Roldan is 23, went to college, and excelled since early on in MLS (at 20-21). Holden was 24 when he got an opportunity and went on to be EPL best XI until getting injured. Hell, Cameron was like 27, until he got caps and a corresponding move. Plus some like Mastro, Besler, Pope, Donovan, etc.; don't need the move to be who they are. It's the most reliable factor but not be all end all. Roldan's age is not a factor at all. Hopefully this is the start of the process of giving him caps and then seeing, finally. He will get calls from top 5 Europe if he does. Tenorio said they both would remain factors going fw, and he's watching them, plus talking to people who'll make the decision. Mihailovic may even be the one he's biased toward being from Chicago. There's no built-in bias with Roldan. I do hope he departs that dumpster fire sooner rather than later. If he manages to not get consumed by it, I don't see why they wouldn't sell since their owner has a rep of being cheap and he's a HGP who they get to keep all the profits off.
This describes an injured player. AJ was spending hours in the training room and couldn't practice well by his own admission. He had no business on that roster in that state.
I knew this response was coming and I could guess from whom haha. I agree that 23 is not old, but to me, I see Roldan as perfectly happy to hang out with Morris and his puppy forever in Seattle. Do you think he wants to move to a higher level of competition? I'm perfectly willing to admit you follow him closer than anyone probably. If Duane Holmes, who is 24, continues his meteoric rise and is in the EPL next year, he will certainly be in the pool. So, if Roldan can get a move then he can be in the picture beyond January camps and one offs. I just don't get the sense he wants to do anything more than he is doing. The same can be said of Acosta, who should have forced a move two years ago but was content to stay around until he is now irrelevant. Tenorio said they would possibly be in the March camp. The March camp is the real team and the best few players from this camp will certainly be there. Roldan seems to be one of them; great for him. I hope you are right that he continues on and continues to impress and gets a move. Moving at 23-25 is not as good as 18-21 which is what I think Djorde or Cannon could do. It will take a real commitment to maybe move to Denmark or Scotland and a pay cut. It is hard for a player in their prime to do that. Which is why I think 23 and in MLS will tend to stay in MLS like Besler, Zusi, Dax and most of the last generation. Cameron really wanted to play in Europe. Dempsey, Bradley, and that generation had to go to Europe to make the level of money Roldan can make in MLS today. I hope you are right and Roldan uses this as a spring board into the USMNT picture and then uses that to move. Maybe with Germany being so in love with Americans at the moment, he could move to a rising Bund 2 team or a Augsburg/Stuttgart type. At 24-25 he would have time for a move again, but it would probably be like Cameron, who made that move to a lower table Top 4 team and couldn't get beyond that. Still, starting for those teams is in our pool.
How can you "force" a move to Europe when no European club has shown serious interest in losing one of their non-EU spots for you? Acosta and Roldan are unlikely to hold any European passport. That's a big obstacle, nothing to do with "wanting" something.
I'm consistent because the facts in this case continue to be true. Your response to added evidence shouldn't be to throw cold water on the embers.
He has as much experience at forward as he does at keeper. He was brought up as a left back. Also, we are not desperate for forwards, so there is no reason to look outside of the box. Also, moving central midfielders to the back is not that far of a stretch in the modern game, which is dominated by possession tactics and ball players all over the field. Also, Acosta > Villafana and Acosta > Robinson. Also, Acosta has played there even relatively recently for the national team, so it's obviously not as foreign a concept as some try to make it. No defensive instincts? That and his athleticism are the strengths of his game in the midfield. Very little strength? He's not weak, and he compares favorably there to Robinson, for sure. Athletically, he is far superior to Villafana. More of a striker skill set? That is ludicrous. He's never played as a striker and has never scored a ton or even created tons of chances from the midfield. We can't just wait for Bello or hope that Dest can play on the left and be integrated into the first team sooner than later. There have to be solutions now, and I, for one, am very skeptical of Villafana and Robinson. What other options do we have there? Acosta is tailor made for the position given his experience there, athleticism, and good possession (for an outside back) play. If you don't like Robinson, and you refuse to consider Acosta, who do you think is our top left back right now?
Correct ... no defensive instincts. Watch his actual games and stop parroting what qnd where he might have played when he was 15 years old. You have missed the point. I am not saying he is a forward. I am saying that instinctually he is a player that clearly is more comfortable going forward than he is defending. I dont even see that as debatable. But yet almost no one pushes the narrative that he should be a forward, because he is not ... much as he is not a defender. His skillset is best suited for an attacking midfield or #8 type position. The fact that he isnt good enough to break the US lineup there does not mean that we should try to shoehorn him into a position for which he is LESS suited. And absolutely, 100% yes ... he is weak. When he was played as a #6 type for the US, he was regularly shrugged off the ball by average strengthened opponents. For me, it was one of the more distressing things about watching him in the position. I actually like Kellyn Acosta, but we need to be honest about him and his limitations. The one thing I do agree with you on is Acosta (well I also agree that Robinson is as yet unconvincing, but I already mentioned that earlier). From what I saw of Acosta, outside of that cluster@#$% last year with regards to his relationship with Petke, he is the guy that seemed most capable of making a difference. But we will most likely get our answer on him this year in Orlando.
Wait. Are you implying that the guy that can't get on the field in MLS is our best option for the full national team at left back? It would have been one thing if you have put forth Tim Ream or someone like that, but that is a completely new one. And, K. Acosta's skill set is NOT suited for an attacking central midfield role. He struggles in tight spaces due to his touch and loose passing. He doesn't have the type of creativity for that role either. He is good in straight forward possession scenarios, and his athleticism is above average.
I am saying that of the next generation of left backs coming through, I have been most impressed by Acosta. The situation at RSL was personal, not business. Acosta was clearly a better left back than Herrerra by miles, but couldnt get a sniff. This was like Friedel sitting on Lee Nguyen because they were at odds. If you were building a team going forward right now, to compete during the 2022 cycle, would you take Ream or Acosta? I will be honest and tell you that I would take my chances on Acosta. We already KNOW that Ream is not the answer ... or at least we should.
The rest of Europe doesn't play by UK work permit rules, your hurdle is instead getting a non EU slot. That boils down to choice of league/team, and the argument then gets almost circular. There either is a team willing to take you or not. You can make it more or less likely to happen by telling your agent where you will look. But outside of UK with the work permits, or La Liga/B.1/Serie A, the level is not much better and sometimes worse than here. It's a question of ambition crossed with calibration. MLS players have actually done fairly well by Scotland, Scandinavia, Holland, B.2, the Championship, etc. It's are you smart and directly signing someplace, or are you greedy and saying Spurs, Man City, etc., sign me and loan me out. If the latter is the only game, no, they don't want Acosta or Roldan, and the players they do "want" are really going on loan right back out to the leagues I just listed. The more complicated part is really that as our players become more in demand our value increases and we become less attractive as cheap risks/filler. But if they are going to spend money on you they want a starter.
We had a player with the best Belgian club for years, Sacha Kljestan, and he never looked any better than the MLSers in the NT. Same with players that were in Scandinavia, or in second divisions in Europe. From their perspective, the move to a lower league or a second division may pay dividends if (big if) someone buys them to go higher or their club gets promoted. But from the USMNT perspective, these guys playing in low-level leagues in Europe or in second divisions have seldom proved to be any better than the regular MLSer. For some fans, though, is all about living their own dreams vicariously through these kids. Can't lose sight though that you cannot just "force" a move or "be sent" to Europe. Someone over there must want you enough.
Trusty and Glad were the two guys that I'd figured would have the most chance to give their careers a boost in this camp. It seems that one did and the other didn't. But I had it figured backwards: I definitely would've guessed Glad before Trusty, who always looked to be more of a work-in-progress.
It's fair to at least question Paul Tenorio's comments about Djordje as he's been the sideline commentator for the Fire the last several years. However, the Fire coaching staff apparently believes in the kid. After signing him as a homegrown, he only got a few opportunities during MLS games in 2016. But in 2017 showed steady progress eventually getting some starts. As you would expect with a youngster, there were some ups and downs, but he did seem to have a knack for connecting with teammates and making some good chioices in the attack as a midfielder. It was enough to believe there's some reasonable potential for him. A big setback occurred when a horrendous tackle in a 2017 playoff play in game resulted.in a torn ACL. He didn't return til late in the season, c'est la vie. He looked fine when he returned, but it was pretty much a lost year. I was glad to see he got selected for the January camp and is apparently doing fine. At 20/21, It's more about seeing he can belong and monitoring his progress than anything else. He does have some soccer pedigree as he is the son of former Washington Diplomat midfielder Alecs Mikhailovic. Certainly, being on a team with a World Class player like Basti should be a plus for his development. So far, so good. Let's see what transpires in the next couple of years.
Well, the fun part of getting a coach is seeing which old standbys the new coach doesn't like and who he brings into the fold. There's always churn. B-team or not, I'm looking forward to seeing what this team looks like when they take the field.
It's about wise choices. It's about fit. Fulhamerica is only intermittently an EPL side and our presence there has been near constant, Lewis, Boca, McBride. Boca, DmB, etc. have played in Scotland. Jozy, AJ, and a long list historically played in Holland. A lot of US players, eg, McBride, Twellman, Wolff, played in B.2. We have a fair amount of players in Mexico, also, mostly forgotten. To me a lot of the current players with CFC or Spurs or the like next to their names -- nominally, between loans -- don't look incredible. There are maybe 4 players worthy of those kind of teams, Steffen, Pulisic, Weah, Sargent. That's it. The rest cash the related paycheck but don't look like big club players. So you're like the USMNT isn't impressed with the people at second or third tier teams. Well, save a few, I'm not impressed by the ambitious ones either. Maybe we are just talking a talent dip. Also, I think you have to look at work permit rules and anti American bias, do the rules give us a chance or set us up for difficulty, do coaches in certain countries seem to give our players grief. For example, from what I see, outside the elite clubs, Germany loves our players. Will put them on the field. In the UK, the EPL seems generally interested in signing our people only to loan them out or bench them, if they want to play go Championship or SPL. Of course, there are a few players at big clubs playing, but judging our fate by them is a selection bias. Yeah, our best player sees time at Dortmund. That tends to happen with the best player on the team. Should everyone else sign like they are him? It's kind of an isolated quirk. And him being there didn't put us in Russia.
I mean the growing problem I see in the UK is the sort of player who qualifies for a work permit is no longer a cheap value player suitable as a squad player but we don't have the sort of stars they want to pay for and actually use, in any abundance. You see this with Scotland on the loan players, they do fine but the teams don't want to pay the purchase price for a mere decent player. They will pay for a star. But with our consuming ambitions few players sign in Scotland directly, or consider it as their move to Europe on a free. Irony being, you see from last weekend the people who signed there play and even score. The problem is we see it as a pitstop and we want the big money. A lot of the people who prospered by Europe went to Fulham or Everton or someplace smaller.
The keeper cuts are true to the form book, the question is whether different keepers should have been called instead. It's one of the few positions where domestic options exist in abundance. You could have gone Melia or other sole nationals. You could have gone Frei or Gonzalez on the duals. But Bono after last year? Miller? Bringing in dreck that then gets cut like dreck seems pointless. If you really want to see who 2 and 3 should be, call up 4 good keepers -- which we can do domestically save Horvath -- and hold thunderdome. This was not thunderdome, This is the two I'd have kept before camp off this list. I also think it's a waste of time to spend this much effort on Steffen in pursuit of a clipboard carrier position at City. I think we know who the 1 is. Actually putting hm out there teaches us nothing. I don't think that is his best career move or that we should suck the oxygen out for everyone else to promote his career. I am not sold on Horvath on one game. I am not sold on Guzan at all. I am not sold on Johnson. This is a missed opportunity. And for a team that has usually been stacked 1-3 on keepers, and known for quality keeping, we seem pretty blase and content to stop looking after deciding on a starter. People get hurt. Our starter last cycle went on hiatus. It really shouldn't be Steffen and the 7 dwarves. Take the full 23 seriously. Acosta, I do kind of wonder why him out of the list, but I'll judge the end product at DM. We did call way too many DMs to the detriment of any intent to play offense it looked like. So someone needed to go. But where are the 10s? Wings? How are we planning to posssess? I do also question with our LB issues, not keeping him in camp to try there. That too can be judged by how the LBs look. Solid? We didn't need Acosta. Poor? Why'd you pigeonhole Acosta and leave us with this. I am concerned with the lack of urgency to find a LB.
Let me rephrase that. Apparently they thought Auston was the more TRUSTY defender. I mostly posted that for the easy pun. More substantively though, I do think we can glean from the cuts, bar injuries, those were players who weren't up to snuff. The borderline keepers were also released. Glad also fell out of favor with Petke when it mattered in the playoffs. And if he played well but was unproven, why wouldn't he want to see him in these bonus matches then? Supposedly Gregg even likes ball-playing cb's, of which Glad is one. Must have been very unimpressed by his defense. He's a guy that, in spite of his age, has been around a few years in MLS. Some can stay motivated under that circumstance, others can't and stagnate. Ratings-wise, he's the same or worse than he was at the beginning. And not a guy who is a good athlete who then can improve on the technical aspects.
I think I was mostly agreeing with you. If you think he wants a move to Europe, then I have no information to think you are wrong. I hope you are right. Roldan was very good the 2nd half of the MLS season but Sarachan never really gave him a chance. But Sarachan is not anything I would go on.
Like a year ago he said something to the effect of "I'm happy in Seattle, it's a great place to play, but competing in the top leagues of Europe is something I have an eventual aspiration to do, and in the interim I want to start every game for the national team". Now, obviously the latter didn't happen. But like you said, Sarachan isn't exactly the most reliable evaluator, nor was he was bereft of built-in biases toward Roldan's comp. However, the league doesn't automatically make the man at the end of the day. So if he somehow got stuck in MLS for a while longer, as long as he performs for the NT, that's all that matters.
The only problem is that we also need left backs now. Who knows how good D. Acosta is at the full international level (or how good he is over the course of a full professional season). Who knows how long it will take the younger prospects to be ready. I stand by the idea that Kellyn Acosta is the best we have at the position in the meantime. It's certainly not a "ridiculous" idea.
You obviously watch him more closely, but I also get the sense he was doing for Seattle what McKennie has been doing. Basically, being trusted to plug any hole on the field. That might be good long term, but it can hurt short term. Especially with a guy like Sarachan who probably just watches him on TV and can't think of how to translate his skills into a system. Listening to GB, he is probably going to tweak his system for Pulisic and probably Adams and/or McKennie. Those tweaks are going to call for specific things from the other 7 players. If Roldan fits one of those seven spots, he will get PT. The fact he has played all over might make him more quickly adaptable to instruction.
The places Acosta has shined he would not get into at LB. He is not as technically sound on the ball as Robinson. He is 2 years older than Robinson. I'd have much more faith in covering Robinson defensively and getting his offense than in whatever I could get from Acosta. Do we think Acosta would have done better against Diego Costa? In CONCACAF, which is where we will be playing, Robinson is plenty good enough at the defensive end. In the Sarachan era, Robinson was one of our better offensive players. K. Acosta's goal against Colombia was on a brilliant deep cross from Robinson. Robinson dominated against Mexico. People looking for answers from benched MLS players and dismissing Robinson are crazy imo. Especially since Robinson is only 21 and will get better.
So a guy who hasnt shown much at the full international level is the front runner for a position that he doesnt play? Nope. At left back, right now, I would take an actual grown man left back with skills and no experience over the non-defender Kellyn Acosta any day. And yes, the idea of Kellyn at left back for us, right now, is ridiculous.