Newbs (or Newb-ish) guys you'd like to see in March?

We play Grenada away and ElSalvador at home in March window.

 

Absolutely. Getting the A team a cycle's worth of experience together that they rarely had last cycle is part of the strategy of this cycle. But we are in the early "growth-oriented" phase of the cycle, where it pays more to look at potential options. I think Eastwood said it well in expressing that, apart from January camps, and maybe one of the three FIFA windows in this fall that might or might not be used as more of a B camp, depending on the opponents, that until the Copa America every roster should be somewhere between an A- roster and a B+ roster, where you have some (but not necessarily all) of the roster core called up and starting, as well as some guys who are assumed part of the 23/26 but don't normally start, and some outsiders worth taking a look at (ie January graduates, Booth, etc.).

While we won't completely stop looking for new options, I expect the second half of the cycle to focus more solidly on the A team--the core and their primary support players.

 

Well if Gregg is shadowing managing and Hudson is hell bent on managing to "the System" you never know.

Should the US boat race those teams? Absolutely. Do I think that the US will make things difficult for themselves? Absolutely.

 

To my eye, our second game against Colombia did not look very much like a Berhalter-managed game. The Serbia game largely did, but not the other one.

 

Because European-based games are most convenient for most of the first-choice team, the UEFA Nations League screws this up for us, but I believe there are still a few teams with byes that we might be able to schedule. Or maybe a team like Brazil in Brazil? Or Morocco in Morocco? I don't know how far we'll want to travel.

 

There’s a new Nations League this fall that will determine it. The March games won’t count for Copa America.

The explanation from CONCACAF is that these games are left over Nations League from last cycle, which was delayed because of COVID. I think the original idea was we would have 2019/2020, 2021/2022, 2023/2024, and 2025/2026. COVID obviously threw that off.

 

Well, for one thing, I’m liking his 1970s/1980s heavy metal rocker hairdo. He’s definitely got that going for him. I approve.

 

whoa, whoa, whoa...his hair was like one of the cousins on the dukes of hazard at best. possibly janet from threes company...

 

I think the last time I saw that haircut was 1983.

 

He does seem to be cycling through all the bad 70 / 80's haircuts. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I do know it took me a few glimpses of him to figure out who he was he looked so different than last year.

 

I could see a guy in MLS sort of buried on the depth chart but highly thought of for the future. Not sure though if a guy like that would be wanted by the US for both or either games.

 

It also matters how teams play us. We do better as underdogs where the other team has the pressure of trying to score off of our semi bunker than we we are trying to break down weaker teams and their bunker or semi bunker. It's why bad teams give the Barcelona's of the world occasional trouble.

 

I think it's probably more likely to be someone like Cannon in 2021. In a not great club situation and trying to move, so his club was happy to have him at the Gold Cup and in the shop window. Ironically he didn't end up moving, but he ended up not playing for awhile after that tournament.

If I were an MLS team I'd tell US Soccer they can have a player for either the U20 World Cup or the Gold Cup, but not both. I guess one exception would be if someone is transferring in the summer window. But the new club might want the player for all of preseason.

 

For some reason there always seems to be one decent player in a weird limbo situation where playing both keeps them in shape and in view.

 

At this point the significant veterans have been identified and we have a settled starter at most spots and good subs at about half of them. Experimentation should measured out wisely.

 

There's four buckets to me:

1. People who have made an unassailable case for inclusion
2. More fringy players at positions of need
3. Elite youngsters who are not quite ready but you want them in for early integration or recruiting
4. Warm Bodies if we're low on A team players

I don't think there's really anyone in bucket 1 or 3, except if for some insane reason Balogun wanted to come (and he'd probably be in both buckets).

Which means that we should bring in guys specifically targeted at positions of need, from my point of view. And then fill in where people are hurt or want/need a break.

 

Aside from the 9 it's all about quality backups. If some of them improve to challenge for the starting spot even better.

 

I doubt Berhalter is involved at all. Hudson was an assistant for Berhalter. As was BJ Callahan. Varas was also picked to run the U20s and run a similar system. It's not all surprising they'd try to run a similar system in a shortened January camp window. It's one they helped put together in the first place. I think it's more not wanting to reinvent the wheel more than anything else.

 

I mean, its not like there's a "camp" prior to these Nations League games.
Hudson/Varas will have had zero time with the Euro players to install a new system.
Of course they're going to continue a lot of what Berhalter was doing!

You don't get together for a road game in CONCACAF and say.........."hey its our first game together. let's play a 3-5-2."

 

If Tolkin can stay off the cocaine he'll be fine.. oh dammit

 

Unless, of course, you're someone like Klinsmann, who tried to outsmart opponents by springing a formation change on his own players at the last minute, with... predictable results.

 

Klinsmann thought making players uncomfortable led to them creating their own solutions. Which sounds good in theory.

So he'd put Mix Diskerud at the #6 and Michael Bradley at the #10............and told them to figure it out. Thought they'd learn from that.

I love Philip Lahm's takedown of Klinsmann in his autobiography. In Germany, Klinsmann is basically a joke at this point.

BUt anyway. In terms of this March Nations League window, we will presumably continue with similar tactics that we did under Berhalter. The interesting part is player selection.

 

I'm OK with keeping most of the tactics. It's just in and near the box that something better needs to happen. More chances and more shots. Sure wouldn't hurt to add real threats on free kicks too. Not only would it add goals but keep fouls down near the box since right now there is no punishment for fouling our players.