Real Salt Lake's Luis Gil and Sporting Kansas City's Teal Bunbury saw their MLS seasons ended on Sunday as their teams suffered conference final defeats, but neither will have much time to sulk after being called into the U.S. Under-23 national team camp in Germany.
Gil and Bunbury bring the total number of players in the camp to 37 players. The camp, which kicks off today in Duisburg, Germany, consists of both Under-20 and Under-23 players, and will be taking place over the course of the next two weeks. The group will be playing friendlies as part of the camp, and is being overseen by U.S. youth technical director Claudio Reyna while Under-23 head coach Caleb Porter is completing his duties as University of Akron head coach.
Gil is a former U.S. Under-17 standout who is eligible for the Under-20 national team, while Bunbury joins a U-23 group he is expected to be a key figure for as the team looks to qualify for the 2012 Olympics.
What do you think of these additions to the camp? Who is missing from the camp that you think should get an invite?
Share your thoughts below.
yeah, I bet video cameras are non-existent in Germany. I also wish he was there but Im sure he will watch footage and get a feel from the other coaches.
Bunbury is just another American “AFFLEET”. I dont really see him being more than another Eddie Johnson
I see Saad’s ceiling as a Wondo type MLS goal-poacher, which would be a great career for him, but I don’t see him on the USMNT radar
Well he has impressive games and he has games where he’s non-existant. He needs to find some consistency but when he’s on he is quite a baller
Because his real age is 28.
Agudelo 18
Hamid 19
Shea 21
Johnson 21
Morales 21
Chandler 21
Altidore 22
Just to name players at the Paris camp who are age eligible for this U20/U23 camp. Not saying i disagree with your premise of grooming them rather then fast tracking but one cannot argue that some have hit the ground running on the fast track
probably the best team we’ve had yet. Just think we have the all around skill without needing overage players. If anything we could use one CB
thanks for the info Pancho. I thought they all were in Germany and from there they were heading to France. But my bad!.. Thanks.
Yeah but what I like the most is that 14 are in the MLS and the rest are in Europe and keep this in mind that these are young kids that are under 23yrs old. Soon there be ready for world cup 14, 18 & 22 and there more kids coming up the rank. Hopefully but year 2018 thru 2022 the MLS will be a better league that is now.
Angel, the Senior team is training in France, the U20’s & U23’s are holding what looks like a joint session in Duisburg, Germany. So no match between the two.
Of course with 37 players in Duisburg…they can have lots of matches between themselves!
True to an extent but their choices are limited to whats out there in the US. Its not as though they have a choice between letting in Bayern Munich that spends 6 million a year on their youth team, Ajax which spends 4 mill or Newark NJ Ironbound.
Plenty, if they have hands on what clubs have to do to become USSDA members. Which… they do.
I find it crazy good that only 2 of 37 are not on a contract for at the U20/U23 level, that is a huge improvement from what it used to be.
MLS has nothing to do with it. MLS doesn’t pay the DP’s salaries, the owners of the clubs are the ones who sign and pay the DPs. That’s why they don’t have to go through the allocation process.
San Jose and Chivas have cheaper owners than LAG, who aren’t going to shell out $5m per year for a big name DP.
I like the unified concept. Many of the younger players will never be fixtures on the men’s national team. but this makes a big deal about it and creates a lot of excitement. Jorgen Klinsman gets kudos for trying to play more of a possession attacking style and integrating the youth and men’s teams.Every year we get a deeper pool at all levels and the quality keeps increasing.
I don’t know. Huerzler’s picture is up on the DFB web site. Does not look good. Huerzler is playing for FC Bayern and Bayern management does not like Klinsmann. Plus, Bayern takes great pride in having a lot of its players play for the NationalMannshafft. In any case, the German U-19 team is going to be playing in Egypt next week. Maybe Klinsmann could talk to his buddy BB and ask BB to have a friendly chat with Huerzler, say some good things about him. I am pretty certain Bob would do that for Jurgen.
Here is the link to the U-19 team.
http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500418
I’m getting pumped for the Olympics. Dare we think a run for gold?
I like the mix of Domestic and European player on the U23 & U20 he is a break down on the leagues
MLS player – 14
Germany (includes 1st & 2nd Division) – 12
Norway – 3
England – (EPL & other Division) – 4
Mexico – 1
Portugal – 1
without a contract – 2
Gil looked great last night against LA in his 15 minutes. Think he is really poised to break out over the next year or so. Hopefully, he finds his way onto the USMNT soon. Would be a great foil for Dempsey & Shea to work with.
A stand lamp is better than Bornstein!
Well I think is great that U20, U23 and Senior are training in the same facility that way they can have a training match between the U23 and The Senior Team. Good Idea for Klismann to see who can go to the Senior team on January Camp. I think it will be nice to have this kind of Training Camp every time. Get all the U20, U23 and the senior camp at the same time and have them work for a spot on the senior USNMT.
did you read what Porter said about having player that in a pro level only and as much he cares for college player he want young guys that already playing or are in a Pro Level Clubs
San Jose’s stadium fits under 10K. Why pay for DPs when your attendance is already capped? Once they get their new digs, then complain about a lack of DPs.
Soony Saad from Sporting Kansas city is missing!
which really is all that matters
Just got called into German U19s, gonna be a while until he plays for the US again, but I’d still bet he plays for the USMNT.
Nagbe’s not a citizen yet
Word has it he’s been called into one of the German youth camps.
No he hasn’t.
What an awesome opportunity for all these players to go experience Germany. I love the league and would love for more of our youth players to try and develop in their academies and fight for spots on the first teams. I’m not sure if there will be scouts on hand but you would have to imagine there are some clubs who would love to see some of the best and brightest the U.S. has to offer.
Very disappointed Fabian Hurzeler wasn’t called into the camp. Has he officially switched from Germany to USA through FIFA?
Thanks Idaho. He looked very promising with U-17s, but then again so did Danny Sztela (‘member him?). I too thought Gil has great touch and he looked poised out there last night, in a big-game situation. So how best to develop a potential midfield maestro? Hard to justify giving any kid the keys to a team like RSL, who already have inJavi Morales one of the best playmakers in the league. wonder if he gets more PT for RSL next year.
It sucks that MLS can’t capitalize on 2 of its 3 California franchises in terms of getting big-name foreign talent. There’s zero reason Chivas USA and San Jose can’t do what the Galaxy have done, everybody seems to want to go to LA but LAG only has 3 DP slots and San Francisco has to be a huge hit too. Maybe both teams should change their names to better indicate how California cool they are? Chivas USA obviously doesn’t do that and San Jose either doesn’t trigger anything or makes one think of tech geeks.
well obviously.
Jack McInerney was called up along with Amobi Okugo, Sheanon Williams and Juan Agudelo. Porter orignally called 31 players, then added these four, and the latest addition of Gil and Bunbury brings the total camp size to 37 players.
I saw him play once. He’s better than Bornstein.
Not to impressed with Bunbury this season. He has miles to go. I hope he’ll see how far behind he is in the camp.
Why no Adu in either camp?
I’m a big RSL fan, and I watched every minute of Gil’s playing time this year. At times, Gil’s positioning was a tad off, and he could stand to improve his consistency, (which are things to be expected of a 17 year old). Although he has room to improve, RSL fans also saw Gil exhibit great touch and vision on the field, (especially when deployed in the middle of the field). I think the kid has a very promising future for both club and country…
Not sure how much they could actually do with youth development. They mainly deal with the end product. Development occurs at the academy levels. In order to improve they need more funding however, its getting better.
Have you seen Danny Potts play or just noticed that a left back made the bench for West Ham? No doubt an impressive accomplishment for a 17 year old but let’s be real, very few people knew of him before that. If you HAVE seen him, I stand corrected, but he wasn’t even called up for this camp, was he? He’s got a little way to go. I sure hope he pans out!
I would think porter could get there for a few days..a shame that he has a group so large there, and he cant see them because he has to run college team practices.
Jack McInerney, Darlington Nagbe?
Great shot by Gil last night. I know his playing time declined after the return of Javi Morales, but he got 14 starts as a 17-year-old and you know Jason Kreis made him earn it. RSL fans, how did Gil look in his playing time over the season?
I like that Boom Bu Ry.
Glad he is in the camp but would have rather seen him in LA.
I want to see these guys in action soon. What a list of notable names for a U23 squad for the US.
Maybe Fox soccer can squeeze in some games?
I’m excited about this youth team. Danny Potts looks like a talent.
I know that the NCAA tournament is soon to start, but I’d like to see some of the high-profile college kids get chances in this camp, particularly Tyler Polak.
What friendlies are they playing? Will they be televised?
I like the idea of our young talent being groomed, rather than being fast-tracked.
JK & Reyna’s reign will likely have two criteria of success: World Cup 14′ & the development of talent within the program both in the short but more so long term.