Eighteen follow Donovan and Co.’s footsteps into Bradenton residency

John Ellinger has a new group of youngsters in Bradenton, Fla., doing the same things and dreaming the same dreams that Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley were doing and dreaming a year ago. Eighteen players, ages 14-16, began on Jan. 17 what they hope will be a 15-month residency at the Bollettieri Sports Academy, U.S. Soccer’s second such program for its under-17 team. The success enjoyed by Donovan, Beasley and Co. – brewed during its 1999 residency at Bollettieri – has left them soaring expectations for the next U-17 World Cup, April 2001 in Trinidad & Tobago. “They know that,” says Ellinger, who over two years guided the Donovan-led Yanks to a 30-8-9 record in internationals and a fourth-place finish at the eighth U-17 championships last November in New Zealand. “They know that the last group has raised the bar, as far as what’s expected. The challenge for them is to try to reach those goals.” It’s a weighty challenge: The last group lost in the semifinals on penalty kicks and went 25 games without defeat until falling to Ghana in the third-place game. Donovan won the Golden Ball and Beasley the Silver Ball as the tournament’s best players. Five of the U-17s signed pro contracts, three of them – Donovan (in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen), Beasley and Bobby Convey – before they turned 17. It’s a little early to determine whether the new group has that sort of potential, Ellinger says. There are players possessing tremendous skill, others who are very steady, some who are both, but it will take months of competition to get a real feel for what this group is capable. “From what I’ve seen so far, this group is tactically pretty aware and pretty comfortable,” Ellinger says. “As far as looking for the Landon, someone who catches your eye right away, there are a couple players who seem to possess that little pizzazz.” The best of the bunch could be Josh Villalobos, an attacking midfielder from Fayetteville, N.C., who turned 14 in November. He’s the youngest player on the team but might be the most technically gifted. “Everyone feels he’s the strongest player coming out of the ’85 [birth year] pool,” Ellinger reports. “He’s very quick on the ball, and he’s the first one [from this group] the last team noticed right off the bat.” There are others with skills worth watching, forwards Edward Johnson and Paul Johnson – no relation – and a whole slew of midfielders: Daniel Fiore, Santino Quaranta and Justin Mapp, all left-footers, and twins Marco and Mario Rodriguez. Right back David Chun’s and defensive midfielder Heath Pearce’s strengths are more about tactical awareness. Then there’s the No. 1 goalkeeper, Zachary Riffett, a mature kid (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) whom Ellinger says “will battle for a position down the road on other national teams.” And the back line is tactically stronger than the last group’s, with Chun and Chefik Simo attacking on the wings and Jordan Harvey and 6-footer Gray Griffin, at 16 the team’s eldest players, in the middle. Defenders Craig Capano, only 14, and Chris Lancos, midfielder Jordan Stone and backup keeper Adam Schuerman also will battle for jobs.

‘Our youth are getting better and better’

“All the guys are tremendously skillful,” praises Ellinger. “That’s the great thing about it – for all their time with their club teams, in ODP, with the U-16s, they’re all very experienced players at a very young age. … “There’s a great deal of talent, and I agree with most coaches who will tell you [that] as a country, our youth are getting better and better every year.” The residency, under the auspices of U.S. Soccer’s Project 2010, provides a professional environment under which the players can develop and prosper. The aim is to be competing for World Cup titles by 2010, when this group will be 24-26. The team was initially culled last year from regional teams by University of Washington coach Dean Wurzburger, the U-16 coach at the time. It played 17 matches and traveled to Europe in ’99, and a broadened pool attended a camp with the past U-17 team last September. From that group, Ellinger selected his 18, and they attended an orientation at Bollettieri with their parents in December. They have a busy schedule before summer break at the end of May: games against local colleges and MLS teams, tournaments in Northern Ireland and Italy, and a 32-player camp from which players for fall residency, beginning in August, will be selected. The Football Confederation’s qualifying tournament is in November, and only two teams earn an automatic berth to the 2001 finals – Trinidad & Tobago gets the third as host – with another advancing to a playoff. This group starts residency younger than the previous one, which held regular camps and played in tournaments for a year before heading to Bradenton. It has less time to prepare for qualifying, which the United States has applied to host, and the U-17 World Cup. And Ellinger’s attentions are divided – he’s Clive Charles’ assistant with the U-23s, who hope to compete at the Sydney Olympics in September. “It’s going to be an interesting few months,” Ellinger says. “If things go as expected, we’ll have them in residence [nearly] a year and a half. It will be constant. “That first group probably had 115 days’ activity the first year. We’ll surpass that in May.” by Soccer America senior editor Scott French