My issue with the roster filler isn't so much that there are clear and obvious upgrades but that keeping around the same filler, end-of-the-roster guys every time out doesn't exactly make the squad competitive. It seems like some guys just show up, maybe play a few spot minutes, maybe not, make up the numbers for practice and no matter how much they show they will never be up for more, they keep getting called back. Even at the bottom of the roster, you want their to be some real competition.Some guy has a bad camp and doesn't show well in minutes, even if there isn't a big gap between him and another option, I want him to get sent packing and another guy gets a shot. This shrug and just saying oh well, no one else is likely all that much better is incredibly complacent. It should be an honor to get called in, not just a perfunctory... oh, these guys are good enough for squad players, don't worry about who else could be given a chance since they're all pretty lame too. It's just bad precedent to keep calling in guys who aren't good enough, have never been good enough and have had multiple opportunities to change that perception. Those bottom of the roster sports are where new blood should be challenging for a place and there should be some flux there even while you build continuity with your top set of guys. And I sure as hell expect anyone who is below the top 5-6 guys on the squad to feel they need to be hard as nails to take away a spot from someone more talented or to deserve their place on the field with better players. Our starting 11 should hate playing against the bottom of the roster guys in practice because those bottom guys should be hungry and pulling out all the stops to try to move up in the pecking order. They should be working as hard as they can to make up the talent gaps with competitiveness and workrate. I would be pretty surprised if that is the case these days. It's all too lax and the same group getting called in over and over regardless of performance isn't helping bring up the competition within the group.
Well stated. Perhaps i'd feel slightly less strong if we were playing well but it's a fricking no-brainer when we're playing like crap and using players who are clearly not at this level over and over again.
You are still pushing this crap. Went 90 in their first 14 games (captain all but 1) and picked up a knock. You were corrected somewhere else, but wont stop???
Well, I wasn't trying to be complete, I'm not going to write several pages. But we've never had a lot of youngsters (U23 eligible) playing meaningful games. Yes, Wood played his first qualified when he was turning 23, against St. Vincent. And Green had his 15 minutes of fame in the World Cup (literally, he's only played friendlies and a youth tournament for us since). Sure, we can find some more examples, but we're not like Mexico, who routinely play young guys in actual tournaments. Egg is just continuing a long tradition.
I disagree. I think it has more to do with the fact that St. Vincent and Honduras have defenses weaker than any Bundesliga team, so it's easier to score against them.
You don't have evidence for that. A guy like Wood may have been more likely to make a difference a couple of years ago, but now I wouldn't bet on it. I'm unhappy about the exclusion of some few, very few players (Miazga, Green, and maybe Holmes), but I see people talking about the likes of Danny Williams or Fabian Johnson (who is just back training with his team after a two-month long injury) as if they were going to be an obvious upgrade. With Adams and Pulisic out, we have our two best guys (on paper) not on this team. Any other changes are purely cosmetic. If we cannot beat Canada like this, then the pool is just quite weak, depending entirely on two or three guys to hold the lines. The basic problem here is, to my mind, a basic ignorance of the game that equals "player making big $$$" with "player that is going to make the NT super-awesome." That's the video game mentality speaking. Also, I'm truly convinced that making the Olympics this time around is much more important than winning a tournament that leads nowhere, so keeping all those U23 guys away, for this one, is perfectly fine with me.
We do have evidence. Morales was "fringe" or "not going to make a difference" and then was one of the best players on the field for us vs Mexico. He wasnt great, but he didnt suck like Trapp. There is no way you have been "following" Wood since he hasnt been playing. He made impact for us when he wasnt playing in 2015. He scored big goals for us in 2016. Zardes isnt a good soccer player. Adding three useful players and cutting dead weight can make a big difference in a team. It isnt cosmetic. He has continued to pick sub optimal players and refused to look at alternatives. Except they havent kept all the u23s away as a number of them are on the USMNT roster. Dude, you are all over the place with excuses.
All subs were MLS as well until the 77th minute. Nothing to see here with 90% of all our U23s minutes are from MLS. I guess we really aren't sending talented kids to Europe in drove, @Clint Eastwood.
It's a simple dig at your oft-repeated excuse for not calling in young players who aren't producing. None of the teams we played, with the possible exception of Venezuela, come close to Bundesliga-level defenses. And yet we still failed to qualify. One reason why is, we wait too long using proven-unfit-at-NT-level players, instead of experimenting with players who MAY be good enough. Christian Pulisic looked good enough. Even when he wasn't lighting the statsheet up. Even without experience for club OR country. How many other players are we missing that, while not CP-level talents, are better than the players of the Lost Generation?
That the coaching is bad doesn't mean the players are good. I'm afraid that even if we changed Egg for a better coach, we wouldn't be doing much better. Worse, I'm quite convinced there is no way to get rid of Berhalter, it's a closed case, he's going to be there until Qatar and even longer, because the entire federation is like Stalin's inner circle. On the other hand, on paper, with the players we have, we should be doing well enough. That we aren't means that either the players are not as good as the paper says, or that they don't give a crap about NT duty. Something has broken, and it's something that runs deeper than just the federation, which has been broken for a long time anyway. It's as if the fight, the desire, the unity that made our teams of old over-achieve has evaporated. It's not just a rotten egg.
@Suyuntuy, is it fair to say that you're good with 90% of our U23s being from MLS in a game played in Europe?
Who would you have called instead, not in MLS? And don't start naming U-20 guys please. I can only think of Klinsmann.
Why not look at u20s? We have teenagers playing for major league teams. If a they good enough, they're old enough.
We're trying to qualify for the Olympics. The teams facing us will be U-23 with a couple of overage guys added. Why should we risk injuring our 18 and 19 year olds playing in a tournament full of guys 21 and 22? Including one or two of them to play some minutes, yes. But at this point we're trying to find the guys to qualify. We haven't made the Olympics since 2008.
I posted somewhere in some thread....The most Euro based roster we had for a World Cup was actually under Bob Bradley in 2010. Only 4 MLSers made the roster. Klinsmann had 10 MLSers on his World Cup roster. There were European guys on the bench that could have played. Some with much more experience than the MLS guys (Robinson over Sam Vines, CCV over Mark McKenzie). and then on form Christian Cappis should probably have started instead of just being a sub.
again you’re good with only one out of the best eleven players U23 being outside of MLS? If so, our youth team are even worse then our senior team…
The ironic thing is that people think that if I or others post something complaining about lack of European players it's like some sort of vendetta against MLS. I think MLS is making tremendous strides forward. The talent that has been coming into the league the last five years is incredible. BUT that doesn't mean that it is generating talent that should be included in our top 23 to this degree. The Euro fairy dust comment was around when guys who weren't getting first team minutes in top flight leagues were getting called in over MLS guys. These days we are almost always talking about guys who ARE getting first team minutes that aren't getting looks at all. We just started two guys in our backline that have less professional AND national team experience than two guys on the bench (CCV and Robinson). The goal? Was a direct result of the type of play Berhalter/Stewart are trying to implement: The GK made a pass directly in front to McKenzie who made an under pressure pass to the captain, Mihailovic, who immediately gave the ball away for an extremely quick counter goal. It would be one thing if all this stuff was happening on occasion (repeated bias in MLS roster and then lineup selection AND games being lost directly because of the style that is being implemented). But it's happening literally every game, every window. There needs to be a middle ground struck. If the results aren't coming with certain players they need to be cut. A core needs to be developed. And to a degree I get that our best players haven't been available. But at a certain point results need to matter. Beating Mexico needs to matter. And to have Stewart say that if we lose to Canada Berhalter doesn't lose his job? That's insane.
I'm just asking for age-appropriate names that should be starting instead of this team. All I'm getting is rhetoric.
The lineup today, against Brazil, in the Canary Islands: --------------------------------Freese(MLS)----------------------------------- Herrera(MLS)----Glad(MLS)---McKenzie(MLS)----Vines(MLS) -----------------Mihailovic(MLS)-----Dotson(MLS)-------------------- Lennon(MLS)-------------Ledezma(PSV)---------------Lewis(MLS) --------------------------------Ebobisse(MLS)------------------------------- Subs: 46' Toye(MLS) x Ebobisse 46' Cappis(Hobro) x Dotson 46' Saucedo(MLS) x Lewis 46' Aaronson(MLS) x Ledezma 77' Mendez(Ajax) x Lennon (shift to a Xmas tree formation?) 85' Sabbi(Hobro) x Mihailovic (return to 4231?) Seems reasonable to find the MLS guys that can help. I can see some problems with playing Mihailovic for so long, and not seeing enough of Sabbi and Mendez. Losing to Brazil by one goal at this level is not a bad result though. I couldn't find a way to follow this game but through text.
ffs. ARobinson and CCV have more experience that the starters and Llanez and Richards are clear talents. That’s off the top of my head
I was wondering if you could defend this lineup with a straight face and there you go. Ledezma must be really good to crack that lineup. lol.
So what did you want? Haji Wright in the roster? Akale, who's barely playing in the Spanish _third_ division, starting in place of Lennon, who plays regularly in the US first division? A not-in-form CCV starting in place of Glad? I just don't know what you want.
what are you talking about? We played at least one 20 yo at world cups in 1990, 2002, 2010, and 2014. Reyna would have played in 1994 if not injured. So that leaves 1998, 2006, and Arena's veterans who didnt qualify in 2018. Those three were our worst experiences.
What are your responses for Richard's, Robinson, Mendez, Cappis, and Sabbi? I didnt get to watch much some of those MLS guys were pretty bad.