Uruguay beat Costa Rica in San Jose 2-1 today. No Suarez or Cavani, but other stars like Betancur and Torreira started. With their long travel to St Louis, I’m hoping most of their top Euro players will head back to their clubs to minimize our chances of getting waxed again.
steffen, johnson, mckennie, pulisic, morales and brooks are returning to their clubs, so the roster stands at 20. no futher callups announced (michael bradleys waiting by the phone for sure). GOALKEEPERS: Jesse Gonzalez Brad Guzan DEFENDERS: Reggie Cannon Sergiño Dest Nick Lima Aaron Long Daniel Lovitz Tim Ream Miles Robinson Walker Zimmerman MIDFIELDERS: Sebastian Lletget Paxton Pomykal Cristian Roldan Wil Trapp Jackson Yueill FORWARDS: Corey Baird Tyler Boyd Jordan Morris Josh Sargent Gyasi Zardes i expect something close to _________guzan ___zimmerman___long___ream lima _________trapp ____roldan___lletget morris_______________baird _________zardes i know, i know- you say its sargents hometown, i say if the criteria of being the best option doesnt apply to zardes why would that? zimmerman over robinson specifically because it makes no sense. gotta shore up the defense, and for berhalter that means lima and ream. i think we see one of lletget or pomykal but definitely not both- that sort of ball movement in the middle would be unacceptable. one other thought, leaving out the complete lack of faith in our manager, is a 5-3-2 (or 2-3) would make some sense. not good sense, but, you know? weve flirted with a 3/5 backline before, and otherwise you wonder why the hell we are carrying as many fbs as central mids or forwards (including wings).
Is Mckennie leaving? He was included in the initial report. If so, good for him. He doesnt deserve to be stuck with the rest of this roster.
he is. initially the list was 5, and im not sure if he or pulisic was added but thats the latest ive seen. @Eleven Bravo i agree, and further i think hes always been very good with the nats. injuries havent been good to him. i considered yueill due to that being the least interesting team possible for me (hence likely for gregg), but he seems to be bradleys backups backup...but its also possible i think that because in his two appearances ive never noticed him do anything. not a single thing.
Let’s talk about this. Why is Yueill not interesting? Zardes and Will Crapp are not even the best players on one of the worst teams in MLS ... and they’re regulars? Yueill is having a breakout season with a vastly improved and likely playoff team. Pomykal is having a breakout season in Dallas and was the best player at the U20s. So in the no passing, no creativity Morales/Trapp/McKennie midfield, who was the #6, the #8, and the #10 (or the 2 #10s?). Since no one knows what the heck GB is doing, including GB, at this point I wouldn’t mind seeing any combination they leaves out Crapp.
I pity the poor people who have bought tickets for this (unless their Uruguayan - the foreign fanbase is always a good revenue source for SUM/FED). I bet even Sargeant's family are trying offload theirs!
Gonzalez Cannon Robinson Ream Dest McKennie Roldan Pomykal Boyd Sargent Morris I ain't watching it, though
gladly. first lets clear something up- zardes and trapp? not my idea. add bradley. but lets focus on yueill. im not crazy familiar with him (and just a note but "likely playoff team" is a ridiculously unimpressive argument for anyone). im in memphis so youve gotta really want it to see a lot of san jose so again- i absolutely admit to not having a deep knowledge, or strong opinion on him one way or the other. in his two very brief cameos he has literally done nothing. thats not criticsm, thats lack of "hmmm, id like to see more of that guy". i am much more familiar with pomykal (primarily via youth intl teams, but dallas is also good for watching/checking in on like 9 prospects at a time) and am actively annoyed he hasnt gotten a look. all that said heres my reasoning: bradley/trapp are going to be in that spot. i hate that as much as anyone but its an absolute fact- so we only have 2 cm positions. i can only assume tyler adams is a rb because thats what berhalter has said, repeatedly, is his plan. so ill lay it out like this- we have bradley/trapp, a "10" cm and an "8" cm spot. if pulisic is played central hes a lock and mckennie is a lock. pulisic is a wing for me, though, and moved there last night so ill leave him out for now. at that "10" spot (since we dont have a 10) id go lletget/pomykal/holmes in that order. i just see that as a spot weve got to at least have guys who can turn and at least entertain the thought of getting the ball to attackers. do you think yueill can play that role? from the little ive seen i really dont, but even in the name of turning over every stone hes behind the 3 ive listed. at the 8 mckennie starts, and roldan/morales are depth. i also think ideally this is where pomykal fits, but theres very little ideal here. this is where id imagine yueill fits- and it really is as simple as how far down a depth chart do i really have to go? thats all i mean when i say im not interested- hes 4th choice at either open cm spot in terms of who i would play, at best. theres only so many minutes to go around, even less when youre wasting one spot and giving mckennie all the minutes he can handle (which i do think is what we should be doing). as for this match though we will almost certainly see all 5 get minutes. i think in this rare case we can give our "depth" a look i want very much to see pomykal, and imagine he and lletget will split the time at the "10". at the 8 id rather see how morales does there. his passing is pretty bad for me, so i think getting closer to a decision between him and roldan is more important than a first (real) look at yueill. best case trapp picks up a knock 4 minutes in and we get a decent look at all 4 of the others.
Not bad but unlike others I am watching it. And I'll watch all their games until the day I die. Doesn't mean I like where they are or where they are headed. I don't. But they ARE still my national team.
McKennie's gone, dude. Poor Dest: if he performs badly, as will the rest of them, he stands no chance of making the Dutch NT. I expect Ream at LB. This will impact poorly on Sargent as well since he's gotten little playing time with Bremen (I expect Berhalter to start Zardes). McKennie seems to have cemented himself in the Schalke lineup though. Even if we were playing a weaker team than Uruguay, Pomykal shouldn't be starting at the 10. Berhalter won't start Roldan. Expect Trapp. I haven't watched a single match, just highlights, since Berhalter was named. I won't watch until he's gone.
I watch Yueill all the time. He's got nice vision and he works hard. Could he be better than Trapp? If that's the standard, sure, I guess. He's only 22. But his athleticism and size hold him back, and his skills aren't so great to make up for it. So yeah, at an international level, he's uninteresting.
They are and I'll watch the competitive games even if doing so makes me want to throw my TV out the window, but with the current state of affairs it's not worth skipping BJJ class on Tuesday night for a friendly (might catch the second half if Pomykal is playing)
He wasn't on the list I saw of guys who were leaving after Mexico. If he's gone, replace him with Yueill at the 6 and slide Roldan to the 8 I guess.
I might watch. Or perhaps I’ll wait until it’s dark and attempt to cut my lawn with a pair of scissors, which may just be a better use of my time.
I never had Lletget in my rosters and he always delivers a positive performance for the USMNT. I got shy after his injury and he always underwhelms at club. Something happens when he plays international ball. Still, I think his form/stamina makes him a great early sub in midfield after HT. -----sargent---morris -----------yueil -----pom--------roldan ------------trapp------- --ream--long--miles--lima -------------gk:guzan subs: Lletgegt for pom, dest for lima, boyd for morris, zardes for sargent
How does Will Crapp stack up per that criteria? Yueill is more athletic, bigger and better skills than Crapp. Plus, he’s younger, so a lot more interesting at international level than Crapp. More likely that Yueill would actually mark somebody too.
Jesus we're without several of the best players who were part of the team that got eviscerated against Mexico? So we'll lose terribly and look even more lost and incompetent doing it than we did on Friday. Worst part is I'm going to watch this goddamn game because of some deeply misguided sense of loyalty.