USMNT Gold Cup Discussion

Yes let's worry about integrating the "next generation of players" the year before the 2026 World Cup arguably the biggest event in USMNT history because the most important thing right now is integrating guys like Owen Wolff who may never be good enough for the USMNT much less just in the year remaining in this WC cycle

Integrating the "next generation of players": Walker Zimmerman (turns 32 in a month) and Miles Robinson

12/10 galaxy brain congrats

 

Agree, this should be more of a A/B team. Ragen will be Seattle at the CWC, though.

 

Other teams are probably hoping for our A team.

 

Guys who need respite in a tournament of 5 expected games in.....20 days? That's the tournament we are preparing for and Gold Cup is the one opportunity we will have to learn about pacing the players. (We normally play 4 and lose the R16 game. In 2026 finals we have advantage of a weaker field and top seeding as home team.)

I guess my list of players needing respite would be everybody except Brenden Aaronson.

Guys I think of needing tlc:

ARob - tendonitis. We do whatever works.
Pulisic - has to be in top match fitness or drops off too much for a guy we count on to score and assist. Our most valuable player. Whatever keeps him at 100% is the way to go. Now is the time to find out.
Weah/Adams - hammy guys. Afaik the summer heat can be an issue. With Adams they seemed to favor playing him fewer minutes each outing as they were bringing him along.
Cardoso - from what I can tell he's a 1 game per week guy. When he's feeling 100% he's really good and I think it's about the load. I think he's good for 1 game a week.
I"d mention Gio here but I don't need a 1000 page thread to read.

It would have been great to have seen Paredes fit and playing since he can play both sides in both offensive and defensive roles at a high level as a wide player. Naturally his ankle is done. Now have to look at inferior replacements for Weah and ARob, our two best wide players.

With Adams and Cardoso both needing respite, Sands would have been excellent no doubt with 2 years of Bundesliga football under his belt. Not happening; broke his leg and then some after a half dozen or so promising games at StPauli. Come to think of it, I suggested StPauli as a good destination for Miljevic after Jan camp but they say he has switched to Bosnia as his prefered country to represent. Seems he has turned out to be a decent G/A guy for club in Argentina, who could play instead of Gio/Luna in CAM for us.

If Musah, McKennie and Dest are the answer to any of this, I might as well start watching baseball for summer entertainment.

 

I say roll out the best available and treat this as a dress rehearsal.

The only new player I would like to see is Brown, if we can get him. But I don't hold out hope.

 

Depending on who is healthy I could see Downs getting a shot at striker... Sargent is always hurt and hasn't done jack for the USMNT in ages. Pepi is hurt. Balogun is getting back to full health but has lost his starting slot at his club. Maybe the strikers on the GC roster looks like this?

Balogun, Agyemang and Downs? (Wright and White would be other options)

I still think Balogun is too small/slight to be a dominant single striker. His hold up play is pretty poor IMO and he doesn't win many aerial duels against CBs. I would like to see him paired up with a bigger/hold-up striker in a two striker system. Agyemang and Balogun up top could really help us get behind CBs in transition.

WRT Brown.... I fully expect him to stick with Germany. I have zero hope of a one-time switch as well. Hopefully Wiley can stay healthy and continue to grow in the EFL down the stretch. Physically, he has all the traits you would want from a LB.

Lastly, if we hadn't played so poorly in Copa and in the NL Semi games then I could see us give some of the up and comers a real shot to play but w/ the home soil WC looming we need to get our best players on the same page and producing.

 

You mean losing to Panama and Canada on the near regular now? Our best players still can't break down a low block like Panama rolls out and Canada's athleticism and team spirit makes them look like a significantly better NT. Now... I am all for dropping players for alternatives where it makes sense... but I still would like the core players to show up and play better than the sum of the parts rather than worse.

 

I agree that Luna was basically the lone bright spot in the NL Semis but he was surrounded by our core players... If you bring in what is nearly an entire new roster then we may ID a player or two but someone like Luna may appear to under-perform because his supporting cast is weaker. Like I said, I am in favor of bringing in new blood in the GC.... but I think it should be to replace guys in the NL 23 semi roster that are no longer carrying their weight. Examples for me would include Sargent, Scally, Fossey, Arfsten, CCV, Ream, Gio, McGlynn, Turner (most current GKs really) and maybe Musah although I still don't understand what happened to him. He used to be a beast for the USMNT... even doing a good job at the single 6 in place of Adams a couple of NLs ago. On top of that, I think Wes might be the perfect player for Poch to make an example of. He just doesn't appear to be willing to be first to the ball like he used to and his aerial prowess in the box has nearly disappeared.

Perhaps:

Downs/Balogun replaces Sargent

Dest replaces Scally

Freeman replaces Fossey

Wiley replaces Arfsten

(2) Trusty, Robinson, Banks or Chase (if willing to switch) to replace CCV and Ream

Guti or M. Tillman to replace Gio (Tillman still hasn't shown it for the USMNT but he is so talented and Gio needs to focus on finding a new club)

Pax Aaronson replaces McGlynn

Quinn Sullivan replaces Wes

Cardoso replaces Musah

Freese gets a shot at GK

Example of a mixed 23 roster for the GC. Still keeps some core players but supplements others in search of value added:

Forwards: Downs, Balogun, Agyemang, White, Luna, CP and Weah
MF: Adams, Johnny, Tessmann, Pax Aaronson, Guti or Tillman, Sullivan
D: Dest, Freeman, Wiley, Richards, McKenzie, 2 of [Robinson, Trusty, Banks, Chase]
GK: Freese, Steffen, Brady

EDIT: I like the idea of giving Brady a shot. I replaced Schulte for him.

 

I don't have an aversion to Tolkin at all. I actually think his crosses into the box are more accurate/dangerous than Wiley's. I would not complain at all if he was called in over Scally/Fossey/Arfsten. He also seems to have the kind of attitude/grit that I think some of our players have not been showing of late for the USMNT.

Regarding wingers... I had Guti listed as a MF but you could put him up top as a winger and my roster at the position wouldn't be as close to "chalk". And I was a huge fan of Paredes during his early days at DC United but he just returned after a long injury and doesn't have much time to prove he is back to his prime self. AAR... to me CP and Weah are beyond chalk for the last competition leading up to the WC. The former is our most productive O player in top 5 Europe and I think he might have a chip on his shoulder after getting criticized for his NL Semi performances. I would like to see if he comes out w/ passion and shows he is the man. And WRT Weah.... the list of players we have that play at a high level for their clubs but under perform for the USMNT is frighteningly long... but Weah seems to play some of his best ball for his country. As such, I would likely put their names in pen for the GC unless and there is an injury concern. I guess you could make an argument that CP will need extra rest this summer as he has played a ton of minutes for Milan.... so if I had to pick one as a must have I might pick Weah over CP for the reasons I have outlined.

 

Seems the juice isn't really worth the squeeze here. You're throwing one of trophies you actually have a shot at in the trash, you're taking away a massive chance for a new coach to learn the pool, and you're taking away reps. All for what? Maybe finding out who the 25th and 26th player on the World Cup Roster could be? Not to mention with still several NT matches post Gold Cup and an entire club season, any take we form this summer could be obsolete by November

I'm all for including a couple surprising names and using a game or two to experiment, but at this point The World Cup is on the horizon, you're not really getting extra credit for being a youngster

 

Do you realize how many starters were missing for Nations League?
Do you realize how few matches most of our A team has played under Poch?
Do you realize this is the last competitive window before WC 2026?
Do you realize that what most fans would say are our Best XI have never suited up together under Poch?

Sure there are some players that should be in Gold Cup such as Luna. But this should be an all hands on deck GC IMO.

 

The Gold Cup is where we should see exactly what this team can do. It is not the place for experimenting or trying out players. It is kind of like a wonderful banquet where you eat all you can hold and enjoy but you don't experiment with foods or mixes that could lessen the meal.
We can treat the remaining friendlies as the place to experiment and "fill up the corners" but this is the last place where we should go "all in" to show what we have. If after this tournament we still have positions that are not strong, and I expect we will, then we can find the players to fill those spots during the remaining friendlies.
On the other hand if this tournament proves that we are not at all ready for the WC then we still have at least a little time to improve.
In some circumstances we could even change the coach if we really fail badly. It is not ideal to change coaches this late but teams have done so before without a disaster happening.

I do not expect an abject failure but, even if it happens, that is not the disaster that some make it out to be. It just means that we are not really any good at this point, which is a possibility but I do not see it happening.

The only place in our lineup that we really need to find someone is at 'keeper. We do not currently have a sure number one and, in fact, few, if any, of the current prospects even show as good enough to be number two.

Keeper is the one place where there should be an "MLS bias" as the ones overseas seem to stink the place up whenever they get the chance to play.

Now we should go all out to win the GC but winning it is not as important as bringing the team together and proving that this group is not the doormats they have seemed to be for the last several years. From what we saw at the Nations League we seem to have a bunch of wimps that cannot play their way out of the proverbial "paper bag" and it will take team grit to do well at the WC. So i believe this is actually our last good chance to build a team from the bunch of pretty good individuals we have.

 

This was always going to be, and will be, a fairly first choice roster. The value of the volume of training sessions Poch can have with the team outweighs any non-fitness/injury concern.

 

I think that the Gold Cup would be a good time for Pochettino to work on different combinations of players. There are guys who are clearly making a push for the World Cup and who should be given the opportunity to get extended minutes. Luna and Tessman are the two guys who stand out in that regard. They are both doing well for club and country and are clearly making push. If it’s me, both of those guys are in the midfield as starters for the first game. That’s the message I want to send if I’m Pochettino.

If I’m Pochettino, I also want to get a look at Balogun, Pepi, Dest, Tillman, and Cardoso. So I bring them into camp, let them know that there is an open competition, and sort out who gets the minutes based on who wins the scrap on the practice field.

It’s time to know who wants to play in the World Cup. Guys who lack grit and sharpness will be weeded out.

 

This was always going to be and should be a first choice roster.

However, given the performance of the team over the last year along with the visible lack of intensity by the team at times, isn't it time to question the make-up of that first choice roster?

Something isn't working. This team doesn't have the talent some proponents put out there but it also sure as hell has no business being ranked 41st in World ELO.

We've been this low fairly recently -- 2011 and 2015 both dipped this far down. But that's not a positive.

Everyone said it was the coach, so we changed the coach. We got someone every player should respect and listen to. Someone they would feel they had to prove something to. Someone with a track record of winning at the highest levels.

And the team has the same issues except a little worse, frankly, because now we're not even pulling out games luckily, we're just straight losing.

Before last year, I'd would have said that we'd bring it when it mattered, but we've had a Copa America and a Nations Leagues and we've failed to bring shit. I long for the days when we just couldn't put the ball in the net; now we're not even really creating anything.

I have no idea how to fix this and I doubt that Pochettino does either. He seems befuddled by the lack of intensity as well.

The issue is that I don't know that there's very many guys not on the roster that have that drive or intensity.

But this Gold Cup really can't be business as usual.

 

Sample size seems a little low here no? I though those November games against Jamaica were quite strong and we were missing a ton in March. Also that was a flukey game that we probably win 9 times out of 10

There's plenty tweakable about the roster. You could argue for 3 different strikers, winger depth is pretty wide open, you could make an argument for several midfield combos, several CB combos and I don't think Matt Turner should get every game in this tournament.

You don't have to start going 6 deep into the player pool and hope that solves everything

 

1. World Cup prep, giving Poch as much time with guys likely to make the WC roster as possible
< big gap >
2. We have lost a bunch of recent tournaments (last Gold Cup, Copa America group stage knockout, Nations League finishing FOURTH) might want to win something again because winning trophies good

 

You could just as easily argue the Jamaica matches were fluky -- we certainly didn't deserve to score like that based on chances created.

While I agree on general sample, there's multiple issues here:

a) Underlying offensive stats have not been particularly good under Pochettino or in the last year (the first six months of Berhalter II weren't bad)

b) The defensive underlying stats are much better, but given the last year plus, it's clear we have some systemic/personnel issues with consistency at keeper and defense that make this current dynamic of toss up games with slight xG edges not really up to the standard of what we want.

c) Player intensity has been gone for a while. I don't mean the team isn't trying, but we're easy to play against and we routinely struggle to match our opponents' intensity. I don't think we're in small sample territory here -- we're weirdly arrogant but also not afraid to lose.

I never said we should. But the Gold Cup roster will likely be 23 guys; to actually audition folks we're going to have to make some calls even with 2-3 guys out due to the CWC.

I'd also put out there that if the issue really is a cultural one, then small changes to the roster will rarely yield results.

The lack of intensity of this team after losing the Copa and then putting in this performance in March is telling to me. I am not one to underrate Panama or Canada, either. There's simply something wrong here, win or lose.