Things can change a lot in 4 years. You never know. Guys like Sargent, Siebatcheu, even wood could find themselves in good form a few years from now. Conversely, guys like Adams, McKennie, Delgado, etc, could be exposed as they face tougher opponents. The thing about Altidore is we know who he is. He’s great against small teams when he’s well rested. He’s been the best we have against everyone. But he’s proven that he can’t stay healthy or be reliable when he’s fatigued, which is often. Also worth noting that the semifinal of the Gold Cup was against a depleted Costa Rica squad that throttled us when it mattered and the final was against lowly Jamaica. There may still be a place for him as we go forward. But expecting him to be anything different than who he is is ridiculous at this point.
Somebody like Berhalter can be ordered to play the kids, IMO. But I think a big name manager like LvG will do what he wants.
I agree that Altidore has the best chance of being on the team and I would not be at all surprised if he is on the squad in 2022. I would be very surprised to see the others in 2022 and also doubt they will play much, if any, role in qualification. The main issue I have is the combination of age vs the time before the next world cup. It gives the kids a full year to get better and establish themselves and the vets time to get older. Bradley is 30 (31 in July), Johnson is 30, Altidore is 28 and Chandler is 28; that means the youngest will probably be 30 when we get to the meat of qualification and 32 by the next world cup.
FIFA rankings are flawed. The US right now is not a top 50 team and hasn't played like one since 2015 when I first started following. What other top 50 team lacks basic soccer skills and tactics the way the US does and looks like the lesser side no matter who's the opponent?
Also since US soccer sinks lower into incompetence and refuses to do anything to improve or overhaul the program, I'd advise any talented dual-nationals to play for the other country, unless that other country is even more corrupt and dysfunctional than the US.
Juan Agudelo is Brek Shea 2.0. All the talent in the world. None of the mentality needed to excel with it.
To be honest, I don't want to have that outlook, but given the facts before me, it doesn't make much sense to think USSF is going to change course. USSF has chosen greed over improvement of the MNT.
The weird thing is thinking either of those players were exceptional talents. Mediocre technicians, mediocre passers, poor IQ, good athleticism. Never got the hype.
That didn’t answer my question. If I’ve never seen a Star Wars movie and I watch A New Hope, and it’s the worst movie I’ve ever seen, I’m not going to watch the next 9 movies just so I can complain to everyone who likes them that they’re all terrible.
Barring a disaster? I’d think it was more likely for him to stay if they made a quarterfinals run. Of course, they aren’t going to beat Brazil so that’s not going to happen. I spent the last 2 months thinking he was USSF’s first choice, but the more I think about it, the more I think they want a puppet who will fit the idea and mentality that they want. Basically, someone like Tab Ramos.
I doubt Osorio stays with Mexico regardless of how well they do. Obviously, if they win the damn thing, he can pick and choose but I don't think an R16 or QF performance will get him a new contract with the FMF. On the other hand, If they crash out, USSF will likely go with Beerholder. Just my gut, really.
Like I said, I don’t think they’ll beat Brazil in the round of 16. TBH, from what I’ve seen of them recently, I’m not convinced they’ll make it out of the group. You might be right about his status with the FMF. But I still don’t think he’s a fit. USSF wants someone who will play McKennie and Adams every game and play a defense oriented game. Osorio wants to change formation, personnel, and tactics every match to fit the opponent. To me, that’s exactly what the US needs, but not what it wants. I’m of the opinion that we should be playing Panama and Honduras differently than Mexico or Brazil. I’m also of the opinion that players are too often asked to play when they are fatigued and rotating squads is good, as long as they know what they are doing and can run the system they are asked to run. I’m not saying Osorio is who I want, just that I believe consistency isn’t necessarily a good thing for us. Chemistry is, for sure. But running a 4-1-4-1 with defensive minded wingers against Panama makes far less sense than it does against Brazil. But I also believe that our next coach should be fired after 2022 regardless of his performance. Our pool will change and we will be in a different spot by then.
I'm with you 100% on strategy going forward and I also don't think Osorio is the best candidate out there. But I do think he is good compromise between what you rightly think is SUM's preference and what Stewart would put forward as a candidate. JCO, IMO, checks a lot of boxes.
Why so shy? Since counterfactuals are non-falsifiable, we could say we would have won the whole dang thing had we qualified.
If you take out the Pot 3 team from each Group and replace them with us, I'd bet on us to advance out of Group A and C. I wouldn't pick us, but I think we'd have a chance in groups D, E, F, and H. I think we'd be screwed in groups B and G. I disagree when people say that we would have been humiliated had we qualified, which is why I'm posting it in this thread
The US played for the 3rd place match at Copa100 in 2016 and very much looked like a top 20 team. That was the swan song for our aging generation of difference-makers. Unfortunately, contrary to the consistent noise that this was our best player pool and Klinsmann was wasting it, there is a severe drop off in ability down the depth chart.