Cutting it close................... FC Utrecht rep updated me on #USMNT/ U-23 fwd Rubio Rubin - "expected to be back in training beginning of March." Hopes to play "mid-March"— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) February 11, 2016
The other issue is some of the clubs mentioned will likely still be in the thick of it in March. Certain Hertha, who now have a cup semi to look forward to and is trying to grab a CL slot, will be very interested in their results over the next few months. Payne's Groningen is still in the Europa play-off mix. Utrecht, even if Rubin is back by then, might not be keen on him running right off to play for someone else. Less likely that Pulisic is considered critical at Dortmund, but they are bringing him along quickly. Bad timing to try to pry Euro players loose, for sure.
Yea I see that playing out that way as well. I mean why piss off the player and the federation by saying no to the U23 call up, knowing dam well the US could just say "OK you want to play like that, we call him up to the full squad. Now RELEASE him"
Apparently this issue hurts Colombia more than the US................................. What the US U23s have going for them is that there should be no problem getting whatever MLS players they want. [I don't believe an MLS club has ever failed to release a U23 for a qualifying game. DCU whined a little about the release of Perry Kitchen, but relented.] This may not be the case for Colombia. Their teams are in the middle of fixture congestion in March-early April with the league and Copa Libertadores.
Colombia should have thought all this through before developing and placing their young players so well.
When we think about it, I suspect that Yedlin and Brooks aren't an issue. They're going to be with the senior team as Herzog has suggested. That leaves Miazga, Payne, Rubin, Hyndman, Horvath, Green, Pulisic, CCV, Zelalem, Kiesewetter, and another couple of borderline cases. Of those players, how many would actually be blocked from attending a U23 camp that's in a FIFA window anyway? Few. Rubin might actually be one. He's gonna have juuuuuuuuust recovered from injury. Utrecht may want to protect him. In fact, the USYNT staff may not risk him. We'll need to see that he's healthy and fit before using him in this do-or-die series.
Anyone getting first team action is surely out. Horvath, Payne, Hyndmann and Zelalem. Now the others it will just come down to club attitudes. Some are eager to have their players get international experience. Others like Hertha historically, couldn't care less.
I like that idea, but how is Steffen doing? I haven't heard a thing about him since he went to Europe.
No idea really, since not much to go on. I think I looked during winter break and he had gotten about half the starts for their second team and few guys had split the other half, with a number of those games occurring while he was with the u23s. The other guys seemed to have decent resumes, so I took it all as a generally good sign? I'm a big fan of his game and think the situation is a pretty good place for now. I only looked it up as I was surprised how many people had given the starting spot to Horvath because he was playing with his first team. I have only seen a little bit of Horvath but am not convinced he is ahead of Steffen.... But since I've only seen a lit bit of Horvath and haven't seen Steffen in awhile, I really have no idea how the two stack up.
Or we decide to start Cropper. Who then can't control a backpass, gets his feet tangled, which leads to a goal for them. Or he parries the ball towards the center to a Colombia player which leads to a goal. Cropper is a young Hamid without the athleticism/reactions. Error prone.
Yup. It really is hard to say what way any of those cases are going to go. Its a FIFA window after all. All of those guys could be made available, or none of them will be made available. My guess is that out of the four you mentioned there, we'll get at least two. There are always bizarre surprises in these squads, like Reading not releasing Novakovich for the U20s. Inexplicable.
There's a near 0% chance that Hertha would release Brooks. To me he is the least likely eligible European-based player to be released for us.
Hertha released him for U-23 friendlies against Brazil in 2015, no? Anyway, while I expect to see Brooks, Yedlin, and Miazga with the senior team, I would rather see them with the U23 team. But if their clubs refused to release them for the U23 team, then I would call them up for the senior national team, which they can't refuse. If the teams know the players are going to be gone no matter what, what's the incentive to say no?
The question is, Does Jurgen call him in for the WC qualifiers? I think he pretty much has to at this point and Hertha is obligated to release him.
Yes. I would imagine that Brooks will be with the senior USMNT for qualiers. And probably Yedlin as well since RB is a quasi problem position. [It wouldn't be if Klinsmann had bothered to look at options like Lichaj..................] No matter how important we think qualifying for the Olympics is, its a youth competition. World Cup Qualifying is more important. Those guys clearly in the senior team should be with the senior team. The interesting cases to me are Miazga and Morris. One can make an argument that with Brooks, Besler, Gonzalez, etc. available, the USMNT staff can send Miazga to the U23s. Does anybody believe that Jurgen is going to start Miazga in this series of games against Guatemala? I doubt it. If we get at least 4 points from these games, I can see Miazga starting against St. Vincent & Grenadines after that. Morris is interesting to me. We're not exactly loaded with attacking talent, and he's been a fairly consistent USMNT callup. He's already up to 9 caps, which is actually more than Eddie Gaven [I really liked the young Eddie Gaven.] He's desperately needed by the U23s, though.
Yes I don't disagree. I was speaking to if we called him up for the U23 and not the senior team (which I don't think is likely either).
We had 2 World Cup Qualifiers in November and John Brooks spent it with the U23 team. Granted this staff doesn't seem to care too much about consistency, but that could tell you about his plans for March
And Miazga was with the senior team for those if I remember correctly. I'm not sure Miazga and Brooks have ever been at the same camp together I was thinking about this the other day. Its possible they've never met! [I'm probably wrong about that.........................] My gut is that one of the two will be with the senior team and one will be with the U23s. Brooks is much more "in form" and match fit, so I see him with the USMNT.
It's possible, though remember with Miazga that this was around the time rumblings about him moving to Poland surfaced and we were playing St. Vincent. Jurgen might have sent him to the U23's otherwise. We'll see, but Guatemala is a bad and there's plenty of capable overage CB's who should be fine against them. I think both will be going to Colombia. As for clubs letting them go, Hertha let John go to Brazil and I don't think Miazga will be in the picture for Chelsea
The U23 team plays in Colombia on March 25th, the same day the USMNT plays at Guatemala. Both teams then play in the US on March 29th. Is there any reason that Klinsmann couldn't recall U23s up to the senior team in between games? Because if it is possible, it might be worth it to send Brooks, Miazga, Yedlin and Morris the U23 team, and only recall them if needed due to injury or if the U23 team gets killed in the first leg thus making the second leg less of a priority.
Lets remember the context. Brooks hurt his leg on US duty and then did not feature for Herta for almost 2 months with the exception of a 1 minute sub appearance. The week before Brazil was JAB's first start/90 and it was in Herta's interest to get him match fit instead of sitting him for the 16 day international break. I would not be surprised if there was a tit for tat discussion along the lines of: We let Brooks go to the U23 friendlies in Brazil and you don't call him for say the friendlies in one of those tiny Caribbean resorts?
Sure, but I question how much we need any of the U23 guys for these specific fixtures. - Brooks and Miazga could be our starting duo of the future, but in the last several competitive games, Klinsmann has gone with Besler and Cameron. With Gonzalez back in form, we could have three guys who started multiple World Cup games on the roster for the Guatemala games, so I'm not sure we need either Brooks or Miazga. - I'll be curious to see how Morris does in MLS, but at least as of now, Altidore and Wood are guys I'd play over him. - Yedlin was used extensively last year, and started in our most recent qualifiers. But those games didn't have Dempsey or Bedoya, and Nagbe was only just being incorporated. Obviously if we are not fully healthy, then we could have more of a need for these players. And even fully healthy I will grant that most belong in our best 23. But I don't see any as current lock starters (Brooks is the closest), and I think the attacker off the bench roles that Yedlin and Morris fill can be filled by other players.