Luna is primary backup to Pulisic on the left. Gozo is a right-sided player. He can play rightback, right wingback, and right wing. He's comp for Weah who hasn't done much under Poch.
For some reason for me it's Haji who's vulnerable. Weah can also play on the left. So with one forward at a time does the team need three? Is Pepi vulnerable? Wright isn't really a fit at left winger. Normally this late it's impossible but this coach has brought out some young MLS'ers so if he's blown away it's slightly possible.
Imo, 3 capable strikers are needed for a 1-striker system in a tournament. Going with 2 is asking for trouble. See, for example, the US in the 2014 WC.
If Sam Sarver isn't careful, he's going to become a cult legend. Come for the goal, stay for the celebration! Dallas won this game 3-2. Goals for SJ were from Leroux and Reid Roberts. Somebody was telling me the other day that we should pay attention to Reid Roberts too..................... 2055870124540698682 is not a valid tweet id
FWIW, Gozo played on the left yesterday in an advanced role. Officially a midfielder, but he looked like an inverted LW to me. One could argue that he is better on the right, but to my eye, he reminds me more of Pulisic than Luna, at least Pulisic when he is at his best. I'm one that feels that CP is most dangerous on the wing, receiving balls in the final third, crashing the goal, combining in the box, etc. I have never been a fan of trying to play through him where he pulls the strings. There have been times at Milan where he has looked maybe ok in the latter role, but for most of his career, particularly with the US, that hasn't been the case...IMO. For the record, I'm not necessarily advocating that Poch takes Gozo over Luna. To play devils advocate, there have been times under Poch, when the offense has looked more in synch with Luna in the Puli roles than Puli himself. But that's another story.
Zavier Gozo scores his fourth goal in four games!@realsaltlake are level! pic.twitter.com/LS3PiobTxJ— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 17, 2026 His goal from last night
You're probably right, I'm just looking for cuts to get Gozo on the plane, and I don't think Wright will start or play any substantial role unless disaster strikes, but I guess we gotta look for cuts elsewhere.
Also you been preaching about this guy……… I love a good shothouser. I’ll be paying more attention to Mr Sarver.
He's bonkers emotional after scoring goals. Someone on a local soccer discord said he's now Stone Cold Sarver and he's making soccer like pro wrestling.
Making soccer fun again........................... The kind of guy that's easy to hate when he's on the opponent, but love when he's on your team. Former Crew academy player and fringe USYNTer. Anyway, Austin just cleared house. Former USMNT assistant Nico Estevez is out. Austin FC Parts Ways with Sporting Director Rodolfo Borrell and Head Coach Nico Estévez | Austin FC Former USMNTer Davy Arnaud has been named interim coach.
Teams are making moves early in prep for the world cup window. Everything indicates Portland is next (Neville for sure, doubtful on the CSO since he's tight with the owner but we'll see). LAFC fans want MDS out too, he really wasn't an exciting hire and he's been running his guys into the ground.
LAFC is interesting. After this weekend, they're behind both Dallas and Houston in the standings. FOR SHAME!!!!
Also worth mentioning that Sam Sarver was MLS Next Pro MVP last year. 19 goals and 5 assists in 25 games for North Texas. He was also Big 10 offensive MVP in 2023. This isn't a nobody. Any publicity is good publicity!!! Search for Sam Sarver today and he's everywhere. Nobody in the media is talking about Hugo Cuypers goal scoring streak. They're talking about Sam Sarver. In his instagram today he posted a picture of himself buying a bunch of Modelo. In the McAfee clip below. Making people pay attention man!!!!!!!! Making people talk about the USMNT!! SAM SARVER IS AN ABSOLUTE DAWG 🍻#PMSLive https://t.co/Hjopuek7Y1 pic.twitter.com/BqUW0QbUwm— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 18, 2026
Agree. Stylistic/matchup looks aside, if you have 2 and one gets hurt you're down to just 1, as you mentioned happened in Brazil. I'm meh on Wright...wouldn't call myself a hater but he wouldn't be in my 26 if Big Pat was healthy or if Sargent had done anything at all for the US in his many opportunities over the last the last half decade, hell if we had a big pre-WC camp with cuts to be made I might even be tempted to bring in Hall for a look, but as it stands I don't see how you can leave him out.
I agree on the necessity for a 3rd striker here. I'm also not a Wright hater, but I do think he's very limited and I hope he wouldn't need to see any minutes if he's there. That said, I'd rather take my chances with a dude like Gozo, who's really in form and offers a whole lot more je ne sais quoi than Wright. I was 100% on the Agyemang train prior, for the same reason.
Was listening to Soccerwise earlier, rarely do you hear Doyle, Gass, and Bogart universally dunk on someone like they dunked on Borrell for being so bad at his job
One thing I will say in defense of Austin, Estevez, and company is their big money DP signing tore his ACL. Last year he was the highest paid USMNTer in MLS. Brandon Vazquez. He only just now is back on the field in any capacity. Owen Wolff, their hotshot young player from last year, had hernia surgery and has missed the majority of this season. In MLS, its very difficult to win when your DPs go down. Even one of the three. Ask LA Galaxy last year. Ask San Diego this year, whose big money DP isn't playing. Chucky Lozano is seemingly by a pool drinking a Mai Tai. They went from Supporter's Shield contenders to currently out of the playoffs. Its firing season in MLS. Columbus has had a terrible start to the season. Max Arfsten and friends have a new coach. Laurent Courtois takes over. That guy took Montreal to the playoffs in 2024 and got fired. Montreal!! Columbus Crew fire coach Henrik Rydstrom | AP News There are a couple more coaches that should be feeling their seats on fire. Phil Neville in Portland is an obvious one. A really interesting one if Bradley Carnell in Philadelphia. Horrific start to the season, but he won the Supporter's Shield last season. With the front office mess in the offseason, is he to blame for their problems???
We only took 2 that Klinsmann has faith in. If you bring 2 guys you don’t want to play, and 2 you do want to play, you’ve brought 2 guys. And that wasn’t our formation. It was a 4-4-1-1 with Dempsey behind Jozy. When Jozy got hurt, Dempsey became the striker, and (and here’s where things went south) Bradley moved into the hole behind Clint.
This is all a matter of public record. In 2014 we played all 4 strikers. We started with Jozy and Dempsey in the 4-3-1-2 diamond we started playing in the Mexico friendly in April with MB90 at CAM a role Ancelotti used Bellingham in at Madrid. Jozy got hurt 20 minutes into the first match and was replaced by AJ who re aggregated an injury and was unavailable after that first match with Ghana. Our starting WC2014 lineup Dempsey Altidore MB90 Jones Beckerman Bedoya Beasley Besler Cameron Fabian Howard
Fair, but that was typically more of a 9/2nd striker setup, Dempsey was the latter and Klinsmann rightly didn't trust Wondo to start so it was effectively just Jozy and AJ, both of whom promptly got hurt leaving Dempsey to play semi out of position as the 9 for the remainder of the tournament