September USMNT Roster

Strong everywhere except up front

 

I'm pleasantly surprised by the roster. I assume Weah and Holmes are skipping due to injury. Still a few bungling Egg selections in Lovitz, Trapp, and Baird with Lovitz being the most glaring. Still seems too pro-MLS.

GK - I'm really glad to see Jesse Gonzalez. I think he fits the way Egg wants to play better than anyone in our pool. The question is will his shot-stopping hold up at the international level. I would have preferred Horvath over Guzan.

D - Dest and Brooks make me happy. Glad to see Miles Robinson. Should have seen the other Robinson over Lovitz. LB not being addressed is a problem.

M - Morales and Pomykal are there. I'm happy. I would have preferred a Parks and Hyndman look over Roldan again but whatever.

F - Give me Pulisic-Sargent-Boyd as a front line for a game and let's see what happens. Morris is fine. Why Baird? Plenty of Euro and MLS guys that deserve a look before he gets another.

The real question is how many of the new guys get to start. There's a lineup in there I'd honestly be thrilled to see.

 

Yes a Will Trapp captained midfield again!!!!

 

trapp has a lot to teach pomykal about how berhalter wants to play. pomykal also doesnt have the same physical limitations. stark opposition to say tim ream who should probably not try and offer dest any constructive criticism

 

Didn’t realize weah was hurt. If that’s why he wasn’t called then of course that’s fine. But otherwise he should be called in. Antonee Robinson should be called in. Lovitz is a head starcher. As are Trapp and Zardes but both seem to be GB’s buddies.

 

Zardes and Baird, but no Altidore, that's strange! IDGAF about MLS matches, it's a FIFA international break!

 

No problems with the roster.

I know the forward group looks really weak, but that's because our forward group IS really weak. How are people calling up instead of Zardes, who actually does score goals as a professional soccer player. At the moment he's the leading USMNT-eligible goal scorer in MLS.

 

American MLS leaders in goals: Wondolowski, Zardes (11), Sapong, Altidore (10), White (9), Ebobisse (8), Morris (7)

 

Yep. I looked at this yesterday. It's slim pickin's out there. Berrhalter needs some serious creativity to deal with the lack of goal scorers.

 

I suspect..............................he's REALLY going to push Sargent.

Our forward options are probably fine for CONCACAF. Its hard to remember, because we've purged it from our minds, but the USMNT actually scored the most goals in the HEX. [We just witnessed Zardes/Altidore at the Gold Cup do well against everybody other than Mexico as well.] Defense and conceding was our problem. I still have concerns in the back with this group. Fingers crossed that guys like Robinson and Dest develop fast.

 

By the way.................thank you FC Dallas
Four academy products (Gonzalez, McKennie, Cannon, Pomykal) plus one they drafted as a teen (Zimmerman)

 

I thought about it a bit and he did select five outside backs. Is there a chance that Lima and/or Dest gets a shot at LB in one of the games? Still no reason for Lovitz to be on the roster but that's something to consider.

And the forward group looks better if you have Altidore and Weah instead of Zardes and Baird. Most of our best attacking prospects are in Europe so we'll see if any of them break out this year. Gall is off to a good start. Amon needs to come back from his injury. Sabbi, Novakovich, Soto, etc are all just getting started and some may be on the move.

 

with servania looking on the cusp and ferreira perhaps a year away and no one listed even close to aging out

 

I’m happy with some of the new blood but am baffled by Lovitz, Baird and Trapp and the exclusion of Horvath.

Those three are prime candidates for Camp Cupcake.

Robinson/Gloster instead of Lovitz
Soto/Wood instead of Baird
Servania/canouse over Trapp

At the back end of the squad, we need to see more people and not continue to call up underwhelming MLS players.

 

Everyone keeps referring to a complex Berhalter system that requires lots of education, but I haven't seen anything indicating that it exists.

 

Wow, no Bradley. Thank God.

We really need Adams and Weah to fill out this roster.

Props to Berhalter for bringing in Morales.

With Brooks, Dest, and Pomykal on the field, this should be a team much better in possession.

Also what's up with Nagbe turning down callups?

 

Man, Weston and the European contingent needs to stay with their club and develop instead of playing glorified friendlies. What is Going to be learned from playing with the B team other than running around to put out defensive fires for Trapp and Ream ET Al?

 

The MLS bias continues...

U.S. MNT ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; CAPS/GOALS):
MLS (17):
Jesse Gonzalez (FC Dallas; 0/0),
Brad Guzan (Atlanta United FC; 60/0),
Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 8/0),
Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas; 6/0),
Nick Lima (San Jose Earthquakes; 7/0),
Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 11/2),
Daniel Lovitz (Montreal Impact/CAN; 8/0),) ;
Miles Robinson (Atlanta United FC; 0/0),
Walker Zimmerman (LAFC; 10/2)
Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 9/2),
Paxton Pomykal (FC Dallas; 0/0),
Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC; 15/0),
Wil Trapp(Columbus Crew SC; 19/0),
Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; 1/0)
Corey Baird (Real Salt Lake; 3/0),
Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC; 33/5)
Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew SC; 51/10)

Euro Based (9)
Zack Steffen (Fortuna Düsseldorf/GER; 15/0)
John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 37/3),
Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 35/1),
Weston McKennie(Schalke/GER; 14/3),
Alfredo Morales (Fortuna Düsseldorf/GER; 13/0),
Dest (Ajax/NED; 0/0)
Tyler Boyd (Besiktas/TUR; 5/2),
Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 31/13),
Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/GER; 7/2)

 

The good thing is Berhalter is showing he's willing to replace players with upgrades. So hopefully others start making their cases and replace the last few who aren't up for this level. Weah and Adams would likely be here if not injured. Left back is the clear hole at the moment and it appears he may still be trying to play a LCB there instead of a clear left back. So the real left backs have to show that they are clearly good enough to make him drop that scheme. Robinson and Gloster haven't clearly shown that yet and neither has Bello. Dest and Lima have played there for their club teams so it's possible that if they show well in practice he could scrap his tweak for one or both of them. they will have to upstage ream and Lovitz in a short camp.

 

Not a bad roster, considering injuries and MLS doing MLS things with their schedule. Two things that appear clear to me are that Nagbe is done with the USMNT and Siebatcheu is unlikely to ever happen. That's a shame because I think both players could make significant contributions.

 

ream plays in europe and hold off on the trapp pitchforks this time around until he actually plays over someone else more deserving?

 

Who in Europe has been snubbed? Robinson doesn't play a position that Berhalter uses. CCV and EPB have not shown that they are better than the guys who were called in. Other players are either hurt, not playing for their first teams, playing at lower levels, or they haven't/won't accept callups to the USMNT.

 

Berhalter says he’s disappointed that some MLS teams that have #USMNT players opted to play matches during FIFA fixture windows (which they’re not required to), creating a conflict.

— Doug McIntyre (@ByDougMcIntyre) August 28, 2019