In Berhalter's defense, he did say... "right now, we're around 35 players." To me, that implies, if there was an important game tomorrow, he'd pick from about 35 guys, but that those guys may change over time, either players being added or taken out or some combination of both. In that context, I have no problem with saying we have a current pool of about 35 he's picking from. I do think what was interesting was when asked about Mexico vs the US, he immediately talked about Liga MX vs MLS concurrently with the national teams. It is almost like he views the national team as an extension of MLS and looks at the Mexican team in a similar way. I can't say this doesn't lend some credence to those saying he is MLS-centric about his selections.
The two goals are not in tension. 17 was horrible but a better managed team gets a draw against a bad T&T and we are not arguing about it.
I'd whinge less if GGG gave fewer things to whinge about, but he's managed to cram in Bruce-Arena-like truisms in a short amount of time. Things like making his pool 35 players, when many of the experiments called in so far were not good. What an awful idea. That's not even touching the elephant in the room of never moving on from Michael Bradley, and building the team around him (or a younger facsimile in Trapp).
Nothing suggests Berhalter will ever bring in the youth we're suggesting. He can bring in 35 names anytime but still put the same 11 out there he's comfy with and if he wins the GC with those 11 my money is on him staying with them in WC qualifying.
MB looks solid as an 8, though I'd prefer Bedoya or Nagbe in the way of a veteran presence. As a 6, he is horrible. We'll see if 3G makes the same adjustment TFC have. Trapp is ok as depth at the 6. However, if the coach wants to defend in 424 then Trapp is probably inadequate.
Yes, then when he can't cut it as an 8, we'll move him to 10, then back to 6, and the merry-go-round continues. Seems like just yesterday everyone was saying "finally he's back at the 6, he's always wanted that and it's his best position". Oh well. He scored against Mexico, and scored twice on MLS opening day. He's still got it!
I've heard this refrain before. Fact is Brucie sacrificed depth, competition, and the incorporation of much better players so his Lions could win the GC and make you happy. If he had started turning the team over around that time, we would have been in the WC (and might have had Jonathan Gonzalez in the mix now, too, even if there is simply no room for him, like Morales, etc.) Further, simply drawing in T&T wouldn't have been a success (and I still would have been arguing about it). We likely would have brought the same group of has beens to Russia and gotten annihilated. As another poster has said, this is more of the same from GB. He's building around an MLS group with a mix of Euros that simply can't be ignored. He believes (like Brucie did) that a mid-level MLS player is the equivalent of a lower/mid-level Bundesliga starter. Whatever.
He's always been an 8 at heart, likes to roam too much for a 6 and doesn't have the ball-skills/creativity for a 10. But, particularly when he was younger, he had a great work-rate and determination to chase the game.
Before the foot injury, MB did well in his starts at the 6 for Roma. Afterwards, he was an 8 who wanted to be a 6. The past two years, his lateral mobility has declined so much he can't even play the position at MLS level.
And that scares me because it (the GC roster) will be full of players who probably should be on the bench at best. And it means another nailbiter of concacaf qualifiers for the WC, which I won't have confidence for.
At some point, it's going to become so blatantly obvious how much better certain players are abroad that even this blind squirrel will figure it out, and if he doesn't, he rightfully should and likely will be s canned.
Here's another squad projection for the Gold Cup, this time from Avi Creditor of Sports Illustrated: Steffen, Horvath, Johnson Brooks, Long, Miazga, Ream Adams, Yedlin, Garza, Lima Bradley, McKennie, Trapp, Lletget, Roldan Pulisic, Arriola, Morris, Lewis Altidore, Zardes, Ramirez https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/04/11/usmnt-gold-cup-roster-projection-berhalter
He says when playing in CONCACAF the most important thing is getting a result. To me, the most important adjustment is the following: In CONCACAF, we get fouled every time we approach the offensive zone. There is no such thing as persistent infringement against the U.S. in CONCACAF. For about a decade, we've played all those free kicks laterally or backward. It's horrible. Opponent fouls, kicks the ball away, gets their whole team behind the ball, and we try to play pretty. If I could dictate one thing, it would be: In CONCACAF any time we're fouled more than 7-8 yards beyond the mid line, boot that free kick to the top of the box and play for a knock down. That will give us wayyyyyy more opportunities than the recirculating we've been doing for a decade.
I'd like to move on from Johnson, Ream, Yedlin, Bradley, McKennie, Lewis. I think Lovitz will defend better than Ream at this point.
Move on from a 20 year old starting in the Bundesliga. Didn't realize we were France all of a sudden.
France has talent to replace talent. What we have here is someone trying to squeeze more MLS mediocrity on the roster instead of playing the top talent regardless of where they play for club.
there should be a bunch of players that GB hasn't called in yet on the GC roster - especially considering there is a chance to change the roster after the group! - but I'm guessing it will be a mishmash of the 2 rosters he has called and not much - if any - "new blood"....which is disappointing. here's why: I don't care about results until WCQ and WC...what I care about is learning. what i care about is how smart the manager is at making adjustments and taking the "data" he gains from games and how he uses it. limiting the pool to those that have already been called would indicate that he sees the performances to this point as ideal/maximum...that he's learned enough already...and I just don't see that at all. the games have been good but there is A LOT of room for tweaking/improvement...which should mean new blood/roster churn. If GB gets blown out at th GC but has a good process and makes good adjustments I will be happy...but somehow I am not predicting that. i'm prediciting a usual suspects roster that falls just short....and does just well enough for GB to keep riding the same small group as his pets.
It was reported that CONCACAF changed that rule to be more in line with other major tournaments. It is just 23 for GC2019 with zero changes allowed.