Your 23 for Russia. Let's see who gets it right in 10 months

EMo has been injured which really doesn't bode well for him, given he just returned to his club after getting injured on loan and he is missing essentially the entire pre-season. I hope I am wrong, but enough playing time to be taken as a serious candidate for the squad could be in jeopardy.

Tillman, yes lots of positive press. He just moved up from Bayern 19 to Bayern II this summer, and is getting his pre-season chance with the first team set up. That said, he is yet to play a real professional match. He is on the provision CL roster, much like Julian Green was at that age and made his debut CSKA Moscow. That said, any comments on him are largely speculative at this juncture. I am not surprised Barcelona is looking to buy young talent. I just saw multiple lists of top 50 Europe players under the age of 23 and there was not a Barcelona player to be found on that list.

 

Alternates between 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 depending on opponents. (In the end, I don't think Arena commits to the intriguing 3-5-2.)

4-4-2 Starters in Bold:

Keepers (3): Howard, Guzan, Horvath
Defenders (7): Yedlin, Cameron, Brooks, Johnson, Miazga, Besler, Villafana
Midfielders (9): Bradley, Pulisic, Williams, Nagbe, Arriola, Acosta, Bedoya, Zardes, McKennie
Forwards (4): Altidore, Wood, Dempsey, Morris

Alternates (7): Hamid, Gonzales, Zusi, McCarty, Lletget, Saief, Dwyer.

 

Bedoya goes if neither Lleget nor Saief make the leap. Both are coming back from injuries. Bedoya is the veteran utility guy who knows his role and can handle being a sub at a couple of different roles. But I could see either of Lleget or Saief making a late surge and knocking Bedoya to the alternates list.

Yes, I agree that Horvath vs Hamid is the battle for Mr. Irrelevant 3d keeper.

 

I hope McKennie breaks out. All I've seen are highlight videos, which don't tell you much other than he looks the part and makes enough plays to have a highlight video.

 

I am sure he is on Arena's radar already, many are considering Acosta a lock for Russia right now and they came from the same Academy around the same time. if McKennie plays for Schalke at all this season he pole vaults over Acosta at least in the pecking order.

 

I think the problem for all the Euro guys who haven't gotten called up by Arena yet is that time is already running short for them. In my opinion, Arena will be reluctant to call any new (for him) guys into the September qualifiers, because it's still absolutely critical that we get at least 4 points. Maybe guys who already have a strong track record at the club level and some experience with the USMNT (e.g., Williams or Chandler) get the call, but I doubt less established guys like Hyndman (if he's even healthy) or McKennie get called up.

After that, if we're lucky, we can experiment a little in the October qualifiers, and then we'll presumably have a friendly or two in November, but after that, there's not much opportunity for new Euro guys to get integrated into the team. That's why I think guys like Hyndman and McKennie (maybe throw Moore and Stanko into this category as well) need to be playing decent minutes and playing well by October to have a realistic chance at the WC roster.

 

I like Johannssen, but who knows whether he'll ever play like he did prior to injury.
Chandler is just a zero as far as I'm concerned.
I agree with another poster that Fabian can play RB if Yedlin is out, and if Villafana doesn't learn to cross beyond the first defender, Fabian can play LB. Fabian has been unimpressive as a MF, despite Arena wanting to play him there.
McKennie may play in a friendly, but I doubt he'll be in Russia.
Tilman idem. Hyndman as a CM unfortunately isn't as good as Tilman seems to be. If Tilman is as good as evryone thinks he is, I expext to see him playing for Germany.
Williams playing in the PL will up his chances.

 

Just noticed that Soccer America today highlights Williams, Green, Stanko and Chandler in preseason. All of them will be playing in the first division in PL or BL. Although they maintain Chandler had a great 2016-17 season, I can't remember a single game that he played well for the USMNT, even when he scored a goal. He certainly was abominable in the 4-0 loss to CR last time he played for us.

 

Howard, Guzan, Horvath
D: Brooks, GCam, Besler, Yedlin, Villafana, Gonzalez, EPB, ........Zusi (want it to be Lima!)
M: Bradley, Pulisic, FJ, Nagbe, McKennzie, Bedoya, Lletget, Rowe
F: Altidore, Wood, Dempsey, Morris

just missed: Dwyer, Zardes, Sapong, Saief, Acosta, Arriola, Lima, Opara, McCarty

Wishing for:
Lima to upend Zusi
Opara or Miazga to upend Gonzo
Acosta to upend Bedoya
Feilhaber to be on the roster at all

guess my boldest prediction will be Rowe is man 23, wish it was Lima though. no way Bruce will leave Zusi behind I guess. I hope Bruce falls in love with his speed and ability to play both sides of the backline and makes it too good to pass up.

 

OK, here's my best crack at it:
GK - Howard, Guzan, Hamid
D - Yedlin, Villafana, Lichaj, Cameron, Brooks, Besler, Gonzalez, Miazga
M - Pulisic, Bradley, Nagbe, Acosta, McCarty, Johnson, Arriola, Zardes
F - Altidore, Wood, Dempsey, Morris

Alternates - J. Gonzalez, Ream, Zusi, Adams, Rowe, Saief, Picault, Agudelo