I liked this analogy. Fascinating thread by the way. Winning MLS defender of the year is like being the tallest midget— Jay H 🇺🇸🇸🇻 (@JayHrndz2) June 23, 2024
It’s true past MLS defenders of the year Eddie Pope, Carlos Bocanegra, and Matt Besler never contributed anything to the national team. MLS defenders have held up for the US in World Cups and not been a weak link. Including Zimmerman. For Neal if he’s winning that award at 20 or 21 it’s a sign of lots of potential and a likely future transfer to Europe. He’s not at that level right now but that’s the level he probably needs to be at to get on the 2026 roster (unless he moves to Europe and shows out there).
It has been 10 years since any of them. Questionable if any of them make it in today's game. The list of MLS defenders who have shit the bed since them is long. Those guys are outliers and not clear they would have the ability to play in today's game. Not the most technical bunch there.
Two of our best center backs ever (and Pope our best ever and could have played in Europe if he wanted) and both won those awards when the level of MLS was lower than it is today. Some guys are good in MLS and use it as a springboard for Europe and some guys are good enough for Europe but choose to stay in MLS (like Pope and Donovan) and are still good enough for the national team. And for the most part our MLS defenders have been fine in World Cups.
He could of but didn't means he didn't prove he could do it. You guys wanted us to believe EPL teams wanted Aaron Long. Why is Pope any different? Europe had a significant impact on the underperforming LD. You are getting closer with MLS defenders being "fine ".
------------------------Balogun/Sargent---------- -----Pulisic/Cowell---LAcosta/Reyna-----Paredes/Weah -------------Adams/Morris---Tillman/McKennie --Jedi/Arfsten---------------------------------------------Dest/Musah -----------McKenzie/Trusty----Richards/Robinson------'' -------------------Schulte/Kochen/Turner---- Maloney, Pepi, Sullivan
Guess it’s time for an update too…. Goalkeepers 1. Patrick Schulte 2. Matt Turner 3. Zack Steffen A1. Gabriel Slonina A2. Diego Kochen Right Backs 1. Sergino Dest 2. Joe Scally A1. Richie Ledezma A2. Marlon Fossey Center Backs 1. Chris Richards 2. Mark McKenzie 3. Miles Robinson 4. Walker Zimmerman A1. Cameron Carter-Vickers A2. Auston Trusty Left Backs 1. Jedi Robinson 2. Caleb Wiley A1. Kristoffer Lund A2. John Tolkin Midfielders 1. Yunus Musah 2. Tyler Adams 3. Johnny Cardoso 4. Tanner Tessman 5. Lennard Maloney 6. Gianluca Busio A1. Aidan Morris A2. Luca de la Torre Attacking Mids 1. Malik Tillman 2. Gio Reyna A1. Brenden Aaronson A2. Rokas Puktsas Wingers 1. Christian Pulisic 2. Weston McKennie 3. Tim Weah 4. Cole Campbell A1. Kevin Paredes A2. Paxten Aaronson Forwards 1. Folarin Balogun 2. Ricardo Pepi A1. Josh Sargent A2. Haji Wright The +3: Josh Sargent, Kevin Paredes, Richie Ledezma Honorable Mention: Roman Celentano, Matt Freese, Ethan Horvath, Bryan Reynolds, George Bello, Tim Ream, James Sands, Jack McGlynn, Pedro Soma, Cade Cowell, Griffin Yow, Alex Zendejas, Taylor Booth, Diego Luna, Ben Cremaschi, Caden Clark, Brian Gutierrez, Brandon Vazquez, Jesus Ferreira, Jordan Pefok, Duncan McGuire, Jordan Morris, Kahveh Zahiroslalem, Julian Hall, Keyrol Figueroa Dual-Nationals: Anrie Chase (would make the roster), Luca Koleosho (could make the roster), Nathaniel Brown (on the outside), Damion Downs (on the outside), Noel Buck (on the outside)
GK: Turner, Schulte, Freese LB: Jedi, Wiley RB: Dest, Scally CB: Richards, McKenzie, Robinson, Chase DM: Adams, Cardoso CM: McKennie, Musah AM: Reyna, Tillman, Sullivan WF: Pulisic, Weah, Kolesheo, Parades, Wright FW: Balogun, Pepi, Sargent
GK: Turner, Shulte, Guzan D: Dest, Jedi, Scally, Fossey, Richards, Ream, ZImmerman, Neal (Chase) MF6/8: Adams, McKennie, LDLT, Musah, A. Morris AM: Pulisic, Reyna, Weah, P. Aaronson, M Tillman S: Balogun, Pepi, Sargent, Wright Extras: Berchimas, C. Sullivan
ball playing centerbacks who are very stout defensively ..... could be the key factor in what this team can or cannot be, imo the pool at the moment doesnt have many of those profiles....the ball playing cbs arent great 1 on 1 or lack speed...and the good defenders are poor with the ball..... theres a bunch of young prospects that fit the profile but theyre likely to not be ready by 2026 for a world cup
Coming back one year later with an updated projection Putting changes from last year in italics. GK: - Matt Turner: A default pick, but his lack of starting minutes at the club level is concerning and he's a ripe candidate to have his spot taken if someone else can emerge. - Zack Steffen: I'm standing by my pick for him to be the #2 and he should get a new lease on USMNT life under Pochettino - Gaga Slonina: standing by my prediction on the forecast of continued development. I'm not blown away with Patrick Schulte yet. Diego Kochen is a dark horse though. DEF: - Sergiño Dest: lock starter if healthy. - Chris Richards: Pretty close to a lock starter if healthy. - Cameron Carter-Vickers: I don't rate him that highly, but I don't really see any other CBs stepping up to grab hold of a starting role other than Chris Richards. - Antonee Robinson: arguably our 2nd best player in the entire pool after Christian Pulisic. - Joe Scally: He's a solid backup and capable of playing both fullback spots. - Miles Robinson: He's becoming more vulnerable, but I'm sticking with him as a backup CB for now. - Mark McKenzie: Replaced Auston Trusty with him but it really is a 50/50 decision at this point. McKenzie is playing against better competition in Ligue 1, so he gets the edge over Trusty at Celtic (who I realize gets to play Champions League, but the Scottish Premier League has dropped off). - Caleb Wiley: I'm still picking him based on his potential ahead of Lund + he provides additional cover on the wing (see my roster construction paragraph below). MID: - Tyler Adams: still a lock starter *if* healthy. - Weston McKennie: If he's dialed in mentally and in shape, he's too good to keep off the pitch. - Gio Reyna: Not confident forecasting him as a starter given his lack of club productivity and his injury history. But if healthy, he's likely too good to keep off the field based on talent, and he has been effective in his USMNT minutes since 2023. - Yunus Musah: He's first off the bench in my squad. - Malik Tillman: Has been prolific with his clubs, but we haven't yet seen it on the national team. I'm betting Poch will figure out how to unlock better USMNT play from him. He's a logical back up CAM for Reyna and a potential starter if Reyna is injured or out of form. - Johnny Cardoso: I have to say that I have been extremely unimpressed with his USMNT play, but he continues to generate buzz/hype at the club level. And he plays a position (DM) in which we're lacking in depth behind Tyler Adams. So he still makes my squad as a backup. WING: - Christian Pulisic: Our best player, obviously. - Tim Weah: No one has emerged to unseat him on the wing yet, and I don't know that it's a net positive to move Reyna/Tillman to the wing in order to start Musah in midfield. It has been encouraging seeing Timmy's hot start with Juventus this season; hope it continues. - Brenden Aaronson: *Narrowly* picked him ahead of Kevin Paredes because I suspect he'll be a Poch favorite and his Leeds form in the Championship this season has been reasonable. But he's vulnerable if Paredes continues his development or if another winger (or a transfer into the program like Luca Koleosho) emerges. ST: - Folarin Balogun: still the likeliest pick to start based on talent and club pedigree. But he's not a lock starter. - Ricardo Pepi: he has the potential to unseat Balogun and his per minute strike rate both with PSV and the USMNT has been very impressive. Dude is still only 21. - Josh Sargent: I've added him to this squad as a 3rd striker. If healthy, he's too good to keep off based on club form, and I like the idea of taking a 3rd striker on a tournament squad. Hope Poch feels similarly. One change you'll note in my roster construction is I've dropped one dedicated winger in favor of bringing a 3rd striker. I prefer having 3 strikers on a tournament roster for more attacking horsepower and fresh legs when chasing goals + to provide insurance from injuries (we all remember Jozy Altidore 2014). I normally prefer to bring 7 defenders instead of 8 to achieve that, but given the versatility of our squad, I think we can get away with only 3 dedicated wingers on this squad. Caleb Wiley is capable of moving up and playing winger. Gio Reyna and Malik Tillman are capable of playing on the wing. ALTERNATES: - Kevin Paredes: Tough decision to drop him, but I'm guessing Poch will be a Brenden Aaronson fan. - Auston Trusty: An either/or with McKenzie, but I'm guessing McKenzie's club situation will better serve him over the next 20 months. - Gianluca Busio: he's blossoming in Serie A but hard to find room for him in that midfield room where he's competing with other #8s like McKennie and Musah. - Haji Wright: his versatility is a plus, but I just don't think he's as effective at the winger position as other guys, and he isn't quite as good a striker as Balogun, Pepi or Sargent. - Tanner Tessman: If he can prove himself as a #6 with his club, he could emerge as Tyler Adams' backup. I rate him at this point a little bit ahead of Aidan Morris, Lennard Maloney and James Sands. - Paxten Aaronson: he's starting to come on in the Eredivisie and is still quite young. I think he has potential to force his way onto the squad.
Barring inevitable injuries (knock on wood) that's as good of a guess as any. I think the keepers will be Turner, Schulte, and Mystery player A. Could be Slonina. I have no idea. Hard to pick Slonina while he's sitting on the Bench in League One. Maybe he gets back on track. I can't pick Kochen until he does something in first team soccer. I'll wing it and say Celentano. What the hell. Your guess is as good as mine. I don't think anyone is likely to place a bet on our keepers. I've just got a feeling that Haji Wright is going to be hard to leave off this roster. That he's going to continue to go from strength to strength. Meanwhile Sargent is just sporadic due to health.
If anyone other than Schulte starts the January camp friendly I'll pivot to whoever that was, otherwise it's a toss up for me too right now. Can still see Horvath make it since it's a 3rd keeper role, he has already been on the bench at a World Cup, has been with the group a while, has 10 caps, has experience coming off the bench clutch in an important match; not that I think he's the 3rd best keeper I don't particularly rate him, and he's in a pretty bad spot right now with his club situation.
I don't know. You want a third keeper that you can trust in an absolute emergency. I was reading an article once about third keepers at the World Cup. Its been extraordinarily rare for a national team to lose two keepers and need to use a 3rd keeper. Extraordinarily rare. .......................so you want a good locker room presence, a good training partner, a good guy in the group. But not a newbie. You need a guy you can absolutely trust to not cause problems and just support the #1. Help him get ready. Its more of a Nick Rimando type of role. A Sean Johnson type of role. Its not even a "this is the 3rd most talented keeper in our pool" kind of role. That's not necessarily the point. So that one is hard to predict based on our current pool. Is it Zack Steffen if he's willing to be the experienced, supporting soldier? Maybe. Even if it drives the board crazy.
-----------------Balogun-------- ------Weah----Reyna----Pulisic---- -----------Adams----Johnny---- --Jedi-----------------------------Dest--- ----------Trusty-----Richards--- ------------------Kochen---- Strikers: Wright, Pepi Wide Attack: Tillman, Paredes, Albert CAM: McKennie, Acosta CM: Tessman, Musah Fullbacks: Scally, Fossey CB: McKenzie, Ragen GK: Turner, Freese
Fullbacks: Nene Brown, Fossey Kochen starting I don't think so.... Wide attack look out for Cole Cambell
I mean you're basically describing Horvath to a T. Steffen supposedly was left off the last WC squad because Berhalter didn't trust him to handle a backup role without causing problems. That said next WC I think you have Turner as a leader in the GK group so you don't necessarily need the 3rd GK to be a huge leadership guy (unless GK3 is Turner himself, which it might be)--but it does still need to be someone who accepts their role and won't ruffle feathers.
26 for 26 1. Turner 2. Whichever one of the young uns is sharpest 3. Horvath 4. Jedi 5. Lund 6. Richards 7. Trusty 8. CCV 9. McKenzie 10. Dest 11. Scally 12. Adams 13. Johnny 14. Wes 15. Musah 16. Reyna 17. Tillman 18. Haji 19. Pulisic 20. Aaronson 21. Weah 22. Koleosho 23. Pepi 24. Balogun 25. Sarge 26. LDLT
we dont even know how we are going to play, so im going to guess based on how we have through pochs first two camps, but who i would take just so im as wrong as possible... gk schulte gk kochen gk turner rb/rcb scally rb/rcb maloney cb richards cb zim/miles lcb mckenzie lcb trusty lwb jedi lwb dest cm adams cm/am mckennie cm morris cm cardoso cm tesserman cm musah rw weah rw/lw paredes am reyna am/rw aaronson lw pulisic lw/st haji lw/am tillman st pepi st balo so right now, everyone fit and available roughly: ________schulte________ _____richards_mckenzie_ _scally________________ _______adams__wes__jedi weah_______gio_________ _________pepi_____puli_ i have at least one too many cms, but whatever, and none of us know about development/dual nat variables. another lwb (tolkin, lund, wiley, brown) gives us "traditional" 2 deep across the back. chase (who i know absolutely nothing about) or possibly ccv/neal could displace my zim/miles non-decision. dest not starting is the first thing im sure will piss everyone off, but in this setup where does he play? lwb and rw, and jedi/weah are better than him (especially in those roles, if you have to rationalize). the reason for this faux-3 back (and two cms behind one attacking mid) is to allow us to pass enough to play out of the back- though we still need to hold possession at a higher line. thats why you get a scally or maloney in the "cb" spots, so we can have morris and tesserman in the deeper cm spots. koleoso would be nice, as at this point im not wild about either tillman or haji. i would love nothing more than whatever clicking for malik, but at this moment id leave him out given any decent alternative. if we want to be able to pass/play with more possession (which certainly seems to be the case) some guys- like tillman and musah- are frankly bad fits, and we have to bend over backwards to justify their inclusion. i feel like we are handcuffed to haji due to the st situation, but if we actually had everyone available id be very, very tempted to go with cowell. i dont know about campbell (and im just not going to reach as far as albert or cavan). i cant imagine everything else being set enough for that level of luxury. gk freaking sucks. schulte is the default at the moment for me, gaga is somehow in a worse position than kochen, and turner as the 3rd keeper is both the only- and ideal- role in this team imo.
you know what? let me simplify- everyone fit and available, everyone clamoring to play for us, everyone developing at a reasonably positive rate... gk shulte/kochen/gaga gk shulte/kochen/gaga gk turner rb/rcb scally rb/rcb maloney cb richards cb chase lcb mckenzie lcb trusty lwb jedi lwb dest cm adams cm morris cm cardoso cm tesserman rm weah rm paredes am reyna am mckennie lw pulisic lw koleosho st pepi st balogun gk isnt easy, but it is simple- the two who are starting for an mls+ first division and turner. aaronson is 23, he gives us experience and versatility that we need who fits either wide role (in addition to am depth). that leaves 3 spots, which id fill in this order: - a third striker option. pepi and balo are clear, and i dont think any of our other primary strikers are up to it, so one of cowell, haji, campbell or (im in an extreme minority- possibly alone- but i think maliks future is higher on the pich, not deeper) tillman, in that order. - undeniable potential/quality strictly as depth- musah or tillman. - wildcard. either replacing one of my first 22 (and obviously we will probably need at least 3 of these) or one of the "kids". campbell, sullivan, albert, some 11 year old fc dallas signs next year etc.