......................if he plays, they might be fine with it. But to be Turner's backup? Maybe not. You could have a point there.
So, from the Twittersphere, Wolfsburg has told Uly Llanez that "he's not needed" and "to find a new club." And he's maybe now going to be at St. Polten? Is that right?
Ugh. Surely he can do better than that. A Belgian team. Hell a 1st division Austrian team. Anywhere but there.
This would be my preferred roster. GK: Turner, Hamid, Guzan DF: Cannon, Araujo, EPB, CCV, Robinson, Trusty, Vines, Bello, Gomez MF: Sands, Johnny, Flach, Busio, Williamson, Clark, Lewis, Rodriguez FW: Dike, Hoppe, Ferreira Araujo, Bello, Gomez, Johnny, Flach, Busio, Clark, Hoppe the thread eligible players I’d pick.
llanez re-signed with wolfsburg not that long ago, which also means his wages are likely too high for the clubs that would work best for relaunching his career?
Left back will be interesting. I don't know why we'd need three of them. Its a position of need too, when it comes to formulating the depth chart for WCQing. If Gregg really wants to involve Gomez, its Bello that I'd leave out......................................... I do think Cowell is going to be in the group. Cowell over Ferreira won't surprise me. Ferreira hasn't played due to injury. I don't expect him in the squad. Jonathan Gomez after being added to the Gold Cup provisional roster🗣🗣 pic.twitter.com/dOmZAfbZ1w— USMNT Universe (@UsmntU) June 19, 2021
Good comments from Jonathan in this story. .@loucityfc's @jonathang_42 has been named to the @USMNT's preliminary roster for the Concacaf Gold Cup: https://t.co/UmHKBunkAE | @ericcrawford pic.twitter.com/DWK622chn1— WDRB News (@WDRBNews) June 19, 2021
Cowell hasn’t added anything for over a month and a half now. I’m not sure he’s making the team at CF. Too many better players. It’s a position where there will be competition for spots. I’m not sure the young players get spots just because they are young. Bello and Clark are listed because they play positions with little depth. You can argue Busio deserves a spot and there’s the rumors that Italy is interested. I think combining those two things you give him a spot. The same situation for Gomez. Also plays a weak position. Nyeman, Paredes, Pepi, and Che don’t have much of an argument for a position in the team. Cowell does, but I would think he’s not going to make it due to our striker depth.
I know people don't love Cowell out wide but this player pool isn't great at winger. I'd be willing to take a chance on Cowell as one of the wings if Zardes must be one of the 3 strikers with Dike and Hoppe.
It’s not a bad idea, but if I’m playing an ‘03 out of position at winger for the senior NT, I’d prefer Clark. He’s been more consistent from game to game IMO.
I added the GC preliminary roster to my MNT callup tracker, though as usual I didn't count it as a "real" callup. With that said, I'll just note that Berhalter had given callups (by my count) to 103 players before this list, so it's almost sure to go up. And if Melia gets one, he'll be the first '86. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17xb1g8Jd2bWrXU4g3fXX1aC4A3EQcKYir1ZtHXXGoT8/edit?usp=sharing
Bello and Clark are also two of the best players at their position lol. paredes has an argument solely off of last nights game. He has taken the leap. Pepi deserves it over Jesus.
Jesus is in a weird spot. He's literally started for the USMNT and the US U23s this year, but Pepi is above him on the FCD forward depth chart. I know Ferreira had a really nice game in January for the USMNT, but that opponent was truly abysmal. I don't know what it meant. For me anyway, Pepi has a higher ceiling. Ferreira needs a move. He's actually paid a lot, over $600k, which makes a move within MLS a little bit more difficult. How about Orlando and his old mentor Pareja after Dike leaves this summer??? That might work nicely.
If they stick with this new 4-4-1-1 formation Ferreira is in his sweet spot as the the second striker. He makes great runs, passes and shots from that spot. It’s just usually not what teams play the moment. He’s kind of a Romario type and where would teams play him now? 9 or winger? Like to see Pomykal moved into midfield as a starter and see what happens in that formation.
Hearing Berhalter called Taylor Booth to the USMNT Switzerland camp but SKN wanted to keep Booth for their (hastily scheduled) relegation playoff.If the Austrian BL didn’t redo how they handle relegation at the last second, Booth would’ve been there.— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) July 13, 2021
Well, that was some Gold Cup! (Apologies, not all discussion below is thread-eligible.) For me, the player that helped his stock the most relative to the "business end" of the pool was probably Robinson (even without the goal), followed by Turner. (This isn't just who played well but who helped their relative position within the squad the most.) I will confess that, based on limited viewing while he was at Syracuse, I might not have picked Robinson to be at this level by now, or at least not been very certain; the talent was clear but so were some question marks. I'm glad I didn't put money on it! He wasn't far from spotless but whether it was an experiment or not, Berhalter certainly gave Busio plenty of chances to sink or swim. It was probably telling that Yueill became a spectator during the tournament, but we'll see. Over the course of a long WCQ campaign, who knows who might get called upon. Stuff happens. The Bello pick in the final was some serious dice-rolling. I wonder how many armchair coaches would've made that pick. He fought like hell, made some mistakes, and ultimately can feel pretty good about himself. For me what stood out about Hoppe apart from the stuff everyone's talking about, including his sneer, was how frequently he came back into the midfield to relieve pressure or try to make plays. That he might be able to do that, plus offer defensive effort and be a presence in the box, is extremely appealing. I kind of wish he and Arriola had swapped sides from time to time to see how that looked. Williamson's game kind of reminded me of what I saw during the U20s -- like the speed of his play just hadn't quite caught up to the requirements of the particular competition. He made a few plays and wasn't off by much on others. If he gets more reps, maybe he takes the next step. If your pool is gonna have late bloomers (granted, he's only 24) this is the kind of potential you'd like them to have. This has less to do with the Gold Cup and more to do what what I see in a lot of discussion online and elsewhere, but Weah sure seems to be a forgotten man at times. Personally, a healthy and in-form Weah makes my final roster, and this tournament didn't change that. I have no idea what Berhalter thinks, of course, apart from the same clues as anyone else.
One other thing is, player performances aside, this was a great experience from a scouting perspective even without the best U.S. group on the field. The team got six games, mostly against competitive teams, specifically getting a close look at Jamaica and Canada while also getting a game against a solid non-CONCACAF squad. As for the rest of CONCACAF, every team alive in WCQ advanced except Panama, which is maybe not great news for them -- especially since they lost an effective must-win to Honduras, which had to manage a parallel Olympic effort. (So did Mexico, and they're still fighting to medal.) Is there reason for Costa Rica to worry? They won their group, shutting out Jamaica, but fell scoreless to Canada in the knockout stage. It might be a reach. I have no idea whether this presages anything but that would seem to be the only other possible negative takeaway from the GC, unless you're a Mexico fan.
I would have to rank the US, Mexico and Canada as the Top 3 teams heading into WCQ. Costa Rica is in a bit of a down cycle and between generations. They haven't really looked great for over a year. Canada seems to be getting better and better. Costa Rica home field advantage (if they allow fans) will be greater than Canada, so that might be enough to push them over the edge. Also like Jamaica. They are pretty salty. Hard to see any team outside of those 5 advancing. Panama looks like the doormat for sure.
You might be right. I wouldn't count out Honduras, though. They didn't take a single Olympic-eligible player to the Gold Cup so they'll presumably be stronger in WCQ when they recombine the pool, even if they didn't advance in Tokyo. They pushed the U.S. in Nations League after winning their group and tied CR in the consolation game.
Yeah I agree with DMN about Honduras. I just think when they have guys like Elis counterattacking, they can be so tricky to play against. Also, I am never counting Costa Rica out since we always have trouble against them. I mean I know last cycle was eons ago, but they beat us up both times we played them. Not even Mexico did that. Costa Rica is a team that seems to play above their usual game against us. So while I do agree that Costa Rica might be fourth best in CONCACAF right now, they probably scare me the most in terms of matchup with the USMNT
Separately, borrowing perhaps from another thread, one wonders who has the most to gain (beyond the U.S.) recruiting-wise heading into WCQ. I would assume it's one of Canada or Jamaica.