USMNT prospect Cameron Carter-Vickers started for Tottenham against Liverpool and looked like a teenager

OK, here’s the good. American central defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, the 18-year-old who was born in England but whose father was an American basketball player in Europe, played in his second game for Tottenham Hotspurs’ senior team on Tuesday. He went all 90 minutes in Spurs’ 2-1 loss to Liverpool in the fourth round of the largely superfluous League Cup – which really only serves to give young players, like Carter-Vickers, competitive senior team minutes.

Carter-Vickers remains committed to the United States national team program, which he has represented at the under-18, under-20 and under-23 levels, although he could still file for a one-time switch to England.

And here’s the bad. CCV, as he goes by in the American soccer community, looked raw and young. He plainly has the physical tools to play at this level, but he will need a lot more seasoning before he can do it well. Certainly, he is still a full two months away from his 19th birthday, and little more could reasonably be expected from a man – barely – his age.

In the ninth minute, Georges-Kevin N’Koudou committed a turnover in Tottenham’s own third. Marko Grujic’s shot deflected to Daniel Sturridge, who ran away from Carter-Vickers and Kevin Wimmer and scored. That goal was probably CCV’s fault more than it was Wimmer’s.

Early in the second half, CCV seemed to be taking down Sturridge in the box but wasn’t called for it. And he wasn’t at fault when the England striker did score as he loped through the botched offside trap – that was on Kevin Wimmer.

Spurs got back into it with a penalty when Lucas chopped down Erik Lamela in the box and Vincent Janssen converted.

But Liverpool would hold on and almost scored again on Sturridge’s shot. Only this time Carter-Vickers deflected it with his thigh, sending it arcing over goalkeeper Michel Vorm and bouncing off the underside of the bar.

It was, then, a perfectly acceptable performance for a teenager when you consider that he’s probably a few years away from being a regular. Teenagers aren’t the finished product, after all.

Set against the context of the hype that has been building around CCV, however, you could be fooled into thinking he was somehow disappointing. Consider, after all, the things his own, famously demanding manager Mauricio Pochettino has said about him.

• “He’s a beast. He’s like a wall.”

• “He showed real qualities.”

• “I think he can go on to be one of the best defenders in England in the future. He is strong, he has a good mentality, he has all the qualities of a player with a big future.”

• “Does he remind me of myself? No, he is better than me. I said one of the best center backs in England.” (Pochettino played 20 games for Argentina at center back.)

• “He deserves to play in the starting XI.”

• “Cameron shows in every session he is at the same level as others.”

If the objective is to give a young player confidence, this is effective messaging. If, however, Spurs want to manage expectations on a player who can’t reasonably be expected to break into the lineup of one of the Premier League’s best teams and own his spot just yet, none of this is very helpful.

Elements of the U.S. national team fan base has been aching for CCV’s introduction at the senior team level. He has promise, but he clearly isn’t ready – although that didn’t stop head coach Jurgen Klinsmann from calling John Brooks in a year or two prematurely.

For now, that’ll do just fine. Cameron Carter-Vickers needs time. And at his age, he has it.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.