I'm bummed about losing Gomez, or at least making so that he needs a one-time switch to come back to us, but I'm still of two minds of how things stand with recruiting dual nats. On the one hand, Berhalter poached Tillman and brought Slonina back into the fold despite aggressive recruiting from Poland. Those are two big wins. And of course, we've also had big wins this cycle with Dest, Musah, and Pepi. Furthermore, now we're producing so much talent that other countries are poking around more, and we're bound to lose some. On the other hand, something does seem to be amiss with our connection to Mexican-American prospects. It seems like we're losing the vast majority. Maybe there's nothing to be done, and they all just love El Tri and will commit to Mexico once they show a bit of interest. But it seems like something the USMNT brass should at least investigate to see if there's something more that can be done in these cases.
I'm not inclined to give credit to the fed for anything on dual-nat mexican americans, and indeed I think they've fumbled a ton in the past and still have people(s) in powerful positions whose attitude about them is very 90's and not remotely open minded but happily, Berhalter has a much better attitude, in my view, about promoting our program while also being empathetic about the real issues involved. So yes, I think we can do better and I do think there was a problem, and remains residual issues within the program about how to promote our program to them at the lower levels anyway. All that being said, I 100% believe it's a losing battle that is very difficult to win in general and that even if we worked it perfectly, like an Alabama/Georgia/Clemson/Ohio State recruiter, we'd still lose a lot, probably a majority of the dual nats of Mexican-American status. Telemundo, Univision, Telefutura, Spanish speaking homes that are more insular than open when it comes to school, education and sports etc means that most of the kids grow up El Tri fans, and generally, Liga MX fans. The die is already cast against us, period, in order to win the dual nat battle, we actually have to change their minds, not keep them on our side. That aint easy, and other than recruiting hard, being in the picture earlier, being understanding about the pulls, hell talking to the dual nats that did choose us and why of late (not the old ones, who El Tri was never interested in anyway), there isn't a ton we can do beyond be way more attractive for their careers than El Tri. I honestly think long term, the winning move is basically to have the USMNT be the dominant side at the region, to make it to the quarters and maybe beyond at the WC, and clearly be superior AND to also show that the USMNT is a much, much easier route for players to make it to Europe and succeed than to throw your lot in with El Tri and their program. To show that we have a strong and growing relevance in every big club in the big 5, and El Tri is basically Liga MX plus some guys here and there sprinkled around Europe. We need to make them see $$$$ and glory with us, and kind of parochial, non-relevance and decline in El Tri, that combined with hard edges, skillful recruiting is the best we can do, to me. If El Tri continues to get hammered by the US and Canada, and if we are better on the world stage too AND our players are famous in the big leagues, while nobody even knows who the hell the kid is who hasn't scored in like 4 years for Real Betis, well, then we're going to have a brighter shine to us, but we've got to do the goods from both ends, and even if we do, it still may not matter, which is why figuring out what works with a kid like Pepi is important, and what works best with the regional groups of Mexican Americans because there definitely seems to be regional cultural differences between Mexican-Americans in the California-Nevada area where I've lived, and say, in Texas or New Mexico, where guys like Pepi came up (kind of rural vs urban and more), and to be able to communicate acknowledging those differences too.
Maybe, maybe not. I'm fairly confident he's not Cafu. JoGo won't be the last LB off the assembly line. Hell, Joe Scally can play LB. In fact, I see that as Scally's ticket to the WC. Beat out Bello for backup LB. Bello's a punching bag on these boards. A 20 year old that was playing in the Bundesliga this past season. A higher level than Gomez was.
Agree he's not cafu. Agree there will be other LBs. Agree Joe Scally can play LB. Agree that right now Bello and Scally play in better leagues. So much hand waving.
I don't know about that, seems like one guy who is good but with a lot of obvious flaws, followed by a whole bunch of unproven kids just like JoGo as the possible backups. And of course LB has been a weak point for the USMNT throughout recorded history. On the recent Scuffed podcast they pointed to the LB position with Bello getting the call as the backup, as the one where the US had the most potential to "raise the floor"... hard to disagree with that.
Interestingly the Athletic has Koleosho on Canada's projected World Cup roster https://theathletic.com/3337409/2022/05/27/canada-2022-world-cup-squad-prediction/
They suggest he has enough talent to make Canada's roster, now whether the kid would accept that spot is another story. It would seem hard to turn down for a kid if it is offered, as his advisors would have to tell him that one never knows where he'll be 4 years from now: maybe injured, maybe in a rough patch of form, maybe another player or players are better than he. If the kid is offered a spot on the rosters, I would think adios to him playing for the US.
i am assuming johnathan sees more of a chance to get immediate playing time with Mexico. Overall ability won't come into it for awhile. We won't know how good Johnathan will be on the pro level until well after he makes his final decision on National teams.
Maybe stacked is overstated but if you are JOGO and you know A rob is going to be the starter at the WC in December and he was the probably the most consistent player on the team during qualifying, you know you don't have a chance for awhile. Having said that, I have no idea what Mexico has at rt back other than I think the though process is JOGO has a better chance to take that spot sooner.
I do not think he would turn down a spot to go to the World Cup nor should he. I'm not quite sure he's far along enough currently where he's actually deserving of consideration yet.
ARob plays like every minute sure, but part of that is because the dropoff to backup LB is precipitous. For most positions, if you're top two, you're getting regular call ups, and likely a fair number of caps. And that gives you a chance to at least fight for the top spot. Surely JoGo sees himself as talented enough that he could beat out Bello/Vines types and backs himself to be in the running for that backup LB spot?
Gomez played in USL before moving to Liga 2. He was on the bench for Sociedad B's last 4 matches. I'm not sure he had really been in the running for a World Cup berth.
He has been nursing an injury lately and frankly I would not have been surprised if he turned down all call ups this summer to anything other than a first team spot. Still a long way to go in a young career, but he has the immeasurable spirit and grit that you can't coach or teach so I feel optimistic about him.
Only Euro competition Gomez has in El Tri is Arteaga(1999) teammate of Mckenzie at Genk, everyone else plays exclusively in liga mx. 1.Gallardo(1994)(Monterry) 2.Omar Campos 2002 (Santos) 3.Daniel Aceves 2001 (Pachuca) Couldn't tell you how good any of those dudes are though MX fans grossly overrate their players to their actual quality and I don't watch Liga MX very often
I guess the door is not all the way shut but this one is tough. I was pretty high on him and thought there was a real chance he would better than Robinson in the next 2/3 years and starting in 2026. I think Mexico has 5 or so guys better than Bello rn, so I don't think it was for immediate playing time. There will always be other prospects, but this one hurts a lot more than Araujo, Ochoa or Alvarez for me. It's a sign the program is getting better though for sure.
I don't know anything either, but I think Gallardo was the guy Weah abused all night in that dos-a-cero game.
You are correct, also Gallardo is to El tri fans, what Roldan is to USMNT fans. That is to say he isn't a very popular call up to them
Yeah additionally I would probably take Erik Aguirre from Monterrey and Osvaldo Rodriguez from Leon over him. But obviously they are both in their primes and Bello isn't there yet.
Indeed. He's not going to the World Cup with either the US or Mexico. Let's all relax. He's just on Mexico's roster for the U20 CONCACAF Championships. Along with a group of other American players who also are nowhere close to their WC squad. And yes, Bello started the Gold Cup final victory over Mexico. Vines came on for him in minute 65. You know.............the Gold Cup final in which we shut out Mexico 1-0. Those are our backups. We'll be freakin' fine with or without Gomez.
I don't think USSF does a good job connecting on any level to the Latino population in US, and while we are likely less biased now, there was a clear era where there was a strong bias to everything European over everything Latin in terms of soccer. That said, I don't think people quite realize the starting point USSF is starting with a lot of the Mexican-American youth that is first or second generation. The level of El Tri fandom can be insanely strong, and like any family dynamic, sports can often be a point of connection with loved ones that further cloud. Look, if I grew up rooting for El Tri, and my parents and grandparents and uncles and everything were massive fans ... it doesn't mean I am definitively going to go that route ... but expecting a youth national team coach or Berhalter or whomever to connect on a level to overcome that on a consistent basis is kind of insane. USSF should be looking to connect with the Latino population better because they are part of the constituency. And Mexican-Americans and other Latino-Americans will respond in kind. But we should understand with some of these kids, there's an emotional connection that we cannot replicate that will be a disadvantage. Not all of them -- everyone is different -- and not everyone has that as the primary decision driver. But for a decent number, we start behind the 8 ball. That's not excuse not to try or not to engage, and the worst thing would be for people to say "oh, there's nothing to be done as a whole, we should just quit." But on an individual player level, sometimes ... there was literally nothing to be done. (I don't know anything about Gomez' decision making, so this is a general statement.)
US-U20 Provisional Roster for the ConcaCAF U-20 Championship pic.twitter.com/j3JaPRELH2— Not That Way (@WhoIsNextUSMNT) May 27, 2022