MLS Flavors of the Week, 2018 Edition

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by TheFalseNine, Jan 5, 2018.

  1. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Following a sophomore slump, Keegan Rosenberry looks to be returning to the form of his rookie year.
     
    kba4life1, OWN(yewu)ED and Sombrerito repped this.
  2. manq360

    manq360 Member+

    Jun 17, 2009
    Portland, OR
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I hope so. Shea has size, athleticism, and speed. No reason for him not to excel if he keeps his eye on the ball...so to speak.
     
  3. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    Brek Shea is 28, never succeeded anywhere for any length of time, is probably very close or at his ceiling as an MLS lifer on a ok team. Has never shown much in the USMNT jersey and should not take minutes from anyone this cycle.
     
  4. Sombrerito

    Sombrerito Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    May 6, 2018
    Unless he wins the MLS MVP two years straight I don't want him near the USMNT. There's other young players with a much higher ceiling than him.

    Clearly he had that one fluke season where he became an MVP finalist but nothing after that. That was in a much weaker MLS at the time.
     
    Patrick167 repped this.
  5. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Brek parleyed that one season and 'potential' into some very nice contracts. He's currently on $745k. Well played.
     
  6. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    Americans on the MLS All-Star Roster:

    Tyler Adams
    Matt Hedges
    Aaron Long
    Michael Parkhurst
    Graham Zusi
    Brad Guzan
    Zack Steffan

    Parkhurst probably should have been involved in the previous cycle. Certainly over Omar, but Arena loves Omar. Can't give him and Zusi, and Guzan minutes this cycle. Maybe Guzan as a third keeper.

    Hedges is 28, has received several looks, and has looked terrible even against the weakest competition. It is a strange thing to be selected as an All-Star or Defender of the Year, but then get roasted by semi-pros playing for non-WC participating countries (or territories of countries).

    Steffan and Adams clearly in the picture for 2022.

    Long has been good. He is 25 but just signed some kind of MLS contract. Doubt he makes it past MLS. Not sure why he was picked over Parker to be in the ASG. January Camp fodder.

    Is there any other American in MLS that deserves minutes in the next four years? If so, why were they not on this All-Star roster? If you can't beat Yotun or Elis for this roster, how do you beat out McKennie and Pulisic for minutes on the USMNT?
     
  7. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    Yes, and I'm sure Hamid and others took note. Have a good season, get to Europe. Do whatever you want at that point. Come back and sign a contract for more money than you would have ever seen if you had stayed.

    Meanwhile, guys like Besler and Zusi, who stuck with the league, will need to take $200,000+ pay cuts to keep playing next year.
     
    Dr.Phil repped this.
  8. gunnerfan7

    gunnerfan7 Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Jul 22, 2012
    Santa Cruz, California
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Durkin

    He's very young, just turned 18. Could be a fast-mover like Adams and jump to Europe to continue to develop.

    Cannon
    Lima
    Lindsey
    Lennon

    Yedlin's injury is "not serious", but still, it would be good to have more competent RB's. You can never have enough. Particularly because Yedlin's got some serious holes in his game, the competition's probably good for him. Pulisic's the only lock starter as far as I'm concerned.

    K Acosta
    Arriola

    If Acosta continues his form for Colorado, some callups could help him move overseas and keep improving. Recent flavor Arriola has had a great year (ironically, in the center of the park) but possibly worth a shot out on the wing. Obviously, competing with Amon, Gall, etc.

    There are flavors worth keeping an eye on outside of those at the ASG. It's silly to use that arbitrary popularity contest as the barometer. Glad's one of the top CB's in MLS and has been for years. He's only not in USMNT contention because his position is stacked, not because he's not good. I'd take Glad over Hedges or Zimmerman, especially as that 2nd CB (Miazga, Brooks, or Besler providing the leadership).
     
    Patrick167 repped this.
  9. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Why should MLS All-Star status have anything to do with the National Team?
     
    ussoccer97531 repped this.
  10. dlokteff

    dlokteff Member+

    Jan 22, 2002
    San Francisco, CA
    It doesn't.

    But while @Patrick167 post is hyperbolic, it does raise a point with some validity. This is a down year for Americans in MLS.

    The chart below is the distribution of players in the Top of MLS Whoscored rankings that are US eligible.
    [​IMG]

    Of course this is Whoscored so some will ignore and that's fine. We're at least 20 games in now, this is where I think the sample is large enough that Whoscored starts to stabilize and does tend to identify the top players.

    2018 is part of a larger trend of decreasing American success (or be it increasing foreign success) in MLS at the top end. There's a myriad of reasons for it which we can feel free to discuss, but my focus is mostly on 2018.

    Note the first two bars are missing for 2018. Yep, of the top 20 ranked players in MLS, none are US eligible. Even as the top talent has trended foreign in the recent years, in the past at least we had a few US players standing out. Roldan, Ngyuen, and Zusi were Top 10 last season, and Kljestan, Bradley, Zardes, and Altidore were in 2016. This year NO top 10...NO Top 20.

    We finally get to one US eligible player in the Top30. Everyone get excited...it's Graham Zusi.

    Only one more joins the Top 40 - Sean Davis. Edgar Castillo and Aaron Long are Top 50, and Nick Lima is #55. That's it for the Top 60 players. 5 guys. 8%. US eligible players ranked in the Top 60, by year has gone: 29, 31, 27, 22, 17, 5. That's a trend, but at just 5 in 2018, that's a cliff. Bad, Bad year so far. It's a concern for sure.

    That negativity aside. Here's what I come up with for the best US eligible teams in MLS based on Whoscored, season to date.

    1st:
    -------------------------Zardes------------------------
    -------------Roldan--------------Feilhaber---------
    ------------------Adams-----Davis------------------
    ---Castillo------------------------------------Zusi---
    ----------Parker---Zimmerman----Long----------
    -------------------------Attinella-----------------------

    2nd:
    ------------------------Dwyer--------------------------
    ------Picault--------------------------Bunbury------
    -----------------------Kljestan-------------------------
    --------------McCarty-------Hayes------------------
    --Lima-------Opara-----Hedges------Cannon---
    ------------------------Robles--------------------------

    Others before 2nd GK: Sweat, Rosenberry, Besler, Farrell, Valentin, Lennon, Beasley.

    To the point of will these guys take minutes from Pulisic and/or McKinnie? Of course not. But last I checked we need 11, and the roster is 23. The top end, highest level talent may not be in MLS, and I think most agree that's a good thing. But the lists above contain 29 names. Maybe only one or two become key pieces. Shoot, maybe there's zero starters there in 2022. But almost everyone listed could get at least limited minutes with NT and contribute over the next four years. Those teams, right now, while they might be boring, wouldn't get punked at all by any US Euro based team.

    MLS may not have the next superstars, but it absolutely provides the depth that we will need to be a successful program going forward.
     
    Namdynamo, Zamphyr, Zinkoff and 6 others repped this.
  11. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Before he got hurt I thought Canouse could be a Beckerman style d-mid and that can be very useful. He doesn't get wanderlust.
     
  12. gunnerfan7

    gunnerfan7 Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Jul 22, 2012
    Santa Cruz, California
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    MLS is supposed to provide the depth that we need. Heck, it should be providing superstars too.

    But the stats are trending away from that year by year. Fingers crossed teams like Philly start winning titles/going deep in the playoffs, otherwise we're just going to keep getting more NYCFC's and ATL UTD's, which won't help the NT whatsoever.
     
  13. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    He looked promising in the U20s. Too bad he got hurt before the big dance: the team could've won the whole thing.

    It can take a couple of years to return to peak form following a serious injury. So maybe he can still be that Beckerman style of d-mid at international level.
     
  14. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Whoscored is a commercial enterprise which (by my eye test) applies a coefficient > 1 to winning teams' players' scores (or a coefficient < 1 to losing teams' players' scores).

    This year's Toronto squad has depressed ratings for Americans on Toronto squad (Bono, Moor, Zavaleta, Hagglund, Morrow, Bradley, Delgado, Altidore)

    I suppose somebody has done a regression on the scores to gauge the coefficient but I don't know what it is.

    As far as the A-Stars are concerned, I wouldn't take it too seriously. Maybe Parker wasn't picked for A-Star game because he has a contract expiring.

    We should see Parker v. Brazil. He was tremendous v. France, receiving the highest rating for USA in L'Equipe. Hopefully he plays in a 3cb back line.
     
  15. Excellency

    Excellency Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Nov 4, 2011
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Canouse was better before his injury. Possibly he just isn't 100% yet. Canouse and Durkin together would ensure a play off berth for DC, imo.
     
  16. ussoccer97531

    ussoccer97531 Member+

    Oct 12, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    Are you serious? The All-star game is a complete popularity contest. Didn't Atlanta United fans vote almost their whole lineup into the all-star game? Why do you think Parkhurst is on that list as opposed to Besler, Glad or Parker (better CB's)?

    The All-Star game roster is a terrible way to decide which Americans deserve NT call ups.
     
  17. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    There has been a steep drop in the numbers of US-players at the upper end of the WS. But this isn't necessarily concerning when thinking of the league's ability to contribute useful players to the NT.

    Tim Parker, EPB(who hadn't yet played with his new team), Trapp, and Adams each did well in the France game. Of the 3 still in MLS, none are in the WS top-50. Further, when breaking down WS rankings per position, we see US-eligible players appearing in the upper reaches*.

    LB[30 players]: Castillo(7.19)3rd Sweat(7.15)6th
    CB[76 players]: Long(7.20)4 Zimmerman(7.07)8 Parker(7.06)9 Opara(7.05)10
    RB[33 players]: Zusi(7.32)1 Lima(7.09)4 Cannon(7.02)6 DeLeon(7.01)8 Rosenberry(7.01)9
    DM[34 players]: Davis(7.29)2 Adams(7.17)7 Roldan(7.14)8
    LM/LAM[32 players]: Picault(7.36)8
    CM[55 players]: Feilhager(7.19)7 Arriola(7.16)9
    RM/RAM[29 players]: Pontius(7.35)5
    Goals by Strikers: Zardes(14)3 Dwyer(10)5 Bunbury(10)5

    Quite a number of this group, not to mention others who aren't in the list, can be useful to the NT. IMO, WS overall scores are impacted by factors such as who gets to take pks, who gets to take dead balls, and who the team is built around.

    * 6 starts minimum
     
    Baysider repped this.
  18. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm not calling on Hedges to be recalled unless there a lot of injuries but I think he was always paired with Gonzalez and that did either of them no favors. Usually a very tall back like either one of them is paired with a smaller speedier guy like Besler. That's still something to be worked out with the next generation too as it's not putting the two best CD's back there or the best four defenders it's putting the best unit back there and sometimes a lesser player overall is a better fit with the others. Not sure Miazga and Brooks works until I see them in action a few times. It's why I think EPB has a better shot at starting than the others because he fits with all the others as the speedier guy.
     
    ussoccer97531 repped this.
  19. OWN(yewu)ED

    OWN(yewu)ED Member+

    Club: Venezia F.C.
    May 26, 2006
    chico, CA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    OT But it looks like Precourt to Austin is on, but multiple reports that the crew are also remaining in Columbus. So we got another expansion team coming on, one way or another.
     
  20. comoesa

    comoesa Member+

    Aug 13, 2010
    Christen Press's armpit
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I hope the Crew get a better stadium.


    Canouse just got smoked on the Portland goal, btw.
     
  21. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Canouse stopped a shot or forward drive from Valeri. He didn't get smoked.

    Delgado, playing a-mid, with 2 assists at the half.
     
    Sombrerito repped this.
  22. Sombrerito

    Sombrerito Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    May 6, 2018
    Delgado has earned another call up. One of the best passers in the US pool I would like to see what he can do against top competition in the next friendlies. But he should definitely work on his finishing, always has a pass first mentality even in great spots
     
  23. comoesa

    comoesa Member+

    Aug 13, 2010
    Christen Press's armpit
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ???

    Canouse made a bad tackle attempt and was on the ground for his troubles and put his backline in scramble mode.
     
  24. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Delgado has a great eye for the creative pass.

    Shea collects a goal.
     
  25. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    Hey, we are here to discuss. Can't just talk about Andrew Carleton! The ASG is not a perfect list but the MLS Best 11 or Best 23 would not be that far different. This happens in the middle of the season, which is helpful.

    Without the fan vote, there might have been fewer Americans. Most of the roster is selected. Maybe for the wrong reasons, maybe not. But I don't think there were Americans out there that were horrible snubs.
     

Share This Page