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Americans Abroad Weekend Rewind: Danny Williams, Fabian Johnson and more

 

Danny Williams and Huddersfield Town picked up one of the biggest results of the club’s history on Saturday.

The American midfielder started and played 90 minutes as Huddersfield Town upset Manchester United, 2-1, in the Premier League shocker of the weekend. The result pushes the club up up to 11th in the league.

In the Championship, Eric Lichaj contributed a goal in a 2-0 win for Nottingham Forest. He wasn’t the only American to get on the scoresheet, though, as Romain Gall also fired a goal in Sweden while Fabian Johnson scored in a lopsided loss.

Elsewhere, McKinzie Gaines made his debut for Darmstatdt, Ethan Horvath and William Yarbrough provided shutouts and Christian Pulisic went a full 90 in a frustrating defeat while Timmy Chandler suffered an injury.

Here’s a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad:

ENGLAND

PREMIER LEAGUE

Danny Williams started and played 90 minutes in Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 win over Manchester United on Saturday.

Geoff Cameron started and played 90 minutes in Stoke City’s 2-1 loss to Bourneouth on Saturday.

Emerson Hyndman did not dress against Bournemouth on Saturday.

DeAndre Yedlin started and played 90 minutes in Newcastle United’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa on Saturday.

Lynden Gooch entered as an 89th minute sub in Sunderland’s 3-3 draw with Brentford on Saturday.

Eric Lichaj played 90 minutes and scored A GOAL in Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 win over Burton Albion on Saturday.

Cameron Carter-Vickers started and played 90 minutes in Sheffield United’s 2-1 win over Reading on Saturday.

GERMANY

BUNDSELIGA

Weston McKennie dressed but did not play in Schalke’s 2-0 win over Mainz on Friday.

Fabian Johnson started and scored a GOAL in Borussia Monchengladbach’s 5-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5HYWh4Gwvo

Christian Pulisic started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.

Timmy Chandler started and played 37 minutes for Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.

Bobby Wood started and played 90 minutes in Hamburg’s 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich on Saturday.

Aron Johannsson did not dress for Werder Bremen’s 0-0 draw with Cologne on Sunday.

Jonathan Klinsmann did not dress for Hertha Berlin’s 1-1 draw with Freiburg on Sunday.

Caleb Stanko did not dress for Freiburg on Sunday.

John Brooks did not dress for Wolfsburg’s 1-1 draw with Hoffenhein on Sunday.

2. BUNDESLIGA

Alfredo Morales started and played 90 minutes in Ingolstadt’s 3-0 win over Heidenheimer SB on Friday.

McKinzie Gaines started and played 45 minutes in Darmstadt’s 1-0 loss to Fortuna Dusseldorf on Friday.

Jerome Kiesewetter did not dress for Fortuna Dusseldorf on Friday.

Terrence Boyd did not dress for Darmstadt on Friday.

Julian Green did not dress for Greuther Furth’s 3-1 loss to Union Berlin on Saturday.

MEXICO

LIGA MX

William Yarbrough started and played 90 minutes in Club Leon’s 0-0 draw with Morelia on Friday.

Joe Corona, Michael Orozco and Alejandro Guido did not dress in Club Tijuana’s 1-0 loss to Atlas on Friday.

Jorge Villafana did not dress for Santos Laguna’s 2-1 win over Queretaro on Saturday.

Ventura Alvarado dressed but did not play for Santos Laguna on Saturday.

Jonathan Bornstein started and played 90  minutes for Queretaro on Saturday.

Jose Torres entered as an 89th minute susbstitute in Tigres UANL’s 3-0 win over Toluca on Saturday.

Rodrigo Lopez did not dress for Toluca on Saturday.

Omar Gonzalez did not dress for Pachuca’s 1-0 win over Puebla on Saturday.

Jonathan Gonzalez started and played 51 minutes in Monterrey’s 1-0 win over Pumas on Sunday.

Edgar Castillo dressed but did not play for Monterrey.

SPAIN

LA LIGA

Shaq Moore dressed but did not play in Levante’s 1-1 draw with Getafe on Saturday.

NETHERLANDS

EREDIVISIE

Desevio Payne entered as a 71st minute substitute in Excelsior’s 1-1 draw with Sparta Rotterdam on Saturday.

Shane O’Neill did not dress for Excelsior on Saturday.

Matt Miazga started and played 90 minutes in Vitesse’s 4-0 win over Heerenveen on Sunday.

BELGIUM

PRO LEAGUE

Kenny Saeif did not dress for Gent’s 1-1 draw with KV Kotrijk on Saturday.

Juan Pablo Torres did not dress for KSC Lokoren’s 1-1 draw with Charleroi on Saturday.

Ethan Horvath started and played 90 minutes in Club Brugge’s 1-0 win over Antwerp on Sunday.

NORWAY

ELITESERIEN

Rubio Rubin did not dress for Stabaek’s 2-1 loss to Tromso on Sunday.

SWEDEN

ALLSVENSKAN

Romain Gall played 90 minutes and scored A GOAL in Sundsvall’s 2-2 draw with IFK Norrkoping on Sunday

Mix Diskerud started and played 90 minutes in IFK Goteborg’s 1-0 loss to Ostersunds FC on Sunday.

 

Comments

  1. @bizzy et al

    wait, are people really blaming bradley for the t&t game?

    he was basically tasked with covering the whole midfield, and it was a losing proposition from the beginning. his performances have definitely gone downhill in the past couple years and he deserves his share of the blame for not qualifying, but his failure in t&t was purely down to bruce’s tactics.

    anyone who thinks danny williams (or cameron, or basically any player besides maybe n’golo kante) could’ve succeeded in that role is kidding themselves.

    Reply
    • @Nate Dollars
      There is only few people kidding themselves and that players like Danny Williams, Geoff Cameron etc who play in a league like the EPL deserved to not be on the pitch and Micahel Bradley is the best thing we have…..absolutely delusional and that’s the reason we got knocked out by a bottom level team because wishful thinking can only take you so far

      PUT YOUR BIGGEST DOGS IN THE FIGHT…..Not your poodles who are soft, entitled and useless

      Reply
      • @Nate Dollars
        you have no idea especially if your argument is michael bradley is better than a starting midfielder in the EPL (ANY MIDFIELDER). He is garbage and to compare him to Danny Williams THAT INSULTING

      • wait, are people really blaming bradley for the t&t game?
        anyone who thinks danny williams (or cameron, or basically any player besides maybe n’golo kante) could’ve succeeded in that role is kidding themselves

        by those comment you mean nobody could have don’t better (delusional) and Bradley was not to blame for a pathetic USMNT midfield (delusional 2) and that Danny Willaims and Geoff Cameron couldn’t have made a difference (delusional 3)

        if anyone is like a thick brick wall its you my friend and you just don’t get it

      • @bizzy

        since we go way back (in internet years), i’ll try one more time:

        no, i don’t mean nobody could’ve done better. that’s not what i said at all.

        i do mean that the “pathetic midfield” was not simply due to bradley, and i’m certainly not the only one to have stated that; bruce’s tactics put him—and the team—in a no-win situation. (i see now that johnnyrazor has said it better than i did; read his comment, i guess.)

        and i do think that if bradley was swapped out for williams or cameron, and they were asked to do the exact same thing, we still would’ve lost—or at least lost the battle for midfield, which is what my comment was actually about.

        bradley can (and should) be blamed for a whole pile of things this cycle, but the t&t match just isn’t one of them. where we agree is that williams should’ve been involved in qualifying from the outset, and cameron should’ve been on the field in t&t.

      • @Nate Dollars

        So let me get this straight
        you are not saying Bradley is better than Williams or Cameron
        You are saying given the the way the team was set up (with other dead beats) Williams or Cameron couldn’t have saved us
        You are saying Bradley can (and should) be blamed for a whole pile of things this cycle
        You are also saying that Williams should’ve been involved, and Cameron should’ve been on the field in t&t

        Lol, so why are we even arguing Nate? 😀

    • @Nate, I agree with you on most things I see you post but YES I blame Bradley not just for TnT but for the bad MF play thru out the entirety of the Hex. He’s captain and leader of this team and we were out played in MF in 7 out of 10 Hex matches. Yes, tactics and formations were also at fault but our poor MF play goes back to before BA and before the heavy used of the diamond MF too. Bradley has been the centerpiece of our MF for ten years and that poor play starts and ends with him. No more using JJ or Beckerman or others as scapegoats.

      Reply
      • @joe dirt

        yeah, i was only addressing criticism of bradley in the t&t match.

        i agree that he’s been below par for a while, although i think the hard truth may be that, if cameron is used at cb, bradley’s still going to be one of our top 2—3 at most—center mids.

  2. @bizzy There is no proof whatsoever that Williams would have been a better player than Bradley for USA in 2017 or will be in 2018 or 2019. But where it gets really ridiculous is that Green somehow is better than Jozy. Green who has not even made the 18 for his lowly B2 team. Maybe Bundesliga 2 is slightly better than MLS, but one player is a legitimate and consistent scorer (also 40+ goals for NT) and the other one is a part-time player.

    Unless Poyet is the coach of USMNT get used to seeing Jozy start over just about anyone.

    Also ridiculous is the suggestion that Bradley who played in Serie A for several years (with a decent amount of success) somehow is hinderance to Johnson’s ability to play the way he used to. You can’t equate the difference between NBA stars and college players to the difference between average Bundesliga players and MLS stars. The latter difference is way smaller, if any.

    Reply
    • @Yev, Green had started every game he was available with Gureth Fuerth until the week before last. The club website listed him as being sick and unavailable for the last two games.

      Reply
    • @Yevgeniy
      There is no proof whatsoever that Williams would have been a better player than Bradley for USA in 2017 or will be in 2018 or 2019.
      Danny Williams plays in the EPL
      Danny William just went toe to toe with Manchester United and they won
      Danny is a BETTER PLAYER, IS PLAYING AT A HIGHER LEVEL AND IS PLAYING AGAINST HIGHER LEVEL OPPONENTS

      But where it gets really ridiculous is that Green somehow is better than Jozy. Green who has not even made the 18 for his lowly B2 team….
      Julian Green came up the rank of Bayern Munich
      Julian Green has play alongside Robert Lewandowski, Franck Ribéry, Jérôme Boateng etc
      Julian Green has score a harttrick twice (maybe even 3 times) playing for Bayern with their stars (preseason)
      Julian Green will never be label the WORST STRIKER FOR ANY TEAM HE PLAYS FOR OR THE WORST TO EVER PLAY IN WHATEVER LEAGUE HE IS IN.
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4941130/The-100-worst-strikers-Premier-League-history-20-1.html
      Out of 100 players Jozy Altidore is finally good at something and being number 1 hahahahahahaha 😀
      trash

      Reply
  3. Altidore and Bradley are good enough, both have played in top leagues and could still be if they had chosen too, at least better leagues than MLS. (Let’s not forget the reason that both McKennie and Williams are in top leagues is they were cheap.) Toronto just set the record for regular season points with Bradley and Altidore as two of their best four players. But what about Giovinco you say, true, but I’d put him on level with Pulisic, and Vazquez came through the Barca system but was an average player at Brugge and spent two years barely making it off the bench at Cruz Azul. The difference is at Toronto both are put into positions where they can make a difference no matter what the opposition does.
    ————————————————————————————————————————-
    No one on the American roster or prospective roster could have handled the role given to Bradley in Trinidad. He was asked to cover huge amounts of space with little support. Could Williams or Cameron have provided harder challenges, yes, but with the space in the midfield created by the formation and the inclusion of Nagbe and Arriola as the wings there would still have been plenty of space to pick out passes before said challenge arrived. Trinidad clearly watched film of the US against Panama and saw that they could overrun the midfield and use speed players to attack the left side through Nagbe and Villafana which they did until the penalty put the match out of reach late in the half, the US then added another DM to help Bradley withdrawing one of their forwards with a three-goal lead. TnT made one crucial change rather than press the US they sat back. There was no longer space to play balls over the midfield to Altidore/Wood/Pulisic to run onto and with no creative player in the midfield to pick out passes the movement of the three forwards was lost, add that TnT could match our speed on the edges and crosses were also nowhere to be had. Once the US lost possession it was 40 yds of open space for US to try to retreat and cover, almost always down the left side of the US defense. This problem was clearly visible early in the match and Arena had the pieces to correct it both in the short term and long term, by pushing Nagbe inside and dropping Pulisic to the wing, or subbing into a 3-5-2 or 4-5-1 at the half. Arena instead made the problem even worse by adding a fourth forward, before finally adding midfield help in the 72 minute.
    ————————————————————————————————————————–
    The US problem since the WC has been control of the midfield, it was thought the problem was playing Bradley too high by JK. Well by dropping him in what many said was his natural #6 position (it’s not his natural position) all it did was change where the gap in the lines was. The team has been crying out for a creative midfielder to connect Bradley/Jones to Altidore/Wood/Dempsey/Pulisic. It looked like it might be Kljestan for awhile, but Arena dismissed that opting for the Empty Bucket at times with 2 CMs and at times with 1 CM and 3 Forwards.
    ————————————————————————————————————————–
    We needed the guy that pulled a 3 man back line out of thin air before Mexico in 2002 and again at the Azteca, what we got was the guy that seemed to not have even watched tape of his own team let alone the opposition. I do think its time to give other guys a shot and hope with MLS playoffs and the match in Europe whoever takes over, uses this opportunity.

    Reply
    • @Johnny, Reading this post felt like rereading one of my posts earlier this Hex or even while still under JK. Re: Bradley not being a true #6(I’ve said this ad nausem), Arena being overly tied to a single formation the 442(anyone who’s been around a while know BA’s preferred tactical formation), combination of MB’s lack of speed and formation leaving a large space/hole in front of our CBs for opposition to expose and expoit

      Plenty of us named the problems earlier in the Hex and even while under JK because the MF problems go back further even while playing a 4231 under JK. Plenty of us here who’ve watched BA teams in the past warned about the stale tactics, ie empty 442 with no linking thru MF and long balls bypassing MF to no one. None of us who knew BA’s MO expected anything different when he was hired. Most of us got flamed for saying his hire was a mistake.

      Seeing the problems early I and other are starting to talk more about the reasons from an institutional level why they occur in our NT. Why does MB get a pass and other players playing at higher levels get very few minutes to challenge him when our MF is playing so badly under both JK and BA? Why was JJ always the scapegoat in the US MF? Why are other US eligible players playing in higher leagues ignored or benched for MLS players?

      Its the past now but we have to learn from the mistakes of the past to inform our decisions in the future. We need to learn how it happen and why so we don’t repeat the same mistakes.

      Its my opinion and other who noticed our problems early that there are some institutional level problems and corruption that caused this debacle. Otherwise, this will happen again, which I really hope to be wrong about too.

      Reply
    • @Johnnyrazor

      I can’t believe I’m on here AGAIN arguing with you that DANNY WILLIAMS AND GEOFF CAMERON ARE BETTER OPTIONS AND BETTER PLAYERS THAN MICHAEL BRADLEY. Its people like you that fuel the entitlement of some of these players. Its like comparing a collegiate player to a Professional in terms of level of play and its just ridiculous, absolutely ludicrous!!!!!!.AND WE WONDERED WHY THE WHOLE TEAM WAS OUT OF SYNC hahahaha

      I’m glad its over and the whole nation saw how much they sucked. The USMNT doesnt have the leg room to field players like Bradley and Altidore and come out with a win….they just don’t (they are not even the best in MLS 😀 )

      Reply
      • Bradley is better, and I know this because I watch them play not just look at the name on the front of the jersey. Should others be given more time definitely, should anyone not named Pulisic have a non-contested starting spot no.

      • @Johnnyrazor
        “I know Bradley is better and I know this because I watched…..” hahahahahaha, do you listen to yourself??? Hahahahahaha an MLS midfielder that is not even the best in his field, IN MLS, is better than an EPL player? hahahhahahaha 😀 IN HIS PRIME BRADLEY COULDN’T CUT IT IN THE EPL WITH ASTON VILLA. They did not want him and I wonder why hahahahaha…you are trying to compare players making a living now in the English Premier League with a has-been who couldn’t make it even in his prime with his best days BEHIND HIM hahahahahahaha ALL BECAUSE YOU WATCHED THEM 😀
        THIS IS JUST TOO GOOD HAHAHAHAHAHA

      • @Johnnyrazor
        “Tim Tebow is better than Tom Brady, he’s a Heisman Trophy winner (Tom Brady didn’t win the Heisman did he? hahahahaha 😀 ), I have watched them play……” This made my day hahahaha

      • Ok I don’t really think that, I just wanted to see how many ALL CAPS I could get from you. But I stand by my contention which was if I have a choice between Bradley on the bench and Omar on the bench I take Bradley on the field every time. And as a lone DM Bradley is still a better option than Williams, Cameron, or McKennie (which I know you don’t understand).
        ————————————————————————————————————————-
        Sidenote your US Basketball analogy was incorrect, the US never used pros until 1992 after losing with college players in 1988. Since then, pros have been used almost exclusively (Laettner in 1992 and Anthony Davis 2012 both of those squads won gold), the only Olympic loss during that time was an all-NBA team.

      • @Johnnyrazor
        stop flip flopping you did say before Bradley was a better fit for the USMNT than Danny williams

        And you correct
        In 1992 NBA players were now eligible to play – the dream Team – first American Olympic team to feature active NBA players (the team defeated its opponents by an average of 44 points)
        1996 men’s Olympic team was similar to 1992 – Nicknamed Dream Team 3 – won the Gold medal for the second straight Olympics
        The 2000 men’s team was again comprised of NBA players – USA won the Gold medal (for the twelfth time in fourteen Olympics)
        2004 mens team – The team was noted for being one of the most disappointing Olympic teams, losing three games against their opponents
        2008 mens team – eleven NBA All-Stars, a Hall of Fame coach, and an NBA MVP

        I thought the major disappointment in 2004 came from collegiate participation on the team and was wrong but like the USMNT they didn’t use their BIG GUNS and had only 2 NBA ALLSTARS on the National team: Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson.
        In 2008 when they started kicking butt again they had 9 ALL-Star players on the team : Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Chris Paul,

        So the analogy holds true even more, though like you pointed out the facts where wrong. Selecting ALL-Star players we were playing well, Dominating and blowing out teams,….then selected a team that didn’t comprise of All-stars (like picking MLS players over Europe base players) and it made a world of difference and they sucked, and were noted for being one of the most disappointing Olympic teams (BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T PLAY THE BEST PLAYERS AT THE TIME)

      • I don’t really remember saying Bradley was better than Williams. Neither one would have been successful given the formation and tactics that were employed.
        ———————————————————————————————————————–
        Also, where a guy plays his league isn’t just dependant on ability. Simon Elliot was a journeyman midfielder in MLS and then started games for Fulham in the Premier League. When Bradley signed with Toronto he had plenty of European offers available (I don’t know if there were any EPL or how serious those offers might have been). Bradley chose Toronto because it was the only offer to even come close to 6.5 million and he and his wife wanted his family back in North America. Williams was able to move to England because of his Euro passport, he would not have qualified for a work permit without it a few years ago. So if you are Huddersfield and you need a DM you have to pay Bradley in the ballpark of 6 million plus a transfer fee to Toronto, or you can get Williams on a free transfer and a significantly less salary when you don’t expect to stay in the EPL long, its a no-brainer.

      • @Johnnyrazor
        I just realized that MLS ALL-STARS, against world class opposition, have never scored with MICHAEL BRADLEY on the field (whether he was involved or not). crazy huh 😀

    • @Johnnyrazor
      hahahahaha 😀 …you did say Bradley was a better fit than Geoff Cameron, & Danny Williams for the USMNT

      Since you walked back that statement no need to argue as Danny Williams and Cameron are better defensive midfielders than Bradley (Regardless of transfer fees). He could not make it playing for Aston Villa (if he was worth it they would have picked up his loan offer) and was a bench player for most of his stay there. He is not worth mentioning in the same mix as regulars / starters

      If he wasn’t worth it then, when he was in his prime, he sure isn’t worth it now (and FYI, I didn’t hear ANY OFFERS from top league teams for Michael Bradley….NOT ONE!!!)

      Reply
  4. 1.there’s talent and there is professionalism, desire and effort. Jozy and Bradley showed they were the worst kind of entitled during the TnT game. And don’t even get me started on the selfishness of Tim Howard and the fecklessness of a manager who couldn’t say no to him. 2.Since BA was calling in the likes of Wondo, he should have manned up and used him when he saw Jozy walk away from a give away at mid-field that led to a goal. Whatever else you can say about Wondo’s talent level, you can never fault him for lack of effort and professionalism.
    3.Beyond that, the locker room was a mess. A big strike against JK was he lost the locker room. There was talk of tension between the German Americans and the rest of the team. Fair or not, I lay that at the feet of Michael Bradley. The captain has to find a way shut that kind of talk down and if he can’t he shouldn’t be the captain. Danny Williams showed plenty for the USMNT…he was on the field when the US won their first game at the Azteca. He scored that screamer vs. Netherlands. He was no worse than MB has been on a consistent basis for a while. But with the locker room already tense, could JK bring in another German American who was an obvious rival to his entitled captain? No he could not. Instead we get a cycle of Beckerman followed by a revolving cast of MLS players that at best were long shots for doing well. Could DW have beaten out MB? We’ll never know because he was never really given a chance.

    Reply
  5. @Joe Dirt

    I watch and follow Americans abroad and celebrate their successes as much as anyone. However, I was talking about their performance for USA. Has Chandler ever played well? Has Williams taken advantage of his chances for the national team and now for a rational person to start him over Bradley? Has Johnson played well For USA recently?

    If we had 11 Pulisic’s playing for a top-10 team in Europe – let’s start them all. Until then, MLS will be heavily relied upon. The better it gets, the less someone will want a player from Holland (it’s already a stretch) just because they must be better. My guess is that The league’s quality will develop at the same or faster pace than the number of our players at the top, top, top teams in Europe. So, get used to MLS players on USMNT.

    Even Argentina has domestic players even though their players are on top teams in Europe.

    Reply
    • @Yevgeniy

      “I watch and follow Americans abroad and celebrate their successes as much as anyone. However, I was talking about their performance for USA” ……evidently you don’t or you would understand why these players don’t look good when dawning the colors of the Red White and Blue.

      A perfect example…..We are the best in Basketball in the world by a long shot….hands down, bar none (not even close) but when the US started mixing the pros and college players what happen? Performance dropped massively and teams started to challenge us. Then what happened when we went back to all pros? massacres, blowouts, massive thumping…..and so is true with USMNT.

      There is a particular tempo and rhythm you play with in top level clubs. The timing is different, passing and releasing the ball is different, the tactical / technical aspects and awareness of the game is different, collaboration between different positions on the field are different…..so you take a player like Fabian Johnson or Geoff Cameron or Danny Williams or Alfredo Morales or Julian Green who rely on other players playing with the SAME technical knowledge they do, who are use to playing with players that understand their positions and then mix them up with automatic starters…THAT START IN EVER GAME, THAT ARE ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC, THAT HOLD ON TO THE BALL TOO LONG, THAT CAN’T EVEN SEE WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITIES…and what do you get? A player that seems out of sync and that’s moving too fast or trying to compensate and is moving too slow on the field

      Again I disagree…the USMNT doesn’t need to heavily rely on MLS. These are players we could have used NOW!!!!

      —————-WOOD———–GREEN—————

      ————————–PULISIC————————-

      F. JOHNSON——————————CHANDLER

      ————————D. WILLIAMS———————-

      XXXX——-CAMERON—–BROOKS—–YEDLIN

      Julian Green – trained and came up the ranks on the best team in Germany, played along side Arjen Robben, Robert Lewandowski, Franck Ribéry, Jérôme Boateng etc in many preseason games and scored
      Timmy chandler – played many games as a right winger for Nürnberg, Germany
      and we have Emerson Hyndman, Tim Ream, Lynden Gooch, Eric Lichaj, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Weston McKennie, Aron Johannsson, McKinzie Gaines, Jerome Kiesewetter, Shaq Moore, Matt Miazga, Kenny Saeif, Ethan Horvath to choose from

      so we might have needed MLS players to compliment our foreign players but the core team should not have Bradley, Altidore, Zusi, Bedoya, Dempsey, Gonzalez etc as starters (lets be real)

      Reply
      • You bet on Arena and he sold you a bill of goods. He continued to employ a flawed system which worked only because teams were not good enough to finish. Think how many times after wins did people come on here (often your new buddy Joe) and say a better team would have finished that chance. Well, TnT finally finished those chances and Bruce had no clue what to do when it happened. It was simple math he conceded the space in the midfield playing Bradley too deep and Nagbe and Arriola too wide, putting them in a constant position to have to chase the ball. Williams, FJ, and Chandler (who I think as a whole are better) would have met the same fate. It wouldn’t have mattered what regiment Lee used whoever he sent charging repeatedly up Little Round Top at Gettysburg were doomed to fail. It worked against Panama because by pressing they closed that space for us allowing long balls to the forwards to run onto, when TnT stayed compact there was nothing for the US.

      • @Johnnyrazor

        “You bet on Arena and he sold you a bill of goods. He continued to employ a flawed system”……YES 100% because he left your boy Michael Bradley in the midfield and use mostly MLS players than our more experienced Europe based players. Unlike you I would be the first to say after Klinsmann we needed something new and I THOUGHT Arena was the next best fit but I wa wrong, he was not because he had your kind of mentality…..that there was nothing better outside the likes of of Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey and the USMNT paid the ultimate price.. They are not on par with foreign MLS based players (the reason why we get beaten) let alone players hustling for their place in leagues like EPL, Bundesliga etc…..they are just NOT ON THE SAME LEVEL, and people like you just cannot see it

  6. This board is an embarrassment. Just read it back to yourselves and realize what a bunch of bickering children you are. Sad.

    Reply
  7. I knew that the disaster from 2 weeks ago would give ammunition to MLS haters to feed off of one another and go on a complete witch hunt!

    I want the new coach to be a foreign one. When he starts relying on mostly MLS players, you will have to get quieter again. And I am sure he will. Even more so with each passing year as the league conto use to improve. Any coach will want to win and will pick players who are expected to produce for THIS team. Jurgen was pretty anti-MLS, but he was no fool and relied heavily on domestic players.

    Yes, Omar messed up a lot, but wasn’t it Cameron and Ream who messed up against CR at home? Wasn’t Brooks absolutely awful in Costa Rica??? Wasn’t Johnson invisible at Red Bull Arena?

    This whole thing about “no one would play players from lesser leagues” is a total BS!!! First of all, it happens all the time! I am sure that Belgium has defenders in better leagues, but Ciman plays. Costa Rica constantly play MLS players over Campbell and Gonzalez. Argentina uses domestic players who can easily be replaced by Spain-based ones. Germany has used players from Turkey. I could go on and on!

    Secondly, there is often a difference between players’ status. For example, all equal, noone would play a starter from Norwich over a starter at Stoke. However, how about a star from Norwich over a mostly-sub player at Stoke? Not so obvious. You gotta remember that only the top MLS players make USMNT (at least that is the idea), no average MLS players.

    I watch every minute of USMNT games and I have not seen how Johnson (lately), Williams, Chandler, Ream are better than their MLS competition.

    Reply
    • You don’t understand, Yavgeniy. People don’t want to hear an fair an hones assessment of the failure to qualify. They’d much rather find a scapegoat than to face the fact that the problems go much deeper than a few missteps by the coach when it came to call ups. That could lead to program improvements and seriously, who wants that?

      Reply
    • @Yev, Comments like this are why we suck. If we can’t even agree that calling up players from higher leagues/divisions is typically better than calling in MLS nobodies like Zusi and Wondo and Zardes then all I can do is smh. And since you clearly haven’t watch any of their club games Chandler and Williams have been in great form the past year.

      MLS is good for kids to get started in and then find their way to Europe and challenge themselves to see how high they can go, at least that is how it should work until MLS flips that competition imbalance which is a long ways away.

      MLS teams have accomplished absolutely nothing when competing against foreign competiton in CCL or Libertadores in years past. We won the Concacaf Cup a couple times under the old format but that’s it. Where is this arrogance about MLS’ supposed high level of play coming from. Its the same arrogance that made us so over confident against TnT.

      When MLS at a bare minimum makes Club World Cup a couple times in a five year span I’ll talk but until then MLS is no where near the level we need to be pulling players from to compete at elite levels. If we continue to so heavily weight our NT with MLS talent its really no wonder we are getting beat by Concacaf teams who also are heavily weighted with MLS players. We have players at a higher level but just didn’t use them as Gary Page mentioned earlier and Bizzy and I have been screaming all Hex.

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    • Hater or realist call it what u want but there are reason athletes go to big time schools, clubs or leagues to play with and against the best to improve their game. MLS is like the WAC compared to the ACC in college basketball, will they sometimes beat the better teams yes but 9/10 probably not. Every dog has its day and the USMNT and Arena didn’t have their day. Better teams win with with better players.

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  8. From walking with swagger when we were ranked 6th in the world, to staying home with swagger, by being unable to even get a point against the last placed team in CONCACAF hex.

    Let your actions do the talking on the field; not the tattoos, neckbeards or clothes with designer holes. LOL !

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  9. For those commenting that Williams was hurt and wasn’t able to be called in the last two games, this is true.
    It’s also true that there were 6 other qualifying games under Arena when he was perfectly healthy and wasn’t called in

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  10. 7 players from the US started in either the Bundesliga or EPL over the weekend. Add to that Morales who played in the Bundesliga last year and that’s ;8 outfield players, plus Miazga is going 90 every game in Holland. If Brooks is healthy, then you have 9 outfield players who are first division, top 5 league players, plus one in Holland. Only 3 of those players were on the field against T&T. Playing Omar ahead of Cameron was criminal. 4 years ago the US won the Hex. They should have been no worse than 2nd this year. BTW, people seem to forget that Danny Williams was playing regularly in the Bundesliga before he went to the Championship. He transferred because his Bundesliga team was relegated, so he’s no stranger to first division football.

    Reply
    • @Gary, +1000. I really don’t like how a lot of our media types are making this all out to be a problem of talent development or lost generation. While I agree we have some of that with the 1990-94 birth years I think the bigger reason is what you mentioned. We had 8 outfield players playing in top euro leagues and only 3 saw the field in TnT.

      I was screaming on this site back in September when BA called in Zusi over Chandler. I said then it was fireable. I still can’t believe it tbh. Its hard to imagine a manager not wanting a player who was as in form as much as Chandler was at the time to not be called up given his primary starter was injured and the lack of other options with Hex experience. I’m not really a big Chandler fan for the record but just recognize he plays at a much higher level that Zusi and has far more experience playing at the position.

      The FJ snub is also highly questionable. FJ himself said it was a blow for him and he was ready if needed and indeed started for club the Saturday after TnT game. Starting Omar over Cameron for three straight must win matches, smh.

      We have the players to qualify and even possible make it out of the group at the WC but didn’t call the best one in and didn’t start the others instead starting and calling in players who play in a lower league.

      Reply
  11. Chandler apparently tore his meniscus, which really hurts his chances of being on the plane to Russia…er, if Frankfurt has any matches in Russia coming up that is.

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  12. Curious, whatever happened to Alfredo Morales in USMNT conversations? I didn’t love him in the few appearances he made for us, but he is a guy who has been consistently playing 90-minutes a game.

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    • @Soccering, I know. He was starting Bundesliga games the previous two season till his club was relegated in May. He has something like 60 Bundesliga appearances over his career mostly from the past two seasons. Both him and D. Wiliams only got spot sub minutes on the NT under both JK and BA. Those starting minutes where primarily give to our auto starter in Bradley and then his partner of either JJ, Acosta, or Nagbe over the past 2-3 years. I don’t think Morales or William deserved those minutes over JJ, who leads our pool in Champions League minutes, I do think its questionable why no one ever experimented with a CM pairing that doesn’t include MB. IMO, after his injury in pre game warmups at Costa Rica in 2013 he’s never looked the same but has remained a permanent starter and captain.

      I would point back to the 2010 cycle when something similar also happened. Stuart Holden(Bolton/EPL) and Maurice Edu(Rangers) were both playing at higher levels than MLS but both where relegated to the bench and spot minutes leading up to and at that WC with Ricardo Clark being the preferred midfield option next to Bradley in CM. Same could be said for starting Robbie Findley over Eddie Johnson that WC too.

      Our Federation and its NT managers have a history of using less talented players over others. Whether their is some grand MLS/SUM conspiracy or just lack of talent evaluation and coaching acumen who knows. Either way we need to be better as a federation and NT coaches at being able to gauge as well as get the most from our talent.

      Its evident at the youth level all the time where the physically developed faster stronger kid starts over the technical gifted spacially aware soccer kid. There is a very real chance that had Messi been born at the same time in the USA he would have never been discovered, however, things have gotten better and I think if a Messi type talent was born after 2005 in the US we have the development system to find him now. Those kids are just know starting to come thru and hopefully many more to come.

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      • Ricardo Clark was playing in the Bundesliga in 2010. And Johnson was in the Greek League, in his four seasons in England he had two goals and by his own admission had a terrible attitude. Buddle went on to have more MLS goals and more European goals than Johnson and Findlay ended his career with 3 English goals to Johnsons two. 2010 has I believe four MLS players on it. Buddle and Findlay that would be in Europe the next year, Donovan who played in Europe, and Bornstein who has been LigaMx for over five years.

  13. With all the backlash regarding MLS/USMNT which is rightfully deserved I hope they wake up and hire from outside to be the next USMNT next coach. Like I said a few weeks ago they need to hire someone with no history or affiliation with these players or mls to get the team going forward. There needs to be no bias for roster selection and automatic starters going forward, let your play determine your place on the team.

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    • @ Three goals, +1000. Outside ideas with no current player bias is needed. Evaluate the pieces and form the tactics and strategy to get them working the best on the pitch. No more MLS auto starters or even EPL auto starters, players need to earn their spots.

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    • @three goals
      “There needs to be no bias for roster selection and automatic starters going forward, let your play determine your place on the team”

      AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!

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  14. I think WIlliams would have been a great addition during the Hex. Right now this is not the type of player we should be debating as he will have little to no impact in 2022.

    I believe the next full time coach should be Wagner or Martino.

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  15. Who knows. But he was injured, and for good as he is he is always injured or picks up knocks. Even if he was there would they have played better in Trinadad. I doubt it.

    In regards to FJ and Chandler. Chandler is a mess when he plays for the US, and Fabian has not played to his Bundesliga level since the Copa last year.

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    • @CJ, in no other country do international managers call in lower division players over higher division players and have their fans defend them. For some reason this happens here in the US regarding MLS.

      MLS is the not even equal to the English Championship or German 2.Bundesliga. Imagine if the England or German managers called in players from Bolton and Sunderland over EPL starters. Imagine if Low was calling in players from Sandhausen instead of Bayern Munich or Dortmund.

      When BA or JK call in players from MLS over players starting in EPL or Bundesliga it is the madness. Whats even more madness is the fan base and the media defending these call ups the past year and even today after the debacle and embarrassment we showed all Hex.

      Bottom line, you call in the most talented players and hire a manager who gets them to work together and form the tactics to play well and get results.

      And we both know BA was never going to call in a healthy Williams can we at least agree on that.

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      • @Joe Dirt
        “MLS is the not even equal to the English Championship or German 2.Bundesliga”

        Amen to that….hahaha AND due to that arrogance, that seems to exist even though we haven’t done ANYTHING TO WARRANT IT, a lot of people don’t get that simple fact man (how hard is that to comprehend!!!!)

        “Imagine if the England or German managers called in players from Bolton and Sunderland over EPL starters. Imagine if Low was calling in players from Sandhausen instead of Bayern Munich or Dortmund.”

        Excellent perspective !!!!

  16. FJ started and went 65 minutes and had a GOAL saturday too.

    Regarding D.Williams, he had a good game against Man U was routinely breaking up their attack and making things difficult for the Man U midfield. Not much going forward or with thru balls to start attacks, but a good defensive shift on his part which is good considering its ManU their playing.

    It think it needs to be said that he’s been a good player for some time its not like David Wagner waved a magic wand over him and poof he’s a good player all the sudden because now he’s starting in the EPL, he was a good player while still with Reading too. He never really got a string of chances with the NT just spot sub minutes here and there. We could have really used him this cycle.

    Reply
    • @CJ
      As Joe Dirt said fair enough man you are right he was injured but Danny Williams wasn’t even in the conversation for the USMNT but of Michael Bradley. SERIOUSLY HOW?!!!!!! We were ARGUING ON S.B.I ABOUT WHO WAS BETTER (CAN YOU IMAGINE!!!!!)…..which just shows how delusional coaches (Klinsmann and Arena) and fans were!!!!!!

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  17. ’̿’\̵͇̿̿\з=(◣_◢)=ε/̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ WE ARE WAITING !!!!!

    We are waiting for the Bradley loyalist divorces on S.B.I.…. just look, for the upcoming friendly against Portugal NOBODY’S LINE-UP WILL HAVE MICHAEL BRADLEY IN IT Hahahahahahaha =-D ….. Watch, everyone (who was a Michael Bradley loyalist or said Bradley was better than Williams and I’M WAITING FOR YOU!!!!) switch to the Danny Williams (Huddersfield Town) / Weston McKennie (Schalke 04)/ Jonathan Gonzalez (CF Monterrey) bandwagon for a defensive midfielder (where were you all at on S.B.I WHEN THE USMNT SUCKED BECAUSE OF HIM??!!!!). News flash…DANNY WILLIAMS IS NOT A ‘NEW SIGHTING’ AND HAS BEEN THERE ALL ALONG PLAYING AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL =-D
    With Michael Bradley SOMEHOW keeping his spot in the midfield and Jozy Altidore, BY AN ABSOLUTE MIRACLE, being used up top, it’s a blessing in disguise that we didn’t make the WORLD CUP…..BECAUSE WITH THE MINDSET WE HAD, WE DEFINITELY DIDN’T DESERVE TO, and we would have been an MAJOR embarrassment to the nation!!!!!!!

    WE ARE WAITING !!!!!

    Reply
    • Also Bizzy you’ll be happy to know that during at the Atl United v TFC match yesterday both Bradley and Altidore were loudly booed each and every time they touch the ball. I thought the crowd might let up on it a bit by the second half but no they kept booing each touch Bradley or Altidore took for the full 90.

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    • I’ll answer your baiting…I still think Bradley, Altidore, Guzan Cameron have roles to play with this team moving forward. Clearly there will be a major rebuild to the team, but these players will be involved in that rebuild that will happen over the next 2+ years.
      There is plenty of potential in the young CM/CB/GK positions to be hopeful about, but I do not see much in the Striker pool to complete the spine of our future team. Am I not thinking of them? Wright, Green, Sargent are the only ones coming to mind… This is the weak link of our player pool in my opinion.

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    • What’s even funnier is that at some point in their relative recent US careers all of these players that people are whining about would have been saviours have been demonized or labeled as not good enough to be called in, and now that the US has failed to make the WC they have become the forgotten saviours. Listen, I understand that when a failure a big as not making the WC will elicit rebuke and every negative thought imaginable, but this idea that a unfit Williams(he just came back from injury), lacklustre Johnson of several years now, and a player in Licha who fans thought wasn’t good enough for the GC roster and was criticised for one bad half of football like it was WC final game, are not the reasons the US failed. I personally think all could have helped the US in some way but it wasn’t to be and let’s hope the next generation of players will never let it come down to assumptions and insinuations on rosters and tactics

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      • @Ronniet
        “but this idea that a unfit Williams(he just came back from injury), lackluster Johnson of several years now, and a player in Lichaj who fans thought wasn’t good enough for the GC roster”

        I guess you haven’t been paying attention. We don’t know if these players would have got us into the world cup BUT THEIR PRESENCE GIVES US THE BETTER CHANCE AT MAKING IT. You put your best team forward and if you lose you lose with satisfaction because you know YOU WERE JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH. I don’t blame Johnson or Cameron at one point in time looking discouraged or out of step with the team BECAUSE THE LEVEL OF TIMING AND TACTICAL AWARENESS IN THE LEAGUES THEY ARE PLAYING CANNOT COMPARE TO THAT OF MLS OR CANNOT BE IN SYNC WITH BACK PASS BRADLEY AND NO SCORE ALTIDORE.

        Danny Williams or Alfredo Morales or Timmy Chandler or Julian Green or Eric Lichaj or other guys in Championship / 2. Bundesliga should not be automatically passed over for garbage like Bradley and Altidore or left out for Graham Zusi, Dax McCarthy, Wondo or Acosta etc. Danny Williams has NEVER BEEN IN THE USMNT CONVO….EVER, AND He is 150% better than current / lazy Bradley

  18. DANNY WILLIAMS STARTING FOR HUDDERFSIELD TOWN AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED AND PLAYING AS A DEFENSIVE/CENTRAL MIDFIELDER…. WOW, WHO KNEW?!!!! who knew we had a English Premier League player, capable for holding his own against MANCHESTER UNITED (but can’t against mostly MLS players OF CONCACAF somehow!!!!) …. or better yet when a new promoted team needs their BEST PLAYERS ON THE FIELD DANNY WILLIAMS is selected (AND GOES FFFUUULLLLLL 90 and cranks out a win!!!!!) as one of them. BUT YET PEOPLE (AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE HAHAHAHA) HAVE THE ORDACITY TO SAY MICHAEL BRADLEY IS BETTER THAN DANNY WILLIAMS IN THE USMNT MIDFIELD????!!!!!! HAHAHAHA 😀 …. HOW INSULTING!!! Danny Williams, Geoff Cameron, Deandre Yedlin (who was outstanding today!!!!) Timmy Chandler, Fabian Johnson, sometimes HAVE TO BE SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS LIKE “WHAT THE @#$%!!!!!” 🙂

    Reply
    • @Bizzy, I know right. I have this thought that in a few months we will watch a new manager pick better roster options and better tactics and sadly we’ll see what this team could have been capable of this cycle with the right players called in and used correctly. It will be bittersweet because although great to see them playing well in friendlies leading up to WC we’ll know we could have been there if we had had a manager and federation that knew how to get the best talent on the field and how to make them play well together.

      Instead we get auto starters for ten years like Bradley and Altidore and Howard. Players who looked like they didn’t give a damn. Leaving Bundesliga and EPL starters off the roster or on the bench is comical.

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      • @Joe Dirt
        Comical is an understand statement…..I can’t even imagine how players like Fabian Johnson, Geoff Cameron, Timmy Chandler, Julian Green, Eric Lichaj etc must have felt. To experience being passed over for players they knew didn’t amount to anything or deserve to be on the field!!!! No wonder the USMNT locker room was so majorly divided …smh

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