Pre-match: US v South Korea, Sept 6 2025

The last two September rosters were 24 players, we brough in 4 keepers the last time

 

I wouldn’t mind if Pulisic and Musah get a rest extension this window. Hopefully the guys looking to move clubs get that done in a smooth manner or that could affect things as well. I don’t see Poch summarily ignoring the MLS Gold Cup guys to such a heavy degree. One or more of Berhalter, Freeman, Agyemang, and Arfsten will be there I suspect.

 

Might be better to leave someone like Gio and Sargent to integrate with their new clubs and establish starting roles than call them up for September camp so early in the club season.

 

this will be a tricky window with two primary issues- mls will be in the closing weeks before the playoffs and euro teams will be a couple of weeks into their seasons (so its an important time for players in clubs as well as players returning from injury layoffs).

gk freese
gk schulte
gk steffen/celentano

turner will be at a new club or he wont, either way he shouldnt be here. same for either kochen or slonina (im not stumping for anyone here im just going through options). i neither know enough about or want anything to do with little klinsmann.

rb dest?
rb scally

scally is among our most settled players, and is miles better than freeman (make your own list), so hes in. for dest its entirely a matter of fitness. if "fully" fit bring him in, if not dont. freeman, fossey, cannon, chandler...whatever.

cb richards
cb mckenzie
cb trusty
cb miles
cb ragan

im tempted to leave richards out strictly to spread some minutes around, but hes established at palace and fit with him is a big factor for anyone else. we really dont have the luxury of doing things like that. mckenzie and trusty are my most wanted, and both club stable (as is ccv). i dont know what the playoff picture will look like so if not miles and/or ragan, zim will do. i have no problem with, or particular interest in unless/until he shows any sign he wants to play for us with banks. or chase. all i know is ream is a waste of time and is crippling us finding his replacement.

lb jedi
lb tolkin/wiley?

like dest, jedi is mostly a fitness question (possible transfer pending). im not sure id even call him likely but we are in a pinch here. tolkin is a tossup: new club- good for him/bad for us (short term). is wiley officially back with watford? i very much want to see him...and very much dont want to see arfsten, but we dont really have any other compelling options.

cm adams
cm mckennie
cm morris
cm busio
cm seb
am luna
am puli
am paredes

this is a mess to predict. tillman, cardoso, very likely weah and musah will be with new teams. wes may be as well (though i will say juve can f all the way off, he shouldnt even bother reporting to their lame ass camp just to outplay everyone they have for a third time)- its time for our first big player/team standoff. im all for him talking wild shit in doing that in between these matches.

adams is some version of adams, which means if he can walk i guess he will be there. tesserman is iffy (has matic retired?) cause he likely will be fighting for a new/bigger role (hopefully not in the second division). i guess theres been a little talk about busio moving- and im not really big on him- but i just watched the gold cup and he would have been miles better than any of our cms theres, save adams, and thats not as clear as any of us want it to be.

obviously luna, an ambulatory paredes would be nice, i dont think seb is especially close to our "first" team in terms of currently translated ability, but all things considered getting him in a camp with some of those guys could be a helpful thing.

and puli should just suck it up and fly over to play zero minutes so we can put this bs "controversy" behind us (he says, pretending us soccer media arent a bunch of gossipy little bitches doing steven a smith impersonations). that way poch can show everyone how big his dick is, and all our whiny-ass fans can feel better about themselves.

st who knows? who cares?

pepi and balo need to be fully fit and with their clubs more than they need to be in this pair of friendlies. if youre of the opinion "oh, they have to be released, we need them here"- good for you.

downs is almost certainly moving/has moved so let him bed in. hamstrings are tricky but wright and downs are the only guys that wouldnt bore me to death. pat is moving, sarge may be (and hes still sarge). get a side-by-side comparison of white and vazquez for all i care...

 

Well that was polite phrasing for Pochettino to leave them off this window and in turn create a pressure cooker environment going forward. We already wasted the opportunity to have more A team guys in a competitive tournament. Only so much you can do in friendlies.

 

having your little feelings hurt and sticking with super underwhelming alternatives is a knockout combo. cheers!

 

Sounds like your little feelings were stirred, glad I could help.

 

Not necessarily the roster I’d pick but I Pochettino will pick certain guys I wouldn’t.

GK: Turner, Freese, Steffen, Schulte
RB: Dest, Scally, Freeman
LB: Jedi, Arfsten
CB: Ream, Richards, McKenzie, Ragen
DM: Adams, Cardoso, Tessmann
CM: McKennie, Berhalter, Roldan
AM: Luna, Tillman
WF: Pulisic, Weah, Wright, Zendejas
FW: Balogun, Pepi, Agyemang

I think it will be too early for Banks and guys coming off injuries like Parades.

 

It's go time now. Anyone who wants to play in the WC and gets called in better show up and play hard. Don't why there was a malaise for a bit I just want in the rear window. There might be a few players that haven't done enough for their new clubs and are on the bubble that could be added later especially if those that are in this window don't make a case. Of course we will probably have a lot of injuries as that's our lot in life so a few more replace them. From now till WC it's about effort, chemistry and figuring out who fits together the best. I hope the coach also works on how to rotate the squad in the WC and probably a three back set just in case.

 

I like that you threw Ragen in there. I’d love to see it. If he can play at his best consistently look out for him, he’s physically what you want and he’s comfortable in the ball, just not consistent enough.
This is a very looking over the shoulder evaluation so not gospel here.

 

Yeah I mean center back is a weakness, Pochettino just got a long look at Zimmerman and Robinson, I don’t really rate CCV or Trusty, will be too early for Banks, and Regan has not gotten a look yet and I thought he looked solid during the CWC (which is a good test to me given the level of completion Seattle played).

 

What I'd like to see for this camp:

GK - Freese, Schulte, Steffen, Brady
Freese is the tentative starter at the moment, I'd like to see the others battle it out head to head. For the record Turner is still firmly in my 23 and I want him in the squad for leadership (even if it's just as GK3) regardless of his club situation, but this is a chance--maybe the last good chance--for the others to compete with one another and with Freese.

CB - Richards, McKenzie, Ream, Zimmerman, (Banks/Chase/Campbell/Neal)
We have to start getting Richards and McKenzie as many minutes together as possible, they're our top 2 CBs and for better or worse we need to start prepping them as our pairing for the WC. Ream can still have a role but he needs to take a step back. Zimmerman/MRob/CCV/Trusty are entirely known quantities at this point and Zimmerman is probably the most trustworthy of that group. Any of the other 3 can be plugged in later in case of injury or if Ream ages out to the point if dropping out of the squad entirely. If Banks or Chase are willing to accept a callup or if someone like Neal or Campbell has a strong finish to the regular season bring them in as a 5th CB, otherwise we can roll with 4.

FB - Dest, ARob, Scally, Wiley/Reynolds/Fossey
Honestly at a loss here at this point. Freeman has potential but ain't it yet, no on Arfsten, I like Tolkin but Poch seems to rate him below Arfsten, I'd like to see is identify a 4th true FB we can trust but honestly I'm coming around to the idea of just taking the top 3, using the roster spot elsewhere, and sliding McKennie or Musah back there if needed (not Weah as he's too valuable up top).

CM - Adams, Tessmann, McKennie, Musah
No major surprises here except for Johnny omission. Let him focus on club ball this fall and if that goes well, give him one more chance to play himself back onto the national team in the new year.

AM/W - Tillman, Luna, Pulisic, Weah, Zendejas
Again, fairly straightforward. Reyna is on a similar deal as Johnny, out for now but if he has a good start to the club season he'll merit another look in early 2026. I'd be ok with Arfsten here as well, also want to get a look at Paredes if he's healthy.

F - Pepi, Balogun, Wright
Again, pretty straightforward. If one of the top 2 isn't available I wouldn't mind getting a look at Agyemang with the A team in a super sub role, think he would be a lot more effective there than when expected to carry the offense. If Wright is out, replace him with one of the alternate wingers I mentioned above.

24-25 including a 4th GK, depending on whether or not we bring one of the young CBs

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DL2y4bLuDcf/?img_index=1

Johnny- Proud of this team. Things didn’t end the way we wanted, and personally, I couldn’t help the way I wished I could. But we finished this journey with dedication, growth, and valuable lessons. Faith and focus, the best is yet to come

 

I think there's real questions in terms of gaps in roles as well in depth in the roster. The primary focus here on out should be getting the starters working better together, but there are still places to look at depth or key battles.

CF: I actually would only bring in Balogun and Pepi unless I felt someone could help just with continuity or if either was still worried about fitness. Poch hasn't seen them at all; we really need to give all the minutes and focus to them.

LB: If he's up and running, Paredes is the guy I want to see. He's the closest to a like for like for Jedi. However, I greatly suspect Jedi's backup is Sergiño Dest sitting more in the midfield. I'd also consider Peyton Miller but I doubt he's in the mix.

RB: I'm not much of a Bryan Reynolds guy, but if you think he's possible, here's about the only time. But I'd actually give more time to Freeman. I know people think he's not it; I think there's a very real leap possibility and I don't know who else is going to be a two way player.

The other wildcard here is Tim Weah.

CB2: The guys have been in camp. Someone needs to beat out Ream. I am not a CCV or Trusty guy. If anyone does, I think they were on the GC roster.

CM: It really would not shock me to see Pulisic and Luna as the wingers with Tillman and McKennie in midfield in something closer to what we played towards the end of the GC. That's an active, aggressive midfield that, when the box is McKennie-Tillman-Pulisic-Luna (or Weah) has little to no issues with ball progression. Johnny should get his shot to play. I think my other big head to head might be Tessman versus Berhalter, which I never would have guessed coming in.

 

I'd have no problem if Pulisic and Musah were left out. They were both healthy and decided not to play in the GC. And I'm not against their right to have chosen to do that. If Puli felt he needed rest then so be it. Musah's case is even odder as club mins were not an issue.

But the coach has the right to send a message and say you bailed on the summer tournament while the rest of the guys showed up and dealt with it, so you can watch from elsewhere.

 

Nah. This team is going nowhere without that top group of 6-7 players in our pool. Hopefully Pulisic, Musah, Weah, McKennie, Antonee, Dest, Pepi, Balogun, etc. are all back.

Cuz we're not being middle-tier CONCACAF teams like Haiti and Guatemala all that easily with the group at the Gold Cup.

Take the standouts from the Gold Cup, add back the "A" listers, and include just a couple of additional fringe guys that the staff wants to look at.

The domestic guys have January camp to impress the staff. This fall might be the last time for the Europe/Mexico based guys on the fringes to make an impression. So I do expect the fringe inclusions to be Europe guys. If the staff wants to look at a Noahkai Banks or a Griffin Yow or somebody of that ilk, now's the time.

 

McKennie? Is a lock starter?

 

I have a huge problem with not calling in Pulisic. Regardless of how the GC went and whether he needed rest or not. He is one if not our most important attacking player and we are down to minimal windows to get the full team together prior to the WC. All hands on deck from here on out for me.

 

I can understand both sides. I’d personally call in Pulisic.

But if Poch didn’t I wouldn’t have a problem with it. For Sept. If it continued thru additional windows I would have an issue.

 

Weston has been a lock starter since he burst on the scene for Schalke. He has been a lock starter for Sarachan, Berhalter, and now Poch.

I suspect he will be a lock starter for September camp.