I think Morocco was saying we’ve seen Paredes plenty to know he’s not at the Pulisic level. It’s no secret and of course it doesn’t keep him out of the A team because he’s not as good as the best player.
I agree that judging a player off a few minutes at U20 WC shouldn't be a final judgement but I was sure looking for an upgrade when he got on the field and I didn't see it. Pretty sure that if somehow Morris, Arriola or Zendejas had been able to play a few minutes at that WC I would have noticed an immediate impact. So he's not ready yet. He's still got plenty of time and I'm not giving up on him but I also hope we have a bunch of others bubble up.
Excellent post. I'd just add that not sending the A team to the Gold Cup is nothing new. It is every 2 years. Back when Confederations Cup was being played, we treated the Gold Cup that got us a ticket to that as top priority, but not the other one. We even called them A and B Gold Cups. And that was before NL. It is a LONG tournament and a long commitment for guys who played a grueling year. But the smaller nations in CONCACAF need more matches, and VONCACAF needs the revenue of more USA/Mex matches, so it is every 2 years. They have made creative roster rules in the past to allow stars to come in after group.
Depth at the wide attacking positions has been evolving and will continue to evolve. I think Reyna is going to mainly play midfield in this cycle. This leaves Pulisic and Weah as the incumbents. In the last cycle, Morris and Agudelo were the main backups. I think we have a nice group of new players who will make this a deep position for us: Zendejas, Tillman, Booth, Cowell and Paredes. Aaronson and Sargent play other positions but can play the wide attacking position as well. Pulisic will remain top dog in this cycle. I could see Weah being challenged for a starting position. I like having a couple lefties (Zendejas and Paredes) as options on the right.
Sorry if it's a dead horse... I do wish we had a friendly lined up prior to facing Mexico. By the time we meet them they will, of course, have had two warmups. So, that's nice and all.
. I don't have a problem judging him off his U20 performance. he was fine. Got into the right space, played with teammates, got the ball into the box. I'm not crazy about taking guys off the plane and dropping them into the 2nd half of the 5th game of a tournament. Look at Puktas blocking Cowell's shot on goal which many have said would have gone in. Other players were likely more alert to getting out of the way when Cowell got into shooting position because they had already played 4 games with him.
But Pulisic didn't play in MLS so where is the comparison? Unlike Pulisic, Paredes was not sent back to reserves to learn how to play after his first appearance with senior team in the Bundesliga. In fact, you can tell his teammates are longing for Paredes to come on the pitch in close games so he can create some chances. By comparison, Kagawa had to stay closes to Pulisic to hold his hand during his first appearances in the Bundesliga.
No surprise it's everyone but Josh Cohen Our official 23-man @CNationsLeague roster 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/FlIQ4gHnjh— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 6, 2023
This seems like a strange window. If the US can find a way to beat Mexico then it will be very positive even if they lose the finals but if they do not then it seems like the Gold Cup might be a better window for getting playing time. I have a bad feeling about the Mexico game. The U20 and LAFC losses sure makes it seems like we are on a down-swing. Also, so many of our first-teamers are not in form for their clubs. Add in yet another interim manager? NOt feeling confident.
It's not going to feel good if we cede Mexico or Canada bragging rights, in part because our coaching situation is in-flux. But if it would involve making the best decision in the end to set us up better for the more important comps like Copa America & the WC, then we'd have lost the early battles but won the war (this presumes the theory we don't just hire Marsch at the end proves to be true lol). This typically applies to using secondary tourneys to tryout players too. You're increasing your chances of ultimate success while accepting a greater risk of failure in the interim. That's true as much as those sacrifices may be painful. I hope if we flame out in this tourney, that doesn't mean we are compelled out of pride to come out guns a blazing in the Gold Cup, and blow all our ammo for down the road. That would be compounding an error. This is what Mexico did. Then they didn't even win the Gold Cup against our b-team, before ultimately struggling in the WC. In-between they could say fared better in qualifying than the US. Which is true. But they didn't do well for themselves. And we wouldn't have qualified with a young squad straight away even if not for those players who were integrated in the GC. Then a couple of those guys ultimately helped solidify the defense in the WC we rode to the next round. If Mexico had integrated Gimenez during the GC, maybe they don't just score a little over a goal a game to grind it out in CONCACAF, then score less than 1 a game in getting bounced from their WC group.
We might lose, but I feel like this team is too talented and too set up to really collapse here. I suppose motivation is a question past the World Cup and with an interim coach, and this team has had some real stinkers ... but it is Mexico and Canada. So hopefully there's some pride there. Hopefully the wait for a coach will be worth it.
The U20 and LAFC matches mean literally nothing with regards to the Mexico match. Lack of form and interim manager doesn't help, however.
Yep. I’d even say that to the extent CCL matters, Vela would provide more to Mexico if he accepted a call up than Tillman and Acosta would to the USA. And there’s no connection between the u20s and this squad, but we lost an evenly matched game in the quarterfinals in a tournament Mexico didn’t even qualify for. I do think we are due for a loss to Mexico. And, a win woulf give them some much-needed confidence moving forward. However, we are clearly a lot more talented than they are still, even with some of our guys’ disappointing years. Mexico barely has anybody to get disappointed over in Europe, but to the extent that they do, age and injuries have taken a toll on Corona and Jimenez, and lainez, who was supposed to be one of their young stars, Washed out of Europe at 22. They’re legitimately excited about Gimenez, but his season was very comparable to Pepi’s, and not as impressive as Balogun’s. Perspective is important.
The more I think about it, the more the Mexico match comes down to motivation for me. Yes, we don't have Adams. Yes, our players generally didn't end the season in a strong run of form. But I think there's more than enough talent on the field that if we put forth as much effort out there as we did in WCQ against them, I think we can control the game pretty well. And then it comes down to mistakes and execution. I don't know if we'll get up for it like we did at home in WCQ. But if we do... I think we have this one.
I would add Ream to this list too. I trust Ream, Zimmerman, and Robinson at CB and get a little nervous with anyone else out there, though hopefully this gives Richards and Trusty a chance to step up and change that.
The NL final, GC final, both WCQers, and the recent friendly against Mexico were close. This one will be as well. [In fact, there was only one US-Mexico game that was decided by more than 2 goals in the last decade.] It can go either way. I'm not sure why I understand the sudden negativity on these boards, though. Because we've replaced one interim manager with another? That roster has talent everywhere. There is one glaring hole. Tyler Adams has been the most irreplaceable player in our group. There is no backup to Tyler Adams. And last cycle's backup Acosta isn't there either. Hopefully one of these guys can step up. Finding backups to Adams has been on our "must do" list. Might as well start now. We'll have a strong starting XI of guys that know each other and know what to do, though.
He’s here. 🛬 pic.twitter.com/qyV795y6IL— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 6, 2023 Balogun may not be the guy coming to America from Ligue 1 ❗️Leo Messi is getting closer and closer to joining Inter Miami.— @ellarguero pic.twitter.com/crQvi14li3— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) June 6, 2023
No way our best possible includes Alan Sonora who is a mediocre squad player in LigaMX, or Sean Johnson who is just there for veteran leadership... I would add Tyler Adams for Sonora, Roman Celentano for Johnson. And then Tim Ream, Malik Tillman, and either Josh Sargent or Jordan Morris to make it 26.
I forgot about Johnson, I'm definitely nixing him. Edit: I guess he is good soldier, vibes guy so it's ok I guess, but I think it's time we all smell what the Rock is cooking, it's close to over for him with the Nats.
It's a 23 man roster, if that roster you posted is correct. In that case I'd say Adams for Jonny and M. Tillman for Sonora. Celentano for Johnson, sure, I'm fine moving on from him. That's an arguable best 23 for the US.