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Acosta, Glad among four players released from USMNT January camp

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Colorado Rapids midfielder Kellyn Acosta and Real Salt Lake center back Justen Glad were two of the four players released from the U.S. Men’s National Team January camp on Tuesday.

The cuts were made as USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter named his traveling squad of 23 players for his first game in charge against Panama on Sunday.

“We’ve had a great two weeks in Chula Vista focusing on building team culture, style of play and competing every day,” Berhalter said. “The entire group has worked hard and brought an excellent mindset, and we thank them for the consistent effort thus far. We look forward to continuing to build on these ideas in Phoenix and measure our progress in the game against Panama.”

In addition to Glad and Acosta, a pair of goalkeepers were released from camp.

LAFC’s Tyler Miller and Toronto FC’s Alex Bono were sent back to their clubs, with Sean Johnson and Zack Steffen remaining with the squad at the position.

 

Comments

  1. we’ll see what happens. Acosta actually shows for the ball consistently when the US tries to play out and doesn’t lose his confidence doing that as the game wears on. I have not seen the others do that but they are young and may develop that mental tenacity and endurance to continue to believe as the game wears on instead of hiding in midfield and leaving the back line no options but long balls

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  2. Acosta’s touch and technique are not good enough to play centrally for the USMNT. We’ve seen that. He is very athletic, versatile, and has a knack for showing up for the occasional big play. That may be enough for him to get called up as backup or for an emergency LB. But just maybe we have a coach who values technique over athleticism, something everyone seems to have been clamoring for. And now, just more complaining…

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  3. at least one thought that occurred to me is Acosta is the Landon Donovan Lite of this camp, the dramatic cut that sends a message on control and performance. The other 3 cuts have like a cap among them. You could justify that as just how the cookie crumbles, and players wouldn’t blink. I thought this was a message. Showed up out of shape, wasn’t playing well, or just wasn’t a guy Berhalter likes, routine guy or not, this is my team and bye, everyone get the message I mean business…..

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  4. Acosta only makes sense if he’s injured or if Berhalter feels he knows him well enough and/or saw enough in practice that he doesn’t need to see him play. Feels like more of the latter. Either way he seems a useful player for the nats, set piece delivery and versatility are always a need. Hope we get to see him at some point in the future.

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  5. Acosta is a little befuddling but he had too many DMs so I will judge the end product there. I will say that with trouble finding a competent LB it’s odd he wasn’t kept around to kick the tires there, if no place else. We’ll see what the LBs look like. If they play well then so be it. If they struggle, or we even have to flip a RB over to LB, more questionable.

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  6. The keeper picks are fair from the list he had but where I see the glitch is no Frei or Gonzalez to start with. Others might suggest Melia, etc. And then I think Steffen helps him professionally but doesn’t kick the ball downfield much in terms of who the 2 and 3 keepers are. Many are penciling Horvath in based on his last game but what about the few before that. Robinson should be an object lesson in don’t make decisions based on isolated games.

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  7. I have never valued Trapp that much, he is a Bradley without the soccer brain. But, I suppose GB knows him well, so he stays. Also, never been very high on Acosta, he seems to drift into and out of games too much. Still Acosta can pull off an occasional nifty play, I would probably have kept him instead of Trapp. The US should not need much at DM vs a Panama B team in any case,.

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    • I don’t think Trapp adds any more than Acosta does. Honestly why would GB not keep Acosta for one of the two games? I hate to say it but this smacks of MLS coach going with what he feels comfortable with. Exactly the same sorry ass coaching we’ve had for many years. My expectation levels really haven’t been raised and honestly playing a week Panama and weaker Costa Rica team then they had at the World Cup who cares whether theyExcel does that mean anything? Why is Bradley even their veteran presents well Costa Rica and Panama don’t need veterans to leave their youth why do we this just smacks of the same BS we’ve been dealing with

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  8. Everyone should probably just relax. One, Acosta probably has some sort of little injury that has him not ready for matches at this point. Two, he doesn’t play DM anymore so quit complaining that Trapp and Bradley are staying. Third, Berhalter knows Acosta from MLS and his time with USMNT. Finally, Kellyn has 23 caps including 12 in the GC or WCQ so he’s not going to wet himself if he has to play for Tyler Adams in an important match this cycle. He’s already played a qualifier in the Azteca, he doesn’t need a match in January against the Panama B team if he’s not fully fit. His leaving probably actually opens up minutes for guys like Roldan, Baird, Mihailovic, or Delgado who do not have his experience. Relax everyone relax.

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    • But histrionics and chicken-little-ism are so much more preferable. Not to mention the fact that every poster here clearly knows much more than the professional coaches who eat, sleep, breathe this stuff. Which makes sense- I think we should subject all our coaches to a steady regimen of playing xbox in their mother’s basement and memorizing snarky SportsCenter soundbites. If you need proof that it works, just read the comment sections on this site.

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  9. No reason for Bradley to be playing in these friendlies, and him being there means some youngster like Acosta is not going to play. Expect more useless negative passing from this bunch in the middle. Theres nothing we haven’t seen from him and his best days are clearly behind him.

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  10. Cut Acosta and leave Bradley and Trapp on the team…..speed, skill and agility for two slow DM’s that once they lose the ball (which is going to be quite often) are in no-man’s land. lol, Coach you are going to learn really quick…..

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  11. Not surprised with 3 of the 4 players released. The keeper position is fairly set for the moment….Steffen & Horvath are the 2 to beat. Guzan is going to be the Veteran back-up. Everyone else (Johnson, Bono, Miller, Gonzalez, etc…) are fighting it out in the depth chart. Expect to see them rotate in and out over the next couple years until Guzan is knocked out.

    Glad was always going to be a long shot. Basically got a look for the sake of the U-23 team, but even then he’s facing competition from CCV, EPB, Trusty, McKenzie.

    Acosta is the one that kind of shocked me. He’s at a similar skill level as Trapp & Bradley, but has greater athletic ability. Of the 3 I would have sent Bradley packing 1st, Trapp 2nd, and Acosta 3rd. Overall I guess it doesn’t make much of a difference considering once McKennie & Adams are added to the mix most of the CM players in this camp will drop to the wayside.

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