For the purpose of an XI I had to include guys that I don't think are quite as good as some others. That said, Akinola scores goals much more efficiently than any U 23 forward. He's not quite as good in some other areas, but he's a beast as a goal scorer. My point still stands.. a "not called 11" could beat handily any available XI from this roster. That should concern everyone with an interest in this tournament. The other thing I will say is this. There is a concept called "field tilt" that is becoming popular in analytic circles; essentially, it's a measure of how well you keep the ball out of your own defensive third and in your opponents. In MLS, the most dominant teams in terms of keeping possession in the opponents third are LAFC and NYCFC. San Jose and Atlanta keep possession well, but their "tilt" is more towards the middle third than the opposing third. So for MLS players well versed in possession soccer, only Yueill is on the roster out of multiple options. Most of the players that were called are from teams with negative field tilt; they don't keep possession and the ball stays in their defensive third. That worries me a little. How will the team adjust? Will we be able to dominate Mexico and take the game to them?
Any reason Anthony Fontana wasnt called up? He had a phenomenal year for Philly. Hes creative and can score bangers
We've qualified before with squads that aren't that much different than this IMO. We've also not. There's Bassett, Bello, Tessman, Araujo, Pepi, Soto, etc. Our younger talent does seem to be further back right now out of what's available. Cowell, Busio and Clark were the two that are really young with some offensive upside ... is it just simply that we all would have liked to see Clark? I think if Llanez is on his game, it transforms the team some. I think we have players to press in the midfield on this roster. Who do you think we are missing in terms of that? I don't doubt Costa Rica's roster could be much better than we know. I just said we don't know the competition. All I know is Leal, who is pretty good, but honestly, not appreciably better than the US players on the roster. But yeah, they could be much better. Or not. I'm not saying we will definitely qualify. I just think this is better than previous cycles. The spine, at least before Robinson left, was pretty damn good. The defense is pretty darn good. The offense,as you note, is lacking. But I'm drawing a distinction between the squad that is and realistic options. I don't know if we'll qualify, but I don't see the point in lamenting that Weston McKennie isn't here.
I'd take Clark because he's a special talent. Bland center midfield sorry. Busio too. Sands is unlucky because Gregg doesn't like that type of no.6
I don't think we comfortably qualify. I still think it is a pretty good team given the circumstances. I don't think these are contradictory.
I would not take that over what we have, and the only people I'd really lament are players that aren't here for other reasons. Alvarez isn't ready to switch. Pomykal is recovering. Sands may be as well, though I suspect he'd be a selection victim as well. I wouldn't put Akinola as a top winger -- I think he's a subpar winger -- but he's also hurt. A defense of Vines/Bello - Kessler -- (Robinson/Glad) - Araujo/Herrerra is MUCH better than the defense you have there, IMO. I think the midfield we have is very good, especially once we include Pomykal. I don't love the attack, but Llanez-Soto-Lewis is not bad, and not necessarily worse than what you have up there, especially once you discard Alvarez. If your team is better, it's not once you pull Pomykal and Alvarez.
I'm a fan of Fontana. He's not especially creative though; he's ok for a 10. The one thing he does so incredibly well is get in good positions and shoot. He puts so many good shots on frame, it's ridiculous. I've said before I'd like to see him in that false 9 spot. He'd have to learn the required off ball movement and playing on the turn but I think it's a better fit long term than at the 10.
I don't see how on this roster you leave out a guy who has been the 9 for two different pro tournament runs to the the final. MLS Cup 2018 and MLS Covid Cup 2020. He's big,fast, skilled,hardworking and has a lot of minutes at both wings and striker. I simply don't get it. I don't know anything about Kreis but I do know that JeBo looks better on the wing than Brooks Lennon.
If you don't rate Soto, fine. But he and Pepi are much higher talent level and ceiling than Ebobisse. They chose that there, not experience. I also wouldn't classify Ebobisse as a target forward. He's good in the air on goal, but he's not much in the hold up sense of the term. Stop. You've inferred something I've never said and are going back to the well over and over again. I've said repeatedly we don't know the competition, and I've never said we'd qualify comfortably or even at all. I simply said that I think this is a pretty good roster. And what I meant by that is given the constraints ... and I have changes, but I don't think it's a bad roster.[/QUOTE]
The hardest thing in the game is to put the ball in the net. Players can have major deficiencies in their game but if they can score with some consistency they will always find a team. I am really intrigued with him this season as he looks to get more PT and see if he can be as effective
Not a not-called-but-available. At least in my opinion. You've got to drop 3-4 guys off your roster for availability issues. Mexico was always going to be a much more talented team than us.
It's not anywhere near the magnitude but it reminds me of the Donovan cut in that the manager reduces a versatile player to one spot and then dismisses him with claims that there are other players ahead of him at that spot.
I agree with you and Ebobisse's cut was the big story of this roster. It returns to an recent-ish time when people would get excited over unproven youngsters as opposed to existing top players. It's always easy to get excited over someone who hasn't quite succeeded yet and hasn't had the time to fail I was kind of hoping we were moving beyond that "the grass is always greener" thinking. Ebobbise has 20 goals over the last two seasons. That is quantifiable and successful production. Ferreira, Soto, and Pepi combined haven't done what Ebobbise has done. It's likely they will down the road, but qualifying isn't "down the road," it is in less than three weeks. All decisions should be made about what is best now and it's hard to think that among the players who are available for qualifying that Ebobisse isn't among the best, let alone belonging on a 31-player provisional list.
This is not a critique of you, but I do wish that English speakers would recognize that "decimate" means "reduce by one tenth" and not what the current general usage is. It's a good word with a specific meaning that has been completely lost.
[/QUOTE] Can you explain why you say "much higher". Ebobisse had been seen as a high ceiling youth star and seems to be the whole package physically. I can see that Pepi and Soto might be better box poachers but I haven't seen where they're more "talented" as soccer players in the brief looks I've had of them. I'm not arguing you're wrong, I'd just like to know more.
Its also fine to say....................... Its irrelevant that Pepi and Soto might have higher ceilings than Ebobisse. What matters in this type of event is which players can help you win NOW in March of 2021. I have a hard time justifying either being picked as a #9 over Ebobisse. Especially Pepi. Ferreira is a different type of player. An attacking swiss-army knife that can play as a #9, as a false 9, as a winger, a withdrawn forward, as an attacking midfielder, etc. He's more of a playmaker than a finisher. A good player to have on this type of roster. One suspects that Ferreira really impressed the staff at the January camp and USMNT match. Enough for him to start and players like Dike and Mueller to come off the bench. He really didn't do a heck of a lot in the MLS season for FCD.
Thanks! Then I'm going to downgrade clubs (a bit) that have supplied only players to this roster because they so far aren't good enough to be playing at a higher level and therefor not available. I know it's a minefield going through all the moves players have made in academies and foreign moves but I just thought it was a bit of an odd claim of a win for most players from a club when we all know these are only those available.