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Who should the U.S. U-23s start vs. Honduras?

U-23 USMNT lineup vs. Panama Olympic qualifying 28

photo by Ron Chenoy/USA Today Sports

By FRANCO PANIZO 

A ticket to next year’s Olympics is a win away, but the opponent standing in between the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team and a berth to Brazil will likely be the toughest to date.

After cruising through the group stage of CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, the U.S. U-23s will take on Honduras in a semifinals match on Saturday (3 pm ET, Telemundo) that guarantees a place in the 2016 Olympics. The Americans should enter the game at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, high on confidence after going 3-0 en route to winning Group A, and after most recently routing Panama, 4-0, on Tuesday.

The U.S. might be doing well, but head coach Andi Herzog still has some intriguing lineup decisions to make for the meeting with Honduras. Goalkeeper is a position that is seemingly wide open, and the construction of the midfield will also take some thinking after seeing how some of the players performed against Panama.

Herzog will have to get his lineup choice right, as the pressure is on the Americans to advance to the Olympics after missing out on the 2012 edition. It has been smooth sailing for the U.S. so far, but all that will be for naught if it cannot knock off a stiff Honduras side that only narrowly lost to Mexico on Wednesday.

Here is the lineup we could see Herzog use on Saturday:

————Morris——————————–

———————————-Kiesewetter—–

——-Ariyibi———-Gil———Hyndman—–

————————-Trapp———————

Serna—-Carter-Vickers—Miazga—-Okwuono

———————–Horvath———————-

Some thoughts:

The one change that we could see and that might leave some people surprised is Gedion Zelalem being dropped in favor of Gboly Ariyibi. Zelalem has not had the best of tournaments so far, struggling to find the flow of the games and not nearly as imposing as one would have thought he would be. He was removed after 45 minutes against Panama on Tuesday, which may either have been either by design to keep him fresh or as a result of his subpar showing.

Either way, Ariyibi looked good and aggressive in the second half of that 4-0 win. His willingness to take on defenders on the dribble added a dimension to the U.S. midfield that it did not have much of in the previous two group stage games, and head coach Andi Herzog may be especially keen on making the reserve a starter here given the Americans’ propensity to attack quickly rather than patiently.

Herzog has to also make a decision in goal between Zack Steffen and Ethan Horvath. While Steffen seems to be the more promising prospect of the two, Horvath is the one who currently is finding regular minutes at the club level. Horvath also looked fairly solid in his tournament debut against Panama despite a few errors because of a lack chemistry, and that combined with his sharpness and Steffen’s continued struggles with aerial balls will likely see Horvath start.

The rest of the squad should more or less be what is expected. Wil Trapp and Matt Miazga figure to respectively slot back into their defensive midfield and centerback spots after sitting out the win over Panama to stay fresh. Cameron Carter-Vickers should again be paired with Miazga in central defense, and it is likely that Boyd Okwuono and Dillon Serna remain on the flanks.

It also appears probable that Luis Gil and Emerson Hyndman occupy the two other advanced midfield roles next to Ariyibi. Gil has been a consistently-solid contributor for the Americans throughout this tournament, be it as a reserve or starter, and looks all but certain to again serve as the playmaker. Hyndman, meanwhile, would flop from left to right midfield for this game to make way for Ariyibi.

There is little doubt who will start ahead of them at the tip of the attack. Forward partners Jordan Morris and Jerome Kiesewetter ripped Panama apart as substitutes on Tuesday in yet another impressive showing for them, and that should make them easy choices for this all-important affair.

—–

What do you think about this projected lineup for the U.S. U-23s? Agree that Zelalem could be benched in favor of Ariyibi? Would you go with Horvath or Steffen in goal? Confident the Americans will knock off Honduras regardless of who is on the field?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Since I can’t sleep all jazzed up about a Major Sports Saturday,
    Based on the U-20 & the Toulon Tourney, who do you think we miss the most?
    Aside from the Senior team guys….
    Rubin may be the best, but I think Arriola was a warrior this summer and would complete this roster nicely.
    Who do you guys think?

    Reply
    • AMEN!! Thank You, Bac, for saying what needed to be said. Arrival is the buggest miss of the tourney for my money. He was a complete spark plug in the U20 WC and brings something to the wing we don’t have…scrappy cutter who will out hustle and be able to control the ball.

      Having said that, I think the U23 team has done a fantastic job of bonding, shown more promise, creativity and composure than I’ve seen in almost a decade at this age level. And perhaps that’s the most exciting aspect, a core group of these guys will be eligible for the NEXT Olympic cycle, crazy!

      Glad someone else is awake, and glad to see Arriolas name mentioned, he’s got a great future.

      Reply
  2. Anybody know anything about Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu, just read he has interest in playing for the USMNT. All I know is he was born in Washington DC and is scoring goals in Ligue 1 for Stade de Reims

    Reply
    • He’s a 19 yr old forward who is 6’3″ and has 3 goals so far this year at Stade De Reims.
      As I mentioned on another site….If we qualify for the Olympics tomorrow in the match against Honduras than there should be a number of U-23 camps where he could be brought in and evaluated against his piers (Morris, Kiesewetter, Tall, Rubin, etc….). If he is an upgrade over the current players he can be integrated into the Olympic Team and progress from there.

      Reply
      • 6’3” and scoring goals in Ligue 1. He seems like an interesting prospect, I wonder if Klinsmann or Herzog even know about him, but I bet they do.

      • How about developing our own players instead of scouring the globe for passport Americans to save us?

      • great, original idea! why didn’t anyone else think of that? you do know that every country will take any player they can get, right? heard of diego costa?

      • He is a US citizen born in Washington D.C. How about letting a kid decide that’s its ok to represent the country where he was born and holds citizenship and wants to represent? I understand that the US needs to develop players in the US. That’s a fine goal. But denying a 19 yr. old US-born citizen the right to play for the US? Nope. Cap him.

      • A French publication asked hey weren’t you born in DC. He responded yes I have us citizenship. Would you want to play for Us. It would be interesting,but right now I’m focused on my club. This really seems a non story until US Soccer even contacts him.

      • Umm the reason there are so many Germericans on the US roster is because they are children of American servicemen stationed there. Why are Americans stationed there? You can brush up on your history on this guy called Hitler and this thing called Works War 2. Why aren’t German-born players playing for Brazil or Spain or Ivory Coast? Because those countries didn’t play the role the US did in liberating continental Europe and staying behind for decades afterwards. The Germericans on the US roster represent essential parts of the American character and the American story and I’m tired of hearing them dismissed as “passport Americans” or whatever. I’m proud of what the US did in WW2 and their role in stabilizing Europe in the decades afterwards and the children of US servicemen are Americans, full stop.

      • Kind of ironic in that one of the best coaches we have in the US/MLS is Sigi Schmid.
        His Dad was a German POW. Most German POW’s were housed/imprisoned in Texas, Arizona. Many of them were treated so nicely and fed so well, that “a lot” of them stayed in the US after the war and took jobs , some as farmers, or in aerospace, electronics. All were vetted as to weed out SS, Gestapo, etc and all were welcomed. Some who came back to Germany, missed the US and immigrated back here to the US. Sigi’s family settled in LA, in Torrance, a few miles from the Stub Hub center. We met back in the 60’s when we were both playing soccer in the “Mexican playground” leagues and later when we both went to the same high school. That where I met his father and family. they still spoke German around the house and Sigi’s father still had that German accent that reminded me of Hogan’s Hero’s (which was still on TV at the time). lol

        In the early days of soccer, the US was heavily influenced by German soccer coaches, several of them who came here after the war.

        To see a lot of them returning back to the US after learning soccer via the German system is interesting as many still think of the US, coming from US parent(s) a their homeland. If the names of Luther Osiander is familiar name to many as he coached the Galaxy, but became infamous for not playing the US’s best player when coach of the USMNT (do I detect a theme here?) but many do not know of Manfred Schellscheidt ? All were born in Germany some but came to the US as immigrants and coached “German Style” the USMNT.

        The “One who got away” and the best German EVER to coach the USMNT was undoubtedly Dettmar Kramer, who was USMNT coach in 1974, he was a VERY accomplished German coach, having led West Germany as an assistant coach to the 1966 WC, losing to England. how we got him, I’ll never know and remains a soccer mystery. Unfortunately after only 6 months. Bayern Munich came calling and Cramer left , but promptly led BM to the European Champions CUP in 1975 and 1976 and in 1976 The Club World Cup. Ah what could have been. Sadly Mr Cramer died last month and I’ll never know why he took the then thankless job of USMNT coach.

  3. I would put Pelosi over Serna if healthy but other then that, lineup looks good. Sub in Making Tall, Poster if we’re leading towards the end and Serna if he’s on the bench.

    Reply

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