Niko assists on a free kick to former academy teammate Ethan Kohler to go up 1-0 vs. Cuba. I'm not sure Kohler actually touched it.
Great, a play made by the guy who left our academy / club and the former Quakes academy now 1st team guy who (purportedly) wants to leave our club.
What you talking about? "When I was born I had a dream To be there every game Representing for my team, [chorus) Oh San Jose (repeat) "When I grew up My dream came true I'm a San Jose Ultra And my heart is black and blue."
Tsakiris has not played well enough this season to earn any interest from other clubs. He needs to put his head down and keep grinding and work on the weak spots in his game.
I like that he was a super sub last u-20 cycle but this time he will probably be the best playmaker of that team. If Vargas had not switched those two would have been an awesome combo
If we have any aspirations at all, we should want him to leave the club in a transfer . I'm probably being overly harsh but I just get too bummed out about the extreme one-footedness. And the one-footedness only bothers me because I see it affecting his play all the time. The longer we keep him around the longer people are less impressed that he's a 19-year old getting minutes in an MLS midfield and start to look more at his productivity and pattern of play.
Are you similarly bummed out by the one-footedness of Pellegrino? It seems like you’ve been pretty high on him when you chose him as one of your guys, despite a similar limitation
He's not nearly as one-footed as Niko (and Jebo). He frustrates me sometimes when he doesn't shoot with his left when that shot is available (and I've called it out many times), but he doesn't get "stuck" with the ball in the run of play because he won't use his left and he will pass with his left (including an occasional cross). He also scored with his left against LAFC at Levi's on a breakaway, a goal that you gave me "props" for, for being a Pellegrino defender. How quickly they forget!! I've never "chosen him" as "one of my guys", just called out what he does well and what he doesn't do well. This is an example. There are many. "And as I’ve said if we don’t play to Pellegrino’s strengths there’s no point in playing him. There’s no point in getting mad at him for not taking defenders on like Cade does. That’s not his game. People don’t realize that Pellegrino’s quite fast given a good run up. In terms of his playing to his strengths we should be trying to play him thru at least 5 times a game." [Note: Pellegrino leads the team in goals with 5 and has 2 breakaway goals, so I guess I wasn't too far off in saying that we should try playing him through. He could have more goals on those but has blown too many chances.]
Great goal from Niko for the U20s, he was the best player on the pitch vs Costa Rica in an admittedly sloppy game. He used his left foot though which I’m sure is a disappointment to some here lol Nikolas Tsakiris finds the back of the net! United States up 1-0 against Costa Rica at the end of the first half 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/TNGRroTAKC— Concacaf (@Concacaf) July 27, 2024
Mic'd up and ready to roll, midfielder Niko Tsakiris takes us inside the action at #U20MYNT’s training session. pic.twitter.com/25bRz4Mj8e— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) August 1, 2024
lol why would they sell him again? He was great for the US, is young, and plays a position we desperately need and have no depth in
I've watched Niko play for us for 3 years now, over 40 games played, have not seen any appreciable improvement, and he has no right foot. I would sell if we get a good offer. That’s how it works. If you have a young player that teams are willing to pay good money for, you may want to take the offer, “position of need” or not. Besides, the rumor (don't know if it's true but a few people on here are saying it) is that he doesn't want to stay with the club.
Is there any young Quake players we don’t hear rumors about wanting to play elsewhere? I swear I heard the same about Emi Ochoa right before he signed a contract extension. It’s a love/hate relationship
If I were a young, aspiring player with hopes of having a future, I would want also want out of San Jose. The only hope the Quakes have of having competitive players is if they purchase some foreign outcasts who are unsigned by their clubs or who are in a dead-end league without any outlet of advancement.
I don't know if those rumors are true about Niko, but the fact that his dad coaches the LAG U17's and his brother is in the Gals academy adds a bit of fuel to that speculation. I think a couple of things have to happen to make Quakes academy players more inspired to stick around: 1) We have become a better team. 2) We have to show more willingness to give young academy prospects chances to play with the 1st team.
I only watched the second half of a game that he got subbed at the 60 minutes mark. Reminded me again why I don't watch U-20 and below games.
I don't think so. The Gals would want Niko if they felt he could make them better, and Niko is at a point in his career where it would be hard to argue that he makes the Quakes any better. And the Gals have a lot more ambition than we do, they are not going to want Niko for sentimental reasons like having a dad coaching there, and a brother in the academy.
They could be interested in him as a depth player. Remember, he's only 19 - a top U20 player, and he's going to look a lot better playing with players like Puig than he does with us. Of course it's not going to be for "sentimental reasons" . I had no idea why Chivas would want Cade either based on his play with the Quakes but he's doing OK with them. But really we don't want to lose Niko or even to trade him to the Gals. We want to con some team like Chivas to give us $3-4M for him. There must be a few teams out there who haven't taken the JJ Just Say No To Extreme One-Footed Players course.
If Niko went to LA, he could live with his dad who is coaching one of the youth teams I believe. If the Quakes get a lot of money for him, I’d sell him but they may not want to give it to the Gals. I’m betting he will go abroad first though.