Cody Cropper Signs First Pro Contract; Called Up To U.S. U-18 Team for Milk Cup
It’s been a big week for Ipswich Town goalkeeper and Minnesotan Cody Cropper. First it was announced that Cropper was close to signing his first pro contract, something which had been planed since last season when he signed his youth contract with Ipswich. On Friday, Cropper himself confirmed via his new Twitter account that he had indeed signed the papers making it official.
The 18-year-old Cropper tweeted, “Signed my pro contract today with @Burkey0607! Absolutely buzzin! Can’t wait for this season! #itfc.” Previously he had tweeted, “Absolutely wrecked! Didn’t sleep last night and then a hard morning session… Now we have an hours running session! Wow.”
Earlier in the week US Men’s U-18 National Team head coach Mike Matkovich had announced Cropper as one of two goalkeepers in his 18-man roster for the 2011 Milk Cup which takes place in Northern Ireland. Cropper will surely be one of the leaders on this squad. He has been training and playing in Europe for nearly two years and has spent considerable time with the US U-20s as well. Cropper will most likely feature over the other keeper, Jon Kempin of Sporting Kansas City.
The Milk Cup will begin on July 24, with the U.S. will playing Israel on July 25 and Mexico on July 27 before a placement match on Friday, July 29.
The U-18 squad is made up of players who will all be eligible to play in the 2013 U-20 World Cup according to Brian Sciaretta of Yanks Abroad.
Adding to the excitement, Cropper started in goal for the Ipswich reserves in a friendly on Wednesday against Haverhill. Ipswich defeated the non-league side 2-1. Cropper did feature in a number of reserve team games last year but most of his time was spent with the academy team. However, most days Cropper trains with the team’s top goalkeepers and goalkeeper coach.
Ipswich Town’s first team compete in England’s League Championship in the second tier of English football. Last season they ended the season with a 18-8-20 record leaving them 13th in the 24-team league. The team also went through a coaching change midseason bringing in Paul Jewell to replace former Irish International and Manchester United star, Roy Keene.
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This has been bugging me for a while now maybe someone can do a in depth article about the competiveness between MLS and NASL. Are MLS teams really that superior to NASL teams? So far the huge gap is in attendance figures, but what else since both leagues are closed systems and the only head to head competitions will be friendlies and USOC. I actually believe that the current squad Carolina has would thrive in MLS, and from my observation Vancouver were better last year in D2 than they are in MLS.