Pre-match: Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinals @ Jamaica (Nov 14) & v Jamaica (Nov 18)

Except that we badly need to find a goalkeeper better than Turner. Having 4 on the roster means each keeper can play a half but these are not friendlies so rotating 'keepers for evaluation is, possibly, not the best idea ever. But I wonder if our coach expects Jamaica to be easy but, historically, they have not been, particularly at home. I do think that Jamaica is not, unless things go horribly wrong, going to attack with numbers very often, so we should be fine with the defenders we are taking.
I know that Jamaica is not an easy win, but they should be as with the rest of CONCACAF (except Mexico and Canada), I wonder if our new coach sees how weak most of CONCACAF is and believes he has the team well enough prepared so that CONCACAF matches are mostly as easy as he expects them to be.
This is the first meaningful match we have had since our new coach took over and he may want to test his plan(s) for the future.
I also am really looking forward to this match as it will be the first time we play a match with real meaning under our new coach.
BTW: I strongly expect two wins and I will be quite disappointed if we don't get them. I realize this is still very early in his tenure but certain expectations should be met for me, and at least a few others, to feel comfortable with his leadership.

 

Looking at that roster, 3 CBs and/or Weah/Musah at FB/WB seem likely.

 

Problem is, our CBs aren't very good.

 

if paper work is not filed and APPROVED, dual Nats cant be called in. For all we know, Poch is working like a bastard on this. So slow your roll.

 

Oh crap, I had no idea he got injured, that really sucks he was on an absolute tear

 

He hasn’t played. It can’t be burnout. And he probably won’t be an available in 26 given that assessment, so win the trophy in front of you when he is healthy.

 

We know that Pochettino values Adams. Just being allowed to return to full fitness

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What would have been more thin? Gregg would have been rightly lambasted for zero backups at outside back. Did I miss someone or did genius just name precisely two FBs to a 27 man roster? For a window that counts?

 

Makes a ton of sense for a friendly. So I guess Pochettino values NL kind of like a friendly. I’m getting a good read on this guy.

 

POchettino has already commented on both matters.

He said that he didn't take only two fullbacks. There are others on the roster that can play there. Mentioned Yunus Musah in particular, who played there against Real effing' Madrid recently.

 

Seems like Pochettino definitely rates MX above MLS too. Might be defensible, but still need to consider individual players. Luna should be there before Zendejas (even if that’s not like for like).

 

No he didn't

 

I'm guessing arithmetic wasn't your thing. 4 MLS players, vs 3 league MX

 

I’ll see if I can find that. But Musah can only play one position at a time. And as far as I recall he has never played FB for the Nats. Fine to try it in a friendly, but seems like the wrong idea to count on that as plan B in a real game without ever trying it. Sounds like a plan C or D.

If Gregg brought two FBs to nations league and said, oh Musah can cover that, what would folks have thought of that? I find anything other than “what an idiot” hard to believe.

 

Ha. Touché. I will admit that I was focused on the front 6 in that comparison and did not give particular credit to the 2 MLS goalkeepers or CBs — though you ought to be a little embarrassed to have counted on Steffen for that math.

 

I suspect that in this two game window we will beat Jamaica, but lose to Jamaica.

 

What about draw with Jamaica? Also seems like a possibility.

 

I think you know this but Musah plays a ton of wingback for ACM.

 

That's what I mean though. In the Dual National wars, which will become more common rather than less with the levels of mass migration that have been going on in recent decades w/declining birth rates in Europe and Asia, the players hold the cards, not the coaches and national teams. It's a Players market. If you are basically saying, "You need to come to me." You are likely to lose all recruits save those that really, really want to play for you, the other bidders will simply be more attractive. When guys have options to play for Italy, Canada, the US etc, if the US is basically arguing that We're the USA, come if you want, we will lose said player to Canada whose actively recruiting him, or Italy, unless the player specifically doesn't care about the recruiting effort, which as we've seen through the NCAA, is quite rare. Players want the love.

So I suspect we will lose most, and perhaps all of these battles. The 1990's point of view, that are vets from the '90-'14 WC's tend to have, and that Poch shares (he played in the '02 WC if memory serves) is a bad match for millennial and gen z athletes.

 

That quote from Poch is highly suggestive that he has a similar attitude to Arena, who was also a sub par dual nat recruiter (and I say that, by and large, as a Bruce apologist and fan).

 

I hope you're right, but I doubt you are. Luna got snubbed for the Olympics, and was not called up in the September, October or November windows....so? I'm betting El Tri is knocking on his door pretty hard (they'd be insane, not too). Will he say yes if they do? I'm not sure, but with no call ups since last March's that he rejected, I suspect he's gone from 90% in our camp, to a 50/50 proposition and maybe worse. Again, I'll celebrate with crow if I'm wrong on this.

 

To not know math is to think 4/200 is a higher % than 3/3. He called up every player he reasonably could from LigaMX. By that indicator, he rates LigaMX dramatically higher.

But those players were grandfathered in. So that could also be the explanation.

 

They've never been good.

 

I forgot that. Yes.

 

here's the actual quote

"I don’t want to give names, but we are working on other names to see if they want to become committed with us. We don’t need to convince, they want to help us… USA is massive. No one can be over this shirt or over this country.”