I only have a few guys I think are locked starters. Pulisic, Mckennie, Dest (UGH), and A Robinson. I think there are reasonable discussions and points of view for all other spots to be open. I want to put Reyna into that locked starter position but for me (and my personal opinion) he just hasn't played enough for me to trust he will stay healthy. Same for Adams. If I put Reyna in the starting 11 he'll get injured the next week and be out for another 6 months.
And yet due to their distinctive attributes and exceptional talent when Adams and Reyna are available we have to optimize our lineup to get the most out of them.
I'd disagree. I think Berhalter is settled at the 6, at the 8, at LWF, and RWF, RB, and LB, and if not quite settled with Richards as an anchor CB he's close, and Turner is locked in until Gaga, Brady, Kochen or someone else steals his job (which is very doable in the next 2 years for some of them). That would cover 7 positions rather than just 4. I'm highly skeptical of the idea only 4 are settled. I think he wants McKennie, Adams, Pulisic, Weah, Dest, Jedi, and Turner starting period if they're healthy, I should also add Reyna, which would make it 8. Four is way, way too slight, and I think it could be 9 with Richards. On the topic of Reyna, it's complicated. He is locked in, and it's worth noting: He has not sustained an injury of any sort or a set back related to his 9/21 injury that knocked him out on and off for ages since November of '22. It's been 17 months since he had any recurring issues w/that hamstring/deep tissue injury that featured setbacks in January, February, March, September and November of '22. So I think its a done deal, the only potential reason to offer an asterisk is that he has not played regular club minutes in 3 years, what would regular club minutes due to those hammys/deep tissue concerns? No idea, but w/no set backs since 2022, I'm not inclined to assume he will have another. He was consistently for years and years before hand after all. But I acknowledge the concern. It's hard to pretend it isn't one when he had that absolute litany of set backs for nearly 1.5 years.
I agree. I was just stating my personal preference and could see why others could disagree. I think the gap between Pulisic, Mckennie, A Rob, and Dest and their backups is huge compared to almost all the other starters. I think that's my point. You can have a good faith argument about other positions where you really can't about those 4.
I wouldn't limit to those I think will be healthy. I would include them if they are. I mean Richards and Pulisic have had injury issues and yet right now I would include Richards as he has made huge steps and hope he doesn't get injured. Sargent is also injured a lot but is close to being a lock (of course when healthy. Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Jedi, Dest, Reyna, Richard and Turner with around eight more locked in the team but rotational starers or backups. I do think several players will make a push and make the WC who aren't even locks as backups at the moment.
Phil Foden got poty award in prem. I thought it should have gone to Cole Palmer for how he was able to lift Pulisic's old nightmare club, Chelsea. Manchester City’s star midfielder wins the Player of the Season award (msn.com) Oddly, Cole Palmer was sold by Guardiola - cuz he had Foden, I guess? Cole Palmer would have done more to fill Gundogan's offensive role for ManCity, imo. Foden isn't doing much defensively anyway Foden was on the u17 team that eliminated our Sands, Weah, Sarge team in finals in India before going on to win it all. I remember English guys saying their best player wasn't even there - Sancho.
Man, when I saw Palmer talk I thought you were refereeing to Erik Palmer-Brown. Once on the books at Man City. [He's had a serious health problem this year. Bone Marrow Edema.] My current best XI right now taking injuries into account. What I would do if I had an important game TODAY. I don't know what's going on with Adams, so can't start him. ---------------Balogun------------- Pulisic--------Reyna--------Weah -------McKennie---Musah----- Robinson---Richards-CCV-Scally ----------------Turner--------------- I just haven't seen enough with Johnny yet to start him over Musah. So yes, for now I have Musah playing more of a holding role. Would that work? Against CONCACAF opposition? Yes. Against Brazil? Probably not. I think we're going to see Johnny as a starter in one of these two upcoming friendlies. If he plays well, then I'm all-in. And yes, I'm not going to some experiment at RB over Scally. Still going with Scally for now. I thought he played quite well down the stretch in the Bundesliga, although a lot at LB.
With the injuries, the only other change would be: ------------------Reyna---------- -----Wright-------------------Pulisic-- ---------McKennie-----Musah--- ------------------Johnny-------- --Jedi------------------------------Weah--- ----------Ream------Richards--- ------------------Turner--- against good teams. Johnny has been nominated for La Liga Young Player of the Year while playing a similar role the US would likely task him. He's realistically a better option than someone, like Musah who didn't do nearly as much in the same league or in Serie A..
Get well EPB ! Your McKennie/Musah double pivot was tried v. Germany. What do you think went wrong? USA vs Germany - live score, predicted lineups and H2H stats (fotmob.com)
I think the opponent was Germany.............as opposed to Panama and Bolivia. The second Adams is proven healthy, which may be imminent, then he goes in my Best XI. That guy seems to not play for 6 months, show up to a USMNT camp, and play great. A healthy Adams, and my midfield changes. I'm just not personally comfortable yet with Johnny. Just haven't seen him enough. Others have and can insert him in a Best XI. I'm not there yet.
Reyna and Busio do not have the same level of playmaking and on their U17 team this was pretty apparent. Busio can deliver a ball and he has a good sense for finding space in the box but he is not a high volume chance creator, he’s a 1 assist every 8 full 90s guy.
Here was Germany's record coming into the game v. USA plus 3 games after the USA Game, a 10 game stretch. They won 2 games of which one was us. The record totally is 2W-6L-2D. They won 2 games: USA and the team everybody talks about as "talented" France. Notice how only USA, France and Poland scored less than 2 goals on them. We got our usual one goal - same as v. Wales, Iran and Nederland while failing to score on England in Qatar. 03/28 - L2-3 Belgium 06/11 - D 3-3 Ukraine 06/16 - L 0-1 Poland 06/20 - L 0-2 Colombia 09/09 - L 1-4 Japan 09/12 - W 2-1 France 10/14 - W 3-1 USA 10/17 - D 2-2 Mexico 11/18 - L 2-3 Turkey 11/21 - L 0-2 Austria
One of the things I worry about for 2026 is our cb's. I watched a little of the Champ League promotional play off Leeds v. SHampton and frankly I thought the LA Galaxy v. Houston last night was better in a lot of ways. We have always done well at WC with our cb's even if they were MLS. Take Zimmerman, e.g. in Qatar. The Ream/Zim pairing performed really well compared to other pairings in Qatar. Checking at American Soccer Analysis I see that Glad has now climbed to the top of the ladder and is #1 out of 124 cb's rated. Miles Robinson is #3 American Soccer Analysis | App Miles is a better passer and dribbler. Glad is better at "interrupting" which is comprised of Tackles, Interceptions, Blocks, Clearances, Recoveries, Contested Headers Imo, Berhalter has to get the top MLS options early cycle work or they just won't work with the national team. The way we are going we'll have Belgium's finest, McKenzie, playing for us in 2026 on the false assumption that he must be better because he plays in Europe and handles the ball well if you look away from 1 or 2 goofs per game. CCV doesn't handle the ball well but his managers know how to minimize it (lifts another Celtic trophy).
I see you're a member of the don't get mad get glad club. I agree there's some real chances for defenders going forwards as mainly only Richards has taken a big step lately. Then a bunch muddled together waiting for someone to raise their hand and say I want to jump past the rest of these guys.
trusty wasnt promoted with a team- though he inarguably played a big role in their promotion- he was bought by a promoted, epl team. im more than a little surprised how little he is valued here. sheffield (or any promoted team) could have bought a mckenzie, or a ccv (or like 7 justen glads- what in the world is happening here?!) but didnt. rate whoever you want however you want, but no- everyone isnt sitting (or re-signing) in lesser leagues, content with being a medium fish in a small pond other than richards.
I think he's out for a wedding but long term I'm hoping he's on the Tim Ream path so he's got a lot of time as a lefty.
You wouldn't be surprised if you'd watched him play much this season. He was completely out of his depth in the Premier League. Not for the bargain price SU paid for Trusty! SU had financial issues and were very conservative in their spending last summer (and with the Cameron Archer news that just dropped a few days ago we've learned they were even more frugal than we thought at the time). As I said a year ago, while they obviously hoped to catch lightning in a bottle (ie stay in the PL), realistically they were preparing for a Championship yo-yo and were putting together a squad that wouldn't undergo a huge amount of turnover if relegated. As for Trusty, I'm sure they were hoping that he would be able to significantly raise the level of his game (he obviously did not) but at worst they knew he had proven himself as a good (but not elite) Championship defender who would be useful in SU's likely push for promotion from the Championship in the 24-25 season.
Im really high on Trusty. My favorite CB to replace Ream as he’s phased out and to partner Richards. Im extremely pleased with how he went to England, won BCFC player of the season in the Championship and earned a move to the EPL. Even with him going back down, I believe in him.