no we didnt thats not true. they didnt play a single pot 1 team....and a lot of the better teams they played used their b teams or not full strength teams....this qatar cycle was one of the worst in terms strength of schedule ....if not the absolute worst. uefa nations league was a problem, covid was a problem, but now fifa has recognid that and is making accomodations to allow for intra-region friendly windows this go round... and in a 3.5 year cycle...wasting 8 months////is 1/5 of the entire process.... berhlater still had no clue about his player rankings heading into qatar....partially because the pool wasnt vetted and so many windows were wasted with bogus games last cycle i think the generally adopted assumption that the team is already assembled and vetted and everyone knows who the starters are is yet another huge mistake this federation is making about its national team....so much young talent and players doing well globally to just assume berhalters rankings are some kind of gold standard and the 433 doesnt fit our team, either, imo so...theres a lot of work to be done.....this is far from a finished product...even though thats what a lot of people seem to beleive....wasting this year basically is a horrible plan
Average Elo rating of our friendly opponents during the cycle, at the time of the match, was higher than for any other World Cup team outside UEFA. Yeah, our friendly schedule was weaker than usual. But so was everyone else's outside UEFA.
idk where your getting your stats from but they are totally misleading. for example, us played uruguay twice but cavani and suarez started zero times. those were far from full strength squads. Morroco was missing key starters. Saudi b-team, bosnia c-team, northern ireland b/c team, etc...and struggling in those matches despite using the ateam often.....its not just that the elo was weaker than normal ...the teams werent even full strength mostly. there was room for a better sched...and i think sending the bteam to concacaf games is the way to do it......would get fifas attention too.....that this segregation of nations league is discriminatory to non uefa/conmebol teams.
As if other countries always face full-strength squads in friendlies? That's demonstrably untrue, seeing as every team that plays us in January camp (and several of them went to the World Cup) is facing our C team at best, for example. Everyone faces less-than-full-strength opponents in most friendlies.
................no kidding. That's sorta the point of friendlies. Euro nations in particular have very few friendlies these days (with the Nations League, Euro qualifying, Euros, WCQing, etc.). When they do have friendlies, they experiment with new and fringe players. How many friendlies has England had since the start of calendar year 2021. The answer if 4. They have 4 friendlies in more than 2 years. And by the way, they have so many Euro qualifying games scheduled in 2023...........that they currently have only 1 friendly scheduled. So England over a three year period will likely average 2 friendlies a year. That's it.
I think there are much fewer opportunities to play friendlies against European teams. All we can do is hope we can maximize the few opportunities we do have. The potential friendly against Germany this fall being a good example of doing so.
If we play "friendlies" at home we gain almost nothing, except it makes us money. This particularly true if the other team brings a "C" or "D" team like many from Europe will except when players/coaches/staff want a free trip to the USA. It actually seem quite counterproductive to play friendlies at home. Of course that means we would have fewer friendlies which, if our competitive schedule continues to improve, might no matter much at all. I kind of liked the idea of having a set of friendlies at home and another set overseas. But the fact that so many good teams already have a quite full schedule means that any matches played away will either be against weak or severely depleted sides. I guess we will just have to live with what we have. Europe is changing and adding to their internal schedule so much that few teams from Europe have the schedule time to play many friendlies. Maybe we could/should trying harder to get friendlies with teams form Oceania, Asia, Africa or South America. Maybe their schedules are better for us.
23-man roster: CF: Pepi, Vazquez W: Reyna, Zendejas, Paredes, Weah 8: Musah, Booth 8: McKennie, LDLT 6: Adams, Acosta LB: ARob, Tolkin RB: Scally, Jones CB1: Ream, McKenzie CB2: Richards, Zimmerman GK: Turner, Steffen, Slonina
What I want to see from this camp 1. Obviously, 6 points. There should be no excuses. No reason to not beat El Salvador at home and no reason to not beat Grenada anywhere. 4 points or less should be considered an unsatisfactory result. 2. Bring Gio. This program is going to need Gio Reyna going forward and bringing him in is paramount for this window. As it appears that Pulisic may not be there, due to injury, he should be thrust into that role where he needs to be our primary playmaker. I wouldn’t even sub him out. He needs every minute that he can get. 3. Leave out the oldies [at center back] for this one. Look, I think we’ll see Ream and Zimmerman again in this cycle, but for this camp, we have 5 promising center backs that are coming of age that we need to look at: Cameron Carter-Vickers, Erik Palmer-Brown, Mark McKenzie, Auston Trusty, and Chris Richards. In other words, we don’t need Zimmerman and Ream, and we need to give exposure to our next generation of center backs. 4. Forwards, Forwards, Forwards. If it were me, I would not bring in any of the three forwards who went to the World Cup, except maybe Josh Sargent, and that’s a big maybe. Ricardo Pepi should be a lock. Balogun should be a lock if he accepts. I want Vazquez there. I want Dike there. I could hold off on Pefok and Hoppe. Nevertheless, I don’t know how much we’ll learn from El Salvador and Grenada, but I’m expecting the forwards to step up and score goals. 5. Joe Scally to start a game, and John Tolkin called in as a back up. Scally has done enough over the past 2 years that it’s time to try him out for a bigger role. Furthermore, we need to continue to explore our left back depth. John Tolkin should be the next man up for that position. 6. Let’s try out some new blood with our back up midfielders. I’m not against Kelyn Acosta or Luca de la Torre. But for this camp, I want to see someone new. My targets are Johnny Cardoso and Taylor Booth, and I would bring one extra because we need to start the integration process. That next man up would likely be Djordje Mihailovic. Yet it could be Richie Ledezma or Alex Mendez. I don’t think Busio, Tessman, or others have done enough yet to be included, but I’ll continue to monitor. 7. Kevin Paredes needs to be there over Paul Arriola and Jordan Morris. I like Arriola. I don’t hate Morris. But please, let’s get Paredes into the picture sooner than later. Meanwhile, I’d add Alejandro Zendejas to this list and to see if we can lock him in as an option moving forward for us. That said, I guess we can let Cade Cowell stay with the u20’s for this one, even though he should be in one of the summer camps for the seniors. 8. You can keep the formation, but let’s not be beholden to it. Hudson, I didn’t judge you for January Camp, except job well done for bringing and playing new faces. That’s all I was asking for in that camp. But I want to see a team have some new ideas for this camp. Even if you are the interim manager. Help this team break out of this culture of rigidity that Berhalter instilled into them.
I so rarely agree with all of a post of this length, but with the exception of some of #6 and #8, I'm there with you. The most important things to me: Get Reyna back in. Get a W against El Salvador. This team needs a win. Select key, high value integration -- Scally, Paredes, Booth, strikers, etc. Nitpicks: I think Luca de la Torre should get some time. And I don't need to see Cardoso yet until he proves something more; i just don't see it with him. Pick and choose a couple, but we don't need to stretch. I think Hudson should tweak as he sees fit, but the camp is not going to be long enough to do anything major. And he's not permanent. Maybe that is what you are saying. Perhaps there's some improvements on final third execution. i don't really see how he'll have time to really add additional fundamental flexibility, but then again, I think Berhalter's tactical rigidity was way overstated.
We only have a limit of 23 for a roster. You have to make sacrifices. You're not going to get all the surpluses and toys you want. So we can't do things like bring 4 CF's, especially ones w/out versatility. I think 3 is even a stretch. It's not like you're going to learn anything from the Grenada game anyway. We can have 2 true strikers - like Pepi and Vazquez. Then maybe you could bring Sargent. But he may be primarily a winger then, & he's never produced against an opponent of El Salvador's ilk yet. We need goals in that game. I'd rather have Weah as the better winger & CF cover. With CB's, you want one vet, coupled with a prospect for a combo of performance assurance and experimentation. Someone has to take the lead. So far when we've played McKenzie and Richards next to a vet they've refused to do it. Now we're supposed to assume they're going to do it together? I'd start a pairing of Ream-Richards vs. El Salvador. Hopefully Richards would start to take more initiative, and then once he does, he could be in the vet role. But you can't put the cart before the horse here. As for Scally, why do people keep bringing him up as if he's a left back? He provides next to no width there. I'm bringing Tolkin, but I don't know if we could just trot him out against ES, when we might need offense, & he's inexperienced. I wish he started both January camp matches. And he wasn't asked to stay back behind Hoppe and to help Long. I liked him as a general player enough, but I didn't get all the answers I needed for this key match v. ES. So he's cover for ARob. I might pull the trigger on Paredes, between him being up for it in the Bundesliga, and if he can get blooded vs. Grenada. But LB has not been his normal position yet. When it comes to tryouts at midfield, I'm generally doing them, outside CDM. I don't think any of the prospect options have demanded entry. The only thing I might do, on second thought, is bring Sands & play him there. He'd bring a base level of reliability, while maybe he shows you something more, and prospective suitor to keep him in Europe beyond his loan expiration. I'd possibly bring him over Acosta or Adams. But if Adams if flying across the Atlantic, he's starting vs. El Salvador. Finally, when it comes to formation, and I'd add rotation (though that doesn't necessarily apply to this short camp w/ at least one gimme) - I agree w/ those who say we need more flexibility in that regard. Arena adjusted the formation and rotated substantially in our best performance at the WC. So this was indeed a faux pas by Berhalter. And I really don't know why that suspect tactical legacy is being carried on when he in all likelihood won't even return. Hudson was his assistant coach, but he's supposed to be transitional to the successor. We don't know who that will be, so just do things that make sense. Don't do things like force-fit Ferreira as a 9 and play a 433 if/when the personnel or strategy v. the opponent suits a 442 diamond or 4231. Paxten Aaronson was playing an 8 for God's sake. Stop putting square pegs in round holes.
Is 23 the rule or the precedent? If it’s the rule, I missed that. But I never knew that these NL roster sizes were limited.
You can bring as many players as you want but you can only dress 23. Similar to qualifying. Miles Robinson erasure.
He started their preseason game today. He’s got about a month between the start of the season and the window. I agree that he might not come back the same player, but he should at least be playing enough by then that a call up is plausible.
Based on the number of options we have, we'll probably wait a little bit to call up Robinson. He will be back, though. I'd like to see four of Richards, CCV, Trusty, McKenzie, and EPB in March. I don't know who's left out, and it won't bother me which one is.
Drone tour: @stlCITYsc makes their home debut on March 4th.Catch all the episodes of our Drone Tour Stadium Series through #MLSSeasonPass on @AppleTV: https://t.co/Pau6rQAX5s pic.twitter.com/Oh3KnKFftz— Major League Soccer (@MLS) February 2, 2023 Feels like this wouldn’t be a bad spot for the El Salvador game. I believe 2018 was the last time we played a game in St. Louis.
St. Louis would be awesome for any game. I have a feeling they will give us the best home field advantage since Columbus in the early years.
Orlando is the spot I guess Why Orlando instead of anywhere else?Chiefly because the #USMNT plays at Grenada three days before, and Grenada is pretty far south in the Caribbean.— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) February 8, 2023
I changed my mind; use these games primarily to break in Paredes at LB. These are matches where offense matters more, and he looks solid when he plays there for Wolfsburg. This is the analog to breaking in Musah as a teen to become a fixture in the squad, and playing him at a position his club typically didn't out of need, but better fits his attributes. KP could start both matches, w/ Grenada being his tune-up. Tolkin can be the defensive sub, if we for some reason need security to hold the lead. Or he can just come on later to spell KP & add to the experiment. Leave ARob at home. It's not important enough for him to travel.
I’m not saying we should strictly call up players for predatory call ups, but if we could consider the potential dual nationals that we could lock up this window…. Folarin Balogun (England, Nigeria) - Man, oh man, he’s going to be a critical dual national recruit for the USMNT. I just don’t see where England are going to pick him. They’re growing wingers and center forwards on trees. His best bet is with us. But I wish he’d commit to that. And commit sooner than later. Still, I give it a very small chance that he’s at this camp. Kevin Paredes (Dominican Republic) - Paredes should be considered a lock for this camp, and probably the most likely player that we’ll cap tie this window. It would be a sin if we don’t. Brandon Vazquez (Mexico) - Besides Balogun, we don’t have any forwards scoring at the moment. He’s got the raw, physical tools to take his game to that next level. And I don’t want to lose him to Mexico. Alejandro Zendejas (Mexico) - He’s hurt, and you can’t imagine he’ll be back in time. Hopefully, we can lock him in this summer. Either way, he needs to make a solid commitment before then. He’s no spring chicken and if he messes around, there’s no guarantee that other players won’t surpass him when he finally gets around to making up his mind. Taylor Booth (Italy) - I doubt he’s waiting on Italy, but besides Paredes, we should all very much bet on that Booth is going to be there and he should get some playing time. Gabriel Slonina (Poland) - Unlikely to change his mind, unlikely to be called up, and unlikely to play; still we need to remember to consider that Slonina is our best goalkeeper prospect, ever. Jonathan Gomez (Mexico) - January Camp showed he’s not ready for prime time yet. And there’s still the u20’s. But stranger things have happened. And he’s got so much upside. And we don’t have a lot of left backs. Cade Cowell (Mexico) - He’ll probably be with the u20’s, but it’s coming close to a point that he’s going to be a full time senior international and I do NOT want to lose him to Mexico. Alan Sonora (Argentina) - It would be a stretch to say that Sonora is high on the running to make the roster, but I don’t think it’s impossible. Nevertheless, he’s never going to play for Argentina, and it’s still to be determined if he’ll play for us. Johnny Cardoso (Brazil) - He’s up, we see him, he’s down. That’s been the story of Johnny’s career so far. Regardless, I would like to see Johnny called into this camp to be a fresh face and see what he can do early on. Amir Richardson (France, Morocco) - It would be a decent snag to get Richardson to commit. I can’t imagine that France nor even Morocco have them high on their radar at the moment. But he’s young, he’s playing well supposedly, and he plays a position where we need depth. If he would accept, if it were me, I’d think about calling him in just to see if he’s worth a damn. Djordje Mihailovic (Serbia) - Believe it or not, I believe he’s still able to play for Serbia, although that’s a very small possibility, and he hasn’t exactly, also, knocked down the door to be called into this camp either. But that can change. Honorable Mention/Not ready yet: Benjamin Cremaschi (Argentina), Julian Gressel (Germany), Mauricio Isais (Mexico), Jaheim Headley (Jamaica, England), Jack McGlynn (Ireland), Alex Mendez (Mexico), Alex Alvarado (Mexico), Obed Vargas (Mexico), Luca Koleosho (Canada), Santiago Munoz (Mexico), Benji Michel (Arouca)
Mihailovic is already cap tied from the 2019 Gold Cup. Anyone under 21 can also not be permanently cap tied in Nations League (though they would be provisionally and couldn’t switch for 3 years).
To clarify: Mihailovic was under 21 at the time of the 2019 Gold Cup, but was permanently cap-tied at that point because his first Gold Cup appearance was his 4th cap. (The U-21 exception applies to players who have a competitive cap but have no more than 3 total caps including friendlies.) Also, if he hadn't already been permanently cap-tied, the El Salvador friendly in December 2020 would have done it because it was a cap after his 21st birthday. (Again, if someone already has a competitive cap when under 21, then any cap after turning 21 makes it permanent.)
One cap in the Gold Cup automatically cap ties you no matter the age. Same with the World Cup. Playing in a continental competition is an automatic cap tie (though I’m not sure about the 2024 Copa America since it isn’t our continental competition). The under 21 rule and having to play 4 games only applies to qualifiers and Nations League games.