USMNT players you were completely wrong about

Discussion in 'USA Men' started by OWN(yewu)ED, Nov 30, 2021.

  1. OWN(yewu)ED

    OWN(yewu)ED Member+

    Club: Venezia F.C.
    May 26, 2006
    chico, CA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I absolutely wanted to tackle this one now, but something's come up and I will get to my picks later this evening hopefully. This can be a player you were vouching for and you were thinking was going to be really good for us, but turned out not. Or total opposite; a player you thought was totally gonna suck but turned out to be at least decent/maybe even good with our team. I already have a few in mind, Ill write those down when I get back. It might be tough because it voluntarily means eating at least a small slice of humble pie, but I think for the posters who have been around here for awhile might be a fine exercise in self reflection.
     
  2. largegarlic

    largegarlic Member+

    Jul 2, 2007
    It's an interesting question. I'm not sure that I have many. Not that I'm infallible by any stretch, but I try not to have super firm opinions about players, because I recognize that I only see a handful of their club games each year or maybe one YNT tournament they play in and don't want to read too much into a small sample. So, I feel like I haven't had many takes like, "This guys sucks and will definitely never amount to anything!!!" or "This guy is awesome and will definitely lead us to World Cup glory!!!".

    That said, I do feel like I shortchanged Vines. I felt like he was too deficient defensively to contribute at the international level, but he held up well during the GC and seems to be useful at the CONCACAF level at least.

    On the flip side, I feel like overrated Brooks. I've persisted of thinking of him as a locked in starter for pretty much the last five years, but now I'm wondering if the Brooks critics had it right. It's still baffling to me that he can be so horrible sometimes for the US when he looks great at other times for both club and country. But I have to admit that it would make me nervous now to see him starting a big qualifier.
     
    gogorath and QuakeAttack repped this.
  3. raza_rebel

    raza_rebel Member+

    Dec 11, 2000
    Club:
    Univ de Chile
    #3 raza_rebel, Nov 30, 2021
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2021
    I'll bite. I have lumped the "disappointing" into 2 categories - injuries or just not good enough. I don't think injuries should be counted against them but without those injuries, they definitely could have done more IMHO.
    1. John O'Brien - I think he had a hip flexor strain and a load of injuries. He was at Ajax but could have gone to bigger and better things.
    2. Oguchi Onyewu - dude had a contract in hand with AC Milan and was hurt in a WCQ. He never fully recovered after that.
    3. Charlie Davies - He never recovered after that car crash
    Ok. Here is my list on the players who I think disappointed or I was completely wrong about. IMHO there is a 2007 U-17s WC theme here :(
    1. Freddy Adu - what can we say that hasn't already been said. Everyone, including myself, thought he was ready to take the world by storm when Benfica signed him.
    2. Gale Agbossoumonde - touted as the next big thing. I don't think he even got a sniff at the men's level. I remember he had a weird contract and just faded into obscurity. Maybe he never had it?
    3. Sal Zizzo - he was bought by Hannover 96 after the 2007 U-17 WC. He never got past their reserves squad. I thought he was good but maybe at the 2007 U-17 WC but maybe that was his peak?
    4. Danny Szetela - everyone thought he was going to be the future of American soccer. Danny (and Adu and Zizzo) were standouts at the 2007 U-20 World Cup. He went to Racing Santander and then Brescia. From what I recall he was homesick and was not ready (from a maturity standpoint) for the jump.
    EDIT - I still think that Cameron Carter-Vickers and Gioacchini are still USMNT level players. Maybe not now, but they can still turn it around.

    And now for my "they surprised me" players
    1. DaMarcus Beasley - in my defense, he weighed 95 pounds soaking wet. I didn't think he could handle a lot of physical play and would be outmuscled a lot. The flip side of that coin was you had to catch him first. He definitely surprised me, and I ate a lot of humble pie.
     
    bigredfutbol, RossD and QuakeAttack repped this.
  4. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Andrew Carleton....................100%.
    Off-the-field issues reared their ugly head.
    Really disappointing.

    As far as other disappointments, name anybody from the 2013 U20 World Cup team. Luis Gil stands out.
     
    Anderson11, russ, Elninho and 2 others repped this.
  5. OWN(yewu)ED

    OWN(yewu)ED Member+

    Club: Venezia F.C.
    May 26, 2006
    chico, CA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #5 OWN(yewu)ED, Nov 30, 2021
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2021
    Get out of my head you literally took my top 4!!!!!!! I’ll expand on a couple of those why i thought that way.

    Freddy adu, yeah I took the bait. I was convinced he was a pure 10 through and through and we were setting him up to fail by not building our roster around him.

    gale I thought would be a more epic version of Gooch

    sal, ohhhh sal, during that u20 tournament I thought we had ourselves a masterpiece. He played like a man on fire , I thought he was for sure gonna be a star

    also thought highly of Danny too.


    I think I had a lot of hope vested into Juan agudelo, and didn’t bet the house on him like a few did, but I just thought I’d he was in a better club situation he would have developed into a player for us. His insistence on England over anything else was bewildering, and that rumor of declining Wolverhampton looks increasingly stupid.

    On the flip side of the coin, I was not a Sasha fan. I was always low key angry at Sasha because I felt he was getting minutes at Bennys expense, who I felt was the better player (and still do), but Sasha obviously carved out a pretty decent career for himself and some a couple Belgian titles as well

    Slightly less so about brek Shea, I always felt he was the ultimate high risk high reward usmnt player. For me he had the highest capacity for greatness, and I was really hoping for another Clint Dempsey like story of a player who was rough around the edges going overseas to make a name for himself. He had the highest upside, and emphasis on upside, of any usmnt player I can think of. Upside needs to be developed though, snd it never was. He should have always been a defender, preferably left back.

    As far as goalkeepers, I thought Chris seitz was going to be our next great keeper. He had a few errors but a knack for the spectacular. I’m actually really surprised he was never a reliable mls starter . He always seemed good enough whenever he subbed on in someone’s place.
     
    raza_rebel repped this.
  6. OWN(yewu)ED

    OWN(yewu)ED Member+

    Club: Venezia F.C.
    May 26, 2006
    chico, CA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    two excellent shout outs there, also agreed
     
  7. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I thought CCV was going to be a 10 year starter when I saw him in youth tournaments.

    I thought Eddie Johnson would be a heck of alot better than he was. I thought after his 2004 season that he would be...well, what Jozy eventually was. One of the best goal scorers in USMNT history, but not Neo, not The Chosen One.

    I thought Bill Hamid was going to be great. He progressed in an iambic fashion...a stagnant year followed by terrific improvement. But he never could cut down on the errors.

    Brad Guzan's timing was bad, but he ended up better than I thought he'd be.

    I very, very rarely am outside the fat part of the bell curve when I judge players, so I'm not severely wrong very often.

    PS...I'm answering this in the context of USMNT play, not club play.
     
  8. OWN(yewu)ED

    OWN(yewu)ED Member+

    Club: Venezia F.C.
    May 26, 2006
    chico, CA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just putting the shoe on the other foot, thinking from a Mexico perspective, I reluctantly pegged Nery Castillo to be one of the best players in the world. He looked other worldly at times when I saw him play. Man city were supposedly pursuing right at the time they were just starting to become man city, but he supposedly turned them down because he didn’t think they were big enough. Nery did it all though, man, that’s thought MLS was getting a heist when they signed him as a DP.
     
    keller4president and raza_rebel repped this.
  9. Eleven Bravo

    Eleven Bravo Member+

    Atlanta United
    United States
    Jul 3, 2004
    SC
    Club:
    Atlanta Silverbacks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Someone who I always thought would have had more of an impact but never really made it was the Mississippi Maradona, Justin Mapp.
     
    russ, HartwickFan, bigredfutbol and 5 others repped this.
  10. OWN(yewu)ED

    OWN(yewu)ED Member+

    Club: Venezia F.C.
    May 26, 2006
    chico, CA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    what a late bloomer he could have been. Completely different player when he moved from Chicago to Montreal. Vast improvement.

    One I am proud to say I never bit on even from the getgo was Eddie Gaven, I never saw the rage for him. I wanted to be wrong, but I just never saw it with him myself.
     
    HartwickFan and Eleven Bravo repped this.
  11. QuakeAttack

    QuakeAttack Member+

    Apr 10, 2002
    California - Bay Area
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Interesting topic. I fall into the bell curve category and don't usually get too high or low about players. Here a few that come to mind:

    Better Than Expected
    • Brian McBride - Seemed to get better as he got older.
    • Eddie Lewis - I got to see his career start with the Quakes. He was good, but didn't expect it to carry over to the USMNT.
    • Frankie Hayduke - Probably because he didn't look polished at first site, but dam, he left his mark.
    • Brian Ching - Another Quakes who left his mark.
    • Beasley - Have to agree with the comments of him being a surprise.

    Worst Than Expected
    • Claudio Reyna - The original Reyna probably came with too high expectations. Still, while he had a good career, he never left the mark that I expected.
    • Benny Feilhaber - So talented and fun to watch. Just didn't click enough for the USMNT.
    • Edson Buddle - Physically, he had all of the tools. Just didn't quit do anything with them.
    • Bobby Convey - So talented, but never seemed to take it to the next level.
    • Jonathan Spector - Kept reading about him on BS. When I finally saw him play, you could see why, but never produced.
     
    bigredfutbol and keller4president repped this.
  12. raza_rebel

    raza_rebel Member+

    Dec 11, 2000
    Club:
    Univ de Chile
    #12 raza_rebel, Nov 30, 2021
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2021
    A goalkeeper to add to the "I should have been a contender" pile.

    Cody Cropper. I remember him being hailed as he next best line of great GKs. He fell off the face of the Earth after his stint with Ipswich. I was surprised to see him pop up at the Revs.

    Also, Joe Gyau. Dude was penciled as a USMNT winger for the next 10 years. His potential never materialized.
     
    keller4president repped this.
  13. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    ACL tear.
    A speed player that lost his speed.
    Joseph Amon seems like another player of this type.
     
  14. LuckofLichaj2

    LuckofLichaj2 Member

    Oct 14, 2021
    Great Thread!

    Guys who I thought would be better:

    ERIC LICHAJ, obviously lol. Loved his athletic profile and he wasn’t a bum on the ball, but clearly not special. I thought his positioning/reading of the game would catch up with his tools but I was wrong. Not a terrible career though even with all the knocks he picked up.

    CHRIS DURKIN. Yes, he’s still young and very far from a wash-out but I thought he was going to be the lock #6 for the Nats. I really liked his size and seeming comfort on the ball, but it became clear that his technique wasn’t good enough to play in tight spaces. And he’s simply not pacy enough to not be very good on the ball. I really like the prospects of a similar player- Johnny Cardoso, and I hope his clear advantage in passing range gives him a higher ceiling. I really think we did him a disfavor by playing him woefully out of position in the Oly qualies.

    DESEVIO PAYNE. I really liked his upside as a shut-down defender with at least average technical ability. 2015 U20 WC. For whatever reason, tall-ish outside backs fascinate me. (I was a pretty big Timmy Chandler apologist- and still am). Payne is now in the Dutch third-tier.

    CAMERON HARPER. Obviously still very young. But I greatly overrated his physical qualities.

    Guys who I thought would be worse:

    BRENDAN AARONSON. I did not see the slight tick up in physicality happening after he moved to Salzburg. It really allowed his pressing instincts and engine to play up.

    MICHAEL BRADLEY. I did not see the gargantuan growth in IQ and fairly sizable improvement in technicality coming. His peak was rather short lived IMO (a roughly 2-year period with his time at Chievo being the centerpiece) but the guy who dominated Italy’s midfield on Italian soil (it was just a friendly) was actually a pretty good player.
     
  15. deejay

    deejay Member+

    Feb 14, 2000
    Tarpon Springs, FL
    Club:
    Jorge Wilstermann
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    It's easier to swing and miss on an up-and-comer that doesn't reach full potential. I have the obvious list. Freddy Adu, Agudelo and Brek.

    My list of guys that did much better than I expected is a lot shorter. I did not understand what was so great about Tyler Adams until two or three years after his pro debut.
     
  16. gogorath

    gogorath Member+

    None
    United States
    May 12, 2019
    I'm much less inclined to write off a guy than most, and try not to get too, too hyped on others. I also don't really remember exactly what I thought of players when I go back too far -- like I have no idea if I had any kind of feel for Brek Shea.

    More recently, Scally has been better than I expected. I broke a cardinal rule of my own -- I focused on his failings in the U17 WC rather than what he was good at. I knew he had potential, but I focused on some pretty questionable tactical choices, and those aren't that hard to clean up.

    I love speed, so I've always overrated guys like Jonathon Amon. I was very, very high on Sargent; he still has time but I didn't think he'd struggle like he has. Loved Bobby Wood as well; that was a small sample size lesson in some respects.

    By the time Carleton came around I was already a little wary of guys who might be a step slow, so while the reason might have been wrong, I was never as high on him long term.

    I don't really count anyone with injury issues.
     
    raza_rebel repped this.
  17. Ray Shoesmith

    Ray Shoesmith Member+

    Valencia
    United States
    Nov 14, 2021
    Busio. The guy has stepped up every time he has been challenged. At KC and now Venezia. At U17 I thought he would be almost forgotten by now.
     
  18. MarioKempes

    MarioKempes Member+

    Real Madrid, DC United, anywhere Pulisic plays
    Aug 3, 2000
    Proxima Centauri
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Freddy Adu.
     
  19. EXALIFTIN

    EXALIFTIN Member+

    Nov 23, 2010
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I was not impressed the times I watch Aaronson in the 2020 MLS season, shows what I know
     
  20. Brandinho

    Brandinho Member

    None
    United States
    Feb 22, 2007
    New Jersey
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Josh Gatt was a heartbreaker for me. I wanted to see what he could become but his body let him down. It looks like Amon is heading that way too.
     
  21. Roger Allaway

    Roger Allaway Member+

    Apr 22, 2009
    Warminster, Pa.
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    There was a time, back at the start of his career, when I thought that Jose Francisco Torres was going to become one of the USMNT's all-time greats.
     
    manfromgallifrey91 repped this.
  22. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Freddy Adu, Eddie Gaven, Danny Szetela, Tim Chandler, Brek Shea
     
  23. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    Steve Snow- There was hype around the guy and he landed a contract in Belgium I think. Flamed out with a couple of appearances.

    Chad Marshall- I thought a CB pairing of Marshall and Onyewu would strike fear in any striker's heart. Marshall's game never translated to the international level and most noted appearance was a 5-0 GC loss to Mexico.

    Demerit/Herc Gomez- These guys had no business being as successful as they were but they refused to quit. Love both of them and it's impossible to cheer against them.
     
  24. soccersubjectively

    soccersubjectively BigSoccer Supporter

    Jan 17, 2012
    Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    To be fair, his performance with the U20s at the 2007 World Cup was legit. Lots of empty praise for a number of young stars but he actually had some real steam at one point.

     
    OWN(yewu)ED repped this.
  25. Mahtzo1

    Mahtzo1 Member+

    Jan 15, 2007
    So Cal
    I've got two that jump out in my mind, one of whom probably doesn't quite fit in the thread but..who cares?

    #1: Frankie. (If you don't know who Im talking about, you must be really young?)
    I remember thinking he was only good to speed down the wing and launch the ball into random space. I reeeeeaaally underestimated him. not only did his skills improve (or my perception of his skills), but I underestimated the value of all the intangibles that he brought to the table.

    The second is on my list not due to missing on his predicted quality but on the timing and perception of where he is now.
    Tim Weah. I remember the first game (I think) with the national team where he took a long crossing ball off his chest (on the run) with an onrushing defender. I thnk most would have chested it down along the sideline, the defender would have cut off the angle and he'd have to turn back to maintain possession. Instead he redirected the ball with his chest and beat the man toward the middle. He had some errors that game but I thought to myself "this guy is going to be special". I still don't think he has reached his potential but he has convinced me this past window that he is further along (quite a bit) than I thought.
     
    Pestbeulen repped this.

Share This Page