Congratulations to this man. Sublime footballer. Sensitive, interpretive soul. Two feet in balance, ball or no ball. He’s won everywhere he’s played but for a small town on a certain Caribbean island, a town whose name evolved over time from Rio de Cuba, perhaps due to the pronunciation of the Spanish “B” interpreted as “V” by the British who arrived later.
Gregg should try to convince him to come back to the national team again. He would be a significant upgrade over de la Torre or any other backup midfielder, and he seems like an awesome guy to have in the locker room with his leadership and experience. He fits the game model, too.....
He’s pretty great, maybe top ten American mid all time? Guys who primarily played central mid, not Donovan or Dempsey. One could make an argument, or maybe it’s not even a hot take.
A College Cup. An MLS Cup at each of his three stops. And an extremely well-liked guy. Well lived. Well done. Klinsmann and Arena missed a treat in not employing Nagbe as an a-mid behind two forwards: his underlying numbers there were impressive. With that role, Nagbe might've stayed in the program. But he's 33 now. His 22-year-old midfield partner, Morris, has been even more dominant, and can probably play a holding hole. And there's a good chance we'll have at least 8 center mids in the Top-4 come next season. We are well-provisioned in the position.
If feels really good to see how much a guy like Darlington cares about winning MLS Cup. Maybe the fact that he cares about is so much is one reason that he's won four. He's described as the "perfect captain" by his teammates. It's hard winning MLS Cup. There are now 29 teams and it's a league built on parity. Dax McCarty has played 18 years in MLS. Many of them on highly seeded teams entering the playoffs. Multiple Supporter's Shield-winning teams. Never won an MLS Cup. To be a key player on four MLS Cup winning teams in this generation of the league is super impressive. And it can't be an accident. Darlington Nagbe is a major reason why those teams have won. Darlington has 25 caps. Not an insignificant total. He was a key part of the group in 2016-2017. .....................and I suspect that 2016-2017 was one of the most miserable times in US Soccer history. That Ringer article suggests it was. I imagine it wasn't fun to be in that locker room. Once that cycle was over, Darlington turned a page. Could Darlington have played a role in the 2022 cycle and beyond? Sure. But after Couva, US Soccer also turned a page. Turned things over to the next generation. Some of those players succeeded (McKennie, Adams, etc.) and some didn't (Yueill, Trapp, etc.). Musah, de la Torre, etc. were added to the group post COVID re-start. We have a good midfield group with another generation about to break thru. Sometimes you don't realize a guy is a Hall of Famer until it smacks you in the face. Key piece in four MLS Cup winning teams? Already over 400 MLS appearances, and charging up to the McCarty, Beckerman, Larentowicz level of MLS appearances? [And with signing a multi-year extension, he has every chance to reach them.] Yeah, that's a Hall of Famer.
I think he would have been nice to have around last cycle, but at this point he’s 33 and it’s probably a better option to get chances to some of the up and coming midfielders who have shown potential to be able to help the team.
In his case, age shouldn't be what factors him out. He's played 90 after 90 after 90 for the last 3 years straight and has missed only one game due to injury--the first game of the 2021 season. He the kind of guy that may end up playing until he's 40.
Plus, it's fine to have a 34-35 year old who is performing at a high level, especially when the core of the team is still relatively young. It's almost certain that he could be expected to be fit for Copa America. There's a good chance he's still at the top of his game in 2026 and who knows beyond that. US fans have become overly obsessed with the "wrong side of 30" cliche.
Christ dude why would I even need to explain that we don’t need to be returning to a 33 year old retread who was never that good even in his prime. DLT isn’t great but Nagbe isn’t obviously better and we have other options in any event as others have mentioned.
To my eye, Nagbe at current is obviously better than LDLT. That's where my argument for further Nagbe callups ends. Even if Berhalter and staff thought he'd be the best player to utilize for a given role, we've got no reason to believe that Nagbe would be interested in giving it a second go.
I don't think he is better than LDLT. But even aside from that younger options like Tillman and Cardoso are surpassing both.
Nagbe is clearly good enough for the usmnt especially with Tyler Adams injured. Is this another John Brooks scenario? We need someone experienced and good with possession like Nagbe to play behind Reyna. This would make Reyna 2x as effective.
In a just, ideal world Nagbe would have 80+ caps and have been spoken about in the same breath as Beasley, Donovan, and Dempsey of his prior generation, and Bradley and Altidore of his generation. He would've been a marquee intergenerational glue guy, much like Ream has been currently (and maybe Ream is in a bit of the same boat as Nagbe). Other top level guys who have come and gone and played with him have acknowledged his top ability, as have all his coaches. At club/league level he's had a dream career.
Last season’s MLS MVP runner up (Driussi) was asked after the all star break which MLS all star most impressed him. Nagle was the only name he mentioned.
What other options are clearly better than Nagbe after you get past the obvious starters? Nagbe could be a good depth piece until someone like Pukstas, McGlynn, or whoever comes up over the next couple of years is ready. He's definitely better than de la Torre, and a player's "prime" is relative. Nagbe is clearly as good as he's ever been.
edit: Cardoso is the one I'm leaving out. Maybe he's good enough that Nagbe isn't necessary, but, either way, I think Nagbe could help with squad depth.
Nagbe and Hollingshead are homebodies and for their life and not career that will make them quite happy. No need to call in either but even if it was tried I can't see either accepting after all this time at the twilight of their careers.