42115_cosmos_isi_naslml041915342 Mike Lawrence/isiphotos.com
4.21.15

ASN Morning Read: A New York Soccer Odyssey

A writer goes on a long quest to find the soul of soccer in America's biggest city and comes back with a slice of pizza; the Under-23 roster arrives, led by a few familiar faces; Pele has your back.
BY Noah Davis Posted
April 21, 2015
7:50 AM
  • Four NYC-area home games in four consecutive days led to this piece of stunt journalism.

  • Your U-23 roster has a few interesting surprises


    GOALKEEPERS

    Cody Cropper (Southampton; Maple Grove, Minn.), Jon Kempin (San Antonio Scorpions; Leawood, Kan.)

    DEFENDERS

    Christian Dean (Vancouver Whitecaps; East Palo Alto, Calif.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (Alebrijes de Oaxaca; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (Real Salt Lake; Edmund, Okla.), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids; Brighton, Colo.), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy; Los Angeles, Calif), Sam Strong (UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, Calif.), Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas; Lawrenceville, Ga.)

    MIDFIELDERS

    Fatai Alashe (San Jose Earthquakes; Northville, Mich.), Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake; Garden Grove, Calif.), Alejandro Guido (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Daniel Metzger (New York Red Bulls II; Holmdel, N.J.)

    FORWARDS

    Alonso Hernandez (C.F. Monterrey; El Paso, Texas), Alfred Koroma Shams (Unattached; Southlake Carol, Texas), Jordan Morris (Stanford; Mercer Island, Wash.), Mario Rodriguez (Borussia Mönchengladbach; North Hollywood, Calif.), Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy; Inglewood, Calif.)

  • Is Luis Gil the most important player on that team?

  • Context for Wednesday's U-23 match against Mexico: Sure, it's just an exhibition. But it's an important one, and not just because of the opponent. The game will be the first in the U.S. under new Coach Andreas Herzog, a longtime Klinsmann confidant and former national team assistant who was officially put in charge of the U-23 team in January. Last month, Herzog completed his first training camp as coach with a pair of friendlies in Europe, beating Bosnia and Herzegovina before losing to Denmark. Klinsmann and Herzog have been on the same page since they were teammates at Bayern Munich in the mid-1990s—which is why Klinsmann hired him as an assistant shortly after taking over the national team in 2011. And their plan to forge a unique and uniform American style of soccer is already taking root.

  • Should the U.S. get the 2026 World Cup? Pele thinks so, at least when he's here: Oh, yes. No doubt. No doubt. I am one who did some work for the World Cup to be here, and the organizers were perfect. They deserve it, no doubt, for the vote in FIFA to give them the next World Cup."

  • This will end well: FIFA president Sepp Blatter says politicians who are unhappy with Russia hosting the 2018 World Cup should "stay at home" during the tournament... Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Blatter says critical politicians should "stay at home, but we're going to be setting up the biggest World Cup in Russia."

Post a comment

AmericanSoccerNow.