I think the larger point is there just aren't that many elite 9's in the world at any given time so if you expect to lean on one to find success, that's a losing strategy more often than not. It's kinda like left tackles in the NFL or centers in basketball (before everyone shot 3's all the time at least). There are only so many of them to go around because it requires a rare combo of size, speed, strength, vision, and technical ability plus an attitude and knack for finishing. To counter that, teams either play with a false 9 or more often, play with a 9 who does some of those things and ideally the ones that complement the rest of your pool the best. We had wide forwards who were very good at creating chances but weren't always finishing to Pepi made some sense in qualifying. But at the same time, our midfield lacks creativity when it's MMA so an in-form Sargent can help fill some of that void. Perhaps a different coach would have preferred Dike to fit his system. Point is, this cycle none of our forwards were good enough to build around but Gregg didn't always pick one and put them in optimal positions according to their strengths. I'm not ready to give up on Sargent or Pepi becoming a starter for at least a Europa League type team. They both have a lot to like and seem to have overcome setbacks which is a big part of making it in Europe. If in three years we have Sargent starting at Crystal Palace and Pepi starting and Borussia Monchengladbach that should be more than sufficient to get us what we need from the position. The issue is depth because the more guys we get moving up the ranks, the better.
We're already doing a vastly better job of producing players than we did when we produced a guy like Brian McBride, who spent ages 14-22 playing soccer as an extracurricular activity rather than a job. The vagaries of chance mean that sometimes the pool is going to be thinner than we'd like in certain areas.
Our Strikers need to be more selective with where they go. Easy for me to say but don't take the money at a relegation threatened club. Those teams need scrappy veterans not young strikers that make mistakes. If Pepi tears up Holland in 2021 or Sargent lights to the championship instead of struggling in the EPL I think things look a lot different. At this world cup. Both have bright futures but wasted a valuable year before a World Cup. Of course the better your are the easier it is to be more selective.
The real question is whether our weakness at the 9 is a systemic problem -- ie, are we doing something wrong in developing strikers? If so, let's identify it and get to work. My guess is that's not the issue, anymore than our recent run of relatively subpar GKs is indicative of a systemic issue in producing keepers.
I think Sargent has shown in his play at Norwich and particularly in the game against Iran that he has the potential to be an answer at this position. Same with Pepi. And I’m sure other viable options will surface by 2026 who aren’t even on the radar. My bigger concern is if Berhalter continues as manager…and let’s be real, the odds are he is it if he wants it…how will he change tactically to better position a number 9 to be properly influential? If he is to continue, it is IMPERATIVE as a continuation of his employment that Brian McBride and Earnie Stewart extract a satisfactory answer from him as to how he will figure this out. I know it is easy to bat away suggestions that Haaland, Benzema, etc. would struggle in this system, but the facts are that whatever we may think of the 9’s we had available they suffered from a lack of service and quality chance generation. Hell, they hardly reached 20 touches in some games. Getting them properly involved and not simply as pressing machines must be addressed, or it won’t matter who we put up there.
Maybe? As noted in another post, striker development is hard for everyone. There's top teams at this tournaments who are struggling with it. So as a baseline, it's easier to develop other positions. It also tends to be a somewhat later developing position; with so many of our players young, it just may be that Sargent or Pepi needed a year or two more. If there's something I'd highlight is that a LOT of being a good striker is being in the right place, executing the right movement, etc. If you listen to a lot of European coaches, one area that they will say we are still lacking is the sort of tactical sense. So there might be something.
I don't think Berhalter stays. All the rumors are that the plan is one cycle, and it just might be completely mutual. Of course, things could be different. That said, I think one thing people should probably notice about Berhalter is that he absolutely changes his tactics to lean into where he sees player strengths and adjusts to cover weaknesses. He may not be right about those evaluations, but ... Early on, we messed with Ream and Lovitz at LB to make Pulisic the 10 and because he didn't like the real LB pool. We've leaned in heavy to MMA because they are good and to defend the CBs. He readjusted his complete build-up plan and right side to accommodate Dest when he came in. When Berhalter was at Columbus, he was considered a striker whisperer -- players like Kamara and Zardes were dropping big numbers. It's a different level, but it speaks to his focus. I suspect a lot of what we asked here of our strikers was basically to play off to the wingers, because the wingers were more likely to score. I think if Berhalter stayed -- which I don't think he will -- and we had a better striker corp, we'd see some change of tactics.
Another option would be to just go with a 2-forward system. It's difficult to get everything in a single striker. Spreading the duties across two positions can be better. Flat 442, 442-diamond, 3142, or 3412. Top candidates in a 2-forward system would be Weah, Pulisic, Reyna, Mihailovic, Sargent, Ferreira, Vazquez
Has anyone answered this? I was bummed when dual nat Arquimides Ordóñez from the Cincy academy was scoring goals for Guatemala in the U-20s, but I was told that wasn't a big deal so I'm assuming we have a few dozen better striker prospects coming out of the academies than a 6'2 dude with 5 goals in 6 games... can we actually get some names from the prospect wonks though?? Would love a list of development academy and youth yanks abroad forward prospects who are currently age 14-19, 14 seems about the youngest we need to worry about for 2026 as that would make them 18. Who is this Neri? Can someone post info for the ignorant and/or lazy?
I think Weah is a 9. Not sure if it’s too late to switch at the club level. Unless we start playing with an aerial 9 where Weah can whip in crosses, I don’t see him as a winger.
If Qatar can somehow bend the levers of FIFA to host this tournament in a one-city desert country in the winter, in the heart of the European club season, without a key sponsor's alcohol, then we can bend the levers to let us have Haaland, even though he isn't a US citizen...
He's been successful with us largely because he's the one guy we have who forces opponents to stretch both in terms of width and depth, and that's something that we've needed in order to operate without a guy to sufficiently trouble the center backs. But I don't know if he's both strong enough and consistently tight enough with his touch to do so where things are most congested. And with guys like Pulisic and Gio, half-space merchants... we've needed someone to stretch things for them.
This thread in tweet form the 2022 world cup now a distant memory we can return to our true passion which is prospect spreadsheets— watke (@watke_) December 3, 2022
That'd be great, but we should probably come to grips with the reality that we'll never have a Haaland-level player at striker or at any other position.
When the Steph Currys, Nick Bosas, Mike Trouts, Justin Fields, Jamarr Chases, Anthony Edwards, Ja Morants, Justin Jeffersons, Christian McCaffreys, etc grow up playing the game and choose soccer as their #1 sport as teens, we will have a vast pool of strikers to choose from. The potential for a Haaland-level athlete who plays striker is out there
Why obsessed with a traditional #9? I don't understand. If we don't have a solid 9, find other ways to attack. There's more than 1 way to attack and win games. Make the best of what we have at our disposal, and stop chasing unicorns that don't exist. I love McBride though. He's a true warrior/fighter, the last best #9 we have. And no, I don't consider Deuce a traditional 9.
playing along for the moment... now that our world cup is over and 26 is the focus, i add weah to the legitimate center forward pool. his best use for the national team has been as a winger, but as he continues to fill out physically i think his future is in the middle. but ill get back to that... our striker pool as it stands, and understanding that 3 and a half years is a long time: - weah - pepi - dike - sargent - vazquez? - balogun? if you want to include p-funk and/or wright have at it. but i dont think we need a "project number 9"- we need a "project use what we have" (meaning "project new manager and i dont mean marsch, he presents the same problems berhalter does"...though admittedly that a little wordy for a project title). the differences between a 4231 and a 433 can be semantic but in our case it isnt- we dont need to tweak our (current) general shape to simply get another attacker on the pitch, we need to completely overhaul our method of attack. we should play with a double pivot (we can get more into that in the "project cb" thread), and move our focus to quick combination play between the 4 attackers while greatly de-emphasizing crosses. we have the fullbacks to provide some width, but endlessly pumping in crosses to a target man that doesnt exist is why the idea that we dont have a 9 is so grossly overblown. 3 of pulisic, reyna, aaronson, mckennie etc behind one of the forwards playing as a "hub" rather than strictly a target actually uses the players/abilities we have while also maximizing our fwds abilities. we need our forward to make runs, pull defenders to open space, and combine. this is a very important distinction- i am not saying scoring is secondary for our fwds, im saying genuinely involving our best attacking players is what will allow our fwds to score. we have to use our fwds as fwds first to have our fwds score second a drop back/pressing first/false 9 fwd actively hinders the attack in providing no lanes in which to move into the box while allowing defenses to stay set and positioned to defend any runs into the box we may manage/force. we need a sarge- moving into the box- to pull a cb wide, or high, so puli can move into that space the defender vacates rather than directly into that cb were he not occupied. when the defense is reacting puli can find reyna moving into another crack that opens who can then find sargent for a genuine scoring chance. for almost 4 years we have wholly ceded any attempt at moving/stretching defenses in favor of pressing and hoping for something to happen. the degree to which our attacking players' abilities have been underutilized and actively hindered by our tactical choices/emphasis on other areas is astounding. the degree to which people interpret that as a lack of attacking ability in our players is even worse.