GB coached in MLS for what, four years? Stewart was a GM in the league for almost as long. I doubt anyone in MLS they didn't call was either identified as a culture problem during the last cycle (Nagbe, Villafana, maybe Guzan) or hurt. Anyone who was healthy and not called is just not someone they are interested in over the guys they did call. Many of the players they called they have already discarded. Cannon, Canouse, Acosta, Glad, and all the other guys that got zero minutes. There is some deficiency in their game they will have to address. What is left that can help is actually plenty, just none playing in MLS last year. I'd expect the GC roster to have, at most, 7 MLS based players. If you take WM, CP, TA, JB as locks, that leaves everyone else playing in Europe for 12 spots. Amon, Sabbi, Gall, Sargent, Wright, Weah, Polster, Robinson, CCV, EPB, Yedlin, Holmes, Gooch are guys playing regularly somewhere. I'd expect a good number of them will be at the GC. Then there are others that could break through in the next 5 months: Ledezma, Mendez, Dest, Hyndman, Richards, Young, Taitague, Cappis, and others. The next guys in MLS that could break through are not going to be 26 year olds like Rowe or Agudelo or Parker or past prime guys like Opara. It would be teenagers breaking into starting lineups like Bello, Carleton, Servania, Durkin.
Attackers: Rowe: settling in with SKC. a-mid. nice goal creation abilities. needs to improve his passing. Picault: winger, possible a-mid. elite pace and work rate. looks to have rounded out his game with a strong MLS season. can he build on last season? Nagbe: a-mid/cm. talented, but does he have the fire? Agudelo: positionally challenged. looked good in wide midfield, in his Portugal cap. Morris: fwd. let's see how he returns from injury CM Tommy Thompson: gifted. needs to put it together at MLS level, first. Jacori Hayes: dominated when he played. needs to become a full-time starter. Defenders: Romney: CB/stay-at-home LB. performed very well despite frequently being left on an island. When he started at LCB/LWB/LB, LA's record was 6W3D2L Opara: CB Playing abroad Morales: entering his prime years. and is a starter in the B1. will his passing numbers look better in a different setting? Holmes: winger who has forced his way into Derby's starting lineup. has been very influential of late. needs to get a look in March. Gooch: winger/forward. needs to move up a level. Sonora: have not seen him play, but he has been getting minutes in the Argentine 1st Division. Ventura Alvarado: CB/LB. Has settled in as captain of a quality Nexaca side. Chandler. RB. Is he still interested? Are we? Johnson. RB/LB Ditto.
Mid-to-late career breakthrough with the team. Jimmy Conrad got his first cap at age 27 then made the '06 WC team. Brian Ching didn't break in a serious way until the '10 cycle. Brad Davis didn't make it until the '14 cycle. So we will likely see a mixture this cycle, such as-- Young Studs From Day 1: McKennie, Adams, Weah, Pulisic, Sargent, McKenzie Mid Career Grinders: Trapp, Zardes, Roldan Late Bloomers: Long, Picault, Ramirez Dual Nationals: Siebatchieu, Kik, Holmes Vets Hanging ON: Bradley, Bedoya, Altidore Reclamation Projects: Brek
I think I agree with about everything you said except Romney. He just has too many “wtf” moments. He’s slow as a LB and just gets caught napping as a CB. Believe me, I really wanted to like the guy, but he’s not NT caliber.
Forgot about Jacori Hayes. Him and Pomykal in the middle of the park for Dallas will be enjoyable to watch. And damnit Tommy, its now or never bud. This coach is going to give him every chance to succeed. I know hes got it in him...
Keep in mind that Dallas' new midfield DP, Bryan Acosta, will probably take the place of one of those two in the starting XI. FCD "insiders" seem to think its Jacori that'll be replaced. I don't know if it'll be Pax's "breakout season" or not, but the tea leaves suggest he's going to be given a chance. He's likely to be gone for an extended period with the US U20s..........................
I would say that it is too soon to say they have already been discarded. In Cannon's interview he spoke of the difficulties he had adjusting to the new roles (the way the rb was playing under Berhalter's system). Lleget also mentioned difficulties. It is very possible that some of the playing time/lack was due to current understanding. Different people pick things up at different paces. When some of those players absorb the system a bit better they may very well leapfrog to the front. It is also possible that Berhalter expects some of those left out to do exactly that. It is possible that is what you meant by addressing the deficiency(s) in their game but the term discarded seemed a bit too extreme/harsh.
Cannon is 20, of course he is not permanently discarded. But he is probably not going to get another look until next January. Then Berhalter will see if he has made any progress. The CNL is new and we don't know how GB will handle those rosters. But I can't imagine any MLS player that couldn't get on the field in January, to be called in March. And if they are not called in March (if any MLS players are called at all), how can they show they have progressed before the Gold Cup?
It's a false premise because the big dogs haven't even had their first call yet, and a wise coach would be evaluating talent and system fit widely and not just assuming.
I think some MLS players will be called in March. The question is how many will get to see the field. I would think Steffen, Trapp for sure, maybe Bradley, Zardes and Jozy if healthy.
You may very well be right but I think the Gold cup itself is a good opportunity for a few players to get called in before potentially being sent home. Assuming that Berhalter saw something, in one or more of the players that you mentioned, that he liked it is likely that he will monitor the player(s) and possibly call him in to see how he does the second time around. I believe it would be less likely in March because that is the time he will probably use to focus more on Euro players (I think) but for the Gold Cup he could very well bring them back. I would think that Cannon might be a candidate....Canouse I would say less so because he has more competition (in my mind) and passing (assuming that was his issue) is a more difficult thing to improve in a short time than positioning and movement as it might be for Cannon. For Lleget to move up on the depth chart (he played but he wasn't even starting camp cupcake) he probably has to get a better grip of tactics but I could definitely see him getting a second look in March and Gold Cup. I think most have an opportunity to get at least a second look. When that look happens (March, Gold Cup, next Camp Cupcake etc) will depend on what the reason was for not using them. I assume the reasons varied and different players could have deficiencies that vary in difficulty to fix.
I'm with you. I also think the March camp will be for GB to have a first look at the Euro guys. I would be very surprised if MLSers that he didn't see in January camp get called to the March camp.
Efrain Alvarez, Frei, Laursen, Payne, Toljan, Pierie, Moore, Dest, Richards, Amon, Sabanadzovic, de la Fuente, Holmes, Sabbi, Siebetchau, Gall, Saief, Tillman, Wright.
I wonder why these upcoming games aren't in Europe, since LoN is over and many of our players are from there. I wonder why we didn't pick softer opponents with which to initiate the next set of noobs to BerhalterBall. It's not like we're calling in the January camp people, at least in bulk. Have we ever considered literally fielding two separate units for the games. Italy in the fall had a LoN team at home and then a Belgium experimental squad for us neutral site. A week is not going to be in depth training anyway. We have limited time and need to figure out who to use for Gold Cup. If you pull a Camp Cupcake and start 13 players (Berhalter swapped 2 starters for game 2 of camp cupcake, meaning he only looked at 13 people in starting roles, and for example Lletget never was one) you basically decide the Gold Cup team at the friendlies, and pretty much before you play one. So you could do half A half experiment each game, or one game is the A and one is the experiment, and that way it's not basically a conventional wisdom coronation that we then have to undo later on.
I have no idea if this is what Berhalter will do but I think I have an idea of what I would consider. (remember, they didn't hire me so take this with a grain of salt if you like) I would use the March friendlies to look primarily at the Euro players. I would bring a few MLS players using two different criteria: 1) There may be a few (1-3?) that I want a closer look. 2) I might bring a few 1-3?) that I feel grasped the concepts of the tactics and system particularly well (the idea being that the new (euro) players might pick up some of the concepts a bit easier if there were a few players to help (during training esp) get the concepts across. During the drills they will know exactly what to do and it might help the euro guys acclimate. A guy like Bradley might be a candidate for this role. The guy(s) in the "teaching" role wouldn't be there to play; the main focus of the camp is/should still be to look at the Euro guys...he had a whole month to look at Bradley and the other MLS guys. When he gets to the Gold Cup, he should take the best of both (Euro and MLS) and put them together in a camp (he'll have a bit more time than the March Friendlies). At this point, the Euro guys may still not have as good a grasp as most of the guys from MLS but the group stage is/should be relatively easy for them to advance and it can be used for fine tuning and chemistry etc. They would be treated somewhat like glorified friendlies before the quarter finals when it starts to get somewhat more serious.
A lot of that depends on Pulisic and Adams. If Adams is a 10, Bradley probably starts. If Adams is a 6, there may be a spot open at the 10 (unless Pulisic is the 10, in which case the open spot is on the wing). If Adams is a RB, Bradley and maybe another MLS player starts. There’s also the possibility of Lima and/or an MLS player at left back, as well as Altidore. Basically no one really knows at this point.
I think Robinson is our starting LB. I would be very surprised if Adams is going to play RB instead of Yedlin.
If you mean who has already won a job, I would say no one except possibly Steffan. If I were to pick two that have the best chance of winning a spot in hte starting 11 it would probably be Lleget and Lima. Who he is considering for a spot in midfield and also along the defensive line I think will depend largely upon what his plan is for Weah, Adams, McKennie and Pulisic. Weah probably takes one of the wings (Ebobisse or Baird, McKennie takes Roldan's spot? and Pulisic takes Mihailovic spot. I know there has been a lot of debate over Adams role going forward. I suspect that Holden didn't come up with the idea of putting him at right back on his own...he probably heard a whisper or two. Depending upon what he does, Lleget, Roldan and Bradley/Trapp may have a chance. I also believe that the central defense is wide open between the MLS guys and the Euro guys...the MLS guys in the best position would be Long and Zimmerman (based only on the minutes received). Lima I think showed enough so that it is likely to be between him and Yedlin initially. (assuming Adams plays in midfield). I also think Cannon will get an opportunity to show where he fits in. I know Lleget didn't start any of the games in January but I'm betting that part of that was due to him being relatively slow to pick up the nuances etc of the system (based upon comments by Lleget and Berhalter). In both games he changed the game when he came on. Perhaps Berhalter will want to see him in March to see if his grasp of the system has improved. I wouldn't expect him to start but who knows. I don't expect to see Lima in the March friendlies. The other wild card is that name nobody wants to hear...Bradley. The question is how does Berhalter plan to fill that deep lying midfielder position? Against a tough team, Bradley seems to have lost a great deal of his ability defensively but he may be the best at filling the role offensively. Left back is one where he is still looking for a warm body. I started to make a potential starting lineup but decided I really don't know so I'll leave it at that.
As a guy who watches Red Bulls week-to-week, often enough in the stadium, Long is definitely the better of the two defenders at this point (better 1v1 defending, better with his feet, better on set pieces, and faster) but Parker is a guy who ought to be in the pool, for me, at least as a Jay Demerit-type solid defensive cover option as backup. I agree with you on Rowe. I'm not sure he'd be on my 23, but I'd give him a chance to earn his way onto it. He showed well in the paltry opportunities that he's had.
I think Brooks, Miazga, Zimmermann, and Long are probably our rotation right now of our top 4. Any one of them takes a knock, Parker and Opara should be in a fight for the 5th though. Would you say Long or Zimmermann is more of a lock to be that 3/4th defender? or is that pretty even keeled right now? I wish guys like Zimmermann, Long, and Parker would get snatched up by the Fulham, Newcastle, Southampton, Leeds, West Brom, Sheffield Uniteds of the league. Basically a relegation scrapper/promotion contender.
robinson pre-injury, yedlin and gooch play regularly. weah and holmes seem to be over the last month. the rest? not so much.
Somewhere on a par with Long. I think Berhalter rates them about right. Those are the three best American center backs currently in MLS, though Opara's somewhat interesting in a crowded field if he continues to stay healthy (I think he's crowded out, though), and Trusty and Glad still have the opportunity to emerge.