Exactly. The only way Pulisic could get released would be if he was left at Chelsea in September. Almost all our best players are U23, so I get the fantasy rosters. But it is a dead end. Nobody in UEFA cares about the Olympics. England doesn't even participate. We aren't going to pull our best players away from their clubs during their seasons for this tournament then pull them out again in September/October/November and fly them all over Central America. We will show our upcoming talent at the 2022 WC when the first of them are entering their prime.
Most likely, the Olympic roster will look like the qualifying roster. That will probably look like: GK: Marcinkowski, Ochoa RB: Cannon, Duncan LB: Vines, KHF/Bello CB: Robinson, McKenzie, Glad DM: Yueill, Servania CM: Pomykal, Parks, Aaronsen W: Llanez, Lewis ST: Toye, Ferreira Llanez might not be available. Soto might be. Your Olympic Roster, with overage players: GK: Marcinkowski, Guzan* RB: Cannon, Duncan LB: Vines, KHF/Bello CB: Robinson, McKenzie, Glad DM: Yueill, Servania CM: Pomykal, Parks, Aaronsen W: Morris*, Lewis ST: Zardes*, Toye
Its hard to predict. We'll get some players we weren't expecting, and we'll struggle to get players we thought were slam dunks. We are assuming that we'll get all of the MLS-based players that we want. That's an assumption. The MLS regular season starts March 2nd. We accept that Euro clubs can deny all of these callups during their seasons. Why do we expect MLS clubs to roll over? For instance, you have 4 likely starters from FCD in your roster (Ferreira, Pomykal, Cannon, and Servania). Will FCD want 4 starters gone from their roster for 2-3 weeks. Maybe? Probably? I don't know......................... Its also possible that after this January window some of the players you have there will actually be in Europe (and unavailable). I'm thinking of Cannon as a possibility there.
Luchi really values players getting international experience at any level so if they’re healthy they’re probably going to be with the 23’s. He’s a big fan of youth anyways so if a couple guys are gone he’ll plug and play.
Yeah it’s not like Luchi will play a bunch of former Ligue 2 players in their place, some other youngsters will get a chance. And, FCD has no match the last weekend of March. So these guys would miss 2 or 3 matches tops. Their March 21 match is at Seattle. That’d be tough to get 3 points even with a full roster. Not the end of the season if they lose that match with some players missing.
The USA 🇺🇸 will face Mexico 🇲🇽, Costa Rica 🇨🇷 and the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 at the 2020 @Concacaf Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship.— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) January 10, 2020
As long as we finish ahead of Costa Rica and the DR, right? Then play anybody from the other bracket.
This cycle being made up of the last 2 u20 cycles who breezed through everyone except Mexico who both teams beat in convincing fashion should give us reasonable confidence even with this group. Sargent, McKennie, Pulisic, and Weah weren't there at qualifying in their cycles and we still trained everyone anyways. This isn't like the last two olympic groups, our c-team this go-around would still beat the teams we brought for the last two qualifying tournaments.
I mean, what a terrible draw. But we got a terrible draw because of our performance at the last U23 CONCACAF Championships. That's why Honduras got into Pot A apparently. This is what can happen. You're at the mercy of the ping pong balls. I mean, we've learned repeatedly at the U23 CONCACAF Championships that we have our backs against the wall with a "B" team. We've failed to qualify in 3 of the last 4 events. I'm not quite sure why folks think it'll be different this time. If we can get some of our better players, then I give us a fighting chance. But its possible that we wouldn't advance from this group with our BEST team.
Am I the only one that is fine with this draw? Now, the group stage is actually worth watching. Our young players are the best in the region, I expect them to move on to the next round.
It's an ok draw. Costa Rica is weak at this level, and MEX and HON have been the #1 and #2 in the region for some time. We should finish second in the group, and decide the second ticket against the Catrachos. Pretty much as expected.
We think its different because even without a lot of A players in the last u20 qualifying we still won those the last two cycles which comprise this u23 cycle. This years group even down to the c-team is a lot better than previous cycles by a good margin
I mean, we’d advance with our best team. Which would be really close to the senior team. But the big question is how many of players like Pomykal, Llanez, Richards, CCV, etc. actually play in qualifying.
People think it is different because this team, even with its C players, will have thousands of MLS minutes. Of course, MLS minutes have not really shown well at the recent U20 or U17 WCs, but they did show well in CONCACAF. The one off semi-final game is the biggest reason we failed to qualify last time. I believe we dominated the group stage. In the one off game, we have struggled with our youth players against older Central American players. Also, that Honduras team was very good and did better at the Olympics than Mexico, iirc. The probable roster has quite a few players in the 21+ range. We should win the group, and then play Haiti to go to the Olympics. Let Mexico try their luck with Honduras. CR has three players with MLS minutes. We should have a roster full. I have zero faith in the coach. But CR should not really be a problem. Mexico at home is tough.
The FIFA window ends on the 28th, 27th, or 31st depending on who you read. I would expect any MLS player or European reserve player to be available. The European players might depart after the semi-final. Soto would be a wild card. If he doesn't move, and we can only hope he will, he should be available since Hannover continues with their punitive stance. But again, they have been punitive, so maybe they don't release him out of spite. Llanez---Ebobisse----Lewis Pomykal---Yueill---Aaronsen Vines----Richards--McKenzie--Cannon Ledezma wasn't released for January, so will probably not be released in March. I don't know if they tried to get Richards, who is also with the first team. I think Richards will be with the reserves in March while Ledezma might be around the 18. Mendez might be available, don't know if they tried to call him for January. I think he would be a sub if we need a goal. Reyna might be an option in March, might not. But even an all-MLS team with Llanez (Glad for Richards) should be good enough. Now, if FCD doesn't play ball...
A big difference between Honduras of 2016 and the Honduras of 2020: Alberth Elis. It's hard to overstate how silly he made CCV look in a must win game. Without him, it may have been a much tighter game.
Interesting to look at that 2015 squad and compare to a potential team: GK Steffan---------------Marcicowski RB Okwuonu ----------Cannon CB Miazga--------------Richards/Glad CB CCV (age 17)------McKenzie LB Serna----------------Vines CM Trapp----------------Yueill CM Hyndman------------Aaronsen CM Polster---------------Pomykal W Gil--------------------Lewis F Morris----------------Ebobisse/Toye W Kiessewetter-------Llanez The big difference is that everyone on the left, except Llanez, starts in MLS. The 2015 had mostly youth team players. Morris was in college. Trapp, Miazga, Serna, Gil and Polster were starters in MLS.
GK: 2015 is better, even considering Steffen was still a youth player. RB: 2019; Got to go with Cannon, but I'm not convinced he's on the squad. Araujo would be CB: 2019: I'm not and never have been a CCV fan. I'd take 20 y/o Richards over 20 y/o Miazga but it's close. LB: Draw: Why can't we get decent LBs in the program? Antonee Robinson would move the needle to 2019. CMs: 2019: Hyndman and Trapp have proven to be good but Yueill, Parks, Pomykal, Aaronsen, Cappis, Ledezma et al blow them out of the water. The real question is who ends up being selected. The real question I have is how Tab screwed up the 2017 U20 midfield so bad. When Jona Gonzalez, Parks, and Yueill were available he took Derrick Jones, Eryk Williamson, and Gedion Zelalem. W/F: 2019: At striker I think we're lacking. Ebobisse is good and Toye has risen quickly but Morris was further along at that age. Llanez is one of the better wingers in recent memory, and Lewis is servicable. Ferreira is a wild card that could have a major impact Looks like 2019 is better at almost every position, but it remains to be seen what players actually get called up.
Schedule sets up well in that if we beat CR, we can rotate the squad against DR, and then play Mexico with the strongest squad. We would have an extra day rest on the potential Group B opponent also.
Miles Robinson not getting released for Jan. camp was an ominous sign. May be team MVP if available. He's shined in games against Mexican teams, home and road, on the club level. A realistic-optimistic xi for me would be: Marcinkowski; Dotson, Robinson, Richards, Araujo; Servania, Yueill, Pomykal; Reyna, Ebobisse, Aaronson bench of: Ferreira, Toye, Saucedo, Duncan, Sands, Parks, Freese Kreis is a solid coach for u-23. My moderate pessimism for qualifying derives from force-fitting Berhalter's style on the pool still and on the road/neutral field v. equal or better opponents, as well as lack of availability for the roster. If they don't qualify it doesn't mean this is a lost generation with those things considered. The players on the precipice of the senior team will at least get some competitive experience in Latin America before the hex. Of course it would be better for that interest to maximize participation in the qualifying tourney and then get several matches in Tokyo against even better opponents w/ seemingly a stronger youth squad.
I'm shocked at how sanguine some are about are chances winning our group while playing in Mexico. We haven't been able to take care of business at home for cycle after cycle, now we're going to beat Mexico in Mexico? I just don't see that. Hope I'm totally wrong. If nothing else, at least we'll have a good chance in the semifinals, but regardless, I'm going in w/low expectations, the futility since 2000 (1 for 4 qualification cycles, haven't looked good once since Sydney w/baby Donovan and friends 20 years ago) has been remarkably consistent.