I wanted to start keeping track of predictions for the 2022 world cup 23 man roster to: A) Prove how impossible it is to predict it B) Keep track of when guys really start to impress C) Award some accolades to guys who see stuff coming The form can be found here: https://goo.gl/forms/9EQFSXQxnOX7fbPg1 As the form says, if I'm missing anyone then either DM me or just post in here. You can also just write it at the end of the form if you're like I am. I think I'll send out a new version of the form every few months and then maybe every month once it gets somewhat close. And please, since I can't regulate this in the form itself: 3 Goalies 20 field players Your submission will not count if that doesn't happen. Anyways, good luck, and I hope none of you ever predict what Michael Bradley's final roster is going to be.
going young: steffen hamid gonzalez brooks ccv epb miazga yedlin dest bello mckennie adams hyndman saief parks akale carleton taitague pulisic weah wood sargent tillman echo great work on the form.
@TarHeels17 In addition to the names I suggested to you in the form, I completely forgot to include two Kyles. Scott, who's made his cup debut for Chelsea, and Duncan, who's holding his own so far at right back for NYRB. Again, not that I'd select them but they deserve some consideration for 2022.
Here's who I picked: GK: B.Hamid, Z.Steffen, E.Horvath DEF: D.Yedlin, M.Miazga, J.Brooks, A.Robinson, S.Moore, C.Carter-Vickers, E.Palmer-Brown, D.Acosta MID: C.Pulisic, K.Saief, W.McKennie, T.Adams, K.Acosta, A.Carleton, S.Lletget, E.Hyndman, K.Parks FOR: B.Wood, J.Altidore, T.Weah
Here's who I would pick: GK: B.Hamid, Z.Steffen, B.Guzan DEF: D.Yedlin M.Miazga J.Brooks T.Chandler M.Olosunde C.Carter-Vickers A.Trusty A.Robinson MID: T.Weah W.McKennie K.Parks C.Pulisic K.Saief T.Adams A.Carleton N.Taitague E.Palmer-Brown FOR: B.Wood, A.Novakovich, J.Sargent I see a 4-4-2 formation. Novakovich--Sargent Weah--Mckennie--Parks--Pulisic Chandler--Brooks--Miazga--Yedlin --------Steffen--------- If for some mirecle we land Jordy Siebatcheu then the formation would change to a 4-2-1-3 And it would look like this. Weah--Sargent--Jordy Pulisic McKennie--Adams Chandler--Brooks--Miazga--Yedlin --------Steffen---------
I'm not certain that any US roster will qualify for the next WC or shine at Copa. Compared to the top 20-30 nations, the players we have seem ill-suited to such success. Brooks before his injury was mediocre as a CB. It truly remains to be seen whether Weah, Sargent, Carleton, McKennie, Siebatcheu, and Adams pan out. Another 1/2 dozen who hardly play for their foreign clubs might never impress. Hopefully Willliams returns to form after his fracture. Yedlin has never so far been that impressive. Chandler is unconvincing as a US nat player. We certainly cannot rely on the players that failed us this past cycle: Altidore, Bradley, Cameron, K. Acosta, Arriola, Villafana, etc. Pulisic is the only bona fide international calibre player right now. A reputable, savvy coach can only do so much.
GK: Hamid, Steffen, Garces DF: Yedlin, Scally, EPB, Glad, CCV, Brooks, Adams, Bello MF: Trapp, McKennie, Booth, Parks, Durkin, Carleton, Pulisic, Pomykal, Nyeman FW: Agudelo, Wright, de la Fuente Hamid Yedlin-EPB-Brooks-Adams McKennie Booth-Carleton Pulisic-Wright-Nyeman Standby GK: Las Standby RB: Chandler Standby CB: Miazga/Araujo Standby LB: D. Acosta Standby #6: Sands Standby #8: Roldan Standby #10: Reyna Standby winger: Amon Standby striker: Weah/Sargent I think it'll be a younger roster, but you need some older players, you can't have every player on the roster be younger than 25, so I included some like Hamid, Steffen, Yedlin, Brooks, Trapp, Agudelo who will be slightly older than some of the talented youngsters.
Thanks for the emoji, at least. The situation with our national team seems to be dire, a real abyss. The US Nats were always the most important soccer team for me, not anymore. I'm afraid it looks hopeless despite the friendlies vs Portugal and Paraguay. Just being realistic.
The situation isn't as bad as people make it seem, IMO. We are doing an excellent job in the youth age groups. The problem is that players in the 25-30 age group were an untalented group to begin with, and performed as some of the biggest underachievers in NT history.
And, I would add, the talent level isn't so huge in terms of number of guys( that I can count, anyway) that the key in this cycle will be to shape a nimble, tenacious group that plays together and creates synergies beyond the "we have to pick this guy because he starts for a BL team and this guy because he starts in EPL, etc. In this cycle I think we should be ready for the possibility that a Carleton, just for example, is one of our best roster choices even if he never leaves MLS.
Oh, for posterity, I've got to include mine of course: 23 Man Roster: Forwards: -Josh Sargent -Timothy Weah -Jozy Altidore -Konrad de La Fuente Midfielders: -Nick Taitague -Kenny Saief -Christian Pulisic -Andrew Carleton -Weston McKennie -Keaton Parks -Tyler Adams -Chris Durkin Defenders: -Antonee Robinson -Danny Acosta -John Brooks -Matt Miazga -Erik Palmer-Brown -Cameron Carter-Vickers -DeAndre Yedlin -Xuxuh Hilton Goalies: -Zach Steffen -Bill Hamid -Ethan Horvath Weah-Sargent-Pulisic Carleton-McKennie-Adams Robinson-Brooks-Miazga-Yedlin Steffen
Mine was somewhat similar: GK: Steffen, Horvath, Klinsmann FB: Yedlin, A. Robinson (with the understanding that Adams, K. Acosta, Glad, Saief provide extra options for this squad) CB: Brooks, Miazga, Carter-Vickers, Glad, Palmer-Brown (Durkin) CM/CDM: McKennie, Parks, Adams, Durkin, K. Acosta (EPB) Wing/WM/CAM: Pulisic, Saief, Carleton, de la Fuente, Nyeman (Weah) CF: Weah, Sargent, Novakovich
Down in Mexico, Adams' mistake leads to Chivas' only goal in CCL 1st leg. Unpromising for a potential USMNT MF in the next WC?
April results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1h6hLXp3Iw-29n-hxTDpdtxZAEO40hoItPWe4C43ZJyk/edit?usp=sharing July poll: https://goo.gl/forms/WpkVQXWlJMfRqgVD2
July roster submitted, with a fair number of changes from the April one! Suggested player additions to the 2022 pool, you don't have to include all of them: '94 GK Matt Turner, NE Revolution (one of the leading candidates for MLS GK of the Year; Doyle even included him in his 2026 prediction: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/06/19/armchair-analyst-well-you-asked-it-2026-usmnt-roster) '92 DF Aaron Long, NYRB '94 DF Jake Nerwinski, Vancouver Whitecaps '94 DF Brendan Hines-Ike, Orebro (drawing Eredivisie interest) '99 DF Edwin Lara*, Pachuca (Mexico YNT, but has USYNT caps and calls himself Mexican-American on Instagram) '95 MF Romain Gall, Sundsvall (drawing a variety of European interest) '95 MF Jacori Hayes, FC Dallas '98 MF Kevin Lankford, Heidenheim '98 MF Wan Kuzain, Sporting KC '00 MF Jacobo Reyes, Monterrey '00 MF Richie Ledezma, RSL (I included him on my own roster, why not) '00 MF Alex Mendez, LAG '00 MF Andres Perea*, Atletico Nacional (Colombia YNT) '01 MF Azriel Gonzalez, Seattle Sounders '96 FW Corey Baird, RSL '96 FW Chris Mueller, Orlando City '98 FW Mason Toye, Minnesota United '00 FW Maurice Malone*, Augsburg (Germany YNT) '01 FW Folarin Balogun*, Arsenal (England YNT) '02 FW Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez, Seattle Sounders
Fxck it, I'll give it a shot. GK - Steffen, Gonzalez, Guzan D - Yedlin, Robinson, Moore, Brooks, CCV, Miazga, EPB, Zimmerman M - Adams, Arriola, Carleton, McKennie, Parks, Roldan, Saief F - Busio, Novakovich, Pulisic, Sargent, Weah (Alternates - Bono, Farfan, Glad, K. Acosta, Delgado, Gooch, Trapp, Wood)
I stand by my assertion that the USA will not only not qualify, it will not even make the Hex. If the USA had a real soccer federation that actually knew what it was doing, I would have a lot more confidence in the direction of the program. It does not matter who the US puts out on the field. A worthless federation and a worthless coach will doom their qualification effort.
You didn't have Mueller on there that I saw, otherwise I would have selected him. He's started pretty much off the bat in MLS, has requisite physical tools, attitude, some pretty slick moves and passes in his own area. Could improve on long vision but not as important if you put him in attacking positions. Instead I went w/ Kenny Saief who I probably would have dropped otherwise because he's nothing special as a creator or defender and I think he's going to move down the pecking order over time as a result. My roster as of now is: FW's: Sargent, Novakovich, Morris, Wood A-Mids: Pulisic, Mueller/Saief, Weah, Parks, Lletget D-Mids: McKennie, Roldan, EPB, Adams Backs: Robinson, Lima, Glad, Brooks, Miazga, Parker, Yedlin GK's: Steffen, Gonzalez, Horvath
I stand by my assertion the US will not only qualify, they'll win the hex. They'll be highly motivated by their exclusion this Cup, the talent base is stronger, no manager will be as prejudicial as Klinsmann in regards to where players ply their trades, the managers won't be as alienating of the players in the media out of narcisissm, they can't be worse tactically, and CONCACAF confirmed again this Cup they still suck. You're overreacting to the failure and taking it out on the pool that this fed is incompetent and corrupt. They were before 2017 and we never came close to being dq'ed before. Minor to moderate changes were at least made to between the Gulati resignation and institution of a GM position which will add another football mind in the chain to oversee the program.
Hey, there's a thread for this terrible opinion: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/unpopular-usmnt-or-us-soccer-opinions.2038782/page-29
Not so much what I'd pick but here's my wild ass guess: GK: Steffen, Bono, J. Gonzalez FB: Yedlin, Robinson, Moore, Bello CB: Brooks, Miazga, Parker, Palmer-Brown CM/CDM: McKennie, Parks, Durkin, Hyndman Wing/WM/CAM: Pulisic, J. Perez, Carleton, de la Fuente, Tillman CF: Weah, Sargent, Siebatcheu I was surprised to see Durkin only get the nod from 55% of BSers from the April poll.
I see a mildly athletic winger who's basically been figured out after a good month in MLS. Yes, Orlando has struggled, but whereas I think guys like Kljestan and Dwyer are basically just as productive/influential as ever, Mueller seems to have run out of ideas. He's a stronger, but slower version of Ethan Finlay, besides which, Saief is a better player, IMO. He's got to show some more production again for me to consider him part of the team, whereas Saief is clearly a perfect LWB behind Robinson in the 3-CB formation that we seem to be tending towards. Lima and Yedlin really shore up that side, and to be honest, I think I'd rather see EPB in the CB role instead of Brooks, who I think needs to play for Wolfsburg before we call him in again. That's basically our best roster as far as I'm concerned. Wonder what the best formation/lineup is...