Gotta beat that El Salvador and Honduras ass at home. I think we will, we are tough to beat at home and our European guys should be peak form. Hopefully no injuries and everyone is healthy. We get a point in Canada and I would consider that gravy. 3 points would be highway robbery. Gotta bring KDLF, LDLT, and Scally and PLAY them this time. Frankly with Jedi's showing this cycle, left back should be there for the taking for Scally. Also Ill assume JMo is back to fitness again. If he shows no setbacks from the ACL, hes an immediate asset. Maybe a little new MLS blood too. Would love to bring Cowell and Pomykal brought in for the show. Pomykal I can deal without due to midfield depth, but we with the lack of 9s firing on all cylinders, we would be doing ourselves a disservice by not examining Cowell's capacity up there. Hes the only guy that hasnt been put under the microscope I really want to get a look at. That guy isn't a wing. that is a kid who is gonna be a big, strong center forward and we gotta start treating him as such.
It has to be all Euro-based players. Or virtually all. They will be in mid-season form. MLS will be out of season.
Would like to see Cappis get a look as the backup 6, depending on how he looks over the next several weeks. Finding a backup 6 is so crucial for this team. When does Aiden Morris come back? Players I most want to see in the next window who weren't on the roster for the most recent window: Reyna, Dest, Dike, Hoppe, KDLF, LDLT, Caden Clark. With Reyna and Dest, obviously I just mean I hope they're healthy. Scally needs minutes, and Antonee Robinson was so poor in these past two games that I would actually give Scally the starting nod in the next WCQ game at LB if Scally's healthy and still playing well. I like Scally's chances of Wally Pipp'ing Jedi, to be honest. Aside from a new head coach, which isn't happening any time soon, the big key for me is moving past Lleget, Arriola, Roldan, and Acosta for good. Once we have more talented players (European players and young MLSers who are destined for Europe) taking their spots on the roster and depth chart, we'll be in much better shape to qualify and it will raise the quality of play of our whole pool. And most importantly, Berhalter won't be handcuffing himself with mediocre options off the bench when we have injuries and suspensions, like he did tonight against Jamaica.
boy is this a fools errand...way too early predictions: gk steffen gk turner rb dest rb scally cb m robinson cb brooks cb richards cb zimmerman lb a robinson dm adams dm acosta cm mckennie cm reyna cm musah rw weah lw pulisic lw aaronson another keeper. probably yedlin and vines. one of miazga, mckenzie, possibly sands or ream. how close is long? possibly a dec/jan camp guy at best. maybe a fringe dm- johnny if he has a good run between now and then, maybe flach shows out in dec? probably not though. not gonna bother acting like lletget will be out, but roldan seems clearly superfluous. busio and ldlt. at least a couple of those four. i want morris in both camps full stop, but this is where things start to get really speculative... arriola and konrad are in the mix. cowell or clark are long shots, but theyll at least have a runout in dec. 3 of pepi, dike, zardes (will he be back/fit? anyone know his time frame?), hoppe, p-funk....sigh...sarge? who the hell knows? how much does it matter? whats the exchange rate of schrute bucks to stanley nickels? now go back and take away the four who will be out injured. count on a half dozen of these possibilities in jeopardy due to possible transfers/on new teams. so maybe one or two or ferreira, giocchini, moore, etc sneak in. i really hoped this break couldve have been a time to move out the reams and lletgets and find a few seats at the end of the bench but we arent there yet. im not sure we get that window this go round.
Very similar to this window's group. Dest will be back. Reyna will be back. Brooks and De la Torre will likely be back to fill-in for the out-of-season MLS guys. I think the squad almost writes itself except for the competition at fullback, and what to do at forward. And yes, we will continue arguing about fullback for two months. Dest will be back. Yedlin performed well against Mexico. Cannon is playing again in Portugal. Scally is playing in the Bundesliga, but still doesn't have experience with the USMNT. Robinson continues to be inconsistent, but his "ups" make him part of the group. Vines is back from his injury problem, and we'll see how he performs in Belgium. By the way, he's on a better Belgian team than any of our other guys in that league. Ya know, Vines has a real chance to win the Jupiler League this year. A real chance to be in the Champions League next season. They're in 2nd place. I expect both Bello and Reynolds to change clubs in January. So they're not likely part of the January mix, but hopefully will be charging. And there's Shaq Moore, who I have no idea what to do with. Played well with the USMNT this past summer, but is a bench player in the Spanish 2nd division. I don't get that. And by the way, I think we're just about at the point where calls for a Jonathan Gomez callup are going to intensify. If we want him, we're going to have to be aggressive. Mexico will be. That's a real conundrum for me. Who amongst our fullbacks do you drop for an 18 year old uncapped, USL fullback. For friendlies? Obviously I'd drop any one of them. But a critical WCQing window? There's almost no point predicting fullback slots right now. I need to see performances over the next two months. Reyna and Musah both hit a frickin' wall in January as 18 year olds in their first full season. They both massively dropped off. Reyna said he was as mentally and physically exhausted as he'd ever been. I wonder about the workload of 18 year old Scally in this regard. We'll see how he maintains his form in Germany. Same for the #9 position. Pepi and whoever is hot. But 18 year old Pepi looks tired to me too. But his MLS season is done. So he gets a break.
There will be exceptions. Pepi for one. His poor play these last two matches is overstated by the panic squad. He does more off the ball, passing, positioning and movement wise than a Pefok does already, and it’s not close if u watch him. Down side is he is 18, this has been a whirlwind, and he does look tired. Robinson and Zimmerman will likely both be inc. Brooks will hopefully be back, and the 2 home matches next window suit him TBH. I agree with Clint about Vines. Unless he falls off a cliff he is getting time next window. Scally should also. No matter how many times I think about this it’s insane to think how young this team is. Unprecedented stuff going on here. It’s to bad many fans can’t really understand or truly appreciate this. Really amazing. I just want a healthy Gio. I can’t help but think if he is in decent form and has a few more reps with the team our chance creation increases exponentially. I also agree w the MLS writer, Doyle I think, that Puli needs to do less w the US to be more effective and to stay healthy. I used to want GB to KISS it. In some ways he was wrong, and in some ways he has been right. I feel the same way about Puli. His “hero ball” needs to be less and more calculated. For all the typical noise about GB’s MLS guys, how many are seeing the field now? Can’t let reality get in the way of a good agenda and bias. Yeah, I know, it was so obvious this 18 and this 19 year old should have been playing when they first got a pro cap. We know the routine. To be a rabble rouser, and I don’t have work until after Tgivig so I will be rabbling a bit, and I will probably disappear after that, is Busio now more Serie A player, or is he an MLS player after yesterday's anonymous performance? I am always confused by those ummmm “discussions” here.
Are there any camp size limitations with a three game window? If not, call up a good number of offseason players early.
It is gonna be real interesting with MLS on break. I believe we have a friendly/camp scheduled prior to the WCQ window. I'd assume Berhalter casts a pretty wide net of MLS guys + fringe guys outside if MLS & then calls in the core guys just prior. Not having a legit #9 target forward as a late game option is a mistake that should not be repeated.
Isn't he playing in the 2nd division in Denmark, not the first division? If I'm right, that's one hell of a reach.
He moved to Brondby this summer. So he's a bench player on a good 1st division team. I have a hard time figuring out why somebody would suggest Cappis, a bench player in Scandinavia, is better than the guys we had in this window. The only rationale is that people want to try somebody different. Coaches usually don't do that when its a bench player in Scandinavia.
Nope. Brondby. They r having a so so season by their standards. Cappis has scored a few goals and been the late hero on a few occasions. He belongs but looks better further forward than in the back form what I have read. That Danish poster, Ceres (?), can probably give a better summation. I personally look at him like DLT right now. There is something there, but nothing that screams “must be here”. In a few years I think he will most likely be better than what DLT can be but that’s just throw it out there speculation on my part. During the spring I was however able to watch a lot of Sabbi through pure luck and circumstance. Anyone calling on him for forward is delusional, or just looking for something that is not here, or I wanna blame the coach for something guy. He reminds me of an MLS player circa late 2000’s. Head down, doesn’t combine well, questionable runs. Yeah, he can create a few twiitter highlights once in a while but he is poor overall.
I don’t think my squad additions (DLT, Konrad, Brooks, Sarge, Hoppe at CF) or changes to the XI (Scally, Brooks, Sarge or Hoppe) are likely. I’m fact, I suspect all but Brooks’ inclusion in the squad are very unlikely. But a guy can hope.
I'll be happy if we finally have a window with the following guys all healthy and ready to go: Pulisic, Reyna, Dest, Weah, McKennie, Adams. Fill in around that core and we have the potential to be a very good team. But, we've not had that full compliment of the guys I would classify as difference makers for any window yet. We're getting deeper with mid-level and slightly above guys, but we still have a very limited number of guys who can turn a game and when we lose those guys, we suffer. They are also clustered a bit toward the front. We could really use a dominant center back or a top class goalkeeper.
just to pile on poor cappis for no apparent reason- hes a supersub as an attacking 8 while the calls for him are as a backup 6. i guess hes halfway qualified for that?
A lot of roster selection will depend on how December Camp goes. And the fitness of players, i.e. Gio Reyna, even Jordan Morris. Tentatively, this is my roster.... GOALKEEPERS 1. Matt Turner - I don’t blame Steffen so much for the goal, but I think Turner is more steady. 2. Zack Steffen - Berhalter probably considers him the #1. But he scares me. 3. Sean Johnson - Personally, I’d alternate the third keeper spot between Guzan and Johnson, but it appears that Berhalter prefers the consistency of Johnson at #3. And it’s not a bad pick. + Contender: Brad Guzan + Pretenders: Ethan Horvath, Gabriel Slonina FULLBACKS 1. Sergino Dest (Y) - Hopefully, he’ll be healthy again. We need him. 2. Antonee Robinson - Jedi has been mostly good during qualifying but he was horrible against Jamaica. Still, I expect him to rebound and put in some good performances. 3. DeAndre Yedlin (Y) - Yedlin boosted his stock this window. Besides Weah (who was the star of the window), he was one of the better players this window. 4. Joe Scally - I was disappointed that Berhalter never even subbed him on. But he should start and play in at least one of the games in the next window. Oh, and, he and/or Dest might have to play some left back. 5. Sam Vines - He didn’t get in this window, but I think he has the edge over Bello...Who has been poor during qualifying. Hopefully, Vines can step in and show that he belongs. + Contenders: George Bello, DeJuan Jones, Reggie Cannon + Pretenders: Kevin Paredes, John Tolkin, Bryan Reynolds, Kyle Duncan, Aaron Herrera, Shaq Moore, Brooks Lennon DEFENDERS 1. Miles Robinson - I don’t know how much we missed him against Jamaica, as I think Richards-Zimmerman were mostly solid. But he’s still our number one defender. 2. Walker Zimmerman - I believe he’s rightly earned a spot on this team, and probably as a starter too. 3. Chris Richards - There’s definitely a step down from Miles to Richards, but I thought he did well enough that he’s certainly on the team and he could start again and I wouldn’t be upset about it. 4. John Brooks (Y) - Despite his poor performances, he should be back with the team again. 5. Cameron Carter-Vickers - If this was a two game window, I wouldn’t call in the extra defender, but it’s not time to be stingy. I call in CCV because Miazga, McKenzie, and CCV, CCV is playing and doing well. Plus, I don’t rate McKenzie as high as Berhalter. + Contenders: Matt Miazga, Mark McKenzie + Pretenders: Tim Ream, Henry Kessler, Lennard Maloney, Aaron Long, Erik Palmer-Brown DEF. MIDFIELDERS 1. Tyler Adams (Y) - We need our captain. He’s on a yellow, so he needs to be extra careful. It would be devastating to not have him against Canada. 2. Kelyn Acosta - I’m close to moving on from Acosta, but I still think he’s in the picture. I don’t know if I trust Busio’s physicality yet to be a reliable back up at the 6 and Cappis is still behind the curve ball. 3. James Sands - This call up might be excessive, but 1-Adams is on a yellow and 2-the more Sands is camp, the more I think it helps him/us. Now, I might drop CCV and have Sands fill in as that extra CB/CDM. + Contender: Sands is technically my contender. + Pretenders: Christian Cappis, Jackson Yuiell, Johnny Cardoso, Tanner Tessman ATT. MIDFIELDERS 1. Yunus Musah - He’s become so important to this team. 2. Weston McKennie - We need him to keep his ass on the field and away from being suspended. He’s got to grow up. He’s too important to not have. 3. Gianluca Busio - How harshly do we judge him against Jamaica? That game played to his weakness. Physical and poor field conditions to play pass and possession ball. Still, he created one of our only chances in the second half and I think he’s got to the point where we call him in every time regardless and hope he breaks out for the national team. 4. Luca de la Torre - The fact that Berhalter did not go to Lletget and Roldan tells me that they’re not as irreplaceable as we originally thought. That should give De la Torre, finally, his opportunity to cement his spot. And I think he should be rated higher than he currently is. + Contenders: Sebastian Lletget, Cristian Roldan + Pretenders: Richy Ledezma, Julian Green, Alex Mendez, Caden Clark, Paxton Pomykal, Djordje Mihailovic, Alan Sonora, and Eryk Williamson (out). WINGERS 1. Christian Pulisic - We need captain America back to 90 minute fitness for all three games. We’ve yet to have had Pulisic be a factor in WCQ and that needs to change. 2. Tim Weah - Well, he penciled himself as a starter, all things considered. 3. Brenden Aaronson - I’m a huge Aaronson fan. But if Pulisic and Reyna are back (plus Reyna), Aaronson needs to prove again that he’s a lock starter after two awful games. 4. Gio Reyna - Personally, I think he’s more of an attacking midfielder, so I have him playing there some too. But for this window, I don’t think he comes in as a starter after a long lay off. Hopefully, he can at least offer the 30 min sub each game as Pulisic did by next window. 5. Konrad de la Fuente - We need to quit messing around, drop Arriola, and bring in Konrad. At this stage, all of our young players have had big league experience, either/and/or NL and GC experience, and 8 games of WCQ under their belts. Yes, it’s still a young team, but we’re ready to cut the cord with the dead weight. And move on to players who can make a difference. Konrad has that ability, like Musah, to be a difference maker. + Contender: Paul Arriola + Pretenders: Jordan Morris, Niko Gioacchini, Cade Cowell, Emmanuel Sabbi, Chris Mueller, Jonathan Lewis, Matthew Hoppe (recently retuning from injury will probably exclude him). FORWARDS 1. Ricardo Pepi - Pepi’s hype train should be coming to a screaming halt after a few meh performances and cooling off with FC Dallas. But hopefully, it’s just fatigue. Hopefully, with some rest, he’ll be good to go by next window. We need better. 2. Daryl Dike - We need our next forward to be the most in-form forward in our player pool. We need someone playing with confidence. And Dike is that guy now. We all know he was bad in the GC. But he was injured and just hit a wall. All signs show that he’s over that slump. And he should be brought back in. 3. Jesus Ferreira - I wasn’t impressed with Ferreira this window, but he’s still in very good form, he had good chemistry with Pepi, and with some patience, he could be a factor. Plus, he could add versatility at wing and attacking mid. +Contenders/Pretenders: Gyasi Zardes (injury return), Jordan Pefok (Y), Josh Sargent, ...anyone who gets a hot steak of form. VS EL SALVADOR ——————Pepi—————— Aaronson————————Weah ————Wes——Busio———— —————(C)Adams————— Scally——————————Yedlin ————Brooks—Richards——— ——————Turner—————— Subs: Pulisic (Aaronson) 60, Reyna (Weah) 60, De la Torre (Busio) 70, Dike (Pepi) 70, Acosta (Adams) 80 AT CANADA ——————Dike—————— Pulisic—————————Weah ————Wes——Musah———- —————(C)Adams————— Jedi———————————Dest ————Miles——Zimmerman—- ——————Turner——————- Subs: Reyna (Weah) 60, Pepi (Dike) 60, Aaronson (Pulisic) 70, Busio (Musah) 70, Scally (Dest/Jedi) 80 VS HONDURAS ——————Pepi——————— Pulisic—————————Aaronson ————Wes———Musah———— —————--(C)Adams—————— Jedi————————————Dest ————Miles———Zimmerman—— ———————Turner——————— Subs: Weah (Aaronson) 60, Reyna (Musah) 60, Busio (Musah) 70, Dike (Pepi) 70, Scally (Dest/Jedi) 80 Not used according to my plan: Steffen, Johnson, Carter-Vickers, Vines, Sands, Konrad, Ferreira
The key is having the MMA midfield healthy and ready to go, especially for the two home games. Feels like we need to find some depth in the midfield too. Because after not having great options at striker, midfield depth seems like our biggest weakness at current. Might be a window where we want to give LDLT some run. The MLS guys who don't transfer will get December/January camp to try and stay in shape and we're going to need some of them at least (Robinson, Pepi, and Zimmerman for instance). Hopefully December/January camp is also productive in terms of whether we bring in some new faces in terms of young MLS talent. Or bring back Dike.
I like most of that. But … Not sure how Ferreira leapfrogs 5 or 6 other CFs based on this window. I don’t se le what you saw. I did see a decent performance, but I don’t think Duke, Hoppe, Sarge, Pefok, or Gioachini are below him. And of course Zardes will be in the squad unless injured. That’s just a Gregg thing. And I have Brooks well above Zimmerman, unless there is no level of bad distribution that matters more than the occasional defensive error. If that is the case then I follow you.
In terms of forwards, its sure seems like Berhalter doesn't really like any of them. He's gone with a different group in every window. And based on this window, he probably will again in January. And I don't blame him, because we on this board talk about all of the question marks among the group. Using an uncapped 18 year old Pepi on the road in a WCQer for his first cap tells us what Berhalter thinks of the group. That was almost desperation....................... It seems almost impossible to predict that forward group in January.
OK. So he went from a starter in the 2nd to a bench player in the 1st. I haven't seem him, but judging by resume, Russell Canouse is a pretty good #6 in MLS. Plus, he's probably got residual Euro pixie dust! I would sat 2/3 qualified. A backup 8 = a 4, and 4/6=2/3.
Indeed. He did play the 6 at the FCD academy and some in his pro career. But if people think he's a backup to Adams, I don't know what to say............ I also don't think Acosta did anything in this window to lose the job. If we have to start a guy other than Adams for one of the three games in the January window....................I'd much rather have it be Acosta than an uncapped Cappis. When we talk about the most important players in the USMNT group...................Adams is #1. He needs to walk around in bubble wrap until the Jan window. He may not be the most talented player in the group, however, he's the "can't miss" player. We can find a replacement for a guy like Pulisic or Reyna, as we did in this window. We can find a replacement for a Dest, as we did in this window. But Adams? Tough.
I think you play Brooks against El Salvador and Honduras, where we expect to have a lot of the ball. And then you start Zimmerman against Canada. Hard to knock Zimmerman though after his performance this window.
i completely agree with what youre saying. while acosta isnt going to blow anyones skirt up hes literally the only option (though i think a pretty solid one) we have who can come close to replicating the defensive cover that adams provides- which (the role itself) is what allows us to play attacking fbs...aka the only kind we have. his passing is pretty terrible. im not sure what makes anyone think differently. people who still think of him with the strengths and offensive abilities of his fcd days are delusional. but he can play that role for us defensively and we live with the lack of offense/passing. i adore adams and think he can do more than that role asks of him in how we play but lets not act like hes both gattuso and pirlo. as for dlps or double pivots just not interested. the minute we go to a system that uses that (and/or we develop stay at home outside backs) ill happily join in that conversation. i couldnt agree more a 4231 suits our pool better than what we do now....but we do what we do now. this isnt a fifa 22 and its not burger king. i dont like reality any more than anyone else does but things are what they are. acosta is a dead ass lock in this team. cappis- for that role- is a waste of time to even talk about.
Well, just to ensure my point was clear.... I had Ferreira listed as the third forward....which just means he’s there in case of emergency. And he leapfrogged his competition because as I mentioned: 1-He plays a number of different positions. CF, R/LW, and AM. That makes him good cover if we get into an “oh shit” situation by the third game due to injuries and suspensions. 2-He’s in good form. Whoever we select, form is the most important factor. 3-He has good chemistry with Pepi. If Pepi is going to be in camp.. might as well select someone who he’s proven to work well with. 4-He’s still a very promising young player, and he’s either better or almost equal to his competition. Now, I wouldn’t select Ferreira as my number 1 or number 2 center forward. But that assurance guy? Sure. ...And on Zimmerman, I don’t know why you say Zimmerman is bad at distribution. From what I saw, unless I missed it, he had one boot the ball out of trouble, which the commentator said he could have done better on. But, A-that play was misread by the American defense and it demanded a much quicker reaction than what the commentator thought. B-He’s been very good at spraying balls around the field for the national team. Is Zimmerman as good as Brooks? I think Brooks is an extremely valuable asset and one of the most important players for us to have on the roster. Right now, I’d say Zimmerman is playing consistently better than Brooks for the national team. Maybe that’s just a CONCACAF thing, but as close as I think this race is (splitting hairs), if you put a gun to my head and made me choose, tomorrow, we had a one game, winner takes all, I believe I’d start Zimmerman-Miles and leave Richards and Brooks on the bench. But that’s a hell of a good feeling to know e have those two who could fill in. And just so I’m not taken out of context... Let me emphasize the razor thin margin.
On Zimmerman we saw very different things watching the same match last night when he had the ball at his feet. On Ferreira I am happy that he seemed comfortable out there this window. I don’t think he played batter than most of the alternatives I listed when they played in qualifiers. And he was mostly used in place of Pepi so I don’t see how chemistry with Pepi matters.