MLS 2019 is entering its final stages and we should have a pretty good idea on who should or should not be called into January camp 2020. Who do you got? * = Olympic eligible GK: 1. Sean Johnson 2. Tyler Miller 3. David Ochoa* 4. Matt Freese* Alternates: Brad Guzan, Bill Hamid, Jesse Gonzalez Comments: Johnson and Miller seem to be Berhalter’s main MLS back-ups. Freese and Ochoa make it to hopefully build a future at GK. RB: 1. Reggie Cannon* 2. Tommy Thompson 3. Julian Araujo* Alternates: Keegan Rosenberry, Brooks Lennon Comments: Cannon exploded on the scene at the Gold Cup, Thompson has had a standout season for SJ at right back, and we need to keep Mexico’s grubby little hands off Araujo. CB: 1. Walker Zimmerman 2. Aaron Long 3. Miles Robinson* 4. Justen Glad* 5. James Sands* (also playing CDM) Alternates: Donovan Pines*, Aboubacar Keita*, Mark McKenzie*, Auston Trusty* Comments: Long and Zimmerman are locked down starters and Robinson is the clear #3 and top u23 center back in MLS. After that, I think Glad has worked himself back in contention at least for the Olympics. And Sands makes the list as a CB, although I believe his future is at CDM. LB: 1. Nick Lima 2. Ryan Hollingshead 3. Aaron Herrera* Alternates: George Bello*, Sam Vines*, Daniel Lovitz, Matthew Real*, Andrew Gutman M6: 1. Christian Cappis* 2. Brandon Servania* 3. Jackson Yuiell* Alternates: Wil Trapp, Michael Bradley, Russell Canouse, Chris Durkin*, Edwin Cerrillo*, Sean Davis Comments: This one is wide open so long as we refrain from Bradley and Trapp. Cappis and Servania are tied, in my opinion. Yuiell is still a strong contender for the Olympics and makes my list for that reason. M8: 1. Darlington Nagbe 2. Cristian Roldan 3. Keaton Parks* Alternates: Cole Bassett*, Gedion Zelalem*, Kellyn Acosta, Marky Delgado, Joe Corona, Alex Muyl, Emerson Hyndman, Danny Leyva* Comments: it’s not a popular opinion, but Nagbe is my American player of the year in MLS. He has been arguably Atlanta’s most important player aside from Josef Martinez. He deserves a legitimate shot. Roldan is still in the mix although I’m not as high on him. Parks is interchangeable for another Olympic player, but I’ve got him edging out Bassett at the moment. 10: 1. Paxton Pomykal* 2. Sebastian Lletget 3. Brendan Aaronson* Alternates: Djordje Mihailovic*, Gianluca Busio*, Omir Fernandez*, Frankie Amaya*, Anthony Fontana* Comments: I want to see Pomykal given a chance to be the de facto Pulisic back up. Da Boy could get bumped out for Mihailovic who is still young and promising. Aaronson deserves a look considering he’s a teenage CAM for a top 5 MLS team. RW 1. Jordan Morris 2. Emmanuel Sabbi* 3. Mason Toye* Alternates: Corey Baird, Chris Mueller, Sebastian Saucedo*, Joshua Perez*, Romain Gall* Comments: I’d rather see what else we have besides Morris, but I bumped so many of the old guys that I decided to keep Morris for some continuity and because there is a lack of good options. On that point, Sabbi (as well as Amon and Cappis) are my Scandinavians I’d call in because they are young, hot prospects that play positions we need talent and I don’t know when else we could give them a shot. FW 1. Jozy Altidore 2. Jeremy Ebobisse* 3. Jesus Ferreira* Alternates: Andrew Wooten, Gyasi Zardes, Brandon Vasquez*, Ricardo Pepi*, Justin Rennicks*, Ayo Akinola*, Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez* , Christian Ramirez, Teal Bunbury, Don Dwyer, Brian White Comments: Jozy has been good this year, and I don’t mind giving him a shot to make his claim. I’d bump Zardes as a result. After them, I’m going young... let’s see what Ferreira (citizenship) and Ebobisse can do. Even if Ferreira is not eligible, I’d still call him into camp. LW: 1. Paul Arriola 2. Jonathan Amon* 3. Jonathan Lewis* Alternates: Joseph Gyau, Memo Rodriguez, Harry Shipp Comments: I prefer Arriola on the right, but we might need the help on the left. If Amon can get healthy and in form, I’d like to see him back in the group. If anything happens to a winger on the left or the right, I’m leaning towards Saucedo to bring in.
If we could break this into senior and u23 camp Senior (* = eligible for u23) GK Sean Johnson, Brad Guzan, Jesse Gonzales RB Reggie Cannon*, Tommy Thompson CB Walker Zimmerman (CPT), Miles Robinson* CB Aaron Long, Justen Glad* LB Ryan Hollingshead, Nick Lima M6 Brandon Servania*, Jackson Yuiell* M8 Cristian Roldan, Sebastian Lletget 10 Paxton Pomykal*, Brendan Aaronson* RW Jordan Morris, Corey Baird FW Jozy Altidore, Jesus Ferreira* LW Paul Arriola, Mason Toye* Note: 9/23 players u23 players asked to play up. 6 of those are not starters. So, they might need to spend some time with the u23 team too or they need to be rotated into the line up to justify asking them to play up. Note: I’ve dropped Nagbe entirely. Although he would be a key player if he was there. U-23: GK Matt Freese, David Ochoa, JT Marcinkowski RB Julian Araujo, Brooks Lennon CB Mark McKenzie, Aboubacar Keita CB Auston Trusty, Donovan Pines LB Aaron Herrera, Sam Vines M6 Christian Cappis, Edwin Cerrillo, M8 Cole Bassett, Keaton Parks 10 Djordje Mihailovic (CPT), Gianluca Busio RW Emmanuel Sabbi, Sebastian Saucedo FW Jeremy Ebobisse, Ricardo Pepi LW Jonathan Amon, Jonathan Lewis -If Cappis can’t go > Frankie Amaya called in as an 8, and move Parks to a 6. -If Sabbi can’t go > Joshua Perez called in. -If Amon can’t go > Joshua Perez first called in then Omir Fernandez
toye and ferreira are both very interesting me, so im curious why you have them at the positions you do. ferreira is playing in central midfield pretty regularly- is your thinking just that he projects as a striker? i think hes a lot further away from the sr team if thats the case. toye has such great size (and mobility/athleticism for that size), and while i havent seen a lot in terms of aerial prowess i dont think he would be physically overmatched centrally. when i look at st options in hopes of moving past altidore/zardes asap (for me sargent, toye, ferreira and soto in that order in terms of "readiness" and playing time) i just think he and sargent are obviously closest. its ferreira i could see being "moved", used in the pulisic/10 role, possibly on the wing. soto i dont think is very close at all (physically is my biggest concern, and with very little playing time on the horizon- pending a move today).
That’s fair. I could have specified that I could see Ferreira playing as a second striker type which pushes the wingers further forward.
Ferreira can play any of the four attacking spots in a 4-3-3 so it can depend on who else you have and how versatile they are. He's also learning to play one of the dual 8/10's in a 4-3-3 and he does play both ways so isn't a defensive liability.
i honestly couldnt come up with a full positioned roster i care enough about, so i just have a couple of groups/tiers that i, personally, want to see get time. known/somewhat established rb cannon cb long cm roldan cm lletget rw/lw arriola i dont include gonzalez, bradley, altidore etc because- to me- the point of this camp is to find potential replacements for those guys. i think the biggest negative of established nats returning to mls is that its crippled jan camp. theres zero reason to see those guys and all it does is take away the very few chances we have to look at new/young options. i didnt include zardes and trapp cause they suck- enough with the training wheels/security blankets, gregg, youre not teaching quantum theory here... so, that first group is all the "experience", framework i need. roldan, for example, is probably the "best" backup for mckennie (depending on where youd want pomykal, morales, etc)- but does anybody feel great about that? so i want him and a couple of guys to try to beat him. moving on... rb araujo cb zimmerman, robinson, glad lb hollingshead, herrera cdm servania, sands cm pomykal, lletget, ferreira st toye i dont care about lima cause i see cannon as clearly better (and im not a fan of "wrong side" fbs), but we also have 3 very good rb options. cb is the same- brooks, miazga and long are set for me, with zimmerman probably being the fourth at the moment, so, you know, just battle royale for that last spot. too bad ccv cant be included (and lucky for all this guys that richards cant be). so need in the team excluded some players (or players in specific roles) for me. i have zero interest in sands as a cb. if we are playing with a single striker i probably keep limping along with altidore/zardes over ferreira. theres no wingers im all that interested in, but i dont include morris cause id decisively take arriola, pulisic, weah or boyd over him (and give preference to amon in this case). obviously im not saying he wont, or shouldnt be in the actaul camp, im just saying its not very important to me. im sure lewis will be there and hes probably 7th, at best, on the wings for me. id like to see sabbi, amon and gall if thats an option we actually use again (havent really kept up on the mex based guys but it seems alvarado is the only one especially "deserving" of a look and id take any of the mls based guys over him pretty easily).
Update: Senior GK: 1. Brad Guzan 2. Jesse Gonzalez 3. Tyler Miller RB 1. Reggie Cannon* 2. Tommy Thompson CB’s 1. Walker Zimmerman 2. Aaron Long 3. Miles Robinson* 4. Ike Opara (James Sands*) LB 1. Nick Lima 2. Ryan Hollingshead M6: 1. Keaton Parks* 2. Jackson Yuiell* M8: 1. Cristian Roldan 2. Paxton Pomykal* 10: 1. Sebastian Lletget 2. Brendan Aaronson* RW: 1. Jordan Morris 2. Jesus Ferreira* FW: 1. Jozy Altidore 2. Mason Toye* LW 1. Paul Arriola 2. Jonathan Amon* (Joe Gyau) ———— U23 GK 1. Matt Freese 2. JT Marcinkowski 3. Trey Muse RB 1. Brooks Lennon 2. Julian Araujo CB’s 1. Justen Glad 2. Mark McKenzie 3. Aboubacar Keita 4. Donovan Pines LB: 1. Aaron Herrera 2. Sam Vines M6: 1. Brandon Servania 2. Christian Cappis (Edwin Cerrillo) M8: 1. Cole Bassett 2. Danny Leyva 10: 1. Djordje Mihailovic 2. Frankie Amaya RW: 1. Emmanuel Sabbi (Joshua Perez) 2. Sebastian Saucedo FW 1. Jeremy Ebobisse 2. Brandon Vasquez LW: 1. Jonathan Lewis 2. Gianluca Busio
Is Miller there to ride the pine? I'd prefer having Hamid, Johnson and Gonzalez though the intention is to really prepare one of those 3 (especially Gonzalez) to be the no.3 on the road to Qatar.
Formation: 4231. 3G seem to have shifted more into that formation. Emphasis: U23-eligibles and younger players. Strikers: (league minutes, goals and primary assists at the position) * - u23 eligible Jordan Morris(400min, 5 goals) Brian White(1233min, 8 goals) Mason Toye(609min, 6 goals, 2 assists)* Brandon Vazquez(400, 2 goals)* Jesus Ferreira(16 starts, 4 goals, 3 primary assists)* Jeremy Ebobisse(1147min,5 goals)* Considering he is coming off a major knee injury, Morris has had an outstanding year across the frontline. White looks a productive poacher. Toye looks the complete, modern striker. Ferreira might be more of an amid or off-forward. Vazquez---offers sweet combo play, hold up play, and passing. Might be in for an extended run, with Josef's injury
I'd say it depends on what kind of team you have and are playing against. He could be a great 9 if you retain possession and need a forward he makes great runs into the box. He's not a hold up type or great at running in behind although he can do that at times. A bunker breaker against over matched teams would be his specialty.
Players I most want to see here: Pomykal, Aaronson, Hollingshead, Sapong, Parks, Cappis, Turner, Robinson, Canouse, White, Corona, Memo, Yueill, Ebobisse, Toye, Mueller, Gonzalez, Glad Mock XI: -----------------------Sapong------------------ ------------Ebobisse-------Aaronson ----------------Corona---Pomykal---------- -----------------------Canouse--------------------- Hollingshead---Glad---Robinson---Lima ------------------------Turner-------------------
I still say this should be a joint senior and u23 camp, 40 man camp. ——————Altidore—————- Arriola——————————Morris ———-Lletget——Pomykal*——— ——————-Yuiell*——————- Lima———————————Cannon* ———(C)Long——Zim—————— ——————-Guzan——————— bench: Gonzalez(GK), Opara, Hollingshead, Canouse, Aaronson*, Ferreira*, Ebobisse* U23 ——————Toye——————- Amon——————————Sabbi ———Mihailovic—-Parks———— ——————Sands—————— Herrera—————————Lennon ——(C)M. Robinson—Glad———— —————Marcinkowski————— bench: Freese (G) McKenzie, Cappis, Amaya, Busio, Vasquez Called in, unused: Ochoa (G), Araujo, Servania, Amaya, Lewis
Olympic Qualifying Starts March 20th. I'd guess the U23s need to start working together immediately. My U23 camp team would be(352): -----------------------------------------Ebobisse/Toye/Vazquez--------Ferreria/Lewis/---- ----Duncan/Saucedo---------Pomykal/Amaya/Aaronson-----------Parks/Mihailovic/Yueill-----Cannon/Herrera/Araujo --------------------------------------------------------------Servania/Sands/Cerillo----- ---------------------------------------Glad/Keita-----------Robinson/Trusty----------Pines/McKenzie---- --------------------------------------------------------------Freese/Marcinkowski
Abbreviated roster of 30 for this joint Senior/u23 camp... GK: Guzan, Gonzalez, Johnson, Marcinkowski* RB: Cannon*, Lennon*, Araujo* CB: Long, Zimmerman, M. Robinson*, Glad* LB: Lima, Hollingshead, Herrera* M6: Yuiell*, Cappis*, Sands*, Parks* M8: Pomykal*, Aaronson* 10: Lletget, Mihailovic*, Ferreira* RF: Morris, Sabbi* FW: Altidore, Ebobisse*, Toye* LF: Arriola, Amon* close cuts: Amaya*, Bassett*, Servania*, Dotson*, Lewis*, Busio*, McKenzie*, Freese*, Ochoa*, Canouse Senior line-up Arriola———Altidore———Morris ———-Lletget——Pomykal——— ——————Yuiell——————— Lima——————————-Cannon ————Long—Zimmerman———- ——————Guzan——————— bench: Gonzalez M. Robinson Herrera Cappis/Sands/Parks Aaronson/Mihailovic Sabbi/Amon/Ferreira Ebobisse/Toye
If we could really push it, it would be nice to have a YA Camp Cupcake in the summer.. GOALKEEPERS: 1. Ethan Horvath, 2. Brady Scott, 3. Jonathan Klinsmann, 4. Chituri Odunze Alternates: Damian Las, CJ Dos Santos RIGHT BACKS: 1. Timmy Chandler, 2. Eric Lichaj Alternates: Matthew Olosunde, Manny Perez, Matt Polster, Shaq Moore, Desevio Payne, Marlon Fossey CENTER BACKS: 1. Cameron Carter-Vickers, 2. Ventura Alvarado, 3. Erik Palmer-Brown, 4. Chris Richards Alternates: Michael Edwards, Geoff Cameron, Lenard Maloney, Brendan Hines-Ike, Tim Ream LEFT BACKS: 1. Antonee Robinson, 2. Chris Gloster, 3. Fabian Johnson, 4. Niko Hamalainen Alternates: Andrew Gutman, Leonardo Sepulveda, Travian Sousa #6 MIDFIELDERS: 1. Tyler Adams, 2. Alfredo Morales, 3. Johnny, 4. Chris Durkin Alternates: Fernando Arce, Danny Williams #8 MIDFIELDERS: 1. Alex Mendez, 2. Joel Sonora, 3. Alan Sonora, 4. Matko Miljevic Alternates: Kyle Scott, Owen Otasowie, Ian Hoffman #10 MIDFIELDERS: 1. Richard Ledezma, 2. Julian Green, 3. Giovanni Reyna Alternates: Luca De la Torre, Taylor Booth, Malik Tillman, Tim Tillman RIGHT FORWARD:#1. Tim Weah, #2. Tyler Boyd Alternates: Mukwalle Akale, Indiana Vassiliev, Nick Taitague CENTER FORWARD: #1. Josh Sargent, #2. Sebastian Soto, #3. Jordy Siebatcheu, 4. Andrija Novakovich, 5. Bobby Wood Alternates: Haji Wright, Charlie Kelman, Jann George, Aron Johannsson , Johan Gomez, Jalen Hawkins, Cameron Harper, Justin Butler, Matthew Hoppe LEFT FORWARD: #1. Duane Holmes, #2. Ulysses Llanez, #3. Josh Pynadath Alternates: Kenny Saief, Lynden Gooch, Gboly Ariyibi, Mateo Ricaccio REST: Christian Pulisic, Wes McKennie, Sergino Dest, Zack Steffen, DeAndre Yedlin, John Brooks, Matt Miazga NOTE: No MLS/Scandinavian players