The experiment last year has to be abandoned. It sounds like it mostly will. Having 12-16 MLS guys, that you work with for an extra 3-5 weeks, be the core of your team because of the extra training was an absolute disaster. It didn't work. With WCQ'ing this year, I don't think Gregg can keep it up. I don't think McBride is inclined to let him. We have Bryang Kayo stumbling and bumbling around the training pitches in Florida in a USMNT shirt right now, but we can't call in Gio Reyna? Nuts. This whole thread assumes the 27' Reyna got on Saturday is all he will get. There are 6+ weeks until the roster for March is released. He could have 4 appearances and 100+ minutes by then. He might have gone 90 in a cup game too. Reyna got on the field over players that would be DPs in MLS. Enough of the nonsense.
Its cute/sad that you think McBride will have any significant input in call ups. He's a voice at the table but with the way that USSF operate, I doubt he's going to have the authority to put an end to calling up MLS jobbers as the core of the team.
That is one way to look at it. But, as pessimistic as I am on USSF, I think it a bit telling he was hired now. If McBride had been there throughout 2019, the of course, he is part of it. They had many candidates. They could have selected one that agreed with their approach. McBride is on record as disagreeing with them. He called Gregg's approach in 2019 to team building, "complicated". Complicated? Who, in any sport, ever hear anyone describe a coach's team building as "complicated"? I don't think McBride is on board with the "Club Approach". I'm more and more thinking Gregg has put it on the back burner at least.
I tend to agree with this. They didn't need to hire him. My opinion is they did so for PR purposes, and it worked. I can't think of anyone who dislikes McBride (though if I heard any more of his "analysis" on ESPN tv shows, I might start).
Any really, if he gets 0 more minutes, it wouldn't change my opinion at all. How many US field players could make Dortmund's first team? Pulisic, Adams, maybe McKennie, and...that's it. Simply training in that environment puts him as a mandatory call up, and likely starter.
Are you preparing two months in advance for the supposed forced quota of 2/3 MLS players to not actually be true?
I think we can look at Reyna’s USYNT teammate Busio and see that just being a young teen that gets playing time with their MLS team doesn’t mean they get a call up to the US men’s team. We are seeing young teens break into their MLS teams and not get call ups. The ones that are getting call ups are the ones that are standing out amount Americans in MLS. I feel pretty confident that if we give Reyna a little more time, Reyna will show how special he is with his play on the field and prove that he deserves at the very least a call up.
you mean the quota that held firm his entire first year and laid on top of clearly biased Arena? The one evidenced by his mostly ignoring a young player being bought by AC Milan for $12m for a 27 year old player who was just transferred within MLS for $50k? Do you think that ther isn’t a different standard for MLS and other players?
If he doesn't call in 2/3 MLSers in March then the quota is bogus. Yes, Berhalter may be an idiot and think that he can make a good team by training a core of largely mediocre players in his tactics. This doesn't mean he's compelled by Don Garber or whoever it is you think insists on this 2/3 MLS quota. It may just mean Berhalter is foolish.
welcome to BIgSoccer. you’re missing the point by focusing on an MLS player who didn’t make the squad. the specific point is that Reyna himself would have a faster path to the USMNT by starting in the minor leagues rather than going to BVB. how does that incentive help the USMNT?
perhaps you can point out where I’ve said it was compelled by someone as opposed to his terrible choice. Please don’t write back that “I’m not going to go through the history” as you don’t get to use that excuse if you’re going to make statements up that aren’t true. I’ll ask again: do you think Berhalter has a different standard for MLS and others?
You've been insisting there's a "quota". That indicates that there's a compulsion, a requirement. Are you saying it's Berhalter's own quota? If you haven't stated it directly in the past (that someone above Berhalter has mandated a quota), you've sure said it enough times and in enough ways for folks to read between the lines. I think Berhalter has a strong preference for players that he knows and thinks he can teach his tactics to, even when everyone sees several of them as mediocre at best, which evidently requires lots of camps. I think he's gone about it wrong, and I hope he ditches that this year in favor of something more realistic.
I do think it’s Berhalter’s own doing but he’s no dummy in that he know his bosses preference. I’ve said numerous times that the USSF hasn’t made it a requirement but it’s pretty clear what they want (sorta like another well publicized non-soccer situation that I won’t delve into). the 2/3 quota is a symptom of the different standard for MLS and others and an extreme one at that. It would be ridiculous for anyone to say “ look it’s not 2/3 so it’s proof there’s not a bias” wrt Berhalter preferring what he’s familiar with, he was sold as a guy who played and coached in Europe so was supposed to be balanced as he was familiar with both. That’s why I was pretty excited about him being named coach. - he was supposed to split the difference between allegedly anti-MLS Klinsmann and rabidly pro-MLS Arena. Yet time after time, we are see him continue arena’s different standards for players in and out of MLS. Furthermore, being familiar with MLS is supposed to be an advantage in that he should have a pretty good idea who isn’t good enough - he’s gotten that very very wrong and has doubled down on his mistakes. Where the benefit of that and how has it played out on the field?
I was hopeful about Berhalter for the same reasons as you, and I completely agree that I expected his knowledge of MLS players to produce much better talent evaluation than it has. Having a "bias" and having a "quota" are two very different things, though, and it's disingenuous to use those words interchangeably. Does Berhalter have a bias? Yes, it seems he does at least to some degree given the glaring deficiencies in some of the players he's called up more than once (Lovitz, Baird, Lewis, for example). Continuing to call it a 2/3 quota and not simply a bias suggests that someone is pressuring Berhalter to call up a certain number of MLS players every time. You're so insistent that there's a 2/3 quota that there's no way to believe that you mean anything other than that higher ups have made it a requirement to include so many MLSers.
cmon man. I’ve always said that it’s amazing that 2/3 has been so consistent throughout his entire year and that it boggles the mind. I’ve also said that the right number for MLS representation is probably a range between 1/5 and 2/3 (probably shrinking) and it’s clearly a sign of something going on when it’s always at the max. I would think the same way if only 5 MLS players were called into every camp. it’s like in golf. If a player shoots the exact same score every round, something’s fishy. Same thing if a dice rolls a five every single time. TLDR: let me be clear, I think Berhalter judges MLS players differently from others, just like Arena did. The amazingly consistent number is simply an obvious way to see it through the data.
Thanks for the welcome. I used to be on this site back in the 80’s under a different name. My point is that staying at NYCFC might not have gotten him to the men’s team any faster than going to Dortmund. There are several teens getting MLS minutes that are not getting called up. I personally think Reyna gets a call before any of his U17 teammates.
they have rushed in any teenagers getting fairly consistent minutes. Kayo's mystery call up means Reyna wont be first.
the teens getting minutes in MLS are not good enough to warrant minutes at BVB. Not even close as there are very few, if any, MLS players, let alone teenagers, who could play at that level. if Reyna was in MLS, he would be an all-star candidate.
But simply being born in the England is not enough to earn citizenship; it has to be passed on through one of the parents. So I seriously doubt Giovanni is eligible.
If Reyna had been called up, he may be waiting longer to be on the first team at BVB. I want the kids called in over mediocre older players, but I'm fine with letting a teenager hang around with the team paying his bills and getting rewarded with some first team minutes that look to continue over him leaving, coming back, sure eventually he gets his debut but it's delayed and he has to get back into the flow. I'm not so sure a guy we all know is going to walk into this team needed to be interrupted when he is just gaining momentum to come play a b team game. Sometimes what's best for the player in the short term is what's best for the team in the long run. He's one player that looks on exactly the right course, not someone I worry won't get a shot.
Kayo’s call up is not based on what he’s done on the field. This was giving Kayo a place to train till he can legally play in Germany. But you are right, technically he is the first. This call up was one of those things done to help the player further his career than actually consider him as a National player. I can’t think of any teenagers that has been brought into camp that wasn’t as good or close to as good as any Americans playing similar positions in MLS. If there are some that I’m not thinking of please remind me.