The USMNT 26-man roster for World Cup 2022 announced p80 #1991

Both things are true.
1) Vasquez is worthy of a look now.
2) There was no data to suggest Berhalter should have called him up prior to now.

After all, the guys Berhalter was calling in were scoring MLS goals at the time. Pepi, Dike, and friends. Even Zardes prior to this year. The European guys too. Soto, while he was in the 2nd Dutch division. Gioacchini, etc. Wright recently. Pefok. We were all supportive of the majority of these opportunities at the time. [Other than maybe we saw the writing on the wall with Zardes in 2021.]

Were you calling up Vasquez in 2020-2021 over Daryl Dike? Based on what exactly?

Guys find the right opportunity and develop. Now's the time for Vasquez to get a look.
And by the way.........................that doesn't mean he actually is better than Pepi, Dike, etc with the USMNT.
He has to prove it. A World Cup place is there for the taking, but a guy is going to have to win that role. It won't be handed to him. Right now inertia probably gives the slots to Ferreira, Pepi, and Pefok.

 

My big concern is still kinda at the back.

I'll always remember Bob Bradley saying his #1 goal after becoming USMNT coach was to identify his CB combo and starting GK. Then he wanted them to play as many games together as possible. [In his case that was Gooch/Boca with Howard.] I sorta think its a reason that team always seemed to play better than the sum of its parts. Got some really nice results based on the overall talent level of the group. That trio really had a great understanding and complemented each other really well.

Right now I don't think we really know what that CB/GK combination is. We've been chopping and changing all cycle again, just like we did in the 2018 cycle.

Part of the issue has been several ill-time Richards injuries. I think many of us would argue that he's our best CB. Then there's the disturbing reality that he's only started 4 total games for the USMNT.

If we consider Zimmerman/Richards our best pairing, I believe they've started two games together. Both against CONCACAF teams that didn't make the WC. So they've never played a game together against elite opposition.

If you consider Zimmerman/Richards with Turner in goal as our best trio in those spots...........................then they've played one game together. El Salvador at home.

 

im stating the obvious, but we did have a trio for a while in miles/zim/turner.

miles was a guy who never put it all the way together/got real looks for, what, five, six years? until the gold cup im not sure i buy that anyone had zim over miazga on a "big" cb depth chart and of course thats when turner got his big shot.

going into qualification i remember specifically wanting those three in the first match- over my personal, individual ratings. the chemistry was really strong with them, we were finally putting adams in front of them. i thought over the first couple of qualifying windows we could work the other guys in and honestly thought about it as a potential hocky-esque line change...

at that time for sure i still had steffen ahead of turner, brooks as our top cb and richards as our most talented/def highest potential guy.

of course this isnt hockey, so it would have taken mixing and matching and getting everyone comfortable and familiar, etc. and while we i dont think anyone would say we are in "bad" shape its gone so sideways since then...

steffen and brooks both had recurring back injuries/problems and shakier form than the season before- to the point brooks is completely out. turner moved into the position of being a cup player (hopefully), miles is out, richards has had a lot of knocks...

long is a lot more attractive as a fifth option, mckenzie has been pretty disappointing, ccv and epb are, you know, fine i guess?

but bottom line our back three- which i agree is probably the first thing id want to sort out- looks dramatically less promising a year and a half later. i think we have enough to, and will, still be able to put out a strong defense but youre right that its so much more in the air than any of us wish it was.

 

Long’s form is alarming right now. But it doesn’t seem to matter because … leadership

 

The one thing that stands out to me about the forward situation is the complete uncertainty.

I am probably more optimistic than many, but my optimism isn’t based on any one player. It is based on the overall level that has been shown by our striker pool…not bad, showing potential but not really good either…except perhaps in spurts.

the reason for my optimism is age. Vazquez’ form has been very encouraging but I’m not ready to bet the house on him yet. The thing that keeps coming back to me is how much young players improve in such a short period of time. It’s most apparent season to season and that’s pretty much what we are looking forward to now with the euro season in preseason. Most people are comparing to players based on last years form. The only one for whom this isn’t true is Ferreira. I don’t know who will turn out to be the first choice but I think some people are making their decision a few months too early. Should Vazquez be in the running? Definitely. All I’m trying to say is that someone from our pool will probably prove to be significantly better than our strikers last year…could be Pepi, Vazquez, or someone else.

 

It's a part of his job/the staff's job, though. Player identification is a key part of Berhalter, McBride's and I assume quite a few other people. And I assume they use some statistical analysis there as part of it.

I would actually be surprised if Vazquez wasn't brought up last year and looked at. But to you point, there wasn't a ton of reason to call him in.

Yes, his numbers in short samples spoke to someone who could do it with more time. But a) his numbers are good but not next level amazing b) they have improved this year and most importantly ...

c) his run last year started in September and lasted only that 800 minutes. There's been a lot of small sample size flashes in the pan -- just last year we had people clamoring for Brian White, which, no. We were in the middle of WCQ.

Perhaps a December camp call-up would have been justified. If people remember, that was a sort of joint "keep MLS players fit" and "audition for the U20 squad" camp.

But we're getting a decent amount of retconning here. I think it would have been a great pull to pull him in, but hardly a no brainer.

Personally, if I could go back in time, I think bringing him into June instead of or in addition to Wright is something I'd have rather seen. But even then, I was pretty ambivalent, and most people here preferred to see Wright.

 

I'd like to be as optimistic.

If we count the full qualifying cycle, though, I don't think our strikers were quite as bad as people want to say because I think folks sort of quarantine Pepi's play, but the dude did have 3g, 3a in 646 minutes. Toss in Ferreira's 1g and 1a in 225 minutes (and a much higher xG+xA) and that's 4g and 4a in 871 minutes. That's actually strong overall production; it just came in bunches and against largely easier competition.

Zardes, Sargent and Pefok didn't produce at all, and those minutes drag down the averages, of course.

So maybe we won't improve a ton versus Pepi and Ferreira, but then again, it's a positive that Pepi and Ferreira actually performed better than people seem to think in WCQ.

But we only have like 3.5 months to the World Cup, so I'm not sure we'll see a ton of improvement, either.

 

Shrug.
Hindsight is 20/20.
If we go back and look at the discussions on roster selection threads in 2021, I suspect nobody was seriously fighting for Vasquez.
You'll see people call for Rubio Rubin (who was on a hot streak and apparently in contact with Guatemala) and other forwards.

Its easy to forget that Pepi's first cap was less than a year ago (September of 2021). Pefok's first cap was March of 2021. The list goes on. Ferreira had one cap prior to 2021. Folks will remember that everybody and his brother went thru a phase of demanding that Matthew Hoppe get a chance. His first cap was July of 2021.

Berhalter did exactly what we all wanted him to do in 2021 by cycling thru a bunch of #9 options, and several did emerge. Vasquez wasn't really mentioned all that much. So I don't really know why folks are criticizing Berhalter for not calling him in. He hadn't done anything at that point to merit it over the guys we did call in. Hoppe was scoring in the Bundesliga. I mean, Sargent did score some goals in the Bundesliga and in the UK. People were demanding that he get another look after scoring his hat-trick in the Premier League.

 

There is so much to go over, to make people understand but it's just not worth the time.

A better coach and staff, would be better at evaluating players and making them a part of the team.

 

While not quite the exact same thing, I believe the greatest issue with our strikers was consistency....especially consistency of finishing. The thing is that there were opportunities against the better teams also but they weren't finished. It won't take much improvement to make a huge difference. Consistency often improves with experience, so that is one thing I am hoping for.

As far as being bad, it wasn't so much that our strikers played bad, it's just that they have the most important numbers. They didn't score goals consistently.

 

I know, and I've been calling for him to come to the September camp.

 

Player identification you say? With 4 goals in the 2021 season and 2 goals in 2020, Vasquez would not and should not be on anyone's radar. There are always players that play a few minutes and get goals, but it doesn't extrapolate when they start playing full games. Coaches can't play that game. They need to see players that start games and do the business consistently over a long period of time.

I remember a player for DC United named Steve Rammel. He played 2 seasons (96-97) and he used to come in late in the game and wins games for DCU, but he never got a USMNT callup. "It's in the net!"

 

I just dont see how we leave Vasquez off. I think the BS think tank consensus was 15 goals gets an MLSer a WC roster spot. That quickly became a two horse rase between Vasquez and JeBo, but Vasquez has pulled away. Hes going to comfortably get those 15 goals. He could even get to 20

 

Imagine the howls if Brandon had been called up in lieu of Wright or even together with Wright and taken p.t. away from Wright. There are still people saying Wright is being conspired against by Berhalter. Who knew Pefok would get a move to BL? I think Berhlater has handled this difficult 9 situation just fine.

 

It's too early to say he deserves a World Cup roster spot. Right now it's all about a spot in the September camp. Where Berhalter can hopefully get a sense as to how his play translates internationally.

 

The Tillman callup, made no sense.

 

I like Tillman. I think he is a better attacking midfielder than Roldan right now.

 

His team lost yesterday. Did you watch the game?

 

Yes. All of it.

⬜🟥 The biggest takeaway for me today is that Malik Tillman is going to be a big player for us this season. His awareness, positioning, distribution & vision all look on point. Big fan. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/nJulkoRYXv

— 𝐖𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 (@WATP72RFC) July 30, 2022

Rangers player ratings: Malik Tillman earns pass marks as Gers suffer Champions League nightmare in Belgium https://t.co/UFSCpQYp6F

— GlasgowWorld (@GlasgowWorldUK) August 3, 2022

The only positive I take from last night's game was the performance of Malik Tillman he was the only one who was creative. Apart from that we were awful and got what we deserved.

— Gerry D (@weegiz7) August 3, 2022

 

So even though his team lost, he somehow impressed? People didn't really post anything about it, in his YA thread.

 

Probably that was his demand before switching.

 

The window wasn't just about finding a 9. That's why Ferreira got the "lion's share". What difference does it make if Wright is given his chance in one camp and Brandon in the next instead of trying to shoehorn both into the same window?

Ferreira makes the window go with his defence, pressing, knowledge of the other players, etc. You test Wright. Check. He is disposed of and in Sept it is next man up. I think you are forgetting all the build up of Wright and the dark conspiracies swirling around the "puzzling" non call ups.