I mean, if Berhalter is fired today, I have no issues, and in my scenario, he's likely fired after the November matches. Which, unless they have someone great lined up, you probably will need the time anyway. So I'm not sure I'm dumbing down expectations because I'm optimistic. I'm just realistic about the talent pool. You call it "the best collection of young talent we've ever had" and I don't really agree. I love Pulisic, McKennie and Adams. But Pulisic has been out of form, and was out of form for club long before country. And McKennie has not proved he's ready for a starring role. Adams has had 90 minutes. Dest might qualify ... we had him for two matches, and he's still pretty unproven. Is Pulisic + McKennie enough to call it the best collection of young talent? Really? Certainly we're not adding in players like Miazga or Cannon as some reflection of top young talent. I like both, but they are hardly in the best collection of young talent we've ever had. Or perhaps you are adding in the really young guys? I want to see them integrated faster, but perhaps we can slow our roll given that as much as I love Josh Sargent, he's hardly been an asset. Perhaps you are right and all these guys are going to bust through right now, but I think we're really in a race against time -- how many can actually become an asset before qualifying. If I'm optimistic it's this: 1. I don't love the pool, but we should be able to finish Top 3 with a good coach 2. I'm hoping the young talent starts to pan out and the pool vastly improves before 2022. ------------ Friendlies? Eh. You keep bringing up Jamaica, which featured a lineup where we had sent home most of our talented players due to injury or club asks and tried some shit out. I think that's perfectly fine as long as the team performs when we have a reasonable talent pool and it counts. They didn't against Canada. That's a huge issue.
Will keep this short cuz these are getting to be too much - Name the last time we had 4 players under 21 starting/squad rotation players in the top 3 Euro leagues (CP/McKennie/Adams/Sargent).
That's great. Does Tyler Adams count? He hasn't been healthy. How much does Sargent count? He has like two starts. (Hell, is Pulisic even a rotation player right now? <ducks>). The talent POTENTIAL is there. But you can't count Adams if he can't play. And Sargent and the rest of the young guns aren't international assets yet. In six month, a year? Hopefully.
Apologies for coming back to this post but here’s a poster who - joins in 2019 - voluminously posts almost entirely pro-Berhalter/MLS Posts - drop a link from what s/he calls www.mlspropaganda.com that lauds Berhalter and his system after a win over Cuba(!). now that the concerns that many of us have constantly raised over the 10 months have proven to be valid in a woeful first-in-30-years loss against Canada and prior losses against decent teams, he disappears. I wouldn’t be surprised if another poster will join shortly and begin making very similar comments. Where are the aforementioned standards?
I do apologize that I thought you had called two different posters a name. I see now that it is one specific poster setting you on edge. However, N&A has stricter posting rules. You can get your message across with no name-calling.
I really try to be civil and enjoy going back and forth with posters with strong well laid out views that I disagree with but there are posters on both sides of the MLS bias issue who are either shills or deranged. That poster is one of a series of people who follow a pattern of disingenuous posting. it does make me overly salty and for that I apologize.
It appears as though you are maybe a little too sensitive about those who don’t share your views and err on the side of wild conspiracy theory to reconcile why someone may disagree with you. While you have been following my posts around an Internet forum, I have been traveling back and forth to the NICU where my new US Soccer fan is fighting for his young life. So excuse me if I do not feel the need to respond to petty childishness. Get a life.
good luck to your child. Upon his fully recovery, I look forward to your take on how great Berhalter’s system and roster selections are.