Indeed. If we'd had USYNT cycles in 2021, Sanogo would be much better known around these parts. He's gotten some preseason time with the first team.
Do we know if he wants to rep us or not? Seems confusing, like public statements are yes, very interested, but actual camps, sounds like at least one German camp attended. Really frustrated that we lost this U20/U17 cycle and so much more. Really need the fed to organize camps somehow, too much talent could be lost (definitely perpetually in Dual Panic Mode).
He has said in the last year that Berhalter and members of the team have been in contact with him and he is receptive
Well unfortunate but understandable. I imagine Mexico has also upped the pressure since they lost the Gold Cup. Having lost two finals they need any win they can get against the US right now. I'll be curious to see if he or Ochoa is on their WCQ roster for the first window.
Gomez and Pepi seem like the other two that Mexico is really pushing for right now. Though I can't imagine Gomez is getting called up for WCQ for either Mexico or the US anytime soon, so hopefully he doesn't rush to a decision. Seems like we'll have a sense on Pepi at some point this fall. If he keeps playing the way he's playing I can't see Berhalter not wanting to bring him into camp. If he went with Mexico that would also be one that would be a loss in that it wouldn't be a depth chart. We have a definite need at striker, and if Raul Jimenez is healthy they have better player starting at the position. Meanwhile what US Soccer was tweeting out just a few hours ago Happy Birthday to 🇺🇸 defender @julian__araujo! Have a great day, Julian. 🥳🎁🎂 pic.twitter.com/8lCnqwbU3m— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) August 13, 2021
Well he's starting for Arsenal in about an hour so anyone who wants can watch and try to get a sense of how good he is.
Somebody message me when the Fed wins a battle for an MLS Mex-Am. In the meantime, mods, can we keep the thread on topic?
Consider we haven't even integrated Reynolds or Scally at right back. We can all say Araujo is making a decision on the depth chart, but Berhalter DID try to call him up to the Gold Cup. Araujo played less for our youth teams than one might think. He never played for our U17s, only played twice for the U20s, and only played twice for the U23s. Now.................he would have appeared more if not for the COVID shutdown. But like Gomez, others were selected much of the time.
I've got it set to record. Hopefully I get a chance to watch this evening, because there's no way I'll have time this weekend.
Dest is somewhat locked in as the starter for at least the next year or two, and it will take someone playing at a very high level to unseat him. Araujo could definitely earn a spot on the world cup squad, seeing as how Shaq Moore is currently a strong contender. Araujo would definitely get some caps for us, but making the squad for big tournaments is much less of a sure thing. The odds are against him simply due to the depth in numbers. Between Moore, Cannon, Reynolds, and Scally, there's a good chance one of them becomes a solid starter in a top 5 league within the next 2-3 years. I would love to have him because he seems very well-rounded, but he seems much more likely to be a consistent top 2 choice with mexico over the next 5 years or so.
If there's one position we can afford to lose out on, it's RB. Still sucks, better to have a bunch of options and hope 2-3 really blow up, but we pretty much already have about 5-6 legitimate options, and none are really going anywhere. That said, outside of Dest, how many are better currently than Araujo? Everyone here loves Cannon (Gregg too), but I've never really been convinced. Yedlin is fine, Reynolds has probably done less than Araujo...Shaq Moore is pretty good but still in 2nd division Spain. Also concerning is why these kids are picking Mexico. Listened to Herc on the Scuffed pod, and it was a lot of talk about Rongen and stuff happening years ago. What's the deal now? I don't care about what the program was like, and what mistakes were made, 6 years ago. Seems Egg has done a decent job trying to appeal to these kids, but Mexico is clearly stepping it up even more (maybe because they are more desperate these days). I don't think it's a huge deal at this point, as none of these Mex-American kids have really turned into a star/Best 11 type player. My only concern is that once one pops, all the others before him choosing Mexico might sway the decision.
Probably...................... .......................but none of these players that have chosen Mexico over the US would have been "difference makers" for us. We literally have a right back that played 41 times for Barcelona last season. There's some regionality to this. All of Efrain Alvarez, Julian Araujo, and David Ochoa are from California. LAFC's three Mexican-American homegrowns have all been at Mexico camps recently (Torres, Duenas, Leone).
Are we going to win ANY of these most recent Mexican-American dual nats? We better start, because there are only going to be more and more such cases over time. These guys for the most part were born in the US, grew up in the US, and play soccer in the US. Pretty pathetic if we just keep whiffing on one after the other.... but hey nothing needs to change Charlie Brown will surely manage to kick the football next time! So that's Ochoa and now Araujo. Let's see what happens with Jonathan Gomez, Ricardo Pepi, and others.... not a great sign (meaning for US Soccer actually playing hardball to WIN some of these battles against our BIGGEST RIVAL) that Pepi said in his conversation with Berhalter he just made some generic statements about how we see you progressing over the next few years whereas Tata Martino actually mentioned the 2022 World Cup in their conversation... a fact that obviously stood out to Pepi, and why wouldn't it? Meanwhile with each loss we have the usual confederacy of dunces trying to minimize the situation... I'm reminded of the Simpsons episode "Lisa the Vegetarian"... Homer chasing after the pig "it's just a little airborne, it's still good it's still good"... 1426204479091843076 is not a valid tweet id CONFIRMADO: Julián Araujo sigue los pasos de David Ochoa y ha pedido el cambio de Federación para ser jugador elegible de @miseleccionmx . Van 2 de 4: faltan Gómez y Pepi de ser anunciados.— Kery Ruiz (@KeryNews) August 13, 2021
If you only call choices where we didn't win not contested, then yes, everything is going to be a loss. For example, I'd far rather have Richie Ledezma in the program than David Ochoa. But hey, we can pretend he wasn't contested even though he went to a Mexican camp, etc.
Its not just Mexico, all of CONCACAF is scouting and recruiting the US heavily. Hell, I saw a recent article about the number of kids that CONMEBOL youth national teams are recruiting from the US. This is just a natural result of the increase of quality in MLS development programs. There's a lot of talent and we can only provide opportunities to so much of it. In the same way that we're over in Europe recruiting, other nations are recruiting here. We come out waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead on the overal dual-national ledger. Musah, Dest, Weah, and friends. I'm sure we're trying hard with Balogun right now. We gave plenty of opportunities to Ochoa and Araujo. We made it abundantly clear that we wanted them in our program. It didn't matter. They chose to go another path. They probably preferred that path all along, but those callups weren't coming.
I thought he should have played in the U20 World Cup. It was a bit disrespectful to take him from starting at LAG to not getting a minute. I'm sure it wasn't the reason but it probably didn't help.
So just what is USSF supposed to do? Get these kids in youth camps. Give them the best training and experience they can. Call them up to YNT, call them into the MNT. Not sure what the heck some of you expect? This is a cultural thing. We are not going to change that and frankly I don't think we should. The US should not be more Mexicanish (is that even a word.....lol) to entice Mex-American players. its the US team not Mexico. Treat players well and give them the best overall experience you can and then see what they decide.
Worth noting that he was one of the youngest players on the squad. We called him UP a cycle to that 2019 U20 team. His natural cycle was this 2021 cycle. So we were aggressively including him. Its not about respect or disrespect. We want our national team coaches picking the best players they think are available at each position. We don't want or need them thinking about the nationality status of every damn player and making sure that's considered with substitutions and playing time. Who played for us at that U20 World Cup. Sergino effing Dest. Maybe if we'd given the time to Araujo instead of Dest, then we would have lost Dest. Its an endless, mindless discussion. A huge percentage of our players are dual-nationals. On that U20 team................dos Santos, Ledezma, Llanez, de la Fuente, Servania, Cerrillo, Keita, Ochoa, Weah, Soto, Mendez, Araujo, Dest. The list goes on. All dual nationals. If we don't play one.............he switches? That's how thin-skinned these guys are? If Ricardo Pepi, who up until a couple of months ago had done next-to squadoosh as a professional, isn't picked for the next USMNT camp....................he switches? Really? That's the situation now? It's truly mindless. We're not picking national team rosters based on this nonsense. If they don't want to play for the USMNT, then go play for Mexico. Sit on your ass behind Raul Jimenez. Best of luck.
I think it's pretty obvious that most of these guys grow up in families where Liga MX and el tri are the end-all, be-all, and that they are living out the family dream by playing for El Tri. Given the proximity to Mexico and the fact that they speak Spanish well, the transition is much easier than it would be for someone like Che going with Germany, for example. I'm sure that a lot of folks won't like this, but it also seems to me that a lot of these guys grow up in pretty homogenous settings. We hear all the time about how they feel more comfortable with Spanish speakers, and then you have a guy like Ochoa saying he doesn't trust white people, but the actual national team is very diverse, and traditionally has very good chemistry. When guys like Dest, Musah, CP, Mckennie, and Dike can get along well with their various backgrounds, it makes me think that the atmosphere is pretty accepting. Some of the Mexican Americans seem to be looking for an atmosphere that's just like home, which is understandable, but not realistic for the US to provide given how many different groups need to be included.
The analogy I draw is that recruiting Mexican- American kids is like recruiting football players who grew up wearing Alabama onesies. LSU or Aubiurn can be as nice as you want but it's hard to beat old Uncle Nick making that offer.
This Araujo news is coming out the same day Scally is making his Bundesliga debut, against Bayern no less. Berhalter called Araujo to GC and he wasn't ready to commit, then Shaq steppes up and now Scally. It is what it is.