Pre-match: International Friendly: USA vs Netherlands; March 26th 2020

I've read he is playing with a shoulder splint.

 

if this is going out on a limb its a huge, sturdy one (close to the ground)- but i bet those four have played less than 180 total minutes together. i wouldnt be surprised if theyve never all four played together.

 

Omit: Steffen, Yedlin, Pulisic, Reyna, Weah
Just didn’t make it: Konrad, Otasowie, Llanez, Sabbi, EPB, CCV

first string:
————-Sargent————-
Boyd———————-Morris
——McKennie—Lletget——
—————Adams————-
Dest————————Cannon
———Brooks—-Long———-
—————-Hamid—————

second string
————Siebatcheu——-
Vassilev—————Holmes
————Ledezma———-
——Arce——Morales——-
Antonee———————Chandler
——Alvarado—Zimmerman—
—————Johnson————-

 

Would be nice to see Alvarado get a look in.

 

Tempted to fly out for this one.

Yeah, team will be split.

USA!

 

I'm sure people will be calling for the young guys. But I think this game should be used to see which MLSers can truly play at a high level. Long, Cannon, Yueill, Zardes, Morris. Arriola. Lletget. Time to find out.

 

These games conflict with Olympic qualifying, yes? By my read, USA U23 vs Mexico is the same day.

https://www.ussoccer.com/teams/u-23-mens-national-team

From the last game I would expect at least Llanez, Ferreira, Aaronson, Vines, McKenzie and Servania will be away (as well as Konrad, Ledezma and Vassilev above), and I kinda lean towards Yueill, Cannon and Antonee to be with the Olympians as well.

 

As a followup, apparently Berhalter has Yueill and Cannon slated for Olympic Qualifying in March:
http://www.yanksarecoming.com/tyac-analysis-four-thoughts-on-the-win-over-costa-rica

My theory on Antonee is that he's still in the shop window and could benefit from the Olympics, whereas a guy like Dest is on the kind of club he will stay at unless a really big club comes in with a large offer.

 

The following were not on the roster last March and should be in this camp:

Antonee Robinson
Duane Holmes
Tim Weah
Sergino Dest
Josh Sargent
Gio Reyna
Alfredo Morales

Add them to the Euro guys that were there last March:

John Brooks
Matt Miazga
Tyler Adams
Christian Pulisic
Weston McKennie
Ethan Horvath
Zack Steffan
D'Andre Yedlin

And Gregg's favorite:

Tim Ream

(Miazga and Yedlin are probably hurt, Weah, Steffan, Pulisic should all be back)

If he is playing for PSV you have to add this fellow as he will not be released to go to Mexico:

Richie Ledezma

That gives you:

GK: Steffan, Horvath,
FB: Dest, Robinson,
CB: Brooks, Ream,
MF: McKennie, Adams, Morales, Holmes, Ledezma,
Wing: Pulisic, Weah, Reyna
CF: Sargent

Fill in as you like, I'd like:

GK: Steffan, Horvath, Johnson
FB: Dest, Robinson, Moore,
CB: Brooks, Ream, Long, CCV, EPB
MF: McKennie, Adams, Morales, Holmes, Ledezma
Wing: Pulisic, Weah, Reyna, Morris
CF: Sargent, Zardes/Jozy, Wood

 

This is actually quite simple: If the Netherlands takes it seriously at all and if we field our best lineup and if the players are fully healthy and if Berhalter plays anything close to his "system" then we get beaten by 3-5 goals.

On the other hand if Berhalter actually allows the players to play their best and he fields the best possible team then we hold our own even if the Netherlands is motivated to play their best.

We have the talent we just do not have the coaching and motivation the players deserve. I have nearly zero faith that Berhalter can get even average performances out of the players in the pool.

 

I think you're on to it here.

This is for the European players and a smattering of MLS'ers who may be auditioning abroad (Reggie Cannon, etc.)

 

u23's (priority):

gk: Marcinkowski, Ochoa, Freese
fb: Cannon, Araujo, Dotson, Gloster
cb: Robinson, Richards, Glad
cm: Otasowie, Yueill, Pomykal, Parks, Servania
wf: Llanez, Aaronson, Saucedo, Ferreira
cf: Ebobisse, Toye

senior team:

gk: Steffen, Horvath, Turner
fb: Dest, Robinson, Yedlin
cb: Long, Brooks, Miazga, Ream
cm: Adams, McKennie, Lletget, Holmes, Morales, Ledezma
wf: Pulisic, Morris, Reyna, Weah?, Boyd
cf: Altidore, Sargent, Zardes

 

??
It's a preparation for the EC2020 and as our complete attack is out with knee ligament damages there's not much opportunity to test another set up. Iirc we've 3 friendlies in the run up to the EC2020. So you can bet it will be taken seriously by all Oranges.

 

Did I see today that Otasowie has been moved to the first team permanently?

 

good catch. not many calls for indiana, either. interesting...

 

On the other hand, they do have a friendly vs. Spain only three days later. While I do expect the best of the best, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some juggling of lineups.

 

My guess is that the emphasis in the match against the USA will be to give the replacements for Malen and Depay time to get fused with the midfield and the match against Spain to test the midfield/defense strength against the Spanish attack and the progress of the infusion of our new attack against a top country.
We lost the combi of players who have been playing together for two seasons now and thus lost the automatic understanding these guys had with the midfield support. That's not going to be easy to replace if possible at all while on top of that the replacements were ment to be supporting acts in the selection and now thrown in for the leading roles.

 

we dont know yet how berhalter is going to use this window (a fact-finding, wider look at our euro guys or a close to first-team tune up) so its hard to predict what the roster will look like. olympic qualifying in the same timeframe doesnt make it any easier.

what we do know is weve got these two friendlies, straight into nations league, then qualifiers. that spans the calendar year but this is the last chance to tinker (one way or the other) before theres points on the line. i think those wanting to recreate the u20 world cup team are going to be pretty disappointed.

to get the u23s out of the way- we obviously wont have any eligible domestic players, and from everything berhalter/kreis have said that includes cannon and yueill.

kreis has talked about potentially having euro-based u23s in his team, but walked that back recently saying not to expect pulisic, adams, mckennie (paraphrasing "guy playing with their first teams"). id be surprised if there were any, at any level.

id say guzan/johnson, long, lletget, arriola, morris, altidore/zardes (possibly roldan and lovitz) either will or wont be there as a block of players. again, just depends on how berhalter wants to use this window.

ill take a stab at predicting around that, starting with most likely:


gk steffen, horvath

rb yedlin, dest

cb brooks, miazga

lb ream, robinson

cm adams, mckennie, morales, holmes, cappis

rw/lw pulisic, weah, boyd, reyna

st sargent


our mls guys would fill in any holes, but wheres the fun in that?

brady and klinsmann are the only other euro-based keepers im aware of off the top of my head, so one or both of them i guess

at outside back moore and olosunde are possibilities (gloster if we dip into academy/second team/youth players- though even if its all euro i dont see this being a deep dive into the pool). i think moore has a leg up having played both rb and lb with his club, so with it being 50/50 if ream is a lb or cb theres a case for him, if only as camp depth.

speaking of- maybe ream is in as a cb. epb, ccv and otasowie are next, roughly in that order based on pt and previous involvement with our national teams. if i were in charge id start richards next to brooks, but again- i think we are more likely to bring in our sr mlsers than non-first team kids.

in central midfield if ledesma can make his first team debut (ideally a couple or three appearances) by then id be over the moon.

sabbi is a possibility on the wing (i would strongly approve), as is indy- and both are (pretty) longshot options at st, as well. i think llanez is more likely to be released for the u23s than in this camp.

so yeah, i think we either bring in our mlsers and the roster is gonna be whatever combination of these players.

just to cover my bases- green, gooch and wood are possible, i guess. soto is a, im just guessing, much longer shot.

and im not forgetting johnson/chandler- ill just say i think its now or never. i personally think johnson is physically done as a player, and while chandler definitely makes a lot of sense (ONLY as a lb) im a hard no on him. thats just me.

 

I like this approach, but I would add a few locally-based players, judiciously, to practice with the senior team. Kreis and the U-23's get first choice, but there might be players not chosen (perhaps because they could not get a lengthy release for CONCACAF qualifying) who could slip away into USMNT camp for a few days.

When we are in the Netherlands, I would add promising young players based there (Mendez), Germany (Soto) and/or even Spain (KDLF). When in Wales, I would perhaps invite a different set of young practice players/observers, Fossey, Vassilev, Gooch et al. Or choose one group and keep them around for five or six days. I'll let you name the 'extra' players, and I will agree that it shouldn't be so many that the numbers become unwieldy.

I see this as a no-cost alternative* and - if run the right way - not-at-all burdensome. These extra guys would not need to appear on game-day rosters.

++++++++++

* It's not my money.

 

Bring as many players into the program, feeling a part of it as reasonably possible. Especially the young ones.

 

The Injured:
Zack Steffen
Christian Pulisic
Tim Weah
Antonee Robinson (?)

The Out of Form:
Ethan Horvath
Cameron Carter-Vickers
Josh Sargent
John Brooks
Nick Lima
Tyler Boyd
Jonathan Amon (did he die or something?)
Andrija Novakovich
Bobby Wood
Jozy Altidore
Sebastian Soto

Was Hot, Now Not:
Indiana Vassilev
Owen Otasowie
Richard Ledezma
Alex Mendez
Emmanuel Sabbi
Chris Richards

Making some Noise, But Not a Lot:
Ulysses Llanez
Konrad de la Fuente
Chris Gloster
Christian Cappis
Miles Robinson
Chris Durkin
Sebastian Saucedo
Niko Gioacchini
Niko Hamalainen
Jeremey Ebobisse
Mason Toye
Jordan Siebatcheu
Ventura Alvarado
Fernando Arce
Johnny Cardoso
Paxton Pomykal
Erik Palmer-Brown

Meh, shows how bad our goalkeeper situation is:
Bill Hamid
Sean Johnson
Matt Turner

Impressed enough during January Camp, or still standing tall from Last Year’s Laurels:
Jordan Morris
Jackson Yuiell
Reggie Cannon
Sam Vines
Brandon Aaronson
Sebastian Lletget
Jesus Ferreira

Old Reliables or at least Names that have been around a lot:
Aaron Long
Walker Zimmerman
DeAndre Yedlin
Weston McKennie
Paul Arriola
Gyasi Zardes
Eric Lichaj
Tim Ream

Hot Now:
Sergino Dest
Tim Chandler
Alfredo Morales
Giovanni Reyna
Duane Holmes

 

From an article in the WaPo about how the USWNT who "continue to perform with raging intensity". This is what I want to see from out men. They don't have that champions mentality. I think you need it before you actually win a championship. Somehow the women have committed to that kind of accountability.

 

Bill Walsh said "Champions behave like champions before they're champions."

On the other hand, the 2019 Dolphins were never going to get close to the Super Bowl. You need talent to win. The USWNT is the most talented, best-funded, best-supported, most active WNT in the world. The culture can be good too, but you don't get to the top of the game with it. Brazil's culture, for example, has doomed many of its talented teams these last few decades.

 

Nope. What doomed them was the adoption of European result soccer by playing with the players active in Europe and at the same time adopting the result soccer of those days rampant in Europe, instead of staying true to the Brasil joga bonito. I think it started in 1982. Since then Brasil wasnot what they have been, relying on one exceptional talent most of the WC's since.

 

My Brazilian friends were just talking about that this weekend. They were talking about how poor the Brazilian league has fallen also because of this. They claim that players are only kept and valued if they have perceived European value. So the players and styles of are funneled through those views.

I wonder since MLS teams don’t need to sell to Europe to survive if there might be a club or two that could develop or find undervalued players that don’t thrive in a European system but could be very effective in a different system of play and compete in MLS. It would be nice to see more variety of play in MLS.