I think even ignoring U-20 guys that aren't established in senior level ball yet, I don't think Lewis is good enough to be on the roster ATM. He might be good in 4 years but he isn't now. Mihailovic wasn't good either. I think he has a higher chance of panning out but the competition for reserve midfield spots will likely be higher than the wing spots. I wonder if we're going to have to move a right back over to the left or move a midfielder or winger back to get that spot covered in the short- to mid-term.
I think this is fair and agree with you but we have to acknowledge that this strategy doesn't work when a sizeable portion of the player pool is never given a fair shake. If we actually had our best 23 players right now, I'd be totally cool with that. However, when some guys who would obviously make our B team better, and probably even our A team, weren't even called into the 40, that's where I question a lot of what's going on.
I agree with this. I disagree with Egg's player selections completely. He is playing the GC with a roster that does not consist of our best players, simply because he didn't want to choose our best players. His run up to the GC was embarrassing. His team has gotten nine points, and by most accounts looked slightly above average doing it? He's shown some flexibility with tactics. I don't think anyone should be upset with the performances (oohhhh he just beat bad teams), and i don't think anyone should be overflowing with positivity (we're now favorites!). This team has pretty much done what it should have with the players he chose. The fact that there is any positivity here I think just shows how low the expectations are these days. That said, you can't be unhappy with the results either, and signs seem to be pointing up (again, with the caveat I'm uninterested in watching the players he selected).
As far as evaluation of specific players goes, I thought last night was useful in terms of making it pretty easy to pick the roster for the fall Nations League games, if everyone is healthy. Brooks should come in for Gonzalez. Two of Holmes, Pomykal, or Lletget should come in for Roldan and Mihailovic. I'd say Morales should be in the mix here, but he doesn't seem to be for Berhalter. Weah should come in for Lewis. If it were up to me, I'd bring in Adams for Trapp. It seems like the inverted RB experiment might be dead, so maybe Berhalter is willing to play Adams at CM now. But maybe not. LB is a bit tricky (like always). It's clear Lovitz doesn't belong on the roster. I might suggest trying Lima there, since I think he's been playing there in MLS, and bring Yedlin into the squad for Lovitz.
Agree on Lewis. I don't get the fascination. He's basically a less polished Amon at this point. He's exactly the kind of guy who should be playing U20/23. Same with Mihailovic. I don't hate him, he has some good qualities but they are not national team level in any way right now. He should feature in Olympic qualifying. I realize I'm starting to sound like a broken record but Lichaj and Robinson should be our left backs. I like Ream but he'll get torched against an average right winger. Lovitz has no business being on the national team. I would also give Lima a shot there once Yedlin returns. Alvarado also fits the mold of what Egg is asking of his left back. In a must-win, I'm going with Lichaj, no doubt, but he's 30 so we need to get the future sorted out. There are players to try, will we see them?
Seriously? One must make a distinction between games that matter and games that don't. If every game's result is important, that means that the US coach must: (1) Always play the best players. (2) Never experiment with formations. (3) Never experiment with players in different positions. (4) Never experiment with combinations of players. (5) Never experiment with new tactics. (6) Never give young players a chance to develop and experience international standards. Is this what you want? Is this smart? Nooo, it is really dumb. I'll tell you what matters. Only 4 types of matches matter: (1) WCQ (2) WC tournament games (3) Gold Cup games (4) CONCACAF Nation's League That's it. The rest are friendlies. OK, maybe a friendly against a top side matters for reputation. Add that to the list. But the rest of them? They are for experimentation, development, and building team spirit. Sheesh. Berhalter's team has, so far, played this tournament about as well as any team could. Better than Mexico, better than Costa Rica, better than Jamaica, better than Panama, better than Honduras. GGG can't make US players superstars. We don't have any superstars. The best we got is Pulisic, and his best hope is to start for Chelsea. The first act is finished. Please wait for acts 2, 3, and 4 before rendering any final judgement.
Credit to 3G for flipping the lineup and getting the subs in. I wasn't thrilled with sending Pulisic and Boyd into a chippy game where the cards were going to come out (I was actually shocked that this ref kept them in his pocket). Anyway, they got through unscathed. Altidore had a nice finish, but otherwise disappeared and stood around for most of the game. Typical Jozy. Milailovic proved in the first 2 minutes that he is nowhere near this level of play. He only got worse from there. He shouldn't see a call up for the rest of the cycle. The rest of the midfield was subpar to bad. Omar had a few of his typical lapses. Panama wasn't really trying, otherwise they score two or three. We got through, no injuries, rested players, no cards, won the group, got to see what the backups had to offer (which for the most part wasn't much). Mission accomplished, now on to the next.
Yeah, the competition aspect is why I think Dest should be one of the first of the U-20s to come in. Not necessarily because he's the most developed out of them yet, but because LB has had a 20 year hex placed on it since David Regis and at some point we need to try stuff. After a brutal first, Djordje showed flashes of what Berhalter sees of him in the second half (honestly the biggest problem for most of the half for him was the fact he kept laying perfect balls at the feet of Lewis who'd squander them). He moves really well and has good instincts for a CM but too many brain farts. He could stand to get the hell out of Chicago, though with any luck, we'll have a new manager next season.
Glassdoor also has companies with good ratings. Yes people will complain on the way out but when you look at it all, it’s what their saying. The long hours poor pay is whatever. The comments about the culture there are damming and only back up what many have been speculating on for years.
Yeah, you can definitely see glimpses of some good qualities in Mihailovic's game, but they don't seem to show up consistently and are interspersed with some very bad touches/decisions. He's still youngish, though, so maybe time and better coaching can make him into a useful player at this level.
Quote from Berhalter in the Jeff Carlisle piece on ESPNFC: " Berhalter said, "I talked to Jozy at halftime and I asked him, 'How much more do you have in you?' He said, 'I want to stay on the field.' When you hear that from a player, it makes you feel great." WTF? We're worried the guy can't go more than 45 minutes? Really? Might it not have made sense to carry one more striker on the 23 man roster to back up your back up for a guy that fragile?
Yeah, I think both Lewis and Mihailovic can flash which is what you're looking for in most players of their age. Not everyone is like Pulisic and Adams stepping into top Bundesliga teams at 20. Typically we see flashes from guys and hope they round out their games by the time they're 23-25 and if they do, we may just have a real national team player. If not, they become Brek Shea. But they've both gotten more than a cameo which is really all they should have gotten at this point. Time to go back to the youth teams, work on their games at their clubs, maybe look for a move to a bigger club when possible, and I hope they can both work their way back into contention. They both have things I really like but they aren't there yet.
Morris is probably the emergency 9. So long as someone like Morris or Weah is in the squad, I don't think we'll see many rosters with more than 2 out-and-out strikers.
Isn't that what the Athletic is trying to do? I'm part of the problem since I don't subscribe, but second hand reports suggest that it's pretty good coverage. In some ways, I'm not that worried about journalists not speaking the truth as much as I am about their losing access. I don't need journalists to tell me that Pulisic is great player and Bobby Warsaw's ridiculous take on it makes no difference to me; I understand that it was just for show. However, I can't talk to the players and coaches, either on- or off-the-record, so I need someone else to build enough trust to do that for me.
Got the job done. Didn't have to be pretty. Shouldn't have expected it to be. Just needed to get through that game and onto the next, while it hopefully wasn't a disaster. And it wasn't. Just blah. Feel a little bad for those who attended, but it's the last group stage game of a tertiary tourney so they should know the risks. Player thoughts: Miazga - we have 3 starting cb's, so could play a 3-man back-line if required Morris - how can you not love this guy? That was even the role where he's least equipped - v. semi bunker out wide. Not easy to get in behind. I'd start him up top over Zardes against Mexico/CR. Otherwise great super-sub. Altidore - moments of magic, but still doesn't appear starter match fit, bench goal scorer, probably have to deal w/ Zardes as starter most games and not an outrage at this point, Berhalter caused problems w/ roster Trapp - there are bigger problems on this team, he evades and circulates well, but he's a d-mid and he's sub-par at protecting your back line, Panama b did run at us a bit, going to have to deal w/ Bradley as starter as Berhalter caused problems w/ roster Roldan - had a # of random key passes, but he's become uncharacteristically sloppy and not the ball winner he was, hopefully Wes doesn't get hurt or suspended or we're in trouble bar remarkable turnaround. Mihailovic - also had moments against opposition of this ilk but still not sharp and going to have to back door a role w/ the nt thru the u-23's probably Cannon - see assessment of Mihailovic Lewis - see assessment of Cannon Johnson - didn't have much to do, still made me uncomfortable protecting his net, though no passing mistakes may be better then Steffen there Gonzalez - an adventure on the ball and defending, not what you want as your last line of defense, I appreciated how Strong shared this was another example of cronyism as if it was a good thing. Lovitz - don't get it, never have, never will
They aren't. Bello has a groin problem and has one first-team appearance. Garza has missed 9 games already, 1 with a quad injury, 5 with a calf injury, and the last 3 with some sort of issue (lower leg, I think) that caused him to pull up and walk off against Orlando with no contact.
I think "he should go to Europe" is a meme at this point and doesn't always result in good outcomes for the player, but.... he should go to Europe.
He looks physically like a child playing a man's game. He's got no steel to match his technical ability. Tough to play a central midfield role if a strong breeze will knock you off the ball. Some smaller guys have a natural low center of gravity that allows them to hold the ball under challenges. His center of gravity seems to be his neck.
Bello had a significant injury, Garza came back from one and is steady but hasn't translated to national team, and it's not a prerequisite you play a left back who is primarily left-footed. That's self-imposed. If Adams is going to play right (wing)back when everyone is available, which I don't have this philosophical issue others seem to w/ McKennie less versatile and depending on the quality/style of the alternative @ the 6, Lima could switch over to left back. He's ambidextrous and that's where he plays with his club.
A talking head of iceberg lettuce, all water no nutrients. Big Media and their play pals Big Sport are happy to perpetuate the mediocrity.