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Taylor Booth named Eredivisie Player of the Month for November

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Taylor Booth has found his form with Dutch Eredivisie side FC Utrecht this fall and was rewarded by the league on Wednesday for a stellar month with the club.

Booth was named Eredivisie Player of the Month for November, the league announced. The 21-year-old joined FC Utrecht this summer from Bayern Munich and scored two goals in two league appearances during November’s shortened league schedule.

Booth earned Man of the Match honors in both of FC Utrecht’s November matches, victories over FC Groningen and FC Volendam.

He also added two assists in a 3-1 league victory over Sparta Rotterdam in late-October, beginning what has led to a stellar run of form. In total, Booth has made 10 combined appearances for FC Utrecht, featuring as both a central midfielder and left back.

Booth made one appearance for Bayern Munich’s first team before making the move to the Netherlands this summer. He has yet to make his senior debut for the U.S. men’s national team despite earning a call up to the January camp earlier this year.

FC Utrecht sits seventh in the Eredivisie table, six points behind the top-three.

Comments

    • that is an interesting comment as i have often wondered what the effect of no 2021 youth tournament is on the set of U20s who were coming up and didn’t get the same career and pipeline bump richards weah dest et al got. particularly with a coach who seems to want proof of concept first as opposed to witness the talent and go from there. like i could tell reyna could play when he was on BD’s lower teams. wanted him called then as pulisic, donovan, morris, and green have been. this coach, to me, was always going to wait.

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  1. couple thoughts. one, people are talking about it like a normal USMNT heading to next cycle. with the sheer amount of 18-22 year olds in the core the coach DOES NOT “have” to open this back up at all next cycle except where he wants. he can pick how far the door gets opened and for whom. does he focus on gelling his ensemble or does he open it back up for everyone including the booths and such. how much of that is on indulgent “development” or “tryout” terms and how much is on more picky “ready to play” terms. i will be curious.

    i personally think it wise to open it back up and have the pool compete each cycle. i think that shrinks blind spots and keeps the pool and coach honest. but he could easily act like a world cup knockout coach usually does, where it’s like, i already have a good team, ok, tell me which player on the team already you can outplay. everyone is so young this list of other kids could be trying to fight their way in for the next decade. unless you’re after sean johnson, tim ream, or jordan morris’ jobs, your incumbent won’t be ageing out for years and you will have to fight your way in. we will have some of the same position battles for years. eg if soto can’t break this team with players of similar age how does he make the next or the next after that. which is not the same thing as apprenticing behind a 30 year old mcbride where one just waits their turn.

    second, depending how the coach handles it, 2022 cycle reputations may not matter as much as the fanboys think. US teams historically are slow to turn over. this coach could defend his chosen core. or he could step back and reassess. i say this because some of the fanboys seem to have a status quo bias on their affinities. does the coach move reyna around going forward? is wright still involved? is mckennie’s role reduced? what backs does he like headed forward? does steffen come back in? some positions where we have struggled may be reopened. some players who haven’t done much or sucked may be gone or reduced in roles. some “cuts” may be red carpeted into the next team. some may have dropped off his radar from disappointment. i would not assume that everyone on this team is locked in or conversely that the first cuts are next in line. eg does vazquez have first dibs at 9 before pefok gets another shot or he even uses the phone for wright. i’m kind of saying if tillman was one of the last cuts that doesn’t mean he’s first on the next call sheet. or that struggling starters this time are guaranteed to be involved next cycle, or at least in starting roles.

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      • i was saying the opposite. i was saying he may be outside looking in a long time. only more kids coming up behind him. since you miss that you miss my general point where this may be a tough nut to crack for a decade. i will be curious how the coach handles his “booth” and “vazquez” situations going forward. his excuse this time was not enough time with the team. that’s a one time excuse. you have 4 years now. how much trialing and churn does he allow when this is over. honestly at this point soto has slipped a bunch and that’s just gigging me.

      • I think there’s plenty of room to get into the squad. Yes the first 10-15 are looking pretty set. But most of those guys have had long term injuries in the last four years. Also the next 15 are pretty open and the MLS vets in the pool are largely going to age out. I think Berhalter is ready to leave too, so if he does another manager might look for different types of players. If you’re a winger the path is tough (Gio, Aaronson, Weah, Pulisic) but a CM yes there’s MMA but the backups are fairly average. I’ve only seen highlights and all touch videos of Taylor so I’m not sure where he fits. Taylor could have a real chance to show off at the Olympics (I think he’s age eligible).

  2. Another young CM that is thriving. Very creative. I want to say Bayern has a buy back clause for Booth.

    Him and Ledezma will be players that get rotated into the USMNT midfield for the 2026 cycle.

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    • And Malik Tillman. And Caden Clark. And in the future probably Diego Luna. And Paxton Aaronson.

      We have some intriguing young guys who weren’t ready for Qatar but will certainly be pushing for spots in ’26. If there’s one thing that’s apparent about our Qatar squad it’s that our starting talent is really strong but there’s a big dropoff to the backups, which is showing bigly when we sub.

      I don’t think that’ll be the case four years from now. I think the biggest problem for our squad this next cycle is going to be getting enough quality games to keep them interested because especially with Mexico needing a full rebuild, other than Canada I see nothing in CONCACAF that can remotely challenge us.

      I really, really hope we can get into the 2024 Copa America. Actually I would hope CONCACAF and CONMEBOL just join forces and jettison the Gold Cup and do a joint Copa America going forwards. Heck, if you even wanted to work the Pacific Rim powers like Japan, South Korea, and Australia in we could have ourselves an event on our side of the pond that easily matches the Euros.

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      • 2024 will have Copa América and the Olympics. I fully expect the USA to field talented competitive teams in both competitions that summer. And yes I expect USA, Mexico, and Canada to be invited to that tournament, and probably 3 Asian teams.

        I like the idea of doing a PacRim tournament, but it will have to get FIFAs approval in order for it to be a mandated player tournament.

        Also remember we have the Gold Cup in 2023 and 2025, so it will be GK hard to do that type of tournament

      • i always hear this copa america malarkey like some sort of good housekeeping seal. if it is the same year as gold cup we always send the second team and it has an almost inverse relation to is the team good afterwards. people celebrated the final 4 finish in the 1990s before the 1998 world cup debacle. people celebrated the final 4 finish in 2016 before the 2017 world cup debacle. the group round suckage of the late 2000s preceded the decent 2010 world cup run.

        the two issues are, first, do we send the starters, and second, if we do, are we so into our own press clippings we do not adjust to what the tournament teaches. people who push tough schedules often tend to miss that for them to be of value you need to adjust in personnel and tactics to what you learn. if you do what klinsi did, backpat yourself for finishing 4th, but change nothing after losing twice, you might as well not bother. you will keep losing more than you should. if what you learn is argentina destroys your backs or your tactics don’t work, that has to get fixed. otherwise just play friendlies and fill USSF coffers. the tough games don’t make this a better team unless things change a little afterwards.

      • IV-

        I’d definitely send my A’s to Copa America and I’d bet you Gregg would too. The last Gold Cup he won with what amounted to a “C” team.

        Gold Cup just doesn’t matter anymore since the Confeds Cup went away.

      • Q: like i was saying, half the equation is “play the As.” the other half is learn from what happens. unless you win the whole tournament, learning nothing from why you lose (tactics, selections, etc.) doesn’t help you win the next thing. the problem is we typically pat ourselves on the back for any success in such tournaments and blow off analyzing why we, say, lose to argentina. if you don’t do that work you won’t get a better result the next time you play a hard team. even if 4th at copa feels like an applause line you still have to figure out what could have been better and fix it. or you will just plateau.

    • Hope Richie either gets more time or gets a loan with a Eredivisie team he can get more minutes for. Gakpo probably leaves in January so maybe that opens up minutes.

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  3. Guy wins Player of the Month but isn’t even considered yet for the USMNT. I think that’s a pretty good omen for the increasing US talent pool of young players.

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    • I really, really like the guy. He’s fast as a thief, has crazy acceleration and a burst that can separate from people even with the ball at his feet, and he’ll press, chase, harry, and hustle, he’s got shifty moves and can leave guys with their pants pulled down all over the field, and he’s a great passer – especially a great positive passer – and he can put long splitting balls on a dime from 40+ yards. He’s awesome at getting turned and slashing upfield, but he keeps his head up and his vision allows him to see a runner and bang put the ball on him with zero hesitation. He’s also got a wicked shot from distance…which is probably the biggest quibble I have with McKennie, Musah, and Adams, and the thing they all really, really need to work on. MMA get plenty of looks. They just either don’t take them or they can’t put the ball on frame with any conviction, which is a big part of America’s scoring woes as much as the lack of a true #9…and I’d argue the lack of quality shots from distance from our otherwise impressive midfield group is also a big part of why there aren’t more deflected balls in the box for our strikers to pounce on, too.

      Booth couldn’t crack Bayern’s starting lineup – no great sin there for a guy who was just 20 – though he did make one appearance for them in a DFB Pokal match, and FC Utrecht tried to get him in the January transfer window Bayern rejected their offer…though it apparently turned his head enough he wouldn’t re-sign with Bayern when his contract lapsed in the summer and he wound up at Utrecht anyway.

      I absolutely think he’s a guy who could work his way into the 23 (or 26, if that’s a new permanent thing) and even press for a starting role.

      Regardless, the more video I watch on Booth, the more I like him.

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      • I agree that MMA need to take some long range shots instead of almost passing. It would help pull out the defense, assuming the shots are strong efforts. That would make the passes so much easier to complete to an open attacker.
        As for the main point, 4 years is a long time in the career of 20 year-olds. It is impossible to know which will really continue to grow and which not. But right now the US is blessed with many young players who are at a good level now; in 4 years some of them will be even better.
        I am less optimistic about the central defenders, but that might be partly due CBs not often making headlines. Also, it requires seeing them play against outstanding attackers for more than a game or two to learn which are really good defenders and not simply able to cover for multiple errors with athleticism. Ream and to an even higher degree Chiellini are examples of defenders who simply don’t often make mistakes and thus are very effective despite being old for field players.

      • @Dennis I feel the opposite about our CB’s going forward when you consider who is in and around the periphery of the first team now. CCV is only 24 and already at a WC, so he’ll still be in contention for the next WC as will Miles Robinson, Chris Richards, Auston Trusty, Mark McKenzie and EPB. All will be strong options in the near and distant future, so I’m not worried at all

    • i think a coach like klinsi with a broader radar and more trust in his own horse sense might have taken a “green” type flyer. but this coach wants 23-28 year old midcareer players with existing statistics to analyze. booth turned the corner too late for this type of coach to include.

      i think he will be involved rapidly for 2026 if anything because he has since put up the numbers this coach wants, even if it took a weaker league to do it. i think that’s your actual telling point. is this coach is so numbers driven he misses the talent but can be gamed by making downward career moves. the sort of decision that would have sent klinsi apoplectic.

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      • “This coach wants 23-28 year old mid career players”. According to transfermkt of the 20 youngest USMNT lineups ever fielded 8 were fielded by Berhalter. 9 of the 20 oldest lineups were fielded by Klinsmann. Klinsmann had none in the top 50 youngest but had 22 of the oldest 50 lineups. Why didn’t Berhalter take a flyer on a 19 yr old tearing up the 4th Bundesliga because the rest of his team was incredibly young. JK had 3 players under 23 in Brazil Brooks, Yedlin, and Green. Berhalter has 8, 4 have started all 3 games and another has subbed in everyone.

      • first off, any coach with our roster situation was going to call a bunch of kids. player turnover. where the talent is. also, that sounds cute except on a lot of the final roster decisions he tended to favor some guy in his mid to late 20s (yedlin, johnson, zimmermann, CCV, wright, etc) over younger options. i think you have forgotten the zardes bradley era. he has tacked somewhat to the reality of things. but his intrinsic wiring is to look for prime age soccer players with stats to analyze. this is why some 19 year old phenom fresh off US U20 and on a big 5 reserve team takes 1-2 more years than necessary to get involved. he will have them in olympic development rather than anticipate their progress. previous US coaches could see talent and get ahead of the curve. turning the guy who started with zardes into some sort of youth movement coach is funny. he had to be dragged there kicking and screaming. funny how much he looks like sarachan after 4 years.

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