I am saying that players need to earn call ups at the club level. I didn't make any comment about who the best players are. The Dodgers aren't going to call up a first round pick 18 year old right out of high school just because their right fielder isn't playing well. I was listening to an interview with Berhalter yesterday where he said players will need to earn NT call ups at the club level.
I'm with ya on it. And not just Pomykal, but other U20s that performed well at the U20 CONCACAF Championships. Alex Mendez of Freiburg, for instance. Uly Llanez. The list goes on. Its not just Weah and Sargent. How many first team appearances did Keaton Parks have when he was called up to the USMNT? We called up players like Weah and Sargent because we know there's a dearth of "in their prime" forwards of distinction to call up. Bobby Wood. OK. But only 2 of the top 25 goal-scorers in MLS are US-eligible. So we cast a wide net with youngsters. The situation is even more dire in terms of #10s that are US-eligible. I mean, there is a real dearth of US_eligible players amongst the top 50 in MLS assists! GUys like Kljestan, Nguyen, Feilhaber, etc. are fading out. Where is the next generation of playmakers? Well, we have them. Let's provide them with opportunities. We don't have to start a player like Pomykal in the friendly against Panama. But how about we call him up to the January camp? Its just a camp. Which #10s are we calling up instead? I'm in favor of saying that USMNT callups need to be earned EXCEPT for the January camp. The January camp should be a time for the USMNT staff to call up ANYBODY they want to take a look at. I don't care if he wants to call up a 15 year old. Call up Gio Reyna for all I care. Call up George Bello. Uly Llanez isn't training anywhere because he's waiting for his 18th birthday to move to Europe? He presumably lives within driving distance to the training camp in California. Bring him in. Why not? IT'S JUST A CAMP! There can be 50 players for all I care. People have folders in their heads labeled as USMNT, U23, U20, U19, 18, U17, etc. based on their birth year or age group. We need to uncouple ourselves from that. THey are artificial designations. If you're good enough, you're old enough. There is literally no reason to call up a lot of the veteran players I see listed on some of these rosters. People are desperately searching for MLS options in some positions. Left back. So you end up picking veterans you know aren't USMNT material. Frickin' call up George Bello for Pete's sake. Villafana can start against Panama. That's fine and deserved. Are we really going to call up a fullback like Ben Sweat. Come on people...……………..…...
Lets say we don't use a blanket rule. Weah has 1G, 1A in 512 minutes for the NT. You think thats the level of production we need? I agree that the MLS wingers are probably even worse. Do I think Weah is a better footballer than Alex Muyl? I do, but that shouldn't matter. Weah is not producing right now for the NT. Is it because he doesn't have the talent to? No, its likely that he doesn't play regularly at any half-decent level, so he's not accustomed to the level of the NT. There is an adjustment for youth players. Thats why you don't rush prospects to the NT prior to them proving themselves at club level and then play them out of position because they are more dynamic than trash-level players. This is a great way to ruin a prospect. Weah didn't go out on loan in the summer. Why is that? He knows he's going to continue to get NT call ups, so he likely preferred NT call ups and getting to train with Neymar and Mbappe to going out on loan to a worse team where every week is a struggle for results. We should not be instilling that sense of entitlement. Besides, Weah is a prospect. He might be out of the game in five years. We don't know. He's a youth player. Recklessly promoting the players on the hype list because they are better than trash-level players is a good way to make your NT a joke and ruin these prospects. Some fans are so impatient. Fans pleasure should not take precedent over the development of these players.
I agree the team under Sarachan was not set up for success and it was detrimental at the end. But I also wouldn't take stats from the period as anything either. Would Weah start for the Colorado Rapids? Would we rather have the same player on a five year contract with Colorado or in PSG's system fighting with Neymar for playing time? Same thinking goes with Bobby Wood. If you don't think he could produce at Zardes levels playing last year for the Crew, I think you are mistaken. I also think Sargent would have scored 16+ for the Crew last year. But we really have to play Zardes over Sargent? We pay Stewart and Berhalter to put the best team on the field. Not to put an inferior team that has, "earned it" on the field. Who will be on the team in 2022 is also more important than who is getting minutes right now.
I hear not recklessly promoting youth players, but Tim Weah would smoke Alex Muyl any day of the week. The thing is not to set any hard fast rules. Sometimes, promoting a young player at the right time is the catalyst for that player to go on and do bigger and better things. Other times, it crushes the player. Neither one are wrong or correct. ultimately though, I lean towards pulling a young player aside, let him know where he’s at, set the expectation he needs to meet, and watch to see if he rises or falls to the occasion. Meanwhile, I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket.
Hopefully, in 2-4 years this is not that big a problem. We could have enough players who are young and playing at a high level that the next young players will have to get to that point too before getting caps. Camp invites are always good for rising talent. Hurrying to cap tie dual-nationals will also be less important unless they are exceptional. If we can get our talent pool to the point that MLS players aren't automatically involved (along with Championship and 2.Bund players), then we are getting somewhere. ----------W. Bremen---------- PSV---------Frieburg----------Chelsea -------Schalke----------RB Leipzig---- Ajax----Burnley---Wolfsburg---Newcastle This time in 2 years, those might be the clubs we have starters at.
Weah was weak out wide. He struggles in defending and struggles in imposing himself in games. He should only be used at striker. He desperately need games at club level. Saucedo, Nagbe, Picault, Arriola, Baird, Castillo, and Agudelo are the best wide players in MLS. Neither Weah nor Muyl should be getting minutes in wide positions for the NT.
Sargent should be with the U20s. With Adams and Sargent, the team stand a good chance of having a great tournament. Their releases could be bargained for by offering not to call them in for the Gold Cup.
Weah was brilliant out wide against the likes of Bolivia. Also he was pretty good at wing-forward in the u-20 WC. The difference was he could could stay relatively high and not have to do reactive defender than go 3/4 of the field to join the attack. For that to happen the U.S. needs to possess the ball or win it with pressure. It's a judgment call before the game whether we can project to do that. If it doesn't materialize the manager should have the flexibility to make him 1 of 2 up men centrally. So you don't want to have a Landon Donovan emerge and be the catalyst for the team dominating CONCACAF and being players in world competition for 10 years? Eddie Pope to be a rock-star at the back? Europe is the preferred but not the absolutely necessary route. Even those of Mastroeni's and Besler's ilk made a discernible positive difference. And when coaches denied them in part due to not having the mystique of playing overseas the national team suffered a little. This nostalgic and myopic elitism where you can define a squad by the club where they ply their trade is not very applicable to the U.S.. You should be a fan of Austria if you want that because for their players it takes care of itself. One way they get there anyway as an American is by including them in the national team first.
Once we have a stable program with a team culture and strategy, it makes sense to bring promising young players up to blood them, inculcate them into the senior team. It's done all over the world. If one of them produces during camp, reward them with some time on the pitch in a friendly.
Senior team comes first. Adams should be a lock for the senior team. Sargent might be too come summer.
Yup. We also need to recognize that not all callups are the same. We've had a bunch of "forward looking" rosters over the past year. The bar for a callup to those camps has been really low. The bar for a January camp is lower than for a camp in preparation for the Gold Cup. Different levels of experimentation when it comes to player selection. I mean...…………….as far as I'm concerned the coaching staff can call in whomever the hell they want for January camp. Now that we have a USMNT manager named we'll have a different focus. Berhalter said quite clearly in some recent interviews that his primary focus is on WC22. He said explicitly that his focus isn't on selecting a group to win Gold Cup 2019. So if you're focus is on WCQing 3 years from now, then you're not necessarily picking the players who are playing at their peak right now in 2018. Over our history we've called up all sorts of young players to the USMNT for the coaching staff to take a look. Sometimes they stick and sometimes they don't. When we look at the resumes of Pulisic and McKennie for their FIRST USMNT callup, they hadn't actually achieved all that much. But the staff saw in their limited first team games and initial USMNT callups, that they were players to keep in the group. Josh Sargent is reportedly going to be in the 18 for Werder Bremen this weekend. I don't think we're all that far from thinking Sargent is legitimately in the USMNT based on merit. Maybe by the time the Gold cup roster announcement rolls around, we'll think nothing of Josh's inclusion. Weah's reportedly going to be loaned out for playing time this January. Its been reported that clubs in England, France, and Germany have expressed interest. So again, maybe his play over the next 6 months will earn him a spot on the Gold Cup roster. We'll see. I mean the bar is pretty low for attacking players to make it into the USMNT. Do people really think we should be calling in Dom Dwyer and not Josh Sargent?
During the Sunday between-game show on FS1 when the Berhalter announcement came out, Kirovski and the other guy (a British guy I didn't recognize) were talking about how players weren't excited about call-ups anymore. They alluded to something about how they like you didn't really have to earn it anymore, and it wasn't as meaningful when lots of random, less established guys were getting called in every camp. I don't know if they were just extrapolating on Parkhurst's comments, or if they were hearing this independently, but I guess, if true, that could count as a reason against bringing in guys like Sargent and Weah.
Focusing on 3 years from now doesn't get you qualified for the WC. I am guessing 3G's comment is cover for not calling in MB, which is fine.
It was indeed a response to a question about Bradley, Altidore, and the approach to veteran players. Basically Berhalter just said he's not going to be selecting players just to win Gold Cup 2019, but to have a focus on WC22...……….and then even further to WC26. He said WC22, but I took that to mean qualifying as well When I look at January callups this is particularly the case. Are you calling in Graham Zusi for right back at January camp? Why? You can argue that he was either the best or 2nd best domestic right back in MLS in 2018. A) We know what he can do. B) He probably does need a break after a long MLS season. C) Test Reggie Cannon as much as possible. D) Then as backup RB you can perhaps challenge another youngish player. How about Brooks Lennon, who played a heck of a lot of minutes at that position for RSL last year? That's not to say we're just throwing all of the veteran players out. As we know, every WCQing cycle requires a depth of players. How many times have veteran forwards like an Ante Ravoz or Conor Casey scored crucial goals for us in WCQing? A bunch of times. We may really need a guy like Jozy Altidore for qualifying. But at a January camp, do we really need to see more Jozy Altidore? How about we really challenge Jeremy Ebobisse instead?
Of course, but how do you judge the merits without looking at the competition? 10 goals in MLS or Sweden is different than 10 goals in the Bundesliga or La Liga. Come on, this is basic stuff.
The answer's being in response to a question about MB confirms my suspicion: he's not calling in MB et al.. Older players can still be called, but the Old Guard won't be. Graham Zusi's performance was an artifact of SKC's system, which got found out again at the business end of the season. He has no business playing international soccer. And SKC need fullbacks who can defend.
Part of the problem is we have very few guys scoring goals anywhere...……………. How many USMNT-eligible players even scored ten goals in MLS? I think the answer is five: Fading Dom Dwyer, the anvil-footed Gyasi Zardes, creaking old Chris Wondolowski, marginal Teal Bunbury, and Fafa Picault. I'm all for calling some of those guys up for January camp, because we have to call up somebody...…………………….but its crucial that we call up some "emerging" MLS goal-scorers like Ebobisse. And who's scoring goals in Europe that's in their prime? Bobby Wood has scored exactly three goals this Bundesliga season. So, of course...…………it should be no surprise that the USMNT coaching staff is thinking "outside the box" to find forwards for the future. Josh Sargent is one of them. Sebastian Soto has been prolific with Hannover youth teams. It won't surprise me if the US staff brings him into a Euro-based camp. Not to play in the game. Just to be in the camp and get to know what being a USMNT player is all about. Uly Llanez is also reportedly on his way to Europe (as opposed to signing with the Galaxy), and he had a really good U20 CONCACAF Championships. If we had a group of 24-25 year old forwards achieving a lot in club football right now, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Jordan Morris is 24, but has had issues staying healthy.
As usual, you are talking about a different time. Besler is the only relevant person to today's game and he is near 30. Besler took money and a guaranteed spot, like many in Donovan's generation, and stayed in MLS. Who knows what he could have been. He was useful on a team of mostly MLS players that failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. A team that was over reliant on former European players because not many Americans had moved from MLS in the next age cohort. A team that was extremely reliant on one teenager that went to Europe at 16. Information is so readily attainable now that players are found and bought by everyone easily. Mendez was scouted while playing a USL game in Las Vegas. Players easily keep in touch and the shear number of young Americans in Europe makes being homesick harder. Young players now want to play in the Champions League, not play for the LA Galaxy. Anyway, Donovan had his best moments for the USMNT after playing in Europe. A fact conveniently forgotten by many. It was just a general point about young players getting caps. Sargent had to beat out a 2nd division Dutch player. But the next kid is going to have to beat out Sargent.
But were talking about call ups. People are saying Sargent should not be called up. So, how do you judge him? If we are saying Dwyer scoring 10 goals is better than Wright (e.g.) scoring 5, then we call Dwyer and leave Wright home, how does Wright show it? You can't call 40 guys into every camp. These are decisions that seem very unique to the USA at this time. Stewart and Berhalter will have to deal with it. It is ameliorated to some extent by MLS's schedule. You can have a camp in January and look at lots of guys you would never look at. Then in March and the Fall, you can skew more towards Europe as MLS is either just starting or just finishing. I doubt it was the young guys that think USMNT call-ups are a chore. If I had to bet, I would bet it was Nagbe.
Spot on. Berhalter's comment made me think it was his way of saying more MLS than talented youth in Europe because of club minutes and I cringed. Sargent, Weah, Miazga, Parks, etc would all shine in MLS if the coach they got stuck with actually wanted to play Americans. I never want to see Zusi, Villafana, Guzan, Bradley, etc again. Their shot was spent and they just showed us what was left in the tank. There are some talented guys in the MLS but most aren't Americans. The good Americans with tread left on the tires are looking to Europe where frankly their PT will likely drop. Does that DQ them in Berhalter's eyes? Sure as hell hope not. Look for talent, desire and coachability. That over just minutes for me, especially when you're rebuilding. Blanket statements of qualification like club minutes are stupid and I hope I'm reading far too much into this one. Tired of the inferior product I've been watching for years now. New blood is desperately needed.
I'm posting about performance in an NT jersey. I don't see a problem with throwing a callup or two to an exceptional reservist. If he performs, maybe give them another cap. Haji Wright did not have a killer U20s WC. He hasn't done anything in the B2 or with Cosmos. Leave him be.