Maybe you are too young to remember but Jamaica beat us in Gold Cup before last one. Not sure where the "trolling" comes from. What's the point I don't get it. If we don't automatically repeat the mantra about how great USA is and how tiny all the minnows are who beat us, it means we are trolling? I swear, people are living in a fantasy world here. Honestly, I believe Lewis has a better chance of playing in the 'World Cup for Jamaica than for USA. Johansson had a better chance with Iceland. Not getting why you are freaking over simple facts.
Perhaps there's a bit of a misunderstanding. Jamaica's team is somewhat thin. Lewis has a better chance of making their team, because MLS-level is where a lot of Jamaicans play, and many play below that in the domestic league/USL/NASL. Jamaica, with the expansion of the World Cup, is more likely to reach the World Cup than they would normally (very little chance, normally) be. The US is likely to reach the World Cup. Much more likely than Jamaica. But has a deeper team, and MLS players are sort of frowned upon at the moment. So that might mean that it's harder for Lewis to play in a World Cup with the US because, while it's likely that the US makes it, it's also likely that Lewis wouldn't be on the roster. My reading of your posts was that you were suggesting that Jamaica is more likely to qualify for a World Cup than the US. And until reading the bolded, I hadn't read anything to suggest that you and I were talking past each other. Especially since your response was to suggest that the US wasn't very good, not to clarify your opinion.
First 3 names Meantime, in other D.C. United news, three players heading to #USMNT winter camp: Paul Arriola, Russell Canouse and Ian Harkes. #dcu #mls— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) January 8, 2018
U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION (Club; Caps/Goals): GOALKEEPERS (4): Alex Bono (Toronto FC/CAN; 0/0), Bill Hamid (Midtjylland/DEN; 4/0), Cody Cropper (New England Revolution; 0/0), Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew SC; 0/0) DEFENDERS (9): Danny Acosta (Real Salt Lake; 0/0), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; 0/0), Nick Lima (San Jose Earthquakes; 0/0), Justin Morrow (Toronto FC/CAN; 3/0), Ike Opara (Sporting Kansas City; 0/0), Tim Parker (Vancouver Whitecaps FC/CAN; 0/0), Matt Polster (Chicago Fire; 0/0), Brandon Vincent (Chicago Fire; 1/0), Walker Zimmerman (Los Angeles Football Club; 1/0) MIDFIELDERS (11): Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls; 1/0), Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 15/2), Russell Canouse (D.C. United; 0/0), Marky Delgado (Toronto FC/CAN; 0/0), Marlon Hairston (Colorado Rapids; 0/0), Ian Harkes (D.C. United; 0/0), Brooks Lennon (Real Salt Lake; 0/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC; 1/0), Kelyn Rowe (New England Revolution; 3/1), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 2/0), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy; 37/6) FORWARDS (6): Juan Agudelo (New England Revolution; 27/3), Dom Dwyer (Orlando City SC; 4/2), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC; 24/5), Christian Ramirez (Minnesota United FC; 0/0), Rubio Rubin (Unattached; 4/0), CJ Sapong (Philadelphia Union; 3/0)
Don't see any glaring omissions except is call in Jesse Gonzalez instead of Cropper. Sad to see Rubin unattached. I do like seeing Delgado and Ramirez.
Half of the team is uncapped (15). Plus another 11 with less than 5 caps. The only vets are Zardes, Morris, Arreola and Agudelo.
what do you guys feel about Durkin vis a vis the above three. Pls, no post about "there's plenty of time. Manana."
Extended list for Bosnia, 28 players but should get dropped to 20. Probably only players you might recognize are Medunjanin and Besic
I'm very curious about who will start for the US vs. a mainly domestic B-H squad (does Besic ever play for Everton; how good are the Dinamo Moskva and Zagreb players?). If Zardes, Arriola and Agudelo start, it will tell us nothing about the quality of the cupcake team.
That's one take. The other is it helps players on the bubble get into varying Euro leagues when they get a certain amount of caps. One thing Klinsman was definitely not good at (sort of the opposite of his capping young dual internationals).
Jurgen helped Agudelo, Shea and Yedlin get Euro moves while setting Morris up for a Werder contract coming out of college. Played plenty of guys from Zardes to Besler to Zusi enough that caps wouldn't be an issue, it's just that few were interested. Anyhow, # of caps is only an issue in England. In other words, the cap issue applies to only 1 of 50 Euro countries and 1 of 28 EU countries. And a cupcake appearance has no bearing on who'll move to Europe and who won't.
It is also something that Klinsmann's predecessor did quite extensively if I remember correctly. Bradley didn't badmouth MLS the way Klinsmann did but he did everything he could to get players into Europe. He also had a pretty high proportion of European based players.
I think that had more to do with MLS paying peanuts and the good ones knowing they could get more overseas.
I believe he also gave caps to assist with work permit issues and encouraged his players to go overseas for quality of play issues. Money, of course, always comes into play.
I agree. The only exception I"d make is Morris so we get some movement up top, plus he needs to get in form early for CCL. Otherwise, I'd really give guys like Ramirez the shot at cf and guys like Roldan and Delgado the start in midfield. We saw how limited Adams was against Portugal so I don't see any point in watching that all over again. If he doesn't want to play a wb position he can go home. We don't need him and have plenty of options in cmid/camid. The same goes for Zardes. If he doesn't want to play midfield he can pack his bags and head for Columbus and waste Berhalter's time.
Having spent six years abroad in medical school, I would say that the added dimension of training and playing abroad, especially in a non-English country, is underestimated. You're lonely and sometimes isolated. I give the present crew: Pulisic, McKennie, Miazga, Parks, Amon and now Sargent a lot of credit. Same goes for previous crews: Bradley, Altidore. Of course natives there speak English, but when they get into long discussions, inevitably they speak their own language.
Does not appear to be a lot of excitement over the upcoming game. I am anxious to see a lot of the younger players, but a lot of the ones I would like to see are not on roster. I know it is a meaningless game, but I hope we perform well, even with the lack of experienced players.
I always get excited for the January camp for the new players so I for one am looking forward to it. It should be very interesting who impresses.
Having 3 Pulisics, Flores, Wright, McKennie, Taitague, and possibly Gyau in the same greater metro area over the past couple of years helps.