USMNT Part IX

[bluesfan94]

The last one was 15 pages over the limit. Welcome to the new and improved one.

Click to read more...

 

[KlausJopling]

October Roster

GOALKEEPERS (3):
Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 9/0),
Zack Steffen (Manchester City/ENG; 23/0),
Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 10/0)
DEFENDERS (10):
George Bello (Atlanta United; 4/0),
John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 45/3)
Sergiño Dest (Barcelona/ESP; 13/1)
Mark McKenzie (Genk/BEL; 7/0)
Shaq Moore (Tenerife/ESP; 11/1)
Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 46/1)
Chris Richards (Hoffenheim/GER; 3/0)
Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 15/1)
Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 12/2)
DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray/TUR; 67/0)

MIDFIELDERS (8):
Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 40/2)
Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig/GER; 17/1)
Gianluca Busio (Venezia/ITA; 6/0)
Luca de la Torre (Heracles/NED: 3/0)
Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 32/8)
Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 25/7)
Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 6/0)
Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 28/0)

FORWARDS (6):
Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg/AUT; 10/5)
Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 8/0)
Matthew Hoppe (Mallorca/ESP; 5/1)
Ricardo Pepi (FC Dallas; 1/1)
Tim Weah (Lille/FRA; 13/1)
Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew; 62/14)

 

[KlausJopling]

Changes from last roster

Left off
- Horvath
- Zimmerman
- Sands
- Sargent
- De la Fuente
- Pefok
- Reyna (injured)
- Pulisic (injured)

Added
- Johnson (though he was on as injury replacement last time)
- Moore
- Richards
- Busio
- De la Torre
- Musah
- Arriola
- Hoppe
- Weah (originally on last roster but then was injured)
- Zardes

Last time he didnt take enough central midfielders, this time he pretty much replaced 3 forwards with 3 central midfielders. Suprises are Shaq Moore, who hasnt really been playing much over Scally or any one of 2 MLS fullback options (though Moore was good in Gold Cup). No Pefok, wasnt great in the one game he played but he keeps scoring for his club. De la Fuente also wasnt great but he really only played that first game, thought with the lack of wide attackers available he would get called.

 

[robertmac43]

No Reyna or Puli must hurt.

 

[Savant]

This roster is worse than last cycle by a lot. Bringing Zardes instead of Pefok is ridiculous

 

[KingLB]

This roster is worse than last cycle by a lot. Bringing Zardes instead of Pefok is ridiculous

Top end talent definitely isn’t there. But still easily better roster than everyone we play. USA actually has depth for first time maybe ever.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

That roster is awful. Worst roster in a long time.

I count 8 Berhalter favorites that nobody was calling for (Moore, Yedlin, Ream, Acosta, Roldan, Lletget, Arriola, and Zardes). Berhalter isn’t leaving these guys off the World Cup roster. It’ll be players like Sargent, Scally, Konrad, and Musah that get left off.

There’s not much that can be done with the injuries, although I read Reyna may join up after a game or two. I would’ve called in Pulisic. Let him rehab with the National Team. Chelsea doesn’t use him anyway, so I wouldn’t be doing them any favors.

 

[kingsboy11]

I'm not the biggest Pefok fan, but this guy is the only striker that is consistently scoring goals for his club team. Disappointed that Zardes is there, but not surprising. One way or another Berhalter's going to find a way to get him on the team.

Glad that De la Torre, Richards, Musah, and Hoppe are here bringing some actual talent.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I'm not the biggest Pefok fan, but this guy is the only striker that is consistently scoring goals for his club team.

Agree that Pefok should be there over Zardes, but what about Pepi? He’s also scoring goals at a very good rate.

 

[KingLB]

That roster is awful. Worst roster in a long time.

I count 8 Berhalter favorites that nobody was calling for (Moore, Yedlin, Ream, Acosta, Roldan, Lletget, Arriola, and Zardes). Berhalter isn’t leaving these guys off the World Cup roster. It’ll be players like Sargent, Scally, Konrad, and Musah that get left off.

There’s not much that can be done with the injuries, although I read Reyna may join up after a game or two. I would’ve called in Pulisic. Let him rehab with the National Team. Chelsea doesn’t use him anyway, so I wouldn’t be doing them any favors.

I mean maybe for one or two of those guys. But it’s an expanded roster, and we aren’t 100% healthy. Not sure most those guys are keeping anyone meaningful out. Outside Scally/Prefok/Konrad.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I mean maybe for one or two of those guys. But it’s an expanded roster, and we aren’t 100% healthy. Not sure most those guys are keeping anyone meaningful out. Outside Scally/Prefok/Konrad.

I’d rather some newer names that we don’t know if they can play at this level than go with guys that we know can’t play at this level. I’d much rather have players like Mihailovic or Ferreira over Lletget and Roldan. I’d much rather have Sands on the roster than Acosta.

 

[KingLB]

I’d rather some newer names that we don’t know if they can play at this level than go with guys that we know can’t play at this level. I’d much rather have players like Mihailovic or Ferreira over Lletget and Roldan. I’d much rather have Sands on the roster than Acosta.

Meh, Milailovic and Ferreira aren’t direct replacements for those two imo. And while I like Sands, I think he looked overwhelmed last call. Still needs more time before going back to Central America.

 

[Eye of Ra]

I know Scally is young but cmon. No way Shaq Moore is better.

 

[Eye of Ra]

I think Haji Wright should have made it over Zardes and Arriola. Haji scored lots of goals in Danish league and now he does it in the turkish league.

 

[KingLB]

I know Scally is young but cmon. No way Shaq Moore is better.

Scally has only started every minute for one of the better German teams. Oh and now he is scoring too…

 

[KlausJopling]

Reports are John Brooks is out for this break with an injury. Ream already opted out last week (they called up Zimmerman in his place).

In dual national news.
- Sports Illustrate are reporting that Araujo has filed one time switch. Berhalter pretty much said he was gone last week.
- Jonathan Gomez, 18 year old left back who just was purchased by Sociedad is in camp with Mexico's U20. US has really screwed up by not having any youth camps since the pandemic started.
- Amir Richardson was called up by Morroco's U23. Not sure he is even on US's radar but its on interesting story. He is the son of former NBA player Michael Ray Richardson who received a lifetime ban from the NBA due to drugs. Then moved to Europe to play. Amir was born in France to a French/Moroccan mother. Don't know anything about his ability other than he is a 19 year old, 6'5" midfielder who has started a bunch of games for Havre in Ligue 2.

 

[Basement Cat]

Really hope Miazga gets the call as a result of the Brooks news. He deserves a shot back with the USMNT and is off to a good start in Spain.

 

[KlausJopling]

Really hope Miazga gets the call as a result of the Brooks news. He deserves a shot back with the USMNT and is off to a good start in Spain.

He should, but for whatever reason Berhalter doesn't like to call in European based guys as replacements. I expect a MLS player (Kesler, Sands) or no one.

 

[Basement Cat]

What I expect to see from Gregg on Thursday:

-------------------Zardes
Aaronson-------------------------Arriola
--------Lletget--------------Mckennie
-------------------Adams
ARob---Mckenzie---MRob----Dest
-------------------Turner

What I'd like to see:

----------Hoppe---------Pepi
--------------Aarsonson
---------LDLT---------Mckennie
-----------------Adams
ARob---Richards---MRob---Dest
-----------------Turner

 

[kingsboy11]

Disappointed but not surprised that Araujo switched. Given the depth at his position and lack thereof in Mexico and the amount of El Tri players on the Galaxy its not a surprise. Doesn't make me any less annoyed considering he represented the US in Olympic qualifying earlier this year.

Miazga has gotten off to a good start in LA Liga and he's the obvious choice, so Gregg will take some else.

 

[cgf]

He should, but for whatever reason Berhalter doesn't like to call in European based guys as replacements. I expect a MLS player (Kesler, Sands) or no one.

A trainer only has so much time to teach his team how he wants them to play when working with a NT. So any time you need to integrate new players into the collective, that is taking away time from working with others or working with the group as a whole.

That's often why NT coaches who are still shaping their team or already integrating a lot of youth, will generally recycle players who already know what is expected of them, for replacements...and why it's generally only NTs that have an established core & coach who are able to be more experimentative with their injury replacements.

Throw in travel making US-based replacements easier for a trainer to get more time with, and I think it's to be expected that the USMNT would rely more on US-based injury replacements...at least when working with such a young squad. So it may well be more about logistics than anything else.

EDIT:
I was lurking a soccer board I used to post on and I thought you might enjoy what one of the BMG fans who reminds me of SEPH (read: this is gunna be over the top) despite being a 50-60yo german man who learned english later in life, had to say about Scally:

Boy o boy scally is light years ahead of his age...in terms of understanding the game thru and thru...seems like in his previous life he was also a pro footballer
[...]
...we got lucky thanks to our new phenom "scally" and other lads...

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Dike is starting to score again. People got way too low on him after his bad summer. He was playing injured and didn’t have a real offseason in about two years.

Now that he had some time off, he’s back to being one of our best strikers. I think Pepi and Dike are our two best strikers. I think Hoppe and Sargent are pretty close for 3 and 4. I don’t mind calling in Hoppe over Sargent this window, if that’s what the decision was, which it probably wasn’t. Siabetcheu is fifth for me. He’s not bad, but he’s not that great. He’s a depth option. I don’t want to see any more call-ins for Zardes. I’d rather see someone like Wright or Ferreira, if we go further down the depth chart than the first five I named.

 

[KlausJopling]

Disappointed but not surprised that Araujo switched. Given the depth at his position and lack thereof in Mexico and the amount of El Tri players on the Galaxy its not a surprise. Doesn't make me any less annoyed considering he represented the US in Olympic qualifying earlier this year.

Miazga has gotten off to a good start in LA Liga and he's the obvious choice, so Gregg will take some else.

Two players from that team have filed one time switches away. What a mess of a tournament for the US.

Brooks is officially out. They are not calling in an injury replacement yet. I bet if they make it through the first game without an injury they will stick with the 4 centerbacks they have.

 

[KlausJopling]

Julian Araujo has official announced his intention to declare for the Mexican national team. Can never blame any player who options to represent multiple nations no matter what reason they choose. Really good player.

 

[KlausJopling]

Some news ahead of the game.

- Musah had an inconclusive COVID test so he trained away from the team. Yesterday he had a PCR test which came back negative so he is back with the full team.
- Berhalter announced McKennie would start today (the only starter he named)
- US has atleast one player (possibly two, the reporting i have seen is unclear) that are not fully vaccinated yet. They wont travel to Panama.