Thought the penalty call was harsh, but agree with your assessment in the main. As an aside, I do believe Berhalter was communicating with Sarachan during the European friendlies. I know he denies it, but I would expect him to do so out of respect for Sarachan. It simply makes no sense that a selected manager wouldn't express his desires in order to get the most information possible. My hope, as I have previously expressed to Excellency's disdain, is he saw the limitations of Trapp and Delgado, and it won't be necessary to waste anymore time looking at them.
I would expect that any coach would want to communicate with the interim coach if possible...more info is better. (of course that assumes that Berhalter has at least a minimum level of respect for Sarachan's opinion on the player pool etc. What I think is not obvious is that Berhalter was giving direction to Sarachan by choosing/suggesting the pool, lineups, strategies etc. While anything is possible, I don't think it is likely.
He started off timid and look a bit in awe, but really grew into the game. I thought for his experience he had a very good game with a couple poor mistakes. There was/is plenty of reason for excitement for this kid, but as usual, many on here go overboard. After watching a few of his games with Wigan, he clearly has a lot of work to do to become high quality international/EPL player. Let's hope he has his head on straight (most interviews dont suggest this is a problem) and he does the work. It was a little harsh, but Trapp did plant his foot such that the attacker couldnt complete his normal stride and contact was made. Top players on top teams are going to draw the PK more often than not. I'd like him to settle on a core group of players and build the team around that with plenty of rotation in those other positions. Neither of these two players would be in that 5-6 player core. I dont see Trapp as any more than a fringe player if that today. I think there may be a role for Delgado. We need at least one player who is technical and can connect the team. Unfortunately, the players that fit that description in our pool is very limited. I've thought for the last year it was mostly down to Delgado, Hyndman and Parks. Either way, I think it is unlikely any of these players discussed wont be passed by younger players in the next few years. Too many technical players in that 16 to 19 year age group.
One unusual take is that with the recent team being pretty poor and the young players being such up and comers and quickly the best 11 may morph many times as more players get into good club situations and break onto the scene quickly. Three weeks ago Sargent was a player we all thought should be getting some playing time but until they do one can never be sure. Then he gets into several games and scores two goals and that cements his previous callups. If he now goes cold the rest of the year he could be sidelined. Haji Wright appears to be on his way out of Schalke but then injuries get him a first team callup and he seems to be easing his way into being a possibility if he can take advantage during the winter break pre-season training. Never seen so many moving parts and yet it is good and exciting. The 92-96 minus 95 drought has turned into a spigot of talent after those years that just needs to gel.
If I were to pick out my best xi players right now I don't think they would line up right. ---------------sargent----pulisic --adams---delgado----zardes---roldan -----------------------trapp --------------long---brooks---miazga -------------GK:Steffen Horvath It would be fun to watch for a half.
I didn't say the line up right but tell me which one of those guys don't contribute based on what we've seen in the Sarachan period. He didn't play Roldan much but otherwise I'd say those are our best players. Just take a look at the last 6 or so friendlies.
. My feeling as well, what makes this time period so special is we're in on the ground floor of a really special generation that will be unlike any we've ever had before. Every other iteration of the USMNT that I watched going back to 1990 had elements that matched another era. The '90 college kids and a few pros melded into the '94 Camp Kids, the '98 squad was a mix of young elite prospects sprouting up during that '95-'98 era melded with the '94 vets, the '02 team mixed the last of the '94's, with the in their prime guys from early era MLS, with the '99 U-'17 Studs plus other young starlets, the '06 team was like the '98, a mix of young guys just beginning to hit their prime, and vets that may have been a bit long in the tooth with a few kids mixed in. The '10 team was a poor man's version of the '02's with a mix of vets in their prime, and a spotty collection of guys that probably would not have made the '02, '98 or '94 teams and these issues were compounded in '14 and in the failed '17 campaigns by those developmental issued metastasizing presenting a near half decade of prospects about as impressive as those from the notorious 2000 NBA Draft. As mentioned elsewhere, what makes the current situation so different is that our '22 campaign will be built, nearly entirely from players born in that 1995-2003 or so era, almost all the players will have represented us in the '15, '17, '19 and '21 (if we qualify) cups, or simply not been released by parent clubs for those tournaments. I would not be shocked at all if virtually every single starter in the hex save for 1 or 2 tops ends up born in 1995 or later, with a huge chunk likely to be 24 or younger. If you glance through the rosters of prior teams you will almost always see the same thing: a sprinkling of 29+ year old vets, a sprinkling of 19-21 year old pups, and a huge collection of in their prime guys in that 23-28 year old window. I've got the distinct feeling we won't have more than 1-2 players over 29, and probably no more than 4 or 5 players in that 26-29 year old window, I fully anticipate that if we qualify, something on that order of 16-17 of the final 23 will be from a 25 or younger window with an inordinate amount of players that are 23 or younger. Many still don't see it because we suck right now, and that's fine, right now this is pure speculation, but I've never seen a USMNT down to the U-15 level with such depth in terms of prospects, and such cream as well beginning to bubble up to the top. Many are in that once bitten twice show mode of thinking about our kids in various European Leagues but honestly I see whats happening with our kids in Europe and the ever present interest of big and mid level and little European clubs in not only Josh Sargent level prospects, but also guys not making anyone's Top 20 American U-21 year old players just 12 months ago getting signed by elite clubs and consistently getting excellent reports w/o any warning signs and I'm ecstatic. We've have generations before that looked promising only to largely sputter out like the '03 U20 kids (Gaven, Convey, Adu, Eddie Johnson etc getting), and '05's and plenty of others, but this is different because of just the sheer depth of talent bubbling up. It's incredibly exciting and as mentioned earlier, nobodies First XI right now is going to look like anybodies when we start the hex in a few years time. We saw the kids repeat as the U-20 Concacaf Champs with only a smidgen of players most would rank as a part of our top 23 U-20 Prospects available, let alone our first XI. To my mind the only thing that can stop us is the truly inept management of the fed, and the questionable at best hire we put in place to run the USMNT, beyond that, I'm quite excited and just crossing my fingers for good health and for our kids to consistently exhibit strong mental make up and training habits.
Long, Trapp, Zardes, Delgado, Roldan. None of those guys have a claim to a Best XI spot whatsoever. Long has, IIRC, one cap. Better than CCV, Besler, Zimmerman, or GCam? Probably not. Trapp, not good enough to be the 6, particularly as a lone 6. He is here because he is familiar with 3G's system, not because he's a top player. Zardes, runs hard, not a CAM, and not good enough at the highest levels. Certainly not better than our actual wingers (where he'd actually play) like Amon, Pulisic, Arriola, and Gall. You have a crush on Delgado and Roldan. I don't see them as anything more than above-average MLS players, and they have almost no caps. Pretty silly to put them in here, but that part is par for the course. As for the rest, you have two GK's, but I assume that's an oversight. Steffen/Horvath, either one should be good. Adams, Brooks, Miazga, Pulisic, and Sargent probably are somewhere in the "Best XI" as well. So, from where I'm sitting, you've got about half the team more-or-less correct (depending on formation), and the other half is not even close.
The interesting thing about our pool recently is that just about everybody will be age appropriate in 2026.
Which positions are you in doubt about at this moment? i.o.w., if you start to put your best xi down, where do you hesitate? From my point of view, I'm dying to see Pulisic, Weah and sargent forward and a midfield 3 of Trapp (6) Delgado as the 8/6 and Adams as the wild card (free 8). Problem is, I'm totally up in the air as to the back 4 (except I noticed Long was playing really, really well in his latest call ups. ) ---------------Weah ---------sarge-----pulisic ----adams--trapp--Delgado ------x--------long----x-------x -------gk: Steffen Horvath I don't know if that team would stand up to a tough opponent but I'd love to see it. I think the back 4 is a tough call.
We're in a weird spot. So many of our promising players haven't "made" it yet or don't have enough 1st team apps at the club level. That and the long delay to hire a coach makes figuring out the "best XI" very difficult.
I love the potential of Pulisic (already has accomplished a lot), Sargeant, and Weah; but if we can not do any better than Trapp and Delgado in the midfield, then we are in for a miserable time. They are NOT international level players! Maybe serviceable with the minnows, but any decent international side will shred them,
I think everything is pretty set except for the Left side. I'd go Robinson and Pulisic on the left and play Arriola on the right. Or Pulisic on the right and Weah or Amon on the left. But Arriola is not that great and Weah and Amon are not proven at all. Robinson is probably the best option, but many would have other ideas but they are either old (Beasley), bad (Villafana, LIchaj), or unproven (everyone else). Other than that, it is how much do you want to ding Miazga for not playing much and who do you play behind McKennie and Adams. Canouse is the current hot thing, but has never done it at the international level and Trapp and Bradley are not my, or many people's, first choice.
------------------------Wood------------ ---------------Altidore------------JS/TW* ---------------------Pulisic------------------ ----------Mckennie---Adams---------- Johnson-Brooks-Miazga-Yedlin ----------------------Steffen--------------- *Sargent and Weah The front four have a lot of flexibility to interchange a take up wide spaces. The defensive mids and outside backs have freedom to get forward with the other covering. Hopefully someone like Robinson can take Johnson's place soon and think Altidore and Wood will be surpassed within a year or two.
I'd be interested in seeing a diamond midfield, Adams and Mckennie have the energy to be shuttlers, Pulisic gets to play in the middle which he has even requested himself and our two most promising forwards can play upfront together and vary their movements. If we play 4-2-3-1, I think it's unlikely we see Pulisic in the middle of the field, and if he does we are limited on wingers. I am not against him playing wide, but I do think in general having your best player in the middle of the field is a good idea. Steffen Yedlin Miazga? Brooks Johnson? Canouse? Adams McKennie Pulisic Sargent Weah
——-Sargent——— —————Weah— CP——Lletget—Gooch ———Canouse——— FJ—Long—Zim—Yed ———Horvath——— Easily the best balanced starting 11 as of today. Will we ever see it? Doubtful. From what I know about GB, he has zero issue with playing favorites which will likely mean we see lots of Steffen, Trapp, Zardes and other players (Bradley, Wood, Altidore, etc...) who have no business being on the NT. Steffen belongs on the team, but he’s behind Horvath from everything I’ve seen.
Best XI ———-Sargent———— —Weah———RW——— ————Pulisic————- —McKennie—Adams—— Johnson/Robinson—-Yedlin ———Brooks—CB——— ——Steffen/Horvath——— Or ———Sargent———- Weah————Pulisic —-Wes——-Adams—- ————CDM———— FJ/AR—————-Yedlin ——Brooks—-CB——- ————ZS/EH———— So, the questions are: Does Pulisic play RW or CAM? If he’s CAM then who fits in at RW: Arriola? Amon? Soto? Baird? Gooch? Holmes? Lletget? Busio? Lewis? Sabbi? Gall? Green? ...or slide Sargent to RW; and then Wood? Zardes? Siebatcheu? Ramirez? Wright? Ebobisse? Dwyer? Altidore? If he’s at RW then who who’s the other midfielder? Trapp? Mihailovic? Lletget? Green? Roldan? Acosta? Nagbe? Bradley (yuck)? Morales? Delgado? Canouse? And still, Miazga has hit a bump which opens the door for CB; Long? Alvarado? Trusty? McKenzie? Zimmerman? Palmer-Brown? Richards? Parker? CCV? Likewise, do we trust Antonee enough and should Fabian start over him when it matters? And it’s debatable now...Horvath or Steffen
Like it. Pretty much where I'm at and I'd take the second approach with FJ as CDM and Robinson as the fullback.
Re-watching the game, Berhalter really utilizes two different formations as part of his system for attacking and defending. With the ball, we have a variation on the 343, and then shift to a 442 when defending. Interestingly, the roles that everyone plays don't have to fall into classical positional definitions. The clearest example of this last night was Lima, as he took up a conventional RB position defensively, but then played as a roaming, right-sided DM while in possession. Seeing this, I wanted to identify the roles that Berhalter uses for players on each side of the ball, and then think of ways that those roles can be filled by other players in our pool. On defense, we lined up in a conventional middle block 442 (I'll use numbers to correspond to the position in this set-up): 10-9 11-6-8-7 5-3-4-2 On offense, we ran a variation on the increasingly popular 343, with ours looking more like a 3241 (letters here, just because these positions don't necessarily have to correspond directly to where a player lines up on defense): A B C D E F G H I J So, when filling out the lineup card, we actually have a lot of flexibility in filling these roles. For example, last night, Lima was a 2G while Lovitz was a 5H. We could easily instead swap this asymmetry with a 5F + 2J combo. Also imagine Pep's Bayern, where Alaba played a 5F and Lahm played a 2G, with a defensive mid like Javi Martinez playing as a 6I and dropping into the back three between two conventional centerbacks (3H + 4J). The number of permutations is quite extensive, and I'm eager to see how Berhalter changes the way that players fit into these dual systems moving forward, and have been thinking about how our best XI might do so… In order to do that, let's first just look at the line-up from last night as defined by this dual-role system: Zardes - 9A Mihailovic - 10C Roldan - 8D Bradley - 6F Baird - 7E Ebobisse - 11B Lovitz - 5H Long - 3I Zimmerman - 4J Lima - 2G Looking ahead though, there's no reason to stay wedded to these role combinations. For example, Yedlin probably wouldn't do as well in the G role as Lima did last night. Instead, perhaps he could play as an E which would better highlight his ability to get down the wing. Now, this change necessitates moving someone else into the G role and someone out of the E role (where Baird was last night). In this scenario, Tyler Adams would be a perfect fit as an 8G (Lima's role on offense, Roldan's role on defense), and then we could shift someone into a role as the 7D, which would be a great fit for Pulisic. Another shift could be on the left-wing, where a guy like Fabian Johnson could play as a 5B. To facilitate this alteration, Brooks could slide in as a 3H, Bradley drops in as a 6J, and then another conventional CB plays the 4I. The possibilities are nearly endless. Here's an example with dramatic changes in the number-letter correspondence… 442 in defense: McKennie - Sargent Lleget - Bradley - Adams - Pulisic Johnson - Brooks - Long - Yedlin 3241 in attack: Sargent Johnson - Lleget - Pulisic - Yedlin McKennie - Adams Brooks - Long - Bradley There might be some issues actually implementing this, but the exercise here was to demonstrate that the dual-role system allows for a ton of flexibility that can highlight a wide variety of players with unique skillsets. Mostly I thought of this because Lima is the only right-back in our pool who can do what he did last night, besides maybe a guy who is past it like Zusi. Does that mean Yedlin and Cannon will struggle to fit in under Berhalter, as several posters and pundits have mentioned? I think this exercise shows that the answer to that question is a resounding 'no' as Berhalter can play the exact same system on both ends, just with some changes in how each player's role differs with vs without the ball. In the spirit of this thread, here's what I think would be our best XI in the dual-role system: Sargent - 10A Pulisic - 9D McKennie - 6F Bradley - 8J Adams - 7G Weah - 11C Yedlin - 2E Long - 4I Brooks - 3H Johnson - 5B Steffen - GK Without the ball: Sargent - Pulisic Weah - Mckennie - Bradley - Adams Johnson - Brooks - Long - Yedlin With the ball: Sargent Johnson - Weah - Pulisic - Yedlin McKennie - Adams Brooks - Long - Bradley With the ball, this gives us a trio of creative players high up the field who combine well and can score goals; a pair of CMs who can filter the ball, run the channels, and excel at ball recovery; two dynamic, speedy wing players down each flank; and then two wide-centerbacks in Bradley and Brooks who will support the attack, excel at ball distribution/retention, and can ping diagonals all day to the opposite wing while Long acts as an emergency outlet and doesn't have much offensive responsibility. The question marks for me revolve around the effectiveness of Weah in tight spaces and his ability to defend, and then also in whether or not it is worth moving Adams out wide defensively when he offers so much in the middle of the park. Also, Lima (2G) really looked excellent yesterday, and he could continue in that role, sending Yedlin to the bench and shifting some other folks around a bit. Thanks for reading my dissertation lol. TL;DR - Berhalter has us playing in two different formations (with vs without the ball) which allows for a wide variety of player combinations and could lead to a lot of flexibility from game to game in terms of both tactics and personnel.
Very intriguing post but you totally lost me with MB’s role. In no way shape or form can he be asked to play CDM on defense vs. good teams. He doesn’t really fit into any of the dynamics that you’ve laid out.
Panama made Bradley's job easy. Never had anyone within 5 yards of him in possession and they fell back like good soldiers instead of pressing. A pressing team, one unlike Panama because of talent alone, will still eat Bradley for lunch. Never should he be on the pitch if either Adams or McKennie are on the bench unless it's a blowout or meaningless game like last night's.
i know i'm alone in this but I could see MB being useful as a shuttling outside mid as he still does yeoman's work running back and forth and the ability to use the sideline as a positional defender plays into his defensive traits (where he's best at guiding the opposing player rather than winning balls).