Surely our best defensive prospect (not to mention best Hawaiian-born prospect) deserves a thread of his own. We are overdue for a dominant center back. Who also happens to be quite skillful with the ball at his feet. Would fill a big need on the senior team. Not to put too much a burden on the young man's shoulders but I think he could be our Virgil van Dijk. He will be 19 at the time of the 2026 WC. I like his chances.
Augsburg starting XI today-4 Bundesliga regular starters from last year-4 Bundesliga contributors from last year including 🇩🇪YNTers-2 new signings: one from 🇭🇷 & was on 🇭🇷 Euro squad, one from Bayern II & 🇩🇪YNT-1 player from their reserves or academy: 🇺🇸YNT CB Noahkai Banks— ChuckMe92 Soccer (@ChuckMe92Soccer) July 13, 2024
Would be a huge deal if he could emerge as a first team player over the next two years. Banks and Neal could really be the future at the center back position.
Looks like he played the 1st half in a 3-0 win: https://www.fcaugsburg.de/en/articl...urg-3-0-in-first-friendly-of-pre-season-20442 Loved watching this kid w/ the USYNT. Seems to have all the physical/technical characteristics of a modern CB.
I feel like the biggest needs for the USMNT that could be filled by YNT age players (or close) are... 1. CB: Banks and/or Neal 2. Winger: Koleosho at LW (moving Pulisic to RW) 3. GK: Any of a dozen guys from Celentano to Kochen Not even sure what #4 would be as we seem pretty solid everywhere else....
I think Scally and LDLT are places we also need to upgrade. And getting someone like Kolesheo on board maybe allows us to shift Weah back to right back.
We can also upgrade by simply playing one of the many #10's as a winger. I'm sorry, but if any of those kids hit on their ceiling they are infinitely better than someone like Aaronson or Zendejas, and also better than Weah too (because his game has no end product, not because he punched a Panama player). Is Scally or Dest ideally a LB? No, but they are probably better options than whoever is the best natural backup to Robinson. No reason to not have the same attitude for the winger spots. If our winger spots are populated by four or five #10's, so be it. That's not too hard of an adjustment for them to make.
While I don't disagree, those seem a lot more minor. Scally: Dest will be back. I think Scally showed he's a perfectly fine option at #2 RB that we now don't have to be that nervous about if he has to play... I would be more worried about the dropoff to #2 LB although Jedi is an iron man. LDLT: I'm confused about this one, where is LDLT in the midfield pool now? For me he's clearly seventh at best. Reyna, Adams, Musah, McKennie, Cardoso, Tillman, and then LDLT. And if you're 7th the chances of you playing important minutes is slim, and the chances of you being passed up is super high. I mean we could have Tanner Tessmann at Inter Milan soon. Weah: Once he's not a starter at RW you can consider him all of #2 RW, RWB, #3 RB...
Scally wasn’t a weak link or anything in the Copa America, but he doesn’t really provide much going forward and he hasn’t actually been very good with his club. We badly missed Dest this summer and in the pool right now only Weah can probably come close to replicating what he brings. Honestly it’s not just LDLT. Musah did not have a great year in Milan and McKennie was off in the Copa America (and he’s already sort of a unique player for a midfielder in terms of how he plays). As for Tessmann yes he may be at Inter soon, but that’s different from being a key player for them.
I think 1 and 3 are very big needs. 2 not so much. Partly because I have a high regard for what's in the pipeline. Paredes, who is about ready. Campbell, who will be with the first team in pre-season. Then Berchimas, Gozo, Hall, Johnson, Albert, Hassan, one or more of whom could develop quickly.
Right now there is a big gap between our two starting fullbacks (Dest and Robinson) and all the other fullbacks in our pool. In general, we have to keep our fingers crossed that key starters on defense stay healthy and/or young players develop quickly during the next few years.
Just to clarify on Banks' birthplace: -He stated in an interview with a local Augsburg newspaper that he was born in Hawaii and moved to Germany at age 2. (No link for the paper, but it was in his Instagram story at the time of the U17 World Cup) -An apparent relative of his on Twitter confirmed that he was born in Hawaii He was born in Hawaii— nana1981 (@nana1981985860) July 11, 2024 -Both of the parents who raised him are apparently fully German. His biological father might be American (not sure on that) but his main connection is that he was actually born on US soil
He's a youth center back, a December '06 (nearly an '07), and starting alongside a bunch of guys who regularly played in the Bundesliga last season. None of the older Augsburg II players earned a start but he did. That's near the top of the list of preseason feats by USYNT players
There’s still time for Wynder and Neal looks like a good talent. But man we really need Banks to hit, he looks like he could.
Yeah. Banks will likely get a camp invite as soon as he gets a couple first team starts with Augsburg under his belt. It will be fast. I think Neal could be getting callups soon too. After fast-tracking a bunch of young players in the previous cycle, there has been much less turnover since Qatar. Balogun is the main newbie. Richards is not really new. Scally has moved into the lineup due to an injury. I think things could change in a fairly dramatic way over the next two years. We have some very good high ceiling prospects who could break through at a very young age. Their ages come June 2026: Banks (19) Neal (22) Berchimas (18) Albert (17) Sullivan (16) Wynder (21) They are young. Very young. But also potentially very special players. And in the case of Neal, Wynder and Banks positional need could accelerate their rise to the senior team. Banks may be the youngest of the three but I think he has the best chance of moving into the lineup by 2026. As for the others, we've seen with Lamal and Paez that really talented young attacking players can break through at very young ages.
I think centerback and goalie is a position where there is room for fast tracking. We don’t have a ton of great options and either spot so if someone emerges they’ll get moved through the ranks quickly. But given all the up and coming players at both spots I feel pretty good about where things will be come 2030.
I feel like we have come such a long way WRT mid-teen prospects that have very good technical skills (especially at the CM positions)... but I am worried that we may lack athleticism at the winger position. I thought Cowell would fit the bill and I guess he still might... but I really want to see more teenage wingers w/ demon speed that put the fear of God in their opponents. A whole U23 squad w/o a single vertical threat? AAR, Banks has been VERY impressive with the USYNTs. The kid looks legit... kind of like the myriad of athletic beasts that France always brings along. I was really impressed with the CBs for Colombia as well. I would love to have a couple of big, young CBs w/ the pace to run down opponents. Banks could really be that kind of player. Hopefully he comes along quickly and we get him to play for us rather than Germany.
I think the thing with Banks is he’s going to get an opportunity with the USMNT far before he gets one with Germany. So I feel pretty good about how that will go if he continues to develop.
Julian Hall is looking like he'll be what Cowell was supposed to be. He has that type of athleticism. There are some other big winger prospects that I think are decent athletes like Fletcher, Berchimas, even Mathis Albert (who may be a very good athlete but more all-around athlete than a pure speedster), that will up the general athleticism, but might not necessarily frighten teams with pace. Gozo is somewhat similar to Albert, but maybe not as good. Alex Gimple is a player I feel is pretty underrated and fits into this type of (good athlete but not great) winger category. Aside from Hall, if Omar Hassan pans out he will certainly frighten teams with pace. He's an '09. Jamil Danjaji from the '10 age group might be the most athletic of all of them (he could end up a CF too), but he's so young that it's tough to know the exact degree of his athleticism in the future and whether he'll pan out.