Totally disagree. You want him playing at the WC he MUST have minutes with the guys he's going to play with. Not just B1 minutes. Not the same thing at all.
Not calling him during the previous break made sense as he was just starting to break through as a starter. But Banks has to be called up in March to see how he gels with the team.
I agree with that if Poch thinks he has a chance to be at the WC. If he's decided it's still too early then those minutes will go to those he thinks higher of.
There is no greater breakthrough roster candidate than Banks for this team. We always hope a young g guy or two can gate crash the roster on merit. Banks is him
Banks was not great when we saw him last. Things change, but talking like he has a legit shot at the roster feels like over-valuing potential. Is it?
And unhappiness with the current pool. Banks is at least of the age and potential that he could have improved enough to be of value come this summer -- at his age, six months is a long time. He was pretty mistake prone, IMO, in the early fall, but the learning curve is steep at this age and level of experience. And our alternatives are hardly sparkling. It always seems a bit risky to play a 19 year old CB, but I could see it. It also would not shock me if it didn't happen for any number of reasons.
CBs 1. Richards: has solidified his position as the top defender. 2. Banks: has been racking up starts at Augsburg. His performances have been improving. His counting metrics and algorithm scores have been climbing. 3. Trusty: looked surprisingly good in the last window. Needs to hold on to his club starting spot throughout the turmoil at Celtic 4. Ream: has shown signs of decline. can he hold on? 5. McKenzie: competent. 6. M. Robinson: will the pre-achilles M-Rob ever return? Probably not. 7. Blackmon: untimely injuries prevented a proper perusal. RCB/RB 1. Freeman: Looks to have cemented starter's position. Has only gotten better 2. Scally: Having steady B1 baller as the backup is a new level of depth. 3 George Campbell: an MLS CB who continues to rack up starts at RB at West Brom Utility 1. Harriel: was unfortunate to get caught up in the Switzerland window disaster. Can play across the backline. 2. Sands: has seen time at CB, but not this season 3. Tessmann: has gotten two starts in the back for Lyon this season
1. Richards: top dog. 2. Trusty: has made a strong recovery after the Nancy fiasco. Did very well in the recent friendlies 3. McKenzie: competent 4. George Campbell: rising fast. Has made Skybet Championship Team of the Week on multiple occasions since the move to centerback.. His C'ship campaign is shaping up to be stronger than Trusty's. 5. Ream: has shown improved form in league.
5 is important because we all pretty much know he will be there unless he gets an injury. Right now Trusty is my #2. He's left footed (or so two footed it doesn't matter), decently fast, has played left back enough to cover if Jedi marauds, has shown some decent line splitting passes recently and is taller than McKenzie or Ream. I kind of wonder if having two backs that can both pass but the defense doesn't run through (force) like if Ream is there is actually better because the other team can't key on ream and blocking passes to his targets.
Not that #1 was ever in doubt... 83 - Chris Richards completed all 83 passes he attempted for the #USMNT against Paraguay, the most passes with a 100 percent accuracy rate by any player in a FIFA World Cup match since 1966.Perfection. pic.twitter.com/kTD2kmrrPa— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) June 13, 2026
I have to give Ream props. Against Germany and Paraguay he's looked very good. He still might cost us somewhere but right now he seems to have his game back to where it was four years ago. He and Richards together is a big security blanket.
I posted in the US-AUS pre-match thread: given how blazingly fast Irankunda and Touré are, and how dangerous they will be on the counter, I predict that Miles Robinson will start this game in place of Ream.
Gentelmens bet? That aint happening. Ream, Richards, and Adams can handle Irankunda and Toure and I am sure that Poch has a game plan for dealing with that. Plus go look at what happened in our Paraguay match. Whenever Paraguay got the ball we presses them so hard and got it right back. If the Aussies really bunker then its also hard for them to get the ball out to their attackers. Its a bit of a two edged sword. Keep all your players in tight like they did against Turkiye and they will find it hard to get the ball our to counter. But if they leave more guys upfield to help that it also gives us more space to attack them. Will be interesting to see how the game starts out. To me this is pretty standard. Don't give up a goal early like we did against Germany. Press and try and score in the first 25 minutes. Then control the game.
I could see it either way, for sure. A not insignificant portion of my rationale for MRob here is derived from Poch's words when announcing Ream as his captain, where he seemed to indicate that it's possible that Ream will not play all the time this tournament. Further bolstered by the fact that Miles got plenty of run in the 2 warmups. Of course, Miles can keep up with almost anyone in the world in a dead sprint. But, I can just as easily see Poch tweak what he put out against Paraguay to give Ream more speedy support--the most obvious (to me) probably would mean that Freeman wouldn't be free to get up the field very much, nor ARob. As I see it, we'd be playing with something more resembling a 4-man back line, with both FBs staying home to keep on the fast attackers wanting to have space to run.
If we really want to defend against their counter in a more defensive manner than what we rolled out on Friday then I'd do with 3 ATB with Adams in front of them.
How would that be different than how we, effectively, played against Paraguay? Just Adams dropping a little deeper than he was?
No, if I was to go 3 ATB, then I'd have a back line of McKenzie (or Trusty)/Richards/Freeman and tell Freeman limited moving forward. But you could do the same thing with Ream too. Bottom line is that I trust Poch and staff to have evaluated Australia in 100X the depth that us idiots will and will have a game plan that is best suited for this match. AND. And this is critical to any high level match. It needs to be a game plan and with the right personnel that can switch to plan B on the fly. Then plan C. This is what a lot of fans overlook. Player X may be the best option for Plan A. But they may be a very weak option if you need to quickly switch to Plan B. Player Y may be a slight downgrade from Player X for Plan A but a huge upgrade if you have to switch to Plan B.
Didnt know where to put this, so putting it here, specifically focusing on Tim Ream I know it is extremely unfair to hope or expect it, but I havent seen the Tim Ream special surgical "cut through two layers" pass up to the forward in awhile. Hes still obviously got the calming presence in the back. Does he still have the route 1 Ream-to-Balo breakaway ball in him? Hes done it...........its just been awhile since Ive seen it.
Gotta say I was surprised Richards was really fit again; had figured McKenzie would be playing. Hoping he gets in against Turkey.