Yeah the backline could use some work but it is who is between the posts but also who you have up front striking is where the USA is going to need more depth
Its why folks keep yearning for Sargent to take the "next step" at Bremen. He's a Bundesliga regular after all. Tim Weah at Lille lost the year to injury. Maybe our #9 isn't the strongest, but the front 6 is looking pretty good. All players under 23 that get first team minutes at big clubs. Weah was playing before injury. Unfortunately Adams lost a lot of this year to injury too. -----------Sargent (Bremen)--------- Pulisic (Chelsea)-Reyna (Dortmund)-Weah (Lille) ----Adams (Leipzig)-McKennie (Schalke)---
Uhhhhhhmmmm... Everyone else in here did a pretty good job of laying out how these young kids have either the same level of vague "principles" as the older generation, or described well how premature it is to make that assessment. I'm just going to go ahead and reject your entire premise. Wherever principles and motivation fall on the list of important attributes for a national team, I will take talent, skill, whatever you want to call it, all day every day. All of these other tertiary things we discuss on here, like principles, Americaness, leadership or that weird thread about height are fine and might matter, but not nearly as much as posts like yours make out.
Watching this younger cohort bond with each other as last exhibited by #EnoughIsEnough (not to start another discussion about that topic but rather that we've seen the guys bond) is what's important to me. We have enough talent to be "dangerous" even at the WC level IF we play better than the sum of our parts (and are uninjured) but we also have enough holes to make the HEX risky if we continue to play lower than the sum of our parts. By dangerous, I mean a real shot at getting out of the group and having a decent shot in R16.
I rang them up and they told me that they rather be the more talented team than the plucky underdog with heart. As evidence they told me they are very proud of their two Olympic gold medals, but said they would prefer to have Russia's 7.
Let’s see where these guys land in the fall and what kind of team they can put together before we decide if they can even qualify. At this rate with COVID, we may see a very abridged qualie and that May actually tougher for qualification
Imagine if USA somehow manage to miss out on Qatar too...could you imagine what that would do to USMNT soccer
Shrug. I think what folks learned by missing 2018 is that the sky didn't fall. The world continued to revolve just like it did for Holland, Italy, Chile, etc. Soccer in this country is continuing to build regardless of the failings at the USSF and USMNT.
Sargent has failed to make the progress this season that many hoped for but that doesn't mean that he hasn't got the talent to make it as an international starter. Playing for a club making its worst finish in 40 years, in a season interrupted by a pandemic, emptying the stands, probably hasn't helped.
I thought Sargent a lot of progress after the restart. He didn’t score enough but like Pulisic in his last few games is doing a bunch of other stuff to help his team win. Both of them will score once they become a bit more relaxed in scoring opportunities. Sargent has become very good on goal kicks with his back to goal. Against top teams that could be vitally important.
Well.....................Bremen is in colossal danger of relegation. We'll know their fate today. I like Sargent. Why wouldn't I? But when I look at this generation of American talent coming thru, one position where we don't have a lot of depth of quality prospects is at the #9. We have wide players and wingers. We have attacking midfielders, central midfielders. We have fullbacks. But #9s? Not really. Weah can play the position, but I think is more impactful out wide. He's always hurt anyway. Our starter at the recent U20 World Cup was Sebastian Soto. He barely played for Hannover in the German 2nd division this season. He just transferred to soon-to-be-relegated Norwich. He won't qualify for a work permit, so I guess he's going to be part of the Norwich "loan army." If you're telling me this generation of the USMNT is going to match that of 2002...................then I need to know who's filling the Brian McBride role. There certainly is a lot of other talent coming thru. I just worry about the total lack of depth in goal, where Zack Steffen is basically it. [Hopefully Horvath gets back on track, but he was a bench player in Belgium this season.] I worry about #9. And then I still worry about centerback. There are prospects there, but kids like Richards haven't done anything yet. Palmer-Brown was playing for a mid-table Austrian team this season. Carter-Vickers was playing for Luton. I can keep going there. More question marks than answers. Folks underestimate the quality of defenders on that 2002 team. Eddie Pope was VERY good. Dortmund submitted a transfer offer for Pope (the year after they won the Champions League) that was accepted by DCU. Pope chose to stay in MLS, however.
We'll see. I rather like Reggie Cannon and we'll see how he does when he transfers to Europe (which will hopefully be this summer). Reggie has really grown as a defensive player over the last couple of years. Its going to be interesting to see what happens with Chris Gloster of PSV this summer. I really thought he played well at the U20 World Cup, and was expecting him to break thru this season. Frankly, I thought he outplayed Dest in the event. Maybe he'll be loaned out. It just didn't happen for him this year.
Oh..................I forgot LB Antonee Robinson. He'll almost certainly be transferred to a bigger club this summer. He's still only 22. Frankly, he's been great at the Championship level since returning from his health problems. Leicester is being heavily linked with him right now. [I mean, the kid only had a move to AC Milan scuppered by a physical. AC Milan isn't AC Milan right now, but its still AC Milan! ] If we had a U23 Olympic qualifier tomorrow I'd probably go with a backline of Robinson-CCV-EPB-Dest. Others would put Richards in there at CB, but both CCV and EPB had good seasons at higher levels. Next year is a big one for Richards.
there is a lot of truth here. I do think we have a huge question at the 9 but in totality, we’ve never had as many difference making players on our squad and I don’t think it’s feasible to expect to have improved at every single position. btw, having an offer at a high level isn’t the same as belonging at that level. Right now, I’d compare Eddie pope (For whom I have tons of admiration) to ARobinson - they both had real offers from established major league clubs but the jury is still out of Antonee.
Yes, much is yet to happen, but right now the central defense is worrisome for several reasons: no proper defensive cover on the sides, no good CB pair, no in-form keeper, and only one guy in the pool who may be able to play the DM role well enough, so far he's not injured and so far he doesn't get benched and loses form.
We'll see. The 2020-2021 season is very important for several centerbacks. Palmer-Brown had a very good season in Austria, and is likely to get an opportunity at a bigger club. Richards has had a good season at Bayern II, and is likely to get an opportunity at a bigger club. CCV has had a good season at Luton, and is likely to get an opportunity at a bigger club. There are some other MLS centerbacks that we were hoping would take a leap this season. I really like Miles Robinson in Atlanta, who only just turned 23. I really like versatile Julian Araujo with the Galaxy. I know he's on the short side for a CB. I really like CB/CM James Sands with NYCFC. I like Mark McKenzie with Philadelphia. Justen Glad has been around so long at RSL that we forget he only just turned 23. Right now its just kinda more questions than answers..................however we see the potential answers. We just need a couple of them to rise to the level of Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie, Adams, Dest, and company. It may happen. It may not. Same is true for the keeper position. We have quite a deep class of U20 goalkeepers. Odunze at Leicester. Las at Fulham. Ethan Wady just signed for Chelsea. Ochoa at RSL is my favorite of the MLS youngsters. He'll likely get some playing time this season. So there are some kids we hope advance behind Steffen. #9 position on the other hand I'm much more concerned about.
I can see CCV getting loaned to a mid-table Championship team, yes. As for EPB, no, he's not that good. He may go to a decent club if City pays part of the wages, though. And Richards is still a kid, defenders take longer to mature. I don't expect him to have a blossoming season until 2021-2022, if at all.
Just gives me a headache reading all of this. My only hope is that we can just outscore teams we have a clear talent edge over and just park the bus against teams with equal talent and more. Then go to Qatar and hope to be in the same Group as the hosts with some other FIFA rigged draw mediocre teams.
Josh's career arc is miles ahead of McBride's. Brian didn't have a top league appearance til he was 30. Josh is hopefully going to have a few hundred. I think it's kind of funny to wonder about him filling the McBride role when he's far outpacing him at the moment. It's also not really fair to say this generation doesn't have depth considering the max age of a striker in this generation is currently 20. Sure, it doesn't have depth, but that's because you're looking at teenagers. By 2026, guys born in 2007 are going to be getting regular first team football. There's going to be more depth at that point simply because of the number of prospects, including at striker, we have.
If Josh is even close to McBride then we are going to boss teams. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s going to hit that level.