What the hell: Gk: Horvath, Steffen, Garces Def: Yedlin, Brooks, vincent, EPB, CCV, Miazga, Saief Mid: McKennie, Gonzalez, Adams, Parks, Hyndman, Durkin, Taitague, Pynadath, Taitague F: Pulisic, Wood, Morris, Sargent It's a crazy young roster, but screw it. Build up for 2026 so we don't look like jackasses on home soil
That's a long way away, but I'll try GK: Hamid, Guzan, Horvath DF: Brooks, Miazga, Yedlin, Dest, Palmer-Brown, Xuxuh Hilton, Shaq Moore, Acosta MF: American Lord And Savior, Mckennie, Konrad de la Fuente, Taitague, Gonzalez, Adams, Carleton FW: Wood, Wright, Sargent, Shaft Brewer, Weah
Shoot, I'll take a random stab... GK Horvath, Gonzalez, Garces DF Carter-Vickers, Glad, Miazga, Brooks, Palmer-Brown MF Yedlin, Arriola, Saief, Gooch, Pulisic, Carleton, McKennie, Adams, Gonzalez, Acosta, Roldan FW Wright, Weah, Sargent, Wood
I bet you the starting 11 from your list would play faster and with more heart than the AARP group that played TT.
Current age in parentheses. This WC is about 5 years away. GK: Hamid(26), Horvath(22), Garces(17) DF: Yedlin(24), Chandler(27), Brooks(24), Miazga (22), EPB(20), CCV(19), Glad(20), Acosta(19), Gloster(17) MF: McKennie(18), Bradley(30), Booth(16), Nyeman(13), Pulisic(19), Carleton(17), Pomykal(17), de la Fuente(16) FW: Wright(19), Sargent(17), Agudelo(24)
There is no way in hell that Bradley will be with the team at 35. If he still is, then this is not a federation but someones own play club.
For the WC 2022 which is 5 years away but the team should be mostly set by year 4 are the following. GK: Horvath, Gonzalez, Steffen There is no middle age keeper that is better than these 3, yes, I'm looking at you Guzan. Horvath should be the starter. DF: Yedlin, Olosude, Brooks, Miazga, EPB, CCV, Acosta, Fossey. The RB is loaded with Yedlin keeping his starting spot. Olosunde can play more than one position because of his size of 6'1 and lightning speed. Then you have Fossey that is raw but great physical ability, it helps that is playing and training with a PL team. The CBs are well known and don't need to be introduced, they just need reps. MF: McKennie, Gonzalez, Pulisic, Adam, Saief, Gaines, Parks, Mihailovic, Taitague West is already a regular with Schalke, so is Jonathan Gonzales (JG) at Monterrey, both are strong on the tackle with great ball control. These 2 are very hungry to show what they have and should start with the NT right away. Adam probably had the best engine of all but is not as polished as the other 2. Saief is a strong player that is still under 25 and has played CL games, he is strong on the tackle and can play either LB or LW, he is not afraid to go inside and can score from that position. Gaines is probably the rawest of this group but is the fastest, probably Yedlin speed, when he plays he either sets up or scores, unfortunately, he doesn't get to see the field too much in the 2BLl. Parks has probably the best soccer IQ than anyone, he doesn't possess great speed or defends well but this kid just about never makes a mistake and always seems to be either setting up someone for the score or him doing it himself, at 6'4 he is very tall for a CM. Mihailovic looks to be the backup to Pulisic in my mind, he is quick, great passer and has a nose for goal at 18 y.o.and 5'10, he should be primed in the next 12 months. Keep an eye on this kid. I included an extra winger here because Gaines is very raw and may take more than 12 months to establish himself, the kid that could take his place is Nick Taitague, he is small quick as a cat with excellent ball control, he needs to bulk up without losing speed, Schalke followers think he may make 1st team appearance by the end of this season. FW: Wright, Sargent, Wood, Morris USA when they play 2 up front the will use the big and small combo of forwards, Wright can be that guy at 6'4, he is deceptively fast in open field and very cool when executing, he needs more reps and also to grow into his frame, this preseason with Schalke 1st team he scored 3 goals in 15 minutes because of the service. I expect him to continue to get better, Sargent is a smaller version of Wright but younger, he has the complete package of a 9, he possesses an arsenal of moves, specially inside, he is great linking up and playing with his back to goal. Wood is your fast and strong player, we need that to change our attacking force. Morris is a player that would probably lose his spot for someone that is more hungry.
I feel that Guzan will be the #1 probably through the 19 Copa. I do think that other keepers will get some chances but Brad will be the defacto #1 for a little while.
Judging from our talent pool I think we need to go 352 next cycle. So here are my 23 GK: Hamid, Horvath, Gonzalez DEF: Brooks, Miazaga, EPB, CCV, Glad MID: Yedlin, Olosunde, K. Acosta, Hyndman, McKennie, Pulisic, Sonora, Durkin, Saief, D. Acosta FWD: Wood, Sargent, Rubin, Wright, Weah Starting 11: Horvath EPB-Miazaga-Brooks Yedlin-Hyndman-Pulisic-McKennie- Saief Sargent-Wood
Here's my completely uneducated, random guess: GK: Ethan Horvath, Bill Hamid, Zack Steffen Others in contention: Jesse Gonzalez, Sean Johnson DEF: DeAndre Yedlin, Matt Miazga, John Brooks, Danny Acosta, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Erik Palmer-Brown, Desevio Payne Others in contention: Brandon Vincent, Shaq Moore, Walker Zimmerman, Justen Glad, Tommy Redding, Marlon Fossey, Tim Parker, Matt Hedges, Marco Farfan, probably a bunch of younger guys who aren't currently in any US youth teams MID: Weston McKennie, Emerson Hyndman, Paul Arriola, Christian Pulisic, Kenny Saief, Darlington Nagbe, Tyler Adams, Kellyn Acosta, Andrew Carleton Others in contention: Jonathan Gonzalez, Sebastian Lletget, Julian Green, Danny Williams, Wil Trapp, Juan Pablo Torres, Nick Taitague, McKenzie Gaines, Gedion Zelalem, Brooks Lennon, Derrick Jones, Lynden Gooch, Kekuta Manneh, Chris Goslin FOR: Bobby Wood, Haji Wright, Jozy Altidore, Josh Sargent Others in contention: Jordan Morris, Tim Weah, Juan Agudelo, Christian Ramirez Here's my starting XI: --------------------Wood-------------------- Saief-------------Pulisic------------Arriola -----------McKennie----Hyndman------- D.Acosta----Brooks----Miazga---Yedlin ------------------Horvath----------------------
Joshua Sargent, Bobby Wood, Jordan Morris, Andrija Novakovich, Haji Wright, Andrew Carleton, Kelyn Rowe, Sebastian Lletget, Paul Arriola, Cristian Roldan, Jonathan Gonzalez, Weston McKennie, Erik Palmer-Brown, Tyler Adams, DeAndre Yedlin, Nick Lima, John Brooks, Matt Miazga, Justen Glad, Walker Zimmerman, Ethan Horvath, Bill Hamid, Jesse Gonzalez 433 base formation