Not playing Wood in September is not casting him aside. He'll get games in November in Europe. Playing Wood in September would mean casting somebody else aside anyway, using your logic, right?
No. My understanding of your position on Wood was that you'd 'seen enough'. As in forgettaboutit. My position is he was in a crap situation and he still quite possibly is in our top 2-3. We just don't know.
Ah,man, how do we dream of winning it all with Wood as our Manduzik, our Mbpappe, our Lukaku……..can you please let me sleep a little more and dream or are you going to insist I watch Wood against Brazil after watching him against every dog in Concacaf?
Unfortunately for us Wood doesn't need to better than those players he only needs to be better than our other forwards. He has been good at times and at least puts forth some defensive effort but maybe some of the young players can be a step up.
I'd love a for sure striker and maybe in a few years we'll have Sargent, Weah and who knows. But today, we have Wood. That can't be all that bad. He was dinged all year and stuck in Hamburg purgatory. I'll give him a couple months this season to see if he's a callup or not.
Looks like Mexico called up a domestic-heavy squad. I don't know enough about their player pool to know for sure, but I'd guess that this is at best a B+ team for them. Lozano was called in, but no Chicharito, Vela, or Guardado.
I think they are looking at 2022 that is why no Vela, Chicharito and Guardado. But then again, Tuca Ferreti is just there for these games, so who knows. Vela for sure can be there for 2022, the other two, nope. While Brazil and Mexico have their list ready where is ours? Or it already came out and I wasn't aware of it? I saw Sargent won't be coming to these friendlies and Bradley might for.... reasons.
They never put out our list until a few days prior to the camp starting. IDK if it's that they don't want to give teams extra days to scout our players or they are just lazy but we normally see the club teams make mention of their call up before the USSF does.
They are friendly games. I don't see what they would have to scout. Plus, I think teams like Mexico and Brazil will be more concerned about their team working as a team since they have new players and such little time to train together.
That's basically it. Trying to apply the A/B Squad concept right now doesn't work, because all teams will be trying to build their A squads for the foreseeable future. If people insist, any MX squad without Hector Herrera and Nestor Araujo (2 of our captains for 2022 IMO) isn't complete. This is an experimental squad, as will be the USA one.
Sargent to play with the first team during friendlies over the international break for Bremen, adds a little more clarification as to why he was not brought in. Also a decent read of an interview with Sarachan to kind of see where his head is in regards to players: https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/08/31/dave-sarachan-usa-roster-friendlies-brazil-mexico-pulisic He does have some comments about Pulisic not having desire and hunger, which is something he said should be evident every time a player is called in, even if he is coming off a long season or whatever. Goes into a tangent about bringing in the Vets slowly towards competitive games while not trying to upset the team chemistry and leadership that is building.
Well I don’t think that’s up to Sarachan to say about if/when the vets will be back. He is only the interim coach I hope the hired coach has other ideas. Like sitting guys like Bradley at home
I care about sarachans thoughts on building a team about as much as I would yet another "in depth" article on the REAL reason(s) we didn't qualify last year. He's the last bag to throw in the dumpster fire that is us soccer, that they've managed to keep burning for a year and a half by the time there's any chance at hiring a coach. His thoughts on the future couldn't interest me less.
My roster. Trying to balance keeping players with their club teams who play in Europe and calling a competitive squad. GK: Steffen, Hamid, Bono DF: Lima, Yedlin, Brooks, EPB, Long, Glad, Parker, A. Robinson MF: Trapp, Canouse, K. Acosta, Roldan, McKennie, Gall, Mueller, Arriola FW: Agudelo, Sabbi, Novakovich, Ramirez Brazil Match: Hamid Lima-Parker-Glad-Robinson Canouse Acosta-Roldan Arriola-Novakovich-Mueller Mexico Match: Steffen Yedlin-EPB-Brooks-Robinson Gall-Trapp-McKennie-Sabbi Agudelo-Ramirez
Tim Parker, Tyler Adams, Matt Miazga, Weston McKennie, Wil Trapp, Ethan Horvath, and likely Aaron Long, will be among those called up for USMNT friendlies vs. Brazil and Mexico, reports @KristianRDyer. pic.twitter.com/k0zw4muCf5— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) September 2, 2018
Brooks called in, hope to see him and Miazga together: .@j_brooks25 has been called up to the @ussoccer_mnt 🇺🇸 for the upcoming international break! 👏@koencasteels🇧🇪, @yunusmalli10🇹🇷, Admir Mehmedi🇨🇭and Jakub Blaszczykowski🇵🇱 will also be on international duty pic.twitter.com/gPZt3UOXa8— VfL Wolfsburg US 🇬🇧🇺🇸 #GetENwithUS (@VfLWolfsburg_US) September 2, 2018
Roster reveal on FS1 coming up (at the last possible moment, as usual). Will update post with the results when available. Goalkeepers: Alex Bono (Toronto FC), Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge), Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew) Defenders: John Brooks (VfL Wolfsburg), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Swansea City), Eric Lichaj (Hull City), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Matt Miazga (Nantes), Shaquell Moore (Reus Deportiu), Tim Parker (New York Red Bulls), Antonee Robinson (Wigan Athletic), DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United) Midfielders: Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids), Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls), Paul Arriola (D.C. United), Julian Green (Greuther Fürth), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Weston McKennie (Schalke 04), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew), Tim Weah (Paris Saint-Germain) Forwards: Andrija Novakovich (Fotuna Sittard), Bobby Wood (Hannover 96), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew)
It's a decent selection. My significant gripes are about Shaq Moore over Nick Lima or Reggie Cannon, and the #2 keeper not being someone with upside and in need of a European move like Jesse Gonzalez. Other than that, I would have selected a Christian Ramirez over Gyasi Zardes, EPB as a cdm, a higher upside Mueller over Arriola, etc. But those are more quibbles. I understand those decisions and would more constitute "favorites" over some inherent mistake like the others. Not going to agree with every selection a manager makes. I think there's sufficient youth and team needs filled, unlike sometimes with other managers in the past. To wit, Sarachan has been a perfectly fine caretaker, imo. I don't think we have quality depth at the position that's knocking on the door. Julian Green can double as a 4th fw. I think Sapong and Dwyer have already proven they can do a job for us in a pinch if necessary.
I'm pretty OK with the roster. I probably would have picked Dwyer over Zardes, one of the young MLS RBs over Moore, and a GK who's actually playing over Horvath, but that's about it.
Does Gall not get an international break? Would like to see him. Also continue to be perplexed as to why we just let Hyndmann rot.