The USMNT 26-man roster for World Cup 2022 announced p80 #1991

Some perspective here: It has not been an easy road for Berhalter. Adding the exigency of calling up dual nats to his burden wasn't necessary in my opinion but that's what the mob wants. (Klinsmann is still being hailed for his ability to "persuade" dual nats like Chandler and Johnson to play for USA over Germany while being panned across the board otherwise).

About that 'not an easy road for Berhalter', here is a pretty good summary.
A USMNT obsessive’s guide: What to care about in the new European season | MLSSoccer.com

The next big difficulty for Berhalter is how he explains that Reyna or McK or Steffen( or all of the foregoing) are not in the starting xi because they are protecting (potential) injuries. It will be much easier to just play them. Howard had to play for Arena at Couva, even with his questionable groin. Take a s-t-r-e-t-c-h.......go in for that shoulder to shoulder tackle.......make that juke.....or maybe not or maybe think about it.

Don't mind me, I'm going nuts watching Galaxy play unfit guys, some of them moving with obvious difficulty, when there's young 'un's wasting away in reserves.

That's a slightly different problem because the season is going into the closing stretch and now is when the young un's would have had their problems ironed out if they had been played earlier but instead you have older players grinding those last games out of their legs and just getting worse and worse.

Otoh, at the WC, everything can really come down to a few moments in that first game which is always played gingerly and hangs on somebody doing or not doing something at a key moment. The one thing I'd want to be sure of is that my guys are at 100% physically.

 

There will never be another McKennie for the hater. Only one 'clown shoe' midfielder on the American roster for that poster. Sad he's so bent on it. But to each his own. Hate fuels him.

 

I haven't seen Gutierrez even play so no judgment from me but Brendan Aaronson didn't make the U20's either and the ones in front of him played well. Sometimes there's a lot of choices and someone good doesn't make it but a year or two later would be a no brainer.

 

These guys don't mature and 'get it' at the same age. I see it all the time. Someone discarded because they didn't shine early on. Then they are what they 'should have' been a couple years late. Don't sleep on those guys who bloom late. They may be rare but they exist.

 

And they'd still be wrong if they say that these players should have been called up before the 2022 WC. Same happened with McKennie--a year after Couva and some people around here were insistent that he should have been called up in the summer of 2017 after making his first 7-minute first-team cameo in the Bundesliga (not that they were saying that the year before).

 

Do you ever not speak in hyperbole?

 

What hyperbole?
I watched the match he got to play. He did nothing to inspire confidence that be belonged. His performance was weak and his effort was even less. If you saw something lese then fine.

I didn't.

 

When did Aaronson serve notice of his talent? No angle meant here, I'm gonna go on transfermarkt, but it's really odd that he wasn't on the '19 U20 team, did he break out in '20? Just checked and yep, pretty much, '20 season combined with MLS is back featured 4 goals and 5 assists in about 2180 minutes. Never really been a huge counting stats guy which is why double digit goal predictions strike me as lunacy (but who knows, I guess?). The article in theathletic from May gives a real nice prepper on him. He's a really interesting player, I think the buzzing bee annoying tag McKennie and some poster's gave him seems to fit. 99th percentile in pressing in the middle and attacking 3rd for RBS, but involvement with play was rather limited, and then you get the Bayern Munich Knockout tie where he was the only guy who produced much of anything consistently. Interesting, interesting player. It's difficult to have so many guys playing the same position for us, I think it's reasonable to argue that four of our best 6 players play 2 positions.

 

For the record, McKennie called him a gnat. The difference between McKennie and the gnat is that the gnat know how to press whereas McKennie thinks running at people is pressing, along with most posters here.

 

He did, Chicago didn't let him go.

 

b.t.w., just listened to Berhalter say that Brenden had the fastest speed over the longest sprint in UCL. Who knew gnats were that fast,

 

Updated swing:

1. Locks (13).

Turner (GK, Arsenal); Dest (RB/LB/WB, Barcelona), A. Robinson (LB/LWB, Fulham); Zimmerman (CB, Nashville), Long (CB, NYRB); Adams (DM/CM/RB, Leeds), McKennie (CM, Juventus), Musah (CM, Valencia); Pulisic (AM/WF, Chelsea), Weah (WF, Lille), Aaronson (AM/CAM/WF/WM, Leeds), Reyna (WM/WF/CAM/CM, Dortmund); Ferreira (CF/CAM, FC Dallas).

2. Near Locks (3).

Steffen (GK, Middlesbrough); Richards (CB/FB, Crystal Palace); Acosta (DM/CM/FB, LAFC).

3. Good Bets (3).

Yedlin (RB, Inter Miami), Cannon (RB/RCB, Boavista); De la Torre (CM, Celta Vigo).

4. In a Battle (1).

Johnson (GK, NYCFC).

5. Bubble (6).

Ream (CB, Fulham); Williamson (CM, Portland), Arriola (WM/WF/WB, FC Dallas), Morris (WF/CF, Seattle), Vazquez (CF, FC Cincy), Pefok (CF, Union Berlin).

It is too unbalanced towards attack. There is no real #2 LB (Dest, Acosta), nor a 5th CB or a 3rd DM (McKennie, LDLT). But I just don't see guys in those spots that I have real confidence in ATM (Vines, Bello, Scally, Parades, Sands, CCV, Miazga). So I took atracking players I think can help.

 

Turner a lock? He’s a back-up keeper, just like Steffen (who is not a near-lock) used to be. Long is not a lock. Reyna isn’t playing. Pefok has 2 goals already; should be a near-lock if not a lock. Ferreira better be stellar in September.
Your list will vary a lot from now to October.

 

There is not going to be a ton of changes between now and November. That's not how coaches look at things. Pefok only has 1 goal in his only goal. Ferreira is a lock and doesn't need a stellar anything. He's been scoring consistently. Unfortunately Turner is a lock because we have no other GK playing in any top leagues right now. Reyna didn't play today but was on the bench has started playing in the preseason vs that team from Turkey. If he remains healthy he's obviously a lock. Again Long may not be a lock for you but for Berhalter he is. Who else? Your post doesn't seem objective seems to be alittle fanboy to me. The 6 bubble spots are the ones up for grabs but he basically has all the players possible except 2 or 3. Ledesma is one for me because he' s playing for PSV.

 

Under "locks", you spelled Horvath wrong.

 

Ha!

Though I was right behind the goal for Johnson's awful distribution and Zelarayan's beautiful finish last night.

 

My current 26 (in no order, players in parenthesis are currently out but next in line):

GK: Turner, Horvath, Steffen (Johnson)

DEF: Dest, Yedlin, Robinson, Scally, Zimmerman, Long, Richards, CCV (Cannon)

MF: Adams, Acosta, de la Torre, McKennie, Aaronson, Musah, Tillman (Roldan)

FW: Pulisic, Reyna, Arriola, Morris, Weah, Pefok, Ferreira, Vasquez (Pepi)

 

Kneejerking after the Rangers game for fun, using the template:

My picks:
GK Steffen, Turner, Horvath
FB Dest, A. Robinson, Vines, Scally
CB Zimmerman, Richards, Long, CCV, Sands
MF Adams, McKennie, Musah, Acosta, LDLT, Tillman
WG Pulisic, Aaronson, Weah, Reyna, Arriola
FW Ferreira, Vazquez, Pefok
Just Missed: EPB, Cannon, Williamson, Morris, Pepi

I'm taking Arriola over Morris, if we need a goal I'd take other subs over Morris and if we're protecting a lead/draw then I'd bring in Arriola. Not bringing in Pepi hurts but his form is at a low point right now. Sands barely makes it, I was tempted to go Williamson over him since I'm worried about what happens when a member of MM in MMA gets gassed and we still want a physical presence in the midfield, Acosta can definitely play there but I'm still not sold. At this point for me the 3rd spot is more between Steffen and Sean Johnson than Johnson and Horvath. My September camp would be everyone including the players who just missed, except EPB (already on 5 CBs, if one of them gets injured he'll walk in anyways), Pefok (already on 4 FWs and we know what he brings, him making it depends on Vazquez and Pepi's performances) and with Roldan (vibes).

Gregg's picks (according to me):
GK Steffen, Turner, S. Johnson
FB Dest, A. Robinson, Vines, Yedlin, Cannon
CB Zimmerman, Richards, Long, CCV
MF Adams, McKennie, Musah, Acosta, LDLT, Roldan
WG Pulisic, Aaronson, Weah, Reyna, Morris
FW Ferreira, Pefok, Pepi

I think Cannon's experience in playing CB in a back 3 gets him on the roster and allows Berhalter to get both Yedlin and Cannon. Maybe I'm going a bit too conservative having Roldan make it but as someone said on the Quakes forum recently, the key to happiness is low expectations (paraphrasing).

 

Love this. I do think Gregg has Cannon ahead of Scally. And I hope you are right about Tillman v Roldan, but I am dont have a reading on how Gregg views them.

 

You might be right mainly because of Cannon's diversity as a potential CB in a 3 man backline.

As for Roldan, not sure. Maybe he takes both and leaves out Morris or Arriola. Unfortunately, odds are we don't have our full complement of MF and FWs due to an injury of some sort so maybe everyone comes on board.

 

Fair list.

I actually would take a 9th defender (Scally?) because some of the midfielders/forwards are interchangeable (Aaronson, Reyna, Tillman).

 

i like that list but for one thing there that I have a hard time accepting: Steffen and Johnson > Horvath. Just don’t get that at all. I prefer Scally over both Yedlin and Cannon, but long ago accepted that Gregg does not.

 

This is basically identical to how I have things as well. I still have Pepi in my 26, but he'll fall out by the second week of September if he continues to be a role player at Augsburg and other strikers are playing well (Vazquez).

I also probably pick a 9th player who can cover as a defender, and Roldan is probably the player in this squad that I sacrifice.