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SBI Question of the Day: Which USMNT player impressed the most during January camp?

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The U.S. Men’s National Team’s annual January camp reaped plenty of rewards for manager Gregg Berhalter.

Not only did the USMNT come away with a pair of wins, Berhalter was able to evaluate where young players stand on the full first-team depth chart.

A handful of players, like Nick Lima, Paul Arriola and Sebastian Lletget stood out the most during the victories over Costa Rica and Panama.

Those players put themselves in contention to be called up for the March friendlies against Ecuador and Chile, when the full first team has its first opportunity to impress Berhalter.

We want to know which player you think shined the most during January camp and could parlay those performances into more appearances in 2019.

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Comments

  1. I also thought Lewis was interesting. He has some speed and can run at defenders. Also, his cross to Lletget was absolutely spot on. Still, he may have some down-side that was not apparent in his short time on the field.

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  2. There are a few issues with this article….The statement “Berhalter was able to evaluate where young players stand on the full first-team depth chart.”….directly conflicts with the next statement made… “the March friendlies against Ecuador and Chile, when the full first team has its first opportunity to impress Berhalter.”

    The 2nd statement that the March friendlies is when the FULL first team has it’s opportunity is the correct one. Berhalter hasn’t seen his best players yet. I’ll actually be disappointed if in either of the March Friendlies a single one of the MLS field guys from this camp are in the Starting XI if GB uses the same formation. So long as our European players are healthy the XI shouldn’t have a single MLS field player.

    The only way I could see one of the January camp players making the starting XI is if we went to a pure 3 man formation for the defense…and even then it would be hard to see Zimmerman or Long beat out the European guys (Brooks, Miazga, CCV).

    —————————Wood / Sargent—————-
    —–Weah—————–Pulisic————-Holmes–
    ——————-McKennie——————————–
    —-Robinson—————–Adams———-Yedlin—
    ———-CCV————-Brooks———–Miazga—–
    —————————Steffen—————————-

    Bench: Lima, Lletget/Mihailovic, Gooch/Arriola, Saief, Zimmerman, Roldan, Trapp/Bradley
    Jozy/Zardes, Horvath, Moore/Garza

    The January camp should have only help identify depth players…2nd & 3rd stringers. There really wasn’t anyone who placed themselves above the European contingent.

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  3. This squad needs a Jermaine Jones, or John Terry or even an Alexi Lalas who would have made it very clear that anyone hacking a teammate would suffer consequences. I do not see that in any of the potential lineups people have bandied about. Partly that is because most of the players people are excited about are still 18-20 years old and simply are not physical players. I was disappointed in Long and Zimmerman since they have the size to send very a very clear message to the opponents.

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  4. Mihailovich was basically taken out of the second game by the physical play of CR. It was clear the ref. was not going to make a lot of calls and neither he nor a teammate punished CR for their physical play with any retaliation. Both Mihailovich and the team in general need to bite back a bit more. I suspect a couple years of added muscle will help him with that, but seriously, some other US players should have risked some cards to send the message that they were not let CR get away with it.

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  5. You need to add a “new” or “inexperienced” or some such qualifier because the best player of the group was actually Steffen who except for work permit purposes didn’t even need the camp.

    Lima was the best of the players Berhalter favored and then Lletget actually showed his coach up (but is only new from injury). When you start saying well the guy who played 50-odd minutes as a two-time sub was your best player then that kind of suggests the coach wasn’t quite in tune with the talent.

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  6. Question should be which player or players will continue to get looks going forward when everyone is available

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    • yeah, a lot of the fanboy stuff didn’t survive far into the second game (eg Mihailovich). when the regulars return you will see a whole new front line (Pulisic, Wood/Sargent, Weah) and maybe some of the backs (Lima, Long, Zimmermann) plus Steffen. you might see Zardes again as a sub because Berhalter seems in love regardless of what we watched. I expect Adams to be the starting 6 but some of the people from this camp will be in the mix for either bench or the other mid slots.

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  7. Coin toss. Lleget had an unreal 40 minutes and I for sure was tempted/considered selecting him, but had to give the nod to Lima who worked very hard and consistently produced offensively and defensively for 2 full matches. Arriola had a great match v Costa Rica as well. Gave them fits all day. Love his aggression and work ethic.

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  8. Gregg Berhalter impressed me the most.

    His process will encourage legitimate competition and his system is proactive. He makes his own decisions and doesn’t seem to be influenced by us half-wit knowitalls.

    The team legitimately tried to keep the ball and attack. A bunch of MLS guys did that pretty well…they created some really nice chances.

    Plus, I have realized how awesome it is to root for a coach who was an integral part of the program during its most successful World Cup appearance. Not only was he a part of it, but he’s the guy who “scored” the Torsten Frings handball goal to “tie” up the quarterfinal against Germany!

    We need to get Frankie Hejduk involved somehow too. ?

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  9. Interesting Lima seems to be the pick. I thought there was a lot of good, but nothing really stood out on the whole team. Obviously Zach Stephen is so good, but really didn’t have a chance to shine, maybe the same with some of the D too, like Zimmerman, who really found the ball on set pieces. Just not pushed hard enough to defend, in the Panama game, especially.

    I am a Sounder so I hope Roldan did enough to secure a role of making teams when it counts. I think he did, but doesn’t seem a lot are rating him that highly.

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    • Roldan was given a feature role but disappeared into anonymity. He looked like just a guy out there. I think he actually hurt his chances.

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      • Have to agree with J. Thomas re Roldan. He has been given a good platform to show what he can do at the international level several times now, and the results have been uninspiring. Not sure we need to see much more here.

    • Your expectations might have been a little low for him going into a no lose situation as a very good player.

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    • based on what I saw there would be zero reason to reconsider a forward line of Pulisic Wood/Sargent Weah. people are touting the technical wings but these guys are fast and technical, and Zardes isn’t in the same country or planet as the real 9s.

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