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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nice win for the US over France to advance to the quarter finals against Ecuador. 
Took the lead 1-0, then France scored 2 to take the lead. The US looked to lose their composure a bit, and started playing way too many long balls, but then got it together and managed to score two nice goals and win it. 
Did a great job in possession after taking the lead late. Bodes well for the future. [/quote]

It helps a bit that France has players playing with the National team and u21s that would otherwise be eligible for this competition. Solid result, but let's not act like this is the event to turn it around for the US.[/quote]

So do we. [/quote]

let's enjoy it while it lasts[/quote]

Great win for this U20 team.   However, it was clear that France has a lot more talent even after sending their best players to play with the senior national team.  France should have won this game, but we will enjoy this upset.  The best news is that our young players will get more looks from the pro scouts and this could open more opportunities for some of the young guys to move to Europe.    [/quote]

The same applies to the US as well, as well as to every soccer nation in this world. The best (most experienced at the pro level) age-group players are likely to be playing for the national teams already. The US was missing a few too: Josh Sargent, Weston Mckinnie, Tyler Adams - all play for the men's national team and in some of the best leagues of the world.

While we are downplaying US soccer achievements, let's at least try to be fair about it instead of being stubbornly negative. This U20 team has done very well, playing an attractive style of soccer, winning CONCACAF (including beating Mexico) easily, losing to Ukraine in the first game of the WC even after dominating, dominating Nigeria (always a good team), having a so-so win against Qatar, and then beating France against all expectations. This is France we are talking of, the producer of an awesome assembly line of talent that is probably surpassed only by Brazil and (as relative to its total population) Belgium. Go through the profile of every player and see how accomplished they are. Guys like Diaby are going to be household names in the near future.

You don't out-possess a side of France's quality. But there is no single way to win in soccer. World Cups have been won and soccer dynasties have been built on entirely different styles of soccer. Most importantly, the most successful teams tend to be the ones who know how to adapt. The US played the way that you can win against a team like France, by pressing high up the field and winning the ball back in dangerous areas to pose threats almost throughout the match. When the US had the ball, they also displayed enough technique, pace, vision and one-on-one skills to create danger. It's not easy to press high when you don't have much of the ball. It requires supreme athleticism, tactical sense, and skills. The composure displayed by the midfielders and the forwards was impressive. The attacking midfielder, Pomykal (FC Dallas), was one of the best players on the field for either side. This was not a fluke however. Against Nigeria, the US possessed the ball well, stitched together pretty patterns regularly, and generally dominated. More of a mixed bag against Qatar, but there were spells during which they showed they can be as technical as any team in the world. Is the average technical quality of the side similar to France's yet? Not so. But close enough that they can play them close.

After seeing them play a few times now, I can say that the U20 US is an impressive side. It's also a team I would like to watch play even if I were a neutral, which is not what I would say for almost any US men's national soccer teams. It is also a microcosm of US youth soccer in many ways. Nine out of 21 players are based domestically, which means that the naysayers cannot attribute the success only to foreign clubs. 19 of the 21 players have spent at least one season in the DA, and a majority of them have spent multiple years in DA clubs, which should give the incessant DA-critics something to think about. And if there is one kid I will bet my money to make it big, very big on the world stage, it would be Konrad De La Fuente (Barcelona B), ahead of the better-known players like Weah (PSG), Durkin (DCU), Mendez (Freiburg), Pomykal (FC Dallas) and the three who were not here (McKinnie, Sargent and Adams).[/quote]

Now this is a well-thought our argument that doesn’t deal in platitudes. I agree, this U20 side is quite good but also very gritty, certainly massive potential considering most players don’t hit their prime until 28-29. Imo Serginho and Uly have really stood out and have consistently unbalanced opposing defenses.[/quote]

Player peak at 24-25.[/quote]

Not that simple...strikers tend to peak early, defenders and keepers peak later, and midfielders generally somewhere in the middle. [/quote]

Why?[/quote]

They start to slow down around 25-26....lose athleticism.

[quote]The peak age for professional soccer players is of significant interest to coaches, managers and executives alike. The evidence so far is predominantly anecdotal and subjective. This paper formally analyzes the peak or optimal age in professional men’s soccer using performance ratings of players in the four major top flight leagues of Europe. WhoScored.com ratings from 2010/11 to 2014/15 are used. The analysis is done for all outfield players, separately by field position. In addition to simple age distribution and bivariate approaches, a player fixed effects model that accounts for potential selection bias is estimated. The results show that the average professional soccer player peaks between the ages of 25 and 27. In the preferred models, the average forward peaks at 25, whereas the typical defender peaks at 27. For midfielders, the estimated peak age varies by model but still occurs in the 25–27 age band. Defenders experience relatively minimal curvature in the age-performance relationship. Further results show that peak age may vary directly with ability.[/quote]

https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-sports-analytics/jsa0021[/quote]

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