Why would you include Polster and not Hyndman? Polster at 25 yo hasnt played yet only made the bench once in six league games and four cup games (possibly not eligible). Hyndman as a 20/21 yo old was a key player for the same team scoring 4 goals and setting up others in 18 appearances. He also was a regular in the same league the first half of this season. Not saying he should play, but if we are trying to round out the roster, he is an easy choice over Polster.
FJ is a right back. He didnt play well under Arena because he wasnt set up well and Arena had gotten rid of the rest of the german-americans. Pulisic didnt look good on the other wing as the central midfield and outside back were horrible. I havent seen anybody who want the same players. I have seen mixed interest in Wood, Altidore, FJ, and Besler, only 2 or 3 want to see Bradley, and not much interest for the rest. My interest in FJ is short term fix for a position of need, a mentor to Robinson, and probably the one player suited to play in the role that Lima did in January. Berhalter might think he would get a lot of benefit of FJ playing the role exactly as he envisioned to help teach the other guys. I think if the outside back is a defensive first and not much going forward, then we are probably better off with playing Long, CCV, or EPB there. Playing Robinson that role would be a good idea long term to help him focus on his defense which all young defenders need more experience, but his weakness is overblown by folks around here.
Man I wish I ran in your circles if you think only 2-3 people want Bradley back. If I stick in a conversation long enough, every single one turns to him. Consider our players who played against TNT: USA: 1-Tim Howard, 2-DeAndre Yedlin, 3-Omar Gonzalez, 5-Matt Besler, 15-Jorge Villafaña (23-Kellyn Acosta, 72), 4-Michael Bradley (capt.), 21-Paul Arriola (8-Clint Dempsey, 46), 10-Christian Pulisic, 6-Darlington Nagbe (16-Benny Feilhaber, 84), 9-Bobby Wood, 17-Jozy Altidore 10 of those players have been called in or have a significant portion of the fan base asking for them to be called in. Actually, one of the ones who doesn’t have people calling for him is Besler, and he probably is among the most deserving of another call, if he isn’t too old. What about the players who lost to Costa Rica at home: USA: 1-Tim Howard, 2-Jorge Villafaña (8-Clint Dempsey, 65), 4-Michael Bradley (capt.), 6-Darlington Nagbe, 9-Bobby Wood, 10-Christian Pulisic (21-Paul Arriola, 87), 14-Tim Ream, 17-Jozy Altidore, 19-Graham Zusi (18-Jordan Morris, 84), 20-Geoff Cameron, 23-Fabian Johnson I’ve seen people calling for 11 of those players to be called in. Toss in Guzan, Brooks, and Chandler from the Mexico loss at home and we are looking at 14/24 players who were at least partly responsible for us failing to qualify, yet a significant amount of people still want them to be called in. And actually, 3 of the ones people aren’t calling for have retired or are retiring (Howard, Jones, Dempsey). That means people are okay with playing 67%(!) of the players who failed to qualify last cycle. Look at the ones who people don’t want back: Gonzalez Orozco Besler Ream Feilhaber Zusi Cameron Are we really just going to blame those 7 guys for missing the World Cup? Most of them barely played last cycle. It’s time to wake up and realize that we need to move on for better or worse. The reality is the core group of guys- Gonzalez, Yedlin, Bradley, Brooks, Villafaña, Nagbe, Bradley, Pulisic, FJ, Altidore, Wood, and probably Arriola and Acosta deserve about 95% of the blame. Some of those guys are going to stick around because of how shallow the pool is, but that doesn’t mean we should cling to the marginal ones and keep giving them chances. Ok I’m done ranting on this. I’m going to watch soccer
I guess I was thinking of Trapp. You might be able find some people who want who want the players you mentioned but think you would have a hard time finding somebody who wants them all. I blame Arena. If the locker room was divided, his solution was to eliminate the German Americans and other euro guys. There was reason to play villafana, gonzo, nagbe, Zusi, etc. I'm not sure why anyone would blame Brooks. The only thing to blame him for is being injured. I generally dont want anyone 30 or older except for FJ as a short term option. The only hold overs I am interested is pulisic, brooks, Altidore, wood, Johnson and Guzan. I'm hoping the last four are pushed out in the next two years.
I think Arriola should keep getting looks. Not necessarily starts, though. There’s something about him I’ve always liked.
The first player news that I've seen for March: Brian Sciaretta @BrianSciaretta 4h4 hours ago Brian Sciaretta Retweeted FC Nordsjælland Jonathan Amon called up to the United States U-20 team for the upcoming March camp.
Christian Pulisic will be named to Gregg Berhalter's USMNT roster for the upcoming March friendly's. [@ProSoccerUSAcom] pic.twitter.com/EGqUw0XM35— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) March 12, 2019
Nova is playing in the Eredivisie. Wright got a brief bout of time because of injuries. No contest, IMO. He was good enough for a Friendly camp after scoring for fun with Telstar, and I can't see that he's gotten worse at Fortuna.
I'd call all four (Sargent, Nova, Wright, Weah) and play them two at a time to find out which one doesn't suck.
I was listening to Sirius (counterattack maybe) and whomever the guest was said that they had seen an incomplete list that was comprised of a pretty even split between internationals and mls players and that there were a couple surprises on the roster. Pretty vague but since we are getting the roster today we won’t have long to wait too verify.
This is what I see Behalter trying to do. ---------------------------------------------------------Jozy/Sargent Annon -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Weah -------------------------------Pulisic ------------------------------------------------------Adams/Nagbe/Mckennie -----------------------------------------------------------------------McKennie/Adams/Lima ------------------------------------------{?????} ----------Ream/Garza ------------------Brooks-------------------Carter-Vickers/Miazga --------------------------------Steffan Then in defensive shape it has to snap back into a 4222. Wide, wide wingers who spread the field and create space to make runs and for the central guys to make plays. Two central attacking mid than can make runs, create with their feet or the ball. One ball winning midfielder who can get disrupt, win balls, counter press, and get into the attack occasionally. One ball spreading positionally sound 6. This role has to be technically sound, rarely lose the ball and be able to spread the field with accurate, long balls to the wide wingers. Adams and Mckennie are interchangeable right now. The two biggest gaps for this system are wingers and that deep lying 6. Wingers may actually be easier to find for what he wants them to do. I think he may be able to plug and play there more than I originally thought. That deep lying midfielder is the problem. I just can't think of any upcoming players or veteran guys outside of the two guys who shall not be named for reason of my personal sanity- It's not a ball winner position. Its role that would shield the backline and allow the team to get back and get numbers up. Has to be very technically sound, rarely lose the ball. Have to be able to spread the field with accurate diagonal balls. Without mentioning the two guys who seem to make this board erupt - who fits that? Do we have anyone playing in Europe or MLS who does that or could do that very well? Morales? Williams? Could Nagbe do that? He definitely has the technical part. I don't think he has the long passing or the defensive chops - even if its positional focused rather than tackling focused. I think you want Adams and Mckennie in other roles and neither of them have shown this particular ability. I wonder if its a player that we just don't talk about. That is under the radar in europe. Any thoughts on a player like that?
There's no world where Wright is ready for the Senior US team. U-23 maybe, but he's not (and may never be) ready for anything higher. The other three are reasonable choices for a look depending on how the coach wants to play the team. I think it might all be a little over Josh's head still, but his talent is so clear that I'm not sure there's anything to be gained from playing him in youth tournaments anymore.
The US needs a ball winning 6 vs. good teams both in transition and when we're organized. Full stop. Anything that presumes otherwise is foolhardy and naive. If GB does not make elite ball-winning an absolute requirement of our 6, we're f***ed.
In the 343- There is a ball winning midfielder there for counter pressing. In my example above, it would McKennie or Adams. There will still need to be this other role. Are there any players that fit that other role in Europe?
From what I've seen, the McKinnie role is supposed to be high up the field on offense and then has to rush back to cover the right flank. It is not a defensive stopper when the ball transitions to other team as the priority will be to cover the right flank. The remaining 6 will have immense defensive responsibility both when we are defending in transition and when organized as a key stopper in front of our CDs. Anyone who prioritizes distribution from the 6 at the expense of elite ball-winning is not suited to lead the USMNT. Quite frankly, we need more ball winners in the center given that our CBs are more classic northern european defenders who could use help in this area. And behold, we have three box-to-box midfielders who are all getting time in the B1: Adams, WM and Morales with Williams hopefully coming off of IR.
I know everyone will hate on this roster, but keep in mind this is the first time since Cueva that it hasn’t ostensibly been about getting kids experience.
And there you have it. GGG is no better at calling up players than any of our 3 previous managers. Just... terrible.
No man. That's simple personal preference. Sheesh- Your stance is that we can't play with the big dogs, so lets put a bunch of d-mids in and play only on the counter. Yuck. 1) We don't need to beat the best in the world to a) qualify for the World Cup and b) even make it out of group. You're worrying about games that have less overall meaning. 2) The US will never progress to an elite soccer nation building all of our talent, tactics, and coaches around playing defensive soccer. 3) Its boring to watch. Soccer is first and foremost entertainment. So yeah- disagree on all points. I am not that worried about losing to Germany, Brazil, or Spain, etc. We only see them in friendlies or if one game every four years in a group stage. I see no sense in building everythng around those scenarios. I want to dominate Mexico. I want to dominate Concocaf. I want to see them take a progressive, possession oriented style and make that an identity so that we find, promote, and develop talent around high level, entertaining soccer.