Berhalter announces 23 player squad for the 2019 Gold Cup

you do realize that your linguistic gymnastics are proving my point?.......

I'd also note that Johnson also has been good for us and on the biggest stage.....

 

Is it possible for Trapp to play his way off of a roster? He was our 2nd worst plalyer against Jamaica just behind Mihailovic.

 

I'm rewatching the first half now (with Jamaican commentary--thanks youtube) since no one is showing up to my clinic this morning it seems. He started out with a great run for a header that would have been a sick goal but after that just kind of disappeared. The service was bad because everything we did up the wings completely died, especially on the left, but he really didn't help himself here. Lots of runs that just weren't in the right spot at the right time. He was knocked for not finding the game at Bremen back when he played in March too by people with a better eye for such a thing than me before he fell out of the squad so there's that.

But man, the total team performance was somehow worse than I even remember from Wednesday. Arriola and Roldan spent a lot of time getting hacked, but their passing was atrocious, but Robinson was worse than both of them. I have no idea how people think he deserved to be on the squad. He might have a "high ceiling" but over the first 40 minutes was even worse than Mihailovic.

If nothing else with Sargent, he's at least easy to scout with his hair. I don't hate the new red kits but the blue numbers on red makes them really hard to read.

 

I don't think I'm proving the point that there's some bias against Morales, if that's where you're going with this. Like, not a bias because he's German-American.

 

Neither one of them are going to be on the squad in 2022. (you'll see I already said I misread his post)

 

Hmmm.

I think we're in agreement that the DMs that have played under Berhalter have been somewhere between "Just a guy" and "guys who suck".

I think we also agree that Morales is at least as good as that low standard but he hasn't even had a chance to join the team for practice even though he plays in a meaningfully better league than Trapp/Bradley/Yueill.

What's the rationale again for not even bringing him into camp? Can't be age as he's 2 years younger than Bradley.

 

Compared to Jermaine Jones, well yes.

Compared to Wil Trapp? If you have the stomach watch/re-watch the v Jamaica match! Trapp makes Morales look like the 2nd coming of Claude Makelele!

 

The Morales question is about the most indefensible one, something the GB/USSF supporters are having trouble with (and they have trouble with many issues at this point). But we've heard it before, and it goes something like this -

1. He was a marginal starter (never mind for a mid-table B1 club, a level MB/WT couldn't sniff at this point).
2. He had his chance and didn't impress (forget when, but probably about 4 years ago).
3. He's old (as you mention, younger than MB)
4. He has never really been good, more a B2 player (basically the exact same as defensive stalwart Ream, who was never in the PL until this year, and his team hardly qualified as that).
5. Like Adams, he doesn't fit the "system" with long diagonals (find a new system that gets me the best players on the field in their best positions).

 

[QUOTE="bsky22, post: 37845789,

You think sitting at home thinking about preseason is better preparation than dominating at the u20s or playing in the gold cup?[/QUOTE]
For the last time!!!!! Sargent did not want to go to Poland. He had discussions with ussf and made it clear his preference was to train with the senior team and try to make the GC roster. He got cut, but I took it that Egg rewarded him with 90 minutes last night.
Likewise, Weah's preference was to go to Poland.

 

I think they are SUM bots. SUM must be doing business with the Russians.

 

The Yedlin and Brooks injuries are absolute killers to our team right now. I'll give Gregg this roster, whatever, not happy with it. But the injuries are tough to deal with - the player pool is so limited.

But with Yedlin back, Adams hopefully goes back to CDM. Oh, and Omar goes back to Canada and we never hear from him again.

 

To me the obvious cut of a former player is a basic test of fitness for the job. Can you tell good from average from poor. Can you cut the poor player. Can you cut your old players. If you can't make the eval distinctions right, and can't cut your own players when they deserve it, you're pretty close to useless, playing favorites plus you probably couldn't find the right players with both hands and a flashlight.

Pulisic, Adams, etc., we could do that. I think the Donovan-type decisions are where NT coaches make their money. But I think the Trapp-type deicisions tell me if you should even be doing the job. If you can't get the obvious right how can I expect you to handle the margins (or perhaps even the starters) right.

We have routinely had old domestic coaches who have their stars on the team. No problem. There is sometimes a Bornstein issue at the margins. But I am struggling to remember a coach in recent memory who couldn't cut a player not making the standard just because they used to work together. Part of what I hire you to do is be that cold blooded. Which coach kept his former player while he sucked every game?

Trapp gave up the winner and I saw no upside, on a team that got its butt whooped by a second tier regional team. That was up there with the worst performances of the night, wasn't hidden, didn't require infinite tape study. He juked him twice out of his jock and slammed it across the goal in the far corner. QED. Trash goes in the can by the curb. To me this should be kids' stuff relative to figuring out how to beat Mexico.

 

Jon Bornstein actually had good performances for the NT, on multiple occasions. A little unfair to compare him to Trapp.

But I think you're otherwise right in terms of how you look at a former player-as-coach.

 

Shouldn't this be an adult decision? What if Weah had a better shot at the senior team, but his preference is honored. And then Sargent had the weaker shot, and his preference is honored. And so one gets less than a game and the other plays all tournament. When the subjective knock on both is their club situation. Shouldn't there be a basic method to this madness that is applied and reapplied to players in similar situations?

OK, in the manager role, shouldn't the solution be the same? You're both rusty. You're both marginal to my sense of the roster. You're both going to U20 to get games.

Or at least be honest that maybe it was different to give Soto a vacuum to step into.

As the guy from MLS' website said, it's kind of absurd for him to be on neither team. That feels like poor, seat of the pants planning. Just like calling in a player for your only pre-roster warm up game, and he starts, and he is ineligible for GC because you, what, forgot him from the provo list?

FWIW the way Yeuill got handled suggests this is way too granular, game by game, of a form chart. Part of my response to Sargent and Weah is I thought they already earned their way off of missing the whole roster for a bad game.

 

Funny thing is, in principle, I agree with you. In practice, I disagree where you end up. For me, none of these guys should be on the team. Simply put, none of them are good enough, and one of them (Bradley) is too old to be hanging onto at this point. I think we are spending too much debating the fringes … this marginal player vs that marginal player. I can't get excited about debating whether a 35 year old player in 2022 (Johnson) should replace "x" player or a constantly injured player whom many would say has questionable commitment and who hasn't ever been a standout when called in (Chandler) should replace "y." My much bigger issues are why younger guys who are playing regularly and look to have high ceilings (regardless of league) are not getting a chance at their preferred positions (Adams in central midfield) or at all (Miles Robinson). What are we going to learn from playing Omar Gonzalez and Michael Bradley?

 

Why would you think that? They have already been on the roster together, and when they were, Gregg put Yedlin out on the attacking wing and Adams at right back.

 

Well honestly, I think Trapp proves not good enough and he goes to a Wes, Adams and Bradley midfield from here on out. I just cant see him tinkering

 

Not only that, the team looked good when they did and Adams covered a ton of ground and played great before getting hurt.

 

Caution: Out of Box Thinking Included Here

I feel like if all you can come up with is my DMs are mediocre or suck

you shouldn't be coaching, At least not us.

Adams is a fairly obvious one that the coach has defined out of the list. McKennie can handle it even if I don't think he's a stopper specialist for the future.

There are players like Sabandzovic in Europe who have not been tried.

And perish the thought that we get creative, Holmes -- who should be an impact attacker but may get caught in some sort of idiot coach numbers game -- looked like he would scrap no doubt. So rather than waste him as a utility sub, how about he hustles around at DM?

Sorry but to me if you go around in Trapp Bradley Roldan Mihailovic circles -- one past it and the other never wases so far -- you're barely fit to handle Camp Cupcake. That is Camp Cupcake on the Brain.

 

a 20 year old whose only professional minutes have been in the Bosnian league.

I know everyone likes to overhype youth players, but c'mon now. People are just looking for excuses to bitch.

 

You are MUCH more optimistic than I am. Bravo to you for keeping the faith. I don't see it. So far it seems to me that the criticism about Adams has only served to make Berhalter double-down on his inanity.

 

Cause the guy from Derby in the Championship looked awful.

Cause Gall from Sweden looked awful.

Cause we're only going to probably start the dual national convert who plays in Portugal/Turkey. Sight unseen basically.

Cause all such matters should be resolved by snob abstract wretch response rather than putting them on the field and seeing.

I am open to he actually sucks. But at least if I try I am not just going in literally the same small circle of about 4 useless players.

People wonder why I dislike the snobbery, it's in part because of this situation, mediocre or bad players from an ok league being defended against competition by "well where does he play?" It's basically a conservative, status quo response. Even when people are like WTF do we do now.

 

Looked good???

We played an Ecuador B team without their best attacking pieces that decided to play a deep bunker 5-4-1. All we managed was 5 shots with 2 on goal. We scored on a fluke deflection that the GK stops 99 of 100 times.

Looked good???

 

The more you see USSF operate the more it is that they are indignant. They think Couva was a fluke and they think the fans should support them. They have reacted to the fan reaction by moving into contempt of the fans. From high ticket prices to having Omar and Bradley on the rosters, it is shoving the failure in the face of the fans and daring them to stop caring.

Whatever GB is doing, and I think he is confused now, he could have done it without Bradley and certainly without Omar. Their continued inclusion suggests a level of acrimony from USSF to the fans. I think, subconsciously, this is what has many fans angered over this roster. The media doesn't understand because their relationship with USSF is a one way relationship where USSF feeds them as long as they are good.

Sargent has become the focal point because he embodies the direction any rational federation would be going in at this point. GB could easily get through this tournament without Omar and with Sargent on the roster. That he chose not to is just further acrimony towards the fan base.

 

I like Gregg. I really do, he's a genuinely good man and I think this summer is telling. I really think the Brooks injury is why we are stuck with Omar. But Omar over CCV is crazy.

I just don't see the value, but that's just me. I was hoping for

Robinson - Brooks - Miazga - Yedlin

for as many games possible post Couva - Gold Cup.

I'm not losing faith on Robinson yet. I actually watched a few of his club games, he has the ability. You cannot tell me Lovitz has the ability to play LB at the NT level. You simply cannot tell me that. He's an off year Gold Cup guy who should never play alongside Pulisic and co. He's not good enough.