No way all of those guys get called in. My belief is (and I think GB shares this) that the September window should be about building chemistry and confidence in the 18 or so guys who are likely to play in Qatar. Accounting for the possibility of injuries between September and November is important as well, so I would call in 30ish players, but be direct with some of those guys that they might/probably won’t play in the Sept games. Specifically with striker, I would call in my top 3 options, and probably Vasquez for a little peek at him. I think Ferreira deservedly has inside position for the starting striker spot.I don’t think he is a better player overall than most of the others, but he presses very well and helps in the buildup more than the others. He also has confidence for club and country, and I don’t think a bad window in September would really change that. then take the two he likes most between Dike, Pefok, Wright, Hoppe, etc. The reality is that the 3rd striker in Qatar is not going to be a guy with much of a track record for the US, and is also not likely to play much. I do not think it would be that problematic, for example, to call in Ferreira, Dike, Pepi, and Vasquez in September. Give Ferreira 60-70 minutes in both games, and give Dike and Pepi the sub minutes in one game each. Only give Vasquez time if he is clearly outperforming the others. if Vasquez does really well in camp, you could bump him to the top 3 in Qatar, but even then I doubt he starts or even plays much. if Vasquez doesn’t play well, and any of the top 3 gets injured or seeds their form collapse in the fall, then you could call in Pefok or whoever for Qatar. That player wouldn’t be as sharp as they could be, but he would still be the 3rd striker and unlikely to play much even if he’s on the squad. we are at the point where we do not have the time to experiment much more. If there are a bunch of injuries or more poor play, then so be it. I don’t think any of the strikers apart from Ferreira could have a legit gripe over not getting called in or getting playing time. They’ve all either not impressed when they had opportunities, or had really badly timed injuries.
Forwards: Pefok, Ferreira, Dike, Sargent, Vazquez, Hoppe, Wright, Pepi. I would expect 3-4 to get called. Ferreira has been mediocre for the National Team but is a lock for a callup. Vazquez will likely squeeze in if he continues to perform.
If you don't call in the fanboys' favorite of the week, some will whine and complain that Gregg plays his favorites. You've got 4 matches and maybe 7 days of training. You can make it work. I agree that he may only call in 4. Everyone in that list of 6 is certainly a candidate at this point.
Well certainly no matter who and how many he calls in there will be complaints. But you only have 2 matches and 7 or so days of training. I don't think you can make that work if you really try 6 different guys at the #9. If we had 4 matches then I would see this differently. We don't.
Gregg will be looking at a lot of things. You want to see how players train. He has to pick 3 or 4 for Qatar, and 1 or 2 alternates. He has to determine the ordering. You can go on club form, but I'd still like to see how they train with the team.
I totally agree with this. What I am questioning is how you can effectively train over such a short time span trying 6 different guys at the 9. I just don't think that is very doable.
Small-sided games. Drills. Same as with any number. You can play 2 8v8 games and 4 4v4 games. You will, of course, have a 11v11 game with Quatar's core presumptive roster.
Sure but the problem, to me, is that those type of games do not translate very well to figuring out who can be your #9. Others may see it differently.
Another data point showing that having multiple options means more competitiveness. Pefok really working on the press. 1552697590076116993 is not a valid tweet id
I feel like Pefok still has a shot at being a big part of this team. He's playing at a high enough level that if he is successful it needs to be recognized. Goals in the Bundesliga will look a lot more relevant than if Dike starts scoring in the second tier in England and more impressive than guys who can score in MLS where Ferreira and Pepi have already shown the ability to score regularly. He buries instead of blows that chance from the pass by Gio in his last appearance and the conversations around him would look dramatically different. Big mistake, totally his own fault, but also a chance he buries 9 times out of 10 and everyone flubs an easy one now and then. If he can score goals and show he's working on pressing and working hard up top to fit in with what the US is doing, he starts to look like a really attractive option to at least have in the squad.
Perfect is the enemy of good. You could just pick the top 3 strikers right now and dismiss the others out of hand. Or you could get more data. There is club form, but that doesn't tell you the chemistry with the other USMNT players, how the player would do in the US system, or even how the player is doing physically right now. You want to see them up close. You want to see how they combine with other players. You want to measure fitness, speed, strength, and agility. You want to talk with the player and see how well they understand the system. And of course, you want to see them scrimmage. You can rotate players in and out of a scrimmage and see how the pieces fit. There are just so many reasons to call them into camp. Remember that you are trying to do an ordering of #1, #2, #3 players in Qatar and #1 and #2 alternates. If you call in a Brandon Vazquez, he's never been in camp before, but he brings something different. 11 league goals is nothing to sneeze at. So you have a look. Sure, he's not likely to break in, but so what? Nothing wrong with having a look. Who cares if this can't be done perfectly well. Just do it.
I trust Berhalter to pick a good cf rotation. He's pretty good with the forward stuff and quite demanding. I worry a lot more about his abliity to pick the guys who are going to connect the 4 attackers to the rest of the team while maintaining defensive shape.
Wondolowski says hi. It really isn't fair but the pressure is a lot higher and some players just have more ice in their veins. I actually wasn't as upset with the miss as he not running before that making the miss the cherry on top. Glad to here he's starting to press and maybe his new team will insist on it. Can he still score if he presses? If any player can do both they will be on the team unless they all start doing it. And then we have a nice problem.
Gregg's been USMNT coach for nearly 4 years. He's gone through WCQ. He's gone through 2 Gold Cups and Nations League. He played in the Erediviise, the Bundesliga, the English Championship, and MLS. He's played at 2 World Cups. That's a hell of a lot more than any of us have ever done. I don't agree with every decision he makes, but he's very intelligent, he's thoughtful, and he's done a good job. And keeping the team balanced between offense and defense is one of his strengths.
My gut is Jesus and Pepi are locks. Then it's the better playing of Dike and Pefok. I don't see the need to bring anymore then 3 9s since none are really lighting it up. If we need to change from those 3 then I'd rather do a false 9 with Reyna or Weah playing that position. We could easily bring 8 wingers who all have better quality then the 4th string 9.
My view on Pepi is that he's probably fine to make the squad if he has it least 3-4 league goals by October, and he likely wins any tiebreakers over some of the other strikers that have been clunkier fits with the US (like Pefok). But if he's flat out not scoring this season, then he won't be going to Qatar.
Well close but don't think its that cut and dried. What about the scenario where none of them are scoring!
It would be nice if one or more of the Europe-based strikers are scoring so that the choice is at least somewhat difficult for who to pick along with Ferreira. If not... then I guess we're relying on MLS! And if even the MLS players stops scoring... well ********.
Let's see how that (bolded) actually plays out at WC. (and I don't want to hear "that's just because Adams got injured")
Which doesn't square very well with something else you said: . "And keeping the team balanced between offense and defense is one of his strengths." Not playing gotcha here, just sayin'.........mntime Your partner for Adams is 19 with very few senior team games under his belt at club. Midfield is fulll of dribblers but questionable passing. Not that they are really bad but the experience is sketchy. Anyway, I'm just beating a dead horse here.
My comment has to do with how the team plays tactically, not the personnel. If Adams goes down, I suppose we'll put McKennie at D-Mid. Acosta is there in case both are unavailable. It's not Gregg's fault that we're thin at D-Mid.
ok but I'm on another thread and they're discussing how Berhalter changed his tactics to fit the personnel (Adams). .Coaching Philosophies and the Gregg Berhalter System | Page 297 | BigSoccer Forum