He's not certain to be the starter for the US U20 team, much less be involved with the full USMNT. He got called up because it was a Euro only camp. Only reason. After Steffen and Horvath, we don't have any other Euro-based goalkeepers worth calling in. Odunze, of course, is also eligible for other national teams. So we're just keeping him in the pool in case he develops. If we had our full pool available, an MLS keeper like Turner would have been called in as the #3.
Oh I understand why he was called up but its still a slap in the face to any keeper playing senior football he was called in over, different if he was at an age group squad and an injury happened
In this case......................there wasn't one. We Americans also tend to call in speculative teenagers more than an established Euro or South American team would. Particularly if the kid is a dual-national. The roster we just called up for the November window is REALLY young. Owen Otasowie of Wolves has never played in a Premier League game. But he'll probably be our backup #6 at this camp after Tyler Adams. Richie Ledezma has made one substitute appearance in the Eredevisie for PSV. He's probably the backup #10 after Gio Reyna. Konrad de la Fuente is on the roster, who's never appeared for Barcelona. I can keep going. Its the way of things. There are many players in our pool that have actually played first team football that could have been chosen over Konrad de la Fuente. Tyler Boyd of Besiktas for example. But de la Fuente is a dual-national u20 and is at Barcelona. We're going to make sure to keep him involved.
you only have 2 senior keepers in Europe? I thought you had a few in Scandinavia? I'm happy for him as he should benefit from the experience
None. The other 5 keepers that have been called up over the past year and half or so are all MLS based. Brad Guzan is probably the highest profile of those guys, but may not be playing at the highest level (Atlanta is terrible this year). Its a far cry from when we had Keller, Howard, Friedel, Hahnemann, etc. in Europe.
It's not baaaaaaaaaaaaad. It could just be better. You only need one or two keepers. Steffen could be our starting keeper for a decade.
He probably won't. He was loaned out to the Bundesliga last season and did well prior to an injury. He's far and away our best keeper right now. Even if he's 2nd choice at City. He's still likely to get plenty of games at City based on the number of games they have to play. He's played in their two League Cup games. At some point if he doesn't overtake Ederson then he'll be on his way. He's still only 25. Its not easy for American keepers to get over to England. Brad Friedel signed 3 different times in England, and was denied a work permit every time (Forest, Newcastle, Sunderland). It wasn't until Souness signed him for Liverpool that he finally received one. He was 26. He served as a backup. So it wasn't until he moved to Blackburn as a 29 year old that his club career kicked off.
25 isn't young and teams will be weary of signing him from City the older he gets as he simply won't have shown anything, they aren't rotating the keeper as much either this season in the cup
I don't think is a big loss. I saw him play 3 times and each time his defense has been soft. He doesn't like to challenge people, he rather stays back and intercepts a pass near him. We need hustling players, that is what American players are known.
My updated best Olympic roster and Gold Cup Roster Olympics: GK - Steffen *, Marcinkowski, Ochoa (Scott) RB - Dest, Araujo (Reynolds) LB - Antonee, Bello, (Kobe) CB - Richards, Palmer-Brown, McKenzie, Carter-Vickers (Robinson) MF - McKennie, Adams, Johnny, Otasowie (Kayo) AM - Reyna, Ledezma (Busio) RW - Musah, Konrad (Sabbi) FW - Sargent, Weah (Ebobisse, Akinola) LW - Pulisic, Gioacchini (Vassilev) —————-—-Sargent————-——- Pulisic————Reyna————Musah ———-McKennie——-Adams———— Antonee———————————--Dest ————-EPB————-Richards——— ———————-Steffen*——————— Gold Cup: GK - Turner, Horvath, Guzan (Johnson) RB - Cannon, Yedlin (Moore) LB - Vines, Gasper, (Ream) CB - Brooks, Miazga, Alvarado, Long (Zimmerman) MF - Yuiell, Aaronson, Sands, Green (Durkin, Mendez) AM - Lletget, Ferreira (De la Torre) RW - Mueller, Boyd (Dike) FW - Soto, Wright (Johannsson, Novakovich) LW - Morris, Holmes (Michel) ———————Soto——————— Morris————Lletget———-Mueller ——-Aaronson———Yuiell————— Vines———————————-—Cannon —————Brooks—-Miazga————- ———————-Turner———————-
Why would we need Brooks? Centerback might be our deepest position at the U23 level. Carter-Vickers, Palmer-Brown, Richards, McKenzie, Glad, and the list goes on.
My Olympic Qualifying pool would be: -----------------------------Ebobisse/Dike/Ferreira/Akinola----- ------Saucedo/Lewis/Fernandez----Bassett/Fontana---Araujo/Lennon/Mihailovic/Michel/D.Nealis ------------Williamson/Parks/Amaya------Sands/Dotson/Pineda/Tessman --Farfan/Vines/Bello/Real----------------------------------------------------Duncan/Herrera -----------------McKenzie/Trusty/Kessler------------Robinson/Pines/Glad -----------------------------Marcinkowski/Freese/USL-keeper---- I'm working under the assumption that no euro-based players will be available, though a few probably will be. We're pretty well stocked with experienced MLS players at each position. These players aren't just experienced, but have mostly excelled in league play. The U20 players like Tessman, Bello, Bassett, and Araujo, will likely be with the U20s. A two-striker formation probably works best for this group.
Definitely. Today. 8 months from today, it may be a different story if someone else comes out of the weeds and can be released for the Olys. I wouldn't mind Steffen, Brooks and Morris being the overage players going to Tokyo. The issue is getting them released by their clubs.
The overage guys will likely be needed elsewhere. We're going to have a congested schedule in '21. My starting XI would be ---------------------------Dike---------------- -------Mihailovic-----Fontana-----Ebobisse---- --------------Williamson-----Sands---- ---Vines---------------------------------------Duncan---- -----------------McKenzie------Pines---- -------------------------Freese---------- Fontana is basically a 2nd striker. Mihailovic will act as a possession hub. Vines can provide crossing from the left. Jaylin Lindsey could also be added to the mix at RB.
Yeah, but they're all young. A guy like Carter-Vickers has been around so long that folks forget he's only 22. We're building a pool of these young defenders, and we just need a couple to break away from the pack to the "next level." I mean, Richards hasn't really done anything yet either. The centerback crop from the current U20 team doesn't necessarily look as strong as that from the previous U20 cycle. There are options, though. Tomkinson of Norwich, Justin Che of FCD, Nico Carrera of Holstein Kiel. Travian Sousa of Hamburg. But who knows......................
Yup. We'll certainly be fine at the back for the CONCACAF Qualifying tournament. We were able to get Palmer-Brown released for the version that was cancelled in the spring. McKenzie, Palmer-Brown, and Glad were in that group. ATL is a stickler for release of their players, so Robinson wasn't involved. But we've had another couple of options emerge. Pines. I noticed you had Kessler in your depth chart above. Good call. He probably had the quietest high-quality season of any U23. Of course that qualifying roster could completely turn over. A bunch of players that were available this year, may not be available in the spring (Aaronson, Cannon, etc.)
We'll just have to see. I do expect that if the COVID situation gets worse over the next 4-5 months, teams are going to be even more reluctant to release players to non-FIFA events. I expect difficulty getting releases to the CONCACAF U23 Championships. I've already predicted the cancellation of the U17 and U20 cycles. There's no way that U20 World Cup is happening in Indonesia in May. There aren't even qualifying tournaments on the calendar right now for most confederations (including CONCACAF).