[nas] US U17 v 84' CASL Elite R/ YCJ Photo's/Freddy Adu-team scouting reports/Next match details

[big_dog@fastmail.fm]

  The final score was 4-1 US U17's. (1-0 HT). The US got one PK and one 
own goal and 2 goals off free kicks. Freddy was in the lineup wearring 
the #11.

CASL Roster - 19 Ryan Bethea, 5 Russell Bienias, 6 David Boole, 1 Justin 
Hughes, 9 Matthew McClure, 15 Edward Odgers, 17 Chase Perfect, 11 Casey 
Shandley, 4 Christopher Showers, 3 Chad Steuck, 14 Mark Stevenson, 12 
Lee Superville, 10 Blake Beach, 16 Luke Mitchell, 13 Adam Cristman, 
Michael Walters, Jimmy Holcomb, Chris Bocanegra, Brad Darby, Jason 
Schneig, Andre Sherhad.
Coaches: Jay Howell; Michael Milazzo, Bruce Talbot.

United States (1H) - 1 Phil Marfuggi, 19 Kyle Helton, 6 Drew Harrison, 
12 Brandon Oot, 16 Adrian Chevannes, 17 Chase Wileman, 4 Eddie Gaven, 9 
Michael Harrington, 23 Jacob Peterson, 27 Robbie Rogers, Steven Curfman.
United States (2H) - 18 Quentin Westberg, 5 Brandon Owens (capt), 26 
Chris Germani, 7 Brian Grazier, 8 John DiRaimondo, 4 Eddie Gaven, 10 
Guillermo Gonzalez, 24 Daniel Szetela, 15 Corey Ashe, 11 Freddy Adu, 3 
Jonathan Spector.
Sub Not Used: 2 Tomiwa Ogunsola.
Coaches: John Ellinger, Peter Mellor, John Hackworth.

Scoring Summary:
U17 - Michael Harrington.
U17 - Guillermo Gonzalez (penalty kick).
CASL - Lee L. Superville.
U17 - Luke Mitchell (own goal).
U17 - Jonathan Spector.

Venue: SAS Stadium practice field - Cary, North Carolina; Time: 18:00; 
Weather: warm, humid.

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Photos from the match here:  
http://www.ibiblio.org/footy/2002/0814_u17_casl_sab.php

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Scouting reports

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Freddy Adu scouting report: from Dave

The U-17s scrimmaged here tonight. I, Andy Mead, and Minnman (and maybe 
others) were in attendance. Here's my report on Freddy.

1. How old does he look? Remember, he's a 13 year old (reportedly) 
playing with U-17s, so you'd expect him to look younger than all of the 
other players.

He does.

2. He likes to come back and show for the ball, then turn and face the 
defense. He's very good at this. One thing I noted is that he can sense 
(or hear from teammates; it's easy to forget how much talking goes on on 
the pitch) where the pressure is coming from, and "settle" the ball in 
such a way that he's immediately moving away from pressure. It was 
really something to see.

3. His dribbling skills were outstanding. His first actual dribble (as 
opposed to a settle) is really something. It's hard to describe, but 
I'll try. His first dribble isn't really a dribble. He's just running, 
and his first step happens to knock the ball forward a little, and he's 
on his way. It's so natural. Either dribbling or settling, his first 
touches are fantastic...he has great close control. He's great in tight 
spaces.

4. He really knows how to use his body to create space. (Actually, to 
me, this was one of the most distinguishing features that separated the 
U-17s from the local guys...the U-17s could play soccer as a contact 
sport in a way the local guys could not. I wonder if it's something they 
specifically work on at Bradenton.) Despite being one of the smallest 
guys out there, he rode some tackles very nicely. He also drew alot of 
fouls.

5. Freddy liked to crank no-hope shots from 20-25 yards. Well, nobody's 
perfect
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Dheck report:

As for specific players:


    * Freddy Adu's touch impressed me, too, as did his ability to play
      through contact and pressure. He has the knack of making a
      defender's contact work for him. He seems to be able to feel where
      the defender's center of balance is and can explode away from it
      instantly. There were lots of "oohs" and "aahs" among the
      spectators on some of his dribbling. Remember, he is just coming
      back from a knee injury, so wasn't 100 percent. He definitely
      should have scored once, when a ball fell to his chest about 11
      yards from goal. He settled and volleyed over. He was lined up as
      a forward, but came back for the ball much more than the other
      forwards for the US.

    * Corey Ashe, who played forward alongside Adu in the second half,
      is also an amazing dribbler in tight spaces and in the open field.
      He made the move that drew the PK beating two defenders that were
      draped all over him without the ball ever seeming to leave his
      foot. He also "created" the own goal on a nice run to track down a
      thruough ball, beating one defender then hitting a shot from the
      left side of the box. It wasn't going in, but the defender
      misplayed it. It was still a nice run. The nicest run, however,
      came a bit later. Ashe beat six defenders and got off a shot with
      four of them still hounding him. The shot went high. He might have
      had a better chance if he had tried to chip the keeper, but the
      run was breathtaking. Andy Mead pointed out that he is pretty
      small, but skills like his don't come along every day.

      Other US players that were pretty impressive were:

    * Mike Harrington, who has great size and speed and played on the
      right midfield. He could beat one defender pretty much at will and
      was still pretty effective once CASL began double teaming him. He
      is from NC, so the CASL players probably already knew his game but
      still couldn't stop him.

    * Guillermo Gonzalez, who is quite tall and has a powerful shot. He
      plays attacking mid. One of his free kicks, which he likes to keep
      low, created the last goal by forcing a rebound that Ashe kept
      alive before Jonathan Spector blasted it in. Gonzalez slotted some
      nice balls through for the slashing Ashe and, less often, Adu. He
      has good speed and when his frame fills out he will be a monster.

    * John DiRaimondo, who played right back in the second half. He got
      into the attack more than the other outside backs and never gave
      up anything on defense. He is fast and a good wide dribbler and
      crosser.



There were others that did some nice things with and without the ball. 
Jacob Peterson is another tricky attacker and Danny Szetela is a good 
two way midfielder, who basically played d-mid behind Gonzalez.

It was pretty hard to judge the US keepers, who didn't have much to do 
because CASL rarely hit the target. The CASL goal came on a bad GK error 
where the GK tried to play a ball, presumably just outside the box, with 
his head but misplayed it and let the ball land behind him so that Lee 
Superville could score in an open net.

Two other things I noted:
The US finishing wasn't great despite 4 goals. They hit a number of 
decent chances wildly off target.

The US gave up a lot of dangerous free kicks late. Leading 4-1, they did 
more defending in the last 15 minutes, but should not be fouling so much 
in dangerous positions.

I wasn't watching specific CASL players that closely, but the CASL 
player that impressed me the most was Edward Odgers, a central 
midfielder who was quite good on the ball under pressure and distributed 
smartly.

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Minnman's report:

I'd echo what Dan, Andy and Dave have already posted. It was nice to see 
Freddy in the flesh. In the end, what impressed me was that this kid 
seemed very ... believable. He wasn't head and shoulders better than his 
teammates, but he was clearly one of the most skilled US players and, of 
course, he's a couple of years younger than those guys. Also, for much 
of the second half (which is when Adu played) quite a lot of the US 
attack went through him (and Corey Ashe who, if anything, looked a bit 
faster than Adu with the ball). He'd often take possession in the US 
half of the pitch or near midfield and do a lot of dribbling and 
accurate distribution of the ball to develop the attack. He also took a 
free kick or two (and, as Dave said, didn't show that he possesses a 
great outside shot, left-footed by the way ... at least at this age); 
not bad for a 13 year old.

I'll add that the 4-1 scoreline was an accurate representation of what 
happened on the pitch: in short, the U-17's were marginally better than 
the CASL team in every aspect of the game. The U-17's were just more 
creative, aggressive, a bit faster and more technically gifted than the 
opposition; their accumulated advantages led to more scoring 
opportunities, which led to a three goal victory.

The U-17 team seems to try and play a similar style as does the senior 
national side. That is, there were few long balls, rather, lot's of play 
on the ground, short passes, good possession. They also played with 
three defenders.

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Next up:  The U17s will be playing at NC State at 6pm on Saturday.

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Thx to Andy Mead Dheck, Minnman and SD for the info.


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