This has nothing to do with Pirlo. The maestro is one of a kind, but if you want to digress I bet I have seen more of Pirlo than you, including live at WC2006 in Germany!
To beat a bunker, we need someone who can score goals with his head. Say what you will, but Gyasi Zardes is probably an outstanding forward choice in this department. It’s just when a game opens up that he turns into trash.
At this point most of the lineup writes itself: --------------------------????----------------------------- Dest--------?????-----------Brooks--------Robinson ------------------Adams-----McKennie--------------- Morris----------------Reyna-------------------Pulisic --------------------------????-------------------------- with the question marks indicating where we have several bad options. Thing is, that team is a couple of injuries away from being in big trouble. And even if they all are healthy, whoever pairs with Brooks needs to be agile and have a good instinct at position, and I'm not sure we have anyone like that. The forward situation is a disaster, and the keeper is likely going to be someone very rusty. While we should qualify on paper (barring injuries), I think it's far too optimistic to think we have it in the bag.
Ebobisse is very good with his head. As I've noted elsewhere, he was excellent throughout the MLS is Back tournament and has grown his game by leaps and bounds since last season. If he keeps it up, he'll be pushing for that 9 spot very soon.
I posted it somewhere but just goal scoring is almost equal L/R/H I’m not joking when I say, he could be the 9 with dynamic wingers right now and I wouldn’t be worried. The Octagon is not going to feature too many defenders better than the MLS knockout rounds.
I don’t see why we are bound to start some rusty keeper when Matt Turner has been stopping shots at an elite level for 2 years. Why do we have to try to be a destitute man's Liverpool or Man City with a sweeper keeper? Let the keeper stop shots and roll the ball to a CB or one of our elite playmaking outside backs if need be.
Strangely, the same argument can be made for a more defensive DM. After Adams who is it? Canouse? You can divide the 6's up either way and you kind of come out to Adams plays one way, but there really isn't anyone behind him that is proven. It kind of comes down to maybe Sands or Cappis and maybe McKennie. Now, I would take Adams, Sands over Yueill/Bradley. But it isn't great. But I do agree,if it is not great, at least put the best player (Adams) in and work from there.
I think Zardes is now overrated. He scored 13 goals in MLS last year.(three from PKs). That was 12th in MLS and a fraction of what the top scorers did. He was third out of Americans (Wondo, Sapong). I think 2 were with his head. He converts big chances at a 1 in 3 clip; so is not a great finisher with any part of his body. He is ok. He will be over 30 when Qatar starts, time to try other people. This is not an elite forward and he cannot play possession.
You probably have as Serie A has always been hard to follow. I did see enough of him to realize he could do the magical thing that Berhalter wants from that position. Players knew and made runs knowing his magic foot would give them easy goals. The problem is even though he could break down a bunker no one else can. So it doesn't makes sense to build around a third rate Pirlo. Not even sure even if we did have Pirlo in early form it would fit the rest of the team. They are much more of a pressing direct bunch than a probing bunch. OK, classic Pirlo can be moved up to the free 8/10 spot as he would be on the field just for free kicks and corners. Alex Mendez should watch tapes of Pirlo every day. He actually has a path for the role as Pirlo was a #10 and it wasn't until he was moved back into the deeper "Pirlo" role that he became what every knew him as. Could Mendez become that deep player somehow?
So that I’m not misunderstood, I’m not advocating him as my first, second, or even third choice. But to say, I could see him be that forward who is often used in WCQ because he probably excels in that CONCACAF environment.
I got you. But which WCQ'ing environment has he excelled in? I don't think he has ever played a game in the Hex. I remember him missing an open header against T&T in the sub-Hex last cycle. The Gold Cup? Did he score against Jamaica or Mexico? Curacao? Panama? People saw him and thought trampoline. But now, they are projecting things onto him he is not and never has been. Fourth on the depth chart is fine, that is where I would have him. But let's not pretend that if he is starting in WCQ'ing, something horrible has happened.
No doubt... Who do we have at CF now? Josh Sargent should be the de facto starter but we need him to take that next step. Right now, he’s struggling. But he’s still young. Behind him, Tim Weah is probably my next pick, but he’s got to get healthy and in form again. Sebastian Soto is done. He went from an extremely promising prospect to Danny Szetela too quickly. He has without a doubt the worst club decisions of any player I’ve ever heard of. Jesus Ferreira isn’t killing it, and he’s more of an AM. Ricardo Pepi is too young and too raw for this cycle. Andrija Novakovich might be that guy. But he’s not the second coming of Lewandowski either. Bobby Wood is done. Jozy Altidore is done. Haji Wright ain’t it. Brandon Vasquez certainly ain’t it. Charlie Kelman and Malick Sanogo could be it... in 2026. What’s up with Robbie Robinson? Mason Toye disappeared. Jeremy Ebobisse has showed promise. But is he above the Zardes line? I think he should get a shot but I’m not 110% convinced he’s the savior either. Ayo Akinola needs to commit and needs to continue to demonstrate consistency. He needs a shot. Folarin Bolagun needs to commit, but he has promise. Or he could be the next Zelalem.
Well ok but I just consider that a part of overall body of work. Certainly current form should count a lot.
When you really write it all out like that you can see just how dismal our prospects are at CF. Sargent is my de facto starting CF right now but while he showed growth this season I want to see a lot more. The last three on your list are intriguing but Ebobisse and Bolagun seems more like wingers to me. Akinola blew up at the tourney and I think has the most promise out of the guys on your list but am not at all confident he is going to choose the US. Canada is a super trendy team and I don't think JB is even going to invite him at this point while I think Canada will. I think this is a guy we may rue not locking up asap. I just started watching USL games trying to ID U18 players that might fill the role in the future and while there are several candidates it isn't a treasure trove... that is for sure. Most of the young guys I am interested in are playing midfield and winger roles.
I said it in various other posts about the "negativity" on this board, but the simple answer is to get rid of the 6. Our best current, and young/improving, talent is at the 8 or 10. Adams/Wes/Reyna/Morales/Pomykal/Aaronson/Holmes/potentially Cardosa?/Otasowie/Yeuill. If you need 3 midfielders, stick those guys in there. Best options will likely be two 8s and a 10 (or even 3 8s with one slightly advanced). Simply, any position that even involves the consideration of a current-era Bradley or Trapp to be on the team, much less on the field, is where the real issue lies.
I asked this somewhere else (maybe not to you), but what do you see about Sargent to consider him "struggling"? And conversely, what would you want to see out of a 20 year old in a first full season in the Bundesliga to consider him not struggling? I believe his season was around 1700 minutes, 4 goals, and 4 assists, for context.
Double digit American goalscorers the past 4 MLS seasons excluding PK goals: 2019 1. Wondo - 15 (0.68 goals/90) 2. Sapong - 13 (0.46 goals/90) 3. Altidore - 11 (0.59 goals/90) 3. Ebobisse - 11 (0.43 goals/90) 5. Morris - 10 (0.44 goals/90) 5. Zardes - 10 (0.36 goals/90) [excluding 3 PKs] 2018 1. Zardes - 16 (0.49 goals/90) [excluding 3 PKs] 2. Dwyer - 13 (0.52 goals/90) 3. Bunbury - 10 (0.35 goals/90) [excluding 1 PK] 2017 1. Sapong - 13 (0.42 goals/90) [excluding 3 PKs] 2. Altidore - 12 (0.49 goals/90) [excluding 3 PKs] 2. Wondo - 12 (0.36 goals/90) [excluding 1 PK] 4. Bruin - 11 (0.54 goals/90) 5. Dempsey - 10 (0.40 goals/90) [excluding 2 PKs] 2016 1. Dwyer - 16 (0.51 goals/90) 2. Morris - 12 (0.38 goals/90) 2. Pontius - 12 (0.42 goals/90) 4. Altidore - 10 (0.61 goals/90) 10+ goals in 3 out of past 4 seasons - Altidore 10+ goals in 2 out of past 4 seasons - Dwyer, Morris, Sapong, Wondo, Zardes 10+ goals and Age-Eligible for Olympics: Ebobisse 20 years old and already has 5 goals this year: Akinola (currently 1 goal/90) Exclude some of the guys we've moved on from (Wondo and maybe Dwyer and Sapong) and that's basically our domestic forward pool right now, barring any breakout performances from other young players this year. It's not the most impressive list and none of those players have looked dominant for more than a single season or so during that period (other than maybe Altidore during the periods he's been healthy).
Wanted to highlight these two. Is Josh really struggling? He’s a 20 year old striker in the Bundesliga. Played a good amount of minutes and seems to have forced his way into a bigger role next year. Yes we want more “numbers” and continued growth but I consider this year a success for his overall growth trajectory. Dude you’re a good poster, don’t fall trap to knee jerk hot takes like this. Soto went to Norwich a club that takes youth development seriously. Obviously the last year was a waste PT wise but it’s not like he hasn’t been training hard. He’s 20 and going on loan in the second division of Holland. Not ideal but also not end of world. If he does well there he will return to Norwich or go on loan to a better club/league. Their invested him. It’s not dire just yet. Look at Nova... he had similar bad decisions and he just helped get his team in seria b to seria a. He’s 23 and while he likely won’t be a USMNT player he’s not out of it just yet either. If he plays well in seria a next year he will be thrust into the conversation and at 24 won’t be an old timer either.
Nobody will ever provide a decent answer to the "Sargent is struggling narrative". Only five U-21 players in Germany put up better numbers than him last year - Sancho, Haaland, Havertz, Baumgartner, and Diaby. All played more minutes except Haaland, and Baumgartner was similar (~1400-1500 BL minutes). Most/All played on significantly better/higher scoring teams. The closest I guess is Baumgartner, who I don't know much about but had similar #s (7g/4a) in similar time (but for a 6th place team). All the other players are 50 million+ rated players. So apparently, if Sargent isn't rumored to the EPL for 50 mil, he's "struggling" i guess?
We don't have a striker I'm comfortable with. IMO our best hope over the next 12 months is Weah getting fit and playing regularly. Although if he were to be fit and playing it might be at winger for Lille. In which case I'd probably go --------------Sargent--------------- Pulisic-------Reyna---------Weah --------Adams------McKennie----- and get them as many games together as possible. And Reyna as a 10, I don't really care if he gets the 10 shirt or is considered a natural 10. What he is for our player pool is the player most suited to connect play from the CM's to the attack while allowing Pulisic to play at his best position.
I'd add Morris, since his scoring numbers are from the wing. But yes, other than Morris and a healthy Altidore, it's a lot of meh. That's also pretty true outside of MLS at CF. Right now we have a couple of guys, meh, and a small group of promising prospects who hopefully will break through. We got two years for someone to grab the job.
More goals. More games. More experience. Better sustained play. Frankly that goes for just about everyone. There are three players I'm comfortable with with the NT, as in, I'm not concerned about them being net positives each game. Pulisic Adams McKennie Most everyone else is proven to be mediocre or they're up and coming largely unproven players on the international scene.
I agree, but this may be a situation where the choice of striker may depend on the opponent and the style of play needed. Obviously, you only get 23 on a roster and can't allocate a bunch of your 10 non-keeper subs for forwards, but these are options for now. Lump crosses and look for headers? Probably Ebobisse Quicker 1-2s and combo play? Probably Sargent? Pressing? Probably Zardes More traditional hold-up play? Probably Jozy? Off the top of my head, if I get three total strikers I'd probably go with Jozy, Sargent, and Ebobisse right now (assuming Weah would be a striker/winger option when healthy as well and assuming Morris is the initial starter on right wing). I realize none of these are perfect, but we do need some tactical flexibility to break down CONCACAF teams that will bunker like crazy when the US is at home.
IMO you are being a bit too harsh. Would it be great to have an entire lineup of everyday quality players in top-league euro at every position? Yes. But most countries do not have that. I would added Dest to your list immediately and all signs point to Gio being very good as well. Robinson will likely get his chance in the EPL this season and could take a step forward and Sargent will get his chances as well in the BDL. Add on to that the fact that we have a lot of young guys approaching senior minutes in Europe [e.g. Richie, Llanez] and Weah hopefully returning to health and the options/depth becomes more intriguing. Lastly, there are players in the MLS that have showed promise and deserve some credit... Morris was our most consistent player overall on the USMNT last year and there are a host of young guys that may be able to fill important roles in the near future.