After all of the shock of not qualifying for the World Cup has worn off, what would you like to see from the roster going forward? This probably spells the end for lots of our older players(thankfully) so we should see a bit of a youth revolution considering our 23-28 year old player pool is mostly full of underachievers with a few exceptions(Yedlin, Brooks, Wood). What young players should we be calling in as soon as we can? And what players should we be moving on from immediately?
I feel so bad for Wood. I just felt he was gonna BLOW UP during next summer. Hopefully he can stick around for 2022. He can now focus on Hamburg
I feel like he may be one of the biggest winners of a roster turnover if we call in players who can actually feed his runs.
At this time next year, we may have four teen-age-ish players contributing in the Bundesliga. That's the silver lining in all of this.
Pretty much everyone that's on the current roster from ages 28-38 (it's sad that I even had to type 38) should be culled except Cameron. Cameron has no chance at Qatar, but you actually need some veterans out there, sometimes. Off the top of my head these are the guys that need to be implemented ASAP: Miazga, McKennie, Gonzalez, EPB, CCV, Adams, Vincent and Taitague (the second he gets PT for Schalke)
There are players that will be a part of qualification(Jozy) and players that will actually be part of the future. Going forward, from this roster, I want Jozy, Brooks, Yedlin, Wood, Pulisic, and Acosta. Everyone else can GTFO. Miazga, EPB, McKennie, are three that should be integrated as soon as possible.
I still haven't seen enough from McKennie. I think a player like Canouse gets ignored by a lot of people but he's been outstanding for DCU since signing for them.
Not only are the starters part of the problem but the gold cup shows that there is very little depth right now. I'm really hoping the next wave of 17-22 yr olds live up to the expectations/
2022 is so far away that it's almost pointless to imagine who might help get there. The main problem is that mls isn't helping.
We actually have a pretty good pool of players to look at who will be <30 by Qatar 2022 (current age in parentheses): Goalkeepers: more names than I care to count Defenders: Brooks (24), Yedlin (24), Miazga (22), Carter-Vickers (19), Palmer-Brown (20-also potential defensive midfielder) Midfielders: Pulisic (19), Arriola (22), Acosta (22), Roldan (22), McKennie (19), Saief (23), Lletget (25), Gooch (21), Zelalem (20), Morris (22-also can play as a forward), Forwards: Wood (24), Agudelo (24), Green (22), Sargent (17), Carelton (17) The only real position for which there isn't anyone obvious is, as usual, LB. GK Yedlin - Brooks - Miazga/Carter - Vickers - LB Roldan- Palmer-Brown - Morris Pulisic Wood - Sargent
Danny Acosta for RSL could be a decent shout for LB. Canouse, Durkin, Derrick Jones are MF's to keep an eye on. Maybe Haji Wright will break out and push our forwards.
Current roster age groups for selected teams 19-24 / 25-29 / 30+ Germany 10 / 11 / 0 Belgium 7 / 13 / 6 Brazil 7 / 11 / 5 Costa Rica 1 / 15 / 8 Mexico 5 / 12 / 6 England 13 / 9 / 3 USA 5 / 4 / 14 There's the story right there. We hear a lot about Golden Generations; we hear less about Lost Generations, but that's what the group of 25-29 year olds is for us. It's been clear for a few years now that not enough guys from that age group ever were able to make the jump up to national team level. Soccer is a young man's game, and you just can't compete with a team full of 30+ year olds. We looked tired and slow out there all Hex. Maybe it's just luck of the draw--it was a crappy group, and we were always going to struggle if we ever had to rely on them. Looking at the wider player pool of guys with recent call-ups, that age group is even more embarrassing. They barely even have any guys on the fringes of the national team. So Altidore, Villafana, Nagbe, and Omar Gonzalez are rock stars compared to their shitty age group peers.
Durkin at DM has also been a big prospect with the 17s and Gloster at LB, even though he wasn't great against Ghana.
1. I NEVER like Altidore. He had some moments, but he just didn't show enough and gave a constant performance that I demand from our LOAN striker. 2. Woods I think is best as a sub with his form now. 3. I would like to see what Sapong' speed and Ramirez's smart move, to work for wonder boy. 4. I NEVER like Arriola/Bedoya. For me, we need some scorings from wing, but both of them are failing on this. Maybe that NY Bulls' Adam kid can bring something? 5. I like a 4-2-3-1. So I rather put Sargent in the top then what we have now. LOL. 6. I don't see anyone in my 1 on left --fast, dribble, one on one, scoring. 7. For the two holding mids -- we actually are fine. Acosta, Rodan, McKennie, etc. 8. We are actually good on young central defenders. 9. We don't have good outside backs as usual. 10. We EVEN don't have great goalkeepers anymore.
I think we need to remember that in order to help players get overseas, you need to play them in USMNT games. Places like England often wont even issue a permit without caps. It used to be that the MNT was a great career springboard for many young players but it’s hasn’t been that way for quite awhile now. Let’s get back there.
Yeah, it comes down to either A) We had two old coaches clinging to players past their primes. or B) Two coaches forced to stick with aging veterans because so few from the "prime" years ever gave a glimpse of being dependable. I think it's mostly B, but a little of A as well.
I think there is one thing you can plan on and it's non-CB's or GK's in their 30's aging out. The exact young kid who steps up depends on their development with their club. Basically pick the young high performers who have broken through*, rotate them with peak and established aged guys, phase out the old. *means different things in different leagues/clubs
Honestly, Pulisic, Yedlin, Brooks. Everyone else earns it through proving it on the field. I like Wood but he played so bad tonight. Important for Horvath to get integrated immediately. But it all comes down to who is coaching and what the US does next summer. Maybe get all the teams who didn't qualify in a tourney in the US ala France.