It's a kick in the balls for Southgate. He schedules these two tough friendlies as the qualifying campaign was pretty easy and he loses a decent chunk of his squad.
To be fair, Bedoya seems to be a lot more level-headed than Altidore. He may be shit as a player nowadays, but he has been a pretty loyal servant for the US and knows what it’s like being around that camp. Might not be the ideal player, but he has been a pretty ideal professional on the international level. As for the players, Hyndman definitely still has a shot. Bournemouth might not be his fit for a plethora of reasons, but he was playing good football at Rangers last season. Gyau was out injured for nearly two years. Zelalem is still only 20, though I don’t think he’s good enough to make it tbh. Really not sure what I’m getting at here other than cheer up, man! A lot of these young players aren’t making it for legitimate and/or unfortunate reasons, but there are plenty doing well too. McKennie has been starting for Schalke at a pretty regular rate and looks like he could be the real deal for the US at center mid in the future.
I guess what Im circling around (like the US player pool circling a toilet), is that it's frustrating that a lot of top tier countires produce 500 players like Yedlin or Bradley or Jermaine Jones. We struggle to find a Bedoya for chrissakes. And he's terrible. There are 50 Bedoya's in the Premier League and double that in the Championship. None of them are close to the national team. A country of the size of the US with our resources should be producing top talent that can't be ignored and be playing in top leagues all across the world. It shouldn't be this miracle story that a kid is playing at Dortmund.
Former Blue Jack Cork gets England call up. Happy for him! All this said, why in the ******** isn't Danny Drinkwater involved. Honestly...it's shocking.
Disappointed. He could have been part of the squad and asked for a sub role at best. Again, club >>>>>>>>country more now than ever. DD is the sort of player I thought would be pushing to be involved. http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41927647
I understand he's short of fitness, but getting a call-up and training is still important I would think. England need a player like DD IMO. They vall Henderson a holding mid...my ass.
Can’t believe Ventura was ever trusted to guide this Italian side to the World Cup. Unbelievably incompetent manager. While the players weren’t the best Italy has ever fielded, there was more than enough talent to see this campaign through. No Insigne at all in the second leg... should’ve been starting
Zappa played a decent bit in the second half of the group stages. Think he may have initially come in due to injuries, but stayed around the squad after that. Looked decent when the team managed to play well as a whole, but Ventura’s top heavy formation and tactics did not complement the available players whatsoever