Not sure about that. He was injured prior to the Gold Cup and missed that tournament because of it. This is the first call up since the tournament, it’s probably pretty important that he answers the call if he wants to stay in the mix.
Mauricio Cuevas and Adam Saldaña have been called up to the @USYNT U-17s 🇺🇸👏 Nice work, boys! https://t.co/Soc3FaJisC pic.twitter.com/YV9yVoGmrb— LA Galaxy II (@LAGalaxyII) August 29, 2019
@BrianSciaretta confirmed that Araujo wasn't released, but it was for the U-20 group; not the U-23.— The KMT (@KevinMichael79) August 30, 2019
I knew the game was tonight. Didn’t bother to watch. Saw it ended 3-0 to Mexico. Didn’t care. Saw Antuna had a good game. Felt proud of the guy. I have no desire or love for the national team anymore. That makes me sad.
Amen. Our national team has been so poorly handled these last 3 years. I was willing to give Greg a break and knew there would be growing pains, but we've looked so out matches against nations we really should be on pair with. Yesterday Mexico looked like Germany. I just don't understand Greg's selections. Zardes at best should be this nation's #3 striker. Trapp shouldn't even be called up. Columbus is one of the worst teams in the MLS, and yet they have two starters on the national team? It's embarrassing. I see people saying Greg is just experimenting with the line-up and giving fringe guys minutes, but he has been doing that for the last 2 years. At some point, we have to realize that Greg legitimately thinks Zardes is the best striker in the US.
I watched the game and it was weird - my impression is that our technical skills have never been better but our psychologically makeup has never been worse. On the men’s side US soccer has never been the absolute best skill wise but we always brought the passion and a will to win. But the current team has zero on-field leadership and plays tentative as hell. There were stretches when we moved the ball really well, creating long passing sequences and would get into Mexico’s final third. But once in or near the box no one wanted to take responsibility for scoring. They just kept passing until they lost it. No one wanted to take players on around the box and no one wanted to shoot. Zardes didn't bringing it at all but no one else did either. We really miss the cockiness of a Dempsey, the iron will of a McBride, the lethality of a Donovan. Morris was our most aggressive player on offense but he was a second half sub and we weren’t creating many chances by then. And Pulisic not wanting to take pk was fitting - it perfectly captured the lack of confidence permeating this team. Same on defensive end - plenty of technical skill back there - better dribbling & passing abilities than ever before. But those skills were completely negated by indecisive play, horrible decision making and a general overall mental softness about defending. And Zack Steffen was a disaster. This team needs to “grow a pair. ” Maybe the USWNT can help them with that.
I think Jozy's the number 1 but he's not there at TFC's request. I can't see not calling Zardes at all; he and Pulisic are the team's leading scorers in 2019 with 4 goals apiece. Seargent's unproven, but I could see giving him the start. Who else would you call? The reality is, we shouldn't expect to beat Mexico easily, anyway. Tata might have Berhalter in his pocket, but, as I said in the GC Final, we would struggle to put together a midfield that could outplay Mexico's best. Even after they saw Jona Dos Santos shrug of McKennie's tackle; turn, run 60 yards and score in the Gold Cup Final. People were complaining about Bradley being the GC roster; he's the only player in the roster to score against Mexico, and multiple times, and most recently in Mexico. Jozy never did it; Clint Dempsey never did it. Pulisic has no goals or assists vs Mexico yet. Our big prospects abroad are a few years away from being able to match the technique, craft and ruthlessness of this Mexico squad.
I'm just over Zardes. He just isn't good enough to be a striker for the national team. He kills our attacks, and 90% of his USA goals have come against tiny island nations that we blew out. When we play even an alright nation, Zardes is marked out of the match with such ease. I still think we saw the best Zardes when he played LW in the copa america. Zardes can't do hold up play, which unfortunately, we need since we don't have such a talented group of players. Our striker options are pretty poor right now, but I'd rather give Sargent the start or let Morris have the same chances Zardes has had assuming Jozy is out. Hell, I'd even give Novakovich or Bobby Wood another chance. I just know that is we play any nation in the top 50, Zardes won't cut it. He has been capped 52 times now, and hasn't shown he can hang with the big boys at striker. I know Mexico is a tough nation, and I do expect us to lose some to be honest. We've just looked really bad against Mexico since Gregg took over. Our tactics are always wrong and exploited. As for Bradley, I actually think he needs to be with this team. Bradley has gotten older and slower, but he is still one of the best DMs we have. McKinnie hasn't impressed me at all lately. Adams is hurt, but I think he will be decent. Morales, imo, is our best DM option right now. He is starting in the bundesliga and looking decent there. I think a midfield 3 of Morales, Adams, McKinnie would be our best bet. Then we have Bradley, Holmes, Green, Lletget, etc as options too. Trapp needs to be gone asap. He is not a good DM.
To be fair Berhalter was pushing the team to play a possession game and work it out of the back even if it means defeat in the near term. You saw almost no long "boom it out" clearances from the team. Unfortunately we also saw we have a long way to go to be successful playing this way against the Mexico's of the world. I agree Bradley is better DM than any we had on the field and Trapp just isn't good enough to be playing at this level.
Another meh game. 1-1 is about right. USA just can't finish. Morris' goal was some real luck, but we definitely had a few chances that should have been scored. Lletget did well though. He just tries shit which is what USA needs so badly. On that chance Boyd missed, I believe it was Lletget who drew two defenders to him with his run. He is also a threat as a late runner into the box. So many of these USA players just shouldn't be with the team. I complained about the same guys last international break, and I will do it again. Trapp, Roldan, Lovitz, Baird, and Zimmerman just aren't national team quality and haven't shown it in many attempts.
An interesting fact/stat is that since Gregg Berhalter took over the #USMNT team they've only had a negative xGD in one of 14 games and only four games in which the opponent has tallied greater than one total xG.— Harrison Crow aka Homey (@Harrison_Crow) September 11, 2019 I understand the fan base is just done and disapointed. I think its becuase we gave Klinsmann so much time and had no results. I am confused at our expectations. We are not good BUT we have not been good for several years. Klinsmann was supposed to bring an attacking style and never did. Now all I see is people complaining at Berhalter's style. The positives I see are we have a set style (even though we are still working on it). We are coming out vs better teams and trying to control the game. Its been frustrating but its going to be
My thoughts exactly. Klinnsman promised attacking possession based soccer and quickly reverted to defend and counter. Under Bradley, we had the same mindset, but we did in a much more effective way. Berhalter, appears to be sticking to his principles, and as long as he has support of the players, I think he’s going to stick out until it finally clicks. I think we may need to be able to revert to a team that plays on the break against better teams, but if we can beat Honduras, Costa Rica and the team’s that sit deep, we’ll have no problems making the World Cup.
Style is a big part but on a more basic level we suffer from a dearth of decent goal scorers. Pulisic is still mostly potential and Morris is just ok at international level. Against both Mexico and Uruguay we were in an around their box frequently but still managed only a couple dangerous shots. At the end of the Uruguay game the new Dallas homegrown actually took on and beat defenders a la Dempsey. Hopefully he pans out.
We know there has been a gap between the Bradley generation and the Pulisic generation. -Altidore has been injured when needed the most -Woods has been in a several year slump injury/form -Zardes and Morris are the service able MLS players who just are not International quality We need patience now. Sargent, Weah, and others are exciting and have made the jump early to Europe.
Honestly, I think the US needs to stop focusing on some kind of tactical evolution and concentrate on getting the best out of what they have. There was really little wrong with what Bob Bradley was doing, bar perhaps bunkering too soon when leading against strong opposition. People just seemed to get to a point where they saw competing with Mexico in the Gold Cup and decent WC group showings as a given and decided it was time for the next step. The fact is, that's not how football works. If you want a national team philosophy, that needs to be instilled well before players are taking the field for the main team. That's a national curriculum thing and as long as the soccer landscape is fractured into USSF, USASA, NCAA, AYSO and so on, with virtually zero coordination between the various leagues and teams, that's going to be nigh on impossible to implement effectively. You also have to bear in mind that even the best talent-producers in the world see fluctuations. The LD generation had decent talent in spite of the system. You can't just assume that each generation will be an upgrade on the previous. The weird thing is, Berhalter is now being criticized for using a 'progressive' system because "we don't have the talent, whereas a certain other USMNT coach was excused for the failure of his 'progressive' system because "we don't have the talent".
Bob wasn't bad, but his selections were pretty poor. Seems like every manager is prone to some strange choices, but I swear Bob always had 1-2 players in the line-up that made people really wonder wtf he was thinking.
Johnny B. anyone? But yeah, pretty much sums up how I felt about Bob's tenure with the national team.
I hear you guys about patience and will try to exercise it. But those games made me uncomfortable for the tentativeness that skydog was talking about. The team badly needs a leader (McKennie seems to have potential here). One good thing is that the locker room seems better. But that needs to translate to goals and fast. I’m feeling a little squeaky butt going into qualifying.
As I'm boycotting Qatar 2022, it's going to be weird watching qualifying. I'll obviously want the US, England and to a lesser extent, the Irelands to do well but it won't be in anticipation of wanting to watch them at the finals.
As I'm now officially American, I now feel comfortable pontificating about our attitude to dual nationals. In a healthy, non-"Preston Zimmerman" way, of course... https://wp.me/p5ioea-2k9
Lots of strange call-ups yet again, and some notable omissions. Sick and tired of seeing the same mediocre MLSers called up while guys like Holmes, Green, Morales, and Wood are ignored. The majority of the roster is from the MLS, and it's not even good MLS clubs as well.
Green is a snub he is in the best form of his career. Him Holmes would have been nice to see as options for the 8/10 role. Morales just returned from injury this weekend coming on as a sub. Wood is in purgatory Alverado for Club America I think deserves a look.