Berhalter announces 23 player squad for the 2019 Gold Cup

This may be the single greatest post ever this literally proves anything is possible and you can come to any conclusion despite any amount of facts to the contrary.

Its so bad its almost hard to argue against because you literally feel like you are running on stage and being mean to taylor swift.

The entire thing starts with listing four situations. you are trying to prove that GB isn't pulling the right guys into camp/using them correctly. You list four situations:

FJ:Easily proven false he had a bad season and is hurt
TC: Was hurt almost all season
FM:has done nothing to prove he is even average
TA:is he playing the correct position? well he is the best player the us has to play that position regardless if its his best position.

So you are trying to prove something true using the four situations and it turns out all are false....but is that enough to prove its false? nope because its the collective situations that were proven false that mean its true. Think about that from any scientific standpoint.

then the argument is that if every decision needs to be defended then it proves they are incorrect. Again an amazing statement from a scientific standpoint. Every statement should be defendable its when its not that its an issue lol not the other way around. We are debating them because thats what goes on a message board it doesn't make the decision right or wrong. I've listed reasons that FJ/TC/FM would've been terrible decisions to bring to the gold cup....so doesn't make it that he'd have to 'defend' those decisions which would make them wrong. See how its a pointless cycle. Would you have been ok if GB annonces a last minute decision to drop Tyler Adams for Timmy Chandler because Chandler is a better RB would you say that is a stance that wouldn't have to be defended?

 

C'mon, you don't just walk up to a lion and start talking.

 

There is definitely a bias against Morales. And Adams and Canouse and others. DMs who defend are not the player profile that GB is looking for. He has the whole team playing a system that fits two players in the player pool. One of which just got owned by Jamaica B. The other doesn't respond to danger around our box.

 

Bosnia's UEFA Club coefficient ranking is 40. FORTY. In their European competition this year they got knocked out by a team from Cypress in the Europa qualifying rounds.

That's not snobbery. That's confusing being clever with being "anti-establishment".

 

Faulkner much?

 

Putting aside all the bias stuff, the incompetence, etc. - how is it that a manager would only bring 2 cf's to a 7 game tournament?

I remember when Jurgen went to Rio with Jozy who gets injured then he turns to Johannsson who turns out to be injured even before showing up at camp and when he looks down the bench he sees Julian Green at 19 yrs of age and weighing 98 lbs soaking wet.

let's forget the mitigating factor for Klinsmann - we didn't really have many good players in that slot - and ask ourselves why 3G would not make room for Sargent. For a whole cycle and a half with JK I freak because we have no width; comes Berhalter and we have so much width that he plays Pulisic as a cmid. Said width includes Lewis, Arriola, Boyd, Morris, in addition to Pulisic. So 5 wide forwards and 2 center forwards - ? I believe Altidore was just recently injured and is actually rehabbing as I write this - how's the form? Does FIFA allow a replacement for Jozy's pre-existing injury to his hammy?

Not to mention Sargent could actually play wide if we wanted that. He plays wide role all the time, it just isn't his "official" position.

Let's forget for the moment about Sargent starting. One of the 2 cf's will be starting, in summer weather, and getting very hot and tired, cooling breaks notwithstanding. We need somebody who can come in fresh with a limited assignment, full of youthful energy chasing down balls, finding some space, doing some defending, etc. I don't see how anybody would be better suited than Sargent when you take all things into consideration.

 

you should read more carefully. i posted previously exactly what berhalter will be doing previously. what youre replying to was a response to another poster jokingly mentioning the setup we used against jamaica as a better alternative- i was illustrating that ANY standard setup is better than the gimmicky nonsense berhalter is committed to.

and i stand by what i said.

 

haha yeah...you didn't say it...but stand by what you said. Makes total sense to me.

 

you may not be aware but that is why they have Jozy/Zardes and morris on the roster...they have three. Sargent doesn't play on the wings he isn't a winger he isn't comfortable tracking back and you saw that against Jamaica. The 'try hard' guy you just described..that is morris/zardes.

 

i didnt say it is what will happen- which is how you addressed it. i specifically said in that post we will never see it.

i stand by my point that that hypothetical team would beat what berhalter is going to do.

i apologize for questioning your comprehension- youre clearly just trolling.

 

I just have a REALLY hard time believing the arrogance that anyone at US Soccer has when they are going to take one of the world's best young defensive midfielders (and yes, I firmly believe Tyler Adams is in that discussion) and play him out of position on a national team that isn't exactly brimming with talent.

It's one thing for a team like Belgium to play someone in a different role from their club role when you have talent all over the field (like when Martinez put Lukaku on the wing to give Marcelo fits in the Belgium/Brazil match). The United States can't afford to do that.

And don't even get me started on the Sargent debacle. If Sargent had ANY chance to be cut from the Gold Cup squad, he should have been on the U20 World Cup team from the start. It's just mind-blowing.

 

Nothing would surprise me but no I don't think so. But I'd love to hear them speak up as leaders because they are the team's new leaders.

 

Try hard sounds like participation trophy time. Effort is great and Berhalter's team didn't show that effort against Jamaica btw.. But at the international soccer level it needs actual talent to go with it. Neither Zardes nor Morris possess that talent. Yedlin tries hard too but I can find posts of yours and others who say he's not worthy.

At some point, you get the talent you need and coach them up. And in 2019, there actually is the talent in the pool. Too bad the same old rehash is taking that focus away.

 

People are actually defending Nepotism Gregg's selection of numerous players who could not make a 2 Bundesliga roster over players who are part time starters on 1 Bundesliga teams, because those players did not get enough starts/were injured for part of the season? Really?

 

Here's an idea for a totally insane "experiment" by Gregg: play Adams and McKennie together in the mid without Trapp or Bradley present. Throw Pulisic in front of them and watch what happens to the amount of space forwards and wingers have with the ball. I went back and looked at the lineups and only master strategist Dave Sarachan even thought it would be worth a try to play those two together in the midfield but always with a large sandbag strapped to their ankles in the form of Bradley or Trapp. Back then the argument was that they can't either one play as a sole 6. Then Tyler Adams did it at a much higher level than pretty much anyone in our pool has ever done and now the excuse is "system." Never giving the fans a chance to see it is so transparent and absolutely intentional.

Fyi, the last time they played in the midfield together was against Mexico in September 2018 and Tyler Adams scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory. We probably don't need any more of that...

 

Can only figure it was a matter of timing. Sargent had nothing to gain and, depending how the scouts looked at him, maybe more to lose by going U20. Combine that with his most recent form dipping below Nats level. Still he could have helped that U20 side.

 

I agree that Sargent should be included but I'm sure that Jordan can chase guys around as the young energetic presser.

Also, Jozy just went back to back 90s for TFC so maybe we are going to be ok.

 

Your argument at this point is getting misleading. First, the kid is being signed to AEK. Not the Bosnian Beer League or whatever you are tossing about.

Second, if you read the initial post. I said Adams. I said McKennie. I said Holmes. I said look under rocks. I mentioned Sabadnovic. My main argument here was there are other options vs we're stuck. I think in context I win that one easy. The first few on other options are not even really fairly debatable which is why you are obsessing about the dual national Serb. I would like to see him tried with a bunch of other prospects. But acting like I was being too "clever" or "antiestablishment" when the first few on my list are already in the 23 is bull. The first one is obvious and being played out of position and is good. The second is fairly obvious and has been played at 6 already. The third is creative but I could see the potential snarl in his play the other night. The Serb is also creative and far out of box, but also unnecessary to me making a reasonable argument. And if you go back to my point being "there are options," this is relative to Trapp, Roldan, Mihailovic. Any time we quit implying I am sending up someone from the Icelandic Beer League to challenge Steffen or Pulisic is fine by me. I am offering an out of box suggestion along with a few others better known, to go against MLS level rubbiish and an old fart.

In that context, for all I know, AEK is sufficient. Just like we rostered a Kiwi playing in Turkey. I am not sure how that will turn out -- all I am saying is cap em and see -- but a team trying to find traction's road to success doesn't run through becoming selection-conservative and -defensive. We need to have some kids pan out and turn over some rocks. And we can't afford to play the wrong guys so the coach can experiment with people out of position.

 

That's what will happen though. We missed the WC, our team stinks, and we're pretty much doing the same exact thing. Five guys in Europe you cannot possibly ignore (for many reasons, but for USSF, primarily marketing), surrounded by MLS.

You offered options. We all want options explored, and are willing to try many different ones to move out of the current malaise.

GB/USSF defenders don't want options. They want MB/WT in the midfield, and Omar/Ream in the squad. That is the only solution. Nothing else has been tried, because it won't work.

So instead of debating options (bc again, they won't work), we look towards a rando Bosnian i've never heard of, and ridicule it.

All to keep the appearance, for some reason, that turning over the squad after missing the WC out of Concacaf is ridiculous, and we need to keep moving forward with many of the same players that have already failed, or keep WT in the team despite getting run over by Jamaica's B team.

Interesting tactic, i guess?

 

Fire Gregg. Sargent Is more important to the program’s future than he is.

 

You mean a setup like this in a 4-2-3-1?

McKennie and Adams as the two defensive mids?
Weah at a wing and Pulisic at the 10? (I admit I'm struggling with who would play the other winger in this setup.)

Nah, makes too much sense. Let's just go back to playing Adams at right back. Seems logical.

 

Or for excuses to demonstrate their Sabandzovic....ya sure you betcha

 

I wish there was more. There was a period where Nat caps where used as a currency for getting over to European leagues with restrictions. I think it still can be.

But your right that none of the players getting caps are those type and we are wasting competitive caps on known quantities. That does make a lot of dedicated fans, especially with long associations following the program, absolutely furious.

To be fair though, this has been a critical issue starting after Bradley and it's been a steep decline with each successive manager.

 

UNbelievable!!!