Haji Wright has chance to find himself as starting striker

A poster once said about Robbie Findlay that the surprise selection has a way of finding their way into the starting lineup.

 

Sometimes.

But then other times they're a Trump card like Green, when you feel you're screwed and may as well throw caution to the wind.

(I do think Haji starts a game).

 

robbie findlay had like 5 NT games (2 full 90mins) prior to surprise admission to world cup; but he also had 12 MLS goals in 2009 season;

Wright had 3 NT games (partial halves) but probably better club career compare to Findlay;

 

Scotty, were you in on this fix?

 

I've been here since he was in Denmark. You are all welcome.

But stop comparing him to Findley, completely different carreers and players.

 

How many goals away from home have we scored against World Cup quality rivals since the end of the Copa Centenario over six years ago?

 

Haji needs to attack the box with ferocity and confidence when Weah or ARob bomb down the wings. Defenders will bounce off of him if he does. But he can’t be deferential or unsure or be thinking about his instructions. Just go play.

 

So if Wright starts a game which game makes the most sense? England so if they push up too high his pace gets him in behind? I kind of see him more as an off the bench option late in games when needing a goal but heading until the last few games has not been a strength of his.

 

He makes offensive sense against England -- as someone who is good on the break/counter.

His utter lack of effort on defense would be a real concern there, even if we pull back the pressure.

To me, he makes less sense against a team likely to sit back, like Iran. Wales doesn't pressure, but they will get overextended at times on the break.

It's nice to have size and he makes good runs, but I have a hard time seeing him as someone who plays most of the minutes with the focus we put on work rate and defense.

 

Another way to interpret the public criticism is that it was a motivational ploy.

 

I've been looking for a place to mention this. I was looking back to see which recent YNT was the best talent producer. The 2015 u17 team had Pulisic, Adams, LDLT, Wright, Vazquez, Trusty, Zendejas, olosunde. All capped or possibilities. Calvillo and Josh Perez play for lesser nat teams. John Nelson plays in MLS. A bunch of guys with nice USL careers going. How did this team play so poorly?

Then I saw the coach. Richie Williams.

Oh.

 

Of course it had to be Lalas. He's from the 90's group when the MNT was a glorified club team like the current WNT.

This is not that new of a trend. Particularly for CFs. In 2010 Herculez Gomez was called in because of form.

As Stuart (who was part of 2010 team) says Haji is the "different" striker. He took Pefok's spot and Pefok didn't have a huge raft of minutes in qualifying.

 

I don't feel particularly strongly about his inclusion, but it's definitely shocking to me is I don't think there was any point during this cycle when I would have projected Wright to be on the roster

 

They had a bad U17 tourney but they also got the group of death. They got host Chile, who made it to the knockouts, Croatia, who were quarterfinalists, and Nigeria, who won the entire tournament.

It is worth mentioning that we had a lot of clown coaches that seemed to be fixtures in the system back then. We've really struggled w/consistency in terms of the programs over the years especially that decade beyond Ramos '13-'19 and Cabrera who seemed good at least, and Perez who should've lasted longer.

 

Where was McKennie?

 

Lalas is an idiot. As always

 

He was famously cut by Williams.

 

Never let an ABMOD be your coach.

 

And one might surmise that by his inclusion he took the motivation well and improved his game in the areas that Berhalter wanted to see improvement.

 

Lalas hits the nail on the head. It’s not that Haji Wright is going to the World Cup that pisses us off, it’s the rationale behind it. If he was this close to the World Cup roster, why was he mostly ignored throughout the cycle?

It’s not like this a sort of Kevin Paredes situation (if he didn’t get hurt), where you might say, look, Paredes is just now breaking out so we weren’t going to call him before then. Now, we like what he has to offer us. That would be an example of a player making the roster late because he got hot at the right time.

Haji has been around. He hasn’t changed that much. He’s in great form. But like everyone else, that has waxed and waned. Again, I’m not knocking Haji. I think he’s a good dude. Good player. He might be the guy who gets a goal in the World Cup. I’m rooting for him and all that.

Instead, what it is, is the lack of coherence in Berhalter’s decision making that terrifies me.

 

The last set of friendlies may have forced a bit of a rethink. Given the opponents the US will be facing, the Wright selection was perfectly reasonable. But, it had marked an abrupt departure from the previous pattern of selections.

 

It wasn't that McKennie was "cut" by Williams on that Wright, Pulisic, etc. U17 team.

That was the era when the players trained full-time in Bradenton.

In that era there were players that chose to remain with their MLS clubs rather than go to Brandenton. At the time, FC Dallas was one of those clubs. I believe McKennie and Cannon were two that chose not to go. They were invited to some friendlies.

When it came time for squad selection, players that moved to Bradenton got preference.

[A reminder that in 2016...................FC Dallas won the U18 title, U16 title, and the unofficial U15 title. Also won the Supporter's Shield in MLS with a cohort of homegrowns. The collection of youth talent that was in the Dallas program in that era was utterly ridiculous. I don't know if it'll ever be matched.]

And yes, so people can bash Williams all they want in terms of results at the U17 tournaments. He trained some of them full-time for two years. I'm not his biggest fan, but for Heaven's sake..............a lot of players he trained full-time are on this WC roster. Are results the most important thing at the youth level, or the development of future pros of high standing. If its the latter..............then give Williams a little credit.

 

Maybe someone should ask Berhalter. Seems now he used some caps to see if a player was worthy while others he knew what they were. Players had chances to move up the ladder. Some did and some didn't. Everyone seems to be putting how they would have done it onto him. He did it differently. He's ready for his final exam now and we'll all see if how he did it works or not. I have a feeling they will be a tough out since he's shown to be very pragmatic at tournament time. Whether they advance will be up to how they play but also the usual soccer luck - refs, close calls, injuries, cards and how well their opponents play.

 

I don't know for sure but from reading comments at the time I think it was in spite of him.