On Thursday, the Raphael Wicky era of the U.S. U17 Men’s National Team officially kicks off.

The new Youth National Team coach begins his term with U.S. Soccer at the 2019 Concacaf Championship, the U17 World Cup qualifying event, in Florida which pairs USA against Canada, Barbados, and Guatemala in group play. USA meets their northern neighbors on Thursday at 6 p.m. (ET) for the first game of the event and the first time for many to view Wicky’s squad. 

“We want to try to be dominant on the ball and off the ball,” Wicky told reporters about what his expectations are for the group heading into the games. “First, I want see a team that works together in all phases of the game. When I was watching footage of the team, I saw that they work really hard and have a lot of energy. I think this is a strength of the team.”

The new head coach has not had much time to implement his ideas or tactics. He was hired in March and held his first mini-camp in April. He said on Tuesday that’s he has only had one training session with the full squad given that Seattle Sounders midfielder Daniel Leyva arrived in Florida on Monday and Sporting Kansas City winger Gianluca Busio arrived in camp on Sunday. Both are Homegrown players with their respective MLS franchises. Busio has scored a goal in his past three MLS appearances. 

“I’m very happy to have Gianluca Busio here,” Wicky said. “I’ve followed him and I’ve seen that he is getting regular minutes in MLS, which is amazing at that young age. He wasn’t here for the mini-camp in early April. He was playing with Sporting Kansas City, but I was in touch with him. He’s happy to be part of the group. He’s excited to play in this tournament and help the team.”

Wicky also shared that Atlanta United Homegrown defender George Bello did not make the roster as he is not fully fit. 

Among the players in Florida, Wicky is very encouraged with the individual quality, but he highlighted the collective cohesion as one of the main strengths of the group. 

“I think this group has an amazing mentality, which is a factor for every team,” Wicky said during the conference call with reporters on Tuesday. “Besides the individual quality and individual talent of different players, it’s all about being a team, forming a team, bonding together. I have this impression from the first moment that I met them. I always say it’s almost impossible to all be friends in a team, at least that is my experience from when I was a player. You don’t have to be friends but at the end of the day it’s nice if the players like to hang out with each other. This is the feeling I get from this team. Even players who are in competition with each other for the same spot, they hang out together, they encourage each other in training sessions. This mentality, this spirit - they want to achieve something together. Knowing that it only works together. I think it’s a big point for this team.” 

With regard to his brief time with the group, Wicky explained that he’s implemented some basic stuff, but nothing all that different from the way the group has played in the past under previous coaches. 

“They have done a really good job before,” Wicky said. “I’ve followed them and I’ve seen games. . . Competitions like this are about being a team. Working hard together, fighting for each other and never going up.”

He also spoke specifically about a few players. He explained that he views former New York City FC academy standout Giovanni Reyna as a key figure for the group. 

“I think a player like him needs to be involved as much as possible during the game,” Wicky said. “He makes the other players look better. I would like to have him in the center of the field somehow. I don’t think the position that he plays when we have the ball is important; it’s more that I want him in the center. He can start from the wing and come inside, he can be a No. 9 and drop down a bit. He can start from the center as an 8 or a 10. There are a lot of different variations of him. I want to try to put him in positions where he touches the ball a lot. He has the quality to create chances.”

He was also asked about the talented Sounders duo of Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez and Leyva. 

“I am convinced that they will be very important for our team,” Wicky said. “Alfonso is in great form, scoring a lot of goals at GA cup. Daniel [Leyva] just had an amazing experience after being on the bench for the first team.”

Wicky and the US squad will get their first taste of international competition on May 2 in their first game from the 2019 Concacaf U17 Championship. 

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