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U.S. U-18s eye undefeated training camp ahead of final friendly

U.S. Soccer Federation

The U.S. Under-18 men's national team training camp in the Netherlands has produced a series of encouraging results, and the U-18s will look to make it 4-for-4 in friendlies when they close their training camp Sunday with a friendly against a selection from Belgian side Club Brugge.

With wins over the Feyenoord academy, the Netherlands U-18 national team and Borussia Dortmund's U-18 side, the U-18s have enjoyed success during their training camp abroad. Seven players have scored the seven U.S. goals as Javier Perez' side has spread out the wealth. Bayern Munich youth forward Julian Green, representing the United States for the first time after playing on the German youth level, is among the goal scorers, tallying the final goal in the U-18s' 4-2 victory over the Netherlands on Tuesday.

Ben Spencer, Benji Lopez and Romain Gall also scored on the Dutch; Defender Michael Amick scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Dortmund on Thursday; and MLS Homegrown Players Zach Pfeffer (Philadephia Union) and Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas) accounted for the 2-0 win over Feyenoord last Saturday.

Encouraged by the results? Hope to see more of Green in future U.S. youth camps? Think that the U-18 MLS Homegrown Players on this roster can contribute more in MLS the immediate future?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I really think USsoccer and Soccerbyives or whoever should do all they can to make games like this available with either full games or extended highlights so we can really see who looks good. Someone scoring is basically meaningless, these camps/games are pretty much all about individuals and who has potential for the future as the next few jumps up are massive.

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  2. Thats pretty awesome. Hopefully they make it 4 out of 4.

    Some of these guys will probably make the jump to the U-20’s in the coming months i.e Green, Acosta, Pfeffer(who has been really really good in this extended camp), Spencer, and probably Gall.

    Should be interesting to see who Green decides to play for the U.S. or Germany.

    Here are few other talented kids that missed out on this U-18 trip: Alejandro Guido, Nick Gaitan, Russel Cannouse, Matt Dunn, Mobi Fehr, and Andrew Oliver.

    The U.S. should have a pretty good U-20 side going into the 2013 U-20 CONCACAF tournament in February. As long as Tab Ramos picks the right players for his roster.

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  3. Also I find it interesting this team only has three latinos on it. According to some people on here they are the only people that are good at soccer.

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  4. Roussel Canouse is at Hoffemhiem and wasnt released. Arriola is usually a stater and he had to withdraw due to injury. There are a couple more missing but i think hes underrating this team.

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  5. Results for this type of camp do not matter. The fact that the coaches are seeing a variety of young players with potential against some good competition is great, and does matter. It is too easy to get too up or down about Nike Friendlies, Milk Cup, and this type of trip based on results. I actually enjoy watching these games when they are occasionally on TV/streaming and I would love to hear more about which players really showed something beyond expectations and are on interesting paths for career development, but I would have the more or less the same reaction if they were 0-3 under the circumstances.

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  6. +1

    Would love to see more of the US youth matches either streamed or on TV. Any info from SBI (or anybody else) would be greatly appreciated.

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  7. Is there any way we can see these matches? I was able to find some friendlies from last december on youtube but that was a U-17 match and 10 months old

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  8. Definitely looks good, especially since the other teams play together more often. The most important thing though is how much potential does each player have.

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