Actually On-Topic: 8 New Players Join #3 Pitt Men’s Soccer

[mike412]

Men's Soccer Announces Incoming 2021 Class - Pitt Panthers #H2P

PITTSBURGH – Men's Soccer Head Coach Jay Vidovich announced the addition of eight new players for the upcoming 2021 regular season today.

pittsburghpanthers.com

Yes, an actual on-topic post in this group. School is almost back in session. Time to stop talking about the USMNT and USWNT and talk about the Panthers.

I know nothing about any of them. I assume the CB transfer from Notre Dame will be the replacement for Bryce Washington. Anyone know anything about the local kid from Deer Lakes or any of the others?

Pittsburgh Soccer Now said that 10 starters return. That would be everyone except Washington. While that would be great, it also would be a surprise considering that two of our starters were graduate students (GK and RB). Also, it looks like Vidovich brought in two GKs.

I can attest the the kid who played for Sporting Gijon played against good competition. All of the European players come from good programs. Ajax, in particular, is renowned for its youth program.

Christ, I am getting old when Edwin Van Der Sar’s kid is playing college soccer.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Pittsburgh Soccer Now said that 10 starters return. That would be everyone except Washington. While that would be great, it also would be a surprise considering that two of our starters were graduate students (GK and RB).

Gee, if there were only an easy way we could check such a thing.

 

[gary2]

Men's Soccer Announces Incoming 2021 Class - Pitt Panthers #H2P

PITTSBURGH – Men's Soccer Head Coach Jay Vidovich announced the addition of eight new players for the upcoming 2021 regular season today.

pittsburghpanthers.com

Yes, an actual on-topic post in this group. School is almost back in session. Time to stop talking about the USMNT and USWNT and talk about the Panthers.

I know nothing about any of them. I assume the CB transfer from Notre Dame will be the replacement for Bryce Washington. Anyone know anything about the local kid from Deer Lakes or any of the others?

Pittsburgh Soccer Now said that 10 starters return. That would be everyone except Washington. While that would be great, it also would be a surprise considering that two of our starters were graduate students (GK and RB). Also, it looks like Vidovich brought in two GKs.

I can attest the the kid who played for Sporting Gijon played against good competition. All of the European players come from good programs. Ajax, in particular, is renowned for its youth program.

Christ, I am getting old when Edwin Van Der Sar’s kid is playing college soccer.

I am sure someone who is knowledgeable will be very nice and help you out.

 

[anon_d97v9o3a8b6xr]

I really want to see this program become dominant and win a ncaa title. They really are so close. So hard to maintain in college men’s soccer, but it is amazing what we have seen in just a few seasons.

 

[pittchagg]

Men's Soccer Announces Incoming 2021 Class - Pitt Panthers #H2P

PITTSBURGH – Men's Soccer Head Coach Jay Vidovich announced the addition of eight new players for the upcoming 2021 regular season today.

pittsburghpanthers.com

Yes, an actual on-topic post in this group. School is almost back in session. Time to stop talking about the USMNT and USWNT and talk about the Panthers.

I know nothing about any of them. I assume the CB transfer from Notre Dame will be the replacement for Bryce Washington. Anyone know anything about the local kid from Deer Lakes or any of the others?

Pittsburgh Soccer Now said that 10 starters return. That would be everyone except Washington. While that would be great, it also would be a surprise considering that two of our starters were graduate students (GK and RB). Also, it looks like Vidovich brought in two GKs.

I can attest the the kid who played for Sporting Gijon played against good competition. All of the European players come from good programs. Ajax, in particular, is renowned for its youth program.

Christ, I am getting old when Edwin Van Der Sar’s kid is playing college soccer.

Campuzano and Loeffersend are both back as second-year graduate students.

 

[gary2]

Campuzano and Loeffersend are both back as second-year graduate students.

I told Mike there were nice people out there that would be happy to oblige.

Thank You for being one.

 

[Pitt79]

Men's Soccer Announces Incoming 2021 Class - Pitt Panthers #H2P

PITTSBURGH – Men's Soccer Head Coach Jay Vidovich announced the addition of eight new players for the upcoming 2021 regular season today.

pittsburghpanthers.com

Yes, an actual on-topic post in this group. School is almost back in session. Time to stop talking about the USMNT and USWNT and talk about the Panthers.

I know nothing about any of them. I assume the CB transfer from Notre Dame will be the replacement for Bryce Washington. Anyone know anything about the local kid from Deer Lakes or any of the others?

Pittsburgh Soccer Now said that 10 starters return. That would be everyone except Washington. While that would be great, it also would be a surprise considering that two of our starters were graduate students (GK and RB). Also, it looks like Vidovich brought in two GKs.

I can attest the the kid who played for Sporting Gijon played against good competition. All of the European players come from good programs. Ajax, in particular, is renowned for its youth program.

Christ, I am getting old when Edwin Van Der Sar’s kid is playing college soccer.

Question for you Mike 412. You are a big Euro soccer guy going way back. I'm not judging the players, I know nothing about them. But with the way European soccer is, wouldn't players who would choose to play college soccer in the USA be lesser players there? I mean if they where really good they'd be pros at their club's A team by now. Right? But of course they might be way better than some kid that played in the WPIAL.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Campuzano and Loeffersend are both back as second-year graduate students.

As anyone could have easily seen by making what, about three mouse clicks?

And if that was too much for someone, the actual article that was linked from the Pitt web site says right in it:

"The Panthers return 20 players, including 10 starters, from last year's squad that finished a school record 16-4 with appearances in the NCAA College Cup, ACC Championship Final and were named ACC Coastal Division Champions."

Why would they lie about something that was so easy to check?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Campuzano and Loeffersend are both back as second-year graduate students.

Actually, they are back, using their "Covid year."

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

So...

1. We got Edwin Van Der Sar's son at GK. That seems fair.

2. Lucas Rosa - grad transfer and NEC POY from SFPA. Sight unseen, I would say that is an upgrade over the WPIAL subs Mort and Peperek. Will need to use more players this season also as we are back to cramming like 20 games into 3 weeks or something.

3. Guillerhome Feitosa - Brazilian MF who grew up in France. Don't know much. Didn't seem to play in a big academy. But neither did Valentin Noel. For whatever reason though, we've kind of struck out on Brazilians

4. Cade Hagan - the protypical rich suburban "pay for play" kid (well assuming since he's from Naperville, Ill) but went and played for Sporting Gijon meaning he was playing against the best in Spain. Also played for the USYNT U14 and U15

5. Andrew Noel - GK from the Red Bulls Academy

6. Luis Sahmkow - this is the most intriguing to me because this is an American kid from Plano, Texas. Vid hasn't recruited the states that well really (he hasn't had to) but he went into Texas and got the kid who lead MLS Next (arguably the best youth league in the country) in goals. Helps that Texas only has 1 D1 soccer program (SMU) which is insane

7. Michael Sullivan - local kid, Mort and Peperek found a role, maybe he will too

8. Mohammed Abulnadi - ND grad transfer. I assume he will step in and start at CB for Washington.

I will say it again, it will be a disappointment if this team doesn't win the NC

 

[mike412]

Question for you Mike 412. You are a big Euro soccer guy going way back. I'm not judging the players, I know nothing about them. But with the way European soccer is, wouldn't players who would choose to play college soccer in the USA be lesser players there? I mean if they where really good they'd be pros at their club's A team by now. Right? But of course they might be way better than some kid that played in the WPIAL.

I suspect someone like Hagen, who went there as a projected top prospect, after spending time at the academy either himself realized or was told that he was not going to be first team material and didn’t want to spend his time playing in a lower league there. I’m not sure he would be on an A team yet. There are a number of players on Barca’s B team right now who are around his age and are projected to be future A prospects. Barca’s B team won the Second Division title a few years back but can’t be promoted into La Liga. Then, they had a terrible year and got relegated to the Third Division.

Messi made the A club when he was 17. Pique and Fabregas, who were his classmates at La Masia both were projected to make it eventually, but didn’t want to wait around and left to play in England. Pique made his A debut for Man U when he was 17, but was mainly on the reserve team until he was 19 or 20. Fabregas went to Arsenal when he was 17 and made his debut there at 17 due to injuries. He still would have been a B team player at Barca then.

But, Barca has 3 junior teams below the B team so by the time you get to the B team you have culled out 2/3 of the players who started at La Masia. The first year I was in Barcelona, they had three 14 year old Americans. None ever made it to the B team. They all are now 22 and I have no idea what any of them are doing.

If you are 18 and you are good but not good enough to be big time, and you have a choice of playing in lower leagues in Europe or going to college for free in America, some kids are going to choose college and some are going to continue playing until someone forces them to stop.

I’ve been following this Brendan Aaronson story closely because the question is whether he will be an isolated incident of a kid who played for an American academy team getting to play for a fairly big club in Europe or it will become commonplace.

 

[mike412]

For me, the three key gets, barring injuries, are the ND transfer, Rosa and Sahmkow. If the transfer is an adequate replacement for Washington and Rosa and/or Sahmkow produce at forward, this should be quite a team. I think Dexter had a drop-off in quality last year so having an option to him on the left would be great. Also, Jacquesson seemed to need a break in each half in almost every game and we had a drop-off when he was on the bench.

Loeffelsend returning is huge. Not only was he solid defensively, but he was a key to the attack because of his ability to get the ball into attacking areas quickly and consistently. The percentage of our attacks which started with an outlet pass to him was high. If Jacquesson continues to improve, we will be very dangerous on the right. I’m hoping maybe Loeffelsend’s graduate school lasts three years.

The one other area where I think we could use help is with a defensive midfielder. We had trouble with Clemson’s midfield in particular last year, and that is an area that could use bolstering. Is there a college-level Kante among those recruits? Time will tell?

 

[Pitt79]

I suspect someone like Hagen, who went there as a projected top prospect, after spending time at the academy either himself realized or was told that he was not going to be first team material and didn’t want to spend his time playing in a lower league there. I’m not sure he would be on an A team yet. There are a number of players on Barca’s B team right now who are around his age and are projected to be future A prospects. Barca’s B team won the Second Division title a few years back but can’t be promoted into La Liga. Then, they had a terrible year and got relegated to the Third Division.

Messi made the A club when he was 17. Pique and Fabregas, who were his classmates at La Masia both were projected to make it eventually, but didn’t want to wait around and left to play in England. Pique made his A debut for Man U when he was 17, but was mainly on the reserve team until he was 19 or 20. Fabregas went to Arsenal when he was 17 and made his debut there at 17 due to injuries. He still would have been a B team player at Barca then.

But, Barca has 3 junior teams below the B team so by the time you get to the B team you have culled out 2/3 of the players who started at La Masia. The first year I was in Barcelona, they had three 14 year old Americans. None ever made it to the B team. They all are now 22 and I have no idea what any of them are doing.

If you are 18 and you are good but not good enough to be big time, and you have a choice of playing in lower leagues in Europe or going to college for free in America, some kids are going to choose college and some are going to continue playing until someone forces them to stop.

I’ve been following this Brendan Aaronson story closely because the question is whether he will be an isolated incident of a kid who played for an American academy team getting to play for a fairly big club in Europe or it will become commonplace.

Thanks, that helps to understand it. If you're going to spend years playing in low paying minor leagues in Europe, you can opt to get a free degree, and maybe even end up in something like MLS and make decent money in the USA.

 

[mike412]

Thanks, that helps to understand it. If you're going to spend years playing in low paying minor leagues in Europe, you can opt to get a free degree, and maybe even end up in something like MLS and make decent money in the USA.

There are options beyond that also. The second year I rented an apartment there, I needed to see a doctor about my previously-broken left foot, so I got the recommended English-speaking doctor list from the US Embassy. The doctor I ended up seeing was probably around 32. He had pictures on the wall from his playing days at La Masia. His diplomas were from schools in Barcelona and Valencia.

Presumably, he saw the writing on the wall, went to college in Spain and then to medical school there. La Masia has a very good academic reputation. He might have finished high school elsewhere, but he got a solid foundation there. Required subjects there include Spanish, Catalan and English. Fabregas tweets in 5 languages.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I’ve been following this Brendan Aaronson story closely because the question is whether he will be an isolated incident of a kid who played for an American academy team getting to play for a fairly big club in Europe or it will become commonplace.

Out of curiosity, why Aaronson and not, say, Weston McKennie (Dallas) or Tyler Adams (Red Bulls) or Zach Steffen (Philadelphia) or DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle) or Matthew Hoppe (LA Galaxy) or Geo Reyna (NYCFC) or Chris Richards (San Jose) or Timothy Weah (Red Bulls) or any of the other couple dozen MLS academy players who have already been playing in Europe?

 

[gary2]

I suspect someone like Hagen, who went there as a projected top prospect, after spending time at the academy either himself realized or was told that he was not going to be first team material and didn’t want to spend his time playing in a lower league there. I’m not sure he would be on an A team yet. There are a number of players on Barca’s B team right now who are around his age and are projected to be future A prospects. Barca’s B team won the Second Division title a few years back but can’t be promoted into La Liga. Then, they had a terrible year and got relegated to the Third Division.

Messi made the A club when he was 17. Pique and Fabregas, who were his classmates at La Masia both were projected to make it eventually, but didn’t want to wait around and left to play in England. Pique made his A debut for Man U when he was 17, but was mainly on the reserve team until he was 19 or 20. Fabregas went to Arsenal when he was 17 and made his debut there at 17 due to injuries. He still would have been a B team player at Barca then.

But, Barca has 3 junior teams below the B team so by the time you get to the B team you have culled out 2/3 of the players who started at La Masia. The first year I was in Barcelona, they had three 14 year old Americans. None ever made it to the B team. They all are now 22 and I have no idea what any of them are doing.

If you are 18 and you are good but not good enough to be big time, and you have a choice of playing in lower leagues in Europe or going to college for free in America, some kids are going to choose college and some are going to continue playing until someone forces them to stop.

I’ve been following this Brendan Aaronson story closely because the question is whether he will be an isolated incident of a kid who played for an American academy team getting to play for a fairly big club in Europe or it will become commonplace.

Absolutely

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Out of curiosity, why Aaronson and not, say, Weston McKennie (Dallas) or Tyler Adams (Red Bulls) or Zach Steffen (Philadelphia) or DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle) or Matthew Hoppe (LA Galaxy) or Geo Reyna (NYCFC) or Chris Richards (San Jose) or Timothy Weah (Red Bulls) or any of the other couple dozen MLS academy players who have already been playing in Europe?

And not American, but what about Alphonso Davies playing youth soccer in Edmonton before joining the Vancouver Whitcap academy.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

And not American, but what about Alphonso Davies playing youth soccer in Edmonton before joining the Vancouver Whitcap academy.

Yeah, I thought about including him as he did play at an MLS academy, but decided not too since he is a Canuck and he played for a Canadian team's academy.

But (depending on where Hoppe ends up, I guess) all of those guys, including, obviously, Davies, are currently playing for bigger clubs than Aaronson.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

For me, the three key gets, barring injuries, are the ND transfer, Rosa and Sahmkow. If the transfer is an adequate replacement for Washington and Rosa and/or Sahmkow produce at forward, this should be quite a team. I think Dexter had a drop-off in quality last year so having an option to him on the left would be great. Also, Jacquesson seemed to need a break in each half in almost every game and we had a drop-off when he was on the bench.

Loeffelsend returning is huge. Not only was he solid defensively, but he was a key to the attack because of his ability to get the ball into attacking areas quickly and consistently. The percentage of our attacks which started with an outlet pass to him was high. If Jacquesson continues to improve, we will be very dangerous on the right. I’m hoping maybe Loeffelsend’s graduate school lasts three years.

The one other area where I think we could use help is with a defensive midfielder. We had trouble with Clemson’s midfield in particular last year, and that is an area that could use bolstering. Is there a college-level Kante among those recruits? Time will tell?

Agree 100%.

The ND transfer should start at CB. The SFPA transfer lead the NEC in goals, yea, not a great league but the NEC champ (SF Brooklyn) did manage to draw that unbelievably great (tongue in cheek) Indiana squad in the NCAA Tournament.

The Sahmkow kid, its so hard to say, but wouldn't the leading scorer in MLS Next have to be one of the Top 3-5 incoming freshmen....and if he is, he'll have to play.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Out of curiosity, why Aaronson and not, say, Weston McKennie (Dallas) or Tyler Adams (Red Bulls) or Zach Steffen (Philadelphia) or DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle) or Matthew Hoppe (LA Galaxy) or Geo Reyna (NYCFC) or Chris Richards (San Jose) or Timothy Weah (Red Bulls) or any of the other couple dozen MLS academy players who have already been playing in Europe?

What's the deal with Aaronson?

 

[mike412]

And not American, but what about Alphonso Davies playing youth soccer in Edmonton before joining the Vancouver Whitcap academy.

There have been other Americans who have gone to Europe and played, usually starting at the B level or junior level. (Remember Freddie Adu?) But, I believe that Aaronson is the first one that a European team has paid a transfer fee for to join their A team. They reportedly paid a $6 Million fee to Philadelphia for him.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

There have been other Americans who have gone to Europe and played, usually starting at the B level or junior level. (Remember Freddie Adu?) But, I believe that Aaronson is the first one that a European team has paid a transfer fee for to join their A team. They reportedly paid a $6 Million fee to Philadelphia for him.

Times are a changin!

it used to be, at least by me who is no expert on our MNT, that our national team players would almost always be the only ones getting a sniff of Europe. Maybe there are exceptions. Now there are MLS players who can’t sniff our MNT who are getting offers to play abroad.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

There have been other Americans who have gone to Europe and played, usually starting at the B level or junior level. (Remember Freddie Adu?) But, I believe that Aaronson is the first one that a European team has paid a transfer fee for to join their A team. They reportedly paid a $6 Million fee to Philadelphia for him.

But that's at least partly an age thing. Aaronson is 20. When Geo Reyna first played for Dortmund he was 17. Adams first played for Leipzig when he was 19. McKennie signed with Schalke when he was 17 (although he wasn't allowed to play there until after his 18th birthday) and played his first game with the senior team when he was 19. Richards started with Bayern's U19s as an 18 year old, but his first Bundesliga game came when he was 20. Weah went to PSG when he was 14 and played his first first team match at 18. Hoppe was 18 when he signed with Schalke and 19 when he played his first first team match for them.

In other words, many of those other guys didn't start with their club's first team because they signed to play there years earlier than Aaronson signed with Salzburg. For instance if Reyna had played at 17, 18 and 19 in the MLS instead of at Dortmund, what sort of transfer fee do you suppose he would have brought? Because Reyna is obviously a better player than Aaronson is. Schalke wanted to sign McKennie even earlier than they did, but he didn't (and I assume still doesn't) have a European passport, so he wasn't allowed to play for anyone in Europe until he turned 18. Had he spent his 18 and 19 year old seasons dominating in MLS what do you suppose he would have brought as a transfer fee, seeing as to how he is obviously better than Aaronson?

I mean even your example of Freddie Adu, he was 18 when he signed with Benfica. Although yeah, it did take 17 whole days before he played his first game with the first team. But to be fair, that wasn't even a league game. It was only a Champions League qualifying match.

 

[PeetWeet1]

But that's at least partly an age thing. Aaronson is 20. When Geo Reyna first played for Dortmund he was 17. Adams first played for Leipzig when he was 19. McKennie signed with Schalke when he was 17 (although he wasn't allowed to play there until after his 18th birthday) and played his first game with the senior team when he was 19. Richards started with Bayern's U19s as an 18 year old, but his first Bundesliga game came when he was 20. Weah went to PSG when he was 14 and played his first first team match at 18. Hoppe was 18 when he signed with Schalke and 19 when he played his first first team match for them.

In other words, many of those other guys didn't start with their club's first team because they signed to play there years earlier than Aaronson signed with Salzburg. For instance if Reyna had played at 17, 18 and 19 in the MLS instead of at Dortmund, what sort of transfer fee do you suppose he would have brought? Because Reyna is obviously a better player than Aaronson is. Schalke wanted to sign McKennie even earlier than they did, but he didn't (and I assume still doesn't) have a European passport, so he wasn't allowed to play for anyone in Europe until he turned 18. Had he spent his 18 and 19 year old seasons dominating in MLS what do you suppose he would have brought as a transfer fee, seeing as to how he is obviously better than Aaronson?

I mean even your example of Freddie Adu, he was 18 when he signed with Benfica. Although yeah, it did take 17 whole days before he played his first game with the first team. But to be fair, that wasn't even a league game. It was only a Champions League qualifying match.

How do immigration rules come into play for the those of age? I seem to recall England at least having some pretty strict ones which pretty much prevent those not on the USMNT from signing for many of their clubs, especially in the Championship.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

How do immigration rules come into play for the those of age? I seem to recall England at least having some pretty strict ones which pretty much prevent those not on the USMNT from signing for many of their clubs, especially in the Championship.

Any American without a European passport has to be 18 years old before they can play at an European club. But that's a FIFA rule that would work the other way as well.

There are also country-wide labor laws (which the EU countries cannot enforce on each other). In England the rule to play as a foreigner in the EPL is that the player has to get a work permit. And soccer players can only get work permits if they can show that they are among the best players in the world. They are currently using a system whereby a foreign player has to have played a certain percentage of their home countries full national team games in the last two years to be able to get a work permit. So an American who regularly plays for the USMNT can get a permit to play in England. Someone who has never or only rarely plays for the USMNT isn't going to get one. Then if you get rejected by that metric there is an appeal process to try to get the original ruling overturned, but I don't know what you have to do for them to overturn the original decision.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

BTW, in today's Bundesliga kickoff match, Joe Scally, an 18 year old American who originally signed a professional contract with NYCFC as a 15 year old and was later sold to Borussia Monchengladbach started and played the full 90 as a left back in their 1-1 draw with Bayern.

He was sold to Monchengladbach as a 17 year old, but he played last season in New York because he wasn't allowed to play in Germany until he turned 18.

 

[PeetWeet1]

Any American without a European passport has to be 18 years old before they can play at an European club. But that's a FIFA rule that would work the other way as well.

There are also country-wide labor laws (which the EU countries cannot enforce on each other). In England the rule to play as a foreigner in the EPL is that the player has to get a work permit. And soccer players can only get work permits if they can show that they are among the best players in the world. They are currently using a system whereby a foreign player has to have played a certain percentage of their home countries full national team games in the last two years to be able to get a work permit. So an American who regularly plays for the USMNT can get a permit to play in England. Someone who has never or only rarely plays for the USMNT isn't going to get one. Then if you get rejected by that metric there is an appeal process to try to get the original ruling overturned, but I don't know what you have to do for them to overturn the original decision.

Thank you. Work permit eligibility seems to be a nice side benefit of having the occasional MLS-based national teams, especially for the younger players.