Berhalter has been trying to solve this puzzle since the November qualifiers, i.e., how to get at least 6 points while reaching for 9. He has to avoid player fatigue and injury, win the lineup chess match, make the right substitutions to put the team in a position to win. You have to get 3 points in the first match, otherwise, the knives will be out and the pressure will be immense. That's why you have to start with your best players against El Salvador and substitute as the match narrative plays out. After that, you might be able to again play some of your substituted players against Canada, but I think you have to lean towards using fresh MLS players in this one. And finally, against Honduras in the 3rd match, you go back to your best players, minus the ones who are burned out from playing in two previous matches.
The talent is there to rotate in an effective manner though the formation may have to be changed to accommodate this. Canada did a good job of squad rotation through the previous 3-game window.
Sell out for ES and Canada. Use guys, perhaps an entirely separate roster of guys, who are acclimated to 10 degree conditions ready to go in St Paul. That game will be about mentally, not soccer.
The US and Canada have done a really good job rotating squads. Every nation has had to deal with this. Every nation other than Canada has had clunkers that resulted from it. Canada has yet to play a road game in Central America, and that real rotation challenge is coming for them. I can see their clunker in this window against Honduras. Their "House of Horrors." Actually, their clunker so far was drawing at home to the worst team in the Ocho. People were unhappy with our close loss in Panama. Fine. Panama then rotated in their next game and got their doors blown off. There's this game within a game of coaches thinking in the 3 game spurts. I personally think we can afford a few rotations in the starting lineup against El Salvador. Just a couple. Then if we get up by two goals, start subbing out the key guys earlier than usual. Particularly Tyler Adams. Then go with as good of a lineup against Canada as possible. Our approach to that Honduras game will depend on what the table looks like after the first two games. If we've opened up a gap to Panama, then we can afford rotation in that Honduras game. I totally agree with the sentiment above that the Minnesota game will be about mentality. And I think Honduras will mail that one in. I won't be surprised if that's one of those 5-0 jobs even if we use some rotation players.
Your usual in depth look so well done. But I do have a couple of strong disagrements. 1. Your going in plan is to start Pulisic, Aaronson, McKennie, and Adams all three matches? Crazy to me. That's a plan for injuries, dead legs, and something I wouldn't do until the team was in desperation mode. 2. Interested to hear your thoughts on the CB pairings. You have done more juggling the back 4 than any other position. Odd since the back line, especially in the middle is where you fitness wise probably need to rotate the least. 3. You are staring Zardes in the first match. Not opposed to Zardes but I think (depending of course on how the look in camp) I would start Pefok. Jordan has been playing and Zardes has not. 4. Are you handing the keeper job to Turner? 5. And the biggie to me. I am starting MMA against Canada. You chose to use Busio against Canada and go MMA in the home matches. What's your logic there? Do you see Busio as a better matchup against Canada on the road vs one of the CA teams at home?
I mean................................I don't know how Berhalter can select Reyna. At some point you cut the cord on this window and plan for him not being there. Gio Reyna isn't ready to play against Freiburg tomorrow. https://t.co/f5JWVzCr7N— USMNT Universe (@UsmntU) January 13, 2022
GGG didn't do a good job of squad rotation during the last 3-game window. In that Panama match, injury prone Arriola was trotted out on 3 days rest. Musah, a teenager who rarely gets starts at club level, being used on 3 days rest was also a poor decision. Additionally, there was little creativity in that starting central midfield of Lletget, Acosta, and Musah. On the frontline, Zardes, a hustler and finisher, didn't help with the attack's creativity problem. It was bad all around. And Panama did lose both their road games during that same window. Panama's losing at El Salvador and getting smashed at Canada should have served to underline the US's lost opportunity.
Ignoring goalkeepers, Canada started Johnston, Osorio, Davies, and David in all three matches in October, and all but Osorio played nearly every minute. That's the type of approach I expect from the US in these next 3 matches. Players like M. Robinson, Dest, Adams, McKennie, and Pulisic should start all 3 matches. Other players like A. Robinson, Musah, Aaronson, Pepi, and whoever the #2 CB is can start 2 matches, with rotation for the remaining starts.
The Reyna and Weah injuries are trouble. Especially when we have to dip into the bench we are going to be short on effective attackers this widow. I was really hoping to at least see Gio called in, but if he's not even making the bench at BVB yet, I think this possibility may be slipping away. It looks highly likely that at best we will be starting our third string right wing. And if someone gets tired, we go even deeper. Dest's ability to attack down the right side is already a big part of this team with our top guys, and in this window it could be even more important. Thankfully, Pulisic is looking healthy and getting acclimated to playing a lot of minutes lately. Without Weah and Gio, we will need him to come up big. Speaking of dipping into the bench, I think we have to play a little more wait and see to determine how much we need to rotate guys. A lot will depend on how the games go and how much we can rest players in the second half of games. If we come out strong against El Salvador, we can start pulling guys early and then they aren't going to be so worn down for game #2. If we have a tough game and our top guys all go 90, things could be different. It's why I'm really not a fan of prescribing these rotations ahead of time. I get wanting to have a worst case scenario plan for how you will approach games if you need to, but you really can't say how guys will be fitness wise for game 2 until you have played game 1.
As long as Pulisic and Aaronson remain fine, I still think we're okay with wingers. If not, then suddenly we have a problem. Arriola and Morris are the clear backups IMO, while I would probably call in one more - maybe Gioachinni, de la Fuente, or the out-of-form Hoppe. If Reyna and Weah aren't back in action this weekend - and Reyna will not be - then it's tough to see them playing a role for the US in 2 weeks.
Johnston, Osorio, Davies, and David aren't injury prone. I would instead expect the keeper and the two centerbacks to start all three matches the US.
How much time did Pulisic get with Chelsea before he played in the last window? I think fitness is more important right now. IF Reyna is healthy then get him in to the camp.
theyve been on their winter break since mid dec, though they did have a friendly a few days ago. of course zardes was injured through the end of the season so his last competitive match was, geez, probably 5 months ago? we are going to have pepi, dike, hoppe and p-funk all on 2-3 matches in the last couple of months. the only guy whos in season and hasnt been injured is sarge...and, well, you know...
Pulisic made two sub appearances for Chelsea before the November match window. Pulisic just had a 16 day period for Chelsea where he played 90 minutes in 5 matches and played 45 minutes in a 6th match. Notably, there was a 6 day period where Pulisic started and played every minute in 3 matches. If Thomas Tuchel thinks Pulisic has that level of fitness, then Gregg Berhalter should be agreeing with him. For another example, McKennie has also just started and played 3 straight matches for Juventus - 300 minutes - in a 6 day period. The good thing is that Pulisic has gotten a little more rotation over the last 10 days, while I hope that Max Allegri will do the same with McKennie, at least for the upcoming Juventus cup match. We don't want their club managers to run Pulisic and McKennie into the ground.
If Reyna still can't even be on the bench this weekend, which seems like the case, I can't see how Berhalter can call him up. He hasn't played a match since September 3rd. And we're hearing even less about Weah's status than we're hearing about Reyna's in terms of match readiness.
McKennie and Pulisic didn't have to travel across the Atlantic to start their crowded club slates. Agree Weah and Reyna are looking increasingly unlikely. Focus on the 6 points, instead of worrying about playing guys 3-matches.
Has Morris played regular minutes of any sort w/any of these guys? Honest question. Maybe in ‘19 and that late ‘20 friendly? Beyond that, heck if that, I don’t get the sense he’s played w/any of these guys other than Pulisic. I don’t think he’s automatic anything. I’ve got no issue throwing him in the pile and bringing him along if any of the big 4 are out, definitely prefer him to Arriola, I think his key value is versatility, but he’s #5 at best in my wing forward pecking order. Might be #2 or #3 at Forward if the Dike/Pefok/Sargent group can’t wrestle the #2 job clean away.
I agree, Pulisic has shown some steel over the last month in terms of being able to play a fair few games in quick succession. Aaronson is young and fit as hell so he should be able to as well. The question is more of who will play between the two of them in the front line. A healthy Reyna would mean for me that I'd play him there. Absent that I'm not sure. Pepi, Pefok, I don't know that it really matters as neither are hands down the best and both can do what needs doing in this tactic.
This is what I think needs to be remembered when we get obsessive about having to heavily rotate everyone for three games and don't want anyone playing two in a row. Top players play this number of games pretty regularly. I think we are getting really carried away when we act like none of our guys are able to do this unless we don't think our players are as fit as players from other countries. Sure, bring in some fresh legs in places were the quality between the starter and a backup aren't that big or for guys struggling with fitness, etc. But, I think our key players should be able to play all three, especially if we can wrap up a game or two early enough to give them some rest in the second half. I think we've learned over the course of qualifying thus far that we need our top players to win many of these games and almost any of them get tricky if we are not at our best or take the field with lesser personnel. I think Pulisic, McKennie, Adams and Dest at the very least need to start all 3 games and I think our top 11 should at least get some minutes in each game. I may worry a bit more about the guys from MLS who don't regularly play games with the same frequency and who are out of season, but our big guns should come ready to play a lot of minutes.
With Weah I think there's just much less reporting out of Lille then there is with Dortmund. He may not be ready to go, but I don't think we can read the lack on info either way. The bigger indicator is going to be if he makes the bench this weekend as I believe it was earlier reported he'd be out till mid-month. With Reyna it depends on the reason he's not playing. If it's purely a fitness thing there's a good chance he'll be able to play somewhat by the end of the month given that he's been in training since December. If he's not playing for some reason related to his injury though, then he's probably not going to be able to go.
What a terrible argument. You could just say you don't think he's not as good as a regular for Lille or Leipzig (when he could have played at Leverkusen). First of all, it's a nat'l team. They're not playing together much by nature. Secondly, Morris is a vet. He's played w/ them more than most. He just played w/ much of the group in Dec. camp. Yea, let's just axe out every talented, proven player who is out for an extended time due to injury. Weah & Adams sure took a long time to get re-acclimated.
My educated guess is Dortmund are gaming the system, really easing Reyna back, because they don't want him potentially getting injured straight away in int'ls, like he did last time. Gregg's staff could gauge if this was truly the case by just communicating w/ Gio to see if he's felt ready. If so, he should be included in camp, regardless what Dortmund does. Now, this does tie our hands when it comes to starting him, if he's not even played by wcq'ing. He wouldn't be near starter fit or necessarily sharp. But I don't think you can be so ruled by injuries that, weeks before, you're completely axing out key guys that are on the verge of return and have been for a while. I know this is a longer term one, but not the type where he's likely to return as a worse player, and it's like you can't have a knock even w/in a few week window before yet another qualifying camp, or you're out. By that criteria, you're losing much of your roster, that you don't necessarily have to. They're playing for their clubs first game back, if not before in friendlies.
If these games end up being played in extreme cold weather, is that more taxing to the players? Who do posters see as our players better suited to get results in these conditions? It seems clear to me that we did what we could to reduce the travel on our players (some posters completely ignore the travel component when comparing how often a player can play in a short window) and could signify we are going to attempt to not rotate as much. Also while I’m asking questions, how do you see it, would it be more important to take a point in Canada or three against Honduras at home. I know obviously we would want both, but if you had to chose.......
I generally agree with this approach. For example, this is the style of starting XI that I would ideally pick for El Salvador. Steffen; Dest, M. Robinson, Richards, Vines; Adams, McKennie, Lletget; Aaronson, Pepi, Pulisic. That's the type of rotation that I would expect in these matches - some combination of 7-9 best XI type players mixed in with the depth. Two players, Vines and Lletget, stand out as not really being close to a Best XI, but everybody else in this lineup is close. A. Robinson and Musah would then start the other matches, and a few other players like Richards, Aaronson, and Pepi can be rotated out in one of the later matches.
Fair points. #1. Yes. I’m starting and playing all three key players in all three games. At some point, we’re being too damn cute to believe that a player cannot play a midweek game. Besides, the World Cup is a rigorous process too, and I’m not going to advocate for benching Pulisic unless I absolutely have to in a must win game. If anything, it’s a good mental practice of what it’ll be like to keep yourself ready in such a short turnaround. #2. I can waver on alternating the center back combo and not doing so. Take that selection as I’ll make up my mind as we get into the window, and based on the fitness/readiness of each player. But in pre-planning, my thought is that yes, I would like to rotate guys when I can do so without a major drop off. And in this case, there’s a minimal talent drop off in our top 4 CBS. On the other hand, I agree that center back is a position that does not require as much rotation. So it’s a bit of a complex decision that will have to be made on this one. #3 Sure. I could go either way and I will feel exactly the same. This is one hill that I certainly would not die on between Zardes and Pefok. But I might as well explain why, at the moment, I have Zardes over Pefok (as razor thin as that might be).... Zardes has a lot of leadership experience and he will have been in the pre-camp. That’s it. I imagine that he’s going to be a little more mentally attuned with what Berhalter wants because of the fact that he’s been in camp longer. #4 Personally, I rate Turner over Steffen. I know that Steffen has a higher ceiling but I don’t feel as nervous as when Turner is in the game. It’s possible to alternate the two, but for continuity sake, I’m picking one and sticking with him. #5 That’s a hard one. I want that MMA match up as much as possible and to be as effective as possible. That’ll require some rotation. In other words, I feel more assured of the 6 pts at home with MMA. And I still believe that Busio can get it done against away....especially when he’ll be on fresh legs. Now, could I change that? I believe so. But my instinct, right now, tells me that Musah doesn’t have the stamina to go all three games but I could use him effectively for two... and this was how I thought I could get the most out of him.