Chelsea is set to resume UEFA Champions League play later this month, and its recently acquired American defender might be along for the ride.
Matt Miazga was among the 22 players that Chelsea named to its Champions League roster on Wednesday. The Blues are set to resume play on Feb. 16 in the first of two quarterfinal legs against French champion Paris Saint-Germain, and included Miazga in their list of eligible players.
The U.S. Men’s National Team defender, who will wear No. 20 for the club, is one of four centerbacks listed with Chelsea’s first team alongside John Terry, Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma. Fellow new signing Alexandre Pato was also included on the roster, while Radamel Falcao was not named.
Miazga was officially unveiled as a Chelsea player on Jan. 30. The 20-year-old defender’s move to Chelsea comes on the heels of a breakout season for the New York Red Bulls, for whom he made 32 total appearances in 2015. In addition, Miazga featured for both the U.S. Under-20 and Under-23 Men’s National Teams before making his senior U.S. team debut in November.
What do you think of the latest Miazga news? Excited to see him on the roster? Any chance he plays vs. PSG?
Share your thoughts below.
Bench Warmer
It is hard to tell what Miazga’s inclusion on the roster really means, but it is better than his not being on it.
While it is very unlikely that he will play in these games, I’m sure that Chelsea has a lot of other CB’s on their youth and reserve squads they could have named. A couple of injuries and they could have him playing, so I find it rather remarkable and encouraging that he is even included on this roster. A good sign that they value him.
The question should be, Any chance he will play in the Colombia playoffs?
If he doesn’t, it probably means he’s getting some playing time. If he’s just sitting on the bench or in the stands, then they’d let him go.
yes! during an intern’l break so Chelsea won’t mind – looking forward to seeing Payne-Brooks-Mazga-Yedlin backline – if there was no U23 games I would could see this being our senior team backline this year.
Oops, I haven’t been paying much attention to the U-23 team after the dreadful route one performance against Honduras, so I’d forgot it was during an international break. That would be a good backline although they could use Acosta as a left-back instead of Payne.
Idk know slow, Desevio Payne is smooth on the ball, I think a better defender and he has more experience at LB but who knows how the 2 of them will progress over the next few years. One thing that has been an issue for Payne is that he’s been injured a few times over the past 2 seasons so that is also something to keep an eye on
Incorrect. Its still considered a youth tourney (and I believe Olympic qualifiers are not an official FIFA-recognized competition; just the actual Olympics) Apparently, just because its an international date, doesn’t mean clubs have to release for Olympic qualifiers.
JK during his last interview expressed concern that he would like Brooks and Yedlin there to clinch the Colombia series, but their clubs seemed to have already expressed a refusal to release them for the U-23’s, and they will probably have to end up playing in the WC qualifiers.
Doubt he plays in the match. Quite frankly, I don’t see him getting much playing time at all the remaining portion of this season.
2016-17 though may be a different story (or at least we hope so).
Definitely not playing that UCL match, especially against PSG. Talk about trial by fire: Ibra, Cavani, DiMaria, Lavezzi, etc.
To play against Zlatan would be a blessing for Miazga. Not because he’d perform well, but because Zlatan had granted him allowance to be on the same pitch as his greatness.
He might not play in the PSG games but Terry is leaving at the end of the year and Cahill is on his way out. There will be chances for Miazga to earn playing time, it’s up to him to earn it.
I agree slowleftarm, that Terry and Cahill leaving are good signs. However lets also not kid ourselves into thinking that Chelsea are only going to be acquiring more prospects along Miazga’s level. Maybe they won’t be acquiring elite CB’s due to the lack of continental competition, but they still have the money and prestige to get good, established CB’s to partner with Zouma.
Again, good signs that the established guys are leaving, but not sure fire signs of Miazga automatically being a starter week-in, week-out.
I think he will get some considerable playing time especially in EPL play because due to the fact that Chelsea can’t really aim realistically at finishing in the top 4 of the table in order to qualify for next season’s (2016-2017), it might force them to concentrate on Champions League and thus resting some of the Starters for the league games in between the Champions League round of 16 and as far as they advance…
Guess we’ll find out next weekend a full 2 weeks after Miazga has joined