Pre-match: 2024 Friendlies v Panama {Oct 12th} & Mexico {Oct 15th} (Poch's 1st Window)

That Estadio Akron threw me. At first I thought it was in Akron and the Estadio was a joke. Then I remembered MLS has stadiums in Cinncy and Columbus so why Akron. then it hit me it is in MX but for some reason has a very non-Mexican name attached to it. Sponsor?

 

It would appear so yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estadio_Akron

In December 2017, the stadium changed its name from Estadio Omnilife to Estadio Akron, after signing a sponsorship deal with a car lubricants firm for 10 years.

 

Gotta say... I can't think of two better CONCACAF Teams to face. Mexico for obvious reasons and Panama which has beaten two versions of our teams in the GC Finals and Copa Group Stage. Poch and the players have an excellent opportunity to change the narrative in a hurry.

 

Those are basically opponents we could get in the window.

I don't know if any of those two Panama results are relevant at all to the future.
The 2023 Gold Cup game was with a real B version of our team that Panama's A team needed penalties to overcome. I mean, Aaron Long started that game. In the Copa group stage game, we got an early red card. Not really indicative of the team's qualities.

The time we played them before that was our home WCQer, and our A team beat the snot out of them 5-1. So what narrative needs changing? I don't know. Don't get an early red card and we're better than Panama.

 

If we can play Mexico and Panama with a new coach and still come out lifeless ... I may give up on this pool.

 

I hope you are right... but the mentality/self-belief on our current squad is far worse/lower than it was during WCQs. I am a big believer in recency and right now I think Panama and Canada both believe when they enter a game against us that they have our number. It is up to the players and the new coach to change it.

 

My first cut at a roster (and a bit bigger since it’s his first camp). I’d also call Kolesheo if he’s willing.

GK: Schulte, Turner, Freese, Slonina (I like the idea of alternating Slonina and Kochen as fourth keepers each window for now)
LB: Jedi, Lund, Tolkin
RB: Scally, Reynolds
CB: Richards, Zimmerman, McKenzie, Ream, Robinson
DM: Cardoso, Tessmann, Maloney
CM: McKennie, Musah, Reyna, Tillman, Morris
WF: Weah, Pulisic, Wright, Cowell, Luna
FW: Balogun, Sargent, Pepi

 

It's a very solid selection. I would make a few changes:

1) I do think now is the time to say goodbye to Ream... so I would bring Neal in his place.
2) I am not a fan of Maloney but I would be OK w/ the call up given depth at the position... not sure he would see the field for me though.
3) I also don't think we need 3 LBs and I still rate Wiley higher than Tolkin based on ceiling. Again.. with two games would a 3rd LB even see the pitch?

 

It’s more of a camp thing in terms of the left backs. For this window i think you call a bigger roster just to see guys in camp even if they won’t play.

I think Ream is probably one of the players Pochettino is the most familiar with and I think you bring him to camp and see if he has anything left in the tank or not or if Pochettino thinks he can helpful.

 

I would tell Poch if you want to call players from MLS and you get resistance because the teams tell you they're preparing for Decision Day on the 19th, tell them to kick rocks and call the players in anyway.

 

Just did this in the player pool thread

 

CF: Pepi, Sargent, JMo
W: Pulisic, Weah, Balogun, Paredes?, Luna
CAM: Gio?, BAaronson, Guti
CM: Wes, Musah, AMo, LDLT, Sands, Tessmann
CB: Richards, Miles, Zimmerman, Neal
FB: ARob, Tolkin, Scally, Fossey, Jones
GK: Schulte, Turner, Freese?

I expect Poch to do something very different his 1st go round. So hopefully he learns along the way.

 

Maybe some will admit that GGG was the solution, not the problem.

 

advice for poch, you say? https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/new-zealand-friendly.2132499/page-2#post-42517820

that said, poch has to evaluate the pool himself (the players i personally think need to be "given a break" are asterisked). i think ream and balo should be out, full stop. the only two omissions here (imo) are zim and tolkin, who i think deserve full (re)consideration but am "deferring" to jan camp as i think i already have over 30 listed here and im not sure how productive any more than 22 are in a "first look" camp...

gk schulte
gk slonina
gk turner*
i want to be clear turner is only included as the experienced, "rimando" role- he shouldnt be in consideration for pt. theres simply no justification for that whatsoever.

rb scally
rb fossey
scally is a lock in the team for me, though his inability to contribute enough going forward limits him and we need to address that. we need to see fossey, you know, defend.

cb richards
cb miles
cb mckenzie
cb ccv
cb trusty
no real input here (ive talked about this plenty). i want to see trusty, but this is the place poch is gonna have to earn his salary.

lb jedi
lb lund
i think we have plenty to go on re lund (and have neglected tolkin to this point), but whatever.

dm maloney
dm tesserman
how do we parse the midfield before we know how it will possibly be utilized? i just sorted vaguely into 3 baskets. honestly its adams and maloney and then the rest of the guys (save gio and malik) are defensive 8s at most.

cm mckennie
cm morris
cm musah*
dm cardoso*
ive talked a lot about musah needing to clear his head out a little, while cardoso and tillman are really pushing that "how many chances do you get to translate club form to nt?" barrier for me...

am reyna
am luca
am tillman*
this is just a grab bag- reyna may still be out, luca doesnt have a team...but i mean, somebody has to play. puli a possibility- basically hes the easy answer to any of the front "4" questions we cant figure out...

rw weah
rw paredes
pending fitness, etc. koleosho, blah, blah. ill say here, though, it seems like wiley has replaced paredes in discussions lately (exceedly wrongly as lbs, but also here where they can actually contibute at this level) which is weird. kevin is still a bit undercooked, but wiley aint even close.

st sargent
st pepi
st wright
as i said, for me its extremely important for chemistry/"culture" to show balo the door, especially in terms of pushing other guys out of this spot. yes, wright can play- and is possibly better as- a nominal lw, but i believe that is pulis best position/role for us. i want haji in the mix at cf as pepi is the only guy with any size/holdup ability who is fit during intl windows (im not dumping on sarge here, but it is what it is- and his club gets all the minutes he can manage). have vazquez (and ferreira if youre one of those goobers) in jan camp for sure, but i just think hes solidly behind these guys.

lw pulisic
lw cowell
to continue a thought- considering i would use puli exclusively here (though tweaking it to more of a second st/son-esque role)- there really arent the minutes here for haji to "only" be pulis backup. its sort of like backup lb- we may be better off going with solid and dependable than dynamic. that said, i think cowell has enormous value simply due to how many scrawny guys we have. if you are looking at a late game spark and your options are wiley or paxten or whatever i would go with cowell easy. at least he can put his body into somebody.

which of course reminds me i forgot brendan. i think hes a fantastic squad player to have (much like i see morris). and we badly need usable depth- not just 11 neck-and-neck position battles. i think weve badly misused our bench over the last 6 years with exclusively guys who "could" start and then completely wasted vibes/experience spots. theres value in guys whos entire role is to simply come in and steady the ship, eat some minutes, yes some that provide a spark or change of pace- but this philosophy of "we arent going to use the 21st guy anyways" is for the birds. weve barely used the 14th, 15th guy.

establishing our depth as a defined, usable part of the team (that is actually utilized well) is one area i have a lot of confidence in poch bringing- simply due to being a real soccer manager.

 

If I’m Poch, my first line up….

GK Patrick Schulte, Gabriel Slonina, Roman Celentano
RB Joe Scally, Marlon Fossey
CB Chris Richards, Miles Robinson
CB Mark McKenzie, Auston Trusty
LB Jedi Robinson, Caleb Wiley
RM Brenden Aaronson, Malik Tillman
CM Yunus Musah, Johnny Cardoso
CM Tanner Tessmann, Aidan Morris
LM Christian Pulisic, Luca de la Torre
FW Folarin Balogun, Brandon Vazquez
FW Ricardo Pepi, Haji Wright

Alternates/Reserves: Matt Turner, Ethan Horvath, Diego Kochen, Kristoffer Lund, John Tolkin, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Walker Zimmerman, Richie Ledezma, Bryan Reynolds, Rokas Puktsas, Paxten Aaronson, Griffin Yow, Cade Cowell, Taylor Booth, Diego Luna, Jordan Pefok

Injury list: Weah, McKennie, Paredes, Dest, Adams, Busio, Gio, Sargent, Maloney

Note: I would consider dropping Brenden Aaronson for his brother, Paxten Aaronson, and Luca de la Torre for Griffin Yow to get some fresh faces. Obviously, Koleosho over all of these if he would accept. But not counting that until it happens. I’d also probably call in Cameron Carter-Vickers over Miles Robinson, since I’ll probably since Miles over the January window and want to see CCV. But for now, I’m sticking with what I’d say is my best available 23.

 

How was he the solution, when this problem arose under him for a year?

It would be an indictment the squad grandfathered in was lacking. The squad I promoted above is almost half different. But I don't expect Poch to have that pool knowledge or open-mindedness.

Bruce Arena not turning things around enough in the '18 cycle, after Klinsmann dug a hole for a yr in a half, doesn't mean Jurgen wasn't a problem.

Obviously w/ the pool we should have been able to get results from Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama, etc.; under Jurgen. And Panama, T&T, practically Jamaica b at home; under Gregg.

 

im not calling you out or anything- im just talking- but i dont get this at all. im assuming youre in favor of/see adams as an important part of the team and his entire worth is as one dedicated "6" to cover the backline.

no one else can do that other than possibly maloney. tesserman and morris are sort of close, but im not sure if theyre even at a vs mexico (much less above) level of actually defending/covering the backline on either of their own. i mean, musah and johnny have shown they unequivocally cannot.

so i understand that a lone 6/adams is an outlier as a role in the team- we will almost certainly see 2 deeper cms combining to accomplish that. but with 26 man rosters why wouldnt we have that tool in the box if we plan on using it at all (which adams' would indicate is the case)?

but we need to at least see it with the nats (maloney as adams/lone 6 with two cms ahead). i mean, how many times do we have to see club/nt form/level being two completely different things?

 

i agree, but i also think we can use jan camp better than we have been. poch has a lot of guys to see, and while i dont think any of the big decisions are going to be able to be addressed in jan i think it makes sense to loosen the logjam by "saving" some of the guys for then.

schulte, miles, zim, tolkin and cowell are the available jan guys i think are closest to the first team discussion, and i dont think its a snub to look at other guys here. i dont think vazquz vs ferreira, or basset vs mihailovic really matter, nor do i think luna, tim tillman or neal are the potential factors others do- but we should make the most we can of that.

cause how can a 32 man roster for a couple of friendlies really help evaluate/sort anything out, you know?

eta i obviously went well beyond your comment/post, apologies.

 

I don’t think that’s how I’d quite put it. Berhalter was fine and a coach who during the first cycle generally met the baseline for the talent level of the pool.

He’s not however an elite coach globally and with Pochettino we have that. The ceiling will still be limited by the talent in the pool, but there will be some marginal amount more he should be able to get out of it.

Berhalter wasn’t the problem but I don’t think I’d call him the solution either. He was mostly just fine. But I also never thought we’d get a coach the caliber of Pochettino.

 

Serious question: How will Pochettino motivate the team?

 

Mexico is the only opponent our guys are always up for so that should be good. Wouldn’t be surprised if they look drab against Panama though.

 

Lazy asses would NEVER get call up if they didn’t work hard in the camp.