So, unfalsifiable BS in which you'll move goalposts indefinitely in order to nullify all evidence against you. Good, you're definitely arguing in good faith, I love to see it!
So how far are we taking this? Is Virgil Van Dijk's development because of Scottish soccer? Is Igor Thiago's development because of soccer in Bulgaria?
i truly dont understand how you all can actually be usmnt fans with these kinds of perspectives you share on here is MLS supplying the necessary talent for the USMNT to beat teams like Portugal and Belgium etc? clearly CLEARLY NOT the players currently in mls and getting minutes for the usmnt are not plusses for the team....none of them are. heaven forbid anyone points a finger at MLS and acknowledges that the gap between USA and the rest of the world is the same as it always has been in terms of quality of play and level of talent produced its like you guys are like religious zealots and don garber is your prophet i get the sense literally nothing could happen....no turn of events could transpire whereby you all start pointing fingers at MLS you can make a million excuses for MLS but the reality is its a 2nd rate league that is not contributing anything positive to the performance of the USMNT at this point. the usmnt was ranked higher 10-20 years ago.....and since then apparently MLS has improved so much and done so much better....and yet the national team isnt close to where it once was.....back when any euro player with a pulse was a lock for the usmnt....the gap between pot 1 teams and this current usmnt is wider than it has been at times in the past - which makes zero sense. instead now we are forced to endure a worse team with supposedly better players....and the worst part is that we are alos forced to endure the sad, corrupt reality that players performing well in euro leagues....that would have been lead-pipe locks for the usmnt are being passed over for mls scrubs....and then this forum, for example, wants to gaslight people that everything is all well and good and going as it should be! back when the USMNT was the highest ranked it has ever been - any guy playing in bundesliga or champions league etc was A LOCK for the USMNT.....even being on the bench there was a good chance..... IF there were literally no other options in europe that arent in the mix - i'd be totally cool with falling back on the mls options...but we are passing over very talented players in europe simply as some kind of DEI support program to prop up MLS and it SUCKS and you lot refuse to acknowledge thats what happening and it bggles my mind how or why anyone would have the motivation to deny reality
No, but Europe isn’t supplying those players to the USMNT either. Our Euro super team has failed to beat Panama in recent years.
What players right now in the Champions League or even the Bundesliga are getting passed over for MLS players?
A decent number of fans seem to want Musah in over any MLS option. Apparently skipping the Gold Cup and riding a Serie A bench are actually two points in his favor compared to the lowly guys Poch has seen accepting his call ups and contributing on the field.
Very, very, very few............... Lund, on one of the weaker teams in the Bundesliga? A very different style of player to Arfsten. There are bench players in the Bundesliga like Maloney, Paredes, Campbell, Downs, etc. But they haven't made cases for themselves. Not even Banks has been playing all that much over the last couple of months (not to mention he hasn't committed). Pochettino evaluated Musah. He used him a lot over the first 6 months of his tenure. But then he hasn't even called him up since the 2025 Nations League. Meanwhile he gushes about Roldan. Particularly Roldan's intangibles.
It’s not “we,” it’s Pochettino. Your post only makes sense if we are supposed to trust your judgement over Poch. That’s between you and your psychiatrist. Who, by the way, is failing at his job.
Lund is probably the only one, making 30 plus appearances for Koln, but he was with Poch early, Poch moved on. Paredes can't stay healthy and just got suspended for violating team rules. Cole Campbell has what... 5 appearances since going on loan? Downs isn't scoring Maloney has 21 appearances but only 4 more that are 45 minutes or more. I guess with the CB situation you could say call him in, but with Scally, Freeman, and even Tessmann able to play CB is it worth it? James Sands is injured. Banks has been called in but also hasn't been ready to commit. Like even to extend outside of the top 5 leagues, in Europe the one guy who you could say might deserve a look that really hasn't gotten one is George Campbell on a BAD West Brom team. I see a lot of people mentioning Musah vs England from 2022 as justification and it just ignores that he's a long way from that player. he's been bad to mediocre going back to his final year at Valencia. Still can turn it around, but whole reason to want Musah is you want someone whose press resistant
MLS is good enough for Croatia..................................so folks have to get over the inferiority complex. FC Dallas striker Peter Musa makes Croatia’s World Cup roster – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
As I was watching Dallas this weekend, I literally thought of this topic…if Musa were American, for my money he’d be on the plane for sure. But you and I both know that a faction of so called fans would lose their minds over it. But yeah, I don’t know how good Croatia is right now, but they have a history of success America can only dream of.
paredes is better than arfsten and we havent seen him once for poch....(hes been injured A LOT) but hes good enough that he should still be in consideration regardless lund is playing a lot for koln banks is another that should be in consideration...and there are at least rumors that hes on the wc roster...instead we had to watch guys like blackmon get minutes over him in previous camps montrell culbreath is a winger for bayer leverkusen that had a great game vs bayern munich and is open to playing for the usmnt musah played well in 22 wc and plays in serie a etc a lot of usmnt fans and pundits were talking about leaving johnny off the roster before he got injured busio just got his team back to serie A...zero attention from poch pukstas is another player in europe that I think has what it takes to help the usmnt and hasnt gotten a single callup for poch...he will play for a big club sonner rather than later okoh is a centerback in french first div who is usmnt eligible and was playing very well...not 1 callup (unfortunately just injured his acl this week so hes not an option) jalen blesa has 7 goals in 13 matches in the portugeuse 1st division in 2026...not even a whisper about him brandon nozawa japanese dual nat GK for royal antwerp...not in the picture....but we REALLY need a differ GK george bello and sam adeniran won the austrian bundesliga with LASK and will be in UCL next season - no callups or whispers anrie chase just went full 90 this weekend for red bull salzburg centerback (and we NEED centerbacks) despite being injured a lot lately george campbell - had a great season for west brom - 1 callup koleosho has 2 goals and 1 assist in his last 6 matches (over may and april) as a sub in ligue 1 in france lennard maloney made over 30 appearances for mainz this season - 0 callups cole campbell, damion downs, mathis albert all played at least once in bundesliga this season james sands played in bundesliga this year a lot marlon fossey is captain of a team in belgium (but happens to also play the deepest poistion in usmnt pool rght back) im not saying all of these guys or even most should be on the world cup roster or anything BUT theres a lot of ignored talent out there that is us-eligible....and you could make a pretty good team out of all it, if you had to, imo almost all of these guys wouldve been on the usmnt for most of the past cycles since the 90s imo with their resumes.... furthermore, i think MLS is weaker league than almost all of the leagues that this guys play in by a lot going with mlsers over these guys is a strange call really....and can only be explained with the mls quota rationale its like theres been some exec level decision that there MUST be MLS on the USMNT as a rule....and its annoying af....dsp since most people try to act like there arent any other options besides the mls scrubs we get ramrodded like ream lol...dude is WASHED THE EF UP
Seems like he got them to take a guy from Orlando also. Their forward group is a little long in the tooth, surprised they didn't stuff Mandzukic into a kit, but MLS having 2 of the 3 guys < 30 is a feather in the Don's cap. Maybe Musah should come back and bury 45 goals in 70 games to cement is 2030 spot
I mean.................MLS had the 6th most players at WC22. Its not like its a surprise or something. And you wonder about 2026, because as the squads are announced there are MLS players all over them. Part of it the additional CONCACAF teams. Canada making it ratchets up the number dramatically as it did in 2022. We may have a couple on Mexico (ironically not Brian Gutierrez, Richie Ledezma, Obed Vargas, Julian Araujo, or Efrain Alvarez who are all on their provisional roster. All played for MLS clubs/academies). Haiti announced their squad and they have a bunch of MLSers. Players on Tunisia, South Korea, Croatia etc. that were announced. They'll keep coming. Cape Verde was just announced with multiple MLS players.
if the mlsers on usmnt were not american...no mls teams would buy them....there would be cheaper AND better options from other countries on the market theres plenty of players in MLS that are good enough for USMNT....its just almost none of them are americans. how many MLS teams would buy: Ream, Turner, Miles Robinson, Arfsten, Roldan, Berhalter, as DPs? if they werent americans??? lol...none and thats the whole point they arent "MLS players" they are are American MLSers big difference theres plenty of foreign DPs in MLS that would help the USMNT if eleigible using that fact to say "MLSers are good enough for USMNT" is ridiculous foreign DPs being good enough for USMNT doesnt make the americans good enough for USMNT
Seriously, at what point do you think to yourself that you need to do some research. Or do you just spew nothingness and hope that we all don't know. For instance........................Miles Robinson gets paid $4 million a year. He is a designated player for Cincinnati. That's the least of the problems in your post.
You haven't been watching MLS, have you? Berhalter is 100% DP quality. While everyone was surprised by his 2025 season, it's also true that he was a start of the season "no brainer" early pick for 2026 MVP. The fun thing is that Berhalter is matching the offensive production of the best wingers in MLS while being a box to box midfielder. Some even list him as a DM. Yes, that includes goals. Yes, again, that includes non-free kick goals.
berhalter is the only one though.....and hes still a fringe USMNTer, barely making it if it he does.....while ignoring guys like busio and pukstas who didnt get any kind of chance for poch youre trying to distract from reality. great DPs in MLS like Messi or Son or Mueller....lifting the level of the league.....dont all of a sudden make the americans in MLS usmnt-worthy theres this VERY COMMON argument online: MLS is good and there are good foreginers making good national teams in MLS....so americans in MLS should be on USMNT....well, like ive been trying to explain, its a ridiculous argument. its like saying in the upcoming world cup that the saudi team will play better than ever because ronaldo plays in saudi now. thats just not how it works. and thats why we havent seen hardly any decent usmnt players from mls in a long while now regardless of whatever lies you wanna feed yourself about MLS' place in the pecking order of global football. messi going to mls wont help tim ream in a footrace lol foreign players in saudi do not make the saudi players somehow better.....i mean yeah they do lift the level of that league.....but that alone doesnt equate to saudi players being better at international soccer.... (of course there is indeeed likely some benefit in terms of form and level.....overall.....but you cant merely assume that these two separate and entirely distinct groups of players - domestic saudis and foreign mercenaries - are somehow of the same cloth)...whatever impact there is, isnt going to make saudi a contender or move the needle much. usmnt needs to stop propping up MLS and simply call the best players from the best leagues that it can and the fact that that even has to be argued is beyond ridiculous.
I feel like I've seen you say elsewhere you would like MLS to rely less on foreign players, especially in the creating/attacking positions, and play more USMNT eligible players. A point that I agree with*. But here you seem to be saying "...not like that" So it bothers you that they might overpay for American talent? I think it's worth it to pay a premium for domestic talent to stay in a league where they have a better chance at playing a ton of minutes vs letting them go to lower level places in Europe and ride the bench. I don't think anybody thinks Berhalter is going to a UCL knock-out round team and playing a ton of minutes right now. Not playing while training with a Serie B/Champ/2Bunde/Eredivisie/PortuLiga team probably doesn't help him stay sharp. It's not terrible to have some Beckerman's mixed in with your Roma era Bradleys. * if they have the technical/tactical ability to supplant the TAM/GAM guys. No point overpaying for USL-C guys.
You could apply the “pretend they’re not American” idea to guys in Europe as well though. If Musah had declared for England would we looking at him right now as the kind of player needed by the USMNT? Heck, if Pulisic was a Croatia player would we still be expecting an explosive run at the World Cup from him?
Ok so out of this pool: Lund and Fossey both had time under Poch. He wasn't impressed, I wasn't either. Paredes barely plays and is having discipline issues. He should probably look for a move where he can see consistent time. I think he's a decent player but he's definitely not showing more than Arfsten. Banks and Culbreath are both inexperienced and would be bold picks for a USMNT roster. I think Banks might be on it anyway because he's that good. But Culbreath hasn't even represented our YNTs. It would be Julian Green-esque. Okoh just ruptured a ligament, also never seemed to indicate interest in playing in the USA. Koleosho is fully on board with Italy U21s and is horribly inconsistent. Nozawa has not indicated any interest in the USA and has only one season as a plus shot stopper. There's nothing that indicates he's a better GK than Freese or Turner. Pukstas plays in a worse league than MLS and can't pass. He might have his time at some point, but it's not in 2026. Bello and Adeniran also play in a worse league than MLS and neither had great success in the league before they left. Lennard Maloney would be fine if the USMNT wanted to cede 60% of possession and defend their own box the entirety of every game. They don't. He's not a "system fit". Sands is hurt (again). He's a good player, can't stay fit, is in a horrible place team wise as he's injured with an expiring loan. Also never fit is Chase who also hasn't appeared for the USA. Jalen Blesa is an interesting one. 7 goals in 13 in a weak first division (outside of the big 3) isn't going to move the needle over our current attacking talent (who are not MLS based). Cole Campbell has been mediocre and was garbage in the U20 world cup. Be serious. I'd rather take Cade Cowell. That leaves Campbell and Busio as guys who I think are around USMNT level, but it's not a slam dunk. Both were good but not great MLS players during their time in the league. Campbell isn't left footed though so replacing Ream is a tough ask (that should be Trusty's job for 2026).