# National team call up



## Truewords100 (May 11, 2021)

Can someone please help me understand how these players are evaluated and given the opportunity to participate in these virtual and or in person call ups. 
I find it interesting that there were quite a few form the surf club and after researching it a bit I find that one of the coaches is tied in pretty good is it just me or is this a conflict of interest. I am Interested to see how this all plays out and or who gets passed up because of a privilege deal by parent to coach and coach to team!!!


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## Soccer43 (May 11, 2021)

Welcome to the world of YNT call-ups, much of it is mysterious, biased, backroom deals, and honestly for some,  the appearance of money exchanging hands. - many will comment now about how they are offended by this post and I have done some terrible injustice to the well deserving amazing players that received the call but in actuality there is no objective criteria and many are not given an opportunity.  Why not have a combine with true physical competition where one earns the call-up by objective performance in a public venue?


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## RedDevilDad (May 11, 2021)

On the boys side, just had ID centers for 04, 05, 06, & 07s last week. For about a month or so before that, there were the YNT scouts on numerous sidelines for both MLS Next and ECNL games. YNT contacts the club. Club notifies the player. That’s about it. There were also scouts at Dallas Cup and I’ve also seen them at Man City pre-Covid. There are also a few of the scout mentors in SoCal as well. Not sure if they influence who gets called into an ID center or not.


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## GT45 (May 12, 2021)

US Soccer has scouts attend club games on the girls side. I am not involved in the boys side, so I cannot speak to it.


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## RedDevilDad (May 12, 2021)

Soccer43 said:


> Welcome to the world of YNT call-ups, much of it is mysterious, biased, backroom deals, and honestly for some,  the appearance of money exchanging hands. - many will comment now about how they are offended by this post and I have done some terrible injustice to the well deserving amazing players that received the call but in actuality there is no objective criteria and many are not given an opportunity.  Why not have a combine with true physical competition where one earns the call-up by objective performance in a public venue?


it’s relevant to differentiate between ODP and YNT. ODP is nominated by coaches and clubs. 100% pick who they think is best. Hence, there is often the complaint of favoritism or bias here. I have personally filled out an ODP form for several kids. I have also never seen a SoCal ODP player called into a YNT regional ID center. SoCal ODP is nice but not more than that. If your kid gets it, great. Take it as a compliment that your coach feels like your kid represents his team well. It’s a compliment. Will it have any impact on national team? Zero. Not even a scout at it. 
YNT does regional ID centers based on age year. Then there will be a camp. Sometimes there is a west or East camp, maybe 2. The camp usually proceeds a game or a tournament. Camp will proceed something like a U17 or 19 WC... the Toulon tournament, Nike Friendlies in Lakewood, FL, etc, whatever is on that age group circuit. My experience is a player is usually scouted at least 2 times in person, at a game, prior to being called into just an ID Center. Camps are assembled from the pool created by Id centers and ongoing scouting. Local scout mentors and well-performing teams are likely the source of where the scouts start. So be in the best team or play well against them when the scouts are sitting in the corners.


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## GLangevinito (May 12, 2021)

RedDevilDad said:


> it’s relevant to differentiate between ODP and YNT. ODP is nominated by coaches and clubs. 100% pick who they think is best. Hence, there is often the complaint of favoritism or bias here. I have personally filled out an ODP form for several kids. I have also never seen a SoCal ODP player called into a YNT regional ID center. SoCal ODP is nice but not more than that. If your kid gets it, great. Take it as a compliment that your coach feels like your kid represents his team well. It’s a compliment. Will it have any impact on national team? Zero. Not even a scout at it.
> YNT does regional ID centers based on age year. Then there will be a camp. Sometimes there is a west or East camp, maybe 2. The camp usually proceeds a game or a tournament. Camp will proceed something like a U17 or 19 WC... the Toulon tournament, Nike Friendlies in Lakewood, FL, etc, whatever is on that age group circuit. My experience is a player is usually scouted at least 2 times in person, at a game, prior to being called into just an ID Center. Camps are assembled from the pool created by Id centers and ongoing scouting. Local scout mentors and well-performing teams are likely the source of where the scouts start. So be in the best team or play well against them when the scouts are sitting in the corners.


ODP is and always has been a fundraiser for two people. It's a joke and a waste of your time and money, especially considering what the "O" stands for. 

YNT call ups are all over the place, mostly due to a lack of scouting assets. Many players are called in because of how connected their parent or coach is, and how effective their regional leader is at getting their people in. They are overly deferential to Midwest kids, because of how influential that coordinator is. I have zero doubt in my mind that California could put together their own teams at any age and beat the YNT teams.


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## RedDevilDad (May 12, 2021)

GLangevinito said:


> ODP is and always has been a fundraiser for two people. It's a joke and a waste of your time and money, especially considering what the "O" stands for.
> 
> YNT call ups are all over the place, mostly due to a lack of scouting assets. Many players are called in because of how connected their parent or coach is, and how effective their regional leader is at getting their people in. They are overly deferential to Midwest kids, because of how influential that coordinator is. I have zero doubt in my mind that California could put together their own teams at any age and beat the YNT teams.


Nah... parents have zero contact with the YNT scout. Until the ID center roster posted, no one even knew which scouts were working it.. and Tony and Sega himself came to this one. They were even out scouting after it.  The recent West Regional ID centers reflected the standings of the MLS Next and the ECNL, favoring the MLS Next.  In all the ID centers this cycle... I've seen zero kids called in from midwest. I felt like Dallas was a bit strong with some notable players left out.  The Phily one was a little odd but not being as looped in there, I couldn't argue much.  The SoCal one was accurate in my opinion... maybe one or two I would have personally switched but can understand the case. 

I did hear a particular mentor promising he was going to get multiple players into the ID center but even he came short.  If there's any justifiable complaint, it would be that the YNT leans very heavily on the MLS academies for their ID centers. Around half at each age level were from the MLS academies. 

I can only see 3 to 5 California kids making the YNT full 20 at the 07s, 2-3 at the 06s, 2 at the 05s and 2 at the 04s.


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## RedDevilDad (May 12, 2021)

Also, I'm talking about the boys.  I know the girls did an ID Center in Indianapolis.


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## espola (May 12, 2021)

GLangevinito said:


> ODP is and always has been a fundraiser for two people. It's a joke and a waste of your time and money, especially considering what the "O" stands for.
> 
> YNT call ups are all over the place, mostly due to a lack of scouting assets. Many players are called in because of how connected their parent or coach is, and how effective their regional leader is at getting their people in. They are overly deferential to Midwest kids, because of how influential that coordinator is. I have zero doubt in my mind that California could put together their own teams at any age and beat the YNT teams.


Up until 2010 or so, ODP was the only state-to-nationwide player identification program we had.  It wasn't perfect, but an objective comparison between the ODP days (pre-2010) and the DA days (roughly 2010-2020) shows that ODP worked better at producing MNT players who could win games and qualify for the big international tournaments.


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## full90 (May 12, 2021)

The callups that just happened on the boys and girls side were...not exactly real. Maybe it’s US soccers first attempt at getting back into it but the quality and consistency of the players is all over the place.
I know for this one club coaches had a huge say in who was included.
Of the kids And age groups I know I’d say about half are right.

us soccer scouting is a mess. And right now multiply that by 100 so it is what it is.


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## RedDevilDad (May 12, 2021)

full90 said:


> The callups that just happened on the boys and girls side were...not exactly real. Maybe it’s US soccers first attempt at getting back into it but the quality and consistency of the players is all over the place.
> I know for this one club coaches had a huge say in who was included.
> Of the kids And age groups I know I’d say about half are right.
> 
> us soccer scouting is a mess. And right now multiply that by 100 so it is what it is.


If I had any complaints about the SoCal one... I was mainly ok with the 04s but would have expected Albion’s 04s to have greater representation, although they hadn’t yet beat both LAG and  LAFC. Also, granted you also have some West Region 04s playing USL and UPSL. Seemed to favor that, I guess. 

I thought Kyrome Lumsden not one of the three 07s from SD Surf was crazy. I thought he was their best or 2nd best player in Dallas. Other than that, sure, you could have swapped one or two players for one or two other players at the 07 level. I’d say 10 or so of the 30 2007s could have been switched and the experience would have been the same. I didn’t see this round of ID centers as a statement  

I think our 06 pool is the strongest nationwide pool we’ve had in while but I don’t think the bulk of the talent will come from SoCal. I’d put 6-8 in the top 40.
I haven’t paid any attention to the 05s.


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## RedDevilDad (May 12, 2021)

I feel for the girls. They got a terrible experience with a “Virtual Camp.”  Lame. Lol


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## SBFDad (May 12, 2021)

RedDevilDad said:


> I’d say 10 or so of the 30 2007s could have been switched and the experience would have been the same. I didn’t see this round of ID centers as a statement


I believe this was the first go-round for the 07s, so there will be a lot more opportunities for this age group. My son being an 04, I've seen so many players come and go thru the YNT Camps and ID Centers over the past 4 years. Lots of time for this group to settle and for players to rise and fall.


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## RedDevilDad (May 12, 2021)

SBFDad said:


> I believe this was the first go-round for the 07s, so there will be a lot more opportunities for this age group. My son being an 04, I've seen so many players come and go thru the YNT Camps and ID Centers over the past 4 years. Lots of time for this group to settle and for players to rise and fall.


Truth. I know some mainly using it as resume to get a move to an MLS academy. I got called in, look at me type of stuff. 
07s/u14s aren’t even playing in the MLS Next playoffs in Frisco where more scouting will also happen.


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## outside! (May 12, 2021)

RedDevilDad said:


> I feel for the girls. They got a terrible experience with a “Virtual Camp.”  Lame. Lol


US Soccer believes it is ok to treat women different than men.


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## GLangevinito (May 12, 2021)

My message to youngers parents of top kids: do not stress about YNT callups. Scouts are very limited - even when they watch games they are not watching full games. They rely heavily on references with coaches they are friendly with. And the head coach will dictate what they want in a team. That's why YNTs are often filled with superior athletes who can drive and take defenders on with the dribble, instead of solid playmaking technical players. Flashy players get the "ooohs" and "ahhhs" and often get tapped. If you've looked at our YNTs play in the past 5-10 years when they win, it's without possession. Maybe it's just the American way? 

But we are getting no traction on the boys side and we are losing ground on the girls side. US Soccer is floundering as an organization, as usual.


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## BIGD (May 12, 2021)

GLangevinito said:


> My message to youngers parents of top kids: do not stress about YNT callups.


We are also terrible at youth talent ID.  There are plenty of players that had U18 and U20 team appearances either not playing any longer or at a lower level like USL.


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