It makes sense: The whole 1990-1995 prospect failure nightmare happened and gutted the guys that would be in their prime in this group, so all we have is the one guy who kind of paid off, in Yedlin, and Brooks, a legit dual nat. For me the guys that surprise me most not being there are guys like Miazga, and Zelalem, I totally bought those hype train players, lock, stock, barrell etc. Zelalem was a tough lesson no doubt. Miazga just flat lined developmentally. Anyway, I'll take it. Berhalter has a group he gets to play with, learn with, and build with, from mostly scratch since they were teens. I'm not someone that thinks he did a brilliant job, I don't. I think '19 was largely a delusional s show. But since '21 there's a lot to recommend him and his performance. That's really, btw, the reason why this was such an easier job than '98. In '98, Arena had to get the leftover usable vets to turn the page, to figure out the in prime usable players, and the in prime domestic rabble he couldn't really use, and how to integrate the usable pieces from those youth squads that did so well at the '99 U17's and '00 Olympics etc. Then he gets hit by the incompetent ref bonanza that was the summer '00 qualifying, then he gets hit by the injury ---- show that was the summer of '01 (Mathis Down, Wolff Down, McBride Down, Reyna Down etc). If nothing else, Berhalter got to audition the rabble like Arena did in '98-early '00 in '19, didn't find much usable but did manage to try and abandon tactics, and try and abandon players after somewhat delusionally valuing them early on. It's crazy to think this whole ride, and everything in between since five years ago this coming October comes down to two weeks in November/December, maybe three if we're incredibly lucky. In some ways it doesnt seem fair. Does Nations League mean ---- all? Did the Copa America in '95 mean ---- all? Yep, in the end that is kinda how it rolls. I have a weird kind of feeling right now, thinking about all this. I'm not just cynical, and negative, of the glass is empty class, I've always been the glass is poisoned sort, since 2000 or something around there, as it became obvious all my favorite sports teams sucked, and were owned and run by morons and would suck forever. That's when the USMNT stepped in and gave me 2002, which is why I've been blooded to this thing ever since (to be fair, it was really 1990, but 2002 is when I saw hope, and belief, for the first time in a decade, in terms of sports). So what's weird here, is how confident I am with this team. It's utterly bizarre. With all my other teams, even if they're in the midst of a good season, I fully expect the roof to cave in, and needless to say, they deliver (Capitals-worst record in all of sports when it comes to 2 game leads in playoff series, no baseball, hockey, or basketball team has been worse in history when up by 2 games, Nats, until '19, had become a notorious choke artist despite only existing for 15 years, Boulez-straight dog ---- for 40 years running, Redskins/WFT/whatever the hell they're called now, owned by a sociopath, and will suck till he's dead, guardians-wonderful organization w/a cheap skate owner, and 3 consecutive epic choke jobs in the playoffs in their last 3 great runs ('97, '07, '16). But the USMNT? They gave me 2002, the '09 Confed Cup, the back to back miracles in '09 and '10, and the '14 heroics, and now the latest iteration gave me '21 NL and Gold Cup heroics, and 3 consecutive U20 WC's. And now, right here right now? I think we're gonna kick Wales ---. I think we might steal a point against England. I think we'll handle Iran, and we might make the QF runs like so many of these kids did with the U20's in '15, '17, and '19, and with the U17's in '17. Hell our Olympic Qualifying/U20 Qualifying B side just won its third straight U20 regional championship. I have confidence in this team, and the USMNT in general, whereas I have no confidence whatsoever in any of my other numerous sports teams. It's a weird feeling. I kinda distrust it, almost feels like a jinx.
Miazga may not have flat-lined had he played for a single quality team consistently rather than be loaned out to a different team every season.
Shrug. Miazga is what happens to most "good" prospects that are French, German, English, Italian, etc. too. "Most" don't become Thierry Henry. Most have long, productive, and lucrative careers in the sport. Then they fade to the background playing for LA Galaxy or something. Miazga has already been playing first team soccer for almost a decade. I mean we're bashing Matt Miazga, and he played in La Liga last season. National teams go thru ups and downs in terms of their developmental pipelines. All but the top of the top do. Japan will look awesome one cycle and then "eh" the next. Australia will look awesome one cycle and then will look "meh" the next. Zelalem totally destroyed his knee playing for the US U20s. Totally changed the arc of his career. Actually, we lost a bunch of guys to injury amongst that 2016 Olympic group. Another is Will Packwood. Broke his leg in 2013, and was out of the sport a few years later. In 2016 he was at Boston College getting his degree in finance. Was at Goldman Sachs for a while. Don't cry for Will Packwood. He's doing just fine. Probably is wealthier than Gedion Zelalem, who's been hanging on to a career for years now.
I don't think it's a given Zelelam's carrer arc was significantly altered by his acl injury. He had been a slow, technical before the injury. He emerged from the injury a slow, technical player. He had been a prospect before the injury. He hadn't done much at club level. Pelosi and Packwood had much more devastating injuries: compound fractures. Those are career altering injuries.
Tillman and Sands both made useful sub appearances in a late come from behind victory for Rangers today. Sargent, Horvath, and Trusty start in the Championship today.
Pelosi is the one I always thought and heard was special pre-injury. I heard the same about Zelalem, basically a player for a different era and maybe not good enough in that era either and definitely not athletic enough for this one.
Miazga fairly or unfairly has also developed the reputation of being a guy who makes a crippling mistake at the worst time
Watched most of the second half of the Rangers match and almost all of the Luton match. Wasn't impressed at all with Rangers, they'll obviously finish first or second this season but struggled to break down a dreadful Livingston side. Tillman and Sands were both fine in their sub appearances. You can tell that Tillman spent time with Bayern but you could also see why he moved all the way down to the Scottish League. He's a work in progress. As for Horvath, it was a quiet day. Only 3 saves and all were routine from shots hit straight at him. I will note that one of those was a tame shot from distance straight at his head and he struggled trying to catch it, which is a real concern with his game. Balls in the air/catching give him real problems.
Reyna vs Antalyaspor (pre-season) pic.twitter.com/qnel124RJZ— Jack Stephen 🇺🇸🇮🇳 (@USMNTZ) July 30, 2022 Does this mean the Reyna loan to Charlotte FC isn't happening?? One loan that looks like it is: Konrad back to La Liga, Real Valladolid so we're all going to learn how to spell that one Konrad de la Fuente is set to join Real Valladolid on loan. Good move. #USMNT https://t.co/GDJTQaTI6q— Stars (@Lion24Stars) July 30, 2022 🚨 Real Valladolid in La Liga is close to signing USMNT international Konrad de la Fuente on loan from Marseille. 👀Via manu_sainz pic.twitter.com/mSoJwY1w1p— Takes 🇺🇸 (@USMNTTAKES) July 30, 2022 Konrad de la Fuente could reportedly be headed back to La Liga on loan, with Valladolid 'very interested' per @MatteMoretto.A number of other clubs are interested including: Anderlecht, Burnley, Sassuolo and Sampdoria. pic.twitter.com/4LxgLwv7rJ— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) July 30, 2022
Looks like both Horvath and Trusty did well Ethan Horvath with a three-save shutout in his competitive debut for Luton Town. Auston Trusty logged 90 minutes for Birmingham City, winning 7/14 duels, 6 clearances, 2/2 tackles won, 2/2 dribbles, 7 recoveries. #USMNT— Larry Henry Jr (@lhenry019) July 30, 2022 Tough day for Luton Town’s Elijah Adebayo, who I am told by Luton supporters is a £15-20m striker. He is coming off at the 84th minute after being shut down by American and MLS export Auston Trusty. Yikes.— Ryan (@forzamilan821) July 30, 2022
Rangers... Tillman For anyone who wasted their time watching Josh Sargent for 72 minutes, here's a video of Malik Tillman saucing it up earlier today for Rangers to make you feel better #USMNT pic.twitter.com/49mNTZFfrd— Cameron Meyer (@cameronm1221) July 30, 2022 Sands James Sands cross field switch. pic.twitter.com/hJdWvhT0jI— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) July 30, 2022
Yeah Birmingham fans were thrilled Trusty. This may be a bit of a hot take with Norwich but I don't think they're gonna do as well under Dean Smith in the Championship as they would have with Farke. I just think he plays a much blander style
Daniel Farke is a very good coach. He is at Gladbach now and Joe Scally has had some nice things to say about him.
Steffen looks like he's pitched for a 1-1 draw against West Brom. Our keepers are getting games before World Cup.........sigh. of. relief.
Dike was dangerous for the last 10 minutes of his 15 min regulation sub on. Looked great, if a bit raw, and had me wondering why he didn't start, maybe not quite match fit? Not sure, but he definitely is a problem for defenses, a big problem. I think we're gonna want to bring him in in September, but it may just be too late to integrate him into the team. He hasn't been in a first team camp that I can recall since June of 2021 and only two first team camps overall if memory serves, that may be the story about his likely miss of the '22 WC roster. Hoping I'm wrong because he just offers something we don't really have otherwise at striker.
Sargent is legit worrying me. His trajectory is looking like Jack McInerney. Confidence is absolutely destroyed
Taylor Booth Taylor Booth vs Shakhtar Donetsk (pre-season) pic.twitter.com/89hTZxxKss— Jack Stephen 🇺🇸🇮🇳 (@USMNTZ) July 30, 2022
Not directly related to a Yank Abroad, but Konrad Laimer (the guy allegedly better than Tyler Adams) with an awful giveaway in his own area leading directly to the first Bayern goal in the German Supercup today. Every time I watch Laimer, I continue to be massively underwhelmed by this guy. Tyler Adams is better off being somewhere he’s not frozen out for unknown reasons.