He had a bad turnover that would have been a goal against better competition and a wasteful touch in the penalty area that led to him being dispossessed instead of getting a shot off. He is so young and it shows at times. If he grows into a more assertive player who demonstrates a desire and ability to get more shots on goal he can be a world class talent.
Not directed at me, but only one is starting/playing consistently in a top 5 league. Coincidentally, also the only one who is young and still improving. His hold up play is also good, which will be key with CP/Morris/Reyna running off of him. Not sure why this is a question, as he's not only the best player currently, but also the only potential long term solution to a long term problem right now, but alas.
Pretty much the same. We have three mediocre choices unless someone else steps up. Hopefully Sargent has a good year and makes the spot his. I don't think he's necessarily better than Jozy right now or even much more effective than Zardes, but he's at least as good as either and he's still growing. Playing Morris up top doesn't sound bad to me either and could be worth a try. I think Weah getting healthy is important to the conversation, either because he'll take Morris's spot on the wing or he may be a better striker than Sargent. But, I don't want to get too deep into the US team discussions in this forum.
It was only a friendly but Gio was hit and miss in this one IMO. He really didn't show a ton of effort and missed several passes. But he certainly knows where to position himself at ACM and make the turn to put pressure on the D. He had several very good runs/passes and I fully expect him to clean up his play before the season starts. I think this is going to be a breakout year for him. I thought Bellingham was fantastic at CDM. Causing the turnover that created the Gio goal and a lovely backheel assist to Holland. With Sancho staying and the influx of young talent I am hoping this is the season BVB gets over the hump and puts Bayern down.
Maybe a bit harsh, and most likely off topic, but not random. I was replying to a post relating to players who could play striker for the USMNT. That post named Zardes. I personally think Weah is going to be a much better option up top than Zardes.
Gio getting some love in this kicker article https://www.kicker.de/781816/artikel/reyna_laesst_favre_schwaermen Run it through a translator but some highlights His biggest inspirations are Kevin de Bruyne and Kai Havertz Favre says he is a "very, very clever" player He prefers plays centrally but wouldn't protest against playing on the wing. Sportdirektor Zorc says he's at his best the closer he gets to the goal. Sancho has been a mentor for him, helping him with the tactical jump from the U19s to the pros and also navigating it all as extremely young player.
I too would not put Zardes in the top 3. I hope Weah is able to come back strong. I used to be all in on Sargent. But with our attacking mids being a strength, I’m not sure his holdup and distribution skills are as good as Jozy’s . I guess it depends upon what kind of #9 we need in a given set up. OTOH, I assume also that Altidore will age out and that Sargent will get better at this set of skills over time.
There was also a video interview with Reyna in that Kicker article. I was a bit disappointed he was speaking English in it. Hopefully he’s working on learning some German.
Ha! When I typed that, I considered going back and checking the number of times he used "sehr," but I left it. Thanks for the addition. It's important.
It's more than fair the think that Weah is going to be a much better option than Zardes, but he hasn't proven absolutely anything yet. We also have absolutely 0 evidence that he's going to be a strong player coming back from this injury. Good chance he will be, we just don't know yet. Zardes is a known entity for the NT. He gets a lot of criticism, but when you boil down the numbers he has a very good strike rate for Columbus, and has made a fair amount of contributions to the NT. My stance is that I hope that both Sargent and Weah live up to their hype and potential, but they still need to prove more. If they're both getting starts and a decent amount of minutes before the next group of friendlies, I would like to see both of them given at least 1 start. With that said, hypothetically if we had a meaningful game a week from today, Jozy would be my #1, and Zardes would be my #2 as far as strikers go.
It ain't about me. It's about integrating in another country. More than soccer, ya know? Does anyone know if Reyna speaks German halfway fluently? Puli, Donovan, McKennie, Adams, Marsch all speak German.
As of March he said he could get around OK but wasn’t fluent. I don’t think I’ve seen any German language interviews with him.
"BILD weiß: #Favre sieht im jungen US-Boy den perfekten Ersatz für #Reus, der auf unbestimmte Zeit ausfällt und unter Umständen sogar operiert werden muss.Mehr noch: #Reyna ist Dortmunds Zukunft auf der Position hinter der Ein-Mann-Spitze Erling #Haaland (20)." #BVB🗞@BILD pic.twitter.com/5mXIUvKG9g— Toni Cantona (@Don_Toni7) August 13, 2020 According to Bild, Favre considers Reyna the perfect replacement at the #10 position for Marco Reus, who faces an indefinite time out and potentially surgery. Moreover, Gio is seen as BVB's future playing in the hole behind the striker. It was a bit surprising that Favre went with a 4-2-3-1 in the friendly yesterday and it might be indicative of his plans to get the most out of his attackers/playmakers.
Have to assume the 4-2-3-1 is meant to protect Reyna defensively. It's probably what the USMNT will need to do as well, likely with Adams and McKennie playing behind him. And I hope every YA finds a manager who looks at him like Favre looks at Reyna.
Would love to see Gio in that role, but my guess would be he’d play backup to Brandt? Sancho and Hazard on the wings, and 2 of Witsel, Can, and Jude playing the “2”.