What Players From the 2018 Cycle Catastrophe Should Return?

Future regulars are way too hard to assume in the entire pool, let alone a limited list of iffy guys. It's more a case of who I wouldn't write off at this point. In that case Morris, Acosta, and Wood.

 

Our pool isn't deep enough to write anybody off.

 

I suppose it depends on the capacity of their return. I think Cameron and Besler could be great mentors for a few years but if we are relying on them to qualify in four years, we're screwed.

 

i think the question should be: "which players should be included in the pool of potential future callups"....it's a slight difference....but a key one, imo...

players like jozy besler should be under consideration...but not lock callups .....

when you say should....it should be variable every time a new roster is made.....

there shouldnt be a core that is gauranteed to be included independent of performance.

that said, my categories are:

never callup again: bradley, bedoya, omar, guzan klestjan, zusi, ream

only callup if they get better/"prove it": arriola, acosta, morris (only as a forward),

definitely callup again (form-dependent): wood, nagbe, chandler, fabj, brooks, fielhaber (don't care about his age - there are no central creative mids in the pool who are better than him - or even decent atm aside from nguyen), besler, villafana, altidore

NO more auto-start players (except from pulisic - as long as he maintains his current form)

 

Brooks and Acosta, that’s it.

 

The hardest one for me is Jozy, mostly due to lack of options. His only direct replacement is Wood, who had basically stopped scoring at club level and has never exactly lit it up as far as production goes for the national team. He works hard, runs a lot and all that, but we need someone to score goals leading the line. After him, we're banking on a bunch of kids that may or may not turn into anything. I left Jozy out because he'll be 33 by the time the next cup rolls around, but as much as I want to see new blood, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some game sin qualifying out of desperation if nothing else.

 

I'd be happy with Sargent over Jozy at this point and yes I know he's only 17. Give him 3-4 years and he'll smoke anything Jozy can do, especially at 33. Wood is going to need a talented, energetic kid that isn't a cancer in the locker room.

We need to stop hanging on to losers because they are comfy. Sounds like Arena to me.

 

Only person to vote for Zusi haha

 

Tim Ream is a good player. I'd like to see him with a more tactical coach.

 

You want to see more of a 30 year old who has been bad for the NT his NT career, doesn't do anything that impressive at the club level and was a key part of why we didn't qualify?

 

Wood 21 votes-Chandler 9 votes.

That is absurd.

 

I think he could be a DM candidate in a pinch and also serviceable for LB.

 

As much as I don't want to admit it, we are going to need Jozy Altidore back. We are lacking in forwards and he did well with Toronto. He should at least be used as a second option to give way to whichever other forward (which we lack) that is younger gets more playing time.

 

Any new USSF coach is going to watch MLS and see that Altidore is the best domestic forward in the league. Did people not just watch the MLS playoffs? Its a weak position for us, and there's little talent on the way other than Sargent. Our most recent U23 Olympic team and U20 World Cup team were really thin at forward.

What the new coach is going to do is call up the best players and give them all a clean slate. So players like Altidore will simply have to prove themselves to him.

Also, people need to get over this notion that all a new USMNT coach is going to do is think about WC2022 qualifying. There are a lot of competitions in between now and then. So the notion that he's going to exclude anybody over the age of 28 or so (which seems to be the line here for some)...................is total nonsense. Not gonna happen.

We'll see about 75% of the players in this poll again for the USMNT.
Hell..............its possible that we'll have both a Gold Cup and a Copa America in 2019 (As well as U20 CONCACAF Championships and U20 World Cup). We'll need a deep pool for that.

 

But don't you want a coach that focuses on the WC? Especially after this past embarrassment that drove firings and a new USSF president? Gold Cups we host are clearly close to meaningless in the big picture but should be very useful to building the team for the next WC run. I sure hope the focus is WC22, if not we could be in for a lot more pain as fans.

Altidore will be in the picture, I just hope he's not considered our best or even one of the best 2 by WC time. Wood either for that matter. Maybe Sargent, maybe Jordy, maybe someone under the radar right now but at Jozy's current age and performances in international competitions I cannot see him improving only getting slower and less effective.

 

Identifying players that can help us in WC22 qualifying is one of our focueses (foci?) Not the only focus. The next USMNT coach's job will be to cast a really wide net, and that includes players already in the pool.

The USMNT played 19 games in 2017. They only lost 2 of them. [That included demolitions of Panama and Honduras, two nations that finished ahead of us in the Hex.] I understand that folks are angry about not qualifying for the World Cup. However, the cupboard is nowhere near as bare as people make it out to be. A new coach, whoever that might be, is going to have to sift thru the existing pool of veteran and young players. He'll decide which to retain and which to place aside. The notion that he's just going to toss out 80% of our players is nonsense. That's not going to happen.

We can talk about Jozy being "ineffective," but he has a better goals/game rate for the USMNT than everybody's beloved Brian McBride. And that includes plenty of goals in "big games." Do people know when Brian McBride moved to Europe/Fulham and really reached his biggest heights? He was 32 (I realize he had early short spells in Preston and Everton). Jozy right now is only 28. One could argue that as a target forward he's only now reaching his prime.

The USMNT has counted on Jozy Altidore for a long time. Part of the reason for that is none of the other forwards from his generation developed. In fact, he was the youngest starting forward at the 2010 World Cup because the previous generation of forwards didn't develop either. The best outcome for the USMNT is that MULTIPLE forwards develop over the next couple of years to challenge Jozy. I won't be shocked if it doesn't happen, though. The Big Soccer intelligentsia has apparently already annointed a youngster that's never played a professional game in Josh Sargent. Could that happen? Yes. Could it not happen? Yes. We don't know yet.

 

I think the consensus is generally right that Zusi and Bedoya should be out of the picture, barring major injuries, and I would include Gonzalez too if he cannot find his form in Mexico again.

Otherwise, I'm hesitant to absolutely exclude any single player. For example, Kljestan and Feilhaber are of course out of the picture in the long-term, but they are fine as short-term squad filler as long as they are playing and in-form. I don't think anybody is thrilled by Tim Ream, but he'll stay in the picture as squad filler, especially for matches in Europe, as long as he succeeds with Fulham, especially if they return to the Premiership.

It all depends on the new manager, who I hope is appointed by the June matches.

 

It all depends on the new manager, but also the depth at each position. Gonzalez will have a harder time getting back in the group based on the number of young and youngish CB prospects we have.

Meanwhile, if a guy is a left back......................all he needs is a pulse in order to stay in the pool.

 

But what did that 'good' record in 2017 get us?

I'm not focused on Altidore because he's not the main reason we lost in qualifying. I think maybe we've counted on him too long though and can't see him at his peak in 2022.

I also think that with better midfield play (McKennie, Parks, etc) coming up we may not need to focus on world class strikers that don't seem to exist for us. This was a team collapse. It takes 11. Strikers who can be double marked or who never see the ball won't shine.

If Altidore's head is on straight, bring him in. But I hope someone between Weah, Jordy, Sargent or ? has taken that next step. And that we find a goalkeeper like we've been spoiled with in the past (a huge reason we lost).

 

I was really hoping Altidore would have gone to America. At least in Liga MX he would have had better competition and also better competition for his position in Club America. That would have helped his game.

 

Sacha Kljestan did not play and was not called by usmnt in the failure of the 2018 WCQ.