Is'nt it a bit early to be complaining about McKennie's exclusion or arguing against it on the basis of quality? So far, McKennie has done very well at the B1 level (extraoridinarily well if you factor in his age), has had ups and downs with the USMNT but, in my opinion, those downs are largely relative to our expectations and should be framed in the context of the whole team which was obviously not stabilized in any way...add to that his new coach has only seen him from the outside which includes all the games, club and country, which he has played. In addition, I am sure that he has spoken with Sarachan and, given that Sarachan has played him every time he was available, Sarachan must not think he is chopped liver. Berhalter just has to evaluate McKennie in the context of the USMNT and decide where and how he fits in. I personally don't see him fittling in on the bench, so it just remains to find the role on the field. I think he and Adams will be used in tandem somehow to dominate the middle of the field using that workrate. How each fits into the offense remains to be seen.
This guy is harping about a single game where Weston played about 35 minutes before getting injured. As if it is somehow supposed to be representative.
Yeah, I saw that in the YA thread about him. He was way the F up the field at that point. The fault for the goal was on the poor communication between the defense and GK, not the upfield attacking midfielder at the time.
Personally, for Wes' sake, playing in the Gold Cup for him would be a waste of a good time to rest and recuperate. I'd rather see him (and CP, and Tyler, and Sargent) have the summer off and be fit for a full pre-season, than play in these absolutely meaningless regional championship that means F all to anyone. I don't even think there is a Confed Cup to qualify anymore. WTF is the point of an every two year Gold Cup anyway?
McKennie allowed a forward pass from the centerback, but he forced the play the way he wanted to and he was 70 yards from goal. There are probably 6 players I'd blame before McKennie for that goal.
Maybe we should rest our best players from ever playing for the US? They have to play for the national sometime and they need to play together and gel with the new coach. GC is the biggest consistent tournament the US is in and they need to show up and play especially this one since it's the first real opportunity to put the stench of the failed WC campaign behind them. Not sure why so many are treating our best players like delicate china when our best players in the past almost always made the games that counted.
The only thing I agree with you on is the frequency of the Gold Cup. I always thought every 2 years was terrible, but it is even truer now that we have the Nation's League. The teams that needed the Gold Cup in order to get games NOW have the Nation's League for that purpose. No reason for multiple GCs between each World Cup. But we need our players to get on the field together. Have we EVER seen the 4 players that you mentioned on the field together for our senior team? It's time for them to start figuring out how to co-exist. The sooner, the better.
We have a coach with a detailed plan that he is committed to implementing long term with an eye towards the 2022 WC. His best opportunity to get that in place before WCQ is the upcoming GC. He will have the whole first choice team for 3-4 weeks and 8-10 games to do it. It is basically the only time to have any of the European players for an extended period. Most of our starting 11 and most of our top 23 will be in Europe in 6-12 months. Nobody is going to be left with their clubs to play with the youth teams in charity games. Pulisic had this whole summer off and had his worst run of form ever. It is the dumbest trope repeated around American soccer circles.
There is a significant difference between someone like LD for whom Bayern paid 2.25M pounds in loan fee (according to Transfermarkt) and $70M for CP. No one prior to CP would ever have come close to that figure. So there is a difference. That being said, the other part of this process is the trans-world flights, the crap condition of facilities and fields, the physical mauling the kid gets in game, and the overall state of the team, which is less than optimal. The situation facing guys like CP and McKennie is unique compared to that facing LD back in the day. He had a virtual lock on playing in the WC every four years. Would anyone be surprised if the US faced a similar situation in this qualification cycle?
The reason LD had a lock on playing in the World Cup, is because he went out there and put us in the damned thing.
Absolutely. Chain of causation that led to the accident began with McKennie. Sorry, not going along with BS blame the cb for everything route.
Definitlely. I don't go along with the BS pedigree formula for team selection. If the team is not gelin, I'm yellin'. The next response to this post will be "giving up on McKennie 4 years before Qatar....." Now nobody has to post because nobody is giving up on anybody at this point. We don't have a contract with McKennie like Schalke does. They are going to work with their investment and the expectations are obviously that they expect him to be a solid player in due course. Let them iron out the wrinkles on their dime not ours. In the meantime, his time can be a resource we use to raise the expectations for MLS wannabe's.
I'd rather go ahead and integrate him into the team considering we have a new coach and a completely new roster that he will be looked to be a leader on. It's not like he's missing games or really much of anything for Schalke, and I don't think playing a couple of big/challenging games with the US over the course of a month will cause him so much stress that he can't get over and get tuned up for a new season quickly.
I agree, in general. Hwvr, Pulisic is joining a new club who paid 70m for him. Let's use some discretion. Having said that, I believe LON starts up pretty quickly after GC altho I'm not clear on when the difficult part comes for USMNT.
Going against the grain is great and refreshing when one has a coherent rational for doing so. But nothing you say is coherent. Do you have specific players in mind who you view to be superior options for the Gold Cup? If not, do you not view the Gold Cup to be a tournament that matters?
My other reason for wanting our best players (including McKennie) at the Gold Cup is that I want to win it. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but the men's side of the USSF trophy cabinet has plenty of empty space in it. It's like a mid-table EPL team winning the FA Cup--it's not the highest honor, but when you have no real shot at winning the league, you should really go for the trophies that are possible. We're not winning the WC in 2022, so beating Mexico in the GC final is really as good as it gets for USMNT fans. That 2007 final is one of my favorite USMNT games, and I'd like more of that. Now I'm advocating putting together a roster of all over-30 players just to win, but in this case, having the best 23 probably means having a young 23.
I have wanted to see Adams, Trapp and Delgado in a 3 man midfield for some time. After I see them together I'd start using different combos. That midfield 3 I'd like to see with Weah (9) plus Sarge and Pulisic in xmas tree formation with Adams at the free 8. Pulisic's defensive game has improved a lot and it looks like Sargent has been effective defensively as well. Adams and McKennie appear to be more and more going towards the same position - free 8. That is good since every position needs to be backed up with quality. At the end of the day, Adams will pass McKennie for many reasons. Recall, Adams is 2 years younger.