I think not having as many German-Americans like we did a few years ago made a difference with Banks. Back when we had Jermaine Jones, Fabian Johnson, Timmy Chandler, Danny Williams, and Julian Green, the guys all could bond with one another. (Plus Cherundolo who spoke fluent German.) The only competitive German-American we have now is Malik Tilman. The others aren't making the WC squad - Damien Downs and Lenard Maloney.
With Banks out, I give Trusty a shot in competition with Miles Robinson/Scally for the last defender slot. Or in case Ream or someone else gets injured.
Jonathan Gonzalez, not Gomez. Gomez has played for both countries both at youth level and in senior friendlies, but has never panned out enough to get anywhere near either team's senior squad for a competitive game. His most recent senior cap was for the US though. Gonzalez, from everything I heard, wanted to play for the US but then we didn't qualify in 2018....Mexico got him to file a 1 time switch (I'm not sure why he needed one and Gomez didn't). The rumor back then was they offered him a spot on their WC team and then reneged.
Maybe, though in recent interviews Banks talked about how he loved coming to the your US teams to see and be with all of his friends.
I forgot that McKennie, Pulisic, and Reyna also speak German pretty well. So Banks should have had no trouble communicating (plus Banks speaks English). So maybe he just thinks starring for Germany will be better for his career (he wouldn't be wrong - better chance at winning World Cup with them than US.) Plus it would likely lead to better club salaries in Germany/Europe if he's playing for German national team. Not to mention less travel time to European fixtures vs. matches in Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, etc. No one wants to do those qualifying slogs.
You know what actually is good for a guys club career and salaries? Playing in a WC and showing what you can do. I think he's foolish if he doesn't come to the March camp. No harm no foul. 1. First off, he has zero minutes with either senior team. Go to this camp. Get some minutes and see where you stand. 2. If he showed well then there is a strong likelihood he'd make the final US roster and see action this summer. And if not then he's still not cap tied. 3. It is extremely unlikely at this point that he'd get called in to the German senior team for this WC. 4. Lots can happen over the next 4 years before WC 2030. Sure you might think you are in line for a starting spot with the Germans by then. But shit happens. Ask Charlies Davies. Ask Stu Holden.
We don't even to go that far back. Who in 2014 thought that would be the only World Cup Julian Green, John Brooks, and Timmy Chandler took part in? In 2022 guys like Sargent, Scally, Musah, and Reyna all seemed like pretty safe bets for 2026 too
In the end if he doesn’t want to even come into a camp that is not at all cap tying, he definitely doesn’t want to play for us right now. But these situations are pretty fluid and I wouldn’t surprised if he does end up on the roster.
If Berhalter or Klinsmann was still the USMNT manager Banks would already have had caps and been in the fold.
Weirdly all of those guys, along with CCV, have a legitimate chance to be in the picture for 2030 even if they miss out this year
It could be a massive loss... but it isn't certain. In the short term he likely wouldn't have any major role in the WC cycle. Longer term... it could be a massive loss if he becomes an elite CB AND we struggle to fill that position. At this point I think we should focus on who wants to play for us rather than a dual nat loss. There is so much young talent coming up thru the systems.... losing guys to other NTs is going to be more common.
We need the wynders and jalen neals of our talent funnel to come good. Those two have been kinda snakebit with injuries
We've had a bunch of cases like this. The board expects the worst. We win some and lose some. To me the most similar comparison is Dest. Once we heard the Netherlands wanted him, and he was waffling, we all assumed he was lost. Turned out that the early relationship built with him mattered. It could be the same with Banks. Poch has made it clear that he thinks highly of him. We thought the lack of playing time in October and November didn't make sense. Now we know the situation. I'm assuming (although its assumption) that the waffling didn't start in the run-up to this March camp. 🚨🆕 Mauricio Pochettino is pushing for Noahkai #Banks to play for the United States. The two have already spoken on the phone.The 19 y/o centre-back top talent is still undecided and also has strong ambitions to play for Germany. So far, none of the senior officials at the DFB… pic.twitter.com/fzoizxteDh— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) March 12, 2026
Would compare Banks's current situation to that of Balogun who had held out for full England caps before eventually committing to the US.
A closer comparison is Arnold Benedict, I would say, or more recently Esmir Bajraktarevic, first representing the US and then switching. Balogun was more of a mixed picture, though leaning English before choosing us. To each his own.
Brian McBride recently stated in an interview with Donovan and Howard that he tried to get in touch with Balogun over and over again during the 2022 cycle. He spoke to his agent about 5 or 6 times during that cycle (initially when he was at Arsenal, and then a number of times when he was in France), and tried to set up a call or meeting between himself, Balogun, and Berhalter. And Balogun basically wouldn't take the call, so they never even had a conversation. They were finally able to speak to him after the World Cup, but McBride was gone at that point, so he couldn't really speak to what changed.
Steve Sampson was ahead of this time, playing the 3-5-2. He just did it 28 years too early (and with far inferior players, haha).