Final rosters now in: https://gallery.mailchimp.com/78d35...e3b80786b43/19_GC_Rosters_All_Teams_June6.pdf Danny Acosta is on the Honduras roster, so I guess he filed his switch. David is with Canada. Dally and Michel aren't with Jamaica or Haiti, respectively. I don't know much about Dally, but Michel I guess remains provisionally un-captied. Of course, we brought Adams, Lewis, McKennie, and Pulisic.
Apparently Danny Acosta, who was on Honduras' Gold Cup roster, decided not to sign the last piece of paper to make his FIFA switch official https://t.co/6CB4FthngE— Alicia Rodriguez (@soccermusings) June 23, 2019
Cannon looked pretty solid last night. One thing I wish I'd see him do more of (maybe he does this for Dallas, I don't know) is at least occasionally give the guy who's marking him a reason to think he might try to beat him to the outside when he has the ball at his feet. Given that he spent so much of last night's game in Panama's half, where giveaways wouldn't be such a big deal, hinting that a defender can't always force him insight might worry the guy a bit more.
I agree, I thought Cannon looked good and may be pushing to solidify a spot in the top 3 RBs when we lineup in the 4-1-4-1 I think Miazga was solid as well and is solidly in the squad (I understand we use Ream at LB because we largely push forward and it becomes a three man backline; Ream is a solid defender with decent passing ability, but I do worry if he can handle pacy forwards, so would like the team to experiment in post tournament friendlies with using Long in that role, and adding Miazga. Djordje still needs some work. I would be interested in seeing Paxton trying to beat our Roldan and Djordje for that backup 8/10 position. Lewis may be a sub, but yes still need to develop as well, and with Arriola and Boyd really playing well as interchanging wings, Morris demonstrating potential as a solid backup, and Holmes showing flashes of potential before his injury, he would need to further develop to push for that back up spot.
Lewis played with more assurance than I expected. He didn't always make the right play, but he seemed confident. Seems like the move to Colorado, where he's been getting starts, has been good for him. He obviously has physical ability and skill, but has needed reps. It feels like Berhalter is bringing him along carefully. Mihailovic certainly seems like he belongs in the U23 setup. He does a number of things reasonably well. The jump from that point to being someone you put on a preliminary 30-man roster for 2022 seems long, though, especially given the competition at CM.
It usually takes time to step up to the USMNT level, although occasionally an outlier like Pulisic or Adams accomplishes the transition very quickly. It seemed like Miazga was going to be a lock starter, but we're now seeing that it will take him longer before he's fully trusted. Both Lewis and Mihailovic are at an earlier and perhaps more speculative place in the USMNT timeframe, but each in his own way has qualities that are worth exploring, though I wonder how much time they'll be given to prove their readiness. While I'm hopeful for some of the U20s, we shouldn't expect any of them to be introduced to the full team and immediately become a core member. Right now, the three U20s who look like they're ready for callups are Weah, Pomykal and Dest. Weah already has gotten caps, and as long as he continues to get decent 1st team minutes (Lille?) he should be given opportunities to solidify his place with the USMNT. Pomykal is everyone's favorite to get a fall callup, and if he continues to play consistently at FC Dallas he should be there for the friendlies. Dest is a bit more speculative, as he has not played 1st team ball, although playing with Ajax in preseason will give us a better picture of where he's at, and a strong showing will hopefully put him on the radar. However, Berhalter may still insist that he not get a call up until he's playing with the 1st team, even if that might only mean occasional minutes in games like cup competitions and the like.
He did it a few times and one of those crosses resulted in a good shot from Altidore. He does it a lot for Dallas but did it more last year. He hasn't played as offensively for Dallas this year for some reason. Perhaps Luchi wants him to stay at home more but it is in his wheelhouse. His crosses are of the get to the endline and send a 45 degree pass back towards a runner who gets a nice shot at goal. he needs to add a much better aerial cross to his repertoire. Lewis and Lovitz need to also as theirs weren't even close to the box. I do agree that players in their first cap or two need a few more games to settle nerves and get used to teammates and the speed of the game. Some adjust and others don't.
He certainly ran the line against Panama and tried to get crosses in, but that was more from team movement than him setting up defenders for a move with the ball at his feet. Usually, in situations where the ball had more or less come to a rest, he cut inside or dropped it back. I'm not saying he needs to go one-on-one every time, but doing it once in a while would make him less predictable. He was routinely getting the ball way upfield. It's OK to take a guy on there, even if it's just a push-and-run. You're right that the entire team's crossing was not great. I think that's part of why Pulisic came on. It looked like Lovitz was looking to get some early crosses in, but players weren't looking for them, so he didn't bother. I'm a fan of the occasional early cross.
FCD doesn't really have the kind of #9 (a la Altidore) which would benefit from a lot of crosses. I don't think that's really the plan for Luchi. Cannon mostly drives to the endline and cuts the ball back looking for the likes of Pax or Ferreira in the box. I really think this should be the last 6 months of Reggie in an FCD uniform. Gonna do the good 'ole Kellyn Acosta stagnation if he doesn't make the move relatively soon. Follow the Yedlin pathway. Yedlin was sold in August of his 2nd year as a starter, and then loaned back to Seattle to complete the season.
I agree with this - he needs to move soon. I will offer that if Pepi starts getting time he will have that big body to cross aerially to but actually hope by then it's Reynolds and Cannon is starting for a mid level German club or equivalent.
Pulisic and McKennie. Just great last night. Core pieces. Reggie Cannon with a nice performance that should garner him continued looks with the USMNT. Ya know, an actual full strength Olympic squad from the US would be pretty awesome. But we know its not going to happen...……………...
It could happen if they qualify. A good question is how many core players does everyone like that doesn't qualify for the next Olympics? We're fast becoming a team where our Olympic team and full team are virtually the same. One reason why I'm not up in arms about bring all the U23's to the full teams as it could be the opposite. Which non U23 players we are currently looking at deserve to be added to the U23 team after all the Olympic stuff is done? Doesn't mean a few shouldn't get time with the full team before then if possible.
Hyndman if he reemerges in Atlanta, maybe? But to be honest I've essentially blocked out most prospects that are 1996 or earlier at this point, and even a guy like Hyndman is going to have a really tough time breaking into our midfield for the rest of his career even if he does become an MLS All-Star. Maybe some goalkeepers?
I’m not saying call him in ASAP but Tommy Thompson is having a hell of a season at RB. Almeyda is a wizard.
Having watched him a good bit over the last two years, he has definitely lost a bit of performance. Not sure if it's due to a knock, but he appears a little slower, and is missing more passes than usual.
Yes... I love Canouse, but has not been as good this year and his passing from the six is very limited.
I don’t think he was ever more than a very fringe NT player. He’s not a bad destroyer, but incredibly limited on the ball and an average athlete.
I think a few years ago he was in the Acosta, Roldan, Polster, Hyndman mix as the next generation of midfielders. Unfortunately they've been found out as the best of their generation but not that good compared to the rest of the world. They have what looks to be a much better generation about to break out all over. A few already have while the rest are just starting to or should soon.
Russell Canouse is Victor Ulloa. Now Victor Ulloa was a starting caliber player on trophy winning MLS teams. Not chopped liver. But we always knew that was as far as his ceiling would go. We have quite a lot of central midfielders like that in MLS. One of the big problems with the USMNT is the lack of "in their prime" players. This is really exacerbated on this Gold Cup squad with the injuries to Yedlin and Brooks. Many of those "in their prime players" are MLS ceiling players that will be capable at the CONCACAF level, but not the international level. Wil Trapp is another. I'm not convinced. The quality of the 26-28 year olds in the pool is really quite average. So we're still relying on the Bradley/Altidore/Gonzalez generation too much, and perhaps putting too much of the weight of responsibility on the youngest members of the squad. Our reliance on Pulisic echoes our reliance on Donovan in the early-to-mid 2000s. The percentage of goals that Landon Donovan either scored or assisted on or the USMNT in the 2000s is insane. You hope that mentally Pulisic can carry that burden better than Donovan did. It was clear that Landon burnt out prematurely. Mentally, not physically. Anyway.....................….we won the Gold Cup in 2017, and I expect us to win the Gold Cup again today. I do think to some degree that the "sky has fallen" mentality iin some quarters of the fan base after the failure of WCQing was overdone. Our talent pool was more than good enough to be the best in CONCACAF. It was at the 2017 Gold Cup and it is now. Maybe those of us on the youth boards didn't over-react to that failure as much because we saw the generation of talent that was about to come down the pike...………………….