i hope the new staff takes their crack at the MLS part of the pool would be interesting to see how they assess things and if they cn get something out of these guys that the scrub MLS coaches couldnt i hope they tke jan camp seriously and try to uncover some useful players i also hope they dont just stick with the status quo...there's a bunch of potnetial n MLS....no need to keep going to players that arent good enough, either
Turns out Nsien (mercifully) is out, & Mitrovic is in, just moving down an age group in lieu of u23s. 🇺🇸🚨 Marko Mitrović is now the U.S. U-20 coach, taking over from Michael Nsien, I am told.This was part of his contract for continuing with U.S. Soccer after the Olympics.The U-20 World Cup takes place next spring.https://t.co/QrRDAtnHhm#usmnt #usynt— Alex Calabrese (@amcalabrese12) September 18, 2024
A reminder that Mitrovic was on the staff that won the U20WC with Serbia. He was Paunovic's top assistant.
Updated… not counting any possible yanks-abroad for this go-round, nor am I counting out any player who is currently in MLS who might move in the winter. GK Patrick Schulte GK Roman Celentano GK Matt Freese FB DeAndre Yedlin FB DeJuan Jones FB John Tolkin FB Peyton Miller CB Walker Zimmerman CB Miles Robinson CB Jalen Neal CB Tim Ream MF Jack McGlynn MF Cole Bassett MF Daniel Edelman MF James Sands AT Quinn Sullivan AT Diego Luna AT Brian Gutierrez AT Djordje Mihailovic AT Ben Cremaschi FW Duncan McGuire FW Jordan Morris FW Logan Farrington FW Jesus Ferreira
I think we typically have access to LigaMX guys in this camp also...which with this pool might mean an entire starting front line (Cowell-Vazquez-Zendejas).
In addition to Cowell, Zendejas, and Vazquez; I would really, really, really, seriously, really x some more, like to see about bringing in 1, maybe 2, young center back understudy from Europe: Kobi Henry, Joshua Wynder, Noahkai Cobb, and/or Grayson Dettoni. Because if you look at our MLS options, I feel good enough with Zimmerman and Robinson. I don’t mind calling in Neal as an understudy. But then the center back options fall off. So much so, I guess I would call in Ream because of his experience. But I really don’t want to call him in because he’s too old. I don’t think guys like Ragen, Glad, Privett, Murphy, Nealis, etc. are going to ever be serious contenders for our player pool. We’d just be plugging a hole. And we should use that opportunity to blood a youngster into the program, if he’s available. I also don’t feel good about our right back options. But I don’t know what promising European base reserve player, we’d want to call in…. Maybe, Bresser if he’d accept? I don’t know. If he’d accept, that might be a big win for the program. Maybe that’s one position where we allow one of the senior vets - who aren’t necessarily great - such as Cannon, Yedlin, Moore, etc. see if they can offer depth. After that, I feel good about our MLS keeper options. That’s the one position on our team where our MLS options are probably a lot better than our YA options anyways. Schulte is probably our number one. Celentano deserves a shot to get looked at. And maybe Freese too. Left back could get weird if Tolkin left. But then, there’s still Jones and Miller, who I want to see. Sands, McGlynn, Edelman, and Bassett all have done enough this year to have earned a shot to impress. Even if they’re on the outside of the player pool. Sullivan, Gutierrez, Luna, etc. I’d like to see. But if available, I’d still call in Zendejas and Cowell. McGuire, Farrington, J. Morris, and even Hall would be nice to see too. So, it’s not the end of the world to have to play those guys. But yeah, Vazquez would knock out any of these guys. Main thing, again, I would really try to bring in one of those young center backs from Europe as a third and fourth option. It would be a really good thing if we could use this window as an opportunity to advance their standing in the player pool, if they could live up to it.
The only front 3 member in Mexico who may warrant a start over the domestic group is Vazquez. We get more from trials of Luna & Sullivan than Cowell & Zendejas we've seen plenty of times go bad before. And I may prefer to see a rejuvenated Morris over Vazquez again in an environment he's already succeeded in so we learn nothing from. Besides, when you say LigaMX players are available, you mean for 1 (of 2) game(s), & in some cases. Their season will be going on. Vis a vis the collegiate cb's vs. fw's, I don't get how the latter has more promise. History and logic shows the opposite. CB's are harder to identify. It takes success over time that's not necessarily backed up statistically. So a guy like Ragen falls thru the cracks. He's got the size, speed, technique, instincts, & performance. I don't get why he doesn't have a future, but say Farrington or McGuire does. They might, but that position collegiately just has much worse efficacy. And in Farrington's case I'd like to see him back it up over more than 1 season like so many fw's haven't been able to.
That CONCACAF Edgar guy has been semi-reliable with USMNT news though I'm not sure I trust him with a larger international story. With that said he mentioned FIFA is gonna vote on lowering the residency requirement in their next meeting. If true, that could pave the way for Lucho Acosta. Even if his citizenship stuff isn't fully finalized he could always attend camp and not play the friendly
he is pretty reliable because everything he gets is from another source(usually a spanish speaking one) and plays it off as his 'source'.
Mildly interesting from The Jurgen Kickin It interview, that the coaches and players absolutely hated January Camp. It's TV driven I do wonder if they ever plan on shortening it (outside of maybe a World Cup year) especially if MLS starts being a smaller and smaller part of the pool
I can believe Jurgen and maybe some of the MLS guys whose national team spots were secure like Donovan hated it, I absolutely don't buy for a second that fringe guys didn't love having that opportunity to get in front of the national team coaches.
I really think it makes a lot of sense as effectively a U23/U20 camp. Get young players in front of the staff both for evaluation, recruiting and onboarding. We simply don't have as many senior team minutes to go around, and while this is likely just going to be US based players, our youth players are more concentrated there. They can't call it that because of the TV contract, but it can basically be that.
Klinsmann said in his interview he wanted to cancel January camp but couldn’t because they had to fill those dates under the tv contract. So for the same reason I’m assuming it will go forward under Pochettino.
I don’t see why a coach would want to cancel an opportunity to evaluate his next guys up over an extended period of time. What is he too good for it?
Seattle's Paul Rothrock. He has been a key part of their resurgence. He's a left-footer who can play on both sides of the attack. 7 goals and 4 assists in 1400 minutes across League and Leagues Cup. The team certainly need more left-footed attackers.
I would like it to see it cancelled. In the old days much more of the 1st team had played in MLS. And the offseasons were significantly longer. January camp was an opportunity to get guys in shape for critical WCQing matches and to evaluate newcomer in an extended environment. Imo, players would now be better served with their club teams. Evaluation can take place with call ups during the MLS season.
My main points of disagreements…. #1 Just on goalkeeper alone. We are going to need to rely on somebody from MLS. Schulte, Freese, Celentano, Steffen, maybe Brady. We need to see if someone can push out Turner and Horvath. For this reason alone, the January Camp is worth it. #2 Maybe get some more reps with Walker and Miles (or Ream, although not excited about that one)(or maybe we can pull in a young YA reserve, like Banks, etc) in order to work with our center back situation that needs a lot of work. Although, they might not be our first choice, I’d want the time to work with some of my likely back ups. #3 Are we just going to give Lund the back up LB job even though his club situation leaves a lot to be desired? Personally, I think Tolkin could push him out. Maybe not. But if I were the coach, I’d want to assess the two players with my own eyes. #4 What if we could call in some of the Liga MX players, Cowell, Vazquez, and Zendejas. As it stands now, we’d have to probably squeeze them into the fringes of the A team, but the fact is that if we had time to work with them, maybe, one or all three (or none, I concede) could become a legitimate option for our A team. #5 What about the u23 and u20 players? The Luna’s of the world. They’re outside of our top team right now, but maybe they will be knocking on the door sooner than later. If I’m the coach, I’d rather call in a player that I have some history of working with, than a player I have no history working with in a competitive match. We’ve got to account for injuries, suspensions, and poor form. We can’t sleep on depth and future talent. #6 As a dual national recruitment carrot. Is that always going to work out? Obviously no. Araujo. Esmir. Etc. But at some point, it’s the best you can do to keep or persuade players to stay in our player pool rather than jump ship. #7 We can’t always secure yanks abroad, but sometimes, clubs have been generous to release certain players. If a player is stuck in club career purgatory, maybe, getting that player out of their environment could help boost their confidence or get them on the right track. OR, sometimes it’s good to work with a promising young player who isn’t in his club’s first team just yet, but he’s promising enough that it would be a good chance to work with him. For example, I’d love to see if we could call in guys like Kochen, Banks, Wynder, etc. in order to determine where these guys are at. That doesn’t mean every club will release them, but it’s also not always a no either. I’d rather ask and be told no, than to not ask at all. …I get that January Camp is rarely exciting and it doesn’t pay off big. But if we could improve ourselves in just one area of the field then it’s worth it to me.
That's all fair. However, I believe there will be ample opportunity to call the players in during the MLS season. There will be windows with mainly MLS/Liga Mx players. Those are the times to call in the players. Also, the players simply are not at their best during the offseason. But January camp had been a necessity due to the then long MLS offseason and more of the first team being MLS-based. Now, let the MLS guys get their rest, as the seasons are long and the games many.
If we were to substitute the timing of the camp, not during an international window, then I could agree. But if the plan is to use the international window for these players, then I don’t agree.
The idea would be to call up a few at a time for most windows. A few international windows are going to available for mass call ups of the MLS/LigaMx players. Then there's the Continental Classico and the Gold Cup.
I hope that we have that out-of-window game again. But that said, the Gold Cup must be an A team event. It’s the only time that Poch can actually work with the A team for an extended period. We must call in the best that we have. Must!
It isnt useful how it has been used in the past. Domestic camps were an absolute detriment to the USMNT under Berhakter. Good thing he started doing two a year. If I were coach, I would have no desire to waste upward of a month of my time on these crappy MLS players that are never going to have a positive impact on the team. If they are going to continue, it needs to be repurposed in way that benefits the program. I have argued that we need a full time b-team that focuses on players with potential. This team would be primarily u23 but could include a few slightly older. This would give coaches a chance to evaluate players from leagues around the world up close and provide a path to the USMNT. I'd then make January a huge yet camp with at least u17, u20 and u23 included as well as any fringe older players were available. It won't be close to a full roster of fringe players as there aren't that many available.