Alphonso "Phonzie" Davies

Arquitecto wrote:Easily better than any American player ever, not that this is saying much given the best have been mostly Donovan and Alexi the Cagliari legend LOLas.

Davies is going to be a superstar.

As far as defenders go, I'm inclined to agree. We haven't had a Pulisic-level defensive talent really break through at a top level European team yet. Canada got us be there.

Hapless_Hans wrote:https://streamable.com/9xqb60#

I have seen it so many times that day. Just never get bored of it
Amazing player dont know how Bayern reached all the way To Canada

Another Hans hype job. Was Bayern's worst player in the final.

Just cause you footwork your way past Semedo doesn't make you "the world's best LB". He is basically an above average winger with work rate. That alone doesn't make you a world class full-back.

Granted, he is only 19. So will save judgement for him to a later date.

He got rinsed in the final a few times. Relies way too much on his pace. I wonder when he loses a step eventually and doesn't properly develop defensive instincts he's gonna be better be served as a winger than a LB long term.

Disasterclass today, but we move.



Pride of Canada.

2.47/10 would not bang eyebrows too crooked.

Cringe level over nine thousand.

Overrated player. Overrated channel.

Next!

She looks prettier on video than in pictures. Great eyes. Updating the rating from 6.5/10 to 7.5/10

Also from experience people look better IRL than on camera so even 8/10 maybe

hands down the worst commentator in world football. Canada should be ashamed.

He describes it hockey style

We won't be ashamed

Holy shit

where did this GOAT come from

pure bliss

Davies was always gonna be the phenomenal FB hes turned out to be already no? In the meantime Upemcano still looks shaky at the back, that young CB partner looked decent though.

What this guy made of. What a freak of nature. He makes steps like Bigfoot, can’t catch up. The lb market is scarce, what a find that

To date, I consider him the first truly elite player produced by MLS. Gonna be a while before another makes the leap in quality like he has.

McLewis wrote:To date, I consider him the first truly elite player produced by MLS. Gonna be a while before another makes the leap in quality like he has.

Is that your way of US taking credit for development of a Canadian?

futbol_bill wrote:

McLewis wrote:To date, I consider him the first truly elite player produced by MLS. Gonna be a while before another makes the leap in quality like he has.

Is that your way of US taking credit for development of a Canadian?

I frankly don't even like MLS. It cares too much about money and not enough about football in general, like all of the other major leagues here. It's not for a lack of trying, but I just can't get into it.

That said, Davies was developed entirely by the Vancouver Whitecaps, a Canadian member club of MLS. He's fully a product of Canada, not US Soccer. I don't think you'll find many Americans claiming him as one of our own in this context. And if you do, be sure to let them know they're idiots. As 1 of the top 2 domestic leagues in North America though, MLS does have a tangential connection to him.

I think it's all credit to Davies for being a player so good that he starts at Bayern, as far as i know development is secondary in MLS. There is a bit of "buy low sell high" but only Atlanta FC seem to succeed at it.

Player development is a bit of a myth tbh it's all about detecting young kids with innate talent and guiding them through the youth ranks.

farfan wrote:Player development is a bit of a myth tbh it's all about detecting young kids with innate talent and guiding them through the youth ranks.

Its more than a myth actually. So many don't want to accept that pure hard work cannot have you perform above the best in sporting levels simply because its out of their control.

Ronaldo is used as an example of extreme hard work but his innate talent was already so high that his absurd training rate maximised it.

Most players train at the same level and pace but talent is what yields the highest rate at the end of it all.

farfan wrote:Player development is a bit of a myth tbh it's all about detecting young kids with innate talent and guiding them through the youth ranks.

You've just described player developement. To identify and train youth players is not trivial.

Many talents go unoticed and many are noticed but wasted for many reasons.

Myesyats wrote:What this guy made of. What a freak of nature. He makes steps like Bigfoot, can’t catch up. The lb market is scarce, what a find that

His balance is insanely good. There were so many times where it felt like he was going to lose a 50/50 ball, but then he just spins his body and reaches it first.

rincon wrote:

farfan wrote:Player development is a bit of a myth tbh it's all about detecting young kids with innate talent and guiding them through the youth ranks.

You've just described player developement. To identify and train youth players is not trivial.

Many talents go unoticed and many are noticed but wasted for many reasons.

That's not how many people define it though. Many believe that there is a specific curriculum that can help develop a random batch of young kids into professional footballers. Many teams tried this in the past by investing most of their youth resources into coaching and not scouting. Even ex players like Van Der Saar still believe this to an extent. In fact this was a major point of contention between him and Berkamp, who believes that coaching and tactics shouldn't even be part of the "development"process it's all about selecting talented kids early on and letting them grow organically by simply playing the game.

The secret to France's success in player development is that there is no secret. Create a local football team in every neighborhood of every city of every department and make it easy for every able bodied kid to get into the system as early as possible...that's literally it.