Dual nationals who could suit up for the US.

water over or under bridge but Nathaniel Brown made Germany roster, and now is already heavily linked to Bayern Munich for 50-65m

 

Guti leaves for Mexico for club and country and scores for El Tri in the friendly against Ghana. Guti never really got a shot with the US.

 

January camp is one of the longest periods a coach has to look at a guy.

 

He's a 6/8/10 in terms of his best roles. Those are our strongest areas with---

Tillman, McKennie, Adams, Roldan, Morris, Busio, Tessmann, Johnny, Gio, Berhalter, Leroux, Tsakiris, Mehmeti, Paxten, Cole Bassett, Musah.

 

You forgot Luna. I am still p***ed about that one... It's my only real gripe with the roster but it's a big one. AAR... very interesting to see two other "big name" traitors not make the Mexico NT. According to this:

https://www.facebook.com/transfermarkt.global/posts/conejo-knows-ball-just-days-before-the-official-announcement-this-is-óscar-el-co/1449116520591469/

No Araujo or Vargas. The former has kind of disappeared from the lime-light but I thought Vargas going to AM would help his chances...

On a related note, I saw a couple of "starting 11s" for Mexico and they have Guti in them. What a wild increase in NT fortunes for him. Moving to Mexico for club and country may have made him a star. Good choice. It looks like Richie made the right choice for his career too as he made the roster.

 

Luna is a winger/2nd forward/10 type imo.

Vargas not making the squad is shocking.

 

Vargas arrived to their camp a couple days ago, so he is definitely in.

I think Guti and Vargas are in, and Ledezma and Araujo are in contention for the last two spots, but likely out.

 

Gutierrez is still a few weeks from his 23rd birthday, too, and got 2 caps last year, so it’s not like he waited a really long time or was completely ignored.

He, P Aaronson, and Luna were all born within 3 months of each other, and I have felt for awhile that gutierrrz had the most upside. I was really disappointed to lose him, as I thought he could’ve gotten 30-45 caps for us, but this move has worked out for him in terms of playing time.

 

Losing Gutierrez was a choice because he clearly would have played for the US if he got opportunities.

Irony is he could have ended up cap tied if he played in the third place Nations League game against Canada last year which would have meant no World Cup for him.

 

We have a 22-year-old American starting in the World Cup for the best team in the world. Forget Rossi, Subotic, Brede Hangeland, that is pretty much setting an impossible bar.

He definitely made the right call, I don't blame him at all - it's his home - but I will continue to occasionally muse what might have been.

 

Germany the best team in the world??

 

Of all time? Yes, I think so. I wouldn't argue with Brazil if you felt they're #1, but it's one of the two, and the gap after those two is only growing.

I realize I should have been clearer I was not talking about current form, but rather overall class, prestige, and pedigree.

 

2016 was the last time Germany made semifinals of a major tournament. But congratulations to on Brown. He wouldn't start for us, but he looks to be big talent.

 

He just scored too.

 

Against Curacao. But great.

 

Yeah... he scored the 5th of the game and Curacao had essentially crumbled by that point. But Brown is a talent. Already taking the left-footed in-swinging corners for the German NT.

 

Zion Suzuki in the lineage of elite American keepers.

 

Really didn't stand a chance to save either of the goals for the Dultch thus far. Kind of a bummer he chose Japan given our weak GK pool... I like his athleticism and physical tools a lot. Oh well.

 

First time I can recall seeing him play and, yeah, I’m jealous. He would be the man for the US. He’s big, quick, seems confident and light on his feet. Can boot the ball a mile.

 

Imagine the current USMNT World Cup roster but with Zion Suzuki, Nathaniel Brown... and Noahkai Banks

 

Imagine it without Pulisic, Jedi, Tillman, Balogun, Dest, Reyna, Weah, and Pepi. Sure, it’d be nice if every dual national in the world wanted to play for the USMNT. But we can’t complain.

 

It’s easy if you try…

 

I'm watching the recording of Netherlands/Japan right now, and Suzuki is the one we're really missing, I think. Brown is great, but Jedi is very good too, and it's not clear Brown would start over him. Banks has a ton of potential, and I would like him on this roster, but it's also not clear he would start. Suzuki, though, seems like he'd be a clear upgrade over our GKs.

 

We've had a pretty good run with Germericans. Felix Magath was the last possibly eligible German-American to play for Germany shortly after Erwin Kostedde appeared for them. And dressing up for the USMNT in the 1970s would have been a huge mistake compared to playing for West Germany.

But we got everyone we wanted up until Nene (or they at least never made it with Germany).

 

The years blur my memory, was Felix Magath before or after Jimmy Hartwig?