Thought this deseved a thread all its own: https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...-soccer-team-roster-players-2024-copa-america GOALKEEPERS (3): 18-Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City/WAL; 9), 25-Sean Johnson (Toronto FC/CAN; 13), 1-Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 41) DEFENDERS (9): 2-Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic/SCO; 17/0), 23-Kristoffer Lund (Palermo/ITA; 3/0), 24-Mark McKenzie (Genk/BEL; 13/0), 16-Shaq Moore (Nashville SC; 19/1), 13-Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 58/1), 3-Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 18/1), 5-Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 43/4), 12-Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 29/3), 22-Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 11/0) MIDFIELDERS (7): 4-Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG; 39/2), 15-Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis/ESP; 13/0), 14-Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP; 21/0), 8-Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 53/11), 6-Yunus Musah (AC Milan; ITA; 37/0), 7-Gio Reyna (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 28/8), 17-Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 11/0) FORWARDS (7): 11-Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin/GER; 41/8), 20-Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA; 12/3), 9-Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 25/10), 10-Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 68/29), 26-Josh Sargent (Norwich City/ENG; 23/5), 21-Tim Weah (Juventus/ITA; 39/6), 19-Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 10/4) Discuss.
FWIW: Current Big 5: 15 Current MLS: 3 Current non-big 5: 8 More with MLS roots, of course: Turner, Adams, Pepi, etc. Same as the 27 man for the friendlies minus Tim Tillman.
Looks like a solid group of 26. It's definitely been interesting how straightforward of the squad callups with the full national team available since the 2022 World Cup have been fairly routine. First with Hudson and Callaghan in the immediate aftermath of the World Cup. There was a little more scrutiny about what exactly Berhalter would do once he came back in last fall, but he pretty much continued with the same concepts.
wish we carried maloney with adams' fitness. i dont see why we are carrying sarge (and agree there was no scenario timmy was going to play) but whatever.
Well, I think the reasons would go something like: 1) They think he will be healthy enough to play. 2) They think, when healthy, he is one of our best attackers (made WC squad & started) and can play wide. 3) He is arguably our most in form/productive attacker at club level. 4) With a 26 person roster, you can bring a couple luxury or high risk/high return guys.
We don’t need 5 center backs if we’re never going to play 3 at the back. Don’t get that one. I get it for camp purposes, trying to find the best out of a rough group, but for the tournament not at all.
There are 5 CBs on the roster: Ream, Richards, M. Robinson, CCV, and McKenzie. As for those decrying the lack of Maloney at DM, I don't really get that, either. Adams, Cardosa, and Musah can all play DM. Richards has played there for Palace. LDLT can do it in a pinch and has forcthe Nats. As can/could McKennie. We already have 3, 4, 5, or 6 guys who can play there.
Richard has been poor. I guess Miles is not convincing in training, CCV is not a good player. He looks ok in Scotland because he's playing against clubs that would have a hard time not being at the bottom of MLS. The prospective starting CB pair of Chris-Cameron is scary. Good thing we're playing Bolivia first, and those guys cannot score at sea level (Arlington is like 600 feet above sea level, which is nothing compared to Bolivian cities --the ball acts weird when you're over 2 miles high, you should watch some of the goals Bolivia scores in La Paz).
I know there are 5 cb’s on the roster, that’s why I said I don’t get why there are that many if we’re not playing three in the back. Having said that, I don’t know who I would replace that player with. My inclination is an X factor attacker, not another DM, but there’s no X factor attacker that leaps out as a great option that’s not in the team if Paredes and Esmir, dribble merchants who can flip a game when throwing caution to the wind, are for the Olympics. Haji is more likely to outright score than them anyway.
the 3 "extra" spots are just depth- i get that. our team is here. sarge or timmy tillman or 5th cbs i dont really care, im just talking. ...but adams was on a 20 minute limit yesterday, so if youre cool with cardoso and musah being the only other vaguely defensive cms on the roster then great. what could possibly go wrong? so yeah, screw that last spot! when has the hubris of carrying injured players ever hurt us? 3 world cups isnt that many when you really think about it, i guess.
I’d rather have a 4th DM than a fifth CB for sure, but I’m not pressed for that either and looking at it written down I’m not even sure it’s the right call.
Are we sure we're not going to play three at the back at all? We have used it at minimum as a defensive move late. We also have 26 slots and a relative dearth of fullback options people seem to like, so that could be part of it as well.
I don't know. We were all worried about Adams' fitness before the Nations League, and then what did he do? It's a frequent pattern with Adams over the last couple of years. Fitness concerns: then he shows up and excels anyway. I suspect the plan is for him to contribute and I bet he's going to be good.
As a defender, Richards played mostly on the left a back three for Palace. He may be more comfortable in Tim Ream's position. If Musah is played at d-mid, and 5 CBs are taken, then there is no room for Maloney. Musah, Adams, and Cardoso are the DMs. If GGG wants to emphasize pressing and midfield possession at the striker position, then Pepi and Sargent are the players. Aaronson has also excelled in the role.
I have no major qualms w/ the roster. A couple of comments: I don't get the love for Maloney... Adams, Johnny and Musah are better options by a pretty significant margin IMO. That is deep enough at DM. The FB position is pretty thin w/o Dest out. I am not a huge fan of Moore/Lund at the USMNT level but they have been with the camp and I am hopeful they rise to the occasion. WRT Sargent... I have to assume the issues w/ his ankle are improving and GB is hopeful he can contribute down the stretch. Likely as a sub. I think it would make a bit more sense if we ran a 4-4-2 w/ CP and Balo sharing time as a paired striker w/ Pepi, Wright and Sargent. But I no longer have any faith that GB will adjust the formation in any meaningful way. We are a 4-3-3 team no matter what. Makes it so easy to prepare for us... oh well.
great point. we were all worried about his fitness before the nations league and since then hes been fit as a fiddle. i stand corrected.
Interesting to compare this squad to the WC squad. Goalies are the same: Turner, Horvath, Johnson Center backs: Ream, CCV are holdovers. Richards, McKenzie and Miles replace Zimmerman and Long. Fullbacks: Jedi, Scally and Moore are holdovers. Lund replaces Yedlin and Dest Mids: Adams, Musah, McKennie, Reyna, LDLT are holdovers. Tillman and Cardoso replace Roldan and Acosta Center forwards: Sargent and Wright are holdovers. Balogun and Pepi replace Ferreira. Wide attackers: Pulisic, Weah and Aaronson are holdovers. Morris was dropped. There is no "starlet" on this team but several youngish players (some of whom played a role in the last cycle) have pushed their way into the squad: Pepi, Cardoso, Tillman and McKenzie. Miles and Richards take their places after missing out due to injury. Balogun and Lund are newly recruited dual nationals. Morris and Yedlin can be said to have aged out. In other cases better players stepped in and took someone's spot (Tillman and Cardoso for Acosta and Roldan, Balogun and Pepi for Ferreira). Or in the case of Dest and to a certain extent Zimmerman have been left out due to injury.
Some notable choices: 1) McKenzie is at least slightly preferred over Trusty and Miazga. Zimmerman is a special case due to injury issues and Olympics. Absent those considerations, I don't think McKenzie is ahead of Zimmerman. 2) Paredes would probably be on the squad if not for the Olympics. Hard to say at whose expense. 3) Lund over Jones, Tolkin, Wiley and some others. Berhalter seems firm in this choice. I'm ok with it, but it strikes me as a close call. 4) Moore over Jones and Yedlin. Questionable. But Jones has had some injury issues this year. I don't think Lennon is in the discussion. Nice MLS player but not the defender we need at the international level.
I will say at least at centerback, Robinson and Richards would have definitely been at the World Cup if healthy (I’m guessing at the expense of Long and CCV). And Moore would have dropped off this roster obviously if Dest had been healthy.
I think Berhalter would have ultimately brought back Ream no matter what. And I think Long (who was the only center back to not play at the World Cup and hasn’t been called up by Berhalter since) would have been the odd man out.
I hadn't thought about this before seeing the comparisons but it really is noticeable that the back-ups everyone hated are essentially gone other than Moore and he's only here because of injury. Still have questions about CB and too many of these players are coming off poor seasons but that said, the US Soccer fan in me ten years ago would've been crazy pumped out this roster and the fan 20 years ago would've been over the moon.
Gotcha. But 4 is pretty standard for a 23 person roster. We have 3 extra spots. GK or FB (where we are already down the depth chart) do not make much sense for an extra spot. That leaves CB, CM, and attack. Which is what we went with. And I wouldn't be too sure about not playing 3 in the back.
It's the truth and notable when you compare this team to the World Cup team. 18 out of 26 players in the Copa America squad also made the World Cup squad: Turner, Horvath, S. Johnson, Ream, Carter-Vickers, A. Robinson, Scally, Moore, Adams, McKennie, Musah, de la Torre, Pulisic, Weah, Aaronson, Reyna, Wright, and Sargent Injuries and the Olympics (IMO) have impacted a few of the choices. Sergino Dest is missing out on the Copa America due to injury. IMO, Walker Zimmerman would still be the #4 center back in Berhalter's hierarchy but was chosen to lead the Olympic team instead. And then previously in 2022, Miles Robinson and Chris Richards both likely missed out on the World Cup due to injuries. But the other 6 players from the World Cup squad who are not here, Aaron Long, DeAndre Yedlin, Kellyn Acosta, Cristian Roldan, Jordan Morris, and Jesus Ferreira, have only played in MLS-only US matches or the 2023 Gold Cup team largely comprised of MLS players. They've all been leapfrogged. Same with a few other important players of the 2022 cycle like Paul Arriola and Zack Steffen. Then 6 new players have taken their place: Mark McKenzie, Kristoffer Lund, Johnny Cardoso, Malik Tillman, Folarin Balogun, and Ricardo Pepi. I don't think there are too many questions about whether these players belong other than maybe McKenzie and Lund. The one exception to the pattern appears to be Shaq Moore, who had fallen out of the picture like the rest of the MLS group after 2022 but has returned to the squad as cover after Dest's injury.