the country you should be able to make a difference in games.   If forwards aren’t scoring goals it doesn’t stop the midfielder from scoring goals directly.


Soccer is not the NFL where stats alone will give you an indication of how a player will perform.  I did a quick search on Maronne Suzuki and she looks solid and played games against strong schools.  You can be one of the best MF in the country but if your team is not strong you are not going to have the best stats.  But a good scout will be able to see quality in a player even if their team is getting destroyed.


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## notintheface (May 24, 2021)

Carlsbad7 said:


> Womens soccer in the US is better than anywhere else in the world + proves it. Who cares if you take the #1 or #5 pick for each each position. It doesnt matter,  they're still going to win.
> 
> Maybe when the rest of the world catches up it will matter.


This is not going to be true in the very near future. Multiple countries are catching up quickly and I think if you included NWSL teams in the UWCL you might be surprised.


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## Soccer43 (May 24, 2021)

rainbow_unicorn said:


> Soccer is not the NFL where stats alone will give you an indication of how a player will perform.  I did a quick search on Maronne Suzuki and she looks solid and played games against strong schools.  You can be one of the best MF in the country but if your team is not strong you are not going to have the best stats.  But a good scout will be able to see quality in a player even if their team is getting destroyed.


I guess we will see how it plays out.  I stand by my statement that one of the 24 best players of the whole country would be able to make something happen with her college team, especially when that team is not playing against the strongest teams in the NCAA.


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## GKDAD (Jun 19, 2021)

Anyone know when next U23 camp will be scheduled.   My DD was invited to Portland Thorns invitational.   Crickets since then.    Probably not practical after 8/1.    Just wondering.


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