It's been confirmed that the World Cup roster will be 26 players up from the usual 23: Confirmado: La lista para el Mundial de Qatar será de 26 jugadores.Todos podrán firmar planilla. 11 titular y 15 suplentes.Se aprobó en un congreso de la IFAB en Doha. Entra en vigencia el 1 de julio para todas las competencias oficiales. pic.twitter.com/0nXQ5aSJWD— Gastón Edul (@gastonedul) June 13, 2022 Confirmed: The list for the Qatar World Cup will be 26 players. Everyone will be able to sign the form. 11 holder and 15 alternates. It was approved at an IFAB congress in Doha. It comes into effect on July 1 for all official competitions. There will also be five substitutions allowed instead of the usual three: The IFAB permanently approves five-substitute option in top-level competitions What does this mean for the USMNT roster? We're 5 months out from when roster submissions are due. It is generally 6 weeks before the start of the tournament, which would be around October 10.
The main argument I would make is that one of the three extra roster spots should NOT be wasted on a fullback... copy-pasting my reasoning here: === Can someone explain the logic here to me because I don't get it... - With a 23 man roster you take 4 fullbacks, and one likely never even plays (see Chandler 2014). - So with a 26 roster why wouldn't we just take 4 fullbacks? Why 5 fullbacks for potentially two to never play? - Especially considering the following: - Scally can back up both RB and LB. - Dest will start at RB but can also back up LB - Adams, Acosta, and Richards will ALL be on the roster if healthy, and all can play fullback. - Worst case scenario Arriola could play back there.It just seems like it would be an insane waste of a roster spot to take another fullback over ANY of another striker / central midfielder / center back / Sands DM-CB. In fact I can't think of a bigger waste of a roster spot than taking a fourth goalkeeper...
The expansion to 26 probably doesn't mean guys currently out of the group get back in with a chance. It means some of these fringe insiders like Roldan, Arriola, Morris, etc. are back in with a shout. Arriola might be in anyway, but we have to remember that somebody needs to be displaced by Reyna. And it puts some guys from the bubble to "in." Hard for me to imagine a squad of 26 with a player like Pepi not included.
(In no order): GK: Steffen Turner Horvath DF: Dest Scally Robinson Yedlin Cannon Zimmerman Long Richards Carter Vickers MF: Adams Acosta McKennie Musah De La Torre Aaronson Roldan FW: Reyna Pulisic Weah Arriola Ferreira Pepi Wright
Interesting. We're not that deep, so I think augmenting to 26 is relatively unhelpful. Still, those are the rules. Here's my line of thinking. Start with your 23. Do we really have 3 more players who would add anything? Sure, I would be a great locker room presence, keeping everyone in stitches*, but I don't think I could be of much use on the field. Who could? Dike - when we discover that Wales and/or Iran have no answer for the combination of attributes Dike possesses, i.e. it's time to go full beast mode up front. Hoppe - when we're down a goal late and it's time to throw the system out the window or (more likely) time to add another tall player capable of heading for goal. Ream/Brooks - pretty astonishing to think Brooks has no place on a 26-man roster. I think Berhalter might go with Ream, as sort of a player-coach in practice and a left-footed CB (who's played a ton of games alongside ARob) should we ever morph into a three-CB formation. ++++++++++++ *No, not those stitches.
oh man, a lot in my opinion- it allows for what i think are berhalters most problematic weaknesses. "the great reconciliation" is possible with extended rosters and keepping five subs- what i want and what im most concerned hes gonna do. gk steffen gk turner gk horvath/johnson rb dest rb yedlin rb scally/cannon cb richards cb brooks cb zimmerman cb epb/long cb/dm sands lb robinson dm adams dm acosta cm mckennie cm reyna cm musah cm de la torre locker room/rw listed as cm roldan rw weah rw arriola st dike/any other scrub st pepi st ferreira lw pulisic lw aaronson where i have multiple options its my preference first and greggs dumb mistake second. the third keeper wont actually make a difference, and hopefully the third rb wont either. but its fundamentally wrong to me to have your starter at one spot also the only backup at another- so dest is our rb (and only our rb) and the fourth fb is jedis backup. i think scally is better/more prepared than either bello or vines. st is more consequential to me, because i think dike should play over any other option- but this allows for pepi, ferreira and whoever you think is good. the only real variable i see that could leave a more important player off is deal-or-no-deal tillman. id trade roldan for tillman, but no one else here.
i agree with one caveat- sands gives us depth at both cb and dm. i get that everyone "can" play somewhere else, but in those two spots it creates the least amount of ripples in moving guys around.
We have this fairly big falloff after our top 12 outfield players: Dest, Zimmerman, Richards, Robinson, Adams, Musah, McKennie, Reyna, Pulisic, Aaronson, Weah, LDLT After that there are 20 or so players of very similar quality. If one of our top guys gets hurt, Berhalter could go a number of ways given who is available in the second tier. There will be some useful second tiers players left off the roster. Depending on how injuries and card accumulation play out, it could matter. Even with the bigger rosters.
I honestly think we would struggle to fill out a 23 man roster with guys that we should actually feel comfortable playing any real minutes so for me the extra three guys are likely just along or the ride anyway. We've never played all 23 in the past so I would be surprised to see us play 26 this time around.
There will be at least 10 guys who won't play. Even with a deep run. But there are always unexpected issues that come up. We just don't know ahead of time. So care must be taken to think about various contingencies.
I'll kick it off by saying it is more plausible to me that certain contingencies will require Sands than Roldan.
My starting 11: Reyna Pulisic Weah McKennie Musah Adams A Robinson Zimmerman Richards Dest Turner The other 12-26: Steffen Horvath (S Johnson) Long CCV (Brooks) Cannon (Scally) Vines (Paredes) Acosta LDLT Aaronson Arriola Ferreira Pepi Wright (Sargent) 25th: Roldan (Tillman) 26th: Morris or a CB (EPB or maybe Sands)
Sands isn't really an "outsider," though. He's had 7 caps since the start of 2021. Anyway, the thought is that the move to 26 does open the possibility of somebody like Sands, Mihailovic (6 caps under Berhalter), Dike, and players of that ilk. Or Berhalter could decide that players 24-26 can be younger, high-ceiling fringe players unlikely to see the field. I don't know what Berhalter is going to do. We can analyze scenarios that make sense till the cows come home. Then Berhalter will name all of Dest, Scally, Cannon, and Yedlin to the roster. As if we need 4 guys who primarily play RB.
i dont think i registered the outsider part- i was just speaking in the sense of "wouldnt make it on a 23".
Busio, Pomykal, Tillman, Ledezma and Gomez come to mind. The latter two dual nationals where a nudge might make a difference. I am not above using a couple of the extra slots to play that game.
I agree, five fullbacks is a waste. My hope is one or two of the slots are used on ‘specialists’, for example Kevin Paredes who can draw fouls and unbalance a defense in desperate situations and happens to be left footed, where we’re a little short. I’d also like a straight up speed merchant. Doesn’t look like Morris is that guy right now, but maybe Cowell can continue on the upswing. 23 has been enough forever, my hope is gb gets creative and specific with the extra 3.
Mexico might use that extra slot on Gomez.................... My point is that this isn't the Baton Death March. We play 3 games and hopefully 4/5. Not all 23 guys typically play in a World Cup...................not to mention 26. [With increased substitutions might come more opportunities.] So one can make an argument that you don't actually need that 4th right back. Why not use that extra slot to bring along a high ceiling youngster? An elite U20 performer. Why bring Yedlin if you have Dest and Cannon? Why not bring...................Justin Che if you think he has a higher ceiling than Yedlin? [I don't know if that's the case. Just using it as an example.] The extra slots may also allow a coach to roll the dice on a player of uncertain injury status. Then your bring both the uncertain player and a fill-in. As opposed to one or the other.
WE have an embarrassment of riches in the first xi and get thin real fast around the 18 man roster mark. I could only manage 21 inc 3 keepers when the roster size was 23 as foll:. Pepi and Sands are speculative because they would have to get off the bench at clubs real fast and early this season. I'm counting on Morris to get into A1 shape. He's much better than many realize. ---------pulisic----aaronson---ferreira----weah ---------(morris)-------------(pepi)----------(arriola) ---arob------musah---(reyna)-----adams-----dest ---(scally)---------------------------(sands)---(cannon) ----------------------long-----------zim -------------------------------------(ccv) --------------gk: Turner/Horvath/Johnson (I have no idea what is up with Steffen) With regard to various names mentioned: McK and Sarge are outside mids in flat 442 but Berhalter doesn't play that. Richards seemed too green at a position that needs a lot of experience. I'd take Scally over Vines. Belgian league a little suspect. Acosta can't pass in a midfield that needs more / better passing (for one thing). I get that LDLT is there to do what Musah does in case the latter can't go; I guess he could be added altho I'm skeptical. Brooks is too problematic. Wright has always had problems at higher level. I'm not opposed to Roldan based on his swiss knife quality and the expansion to 26 but Berhalter never plays him. I have Sands in my list but I don't think Berhalter trusts him since he gave up a pk As far as I can tell, we can't really fill out this roster til the season starts in Europe and we see how various players are making out but our last friendlies are in September. This will go down to the wire.
I see the dropoff in quality coming after our 12th best player (LDLT). After that it's a blob of 20-30 players. But it's not an undifferentiated blob. 12 is an interesting number. If everyone is healthy and available (never seems to happen), it gives you two more than useful subs on the bench. And the others are more situational guys. If Miles had been healthy, it would have been potentially 13 quality outfield players. Goalies are another matter. As things currently stand we won't have a weak link in our starting lineup. Except for goalie. But they are a different kind of animal. Not really soccer players.
Guessing your 12: Dest, Zimmerman, Richards, Jedi, McKennie, Adams, Musah, LDLT, Reyna, Aaronson, Pulisic, Weah
I doubt Mexico will do that. It's very much not Martino's style to just bring along a youth player to the World Cup for the sake of it. Mexico is all about having to go through the process and playing for each team you're eligible for. Especially if Gomez continues to play for Real Sociedad B in the 3rd division. My prediction is that we won't see one Mexican-American on Mexico's World Cup roster.
My general sense of the last 3 spots is you bring people who can play multiple positions and give you cover there. Or you bring guys who give you something unique that you don't have like you say. I don't see us bringing undecided dual nationals for the last few spots unless they are elite Pulisic/Reyna type prospects.