Alex Mendez has been the player of the tournament for the U.S. U20s. Here’s a bit of a scouting report on him Adam Belz Follow Nov 19, 2018 · 8 min read

The U.S. U20s beat Costa Rica 4–0 on Friday, an emphatic win over a generally respectable Concacaf opponent, and a win that qualified the U.S. for the 2019 World Cup in Poland.

Encouraging! And not just because of the result, but because the Americans played good soccer.

Though the U.S. didn’t create dozens of clear-cut chances, as they had through five group games, they dominated possession, scored two goals on moments of individual class in the first half and squeezed the life out of Costa Rica in the second half. If on Monday they can beat or draw with Honduras, they’ll go to the final of the Concacaf Championship against either Mexico or Panama.

Tab Ramos’s boys started the group stage of the tournament in disjointed style. They ran up the score on teams like Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Trinidad & Tobago, but they never built sustained rhythm with the ball.

That started to change against Suriname in the final game of the group, and carried over to Friday’s win. As they’ve gelled, this team has gotten more patient and confident with the ball on the floor. Here’s a nice sequence of passing and moving in tight space from left back Chris Gloster, and midfielders Alex Mendez and Juan Pablo Torres that resulted in Gloster being fouled.

Ramos came out in his 4–3–3, as usual. The fullbacks — Gloster and Sergino Dest — had license to roam forward, and they did.

Dest was added to the roster after the group stage, and was a welcome addition. The Ajax fullback is quick, tough and sophisticated on the ball (he’s played some winger for the Ajax U19s this season), and he dominated his side of the field. He’s probably claimed the top right back job over Sporting KC’s Jaylin Lindsey and N.C. State’s Manny Perez, both still on this roster. Gloster, the Hannover left back, also had a good game. He was smooth on the ball, strong in the air, and comfortable getting forward. Torres and Brandon Servania covered for the marauding fullbacks, and for Alex Mendez, who pulled strings in the attack and scored the goal of the tournament for the U.S., but is not a stout defender (more on that later).

Paxton Pomykal and Ulysses Llanez were free to operate from the wings and link with Gloster and Dest. The chemistry between fullbacks and wingers has grown over the tournament and the interplay at times on Friday could even be described as well-oiled. The attack was rounded out by Sebastian Soto, a true No. 9 and one of the leading U19 scorers in Germany for Hannover. He wasn’t directly involved in any goals but his intelligent off-ball movement dragged and occupied the centerbacks and his hold-up play was generally assured.

In any case, the Americans bore down on Costa Rica for 90 minutes and centerbacks Mark McKenzie and Matt Real were barely tested. The only bad things that happened were the injury of Llanez (not sure how serious) and two miscommunications between goalkeeper Brady Scott and the centerbacks that created some unnecessary danger at the back.

Several U20s are playing well in this tournament but the most interesting has been Mendez, who set up as the advanced central midfielder and scored the game-winner in the 15th minute. If you’ve read this far you’re a diehard and you’ve probably already seen it. It was a certified golazo from 30 yards.

Don’t miss the excellent pass from McKenzie and the class turn from Mendez. He then touches the ball into space and jackhammers a swerver into the top corner. What a strike.

Mendez’s lethal left foot (from distance and on free kicks), his quality and intelligence on the ball and his eye for the killer pass give him as high an upside as anyone on this roster.

But he’s not the kind of player who just looks to hit screamers. He’s a passer, and a rhythm-builder. The game was full of Mendez playing quick, incisive passes in stride to teammates, a habit that makes the whole team better and ultimately wears down an opponent. I’ve got GIFs.

He was involved in the buildup to the Llanez goal by moving the ball across the field when he pulled down a headed pass from Pomykal, turned, and poked it to Torres. Torres passed to the wing to Llanez, who did the rest, but don’t underestimate the importance of Mendez’s efficiency in the buildup.

Here’s a more mundane example. The first-time pass to Llanez is a simple choice but it’s perfectly in stride and sets the attack in motion.

Here Mendez picks out Akinola (who came on for an injured Llanez in the first half) on the wing with a gently curling side-footed pass. Nice work from Servania to win the ball and pass to Mendez in a good spot, and Mendez’s pass is fast and perfect. (Notice also the way Soto initiates contact with the centerback as Akinola runs onto the ball. Soto has won position if Akinola can get it to the near post.)

Here Mendez shows his composure in possession, and finds a clever little pass to Gloster in space to key another attack.

And once again on Friday, Mendez was dangerous on dead balls. He recorded an assist late in the game on this free kick from the right wing. Swerved into a dangerous area, great header from Akinola.

Servania has been very good in this tournament, and so have Llanez, Pomykal and Justin Rennicks, but Mendez has been Tab Ramos’s best player.

And his story should be an encouragement to every youth international who misses a call-up. He was left off of John Hackworth’s U17 rosters for both the 2017 Concacaf Championship and the 2017 World Cup. Now he’s MOTM in the game that qualifies the U.S. U20s for the World Cup, and he’s on the short list of prospects serious national team fans should be paying attention to.

Mendez grew up in south central Los Angeles and came up soccer-wise with Brian Kleiban at Chivas USA and then the LA Galaxy. He jumped the Galaxy ship just after going to the DA Final this summer and before he turned 18 in September. He trialed in Europe and signed a contract with Bundesliga club S.C. Freiburg (in extreme southwest Germany) this fall. He lived and trained in Freiburg, a city of 229,000, for three weeks before the U20 World Cup qualifying tournament started. He’ll return to the Black Forest after this tournament and should start playing in the U19 Bundesliga in January.

If Mendez is going to kick his way to the first team (for club and country), he has something he needs to work on.

His biggest weakness is defending. Whether it’s due to sluggish tactical defensive awareness, a lack of speed and strength, or a dispositional unwillingness to get stuck in, Mendez offers little resistance to the opponent in the middle of the field. Perhaps he is therefore best suited to play as a 10, which is more or less what he’s been doing for the U20s, but even in that case he will need to become a tougher defender at Freiburg. (Ramos was wise to play Torres next to Brandon Servania against Costa Rica in the midfield, because he provided reliable extra cover for Mendez, who needs it.)

Mendez told me himself that he needs to work on his 1v1 and positional defending. That’s feedback he’s gotten from coaches at Freiburg and something he said he knows.

Here’s an example. It’s too easy to dribble past him. To his credit he tracks the play, recovers the ball and plays a quick, useful pass out of the American defensive third. But only Servania’s range saved this from being a more dangerous situation and Mendez was left behind by a simple dribble.

Here Mendez waves Costa Rican left back Carlos Martínez through. Again, way too easy. He’s not the only defender who could have done better but this was one of Costa Rica’s most threatening moments of the game, and it looked to me like Mendez’s teammates were expecting him to get stuck in. He didn’t.

There you have it. Alex Mendez. He can give the ball away cheaply on occasion, and he could find better spots and demand the ball more often, but that’s just me being picky. Where he really needs to improve is defending.

If he can get harder and more decisive at wrecking what the other team is trying to do, even as an attacking midfielder, we should expect big things from the kid. Freiburg is a good place to learn those things. The U19 Bundesliga is fast, technical and physical, and the competition is desperate. Godspeed. We should get a good look at how Mendez has progressed when the U.S. kicks off play at the U20 World Cup in May.

One last thing. Check out our podcast, Scuffed. I’ve interviewed several of the key players in this U20 cycle, including Mendez, Soto, Chris Durkin, Richie Ledezma and Chris Richards.