If we're talking about a WCQ, Gold Cup, or Copa America I agree 100%. But for a glorified friendly against Cuba, I say let him help us qualify us for the Olympics.
Who knows. They haven't announced the format. For WC2018 qualifying, the group stage kicked off in November 2015. But obviously that's not happening this cycle. They've said Nations League is going to play into seeding for WCQ, so maybe they mean it will determine the Hex (assuming we stick with that format).
To be clear, I would completely call him in in the fall. All I was saying was that he'd had about a month of quality MLS play, got hurt, and was recovering just in time for the U20 WC when the 40 man roster was named. It's not a travesty he's not at the Gold Cup. I see more than enough in him to give him a shot. I do wonder how well he will translate to Europe -- he doesn't have Adams' toolset.
Well if he misses just one friendly, i'd be up for that. If he misses anything more, or of consequence, he shouldn't be with the U23s. Again, he's one of our best players currently. I don't want any more excuses about why we're not fielding our best team (he needs to be a RB, they are in Europe, they need seasoning, they haven't performed long enough, not enough minutes). Just give me the nation's best players on the nation's best team. Not too much to ask.
Pulisic is better than Pomykal, and it was clear. But I have no issues with him coming in. He had less than 10 games this season, though, and was coming off an injury, when the GC roster was named. I don't mind making someone have to play 6 months of quality play before we start chastising people for not bringing them in. Sometimes a good run of play is just that.
We don't know when the preliminary Hex is, apparently. So until that is known, we can't say "it's just one Cuba friendly". But if that is all it is, I agree.
Sounds like you're adjusting the past to fit your narrative. Pulisic had 9 games and 2 goals with Dortmund. Pomykal has the same for Dallas in a less advanced position, with more responsibilities to match in the middle of the park. I'm always labelled a pro-Euro, anti-MLS, but not in this case. Sure, we were all excited Pulisic was doing something we hadn't seen before. But I'm not sure we've really seen a 19 year old as the top American player in MLS, in a position of consequence. We can't adjust the narrative just because CP was at Dortmund and he's turned out to be a star. He easily could have flamed out after those 9 games! I'm ok with him not being in the Gold Cup, but moving forward he needs to be there if his form continues (and even if it doesn't, we're bringing in Omar and Bradley who aren't on form). (edit - furthermore, CP was basically a mandated star, starter, and focus of our team by that point. We're talking about making sure Pomykal is with the senior team and able to challenge for a spot in the starting 11. so even though I see a lot of similarities, I'm not even arguing the situations are the same).
I was much more confident about Pulisic. Perhaps I am a Eurosnob! More likely it was just watching him play -- his skill and speed are still way above our entire player pool for attacking players. It's just very clear he was better than everyone else. Tyler Adams was a Best XI player in MLS last year, and I assume got a pretty quick call up. From a skills/tools standpoint, I also think Tyler is a better player and has more upside at 19 than Pomykal as well. Pomykal has more attacking skills, but physical tools are important. He was also playing well in MLS the year before, if not the dominant MLS player he became. Pomykal has made HUGE strides since last year. He didn't look overly ready for MLS last year and even in qualifying for the U20 WC, he didn't stand out like this. Still, I think there's questions about his physical size, overall tools and what level he ends at. So there's a material difference to me between Pulisic, Adams and Pomykal. That all said, I would not be complaining if he were at the Gold Cup. I just don't think it's a travesty he's not there. These are choices of evaluation, and I can see why Pomykal, after 2 months of quality play and coming off an injury, wasn't necessarily a "MUST CALL IN" for the Gold Cup, especially given the U20 WC. I do think Pomykal will be part of a wave that will actually create some depth for us. With Sargent, Weah, Boyd, Pulisic, McKennie, Pomykal and Adams, even ignoring Jozy and Arriola, if you keep Adams in the midfield, you are sending someone to the bench. Since our bench is Roldan, Mihailovic, Lewis, Wil Trapp and so on right now, that's exciting.
He's much more active and a much better defender than Nagbe. I think he's more aggressive as well. His straight ball control is probably a touch less, but it's not really noticeable because he actually moves forward. Honestly, I think he's just better than Nagbe right now as a total player. I don't even know if his final ball is really an issue. There's just so few "true 10s" out there more than any specific deficiency.
No way should he have been on the Gold Cup squad if only for the fact that he wasn't even at full health for the u-20s.
I thought Mendez and Llanez were both better, personally. And Dest in limited minutes. But that's personal opinion, I suppose. IIRC, Tab was playing Pomykal out more on the wing.
Yeah, I don't think we're really of different minds here. I haven't seen many (any?) people upset he wasn't at the GC. Certainly I'm not, as a lot of my interest stemmed from watching him at U20s. My only issue is we're at the GC now with a bunch of past-it players (Omar, Ream, MB, never was Trapp), with the continued refrain of "nobody is pushing these Lions". Well, people are, and there are always excuses why an out-of-form MB and Trapp need a run out every game. Now it's "we need the Olympic title". No, we don't, we need better players on our senior side. Players that are younger, and in better form than the current players people are defending. These are all the same refrains from last cycle, with McKennie needing to "settle in", and Jon Gonzalez the same, and "no time to experiment with youth", while playing Miazga 45 minutes in a useless gold cup which would have given him said experience. Just a bit frustrating all around, but alas, it's USSF we're talking about...
his change of pace/ direction and the weight on his passes wow - sooo many simple soft, perfectly weighted passes...and a work rate!! Can't wait to see Wes, Christian, and Pax together!
That was absolutely the same story as with Dallas and U-20 WC. The whole team was playing much better when Pomykal was on the field.
Pax lets go of the ball as fast as he can; Nagbe likes to $ell "possession" It''ll take a while for the Egg to understand what Pomykal does.
He's not at the Gold Cup because he was at the U-20 World Cup, which was the appropriate place for him to show what he's got. He showed it. As far as I'm concerned, between his play there and in MLS, he has earned a call up later this year to the full team.
I am dead certain that the USSF views the Olympic qualifying Honestly, at the time, I thought Llanez had the best shot at the highest level pro career and I'm not sure my mind has changed. His game is so aligned with being a prototypical winger that there's always going to be a good number of teams that want his exact skillset. Whereas I think both Mendez and Pomykal have a few more weaknesses that may hurt them in some places. But all three have a ton of positives.