my hope is that if Banks dcelines a callup now...that the door is permanently closed to him for the USMNT (and that he also never cracks the German team) and lives the rest of his days with regret for never having played international soccer
Oh ok, I thought he moved to Germany when he was like 8 or 9, I stand corrected. I'm done talking about this. We have other excellent footballers in their own right who actually want to play for us. Just lord don't give me Miles Robinson and Tim Ream out there together starting a WC match, please god.
Banks is probably calculating - correctly - that he’s unlikely to play much, if at all, in WC2026 if he opts for the US. On the other hand, both options will probably be available to him for 2030 qualifying, so there’s no harm in waiting to make a final decision. Moreover, if Germany genuinely sees a future for him, that means a potentially long career with a team that is a genuine challenger for every WC and Euros.
I should add that dual nationals are not half and half, they are equally and wholly both. How someone chooses to express a complex identity is deeply personal and - this is the crucial part - not necessarily a judgement of others who share part or all of that identity.
Sucks to be a fan on the end of it, but if I were advising a Dual Nat I would advise him to wait as long as possible. He's probably not going to play a significant role for either team in this World Cup, and once you choose it's the only one you're going to get.
He has a good chance to start for us. Many USMNT pundits including former USMNT members have him in the starting lineup.
I'm not taking the bait until I know for sure he said no. Even then I'm not mad just disappointment. I'd be more mad if he was raised here the whole time and did it but always know it's difficult to pry players away from the country they've spent their whole life. I'm not totally convinced he's turned us down yet as there is no official word from him that I'm aware of.
I am not sure I agree that he is a risky player other than the fact that he doesn't have a substantial number of professional minutes under his belt. So maybe risky from this WC perspective. If you gave me the choice between him and Trusty, McKenzie and Robinson then I think I would take all of them ahead of Banks right now... but just because they have played with the USMNT in important games. But it would be nice to have him tested out in March in order to provide injury depth and to have him in the fold for the next cycle. But a decade has made a huge difference in our talent pool. So many younger guys getting minutes. There will be others. Besides, I think he has a legit ceiling and a nice floor but I am not convinced he is going to be a player we all rue losing yet. Only time will tell...
I don't know, this doesn't feel like 1994-2014, we have basically one CB the consensus would start, and probably only two CB's every poster would choose in agreement. Maybe he's not an auto starter but with Ream a disaster in MLS, McKenzie a gaffe a game machine, Robinson not what he once was, CCV out, and the rest meh as well, I don't know why he couldn't steal a job. Arf and Freeman have gone from not on the horizon, let alone in a call up in the early winter of '24 to locks in '25, Berhalter went from not even MLS relevant, to logging a ton of caps in '26. I don't see why Banks would be totally out of the picture when it comes to starting. Other than Richards, noone even has a claim on a lock spot on the roster, let alone a starting gig. I get that he has never seemingly been in Poch's top 6 or so, so there's that, but at this point even Ream has been so bad, that coach on the field, captain in the locker room caliber rep isn't even ensuring he's a lock. So, I don't know. Odds are he wouldn't start, but if he thinks he's good enough to be the German prospect U23 or whatever for CB in their program, he absolutely should be capable of shunting aside a bunch of mid, and past it options like we've got.
Fitness is in question: 🗣️ Manuel Baum ahead of #BVBFCA: “Noki Banks is only expected to complete his first training session of the week today. It's possible he'll have to sit out the match against BVB.” pic.twitter.com/2jMHtXBEFu— FC Augsburg (@FCA_World) March 13, 2026
Banks has more Bundesliga appearances (though not overall appearances) than John Brooks had in 2014 and that risk paid off nicely.
That's why I didn't list Ream in my post. But I think both are super risky if we don't hold with 3. Ream can't recover if he gets pulled up field and Banks has played nearly 0 minutes at the BL level in 2CB sets.
Banks is on the bench, perhaps someone would care to explain/guess why. Augsburg visiting Borussia Dortmund.
The USMNT was not the first choice of: Thomas Dooley, Earnie Stewart, Roy Wegerle, Hugo Perez, Frank Klopas, Fernando Clavijo, David Regis, Martin Vasquez, Preki, David Wagner, Michael Mason, Chris Armas, Carlos Llamosa, Benny Feilhaber, Jose Francisco Torres, Aron Johannsson, Jermaine Jones, Fabian Johnson, Timmy Chandler, Danny Williams, Terrence Boyd, John Brooks, Mix Diskerud, Julian Green, Alfredo Morales, Edgar Castillo, Ventura Alvarado, Darlington Nagbe, Jorge Villafana, Dom Dwyer, Tyler Boyd, Sergino Dest, Antonee Robinson, Yunus Musah, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Ricardo Pepi, Malik AND Timothy Tillman, Kristoff Lund, Johnny Cardoso, Damion Downs, Diego Luna and Folarin Balogun. A lot of really good USMNT players settled for the USMNT. And still gave it their complete all and bled for the crest. A national team career is a business decision and a personal decision and I can't fault any player for the decision they make or the reasons they choose a certain national team over another. Do what's best for you.
Noahkai Banks on his IG story. 📱 pic.twitter.com/JN4Uh9GJzg— USMNT Otaku 🇺🇸 (@USMNTOtaku) March 16, 2026 Not sure what this means.
the deadline is pretty much this weekend, though how can he pass on a pre WC camp that the coach has said is basically a world cup game....and come back from that with the US?