ASN: U.S. U-17s Want a Consequence In the present day in World Cup Conflict

Richie Williams’ U-17 facet misplaced its World Cup opener to Nigeria and will flip to some recent faces—like Luca de la Torre and Tyler Adams—in as we speak’s essential sport towards Croatia.

BY

Brian Sciaretta

Posted
October 20, 2015
9:40 AM

SHARE THIS STORY

Two recent names to anticipate are Tyler Adams and Luca de la Torre, each of whom are among the many quickest risers on this roster in 2015.

De la Torre, 17, has developed right into a high prospect at English Championship facet Fulham, the place he has made the transition from the membership’s U-18 staff to the U-21s. In August, aided by his Spanish passport, he signed an expert contract there. The San Diego native performs in central midfield, the place he likes to get entangled within the assault and use his creativity within the remaining third.

On Tuesday, de la Torre is more likely to begin in an attacking midfield formation alongside Christian Pulisic towards a robust Croatian staff that tied host Chile within the opening match.

“I think we have a very attack-minded group of players, and we’re unique because a lot of these attackers can play many different positions,” de la Torre advised American Soccer Now from Chile. “So there may be quite a lot of interchanging going ahead, and I feel it’ll trigger quite a lot of bother. Now we have a really deep squad, and we will throw out quite a lot of totally different gamers every sport.

“It gives the coaching staff a lot of options for each opponent.”

De La Torre is bold for each membership and nation, with twin targets of serving to the U.S. advance to the knockout stage and to make his first-team debut with Fulham in some unspecified time in the future this season. In each circumstances, it helps that he performs up an age group on the U-21 stage—and in addition spends time coaching with the senior staff every week.

“I’ve been through a lot playing in an older age group, playing against players who are bigger and stronger than me,” de la Torre mentioned. “It helps my speed of play and decision-making. It’s just another step in the process.”

“He’s such a creative player,” Adams mentioned of de la Torre. “He can do all sorts of tricks with the ball that a lot of players can’t do. His creativity, his dribbling, and basically his IQ of the game is so high that it really helps the team in the attack.”

Adams, 16, is seeking to make his personal influence on the staff regardless of being one of many youngest gamers on the roster. The Crimson Bulls product may be very versatile, able to taking part in both fullback spot, central protection, and within the midfield. He initially wasn’t certain what his position could be on this event however the probability now could be that he slots in at proper again.

Hailing from Wappingers Falls, N.Y., Adams signed with Crimson Bulls II within the USL earlier this 12 months. Like de la Torre at Fulham, nevertheless, he has educated with the primary staff frequently. At midseason, in actual fact, he made his first-team debut in a pleasant towards Chelsea, scoring in a 4-2 win over the defending Premier League champions

All indicators level to Adams being a cog for the Crimson Bulls—he definitely has a protracted observe document with the membership regardless of his youth. Adams started his affiliation with the Crimson Bulls on the U-13 stage and  labored his method as much as the U-14s, the U-16s, and right through to the brand new USL facet. A homegrown contract seems to be the subsequent step.

“I think having your second team training next to your first team, like how we do it with the Red Bulls, is great,” Adams mentioned. “Within the USL, the velocity of play and the physicality and all these small issues have helped me a lot to organize to play for the primary staff. That is an enormous consider having the USL as a useful resource—you possibly can produce gamers quicker as properly.

“I just have to keep working hard.”

Whereas each Adams and de la Torre have made regular progress with their golf equipment, a very powerful worldwide sport to this point of their younger careers will come Tuesday. Nigeria uncovered some severe flaws within the U.S. facet, and it’s important now that Williams and his gamers reply with a robust efficiency.

The younger Yanks struggled in World Cup qualifying earlier within the 12 months earlier than lastly qualifying by way of a shootout win over Jamaica. The staff was uneven at greatest in that event, however de la Torre mentioned he’s assured that he and his teammates have discovered from the expertise.

“We’re more resilient,” de la Torre mentioned. “We’ve had better responses since going down a goal as a group than we showed in qualifying. That is definitely a big improvement because we might not always be leading during the World Cup. We’ll be ready if we’re not.”

Adams echoed this sentiment.

“Qualifying was robust, however even when it received robust, we caught via it. My expectations for myself are clearly to play properly and assist the staff in any position I can. I feel greater than something we’re an attacking staff, and you may see that with what number of targets we have scored. Up to now two years we have scored round 170 targets.

“But a lot of our guys also do a lot work on the defensive side—guys like Hugo Arellano, Matt Olosunde, Johnny Nelson. They do a lot of dirty work that sometimes people leave out.”