Pulisic will almost certainly starts on the left, which could make for in interesting match up with Ben White should he see the pitch that day. I'm not so sure Reyna starts over Aaronson or even Weah. I watch EPL and not BL so I'm admittedly biased, but Brenden's been holding down a starting spot for Leeds and doing a good job of it, albeit more centrally as a 10. Berhalter's not likely to play him there, but more as LM or RF, where I think he's mostly featured. So he competes with both McKennie and Gio, who didn't seem 100% fit last time he played for USMNT six weeks ago. Has he gotten up to 100% since then, playing well and starting for Dortmund?
Is/Was that really a thing?? I haven't exactly followed the USMNT intently the last 4 years. Did doing so become a white nationalist activity??
It was a thing, but from what little I could tell not a very big thing. There was discussion about it in the Other Teams thread earlier in the year. You could search that thread for "pulisic" to get the background. p.s. I'm no huge fan of Christian. I find his personality to be a bit off, not to mention his consistency, or reaching his full potential. Nevertheless he is one of the better playmakers on our team so he should defo start.
i remember seeing occasional highlights of sargent when they were up (and struggling hard). it felt like he was still a project then . . . some occasional flashes but a work in progress still. how is he now? i also thought he was a wing with norwich, weirdly. i'm assuming reyna will be The Next Big Sale for dortmund the window after bellingham.
i remember some rumblings when he 'liked' some dude's statement on instagram or something. there were apparently also other instances where he's 'liked' other statements/comments by those with that particular political lean. and i think that was seen as tacit support for that particular leaning so i'm sure they love him for it.
i remember reading not long ago that he is still eligible to switch to either US or nigeria if he so chooses. it felt like there were more complementary pieces before where now there are more "stars" who wants to be stars. the rest of the world just caught up in basketball. and basketball in america have become . . . garbage.
Interesting article about the controversies swirling around Iran in this WC, especially related to the current uprisings for women's/personal rights: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/08/sports/soccer/world-cup-iran-qatar.html And in one of many examples of quiet protest, and taking a principled position, Jalal Talebi, the coach of their '98 team (which included their greatest ever victory, over USA) said he may* not do his usual commentator role or even watch Iran's games at all. *Note: it'll be interesting to see whether "may" becomes "will" for Talebi and the many many other people who are saying now (2 weeks ahead) that they'll boycott. WC football tends to produce powerful suction that can be hard to escape. I expect myself to get sucked in. But personally I'd welcome seeing lots of attention brought to the issues of human rights, oppressive regimes, immoral wars, corrupt organizers, etc. To see Qatar (and others) really sweat under the intense pressure of broad public scrutiny. While at the same time hoping that any protests don't spiral out of control, resulting in violence/death at Qatar'22.
Not going to be much difference between Truth Social and Twitter the way things are going with Elon steering the ship.
Reyna is as close to 100% as he's ever been now. And he's been playing mostly in second gear these past few weeks but he's still probably the most talented player on the team. Don't think you can bench him. I think Brenden can start but with his high pressing work rate he can be an excellent sub. It's a good problem to have though.
Josh has gotten better (also the champo is less hard than the PL). He plays as a wing because Pukki is still pretty good and he can't play the wing, but weirdly enough when Pukki was out for a week or two, Josh played the 9 and scored like 4 goals in 6 games. Josh should be the starter but again,our 9s are more likely to assist Pulisic or Reyna, etc than to score themselves.
He 200% does saying that, buddy was in Dem endz a few weeks ago pic.twitter.com/VoPeYqw3mp— Takes 🇺🇸 (@USMNTTAKES) November 4, 2022
maybe that's how dude naturally smiles but, man, that's the most "i'm uncomfortable" smile ever. unrelated, i can't stand people who feel the need to flip off the camera as a "pose". it's worse than asians doing the peace sign.
that's legitimately decent. i liked pukki. dude feels like he could be a decent backup ST in the premier league.
this is going to sound weird but this might be the first time i can think of that i looked at the dutch international squad and didn't have, like, a big "oh, i wish we had that guy". not to say they're bad but nobody really stood out to me. am i missing a name on that squad?
VVD and deJong jump out to me. Not that we could afford or should go after them, but I think either of them would walk into the starting line-up once settled (imagine a VVD+Saliba pairing). I do agree with you when it comes to their attack. Some nice players but nobody there I’d say would slot in before our current front line. 70s, 80s, and 90s Dutch teams were utter class. They’ve had good teams and runs since then, but not producing worldies since RVP in attack has clearly has limited their performances.
i think van dijk is a good shout, he's class and would probably make it a better central defense in the short term. but, while he can suffer from the occasional mental mistakes, i still rate gabriel and i think we stand to get more out of him going forward than with van dijk who, i think, is beginning a decline. i honestly haven't seen de jong but i know he's well rated. de jong in place of partey or xhaka? man, even when we were doing well, i'd always wanted sneijder and possibly van der vaart, at one point.
Really liked this list of National team squads The Sporting News pulled together, with names, position, club team, age and caps for each player. Sometimes simple is better. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/soc...-official-fifa-qatar/kjcagctfesjt0zpjxctbdqha
The culture clash continues... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/sports/soccer/world-cup-beer-fifa.html If FIFA has a collective brain, it better be fully prepared to face a run for it's money (ha!) that football may be pushed aside as the central focus of this quadrennial sporting event.