Pre-match: International Friendly: USA vs Mexico; September 6th

We need depth at the 6 spot.
Call in Servania and whoever else, Egg.

 

How about, and stop me before I say something crazy, maybe don't start MB, Ream, or Altidore, and don't throw guys like Trapp/Roldan/Zardes/Mihailovic onto the field to compensate?

Is it so hard to ask? I don't think everyone young is a world-beater. E.g. I don't Aaronson's particularly good, but I'd much rather young guys like him get opportunities instead of old never-was players and the younger guys who clearly aren't up to snuff.

 

Seeing Hollingshead getting starts and doing well at lb for FCD, I'd put him at lb

Owise seems like a good test for our back up keeper Horvath, who needs a little support with Mignolet transferring to Brugge and Steffen bedding in at Fortuna with a start there on tap.

Lima is good on defense and Cannon defends well. Mexico took advantage of that situation in Gold Cup. Let's see what Thompson does at rb. Maybe Dest at rb vs. Uruguay for comparison?

Long needs caps for transfer. Kinda ditto for Miazga. A guy who may be underrated is Tim Parker.
Robinson is ready for his close-up.

Pomykal gets his chance but Egg has to confer with Tab and let Pom play his game. He has no support in Dallas. He should ace his outing with USMNT if he can play his game. Delgado could be a good back up.

Trapp > Bradley.

Morris replaces Pulisic as the guy who flies off Jozy's lay-offs. He can play the 9 when Jozy is not on the pitch if we want.

Boyd is ss who gets his chance now and Sargent gets the chance at ss later.

Muller's report to the USMNT should be seen as an opportunity for him to show what he can do at this level and I think it might spark him to a higher performance level. We'll have lots of subs so plenty of opportunity for guys to stand out in an all-out effort to impress.

-----boyd/arriola-----jozy/weah----morris/muller

----roldan/yueil-----trapp/servania--pom/delgado

--h/head/ream---long/parker--miazga/robinson--thompson/dest

-------------------gk: horvath/turner/ochoa


This September window is one I would use to let Euro's bed in at the beginning of the season and we can call in the Pulisics et al in October.

 

It's a molero. Most of the European guys won't get called or will be injured. Same for Mexico.

 

Oh, by the way. We did win two WC in a row:
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So why complain so fast about younger guys Mihailovic and Roldán?

 

Clearly not good enough. They aren't showing well in MLS, and they don't show well for the Nats.

Nobody's crying over Baird and Acosta not getting time with the NT. Being in your early-mid 20's and playing in MLS doesn't guarantee a look anymore.

Particularly considering we've got younger, better players from the U20's to look at instead.

 

Sure, but you created a thesis and included the counterargument as an example in favor. Just saying.

 

I guess they scheduled this match figuring they'd lose the Gold Cup final to them but then get chance at hollow revenge as well as another paycheck.

If Gregg plays anything close to a first choice lineup he's doing a major disservice. I really doubt Tata does. Didn't even in the Gold Cup final. Still won, while gleaning more.

Integration priorities:
- Give Boyd a start to see how he can fare against a better opponent
- See how Weah fits in Gregg's style
- Start Pomykal to see if we don't have to sit deep for long v. Mexico
- Ingratiate Dest
- See if Hollingshead can provide a better natural LB option, give A. Robinson another chance
- Find an alternative (Horvath, Gonzalez) to Steffen in case he goes down
- More good a-wing creators like say a Mueller here
- Give Morris minutes up top as speed option instead of a-wing
- See if Roldan's performances off the bench v. Mexico and Jamaica were real
- Free Miles Robinson
- Try EPB at destroyer (though not happening)

 

Roldan and Mihailovic were never good enough.

Roldan's a middling MLS player whose saving grace is that he's only 24. He hasn't played well at the international level.

Mihailovic is an MLS player with maybe 5 good games in his MLS career. Only 20, but looked atrocious against Jamaica after looking bad for an awful Chicago team.

You could easily argue that FC Dallas has 3-4 midfielders who are more deserving of opportunities. Plus they're younger, and some have shown well at the U20 level., whereas Roldan and Mihailovic have never shown for the YNTs.

This is the experimental phase where you kick the tires on guys, and if they aren't up to snuff, you send them back and wait for them to show something. We saw Baird, Ebobisse, Mihailovic, and Roldan. None of them really showed that they belonged. Only Baird and Ebobisse got sent packing. One of them, Ebobisse, has been scoring enough to at least get a shot at the U23 level, after which (if he plays well) he'll probably get another shot at the NT.

And, again, it's worth noting that we're far deeper in midfield than we are at LB, RB, or ST. Robinson played extremely poorly in the Jamaica Friendly, Dest's an 18 year-old getting minutes with Ajax without any NT caps, and Gloster has zero pro minutes, yet none are far from an NT cap because we're so weak at LB.

 

Get the status of Jens-Lys Cajuste sorted then call him in. Appeal if necessary. Call up Araujo, Ledezma, and Dest.

 

Call in Soto as well.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-...urce-chile-approach-us-youth-soto-over-switch

 

My default stance is to call in your best roster for any camp, since there are so few times national teams get a chance to train and play together. We've had 1 game in the Berhalter era where Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, and Brooks (arguably our 4 best players) played together, right? But, of course, you make exceptions if needed for friendlies, if, say, Adams is still getting back to full fitness, or Pulisic wants a break after going straight from the GC to Chelsea preseason.

With that guiding assumption, I'd work with the GC roster, keeping guys who showed well and looking for alternatives for those who didn't.

Keep from GC:

Forwards: Altidore, Arriola, Boyd, Morris
Midfielders: Pulisic, McKennie
Defenders: Cannon, Miazga, Zimmerman, Long
GK: Steffen

Borderline (i.e., I'd be OK exploring alternatives, but won't complain about calling them in):

Bradley--exposed vs. Mexico, but had good games prior to that. Not many other options at d-mid, especially if Adams is left in Germany.

Ream--serviceable at LB, and like with Bradley, not many other options.

Roldan--did OK as a sub against Jamaica and Mexico, but could imagine others offering more

Replace: Zardes, Lewis, Mihailovic, Trapp, Lovitz, Gonzalez, Lima, Miller, Johnson. Nothing against the latter 3, but there are potentially better players at their positions who deserve a look.

New players to add:

--Sargent for Zardes
--Weah for Lewis
--Pomykal for Mihailovic
--Adams for Trapp
--Dest for Lovitz
--Brooks for Gonzalez
--Yedlin for Lima
--J. Gonzalez for Miller
--Horvath for Johnson

Others to consider for borderline players: Holmes, Lletget, Nagbe, Morales, Cappis, A. Robinson

 

Things to consider in calling up players--

Who needs a break.
Who needs the caps to qualify for a work permit.
Who is in a tough competition for playing time.
Who has interest from other National Teams.

 

Performance is subjective I guess, but it's deceptive to call Roldan a middle MLS player. He had a year where he was 5th in WS rating, leading the league in tackles. And for about a 2-year period he was regarded as arguably the best American in MLS. He's tailed off, but still doing pretty well in ratings and the eye test to most observers. Seattle fans love him. His coach loves him. You may not think he's projectible internationally, and has played poorly there (although in the two toughest competitive games he did well imo), but let's not resort to revisionist history in order to discredit a player as a national team candidate. He may have gotten over the hump with his most recent performances, so I think he's worth a couple more trials. But reasonable people can disagree....with that part at least.

 

we are not in a place where rotational players for midtable B1 teams are "borderline" unless there's a terrible style fit or its a position where we are unusually deep.

 

Yeah, I think that makes sense. A boost here is good all around.

Jozy/Bradley play for Toronto @ Cincy 9/7 and @ Nycfc 9/11 and Toronto is in a precarious situation for playoffs. Calling in Bradley and Jozy would be a mistake. Soto could take Jozy's place for this window.

 

The only consistency we have is Michael Bradley getting his way.

 

I agree with you...but not for the same reasons. Calling in Bradley will continue to be a mistake until he is too old to play anymore. I don't know how many caps he needs to break the record, but it can't come too soon for me. I feel somewhat the same about Jozy. I keep hoping that some of the upcoming strikers will take his place but it may take awhile, especially if Gregg is going to continue using Jozy and not calling in some of the younger guys.

 

In my opinion, Toronto would be in fact very upset if they lost Jozy at this stage. They would be downright grateful if Bradley was called up.

 

New Twitter outrage is that Nagbe has had zero communication with Egg and USSF.

I get the issues many have with Nagbe. After the novelty of his good possession skills wore off, I have the same.

However, it seems inarguable his form is pretty good (apparently MoTM against the Mexican team recently), and he also seems to be sitting deeper, where his possession is useful and we don't need to worry about his lack of the final ball.

If we are focused on a 6 that hits nice passes and plays little defense, who is better than Nagbe? Plus he passes forward...

Simply the fact he hasn't received any communication from the staff continues a disturbing trend, one that Egg/USSF supporters will surely ignore.

 

General Egg, aka "Mr. Gregg Berhalter", has no need for a few more good men. After all, he has Mikey and a System. What more could such a commanding officer want? Besides, if there was an issue with the judgement of Brigadier General Egg then surely his commanding officer, Major General Egg, aka "Mr. Jay Berhalter", would surely set him straight..... right?

 

Parkhurst said publicly some of his teammates considered USMNT calls as tedious. That they had to be away from family for no good reason. It is pretty obvious this was Nagbe and probably Guzan too. Neither have been called. This is one of the few good things 3G has done.

Nagbe was horrible at the end of the Hex. Refused a call under JK. And complained in his locker room about getting called in 2018. I'd call Chandler before him.

 

Do you have quotes for that? Or links to the story? I know you're not one generally, but I hear so many excuses about why better players aren't called (morales was benched in the u20s!) I always want to see the proof.

(edit - he's bad at end of hex...great, so was everyone not named Pulisic... Yet Bradley and altidore are still inked into the lineup.)