Ream should be phased out because he isn’t good anymore, and that situation is very unlikely to improve in the next 7 months.
Tim Ream is literally the captain of the USMNT. He was always going to be at this camp, and he will be at the World Cup whether people like it or not.
Yeah, he’s not. Man’s responsible for like, a goal every other game because he just isn’t physically up to it anymore.
Changes from last roster listed below, in a slightly speculative grouping based on who may have replaced whom. In bold are players who missed their last game due to injury. In italics are players who Poch addressed at the press conference by explaining they felt it based for them to stay with their clubs. Added Klinsmann and Celentano (no Turner or Brady) Added Trusty (no Richards) Added Zawadski (no Carter-Vickers) Added Tolkin (no Jedi) Added Scally (no Weah) Added Adams (no Sands) Added Berhalter (no McKennie) Added Pepi (no Agyemang) Added Reyna (no Pulisic or Zendejas or Tillman) Sands and Agyemang likely missed out because better players returned to the team after a prior absence. Tillman just returned to the bench yesterday after missing weeks with injury. Turner's the only one above that he didn't address and who doesn't have an obvious explanation. (There was reporting about him training with Palace, but the article I saw framed that as Turner training to keep sharp prior to the November friendlies.)
Wil Trapp played about 6 games worth of minutes for Berhalter, and basically all of them were when Tyler Adams was hurt (and Bradley was unavailable). Two of those games were in January camp. Wil Trapp was also the starting CDM just a year earlier when we got our infamous win over France, so I don't know if it was entirely clear there were other options. Jackson Yueill is the younger version of Wil Trapp, and he played in about 10 games worth of minutes for Berhalter, with about half that time being a B team Gold Cup or January Camps. Also not surprisingly, Tyler Adams was injured for the vast majority of that time or otherwise unavailable. Fun flex for Jackson, though -- he took over for Trapp after that 3-0 friendly loss to Mexico and then proceeded to win every game he played in with the US for the rest of his national team career except a 2-1 friendly loss to Switzerland (in Europe, IIRC). Like 10-1 or something! The most common call during those times for other CDMs were guys like Alfredo Morales or Tim Tillman or sliding Julian Green back. Kellyn Acosta wasn't really the same role -- Berhalter was looking for a distributor, but he took some minutes, too. Yueill was done as Musah was phased in -- the 2021 Nations League was Trapp's last real minutes.
Last window, Poch used McKennie as CAMin 4231 then as a RAM in 3421. I don't think he is competing with Berhalter.
What sounds like a nice story, but why would Palace do him such a favour unless they have alternative intensions? And what if he looks really good during that "training"?
That is Goebbels level of revisionism. Start with Berhalter chose Trapp over Adams and publicly in no uncertain terms said so. Do you think that anyone would forget Greggg saying he chose Trapp because he wanted a "controlling midfielder" and Adams was not that. The facts are here: https://www.ussoccer.com/usmnt-lineups/2019
Maybe McKennie is on Juve’s special treatment here — he was being deliberately snubbed to push him to fight.
For the life of me I don’t understand the dedication some people to have this take of “Ream is the starter until someone replaces him, and right now we have no one better than him!!” Um yes we do, like multiple players
The first two games in 2019 are MLS players. Adams had just made a move to RB Leipzig. Then, Adams plays a rb/cm hybrid role that Berhalter created specifically for him. In other words, he saw Adams as a starter at that point and was figuring out where (not if) he wanted to play him. So he's playing Trapp with Adams, but not over him. After that, Adams had a couple of different injuries and was out for most of the year. So I'm not sure what your point is. It's true that early in his tenure that Bergalter wanted a playmaking six. Adams wasn't (and still isn't) that player. But he was not benching Adams to do that. He was actively trying to find ways to get Adams on the field when he could.
Poch’s proclivities may be problematic this window, at least results wise. Without Richards and with Ream starting I think we will need to score some goals. If Reyna isn’t going g to see the pitch I hope that Tillman plays a creative role behind Balogun. Because I don’t see anyone called into a midfield or wing spot doing a lot of opportunity creation. Maybe we can steal some goals on counters.
I am a big Tillman fan, but we can't expect much creativity from him this window, unfortunately. "Presumed regulars such as AC Milan's Christian Pulisic, Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards, Fulham's Antonee Robinson, Bayer Leverkusen's Malik Tillman. and Marseille's Timothy Weah are out with various ailments or still making a full recovery." For creative options, allow me to offer {Dest and Arfsten and} ... MIDFIELDERS (7): Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG; 52/2), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 7/0), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough/ENG; 11/0), Gio Reyna (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 32/8), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 41/0), Tanner Tessmann (Olympique Lyon/FRA; 10/0), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew; 1/0) FORWARDS (5): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 54/9), Folarin Balogun (AS Monaco/FRA; 27/7), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; 16/3), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 33/13), Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 19/7)
He gets to do exactly what we have all wondered and argued about for quite a while. Does he practice hard and try and get fit? Is he a mentally problem child? Can he actually sprint and if so is he faster than Poch? If he passes those tests in training how does he help the team and will he play hard both ways?
Yeah. That attacking line of 4 that plays just behind the 9 when we have possession does look pretty thin. Starting probably: Arfsten- Aaronson-Luna-Dest Reyna can play there if he's healthy enough. Berhalter was really on this line at the Gold Cup, but he did a lot of tucking in and defending. Wright can play here, but I don't think he plays the wing position in a way that creates chances. That looks to be about it.
My bad. I thought he was in the group. I am not optimistic about Berhalter and Luna and Aaronson creating opportunities.
Maybe (one of) those three will rise to the occasion. My hope is that Reyna subs on in both matches and contributes a creative spark, so while for public/team consumption Poch keeps yammering on about fitness and clocking 90's with your club, he's secretly thinking 'Hmm, nice tool to have in the toolkit come June.'