You have Robinson twice and he may have medical issues, he's not made his club squad twice in a row. Holmes, yes. Except for one U23 game, Niko has had his career in Finland. Do we even know if he plans to stick with us? We don't know if Chandler is taking any USSF calls. From his past history, it wouldn't be surprising he is not. Why would Alvarado cross the ocean for a friendly? Morales is a known quantity, and about to turn 30. I wouldn't be mad if he's not there.
yeah, we don’t know if chandler would accept a call up if we assume he consistently lies to the press as suyuntuy does when it suits his purposes. we often hear that euro players shouldn’t cross the ocean, particularly early in their season. So why should many MLS players make this trip? What’s the rationale for trapp or Lovitz given that they are now trying to integrate with their new club team. Also, roldan, Morris and Zimmerman would have to fly across 9 time zones. I have no problem with the best MLS players coming over but just wanted to point out that this is exactly the excuses posters make to exclude certain players.
Just a little groin injury https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/football/wigan-athletic-defender-faces-lay-1569418 Ignoring he and Holmes over this long stretch of meaningless games we have had, constantly calling up the likes of Lovitz, Aaronson, Roldan, etc at the exclusion of Holmes and Robinson is unjustifiable.
Yes, at this point it's time to give Holmes another look. He's played only 54' for the NT, all under Egg. Keep in mind at 25 he's the finished product, and he's playing in a league that I (and other people) don't rate as highly as some of the folks in BigSoccer do, so from our point of view, it's understandable that he's not been called more. As for Robinson, he has plenty of minutes with the NT for a 22 year old (>360'), so I disagree that he has been forgotten. He should get a run at this point, banking on his youth and possibility to grow, but there are several aspects of his defensive game that leave me unimpressed.
A bunch of your points are nuts particularly Reyna. He wasn't even good at the U17 WC but he should have been at the Gold Cup? He's going to get his chance very soon. He's 17. The fact he wasn't called up when he was playing U-19 German matches is not a problem at all. He's got PLENTY of time to develop. To say he's playing "dominant" soccer is hilarious. 100 first team minutes, 1 cool goal. DOMINANT! Llanez was good but the camp he walked into is the US D-camp. To rip all of the non-elite MLS guys then claim victory that Llanez was better than them is strange. Wood? Are you calling for someone who can't score in 2. Buda to play? The fact of the matter is with someone like Dest: he hadn't even made an Ajax bench yet until this year. He was OK at the U20 WC (defensively he was a mess at times). He was called up once he started playing at Ajax. He is now a major part of the NT. You think the US should have handled him differently? Reggie Cannon was one of the better players in that GC Final. Dest probably wouldn't have played much. He was better off playing all of the U20 WC. Young players ARE better 6-8 months later btw. The experience someone like Dest has gotten at Ajax makes him a WAY better player now than he was a year ago. That's how it works. Guys play minutes then they gain experience/improve. If you think that a 17-18 year old doesn't change as a player over the course of a half year, you must not know much about player development. That's how it works.
Calling for someone on an average team in the absolutely awful SPL to be called up? If they aren't it's a indictment on Berhalter? People have really lost their minds. Saying depth at LB isn't a problem then saying a SPL player should be 2nd choice is fairly interesting. Hamalainen couldn't even make a SQUAD at LAFC and is now great because he plays for a mid table SPL team? If this isn't "EUROPE IS BETTAH" clouding rational judgement on a player, I don't know what is.
Niko Hamalainen made SPL Team of the Week multiple times. QPR extended his contract. QPR >> LAFC. Daniel Lovitz and Sam Vine got caps. They had played on awful teams in an average league. Niko had made LAFC's squad. He was loan-player, though. LAFC chose not to extend the loan. So what? What were QPR's financial demands? Do you know? No one is claiming Niko Hamalainen's selection or non-selection would be an indictment of Berhalter. It would represent just another data point. Think. Read. Among left-footed leftbacks(a skillset 3G seems to prefer), Hamalainen has the 2nd best resume. This pool includes such luminaries as-- Seth Sinovic Matt Real(beaten out by a player from the German 3rd division) Marco Farfan Sam Vines Daniel Lovitz Tim Ream(not even a left-back at club level) Ben Sweat Dave Romney Danilo Acosta Slim pickings, but there you go.
Yes-- when guys get loaned they often automatically get an extension (or a team extension) on their deal. It doesn't really mean they are liked or not like. But an extension for a team about to be relegated to League One isn't exactly some ringing endorsement. A guy who couldn't make MLS squads, gets loaned off a bad Championship team should be a MNT call-up now. As I said, people have gone insane with the DUURRR EUROPE BETTER mentality. QPR>>> LAFC is really irrelevant. He couldn't make either team. But it's also not based on any reality. According to 538 SPI, LAFC is a WAY better squad. Not even close. Accoridng to transfermarkt, LAFC's squad is worth 2x more. Have any facts other than MLS SUXXXXX?
They didn't have to give him an extension though. QPR are 17th on the C'hip table, 9 points above the relegation zone. This makes no sense, as he was a loan player. Neither does this. SPI? Ok, bro. And how much is Jordan Harvey worth?
Finished product at 25? Continually spewing generalizations to reduce impact of foreign based players. I wonder how Holmes has been able to raise his game this year given his age. I wonder if it is possible that he could be a late bloomer who gets to play at higher levels later in his career. I wonder if any other players had that happen and improved significantly after their 25th birthday. Clint dempsey turned 25 in his first full season at Fulham but somehow continued to raise his game. What about guys like Drogba and Vardy. It isnt that the league is that highly rated, but that it is rated higher than MLS. That really doesnt matter that much anyway. Robinson showed promise under a prior manager and has gotten a limited look under the current one. Can you give examples of his defensive issues? Most of the complaints I have seen on here about his defensive game is quite lazy.
It crazy at all to want players playing in all different environments to get called in to see what they can do. It is hard to compare players in different environments so the easiest solution is to call them in and look at them up close. Sounds like a much better solution than calling automatic starters from foreign teams and then make the rest of the roster from MLS players.
Llainez and Ferriera outplayed a bunch of guys who have been in camps before. We have limited wide attacking options, so both should continue to be included until they show they dont belong. Wood has established himself as a guy who can score against decent international competition. He is a much better soccer player than Zardes. Who cares what he is doing at his club.
No, it is just saying that we wasted a year on crappy MLS players, so let's take a look at the players we have been ignoring to see if there are better options. Morales and Holmes were given a chance and proved that very thing. The only others who got a shot was in that crappy Jamaica friendly.
Perhaps you can square this opinion with these facts: Here’s Arena’s direct comments and actions. Prior to being coach, Bruce Arena states the following on having Jermaine Jones and Terence Boyd on a roster: “Players on the national team should be–and this is my own feeling–they should be Americans. If they’re all born in other countries, I don’t think we can say we are making progress.” Prior to being coach, Arena also states: “I think the majority of the national team should come out of Major League Soccer. I'm a big believer in the American player and producing them out of our system. I think that ultimately is what will develop the sport in our country, not on the field but with the consumer. When they can recognize our players and who they are and where they came from, they'll be more supportive of the sport, and that's a big plus in terms of marketing. When we do it with randomly selecting people from all over that really have no connection, I don't think it hits home with people we want supporting our sport and our national team" Despite the awfulness of the first comment and the clear bias of the second, the USSF hires Arena anyway After his hiring, Arena puts actions to words, relying heavily on an MLS squad that failed to qualify while also saying about a Big 4 player not even making the squad,"there are MLS players who play that position." This is in no way, shape or form Arena "prefers the familiar". Not even close.
What interesting is that @IndividualEleven named 6 guys and because one is questionable, it negates the total sentiment?
Bobby Wood hasn't scored a goal for club/country in 15 months (and counting).... who cares about if a guy who can only play center forward scores goals?
Wood scored 3 goals in 2018 against Paraguay, Ireland and Colombia. His club situation is a mess. That doesnt mean Zardes is better than him. It is a shame that Berhalter hasnt called him into a camp.
He's caught off-position in the counter, he has trouble stopping crosses, and can be broken easily by a dribbler.
The recruitment of dispara americans and other complete non-mlsers into the team is still a divisive issue, as recent comments from Alexis Lalas, Jermaine Jones, and Eddie Johnson indicate. I'm hopeful that 3G is playing the long game in regards to antipathy towards such players, rather than simply capitulating to or being on board with such sentiments.
Eddie Johnson chimes in."...and that’s what happens when your trying to change the culture the higher ups will do anything to self destruct the movement and that’s what they did to Juergen sad truth." pic.twitter.com/h57bXF5NYJ— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) February 11, 2020
Lalas trying to explain why certain foreign based players shouldnt be in the usmnt... Form is fallacy. It’s possible you may disagree. 🇺🇸⚽️ #USMNT State Of the Union: https://t.co/A3u6cZg2SN pic.twitter.com/px01PUaFki— Alexi Lalas (@AlexiLalas) February 11, 2020
Jurgen didn't get fired because he was "trying to change the culture." He got fired because he was getting terrible results.