This game(s) will be the the first competitive one(s) for the USMNT after WCQ. What does our roster look like?
Looks like the qualifying matches will be on September’s FIFA dates so we shouldn’t have any issues with getting players released.
That’s so far away and so much is so unpredictable right now that’s hard to predict... just this week, Keaton Parks and Juan Torres jumped into USMNT consideration. That said, can’t resist... GK Horvath, Hamid, Steffen DF Yedlin, Moore, Garza, A. Robinson, Brooks, Carter-Vickers, Miazga, Palmer-Brown MF Adams, Parks, McKennie, Gonzalez, Torres, K. Acosta FW Pulisic, Arriola, Gooch, Wood, Sargent, Siebatcheu There’s a 100% chance though, that’ll change.
So, this will be a pseudo glorified friendly batch against maybe an El Salvador and a Caribbean nation you may or may not have heard of? Great
It's says these games will be played on 4 match dates, I wonder if this means the US will play 4 matches? My guess it will be against 2 other teams in a home and away format. My guess how this playoff seeding tournament will work... 13 groups of 3 – groups are split up by FIFA rank. 1 group of 2 – Last 2 teams in the FIFA rank are in this group The 13 winners of the groups of 3 go into "League A'. Second place go into "League B". Third place is "League C". The group of 2 winner will go into "League B", and the loser will be in "League C" A League = 13 winners B League = 13 second place teams, plus 1 C League = 13 last place teams, plus 1 We are talking about a playoff seeding group that could look like this: USA - FIFA rank 27 Grenada - FIFA rank 157 Cayman Islands - FIFA rank 202 Edit: The US will probably play teams worse then El Salvador. El Salvador is currently ranked 11th in CONCACAF, and could be a tier 1 team in the groups of 3. The 13 second tier teams we are talking about are currently Suriname (rank 125) to Aruba (rank 178).
How CONCACAF League of Nations Alters Competitive Landscape for USA, Region https://www.si.com/soccer/2017/11/17/concacaf-league-nations-friendlies-usa-mexico
The LoN sounds like a waste of time. The US needs games against serious teams, not Caribbean minnows.
For some of these tiny nations, this is as big as it gets so at least were playing against teams who aren't going out there and putting in minimal effort.
Primarily due to stupid coaching. The USA plays way too conservatively, too cleanly, and shows them too much respect. Every time the US plays these countries, the others teams scratch, claw, even punch and kick, while the officiating totally lets it all go.
I don't think we will be playing minnows. We will most likely be in the top league and will be playing in the top 10-12 teams in the region. Since we deserve the fifth seed, we could be in a group with that looks like Costa Rica, USA, Jamaica. All the following need to be cap tied: CCV JonGon Antonee Robinson So they should definitely be on the roster and play at some point. GKs: Hamid, (Guzan, Steffan) DEF: Yedlin, Brooks, MIazga, Lichaj (Robinson, Moore, CCV, Glad) MID: JonGon, McKennie, K. Acosta (Adams, Williams, Parks, Bedoya) FOR: Pulisic, Arriola, Wood (Sargent, Gooch) I only left off Horvath for Guzan because it is a long way to travel to be a back up goalie.
It also doesn't seem like it's negotiable. So unless CONCACAF and COMNEBOL merger, this is what we got. So, US Soccer needs to make the most of it. In the short-term, the good news for the USMNT is they need to get a lot of very young, very talented but inexperienced players some run at the national team level. Given how little caps so many of the guys who will contend for spots in 2022 have, an event like this is a nice way for them to be slowly blooded at the national team level. Further, if the group the US is put into includes the top of CONCACAF, it won't be that much of a cake-walk, especially the road games. Personally, I'd like to see the A-Group, or whatever we're calling the group with Mexico, Costa Rica, the US, etc... have all the teams from CONCACAF that have qualified for a World Cup: That's us (currently ranked 24 by FIFA), El Tri (16), the Ticos (26), Jamaica (54) ,Panama (56), Haiti (57), Honduras (70), Trinidad (89), Canada (94), El Salvador (100) and Cuba (170). Since they probably want groups divisible by 4, toss in Guatemala (129) or some other rando country that consistently makes the Hex and/or Gold Cup and go from there. If they go with the top dozen teams in CONCACAF in the FIFA rankings, it would be the same teams save for Curacao (84) and Nicaragua (106) replacing Guatemala and Cuba. But those are what we're likely looking at for games. Those road games won't be easy and will be a great test and learning experience for young players. Would I prefer friendlies against Italy, Germany and Argentina? Of course. Would I prefer the Gold Cup is quadrennial and not every two years and a repeat of the Copa America Centennial becomes permanent? Absolutely. Here's hoping some of those things still happen to get the US more games outside of CONCACAF. But as long as this is what it is, I don't think it will be that bad for this cycle. To that end, here's an attempt at a 23-person roster for September of 2018: GK – Jesse Gonzalez, Bill Hamid, Zack Steffen CB – John Brooks, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Matt Miazga, Erick Palmer-Brown FB – Shaq Moore, Antonee Robinson, Brandon Vincent, DeAndre Yedlin MF – Kellyn Acosta, Tyler Adams, Paul Arriola, Jonathan Gonzalez, Lynden Gooch, Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Kenny Saieff F – Jozy Altidore, Josh Sargent, Bobby Wood ALTERNATES: GK – Ethan Horvath CB – Justen Glad FB – Danilo Acosta CMF – Christian Roldan WMF - Jonathan Amon F – Jordan Siebatcheu
All I want is to make sure it's filled with contempt. And that we send our real team to play England or Germany that weekend.
These are basically friendlies. MLS/LigaMx players should be used to cover them. NIT(or whatever USSF wants to call the possible pre-WC friendly tournament) Gold Cup Copa America in Brasil Copa Americas in the USA Gold Cup Confederations Cup WCQing World Cup The full-team should get together only for the NIT, the Copa America(USA), WCQing, and the World Cup. Otherwise, cycle burnout is a real possibility for the players competing in the better Euro-leagues.
While I would have agreed in the past, it doesn't seem like any other country takes Friendlies anywhere near as serious as the USA has. While a 1-1 draw at Portugal should be a good result, all you hear is, "Portugal didn't try because it was just a Friendly". This has led to all kinds of distortions in how we view our program. Better that all games be competitive than exhibitions (if we called them exhibitions instead of friendlies would Americans take them as seriously as other countries?). If you can somehow figure out how to get competitive games against non-CONCACAF teams; I'm all for it. But, until then, competitive games against CONCACAF will give us a better idea of the quality of our players and coaches than Friendlies against anyone.
Well, those teams are gonna be busy with the UEFA Nations League, which is why CONCACAF created this competition.