Nations League A, Camp 1, Cuba/Canada, Oct. 11/15

YNTers that absolutely should be called up: Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Yueill, Pomykal, Sargent, Dest, Cannon, Robinson
Also should call Holmes and Miazga

YNTers that I would like called up: Toye, Aaronson, EPB

Not sure about Mendez. He's only had three games for Jong Ajax. Feels too soon yet.

 

Im pretty much with you there.

Toye has something. He has attributes that naturally translate to the National team level.

Mendez is one of my favorite players in the entire US program, but I don’t see him as ready. He was physically overmatched much of the time at the U20 level. The physicality of international football is just a whole different monster. Im sure that his club is waiting for him to grow some before they throw him to the wolves.

 

Aaronson has been playing really well in MLS of late (better than Pomykal quite frankly), and supposedly had a great U23 camp in the last window. This is a nice reward.

Pomykal got a taste in the last camp. Aaronson in this camp. Maybe it'll be Ledesma in the next one. Maybe Mendez in the next one.

Frankly, this is what the back end of this type of roster should be used for.

 

Others consensus is this, which I dont disagree with. It put emphasis on ball possession lead by Arfield and pressing high on wings with David and Davies speed while Piette is there to protect the back line. Cavallini is the power forward who's deadly infront

------------------------------Cavallini
-------Davies----------------------------------------David

-----------------------Arfield-----------Kaye

-----------------------------------Piette

Adekugbe------Cornelius----------Vitoria------Laryea

-------------------------------------Borjan

Mine pushed David back to AM and put Hoillett on RW instead of David. I take out Kaye and leave Piette with Arfield.

This is to try to overwhelm the US defense which worked against Mexico in the last 30 minutes of the Gold Cup game when Herdman made a the changes at the 60th minute.

 

What I’d do, not what Berhalter will do:

(Aaronson in. Adams, Weah, Morales, Brooks out)

GK Steffen, Horvath, Scott

RB Yedlin, Richards

CB Alvarado, Miazga, Carter-Vickers, Palmer-Brown

LB Dest (Lichaj), Robinson

M6 McKennie (CPT), Cappis

M8 Aaronson, Mendez

10 Holmes, Ledezma

RW Morris, Ferreira

FW Sargent, Soto

LW Pulisic, Llanez

Close cuts, called in next camp: Miljevic, Sabbi, Parks, Lletget, Durkin, Pomykal

Vs Cuba

—————-Sargent—————
Pulisic————————-Ferreira
——Ledezma——Mendez———
—————McKennie—————-
Dest(Robinson)—————Yedlin
———-Alvarado—Miazga———-
——————Horvath—————

Subs: Soto (Sargent) 70, Aaronson (Mendez/Ledezma) 60, Llanez (Ferreira) 80

Vs Canada

—————Sargent——————
Pulisic—————————-Morris
———Holmes——Aaronson——-
—————-McKennie—————-
Dest(Lichaj)———————Yedlin
————Alvarado—Miazga———-
——————-Steffen——————

Subs: Soto (Sargent) 80, Ledezma/Mendez (Aaronson) 70, Richards (Yedlin) 90

 

Look, this is nuts. Curacao, a team with mostly players that wouldn't get into the Jong PSV team, ran circles around the USMNT. Dest, a player who was, "not that much higher a level than the Dallas Cup Super Group, if its even at Dallas Cup Super Group level;" and was not, " earning first team minutes at some point to get a call in to the full mens team", just a few weeks before playing major minutes for the USMNT. Dest was actually trusted to start against Mexico and Uruguay while Pomykal got garbage minutes after being a stand out in MLS most of the season.

The 2nd Dutch division is grown men.

Dest did not magically wake up one day and be 10X better and then got into the Ajax first team. He was basically the same player as he was the previous day when he was a Jong Ajax player.

I have little problem with Aaronsen as he is better than Djorde. He might be too slow for international soccer, especially on the wing. But to discredit players in his age cohort because they are playing for reserve teams is just non-sensical. The players ahead of Ledezma and Mendez would be top DPs in MLS. Most likely, MLS would not be able to afford them.

 

Dest was arguably the US U20's best player in the World Cup. Then, having stood out in that tournament (which Ajax staff were no doubt watching), he went into Ajax and seized his first opportunities with strong performances. He has very clearly added girth and strength to his frame and confidence in his abilities. He is progressing as is the expectation in serious football nations.

The only other player in the youth set up who has not broken into his first team but has out-performed his current level dramatically enough to warrant a call-up for a look up close is Uly Llanez. That young man has been doing damage. I'd say that Ledezma is next in line should he continue to have strong performances in his youth league. However, at some point these players need to be scouted against full grown men. Especially players like Mendez and Ledezma who play in the middle of the field where a player who is not up to the physicality and speed of the professional game can make mistakes or turnovers that quickly turn into goals (see Dest, Sergino) and/or obliterate ball circulation and possession.

 

Not to give up totally on Dest but it's very likely he is holding out for the Netherlands. In his meeting with Koeman they probably discussed how he fits into their plans etc.

If his heart was 100% set on committing to the US he'd be here. Cuba and Canada isn't exactly appealing either.

I wouldn't tell US soccer and Berhalter to give up, but plan for life without him. He is on track to get a Netherlands call up within a year.

Yedlin and Cannon for now. Left back remains a problem.

 

Long story short, I don't expect to see Dest in a US shirt again.

 

JK has cause and effect mixed up, no surprise since he went through his rough patch, got fired, and in the process seemed reticent to make the necessary changes for a new era of soccer after the 2014 team got older. it is not playing the great teams that makes you good. or last year would have made us far better. it is instead the work, the selection changes, the tactical updates — what you do different to prepare, and then what you do different to adjust afterwards — that CAN make a big game helpful. but if you play Mexico, lose, and then run out a lot of the same people and tactics in the rematch, and lose again, no, you are actually not going to get anything out of trying to punch above your weight. i think he is selling the idea that it hones you into an uberself when his blind spot as well as GB’s is reacting to big games by making the changes that such games put up in neon. we are stubborn as mules. one game will be as good as another. it is fair to say if we beat Cuba, more of the same. but be real, if we lose to Mexico he won’t change much from that, either. so don’t oversell the idea of learning from it all.

if the coach and players learned from the big games -- by, say, the equivalents of benching antonee robinson when he gets burned -- then they might be useful. but if your response to such games is to excuse your players and justify your tactics and do the same thing next time, saying, well, that was just Mexico, you are going nowhere. you will leave the same tactics and mischosen players out there. you approach soccer that way and as long as Mexico is configured this way they will be your superior. their thing works, yours doesn't, and yet you won't change anything. definitional insanity.

i also think that a more veteran team can use a big game as a reality check, but you already have to be doing well to bother, or you have to be willing to take the reality check and adjust accordingly. i don't think us playing brazil or england right now -- or at least very often -- teaches you anything if it turns into a bunker game where we can't complete a pass. one or two such games a year teaches the lesson of trying to man the barricades. over and over -- well, are we trying to teach our players to create attacks and complete passes in some coherent fashion? give us opponents where i can see that.

we are way ahead of ourselves. maybe try making the world cup before camping in qatar and pimping the idea that a regional schedule is beneath us.

 

If he said he needed more time, then I think we should give him all the time in the world--by never asking him again. Unless he is the second coming of Messi, his teammates are unlikely to ever forget that after playing with them he decided he'd rather play with others. So best of luck to him. But, like Nagbe, another player I think we could absolutely use right now, if he doesn't want to play for us now, I don't want to see him in a USMNT shirt again.

 

meh. how about reward the guy who played well last time? you can reward pomykal and try new things. we have that much ballast already.

 

Hopefully George Bello can stay healthy and make the leap.

 

As others have said before repeatedly, I simply don't understand anything about Klinsy's comments or Egg's current approach.

1. It's ridiculous playing better teams, as they smoke us for a half, then stop playing, US plays a bit better, and for some reason we think it's an improvement. No, we still stink, Brazil just stopped playing.
2. Why is a national team trying to institute a system? The only thing a nat'l team coach (Egg) should do is find our best players, and then figure out a way to arrange then in a formation and a plan that maximizes all of their strengths (or at least, as many as possible). This "system" should be changing as new players move into the best 11. Instead, Egg's best idea is get a maybe top 23 old guy (MB) or a maybe top 50 middle aged guy (Trapp), and effectively build the team around them. Simply bizarre.
3. This imminent lineup announcement should be entertaining, at the very least.

 

it is not statistically manifest yet -- he is an AM with like 2G and 3A -- and we have a pile of talent we should be looking at. including people who the YNT system valued more highly and kept around.

do we care if our creators, you know, create?

 

LOL @ the roster...tho it does make it easier not having to plan around watching this trash...

📰 | Gregg Berhalter has named 26 players to the #USMNT roster for this month's @CNationsLeague matches against 🇨🇺 and 🇨🇦.

Full Details >> https://t.co/2IsK8GvLCX pic.twitter.com/FV0dzfwOUF

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) October 2, 2019

 

Shrug. I think this also has a little bit to do with rotating thru U23s.
Pomykal could be a key player for the U23s for Olympic qualifying. He missed the last U23 camp, and will probably be at this one. Aaronson was at the last U23 camp (and was reportedly one of the top performers), so he's getting rewarded with a USMNT taste.

It really doesn't bother me that we use the back end of the League of Nations roster for this purpose.

Our central midfield is so packed with youth players that we're now calling up players to senior USMNT games that weren't able to make our recent U20 World Cup team a few months ago. Aaronson wasn't injured (like Adams). He wasn't selected. Chris Cappis wasn't selected, and folks are mentioning him for a potential senior USMNT callups.

 

https://sbisoccer.com/2019/10/sergi...-matches-as-he-mulls-his-international-future

out

waste of time

what is your LB solution now

 

sean johnson over horvath is just stuck on stupid.

 

this roster has me as excited as a lukewarm glass of milk.

 

this roster is terrible. i cant believe the loyalty to guys who are demonstrably not good enough and unwillingness to integrate younger players

 

Disappointing. I would have liked to see Holmes, and I would have liked to see more than Aaronson brought in for the Cuba game.

 

midfield is trash per usual yeuill trapp bradley roldan

aaronson should be in line behind the U20s if there is basically 1 prospect slot, no dual national flight risk, modest production. dest may turn out to be the tip of the iceberg. you are going to have a set of cranky U20 people whose credential will make them attractive elsewhere, who can make choices, who watched them call aaronson instead, who hasn't been in YNT for 3 years. aaronson is a camp cupcake pick.

 

People here have said Trapp isn't even starting for a team that finished 10th and missed the playoffs???

Only positive I see is MB will get 2 more caps closer to the record, and thus, the end of his NT career.

What in gawd's name is Guzan doing here?