you disregard entirely his being an elite youth player for BVB as a very young player and I don’t. I’m guessing that Pulisic, McKennie and Brooks give that a lot of respect as well, having gone through it. I also think that a minute of UCL knockout round is about worth a full starting season at Championship/MLS/B2. It’s not enough on the face of it alone as I’m guessing there are situations where a haji Wright type got minutes by extreme circumstance but that’s not how reyna has been used at all.
What matters is the opinion of the players involved. They make the choice to respect a player or not and accept his leadership or not.
Using the term core implies 2 classes of players. I don't mind but I'd use a different classification than core and non-core. Setting aside GK's, I would rather use the terms "difference makers" and "complementary". My Bing search gives this definition combining in such a way as to enhance or emphasize the qualities of each other or another. "three guitarists playing interlocking, complementary parts" Tata likes to use the term "protagonist" such as when he said in his post game interview after beating USA that "we were always the protagonist". Somebody like Budweiser (and therefore our sycophanitc soccer media) would probably prefer "protagonist" and "supporting player" to give the spot light to whichever star is endorsing their product. One of the great things about USA's present status in global soccer is that we don't have an all star team of xi mega stars who might, after all, fall flat on their faces as we've seen many times with teams at the WC. In Russia, the #1 seed went out in group. Instead we can use the time to decide which complementary players should be on the pitch to get the most out of the stars that we do have. Reality bites and means that we will have to wait the arrival of a new coach who doesn't press $70m players into cookie cutter systems. Having said that, Berhalter has - once by my reckoniong - manifested an understanding of complementary players when he cited the interplay between Arriola and Pulisic. His problem is that he views it as incidental or secondary. Personally, I see the following as difference makers: Morris - gets behind the defence physically Brooks - passing out of the back Adams - elite level midfield play with expansive range Gio - classic 10 Pulisic - runs thru midfield Dest - fullback who can beat any man and combine in midfield So who should the complementary players be? The first consideration is the weaknesses of the difference makers. I decline to list them but their complementary counterparts should make up for those weaknesses, if other difference makers do not. E.g. Pulisic doesn't let go of the ball at the optimum moment; Gio does. (I think Puli will erase that weakness over time. He had a rough childhood at Dortumund.) But let's see how this system can work well: Adams has an expansive range. He has always worked well with a partner. If we want him to use his range he will need a partner who always interprets the space in such a way that he completes the defensive coverage of the midfield. We know that McKennie has said he needs freedom to roam. That means Adams has to move to complement McKennie. However, Adams is the difference maker, imo, and what he needs is somebody who complements his movements defensively and offensively so Adams can roam. (The guy who did this for Klinsmann was Beckerman/Bedoya for Jones/Bradley. Klinsmann didn't particularly care that Beckerman did not excel at long diagonals. ) Or, you could say Lampard and Gerard are clearly "core" and therefore must be on the pitch together and under-perform for a decade.
I like difference maker and Gio is certainly one of them for the USMNT. I’m not sure why people are shy about saying what seems obvious. Couldn’t he regress? Sure but so could dest and Adams.
I don't disregard his record as an elite youth player. You were talking about CVs. Reyna's CV is brief. Very brief.
Reyna, stellar player that he seems to be, can't be called a "core player" at this time by @feyenoordsoccerfan definition. Reyna's CV in its entirety, per transfermarkt, is 1566 minutes. That's all competitions, youth or otherwise. Over one year. That's it. I think you'll have to use someone else's definition for "core player" that doesn't include "CV" if you want to argue that Reyna is a core player for the US, right now. Of course, I wish you'd just stop arguing that Reyna is a core player for the US right now, because he's never even suited up for the MNT.
I think his CV is more than enough to garnish a lot of instant respect from Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Brooks and Dest (other core players) as @feyenoordsoccerfan wrote. apparently, you have a higher standard, which is your right. in any event, I like @Excellency definition of core player as difference maker - only a few agenda-driven posters can’t acknowledge that he clearly is a difference maker and therefore a core player.
I think his CV is enough to spur excitement among most of the USMNT players. But "respect" has to be earned on the field, in practice and in games. And no USMNT player has had that chance yet. Are you suggesting that I'm one of these purported agenda-driven posters?
I don’t think you have an agenda - I do think you are reflexively defensive wrt MLS and seldom if ever point criticism towards it. Again, that’s well within your privilege.
someone used a good analogy. When Lebron James joined the Cavs or now that Joe Burrow is a Bengal, were/are they “core” players for their franchises at the beginning of their first season? Lebron’s CV was entirely high school level.... it’s a very good analogy to Reyna and the USMNT IMO.
Lebron was wildly heralded by everyone when he came into the NBA. People thought he might become the best player ever to play the game. NBA scouts thought he was ready to be an impact player from day one--he had the size, strength, ability for the pro game already. Massive talent. Reyna is not yet in such a league. Maybe in a year he'll become a player that the whole world regards as a future Ballon d'or winner. For now, he's a very exciting young player with huge upside.
This has nothing to do with whether or not Reyna should be considered a "core player" for the USMNT, right now.
Is burrow a core player if lebron is too much? A decade ago conventional wisdom had that new QBs had to sit a season to learn how to play in the NFL and now that has been shown to be completely unnecessary and even detrimental. Reyna compared to lletget/Morris is a huge gap....in fact, I think he has a chance to be the best American player of all time (which doesn’t mean he has to be a ballon candidate as you inferred) - not a guarantee by any means but not sure why it’s so different from the lebron hype.
I don't know who Burrow is, and I know nothing of American football. Lebron was thought to be perhaps the best in the world, ever. So, yes, core player for any team that got him. Why is this distinction not important to you?
Wait a minute. Injured in warm-ups!? Now he was announced to be in the starting 11. But he's not because of the injury. Is he established now or not?!?
because it’s relative. If you don’t follow football, let’s use Zion - not many people think he’s a best in the world type. Is he a core player for New Orleans? You seem to be making a point that emerging players need to build their CVs only at the top level in order to become a “core” player and I’m pointing out that in other sports, they don’t do that. The reason for the distinction is that we’re not BVB where we have a lot of talent and where reyna isn’t a core player. for the USMNT, he’s a lot closer to Lebron - he has had chance to be the best American player ever. Would he be a core player for top 5 nation? nope. But we aren’t there either.
I don't follow basketball anymore, either. A little bit of college, but I no longer have any familiarity with the sport in general. I have only the vaguest idea who Zion is. I don't care about how basketball or football teams make player and team decisions. Soccer is not those sports. The kid has 1500 total minutes at BVB, mostly in the u-19 league. Yes, he has the potential to be the best American player ever, but we've only ever seen 180 minutes worth of action against adults. 2 games. Two frickin' games. TWO FRICKIN' GAMES. He's not a "core player" for the US right now. He's never even played for the MNT. Jesus Christ. I'm excited about Reyna, as much as anyone else. But it's complete nonsense to insist that, *****!!!!!RIGHT NOW!!!!!*****, Reyna is a core player for the USMNT.
Very frustrating. I havent been able to find any info on the severity of the injury. This is the most detailed description I have found. However, the American teenager had to withdraw from his first Ruhr derby at the last minute after pulling up during the warm up. I dont think a coach of champions league team being willing to start him in Derby is enough. I think we stick with the sub par MLS players until these brilliant fans get to fully scrutinize him.
He might. It's not too much to ask that he actually get into a camp and a game before deciding we need to build the team around him.
Thank goodness we have games to watch again, instead of arguing over stupid semantic shit like this. Len Bias might have been a core player for the Celtics, but he died of a cocaine overdose two days after he got drafted. I feel like playing at least one game for a team should obviously be a requirement to be considered a core player for the team. How is this even an argument?