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Generation adidas falls to Ajax reserves in tour opener

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photo by Bill Barrett/ISIphotos.com

The 2011 Generation adidas team began its three-game tour of the Netherlands on Thursday morning, but not in the fashion that it would have liked.

Ajax's reserve team defeated Generation adidas, 4-2, in a 60-minute friendly in Amsterdam. The two goals for Generation adidas came from team captain and Columbus Crew midfielder Dilly Duka and New York Red Bulls forward Corey Hertzog.

Duka scored the first goal of the game on a low free kick after Danny Mwanga was fouled near the penalty area in the game's opening minutes. Hertzog found the back of the net in the second half to make it 2-2 after Omar Salgado forced a turnover and passed it to him.

Generation adidas head coach Peter Vermes trotted out a 4-4-2 in the game. Here's the starting XI:

Zac MacMath; Michael Tetteh, Zarek Valentin, Sacir Hot, Kofi Sarkodie; Amobi Okugo, Luis Gil (Corey Hertzog 44'), Kevin Alston (Matt Kassel 49'), Dilly Duka; Jack McInerney (Omar Salgado 40'), Danny Mwanga (Will Bruin 35').

Did not play: David Bingham, Conor Shanosky

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What do you think of the Generation adidas team opening its tour with a 4-2 loss? Would you have like to seen someone else in the starting XI?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. results mean nothing, this isn’t a team, it’s a young all-star type team that doesn’t play together. just another opportunity for them to be exposed to professional setups

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  2. 4 starters from the union in macmath, okugo, mwanga, and jack mac. strangely enough, none of them were regular starters last year (mwanga being the closest). future is bright in philly.

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  3. You know most of these guys don’t play for their clubs teams. On top of that the Ajax team has been playing together a lot longer than this group. So look at it from a different perspective.

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  4. (a) I’d assume most of these guys saw some mix of first team and reserve minutes (Bruin played 25 first team games and scored 5 goals for Houston….and had 5 reserve games and 2 goals there…….enough to wonder how long his GA status lasts), and at minimum should have been playing for MLS reserve squads.

    (b) Some of these players are also seeing time on US youth national teams. Sarkodie played with the US U-20s this year for instance.

    (c) There used to be a separate Project 40 team when it was a Nike sponsored program, but I am sure there is a tension between the desire of the owning team to have them around if but for bench and practice fodder, and the desire to actually get them games, which almost requires pulling them from the first team mix. Little bit of the tension inherent in loans elsewhere.

    (d) This was a 60 minute affair that starts to sound like a glorified scrimmage. A professionally handled, perhaps filmed, but nonetheless less-than-absolutely-serious scrimmage. I think it’s more useful as a reward for going pro while accepting marginal status as a young player than it really is getting them games. If you wanted games you’d really need to either expand the reserves back to weekly games or recreate the Project 40 concept, with either a touring team or a particular minor league team becoming staffed by GA.

    [I find it interesting that over in the East teams in places like Singapore are often reserve sides for teams in Japan or whatever. I think it’s be cool to have a real “Club America” in some foreign country staffed with MLS draftees who would otherwise fight for time here….led by a good development coach.]

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  5. Get out of here… Theyve had little time training together and were playing some experienced players in Ajax’s reserves. Let’s evaluate the tour as a whole not after the first match

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  6. Clearly the future of american soccer is doomed. if we can’t beat a RESERVE team with our won best and brightest… I mean COME ON… we gotta shake things up so we can take it to the next level.

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  7. Sacir Hot is a Red Bulls Academy signing from the beginning of this year. He’s had some experience with the U20s and seemed, at least at one point, fairly highly regarded as a promising defender.

    Okugo, has extensive experience at the u20 level and plays for Philly. Very promising center mid.

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  8. Considering the circumstances, not bad. I hope most people remember that Ajax Reserves play together all the time… Some of these GA kids haven’t played more than a handful of competitive matches all year. And that’s not to mention that they’ve probably never played with each other.

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  9. thats the first real game in almost a calendar year for some of those guys!

    gotta find these kids games in order for GA program to be successful – win or lose…

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