Now that the sting of the Belgium game as worn off a bit, I am looking ahead to 2030, I actually feel optimistic. This isn't a complete rebuild, we really should treat this cycle as an evolution. The core of Pulisic, Balogun, Tillman, Richards, Dest, Adams, McKennie, Pepi, and Reyna will still be in or around their prime. The challenge facing us: Turning today's starters into tomorrow's depth while the next generation takes over. Here are my six biggest keys to the 2030 cycle: 1. Secure Noahkai Banks. This is priority No. 1 for me. Elite center backs are incredibly difficult to produce, and Banks has all the tools to become one. If he commits to the U.S. and develops into a Bundesliga level starter, it changes the outlook of our back line for the next decade. Richards and Banks could become the best center back pairing the U.S. has ever had. 2. Alex Freeman becomes Villarreal's starting right back. Freeman has the physical profile to be a difference maker. The next step is proving he can earn and hold down a starting job in one of Europe's top leagues. 3. Cavan Sullivan is as good as advertised. Every generation needs a special player. Cavan has been labeled the highest ceiling American prospect ever. That's a massive expectation, but if he develops into an elite creator at both club and international level, it raises the ceiling of the entire national team. 4. Two of our young wingers become legitimate stars. Christian Pulisic won't be easy to replace as the team's game breaking attacker. We don't necessarily need another Pulisic but we need multiple dangerous wingers capable of producing at the highest level. The three I'm watching most closely are Zavier Gozo, Mathis Albert, and Cole Campbell. If two of those three become regular contributors in top European leagues, suddenly the attack has real depth and competition instead of relying on one superstar. 5. Peyton Miller becomes Jedi Robinson's successor. Jedi has been outstanding for the USMNT but he'll be 32 in 2030. Miller has the athleticism and upside to take over that role if his development continues. Having a seamless transition at left back would be huge. 6. We need to develop a quality GK GK are so tough to project. And the field is WIDE OPEN. We are all hoping Kochen turns out to be that guy but time will tell. By 2030, we cannot have today's starters simply to be four years older. We need MANY of them to become quality depth pieces because younger, higher-ceiling players have earned those starting jobs. For the first time, I feel like the talent pipeline is deep enough that this is a realistic goal. Heres my projected depth chart for the 2030 cycle with 2030 ages listed. Obviously this will change. Every cycle produces a few players that come out of nowhere, while some of today's top prospects don't develop as expected. Injuries, transfers, and club situations will all reshape the picture over the next four years. Still, if the World Cup were four years away and I had to project the pool today, this is what I'd be building toward. **Projected USMNT 2030 Depth Chart (2030 Ages)** **GK** 1. Diego Kochen (24) – Barcelona Atlètic 2. Patrick Schulte (29) – Columbus Crew 3. Chris Brady (26) – Chicago Fire 4. Gaga Slonina (26) – Barnsley 5. Julian Eyestone (24) – Brentford **RB** 1. Alex Freeman (25) – Villarreal 2. Joe Scally (27) – Borussia Mönchengladbach 3. Tim Weah (30) – Marseille 4. Oscar Verhoeven (24) – San Diego FC **LB** 1. Antonee Robinson (32) – Fulham 2. Peyton Miller (22) – New England Revolution 3. John Tolkin (28) – Holstein Kiel 4. Caleb Wiley (25) – Chelsea 5. Max Arfsten (29) – Columbus Crew **CB** 1. Chris Richards (30) – Crystal Palace 2. Noahkai Banks (23) – FC Augsburg 3. Auston Trusty (31) – Celtic 4. Matai Akinmboni (23) – Bournemouth 5. Mark McKenzie (31) – Toulouse 6. Josh Wynder (25) – Benfica B 7. George Campbell (29) – CF Montréal **CDM** 1. Johnny Cardoso (28) – Atlético Madrid 2. Tyler Adams (31) – Bournemouth 3. Tanner Tessmann (28) – Lyon 4. Benjamin Cremaschi (25) – Inter Miami 5. Aidan Morris (28) – Middlesbrough **CM** 1. Malik Tillman (28) – Bayer Leverkusen 2. Weston McKennie (31) – Juventus 3. Sebastian Berhalter (29) – Vancouver Whitecaps 4. Jack McGlynn (27) – Houston Dynamo 5. Quinn Sullivan (26) – Philadelphia Union **CAM** 1. Cavan Sullivan (20) – Philadelphia Union 2. Niko Tsakiris (25) – San Jose Earthquakes 3. Giovanni Reyna (27) – Borussia Mönchengladbach **LW** 1. Mathis Albert (21) – Borussia Dortmund 2. Cole Campbell (24) – Elversberg 3. Christian Pulisic (31) – AC Milan 4. Diego Luna (26) – Real Salt Lake 5. Cade Cowell (26) – Guadalajara **RW** 1. Zavier Gozo (23) – Real Salt Lake 2. Sergiño Dest (29) – PSV Eindhoven 3. Brenden Aaronson (29) – Leeds United **ST** 1. Folarin Balogun (29) – Monaco 2. Ricardo Pepi (27) – PSV Eindhoven 3. Julian Hall (22) – New York Red Bulls
What we really need are leaders, but not just players who are willing to be vocal, or accountable after the fact. We need guys who are willing to “die for the shirt”, or in other words something on the order of what a team like Argentina has. Problem is this isn’t something that can really be developed or taught; it is either innate or it isn’t. The only guy on this year’s team who comes close to approximating this is Sebastian Berhalter. We need a lot more players with his hunger and drive, albeit with better technical ability (Luna would have fit this profile were he to have made the roster). Only players I see off the current team that I’d be confident of seeing on the 2030 roster are Balogun, Tillman, Freeman and Richards. Others like McKennie, Pulisic and Adams are better than 50/50 shouts, but alot will depend on if their bodies can hold up and with Pulisic and Adams in particular that is a very open question. Bottom line…identify and bring me more dogs.
Can’t believe I forgot a few of the following prospects: Neil Pierre - CB - Philly - 22 Malik Jakupovic - Striker - Philly - 21 Adri Mehmet - MF - RBNY - 21 Matthew Dos Santos - LB - RBNY - 22 Duran Feree - GK - San Diego - 23 Andre Chirila - CB - Cincy - 21
I'd add fighters. No backing down. Willing to body up and leave a mark. All of the good teams are willing to do so. Treat it less as trophy and orange slices, rather as tribal warfare. We used to, but this current group is soft.
Some thoughts and caveats (along with maybe this could have been on the 2030 thread?) Yes, but I think this is a bigger challenge that we are letting on. It would not be my #1 priority, but I'll get to that. I think Banks comes with two challenges -- and they aren't independent. One is securing him, and the second is his development. He has the potential, but not everyone with potential makes it to becoming a not only a good CB, but one who is consistent. He needs to be starting somewhere. I don't think it has to be Villareal; Freeman is a certain style of player and he won't fit in every scheme. I'm a big believer here, but part of my skepticism for next cycle is that Sullivan and much of our other top end talent will be 20, 21 years old. The prime age players around 25 is a much weaker group in terms of top end talent. There's a pretty big chunk of risk here. I'm a Gozo fan, but Campbell has failed to impress -- seems very one dimensional and one footed -- and Albert has yet to debut. There's other prospects, but given age and pedigree, it will almost certainly be a step down. We will need to make it up elsewhere or in different ways. Miller has the athleticism but isn't even playing LB for club. It would not shock me to see the next LB come from a more defensive place. Add CB to this. I find it hard to be super optimistic given where we are. I think we have two other major tasks: Secure a quality coach who can continue the current offensive progression while helping to shore up the defense. Find more time together, better focus, more tough experiences together to prepare the team better for the next World Cup.
I would probably move Reyna to CM at this point, given how he was utilized by Berhalter and Poch. If he gets his sprint speed back up could change...
A long time ago, Ray Hudson criticized the way young American (pretty much all ex-college with some academy back then) players approached the game. He called it "Happy Meal Soccer." I have to agree. Even a lot of our older players look like boys against men when we're playing international matches.
I feel like Tillman really should be our attacking mid next cycle and either Freeman or Scally (or both) needs to transition to CB. Freeman in particular feels like he could be absolutely amazing as a CB. He's 6'2, fast, and already a solid defender.
Spoiler alert: Noakhai Banks isn’t changing his mind. If a World Cup roster spot doesn’t convince him, nothing will. also, I highly doubt Cavan Sullivan can match the hype, most likely turns into another Matthew Hoppe, Busio, Paredes, or Cremanschi.
Balogun is an example of a guy who probably could have made a World Cup committing and didn't, then did later. I don't know what Banks will do, but I do think him not finishing out the year strong probably helped us. Whether or not Cavan meets the hype depends in large part on the hypes, but he's going to be better than all those players unless he simply stops working. He's a prospect on the Pulisic-Reyna level. That doesn't guarantee success, but he's not going to be Matt Hoppe. He's already a better player than Matt Hoppe.
One of the Athletic articles on transfers said Dortmund was hesitant to bring in someone at his position because they want the pathway to be open for him (and another youth player they rate highly who I can’t remember).
The question on Cavan is how soon will he be ready to play a major role. He is a Reyna/Pulisic level prospect but those don’t always work out either (see Reyna never quite taking off). But a player like that if he hits is the sort of thing that starts to change our ceiling. The three things we need is 1) no weak links on the field, 2) more depth, and 3) match winning type players of which Cavan has that potential.
Yea, I think we need 1-3 bonafide European stars/superstars to break into a QF expectation team. Norway has a solid team but the backbone of their program is built on the best striker in the world (Haaland) and the midfield general of Arsenal (Odegaard). We have never had a superstar like Haaland or Odegaard in the programs history. and even they were underdogs to make it past Brazil. Sullivan appears to be our current best hope for something like that. Good chance we know by the time he is 20 either way. Most superstars/stars are already established by then but not always.
Just my 2 cents but I think someone everyone should be watching closely is Rokas Pukstas. 21 year old CM/AM with 111 league appearances and 21 goals in Croatia for Hajduk Split. Likely on the move to a top 5 league this summer for a decent fee. Could be the midfield general we need. Could become an important part of the usmnt pretty quickly if he is able to show himself at a place like Genoa (last club he was linked to). I am less excited about the following players but will be watching them closely next season: Santiago Castaneda (21) (DM) SC Paderborn (Bundesliga) Cole Campbell (20) (LW) SV Elversberg (Bundesliga) If Pukstas/Campbell/Castaneda can show themselves to be solid top 5 league professionals next season that would be big for the program.
I’m not saying Cavan is a guaranteed star or even guaranteed anything but he is a different stratosphere of prospect than any of those 4 were
Yeah but even if he say the next Odegaard (who is good but I don’t consider a world class player), he’s not likely to be there at the age of 20. Odegaard himself wasn’t as that was when Real Madrid first sent him on loan cause he wasn’t getting playing time there. Which Cavan could be in a similar situation given it’s difficult to break into Man City.
Bring Tessmann and Musah back in the mix. Both of whom were stupidly left off by Poch. Both are still young, and both have the talent to hold up against strong sides.