2016 US Nats - Rev Content

Do we know if any Rev wil be playing? I can imagine Lee getting called in, and being given, perhaps, his usual token 5 minutes at the end .

 

I suspect this will be an awfully short thread.

 

I would venture to guess none of those guys are on the radar. Based on his recent comments, JK seems to want to "start over" with a new crop of u23 guys coming in, which overlooks a lot of quality MLS talent, as you pointed out. Right or wrong we know his opinion of MLS. The jury is still out on Agudelo for the NT I think. He is young, talented and in a position that could use competition if nothing else. However, 2nd tier guys like Rowe, Caldwell and even Farrell may not get a fair shot this cycle. I am convinced if any of those players were playing in Europe vs MLS, JK would give them a look. It's possible Soares realized this and thought he had a better chance to be a standout performer in Norway than MLS. Perhaps convoluted logic but seems to be Klinsmann's MO over the past 4+ years.

 

Nah I don't think any of them have a shot at playing in a qualifier. But making a cameo in a meaningless friendly on home soil? Sure, why not.

Caldwell captained a youth NT and has stood out in every level. Provided his career doesn't drop off a cliff, he deserves a call up at some point IMO.

Farrell is a solid MLS caliber defender that was a first team All American in college. Considering our NT defense is utter crap, having him pushing guys wouldn't hurt.

Rowe is overrated and inconsistent which makes him a perfect candidate for the NT. Though, for the sake of the NT's success, I'd rather see Feilhaber get another shot over Rowe.

 

This is why I would rather see JK use a combine approach to the January camp. Get a bunch of guys together and see who can play. Why limit the pool? What makes one fringe guy deserve a chance more than another fringe guy? Maybe some of the guys you have not seen up close will surprise you? If JK questions some of his current players, take a harmless look at a lot of other guys in a combine setting and see who really wants to earn a role.

 

For me, Agudello could be on the radar based on the youth and talent that you mentioned, but I don't think the other 3 are very close to getting any kind of call up. I think they're all still much too error prone at the MLS level to warrant them going up to the national team level. I know Tierney was mentioned in jest, and I've never been a support of him as a defender, but I'd say he would be more deserving of a call up - only as a possible situational lefty out of the bullpen - than Rowe, Caldwell or Farrell, at this point in time.

 

Tierney is far too slow for the NT level. He would get eaten alive. See Heaps in the 09 GC final.

In terms of clumping Caldwell, Rowe and Farrell together as "too error prone", I agree on Rowe and Farrell but disagree on Caldwell. Give me some examples from within a rev uniform at least because I can't think of many. He consistently performs at or near the best of all the revs each match, has a great passing rate and rarely makes mistakes. In fact, decision making and calmness on the ball may be among his best strengths which he could bring to the NT. If you want to argue he is undersized, lacks experience or simply hasn't been blessed with NT caliber talent, fine - but "error prone" is not how I'd describe Scott Caldwell.

 

If Caldwell has a great season and emerges as a star in MLS this year, yes, but right now, I can't make the case for him being in the Nats picture. Potentially, sure, but not now.

Personally, as long as Klinsmann is the manager, I wouldn't be heart-broken if we didn't have any players in the pool. This isn't like the year when we got off to a great start a large part due to the fact that 4-5 of our guys had been with the Nats before pre-season and were able to hit the ground running as soon as the season started.

 

I can see Tierney getting a "lifetime achievement award" one-time runout in a friendly or minor tournament game at some point (like Heaps did).

 

Just to be clear, I was not calling for Tierney to get called up, I was merely saying that for the national team, he actually has a skill which isn't all that common, putting balls in from the left, which can be useful in certain situations, albeit for him, in lower level games. I in no way think he could handle a high level game, or even a lower game where someone is needed to defend. For me, never mind the nats, I've said many times I wish the Revs even could find someone who was better at defending, to start in his spot, and move him to an offensive spark off the bench.

As for Caldwell, I'd say the mistakes he makes tend to be more along the lines of missing things defensively, and would include what you said not being strong enough to hold up defensively in certain situations. As for examples at this point, I honestly wish to whatever higher power one might believe in that I had a memory that could recall such things, but sadly I never have had a good memory for bringing to mind well after the fact specific plays or visual stuff like that. I tend more to remember conversations, thoughts and impressions, and for him I just remember seeing more than a few goals go in, and in looking back at the plays, thinking that his missing a mark on a run, getting shrugged aside, or something like that, had a direct or close to direct part in allowing the goal. I could be overemphasizing impressions I had from earlier on that he's improved on, that's certainly possible, but that is my impression of him, that he can make mistakes defensively, and that his offense is not nearly good enough to counteract that, for the national team level.

 

Discussion of this interview was bouncing around my twitter timeline last night. Here is a quick blog post from Andrea Canales on the subject.

Benny dops the mic Jurgen Klinsmann
Andrea Canales

 

Wow! A lot of truth to what he says...

 

Yes I agree with him. Benny did have a stellar year last season and should have gotten a look for the NT. The fact he didn't tells us a lot about JK's opinion of MLS standouts - he has his "can't do wrong" favorites like Mix and Jozy, then others who can have amazing years and barely get a sniff. I was positive about JK with high hopes when he was appointed but when he's not playing the best available that's a problem. Benny said it well.

 

Here is Ives with JK's rebuttal.

Klinsmann: Feilhaber didn't show us he was on 'international level'

Ives Galarcep
goal.com

 

Well fair point to Klinsi on personality and body language, Benny's poor locker room presence is well known. In terms of talent however, when he wants to be, he's better than Mix or Nagbe IMO. JK can't say Benny had a good first half, poor second when Mix had a paltry 3 goals 0 assists in 27 games for NYC. In 2015, Benny had 10g, 11a for SKC, to refute JK he had 3g, 4a in the second half, which I define as August onward. This is more MLS production than Nagbe. Mix, JJ or Bradley had the entire season in 2015. When Klinsmann compared Benny to a box to box mid like JJ or Bradley, he stacks up well.

From a performance perspective Klinsmann is full of shit, Benny is the better player.

 

Yeah, by responding through Ives, JK opens himself up to the obvious question: "So Benny is not at the 'International Level,' but some of those other guys you've been bringing into camp are?"

Sometimes it's better to just not respond, especially if you're the national team manager and a player is complaining (however right he may be) about his management of players.

 

Hope you're reading this @patfan1 I'm arguing for Benny.

 

Exactly. It calls into question every single call up Klinsmann has made. Green was intl level for the WC but Donovan was not, etc