but lovitz and mihailovic and baird are ok? i dont get the logic im seeing in a lot of roster predictions of leaving mls players home due to the playoff race while there are cl and el games around that window as well.
Judging by the scuffed pod i was listening to, it seems that's the only way to omit Bradley with an excuse (he needs to drag Toronto to the playoffs!!!) without simply saying "he stinks".
I think January camp games are understood to feature domestic players against terrible competition. Why so many of those Cupcakers continue to feature is beyond me, anyone's guess.
I was thinking maybe dress it up with the balance of 23. Which next xi would you pick? Horvath, so he stays fit. Sargent so he gets games. Maybe Weah same reason? Etc, etc.
With the Hex starting in under a year, you call in your preferred 23-25 players and play them. Injured players and fringe players who have games during the window can be skipped. If they are making Haji Wright fly to California, I think they will have all the core players show up on the East Coast.
Haji is going to U23 camp in California. Or, at least the game against Japan seems to be in California. He is new with his club, playing in Europe. They had no problem pulling him away for the U23 game. So, I doubt they will have any problem calling any senior player from Europe for the main USMNT games. In other words, they will not leave Pulisic, Dest, Weah, McKennie, Sargent, etc. to "let them bed in further" with their new team/coach. I don't think they should, btw. They might let a lot of guys leave after the Mexico game. I don't know if Holmes will be ready. I doubt they will call Adams, unless RBL wants him to get games. There are some USMNT players that have 1-2 MLS games during the window. Not sure what they will do with that.
Another away match in NJ? Of course... I've always wondered if it's disheartening for the US players to always be the away team in their own country. That can't exactly lift their spirits.
Here's what I got right now for this camp. I'm not calling any MLS players with games in the window. That excludes 15 teams, but not a whole hell of a lot of players would be in my 23 anyway. Altidore is one. Maybe the Seattle duo of Morris & Roldan. Maybe a backup keeper, but no big whoop. Lineup: ------------------------Sargent--------------------------- -----Pulisic-----------Green----------------Boyd----- -----------------Pomykal--McKennie------------------ -Hollingshead---Brooks--Miazga------------Dest- -------------------------Steffen--------------------------- Sargent - This needs to happen Pulisic - Duh Green - Let's see if this start is for real Boyd - Back on the horse Pomykal - It's time McKennie - No Bradley/Trapp....please....please. Hollingshead - Better than Ream and Lovitz Brooks - #1 CB Miazga - My #2 Dest - May not come for Nation's League but he should be here for these. Steffen - Locking it down Bench: ------------------------Sapong--------------------------- -----Johnson--------Sonora--------------Weah----- -----------------Morales----Davis---------------------- -Robinson------Long---Robinson--------Cannon- -----------------------Horvmid--------------------------- Sapong - Anti-Zardes Pick Johnson - Ask him, If not, then Arriola. Sonora - Let people know that South America is an option Weah - No reason not to. Morales - His own thread says so. If not eligible...then Nagbe I guess. Davis - Sean is an underrated guy deserving more than Trapp etc. A.Robinson - Worth looking in to. Long- Continuity pick here M.Robinson - Time to bring him in. Cannon - Need a back up RB Horvath/Hamid - Bill is deserving. Ethan has nothing better to do.
I'm in if you can drop the Green/McKennie axis. We want to see if Pomykal can play. He paired well with Servania v. France w/u20;s. Why not repeat? Green is a donkey and McKennie can't find his butt with both hands. I'm paranoid about injuring Steffen after stroke of luck to start the season with Fortuna so let's go with Horvath who needs some luck. Trapp is there for filler. He can long-pass and defend well enough for this window,knows Berhalter, yada-yada, while we wait for Adams to heal. ----------pulic---sargent---boyd ---------------pom----servania -------------------trapp --h.head--brooks--miazga--dest -----------------gk:horvath
Your hate for McKennnie is legendary. Green is not a donkey. Nor is he a savior, and his reality is likely only a bench option in the future, or even less. But right now is the time to test him and see if the improvements (passing) are for real. Servania isn't ready and Trapp is the definition of average MLS'r for life. No thanks. I'm good with your logic on Horvath/Steffen. Don't care.
Pairing Pomykal with McKennie will cripple Pomykal out of the starting gate, not to mention Green flopping around the place. Pomykal is used to playing with Servania at u20's. Give him a chance ffs.
I like your thought process and your formation is well suited to our pool. Which is why I don’t think Egg will do it. I know nothing about Hollingshead but bringing Dest gives us the option of playing him on the left which could bring your number 2 RB up. For the same reason you want to bring up Soñora, you could bring up Miljevic who has a higher ceiling and is at greater risk of being lost to Argentina. I do like that Joel has publicly said he wants to play for the US though, so let’s bring them both at some point this fall. Everything else I like.
I'm working hard to ignore his most un-excellent takes. The MLS fan is a curious beast. Ignoring facts for fanaticism.
call me when dest defends consistently at even a youth level. like watching people re-create our yedlin "goes forward can't defend" issues. we just solved them everywhere but LB this last tourney. get me people who can defend. i get throwing dest a spot and a 10 minute cap to lock him down. but if we're talking merit we should be trying richards or someone new.
i don't think berhalter yet grasps the slam you are attempting to make. they're B/C team friendlies. the players are usually marginally worthy but not great. "terrible" is an overstatement. it's like playing in the second half of a preseason NFL game. you get there by being a high quality college player. the next step is can you handle the first half against the sort of player who does make the roster or even stands out. the foible is treating someone who plays in garbage time like they have nothing to prove at an A team level. to me it's like you trialed well now how well do you play with the real team. what GB is failing to grasp is a normal match for them is the "reality check." you shouldn't be confused if a player who plays well in camp cupcake lays an egg on A team games. if he just thought about it like you took a Crew draft pick who looked OK against a minor league's B team in preseason, and then put them in with the starters and they looked out of your depth, that is not contradictory evidence. that is definitive for the time being. they are the second level now and not the first. the problem here is there is typically a guy or two who fool the coach a while, but not several, and not without showing something in the subsequent friendlies. this is he's basically stuck back in winter 2019. that's a basic learning curve failure. heck, i figured this would be already in the institutional memory for someone being hired for their USSF linkages. can we move on to the lessons someone close to USSF shouldn't know day 1? but the level is up from MLS and usually the reason they stalemate is the quality is up to check the other team but the difference makers who shift results aren't called in.
If Gregg calls in Trapp or Bradley (I know he won't due to playoffs) then he will be one of the worst coaches ever, and that says a lot...cause we have had some bad ones. It appears to me, as I think back over previous coaches, that we have never had one that thinks of the team first. There are always the favorites or (in Feilhaber and Donovan's cases) non-favorites. I know we don't have world-class players, but the proper selection of the players available, despite likes or dislikes, are not all that bad and could be played together successfully as a winning team. Sigh.
I'm trying to imagine the conversation between Berhalter and 31-year old Fabian Johnson when he calls him in: GB: Fabian, we'd like you to come in FJ: Great! Will I be starting at LW? GB: No, no, you'll be coming off the bench. FJ: Really? Is that because you want to try out some young up and comer like Tim Weah? GB: No, it's so I can start Julian Green at the 10 spot. FJ: .... GB: .... FJ: What about LB? You guys don't have anyone there. GB: Well, I really want to start Ryan Hollingshead there. Big talent. FJ: Click.
Dest seems to be a really strong one on one defender to me. He put Lainez in his pocket in U20 qualifying to an absurd degree and looked good one on one at the WC. He gets forward a lot, but that's correctable through instruction and design -- I don't see a ton of evidence he's doing that against the coaching wishes. He got beat badly once in the air in the U20 WC. I'm not calling an outside a poor defender for that.
sorry, i do not call getting beat on longballs twice "in the air." to me ending a longball play either goal side or with the ball is like stuff i'd learned by junior high. incredibly naive defending. "in the air" is you go up well for a header and have bad luck. a longball past you is the run of play. the usual excuse is "it was ukraine." but my concern is more how you handle a good team than a bad one. just like Zardes is good for a goal or two in a group game but nothing in a Mexico final.