I’d guess either Weah or Konrad. The only way to get them both on the field at once would be: ——————Weah—————— Pulisic———Reyna———Konrad But I find that unlikely. It’s really too early to tell how some of the younger players will progress though.
Paxton Pomykal or Tim Weah, depending on health & need. HM to Josh Sargent. This is as things stand now of course, not accounting for late emergences.
My guess is if Weah gets healthy, he will be a shoo-in to make the final roster simple because he can play more than one position.
I wouldn't say a shoo in, but yes there's a good probability that he'll make the roster. He's shown flashes of brilliance, but he's really unproven. He has something like appearances in 25 professional games and 4 goals. Pulisic and Morris are the only two wingers we have that are close to locks for Qatar IMO, and there is a big handful of other players fighting for the other 2 or so slots. Konrad, Weah, Arriola, Muller, Boyd, Holmes etc. Striker is pretty much wide open for competition though.
With the development of other young midfielders........................I'm not sure Pomykal is in the USMNT right now. Or will be in the discussion come 2022. Even if he's healthy. Aaronson has clearly leap-frogged him, for instance. Reyna is way above him.
Aaronson can't receive the ball in the middle & right now isn't winning it. I view him as more of a wing, until/unless he develops. As a cm he's a 10 anyway. Pomykal's movement is very smart on o & d, meaning he's very involved in the game. Also tougher in a tackle. He's an 8 option or even 6 cover. Better in possession than McKennie, so in games where the opponent is going to be organized, he's a candidate for replacement. Also as a well-rounded left-footer, he's very versatile. Could provide cover as a lb. Has value on a tourney roster & was one of our best w/ many of these guys on the u-20's before shining in MLS. Health is indeed the key here.
I don't think Aaronson is fast enough to play the wing. Playing inside is his future but at the moment I don't think he has enough chops to play the 10 as a backup to Reyna. I would suggest he tries to be a backup to Mckennie.
He is fast enough, & can take players off the dribble. Hard to take the ball off him w/out fouling. He shouldn't try to be the backup of anyone. Would you, as a competitor? If he was to someone, it'd be Pulisic, who he revered growing up in Penn. But he could potentially start opposite of him, especially considering that position is such in flux. Weah is an injury question & KDL + Llanez have proven next to nothing against men in competition. Morris, imo, should play up top.
I mean he should play like if he wants to start, but I just don' think he has it to beat out the current leaders, Morris, Weah, KDLF, Uly.
People make presumptions about Euro reservists/academy players all the time. Some bust, others boom, or top out somewhere in between as decent MLS/2 BL players - see Kirovski, Casey, Hyndman, Green, etc. Aaronson has already shown to be better than those in 2 of those 3 categories, and could fit somewhere in the boom category, at least at the bottom to middle. KDLF & Llanez haven't proven s**t. KDLF looked good in a small sample in the 3rd-6th division & an exhibition match. Llanez in u-19's, didn't look good in exhibitions, nor his Eredivisie debut. Until they produce a sample of significance at a decent level people shouldn't even be penciling them into starting xi's. Or for those who do, they shouldn't act like they're not going out on a limb, and pretend then it's farfetched for alternatives like Aaronson or numerous other players to compete for those spots. Only a few players are virtually guaranteed spots in the xi at this pt.
As if you made some sort of point. You're referencing a sample of one game & player making his debut in an out of season friendly against Costa Rica's b/c team. That's not how any rational person makes evaluations. And speaking of which, out of the other side of your mouth when some MLS player looks good in Jan. camp you'll say it's just 1 game against riffraff. You'll even dismiss when Morris averages almost twice as many goals + assists (adjusted for comp) than Pulisic since Couva. Then you'll divert to but Chelsea/Dortmund. Morris plays in MLS. He shouldn't even start, let alone was he better than Pulisic, or does that mean anything. Supposed nat'l team fans like yourself have an inferiority complex philosophy on behalf of the US that's shared by minnows. That's who calls players out of Euro academies w/ regularities. Go look at even the likes of Sweden, Denmark, & Norway. The most favorable assessment you could make about their domestic leagues is that they're as good as MLS (they're in all likelihood not, backed up by salaries & transfer valuations). And yet the last year they've called up a combined ZERO players who were originally capped when they were in academies. But half of Denmark's & a good majority of Sweden's + Norway's first caps were out of the domestic league. That's how anybody we respect does business, but we somehow shouldn't. It's not even sensible for people with this attitude to follow the national team. All you ever talk about is how everybody else just about is better than us & the only way to close the gap is for them to develop our talent for us, at which point they can take credit for our players. It's like some vicarious foreign elitism or blaming the US because you couldn't make the grade as a player so this is your catharsis.
I guess I could have stated it as you did... Aaronson hasnt proved sh!t. He looked in over his head on his one cap. Maybe he has improved and will do better next, but Llanez looked comfortable at level that is clearly below the full usmnt level. Llanez did well enough in his one campmthat i would expect him to be in the November camp. It is pretty much guaranteed if starts getting minutes at Herenveen. There is a difference between 19 yo breaking into the team and people claiming a player is an auto starter. Morris has not been better than Pulisic. He has improved on his weaknesses but many of them are still glaring. I hope for our players to be better and think Morris is better off the bench. I wasn't going to bring up, but performing on a regular basis at places like Chelsea, Dortmund, Juventus, Lille, etc means a lot more than doing it for Seattle. If you are going to question who is a usmnt fan, id start with people who are also fans of conflicting things.... like MLS. I dont have an inferiority complex. I am comfortable where we are and want better. It is the MLS fans who won't accept their deficincies. I remember a poster came up with stupidest stat about how many players Klinsmann had called up for their first camp outside of the January camp. We are 4 years on and the only MLS players worth a damn are Morris and Cannon. It appears multiple coaches couldn't find these supposed gems in the league. Yet Llanez showed he deserved another look. I dont know why MLS fans like you can't see that ignoring players like this is detrimental to our program. I bet it is because you know it favors MLS players. Why would you compare us to those countries. Their leagues do things very differently than MLS. They focus on development and accept their place in global football. Not sure they have a ton of players in academies in big 5 leagues. You get MLS to really focus on development and improve the game technically, tactically, and faster speed of play then id bet we would look more like them. This whole concern about academies seems like a sign of an inferiority complex. It is simply about wanting our players to get in to the best environments as early as they can. That seems exactly like the attitude of a fan of the team. It seems you are more a fan of the league and want to make believe that it is much better than it is for our players. No, it is because MLS has been interfering with our national team since 2014. The landscape in the states has imoroved dramatically since I played, but still has a long way to go.
I would completely disagree. MLS, which has fought for control in this country, has reacted best when challenged. If people would stop cheerleading for them and demand better from them, they would improve much faster.
Well you're wrong. But I'm enjoying the footy and watching all those professional players MLS academies are churning out, who 15 years ago would still be at high school or college.
There are a couple different possibilities: 1) If Reyna ends up as a CAM, then it is likely one of Adams, McKennie, or Musah. Though Musah could play RM or Adams elsewhere. 2) If those 3 are the MF trio, and Reyna slides wide, it is Morris/Weah. 3) If Musah does not play for us, and Gio is central, Morris wide, then it is probably Yedlin or Cannon right now. Maybe Ledezma or Weah depending on how things unfold.
I think it's a bit early to judge Musah. He's averaged 7 minutes per game for his club. Obviously like Richards he's very promising and I admit I didn't think Reyna was ready until the start of this season. But he could be a Reyna, he could be a Miazga, hopefully we'll find out before this season is over.
Ok, Valencia have gone all in on Musah. 6 year contract with $100 million buyout clause. Based on today's standout performances by McKennie (as sub), Reyna and Adams Musah is the D'Artagnan to the Three Musketeers. I'm not even including Pulisic because he's been around so long it's almost like he's from a past generation.
If Musah commits, then if healthy..............................one has the midfield set. It must means one of Reyna or Musah starts on the wing. Pulisic--------Reyna------Musah ---------Adams------McKennie------ Its gonna have to take a hell of a lot of a breakout performance from another player to break into that 5 (should Musah commit). So that means in terms of this thread...............................that ANYBODY else is in a pickle for a starting spot. Ledezma. Aaronson. Weah. Morris. De la Fuente. The list goes on. Anybody. Hell, I think one thing is damn certain. Sergino Dest has locked his position. So if he's right back...........................then any other right back is a backup. Reynolds, who it sounds like is about to make a big move to Europe. Cannon, who's been playing so well for Boavista that rumors about big clubs being interested have started. Scally is about to move to Gladbach, and their coach has already said he'll be in the first team. Yedlin is practically on the moon he's so far out of the picture. The man is on a Premier League roster, is in his prime.................and seems irrelevant. Times have changed. The positions that look less clear are forward, CB (where even Brooks has been inconsistent in a USMNT jersey), and LB.
Would GB play without a 6? Because your formation looks like a double 8s. I think it will work against weak opponents. I'm not sure if GB will do this against stronger foes.