For as long as I can remember, people with absolutely zero expertise in the world of player development and zero knowledge about the overwhelming complexities of our incredibly fragmented youth system have been banging on about simply unearthing the next Lionel Messi in the face of what Top Drawer Soccer's Will Parchman elegantly described as issues of money, space and time.
The U.S. U-17 World Cup Roster was released Thursday and it is loaded with talent, starting with forwards Tim Weah and Josh Sargent. The roster includes four players who are already playing abroad, not including Sargent, who signed with Werder Bremen on Wednesday.
It’s been nearly 15 years since Marvin Lee last took a breath on this planet. Once a captain of the Trinidad and Tobago youth national team, Lee died at the age of 21 at his home in Arima after suffering a career-ending neck injury from a collision with U.S. legend Landon Donovan two years earlier.
In 2001, Trinidad and Tobago was at its footballing zenith, ranked No. 25 in the world, the highest it would ever get. Marvin Lee was a defender on the U-20 squad. Some of his teammates would go on to take the Soca Warriors to their first and only World Cup appearance in 2006.
USMNT and Borussia Dortmund attacker Christian Pulisic has been named to the shortlist for the 2017 Golden Boy, the award handed to the top under 21 talent playing in Europe. Previous winners of the award include Paul Pogba (2013), Sergio Aguero (2007) and Lionel Messi (2005). This is Pulisic’s first appearance on the shortlist after enjoying a season of more prominent and consistent performances for both club and country.
Christian Pulisic, born on Sept. 18, 1998, turned 19 on Monday. In the first 18 years of his life, he has already been called the greatest American soccer player of all time. But how does he compare to Landon Donovan at the same age?
The final match in the U.S. Men’s National Team’s quest for a World Cup berth will be played in a 10,000-seat stadium. Trinidad & Tobago announced Friday it would host the Americans at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva instead of the nation’s normal ground in Port of Spain. The match will be played Oct. 10.
Grumblings of an early crisis on Tyneside appear to have been hugely premature on the back of another Newcastle United victory on Saturday, their third straight in the Premier League. With a 2-1 win against Stoke City, Newcastle climbed into the Champions League places and confirmed their finest start to life in England’s top division in six years.