That's definitely what it seemed like. Pulling Cade just when he was running riot over whomever was their right back clearly had nothing to do with what was going on on the pitch and everything to do with managing his minutes.
I would add Dejuan Jones, but then I realized he will be 26 in June. I think what we see from him now, is what he will end up being.
Pretty much. Jones might have some B-team utility. And I remain open to Soñora. Jelen Neal we can evaluate again once he's locked down a first team starting spot somewhere in MLS or better.
John Tolkin and Aaronson not playing were the only bummers. I do believe it’s time for some tempering of expectations regarding Gomez. He’s now been in Spain over a year and is no closer to a debut. To me, he looks very limited as it pertains to athleticism. Morris just isn’t good enough on the ball to get any more caps in future camps. Sonora is a nice player. To me, he will make a solid mls “10” but that doesn’t translate to international play. gressel is a great crosser of the ball. However, he moves like he has weighted boots. And he’s almost 30. Nice story getting his citizenship but those valuable minutes need to be given to a player who has the ability to help. Matthew Hoppe… it’s looking more and more like he hit a home run with schalke for a few weeks and it was an anomaly.
If that's pretty much already good enough, like Geoff Cameron was, then it doesn't really matter. And he's been good enough for entrance for a couple years, when Stu Holden, EPL best XI'er, first came through. If you're mid 20's when you're starting out, you have worse efficacy, but those who make the grade shouldn't be discarded just cuz they went to college or a mediocre manager neglected them.
After Serbia I would put Cowell and Zendejas ahead of JMorris and Arriola on the wing depth chart. They deserve chances to show if they can develop into superior options. They already bring certain things those veterans lack.
They're certainly in the hopper. The one thing about Cowell is He didn't try any combining like one -twos with teammates and teams will hav scouted him if games matter. Can he be more than a one trick pony? Zendejas clearly needs a certain kind of right back and center mid (new him) to flourish. Kind of like Reyna at right winger vs Weah at right winger.
Yes. Zendejas was two different players before and after the RB switch. I know others see it differently but Reyna seems wasted out there at RW to me (except perhaps if we played Scally at RB, since he tends to stay wide).
In U-20 qualifying, I thought Cowell was pretty ineffective. The Philly kids and Luna were playing all of these quick little passes around the edge of the penalty area to break through bunkers, and Cowell just kinda looked lost as they were doing this. Cowell, at least right now, might be one of those guys who is effective when it's more of a back-and-forth game where he can consistently take off with the ball. But maybe that is enough to start pushing Morris for his spot.
Yeah, I haven't seen any improvement from JOGO. He just doesn't have the speed to be a complete, international fullback. Hoppe end up being a 1-hit wonder.
As senior team professionals, Cowell's record has been stronger than that of the other attackers on that U20 team. 8 goals and 11 assists in 36 matches worth of minutes. And now, he has showed out with the senior National Team. He is ahead of the game.
So far but he's such a physical beast he could play with adults sooner. We'll see how it all works out over time. For Cowell he just got a new coach so maybe other things will be emphasized. If he plays well Luchi has a history of not caring how old you are.
Should I expect Vazquez to play tonight? I notice USSF used Ferreira's image on their promo Tweet. Hudson said something about everybody at the camp should play some, so....11 changes to the starting lineup tonight?
It'll be interesting to see how Ferreira performs in Hudson's system. Maybe the team will create the sort of chances Ferreira typically feasts on. The pull backs that Jones made were begging for a deeper lying forward to feast on.
I like that we scheduled some actual good teams for this camp. Let's make that a thing going forward. No more friendlies against 40-60 ranked teams let's try and always schedule within the top 30 or so.
I'd expect Ferreira to start. The question is at what position. I'd guess CF because Hudson's partially carrying on Berhalter's vision. But he'd used Ferreira at other positions before. And who knows if the WC was a breaking point for Berhalter. He's had them before. Vazquez only played just over 60 minutes. So he could go again. Or Hoppe could start. Though he already played, and didn't earn anything. I'm hoping for Vazquez and Ferreira in a 442 diamond. Pomykal should start, to have his last chance in quite a while. He was Jekkyl & Hyde last season. So maybe we get Jekkyl this time. Jones simply must start. Same goes for Tolkin, unless we're holding him out for a transfer. Rogers must also start. If everyone plays, that means Celentano and Johnson would have to take about a half each? I'd certainly hope it's Celentano who gets the start and more minutes if they're not split equally. He's the #1 GK I wanted to see this camp. He may play the least.
I agree. But it's not linear, because it all depends who's available for those squads. I think in Colombia's case especially, they're a pretty good fit, because they have a respectable league who's oddly willing to release many good players for this, probably because they want to sell them to MLS. To wit, they have a good chunk of players already in MLS. Which is why it's still odd to me we've never played Canada.
Cowell's already ahead of Morris on the depth chart because he had a good January camp game like Morris has also had in recent years, Jordan didn't do anything wrong in his little time at the WC as backed up by per minute metrics, the last time he played significant competitive minutes for us he saved the day, was a better player in the same league, & is still in the 20's. The takes on Jordan Morris are always reasonable from this fan base.
South American opponents might fit nicely because they also play a calendar year season. (Most use an Apertura/Clausura format, but the Apertura is the first half of the calendar year and the longer offseason is December/January.) The Colombian players are missing the first week of the season, and the fact that it's so early in the season probably makes the league more willing to release players. In Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, the season doesn't start until February.
Uruguay would be a good fit. They had 13 players in MLS last season. And you know they can churn out domestic talent near at a level as the Netherlands, for a small nation.
By the way, we have played Canada in January camp friendlies. Not that recently, but in 2016 our January camp opponents were Iceland and Canada (we played Canada on Feb. 5), and in 2013 our one January camp friendly was against Canada. In 2006 we played Canada and Norway; that Canada friendly was notably Freddy Adu's senior USMNT debut. And we played Canada in 2003, the first year that the MLS-based January camp became an annual practice.