Apologies - i was unclear when I said I didn’t understand the point. I actually did understand what you meant in the previous coaches. I simply don’t understand the logic with why it matters at all today. The fact that other coaches had players who were better than Morales has little bearing on today where the competition for a roster spot is embarrassingly low for a spine player. Furthermore, we can see how certain players like Long peak at a later age and (almost) no one argues that he doesn’t belong or point out that previous coaches had passed him over. Why the difference?
Its why I said that I wouldn't mind if he's called in. Who would? We're in the "casting a wide net" phase of the cycle. Its simply a fact that coach after coach after coach after coach after coach for our U20s, U23s, and senior USMNT has marginalized Alfredo Morales. Do they know something we don't? Something other than his ability on the field. Jurgen Klinsmann was the anti-establishment coach who called in Euro-based players TO A FAULT. Even he marginalized Alfredo Morales. Did he know something we don't? Sometimes things happen behind the scenes from a cultural and team point of view that we're not privy to. For instance, there were always the rumors that Benny Feilhaber got into a fist fight with one of the "stars" of the USMNT at a camp. Benny was marginalized after that, which left most confused as to his lack of inclusion. Fans thought it was just coaches being idiots, but the reality was that his place as a core piece of the group was untenable. If I was in charge of the USMNT right now I would be calling up all of our young players who are the future of the program. Adams, McKennie, Pomykal, Mendez, Ledesma, the list goes on. Alfredo Morales wasn't the past, isn't the present, and won't be the future of the USMNT. But if folks want to be on that hill fighting to the death over Alfredo Morales...................be my guest
Should also be noted the US U-14 coach passed over Morales as well... Who is "fighting to the death" over Morales? Why do people constantly make it sound like people who think (know) Morales is currently better than Bradley and Trapp are simultaneously demanding he be starting in WC 2026 or something? He is currently better than our other options, and has been for at least the last year. That's it. You wanna drop Bradley and Trapp, while ignoring Morales, and move forward with youth? I'm on board, absolutely. But after both MB/Trapp are called into whatever next camp we have, after they have been for the last year, I don't wanna hear how crazy it is to "die on the hill" for Morales.
I guess you subscribe to the current trend that if you repeat a lie on a regular basis some in your base will believe it? JK never marginalized Morales. JK gave Morales 13 caps, JK started Morales in an A team Gold Cup. JK called Morales into a January Camp, an improvement that was publicly noted by Alfredo's BuLi coach at Herta in re-invigorating the player and led to an offer of a contract extension. JK had Morales in the initial Copa 100 40 man roster and gave him a start in the fringe tuneup match. Morales unfortunately was behind { Jones, Bradley, Edu, and Williams } on the depth chart and was fighting with { Beckerman, Kljestan, Bedoya, Mix, Corona, Kitchen, ... } for playing time. Every CM suffered with little match time behind the Jones/Bradley orbit. After JK was fired, Arena famously said of Williams and Morales "there are players in MLS that play their position"! The big 4 and the 2nd tier are essentially gone. We should measure Morales against the current pool of { Adams, McKennie, Trapp, Roldan, Canouse, ...}. Morales, who just turned 29, has a strong case to be 3rd on the CM depth chart behind Adams and McKennie!
I'd like to know why you don't tell us what that something is? Nothing worse than corporate speak. "Other than his ability on the field...." famous last words in the epitath of many a Yanks Abroad career.
Because he doesn’t know. Let me posit some different reasons why Morales hasn’t featured much over a number of regimes. 1. “Something than his ability on the field.” 2. He’s mostly been in B2, not B1. 3. This is my theory and my theory alone: we all know the cliche that GKs develop later and retain their abilities longer. I think the same holds for central defenders and central mids who fill the #6 and #8 roles but to a lesser extent. I have spent less than 10 hours watching him, so this is just a theory, but maybe he’s a late bloomer who got typecast as a B2 player. That would explain why B1 club didn’t get him and why US coaches haven’t called him in. It’s quite possible he wasn’t good enough 3 years ago but is good enough now.
My theory is that he is a better player than he should based on his skills. That happens with defensive mids. Beckerman and Armas are the prime examples. Beckerman was dominant in the league for many years, played on 1999 U-17 as a kid and still wasn't able to get a look till his late twenties.
WHAT A PLAY AND GOAL. Breaks up play with tackle, dishes out-wide and then nicely finishes chance in box.
Except for that play, you wouldn’t even know he was in the game. A 6 playing for a team getting overrun like that needs to be more of a presence.
what a performance for him to lead his team to victory on the road against a good side like that. just brilliant stuff from him his ability to defend and control the game and then when the chance comes up to score a beauty like that. oh wait they LOST 3-1; his goal was in the 82nd minutes they were down 3-0 having given up 69% percentage. basically he made a few plays after being dominated fro 80+ minutes. yawn
That is weird. I noticed him a lot. He covered a lot of ground, tracked back, pressured the ball, broke up plays, and showed for the ball. In the 71st minute, he played a diagonal ball that seems to make some people go nuts. One of the announcers commented that he could have had three goals after hitting the side netting late. I didnt think that shot was that dangerous, but he hit a 30 yard banger just inches wide earlier in the game. He actually played in a double pivot and got forward more than his partner. The reality is that Leverkusen is just a much better team. He also was not involved in any of the three goals conceded.
imagine being a cm and ur team giving up three goals...and not being involved in any of them....I think you just summed up the issue. A truly great cm would atleast do something to keep his team from being completely overrun. I am not sure what he would do for the us.
Imagine watching the game seeing how the goals were actually created. One was a free kick where a defender lost his mark and Morales was marking player on the other side of the box. The other two came from Leverkusen attacking the left back, getting to end line near the six yard box, and driving it far post. On these plays, Morales either tracked men or covered space to prevent the attacker from pulling the ball back. Now imagine how many times concacaf teams played through the center of our midfield in the GC or how many times our dmid lost his man.
so the question remains...why didnt he stop the attack. a difference maker would...make a difference. if he is just a spectator then he isn't a guy that has to absolutely be on the roster. so thats what he does he doesn't stop the ball he marks space. so when the guy went to goal and took a shot he didnt stop that but if that guy had said hey...i'll pass on the open shot and pass the ball into an open space where nobody is...morales would've shut that down. thats nice. still not impressed by the guy but there would be upside of him getting called up and that would be watching everyone back pedal from their opinions about him. There would be a lot of 'I didnt say he was going to be good just that he should get a look on the team' posts lol.
but its morales standard atleast what the professional scouts on big soccer sound like they think of him.
No one is saying he's a world beater, just that he looks good enough to give him a try, considering the present options we got.
Did I basically just read a post arguing that if you play central midfield and your team gives up three goals in any given game then you aren't good enough for the National Team because you didn't do anything about it? We're gonna need someone to dive deep into some stats to identify all the center mids that have never been on a team giving up three goals.
This is just ignorant. It isnt back pedaling. I will speak for myself, but think other are say the same thing. He looks to be a better option than what we saw at the Gold Cup. He should be brought into camp to see how he does. If everyone is healthy, I dont expect him to start. A Bundesliga starter as a role player for cover seems like good thing to me.
The only reason he shouldn't be starting is if we're going all youth (which I'd be happy with). If we're not (and Egg wants old guys), he should be starting. We don't have 11 guys capable of starting in the Bundesliga, even on relegation fodder teams. He is starting. Thus, he should be starting for the US.
This is a syllogism. But it is not a good syllogism - just saying. I think Morales is a John Prine song: pretty good, not bad, (I) can't complain, but actually all them dogs is just about the same. But the idea that if a player is starting in X league then he "must" be better than all other options not starting in as good a league is just silly sophistry that we really should avoid. Morales is no worse a stay-home DCM than Trapp - and probably marginally better. But if we are going to call in an old guy who isn't MB, is Morales better than, say, Cameron, (who can also fill in at CD and RM and play in a 3 back in a pinch?) Neither excites me, but the fact that Cameron is "only" playing in the Champs and Morales in the bottom of the Bund is immaterial over their current form and what they bring. But I'd rather be looking at a range of 21-26 year olds at this point if we're settling for "pretty good."