The other thing about Green right now is that he's one of the few realistic choices we have who has actually gone to the World Cup. Plus, he's always contributed to the National Team when given a chance. The weakness in his case is that we have three midfielders set, depending, and then I would suspect we'll want a long passer to switch fields (Yueill, Johnny, Bradley if you are generous). Of course, could he do that?
Every camp has a different complement of players. Green is versatile...there are plenty of scenarios where he’d be a flexible addition.
I wouldn't write off Green yet. He isn't an automatic for me but one of those guys in the 20-35 range. So depending on importance, form and injuries he's on the outside with a shot at moving into the 23.
Or maybe Green is the guy you put in the game for the dying moments needing a goal - like Klinsi did v. Belgium. That's what his worth is. Now, do you give him one of the valuable roster spots for that?
And herein lies the problem. How many guys can you afford to carry on the 23 that are last 15 minute subs needing a goal? Do you sub him ahead of Jozy? At this point I see Jozy as the designated late sub needing a goal. Can you carry both of them?
I definitely think he's in contention for that role but there is now competition with any winger or forward who's not starting.
Plus.............................Julian Green is only 25 years old. I know there are those that think 25 years old is ancient, but its not. He's still young. Julian Green is three years younger than Sebastian Lletget, who we just called in. If we take away the obvious starters in our 3-man midfield, it doesn't take one too many slots down the depth chart to get to somebody like Green. Or it shouldn't anyway. I realize we've got a lot of prospects in those positions, but prospect is a latin word for "hasn't done squat yet."
Green shouldn't be in contention to start with an all-healthy best 11 sort of lineup but that doesn't mean he's not useful. Once you get past the very top players for us, he's as good as the MLS mid-career journeymen that have gotten a lot of minutes and who will likely still be needed in qualification due to injuries, availability and the like. Same guys were available back when Green was getting caps and he was considered a better option then and he has improved more than most of the others since. He can also play on the wing if needed and even scored from there against France. He's at least as good if not better in the middle than guys like Roldan and Mihailovic and he's as good or better than guys like Arriola or Baird who have gotten minutes on the wing. It would be easier to argue against him if so many mediocre players haven't been called in frequently anyway. He's a solid pro with more experience both in club ball and internationally than the mediocrities we call up for their experience and he can play practically anywhere in our front 6 as a fill in. He's probably more capable of playing a possession-based game than a ton of our guys as well and supposedly that's what we're transitioning to. He gets overlooked because the pecking order goes.... Big 4 league players, MLS players, everyone else. He's everyone else, even if he is better than several MLS options.
Opta Top-5 Player of the Week Josh Sargent(forward_3421) 1 assist_2 key passes_2 dribbles_5/13 duels___Werder Bremen 1-1 Bayern Munich Whoscored_7.5(2nd) Fotmob_7.5(2nd) Sofascore_6.6(10th) can't win 'em all.
Bayern's next UCL game is as close to a dead rubber as you can get. They looked tired against Bremen and have a bunch of games upcoming. Could be Richards gets his UCL debut.
A reminder. The US currently ranks 10th in U23 minutes in the top 5 leagues. More than Argentina. More than Japan. More than Croatia or Serbia or Russia. More than Mexico. More than any African nation. More than basically everybody but the obvious. It also tells us how far behind France we are. EGADS!!! Entering the weekend, the US ranked 10th in U23 minutes in the big five European leagues. (This chart could also be captioned with the French are really good and really young) pic.twitter.com/vU6jTNOUOg— natfan9.bsky.social (@NatFan9) November 23, 2020
And the US U23 players are getting those minutes at (for the most part) some pretty good clubs: Chelsea, Fulham, Barcelona, Juventus, Valencia, Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen, RB Leipzig, Lille. Compare that for instance to the Olympic eligible players at another country a bit below us on that list, Nigeria: Napoli, Huesca, Lorient, Bordeaux, Koln, Union Berlin, Villarreal. A good reminder that the explosion in youth talent you're seeing with the USMNT right now isn't some run of the mill thing that every other country is experiencing at the moment.
Indeed. Just to get American fans all atwitter, Richards looks set to play this game at left back. That's where he's supposedly been training this week with both Davies and Hernandez out. For #USMNT fans, a decent chance Chris Richards @eastmamba will feature for Bayern tomorrow night in the CL against Salzburg, perhaps even start. Guessing what position he might play is a bit more difficult. One of the full back positions most likely. #FCBRBS— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) November 24, 2020
We're still on Cameron Harper debut watch at Celtic. For those that haven't seen him, here's a match with the Celtic reserves today. 1331286325459378180 is not a valid tweet id
If I was Flick, I'd put the kid on his better side and move Pavard to LB. But, as I said, win or lose doesn't really matter. Staying healthy does.
Schalke is an unmitigated disaster, however we have a bunch of Americans that might be able to take advantage of the situation to climb up the ranks rapidly (Taitague, Hoppe, Rotundo, etc.) 1331585101394812930 is not a valid tweet id
There's also the question of how many non-Euro teams would have a lot more players there if there weren't rules hampering them and vice versa how many Euro sides would have players getting minutes if they were from a non-Euro country. France and England seem to be way ahead of everyone else but the US has high numbers for a non-Euro country and many are at very high profile teams. If this is just a golden generation it should be by far our best. If it's the start of the new normal them wow.