Yes of course. He's playing in a tough league against adults already. He is better at veering his runs so that fouling from behind is much tougher. He's physically bigger and stronger. He has a much stronger shot. Not sure he'd fight as hard defensively although PaxA was not that successful.
Are you serious? Gio is 6'1 probably 170 or so. Paxton is 5'9 maybe 135-140 Gio wouldn't have been getting knocked off the ball practically every time he took it forward and probably would have put home at least one of the chances that Paxton missed. So, could Gio have handled what Paxton went through? Well I'd say it wouldn't have happened because he's not tiny like Paxton, he's more skilled and is used to playing in the Bundesliga. that's not to take away from the grit and determination that Paxton has, but he's not used to the caliber of athletes that Gio is used to playing against, and he's small. Paxton will get bigger, and learn to play against men or his career wont be what it could be.
He's been injured (an re-injued) like 17 times (this is an exaggeration, if it's not clear). Most of them happened at club, because that's where he spends most of his time training and playing. But it doesn't matter where the injuries happened. The point @largegarlic was making--one that I agree with--is that he's been injured too much to be able to call him the best current US player.
how about fifth best us player (short pause) "injured"? no one had a problem with wes clearly being "less than 100%" in the world cup having to be subbed every match.
True but Wes had been with the team a lot through qualifying and his role was known. Reyna would have probably gotten time at midfield had he not been injured and I seem to remember Berhalter actually saying that. Weah got over his injury streak and claimed the wind spot Reyna had been the starter at so Reyna hadn't been healthy enough to have grabbed a role and spot and also may not have been healthy enough to play 70-90 minutes every game. Anyway I'm going to start looking almost exclusively forward and think Reyna will become a major part of the team going forward whether at wing, attacking mid or a more linking role.
Berhalter did mention trying Reyna in the midfield, I think before he got hurt the second time before June camp.
I don't know if there is something to be learned from Cancelo to Bayern but apparently coach and player conflict can happen at any age. And apparently Berhalter is no Pep. Good players land on their feet is maybe the lesson.
Funny you mention both Pep and Berhalter because the new rumor of the day is Antonee Robinson to Man City.
I wrote it and I will probably struggle but will be trying. lots of upcoming stuff. Multiple tournaments of varying age groups. TD and coach. I'm actually interested in the Apple MLS thing. LeedsAmerica. Pulisic returning early and how he fits at a revamped Chelsea. Richards getting actual minutes and looking good. Hopefully a few of our strikers become good.
I think the thing with Pep is that if you’re a malcontent, he’ll just ship you out. He clashed with plenty of players over the years (see how Ibrahimovic talks about Pep), and he does not keep guys around who have a poor attitude. I wonder how people would have responded if Pep was the USMNT coach and he just sent Reyna home mid World Cup. Or if he stopped calling him up for attitude reasons. A big name foreign coach is probably less likely to tolerate someone like Reyna being a malcontent. They’re more likely to just send the player home and move on.
I don't agree. A player who thought he should be on the team or get more minutes could be a problem no matter the coach. For some reason I envisioned Feilhaber and him not getting along if he was the national team coach back then.
Whoever we hire will have full control. No one is telling them what formation to play, what players to pick, who to start, etc. As was the case with Berhalter. Now Stewart picked a coach he was very aligned with stylistically, but Berhalter had full control of the team and actually changed a lot of things up tactically over his tenure. The bigger issue is international management is just less attractive to top coaches.
I believe Klinsmann specifically wouldn’t bring in Feilhaber because he felt like he had an attitude problem. I think part of the problem with Gio is he had too much of a relationship with Berhalter to begin with. He maybe doesn’t pull the same stuff with a coach he doesn’t know so well and Berhalter probably takes a harder line if it’s player who is not his best friend son. They were too familiar to each other. There’s not another relationship like this in our pool with Behalter and another player or between anyone in our coaching pool and any of our players.
And his parents. Everyone had expectations from decades of friendship. Like a married couple that gets divorce once there's a split it can get really nasty in a hurry.
There is zero evidence of that. Klinsmann called in Benny to 3 straight Camp Cupcakes including the Brazil World Cup prep camp which included a plum trip to Brazil. Benny was a bit of a diva and tried to be confrontational if he got a hard tackle on the training ground. He tried that nonsense with JJ at his first Cupcake and soon realized his mistake. He got in confrontations with Beckerman including at his last camp in Brazil. Beckerman also does not take shit from anybody. Any manager who managed top-end talent understands that the best players have high strung egos. That is normal and par for the course. It is almost expected. Managing that level of player is part of the job description for any manager looking to manage the 2026 USMNT pool.
My favorite Benny Feilhaber statistic is that, with the exception of 1 player from the 1930 World Cup*, he has the best Plus/Minus of any US player in World Cup history. Sadly, the US player who has the worst Plus/Minus is Claudio Reyna. *Raphael Tracey, the player got injured and subbed out without a replacement against Argentina in the World Cup semifinal.