Well I think you're looking at it a little backwards. "Is he good enough for the national team?" is the only question that matters. And if he's good enough, he'll get on a higher team than an Israeli PL runnerup. Maccabi Haifa are already a Europa League team but the USSF isn't looking for Europa League players, right or wrong. Additionally, all those gks you named were playing in more prestigious leagues than the Israeli Premier League, as well as being on the federation's radar from early on, whether through USYNT or college performances. Cohen has no reputation with the federation. I would honestly be surprised if Greg Berhalter knew who he was. The NTs (senior to youth) aren't exactly known for opening up the goalkeeping position for competition. You may have noticed how many lifelines certain goalkeepers get within their programs, both on the men's and women's side, despite being in a well-known goalkeeping drought. Isn't it a little odd that Melia gets overlooked by the entire league then somehow is the best American goalkeeper? (Steffen and Guzan were both in MLS at this time.) Goalkeeper development has been atrocious over the past decade. So many USYNT goalkeepers flame out and MLS has struggled to have success with teenage goalkeepers not named Tim Howard. Melia can't get an invite to the national team despite having a better year than his peers. There are some extreme disconnects within American soccer right now, even inside the goalkeeping realm. Regardless, barring a minor miracle, Maccabi Haifa won't get to the group stage in Champions League play. Last year Maccabi Tel Aviv (top of the table right now) lost to CFR Cluj in the second qualifying round, who then lost to Slavia Prague in the playoff round, who then got bounced out of the group stage by Barcelona, Dortmund, and Inter Milan. And even if Maccabi Haifa do somehow make it that far, getting smashed by Benfica 6-0 won't help Cohen's case with a national team bid. (Horvath having clean sheets in his CL did little to move the needle, although different situation, I know.) If Cohen can continue to boost his resume, he might get a serious look from the NT. No MLS team was willing to touch Cohen when he was in USL but when he returns in a few years, he'll be on a $100-200k salary, I promise. Until then, his pathway to the NT is getting to a higher league in Europe. If he comes back now, he will be, at best, another Tim Melia.
Maccabi Haifa 3-2 Nof HaGalil Haifa played a friendly today ahead of the restart of the Premier League season. Cohen took his usual place in the starting eleven and was replaced by his compatriot, Kuzminsky in the 55th minute. League play resumes on May 30th for Haifa with a match against Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Cohen started and went 90 minutes yesterday in a 2-0 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv. Haifa has been awful since the re-start from the COVID-19 break.
Cohen started and went 90 minutes in the local derby. Things keep getting worse for Haifa as they drop points against such lowly competition in this 2-2 draw.
Cohen started in goal on June 20 in 1-0 victory. Haifa in second place in the league. https://uk.soccerway.com/matches/20...l/hapoel-beer-sheva/maccabi-haifa-fc/3242137/
Cohen is back in the US following the conclusion of the Premier League (Liga Al) season. 34 matches across all competitions, league runner-up and a Europa League qualifying birth. The club is a little concerned though about the start of the season as Cohen will have to be in quarantine for 14 days upon return from the US due to COVID-19. Hope Haifa gets a good draw for Europa League and goes far although it will be tough. The budgets at all Israeli clubs have really been slashed.
Haifa opened training for the 2020/21 season. Because Josh Cohen went to the US for the break, he is in individualized training sessions until he can join the rest of the team.
Cohen’s Maccabi Haifa has learned their fate for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. They have been drawn against Bosnian club, Željezničar. Because Israel is considered a red country for COVID-19 transmission, the Bosnian club can refuse to play in Israel and request a neutral site. In the past, Haifa has used GPS Stadium in Nicosia, Cyprus when needing a neutral site. Both Maccabi Tel Aviv (6-0) and Hapoel Tel Aviv (5-0) have beaten the Bosnians in the past, but I suspect the scoreline to be very different this time around.
Club Elo has the two teams separated by about 150 points in Maccabi Haifa's favor. Theoretically, it should be a comfortable in for the Israeli side. http://clubelo.com/MaccabiHaifa http://clubelo.com/FKSarajevo
Josh Cohen started yesterday and went 90 minutes yesterday in a 1-0 loss to Hapoel Beersheba in the Toto Cup which is like the League Cup. This was Haifa’s last match before their Europa League qualifier against FK Željezničar Sarajevo.
Cohen was in goal as Maccabi Haifa started their 2020/2021 Ligat ha'Al campaign with a 2-1 road win against Hapoel Hadera. Maccabi Haifa's Europa League first qualifying round match against Željezničar was postponed to September 9th due to five members from Željezničar's delegation testing positive for SARS-2 coronavirus. The whole team was put into quarantine by the Israeli authorities. Today was the draw for the second qualifying round of the Europa League. If Maccabi Haifa advance, they will host Kazakh side Kairat on September 17th.
Starts in rescheduled Europa League match: Josh Cohen (#44) starts for Maccabi Haifa in the rescheduled Europa League 1st qualifying round fixture with 🇧🇦 Željezničar.Winner moves on to face 🇰🇿 Kairat Almaty in the 2nd qualifying round next Thursday. https://t.co/a0trbEbLLp— Yanks Abroad (@usmnt_abroad) September 9, 2020
Maccabi Haifa win 3-1 in their Europa League match. They play Kairat (from Kazakhstan) next on Thursday, which Maccabi Haifa is favored although it should be close. The winner plays Rostov (Russia) the following Thursday and if they advance they'll be the underdog there, although Rostov has been struggling for a couple of years now. The winner of *that* game goes into a playoff for the Europe group stage game, I believe? So three more wins and they're in the group stage, I think.
So if the US does has a camp next month, and it is just Euro-based players as has been rumored, if Berhalter wants a third GK in camp for just-in-case, would Cohen get the nod? Besides Steffen and Horvath, what American GKs currently in Europe have any first-team experience? I'm sure there are a couple of rando American GKs in Scandinavia but none of them are coming to mind right away.
Danny Rogers in Scotland, but he might have to file a switch to represent the US. Mike Lansing in Denmark. That's all that I've got off the top of my head. So yeah, if travel from Israel is possible (I think they just went into a second lockdown), then Cohen seems like he'd be in the mix.
Starts in Europa League: American Josh Cohen starts between the sticks for Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League third qualifying round matchup with FC Rostov 🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/FJ2jxu94sL— Yanks Abroad (@usmnt_abroad) September 24, 2020
Maccabi Haifa (surprisingly) comes from behind to win 2-1. They'll travel to North London to play Tottenham on October 1 in the one-leg playoff round unless KF Shkendija of North Macedonia pulls off the upset of the century.
Interview at the Athletic ($): American goalkeeper Josh Cohen will face Tottenham in the Europa League tomorrow. @jeffrueter spoke to him about his unusual journey from the USL to UEFA:https://t.co/IPuIhIaIyp— The Athletic Soccer (@TheAthleticSCCR) September 30, 2020
I've been on the record as pounding the pavement for Cohen. His freakish athleticism caught my eye in Sacramento. His aggressive yet in-control goalkeeping is as solid as anyone in the USMNT pool. His distribution or rather his consistency of distribution was lacking and holding him back- evident by his own words in that article - but you could see something was there. That distribution has seen a huge improvement since his arrival in Israel. The guy is good. I would love to see him earn a callup.
Cohen started for Maccabi Haifa today against Spurs. It, uh, didn't go great. 6 saves for Cohen in a 7-2 loss.
Big difference in quality between a top-8 EPL side and the Israeli league. No shame in this scoreline, especially on the road. And a great learning experience.
Starts: 28 yr old 🇺🇸 goalkeeper, Josh Cohen (#44), starting for Maccabi Haifa in the Israeli top tier https://t.co/sijPJeq68y— 🇺🇸 ⚽ east (@eastdeflection) November 30, 2020
Start & clean sheet: Another start for American GK Josh Cohen, another clean sheet and win. Dude is on fire and makes the team better! https://t.co/S9ddqsisaZ— Daniel Karell 🎗️ (@DanielKarell) December 8, 2020
Maccabi Haifa 1-0 Hapoel Tel Aviv Maccabi Petah Tikva 1-2 Maccabi Haifa Josh Cohen put in two straight man of the match performances. Today, he secured the win by stopping a penalty in stoppage time. Maccabi Haifa leads the league in Israel.