B.J. Callaghan on omitting Mark McKenzie from the #USMNT Nations League squad:"It's a hard, hard conversation to have with him... He was understanding, he was professional, but at the same time - and what I would expect - he wasn't happy."— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) June 1, 2023 indeed
Surprised to hear he was understanding because I would love to understand the logic of telling him what he would need to do better of late in order to make the squad? Score more than one goal a game as a defender? Consistently play both CB roles at the same time?
I imagine that he was told that he will play the Gold Cup, so 6 matches vs 2 matches. I think that as one of Yanks Abroad whose club situation is stable this summer, that might have played into it as well so he could be away from Genk for a month. Personally I have no idea why Chris Richards is in there when he has hardly played at all this season and McKenzie is not, but I am a McKenzie guy here..
I have nothing against the call ups and I'm fine with McKenzie playing 6 games in the GC, but I do think Chris Richards has been the "future" of the CB position for the past 5 years now. What is the statue of limitations on that kind of thing? He's getting a LOT of mileage out of being a Bayern prospect in 2018 but look at his club history and the reality is he played 447 minutes this past season and has not actually won a starting job long term ever lol. (long term as in more than 6 months across two separate loan stints a year apart, 2+ years ago...)
The two loan spells were basically consecutive, so he did start by my count 19 Bundesliga games for Hoffenheim over the course of a single calendar year in 2021, i.e., just over half their games in that period. It's borderline, but you can make an argument he was a starter for about a year there.
Ah my bad, for some reason I was under the impression the loan spells where across two consecutive Jan-March/spring portions of the season.
Sasha Kljestan and Calen Carr both spoke on the MLS Extra-time podcast that dropped on 1 June that McKenzie was the notable omission from the squad. Sasha is one the best spokesmen for the quality of the Belgian league in the US.
Here is what needs to happen tomorrow for Genk to win the title this weekend. This came from here. Genk must beat Antwerp at home, and Union lose to Club Brugge. To make the Champions League, Genk must earn more points than Union. A win will see them finish at least at least second. If both Genk and Union win, then the Genk will end the season in second. If Genk draws and Union loses they finish in second. Genk will finish third if they lose, or both games are drawn.
Next match - 4 June 2023 Antwerp @ Genk 11:25 AM EST on ESPN + He should start as normal. Should be a fun match.
Union score right after halftime and are now in the lead for the title. Nothing Genk can do except keep their lead and hope Brugge score. I think Antwerp has a chance if they can overcome Genk, so they have to be careful.
Now it is 1-1 Genk - Antwerp and Union has gone ahead as well. 30 min or so left to turn things around. Right now, Union wins the championship with Antwerp 2nd and Genk 3rd.
I don’t think McKenzie was involved in the goal. The other CB tried to block the shot but it went in anyway.
Genk gets one in the 75', they currently sit in 2nd. Brugge needs to score for Genk to win the title.
McKenzie fell on his left shoulder and was in pain and is back in the game, but that shoulder is clearly lying useless at his side right now...