What is interesting to me is Adams has been playing central midfield longer than Pulisic has been playing on the wing, (including USL and acknowledging he played half of the 2016 out wide because they had a veteran dmid who some thought was USMNT quality) yet many folks think CP is only a winger and TA isnt a dmid.
In Jan 2017, Dax McCarty was traded in part to make room for Tyler Adams on the NYRB first team. Btw, had birthday this week (Val Day). Now 20yo.
Agreed. I'd like to see both of them in the midfield, but I don't know why anyone wants to shoehorn Adams into that spot of all people. Waste of one of, if not his best attribute as a player: (Rangnick) "Unbelievable sense of when to press the opponent."
Yep. In 2016, he was exclusively a dmid in USL. In 2016 as a 17 yo, he played over 3000 mins in 35 appearances. 14 of those performances were as a Dmid mostly early in the season. The other games he rotated between RM, RB, LM, and AM. Oncw McCarty left he played exclusively in middle of the park.
My hope with the system we saw from Berhalter is that Adams is who he has in mind for the spot Bradley/Trapp played. Whoever plays in the Lima role wont get forward as much, but provides cover centrally to allow Adams to get into the attack more.
Excited to see that Fab is still in the mix! Am told #usmnt coach Gregg Berhalter will watch Schalke (Weston McKennie) at Man City Weds in the Champions League, Werder Bremen (Josh Sargent) vs. Stuttgart on Friday and ‘Gladbach (Fabian Johnson) vs. Wolfsburg (John Brooks) on Saturday. https://t.co/1VMGujZqaQ— Doug McIntyre (@ByDougMcIntyre) February 18, 2019
what about dortmund or Hanover on Sunday and Leipzig on Monday? who is going to be in spain on Thursday?
I wouldn't draw too much from the schedule. It is hard to throw a stone in the bundesliga and not have an American on a team. It is possible GB wants to see Brooks and it just happens FJ might be playing for the other team.
Serious question: What is it that people see in the USMNT this cycle when basically we have 2 players playing at a high level in Europe, Pulisic and Adams. Otherwise, we have McKennie who plays for a crap team in BL and doesn't even have a position. I happen to love Weah's game but he couldn't break in at PSG and plays for Celtic and I love Sargent's game but he obviously isn't ready for a start yet at Bremen and is just starting to get sub minutes. Morales plays for Dusseldorf yet nobody has an interest in him. Yedlin is one of those players the Prem brings in to go all athletic and save the club some money in a lesser (they believe) position. Tim Ream plays in the prem but nobody is interested in him. Brooks is inconsistent by all reports. so what is it that people see in the USMNT that makes them optimistic. I don't get it. If anybody brings up Delgado or Roldan he is laughed off as if we were Argentina or something. don't be ridiculous, they say, those players cant make it at this level. Compared to whom? Heck, 50% of the players in Europe will be injured at just the wrong time anyway.
Actually, neither CP nor TA belong in the top group: CP hasn't played as much this year and TA is very new to the B1. Your antipathy for WM is amazing. He is an automatic starter for a B1 team that made the KOs in UCL. How many players have more major league minutes than him this year? Earning playing time in the major leagues is a serious accomplishment and it's silly to try to compare games vs. Man City vs. games vs. Independiente Delgado and Roldan aren't even stars in MLS - how about they make the MLS All-Star team before you start comparing them to those playing at much higher levels. No one has said that we don't need depth and these players shouldn't get a chance to fill the back of a roster. On the contrary, you want these depth players to be viewed as the starters unless pushed out. IMO, you will always justify why far more accomplished players should sit instead of your favorite minor leaguers.
I see a cycle that still has more than 3.5 years left in it. Since the majority of our talent is young, the players in the pool will be significantly better by the WC than they are now. Given that McKennie has already started to get interest from the EPL, he will likely move to a bigger team and his flexibility will be a huge strength for us. Sargent and Weah will likely grow and be at bigger clubs as well. Miazga will likely be playing in the EPL or other big four league. Also, we can expect some of the tons of talented player 16 years or older to break through and be at least where Weah and Sargent are now. We should have significant depth at every position and no longer need to even consider relying on average MLS players. If I tweak my best XI to include one prospect to break through sooner than later and be an impact player, it looks something like this. Weah--------------Wood-------------Sargent ---------------mendez----Pulisic---------------- ------------------------adams------------------------- Robinson--Brooks--Miazga--McKennie --------------------------ZS/EH------------------------ Within a couple Years, Sargent and Weah will push Wood out of the way and younger wingers will step up. I expect the team to look very different in a couple of years. if it isnt these guys below, there are plenty more.... Wings - Amon, Gall, Sabbi, Llanez, de la fuente, taitague amids - ledezma, Reyna, Pomykal, busio dmids - canouse, Durkin, Servania, booth CB - CCV, EPB, Richard's, Mckenzie R/LB - gloster, bello, dest,
People are optimistic because while for generations we've been able to point to a stray player here or there signed with a big team, they were generally getting minutes in reserve squads and the like. Right now, we have increasing numbers of young players getting first team minutes in bigger leagues and that truly is a new development. We just had a guy sold for more than the next several US players combined. Youth team results are starting to look very encouraging. So, there is ample reason to be optimistic about the future of this team. And now for the bad news. Sure, we have young guys getting minutes, but it is only a small handful really looking like regulars (Pulisic, McKennie, Brooks, maybe Adams if he keeps it up, etc) and we almost always have a handful of such players. We've had 3-4 guys or more getting solid European minutes on most US squads back to the 90s and even 1 or 2 on teams before that. That several of the guys doing it now are not yet near their prime is good news for the future, but mediocre news for now as they will have to go through typical growing pains and many are still not really ready. Some are getting sub minutes because they're still learning the game (Sargent). Others have seen playing time fade and been loaned or transferred to lower level teams (Miazga, Weah). And, the squad as a whole has very little support from the older generation to work in with. So, it's not exactly all wine and roses. Basically, in the balance I expect this cycle to be fairly typical or the US after the aberration of last cycle. We'll qualify, possibly challenge for the top spot in the region, then we'll go to the cup and anything beyond the first round will be a surprise because while our talent will overcome most in the region, it's still not likely good enough to really make a splash against top teams. Fingers crossed that a good proportion of the young players keep their careers on track and don't get injured because if they can do that for several more years, we may start to get more competitive for 2026.
Two big reasons for optimism: 1. The depth and level of our U21 prospects is miles ahead of the talent we've ever had before. More than a couple of these players have already broken through at big clubs. Not all will live up to their potential, but there will be more than enough to fill out a team that is light years more talented than any team we've ever had. The World Cup is still four years away. More than enough time for these players to establish themselves and even for another wave to emerge. 2. We finally have a coach who has a plan and knows what he is doing. The importance of this cannot be understated.
20,20,20,19,18 Those are the ages of Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Sargent, and Weah. Adams and Sargent turned 20 and 19 in the last 7 days. How optimistic you get is if you think these are outliers or a Golden Generation or if they are a wave. Personally, I think the Germans led the way with professionalizing youth teams, the rest of Europe followed suit a few years later (France, Belgium first then Spain and England and others). They are deep into the benefits of that across most of UEFA except for a few hold outs (Dutch) that started around when we did. We are 10 years behind the Germans, but that is what a player like Adams and Mendez have been in since 13. If you think there is no upside to 20 year olds playing for teams like Schalke, Dortmund, Leipzig, Celtic, and Bremen, then I don't know who pissed on your daisies. If you think the greater upside is with guys 3-5 years older that are signed with MLS through 2021-23, then I'm not sure why we view things so differently.
We have been here before. Remember 2008? PlayerAgeClubComments Freddy Adu18Benfica (PPL)Called the next Pele by some in the media Benny Feilhaber22Derby County (EPL)Already spent 3 years at Hamburger in BL Michael Bradley21BMG (BuLi)Already spent 2 seasons in Holland and just sold to BMG in BuLi Maurice Edu22Rangers (Scotland)The Tyler Adams of his day. Sold to rangers for $5MM Jozy Altidore18Villerea (SPL)Sold for a then recods $10MM after lighting up MLS as a teen Eddie Johnson24Fulham (EPL)Sold for reported $6M after lighting up MLS Michael Orozco22San Luis (Liga MX)Starter in Liga MX. Stellar in 2008 Olympic Qs Charlie Davis21Hammarby Danny Szetela21Racing Santander (SPL)Spanish first division! Edgar Castillo22Santos Laguna (Liga MX)Mexican NT caps. Switch to US in 09.
Not sure I see the comparison here. Seems like most of these guys were potential, and sold/purchased as thus. Whereas the current young players are getting legitimate minutes consisently. Did Adu/Benny/Edu/Jozy/Johnson get more than 5 games with the first team? I think your better comparison would be these guys with our young players like Mendez, Ledezma, etc., who have signed contracts or been purchased but haven't really accomplished anything...
The 2008 crop were all accomplished pros at that point unlike the youngsters you cited. Bradley, Edu, and Davis all became first choice starters at BMG, Rangers, and Socheaux. Benny had 9 matches at Hamburg before he was sold to Derby County, Jozy 9 at Villereal before he went to AZ and began scoring for fun. Currently Pulisic, McKennie, and now Adams are established starters. Weah is out on loan and is still not a starter at Celtic while Sargent is a squad minutes choice.
Great, 2008 was right before probably the best group of talent we have had in 2009-2010. The came in 2nd in the Conf. Cup and should have reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup. The injury to Davies and strange personnel and tactical decisions by Bradley cost us games, including the Round of 16 game against Ghana. Szetela a real disappointment. Gets off the hook because Adu gets all that.
Just before this cycle we were dealing with player pool like - Jozy was second or first in scoring in Eredvisie and was sold to EPL, Bradley was in Serie A, Jones was an outstanding pro for Schalke, Howard was a regular starter in prem, Johnson and Chandler were lb and rb respectively starting in BL and Dempsey was an ace in the EPL. Then there is overlap with brooks, Donovan, Yedlin etc. The above players are what somebody above called an "aberration" in comparison with this new cycle which is purportedly the dawn of a new age of some sort. I can only speculate why people are so rosy about the prospects of the TEAM when the individual heft is obviously so lacking so I won't say anything but I have to say I'm not optimistic at all about qualification and just have to recall that we're not the only ones with problems to overcome. Canada, Jamaica, Mexico Costa Rica have to deliver on the pitch as well, over and beyond tweeting and blogging.
This is a valid point, but it's not nearly as alarming as you might be hoping. First of all, this was a decent core of players that did okay internationally. Add them to Donovan, Dempsey, Keller, Onyewu, Beasley, etc. and you can see how we had some good moments in those days. The biggest issue with this group is not necessary what they accomplished; it is the fact that there were no players that came behind them doing the same thing. Who are the names that followed this group in 2008 and did similar things? While there are few guys who just didn't pan out (Shea) or got injured (Holden), there simply were not enough good players. To contrast that, we can list dozens of players who are coming behind Pulisic, Adams, Sargent, McKennie, and Weah (who are mostly all significantly younger than the players you listed). The depth of the number of prospects now is simply much greater than ever before, and that is a huge part of the equation. The reason for this is that there is a huge difference in the development track that this group went through as compared to the current generations. Almost all of their paths involved either college or Bradenton -- or they were raised abroad. Each of these paths has issues: the college track has been well documented, Bradenton was a centralized location that limited the number of prospects that could be produced, and players who were raised abroad often prefer to play for their native country first. Today's environment is much different. College is mostly out of the picture for high level prospects unless it's for a single season or necessary for the odd "late bloomer." More importantly, Bradenton is non-existent and has been replaced by a growing number of professional academies. These academies, along with a much higher standard of club soccer due to the DA, are the biggest reason for the optimism in terms of youth development. We are churning out prospects at a much more consistent rate than we were a decade ago, and the system is still significantly below optimal. Regarding the optimization of our development path, this is another reason for the optimism. USL and MLS reserve teams play a huge role in this. The bottom line is that there is infrastructure in place that was barely just an idea in 2008. Add in a significantly better culture that will only improve dramatically as we build up to 2026, and I have a hard time putting much stock into the concerns of rebounding from our dismal stretch. The bottom line for me is that we were relying on a handful of players to come from college, and a handful of players to come from Bradenton, and then whoever we could pick up from the dual national market. The current process is much more conducive to the type of success in player development that is necessary for success on the international stage.
Freddie Adu--was never a consistent professional Benny Feilhaber--was never a consistent professional at a good level until his SKC stint Michael Bradley--went to have an excellent career Maurice Edu--got injured Jozy Altidore--was not a consistent performer before leaving for Villareal Eddie Johnson--before leaving for the EPL, was not really a consistent pro at MLS level Michael Orozco--has had a good LigaMx career Charlies Davies--got injured Danny Szetela--was never a consistent pro Adams--consistent pro at MLS level, before leaving. Doing quite well in the B1 Miazga--consistent pro at MLS level, before leaving. Doing solidly for a Non-EU CB of his age. McKennie--product of a top MLS academy. Is doing quite well in the B1. Pulisic--got sold to Chelsea for +$70 mill. Sargent--in his first year as a pro, is making the gameday roster of a good B1 team EPB--product of a top MLS academy. Is fighting for playing time at the mid-euro level. He is doing decently for a non-EU CB of his age. Yedlin--is a regular for an EPL team. Weah--is getting minutes with Celtic