Andi Herzog has called in some of the biggest names in the pool for the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team’s pair of upcoming friendlies.
John Brooks, Julian Green and Gedion Zelalem are among 19 players called in by Herzog for the U-23’s upcoming friendlies against Brazil. The U.S. is scheduled to take on Brazil Nov. 11 in Recife before a rematch four days later in Belém. The pair of friendlies are set to serve as a tune-up before the U.S. takes on Colombia in March’s Olympic qualifying playoff.
“These matches against Brazil are a huge opportunity for us,” Herzog said. “On one hand you have a strong challenging South American opponent in Brazil, with a playing style that’s similar to that of Colombia, and on the other we’ll get to experience playing in Brazil, which is where we hope to be next summer for the Olympics.”
Brooks joins the U-23 squad for the first time in 2015 after spending a majority of the past year-and-a-half with the senior side.
Nine players, including Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jerome Kiesewetter, return from last month’s Olympic qualifying tournament. The roster also features Cody Cropper, who missed the qualifying tournament due to injury. In addition, LA Galaxy defender Dave Romeny earns his first call-up at any level within the U.S. system.
Here’s a look at the full roster for the upcoming friendlies:
GOALKEEPERS: Cody Cropper (MK Dons; Maple Grove, Minn.), Charlie Horton (Leeds United; Cleveland, Ohio), Jon Kempin (Sporting Kansas City; Leawood, Kan.)
DEFENDERS: John Brooks (Hertha BSC; Berlin, Germany), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur; Westcliff on Sea, England), Eric Miller (Montreal Impact; Woodbury, Minn.), Shane O’Neill (Royal Mouscron; Boulder, Colo.), Boyd Okwuonu (Real Salt Lake; Edmund, Okla.), Dave Romney (LA Galaxy; Irvine, Calif.), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy; Los Angeles, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS: Fatai Alashe (San Jose Earthquakes; Northville, Mich.), Julian Green (Bayern Munich; Tampa, Fla.), Alejandro Guido (Club Tijuana; Chula Vista, Calif.), Matt Polster (Chicago Fire; Milwaukee, Wisc.), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids; Brighton, Colo.), Gedion Zelalem (Rangers; Bethesda, Md.)
FORWARDS: Jerome Kiesewetter (VfB Stuttgart; Berlin, Germany), Khiry Shelton (New York City FC; Leander, Tex.), Maki Tall (FC Sion; Washington, D.C.)
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What do you think of the roster? Any surprises? What players do you expect to stand out against Brazil.
The future is bright. Watching the game and we’re being totally outclassed and currently losing 2-0. Looks like Herzog has learned well from his boss.
Fox Sports 1
Is it on tv?
No Pelosi??
Hope Green and zelalem link up good. With zelalem vision and greens runs would be fun to watch.
Polster is mediocre, rather see Acosta with under23’s.
Probably wanted to leave him with Dallas instead of making him travel to Brazil in the middle of the playoffs for 2 friendlies.
Would love to see Trapp out here with these guys, but much happier that he’s staying home and resting up for the Eastern Conf Finals!!
as a Xolos season ticket holder, I was surprised to see Guido over Arriola. For most of this season, Arriola was the super sub who could inject energy in the 2nd half, but since Romano took over a few weeks ago he hasn’t made the bench. Guido started the last game v Puebla (I didn’t see it, as it was away and the season is long lost). As much as I’d like to see them both succeed, I’m not sure either is starter or even substitute material for this team at this point.
Seeing this roster makes me wonder what our best starting 11 (u-23) would look like? You have to add players like Steffen, Morris, Rubin, Yedlin, Miazga, Villareal, Gill, Trapp, Arriola, Hyndman, Alonso, Payne, Packwood, Jamieson, etc to this above roster and try and figure it out. The line-up would depend a lot on the formation being used, but it looks really hard to pick a starting 11. Do you go Steffen/Cropper/Horton/Horvath?? Do you go with Miazga or Carter-Vickers to pair up with Brooks? Who is better between players like Villareal/Arriola/J Green? What about between players like Hyndman/Zelalem/Gill/Trapp? Who is better between Morris/Rubin/Kiesewetter? Are Shelton and Kiesewetter strikers or are they better as attacking-wingers? Yedlin is the obvious right-back but who is the left-back? I will take a stab at it:
—————————Steffen—————————-
Yedlin——-Carter-Vickers—-Brooks——??leftback??
————————Trapp——————————-
———Zelalem——————-Gill——————
Kiesewetter———-Morris————–Villareal
Analysis: Kiesewetter vs Shelton (need to see more). Villareal vs Green vs Arriola (need to see more). Rubin vs Morris (need to see more). Hyndman never plays at Fulham, so I have Gill over him. Trapp was the captain last time out so I assume he is a starter. Miazga vs Vickers is a tough call, and there are other defenders there to consider. Vickers was better than Miazga at u-20 World Cup in my opinion, but Miazga’s current MLS form and experience might put him ahead of Vickers in the minds of some. I don’t know anything about our left-back prospects in this age group. Steffen’s u-20 World Cup is still fresh in my mind so he starts for me.
I think O’Neill would fit in good there. If Yedlin is bombing forward, the other fullback should be a bit more restrained, to cover the far post on counters down Yedlin’s side.
Here’s my take on a best XI:
GK: Horvath
RB: Yedlin
CB: Brooks
CB: Miazga
LB: Desevio Payne
CM: TrapP
CMM: Zelalem
RM: Villareal/Kiesew/Arriola??
LM: Green
ST: Morris
ST: Rubin
I think Desevio Payne will lock down that LB spot, if and when he can play consistently with Groningen. I think he was injured at the start of Groningen’s preseason after coming off of a World Cup so i’m guessing his club coaching staff wanted to rest him which limited his playing time in preseason matches. He was lights out at the U-20 WC and is a prospect for the senior team for sure.
yup, Payne just got back from injury and has been getting minutes again. hopefully he can keep it up.
Has to be Miazga and Brooks at CB for the Columbia games.
Your stab at a lineup is a good example of the state of US soccer. We have a lot of guys who are pretty good and close to one another in ability and talent so that it is hard to choose between one and another. You could argue all day about playing one player instead of another, but at the end of the day it probably wouldn’t make an appreciable difference which you chose because they are close in quality. We have maybe a couple who could become very good and some others with potential which may or may not be realized. Here are some examples–Who is better, Trapp or Gil, Zelalem or Hyndman, Miazga or CCV, Arriola or Green, Steffan, Horvath, or Cropper?
This is what I would like to see as our starting U23 for the Colombia games…
—————————Steffen—————————-
Yedlin——-Miazga—-Brooks——Pelosi
————————Trapp——————————-
———Rubin——————-Gill——————
Kiesewetter———-Morris————–Ariyibi
Now, can Ramos make them play well together?
Rubin as a midfielder?? I don’t think he can play there. He is a forward/striker.
If you look at him as an 8 then I agree with you, if you look at him as a 10 or an SS then he has done the job before. Rubin can play both sides the ball that is common knowledge.
UCLA… some of your debate is easily addressed… 1. you use all three CBs and use 3 in the back. Which gives you an additional MF so you have room for Yedlin and Gil to hang wide, Trapp to play DM and STILL have 2 AM options for Zelalem and Hyndman. Then you go 2 up front which is your remaining tough decision Rubin, Morris, Kieswetter, Maki, etc. (green, and the remaining FW are then available to add if you need additional offense at the end in place of Gil, trapp, and a CB… and if you need to play more defensive, then you slide into a 4-4-2 with Yedlin dropping back on his wing-side. see, not too hard.
Good looking team, would have taken a full 23 but hey beggars cant be choosers. Nice to see some guys who were in olympic qualifying get time, such as shelton, guido and green. Would like to see some other faces thrown in as well as Arriola, and Parker from Vancouver. I’m assuming they let horvath and hyndman stay at their clubs to fight for minutes? And all the guys still in mls playoffs stayed with their clubs (trapp, possibly acosta)
Horvath’s regular season is over, although they still have 2 Europa league group games before Christmas. I think Cropper gets the call because they got to see Horvath and Steffen in qualifying. Horvath has started most of the teams Europa games and about half the league games. Molde has clinched reaching the knockout rounds which unfortunately the first two rounds are during the Norwegian off season.
Hyndman never gets minutes for Fulham
Maybe these US coaches have come around to if a players not playing for their club, maybe they shouldnt be called up. We can hope.
Looks good on paper. Hope they get their sh;t together.
Solid defense and midfield. A little weak up top, without a true center forward like Morris, Rubin, Novacovic or Jamieson. Tall or Shelten could take that role.
Good to see Guido get a look but how about Arriola?!?
Can’t you just imagine many of these guys playing with the Senior team in the near future? Add DY, Miazga, and Morris, along Nagbe, FJ, etc. That’s a team I want to build around for the future.
Slow down. Some of these guys are a bit away, so I seriously doubt that they will be playing with FB on the full national team anytime soon.
So, Brooks is demoted to the U-23. I think that is probably better for him. A CCV-Brooks partnership would be balls.
Not disagreeing but don’t they both play LCB? Just curious
CCV played lots of RCB during qualifiers, it wasn’t until the U20 WC that they switched.
not a demotion. JAB was injured and just started making the bench for Hertha. his first start was this past weekend after the roster was determined. simply using the U-23 camp to get him back into form and to get him familiar with the U-23 team. because he better be on the squad playing Colombia. that said, we’ll see where the senior team stands in terms of CB come March. we do have critical WCQs during that same window.
Should be interesting, I don’t believe Zelalem and Green have been together before. Miazga Brooks and Yedlin on the back line gives us an actual shot to make the Olympics still, I think. Anything less and I’m not so sure.
And to think Miazga, Yedlin, and Morris are with the senior team
Which I don’t really get. If the Olympics are “so important” to these young players development then I think those 3 should also be with the U-23s. Better to give our all in Olympic qualifying then to participate in a senior team qualifying camp and then ride the pine for the actual games. Yedlin probably gets solid minutes but the other two might not.
Nevermind. This is for the Brazil friendly. I’m sure those 3 will be with the team when they actually take on Colombia.
Those guys will be with the team against Colombia but the senior team always takes precedence.
Finally, a U23 roster that’s not playing around.
No Hyndman, but maybe we see Zelalem in his spot.
Zelalem had a good game in his first start for Rangers FC after the injury, where he finished the game with several penetrating diagonal passes. I’m not sure he was used correctly before his injury for the U-23s, but now he has another chance.