Gregg Berhalter named his 40-player provisional roster for this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup on Monday. Included were the expected players like Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, and Weston McKennie.
Just like there was some surprises, several players who could’ve been called in did not get named. While experience is a main factor, a chance to get guys exposure on the international level is also a driving force behind these decisions.
With some in-form players not being included for the tournament, we decided to list five guys who deserved a call-in.
Here’s the five biggest snubs from Berhalter’s provisional roster:
1.) Andrew Wooten
Andrew Wooten may be 29-years-old, but he is coming off the best domestic season of his career. Wooten’s 17 goals, including 12 in this calendar year, was the fourth-most in the 2. Bundesliga which helped Sandhausen fight off relegation.
His physicality is a plus and his ability to go the full 90 minutes is also a promising factor. He may not get the notice due to playing in the second-tier, but Wooten deserved a chance to prove that he can help the USMNT. Outside of Jordan Morris, Wooten had a better goals per minute ratio than any other forward on this roster.
2.) Andrija Novakovich
Andrija Novakovich spent the season back in the Netherlands and was able to contribute for a top-flight side in Fortuna Sittard. His nine league goals and two assists was a positive sight after his 19 a year ago in the Dutch second-tier.
At 22, Novakovich is at the perfect age to become more implemented with the USMNT under its new head coach. Even if Novakovich is not starter material just yet, he can provide a different option off the bench in this competition. If Novakovich succeeds with Reading next season, there is zero reason why he shouldn’t receive a closer look in the future.
3.) Julian Green
Julian Green was a focal point for Greuther Furth this season, increasing his appearances, goals and assists. The Tampa, Fla. native totaled 30 appearances in all competitions and helped the club fight off relegation. The 23-year-old has experience with the USMNT and can be used in a number of different ways under Berhalter.
He can play in midfield or in any of the offensive positions which helps not only his cause, but also the team’s. Like Wooten, Green produced better numbers than Joe Gyau who played in the same division and a better all-around option as an attacking player.
4.) Eric Lichaj
With the USMNT looking for versatile players in the backline, one of its best options was not chosen in the 40-player provisional roster. Eric Lichaj showed his durability and versatility with Hull City this season, amassing 40 appearances in all competitions.
Under Nigel Adkins, Lichaj played left back, right back, and even centerback when needed for the Tigers. At 30, Lichaj still has some years to contribute to this team and has experience of being included in the past. He is a physical defender who can help prepare the younger defenders for the future. Lichaj could’ve taken the place of Daniel Lovitz, Andrew Gutman, or Marlon Fossey.
5.) Emmanuel Sabbi
21-year-old Emmanuel Sabbi is a player like Jonathan Amon making his way through the Danish Superliagen. Sabbi has yet to get a look by the USMNT but saw his numbers take a drastic jump this season abroad. He tallied over 2,000 minutes of first-team action, more than 1,400 than all of last season.
Sabbi recorded five goals and two assists for Hobro and recently helped them remain in the top-flight, scoring the winning goal in a two-legged playoff. He brings pace and creativity to midfield and can also play the wing if needed. He’s appeared twice for the U.S. U-23’s earlier this year and could’ve added a spark off the bench in this tournament.
Who did you think deserved a closer look by Berhalter and his staff? Are there any other players not on this list that you think deserved to be called in?
Share in the comments below.
What about Bobby Wood? Is he injured? I know he had a terrible season but has performed on the big stage for varsity team. Plus, he is much better then the various dartboard material the selections are suggesting
I’m not convinced this stat actually is meaningful but Gyau was actually more productive per minutes played than Green.
So we’ve come so far ahead that we can snub a 17 goal scorer from the 2. Bundesliga? The 2.Bundesliga is nothing to sneeze at, it is as good as MLS, if not better.
Coach GGG is the biggest problem, let me try to break it down before I get ambushed. He’s trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, trying to play Adams at RB is just crazy, he is a sure starter on champions league team at DCM, pulling CP to the middle when he’s had success on the wing. I love Gyau but Green has been better, I know at a different position but still. No Nova is crazy compared to Baird and Ramirez. Lewis has potential but lacks experience. No creative CM option is where it hits the most, Llget isn’t the answer nor Nagbe so u call in Fossey and Gutman at positions with no real chance of them making the GC roster, why not bring Emo. People think that players work in a system but a good coach fits the system around his players
I think you make some very good points. A manager of a club team can establish a style and then go out and get the players he needs to fit what he wants to play. With a national team, you have to play the hand you are dealt. You can’t go out and make somebody like Vela an American and bring him into the team. IMHO, one of the greatest coaches in any sport for all time was Coach Wooden at UCLA basketball. He is a prime example of smart adaptability. During his run of national championships he played about 4 different styles of basketball to fit the players he had. He would recruit the best players he could get, teach them the fundamentals of the game, have them focus on playing well together, and then didn’t even bother to scout his opponents. If you are good enough, they have to adapt to you. While we are limited in our recruiting, we need a manager who adapts to the players he has and finds the way to play them that gets the most out of the group. Despite jonnyrazor’s protestations, putting Tyler Adams, IMO, at RB is a waste of one of our two best talents. He has shown at Leipzig that he is not only a great defensive mid, he also has the ability to be a great passer. He should be in the middle of the play at all times so as to get as many touches as possible and direct the offense and defense. One of the problems with the Berhalter approach is that, at least initially, he seems to be selecting players based on how well he thinks they fit into his system. It looks like, based on this initial group, this means bringing in players who are not as good as some players left behind. That seems to me to be ass backwards.
Gary, totally agree on where Adams needs to play. This combination of Pulisic, McKennie and Adams is a blessing and we cannot waste it by moving Adams out of MF to RB even in that hybrid role. I said the same thing months ago about our best players need to play their best positions and we need to build around that. Our CM is our strength talent wise right now and we need to play to that. Putting Trapp and/or Bradley in this same MF isn’t necessary anymore as both McKennie and Adams are outplaying both at the club level, why are we watering down our MFs ability to fit Berhalter’s system? Drives me crazy.
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We also have another CM who played over 1000 minutes in the Bundesliga last year more minutes than Pulisic and some others who was left off the prelim roster and didn’t even make this snub list. Its like the guy doesn’t exist to us. This guy isn’t a savior and I’m not saying that and he’s not on Pulisic’s or Mckennie or Adams levels but any player getting 1000 minutes in a top 5 league has to be considered for our roster at least as a backup.
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I am excited for the next 10 years to watch our CM develop as they get time together but having Adams shift back and forth from RB to CM throughout the game doesn’t help in my opinion and leaves one less player who could overlap with Pulisic or another wing up front which somewhat takes away one of greatest strengths if Pulisic was played more wide as he does for Dortmund. In a way tactically it takes away two of our positional strengths to play GBs system. I’m not saying it may not work and I’m still hopeful in a sense that I’m over worried about it but I’ve got some of those same butterflies and doubts filling my belly that I had watching the Honduras and Panama games back in qualifying when we struggled while leaving better players off the roster because BA guys had ‘experience’.
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I’m agreeing with you comment by the way to clarify and just venting my thoughts with the rest.
Hehe. Well it didn’t take long for the “let’s give Berhalter a chance” attitude to fall apart on this site. I’m gonna go ahead and watch the games, regardless… seems like that is better data, either way.
Where was Adams on the field? Stop this nonsense that he played RB, it’s a falsehood and if you watched the match you know it. We saw “the system” for 68 minutes after CP, Adams, and McKennie had had a day and half of practice with it. Against a team that after 30 minutes decided they had no hope and put 11 men behind the ball.
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Gary: GGG isn’t squeezing players into his system he’s designing a system that fits his three stars. This not what he used at The Crew. Does it share some principles yes just like Wooden’s teams followed the same basic principles across different styles of play.
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The formation being used fits our current pool. As the U20s and U17s develop in the next few years that may change. I see several guys that could play in the 8 and 10 spots allowing CP to move outside and McKennie to move back. Berhalter is attempting to fundamentally change how the US plays. It would be easy to put McKennie and Adams as dual 6s and sit back and hope to hit a hopeful ball and let CP run onto and try to beat three defenders. However what’s the point of developing better players if we are just going to play like it’s 1998. The US Development system wasn’t ready when JK first tried this 7 years ago. It appears it may be close now but it needs a little more time to get the 27-20 year olds to become full professionals. If Adams is healthy he’s going to dominate this tournament. His position doesn’t restrict him it actually allows to have a bigger impact on the game.
Because he wasn’t good enough for Hibernian. Emo played in 17 matches in Scotland this season and had 1 goal and 0 assists. You call that a playmaker?
Not saying he is a pure playmaker but why bring in certain guys who don’t have a chance if he is really trying to win the GC. Waste of roster spots even if its on the preliminary roster. ACM is an area of weakness so why not look for some players there.
IMO one of the biggest snubs isn’t even listed in this article. The author make the case that Lichaj’s versatility makes him a snub, but doesn’t mention another defender who is younger than Lichaj, Ream, & Omar; but like Lichaj can play anywhere on the back line.
Alvarado has more speed than Ream or Omar. Can play RB, LB, CB, or CDM. Is a better distributor/connector than Omar or Lovitz, and is younger than Lichaj, Ream, and Gonzalez.
Instead Berhalter calls in Ream, Gonzalez, & Lovitz….players who we’ve seen time and again make major mistakes, or are serious liabilities due to their lack of speed, inability to distribute, or incompetence….
Why we continue to see retreads who have shown that they are Old and Inferior is what has been making fans so concerned about the USMNT. We saw it with Arena and we are seeing it again with Berhalter.
we’ve seen it with every manager, Bob and Jurgen as well! I don’t think it’s prudent to build a team by calling in too many new faces all at once, and Greg seems to be introducing new players bit by bit. How he comes to decide who to call up and at what juncture can be debated but think his process is the right way to bridge the gap between older and newer players
most of these guys mostly fall into the “i wouldn’t mind if they were called up” category for me.
except maybe Wooten. unless there’s more to his omission than simply not being rated by Gregg that we’re not privy to, i agree he’s a snub.
also a note: Sabbi & Hobro could still get relegated. they still have to play the D1 runner-up in Denmark’s weird relegation playoffs. (Viborg or Silkeborg depending on how they finish up this weekend)
Hmmm, none of these seem like that big of a snub. Maybe someone says that about me.
Jesse González I think he is second best in the keeper pool and with Zack S hurt….might not be talking sitting 23rd on the bench.
For me, Jesse Gonzalez was the biggest snub.
I would rather talk snubs after we get narrowed down to 23. Honestly, outside of Pulisic, Adams, and McKennie there aren’t really many more “must-haves”. Steffen, Long (if healthy), Altidore (sry haters) are about the only other “game changers” I can think of right now. Fabian Johnson still has the ability to change a game for us, but I think he’s done internationally, if he doesn’t want it, then I am happy to wish him well, he was great for us in Brazil. The rest of the squad is all unproven internationally at this point.
I think Joe Gyau going ahead of Wooten and Sabbi as well as Gall and Timothy Tillman – some of whom it would be really great to cap-tie – is a mistake for both selection’s sense and that other one to formally block other countries in the wait. I wrote this elsewhere on this site; but, it seems form is not really a factor for Berhalter in making his selections because it would not justify Gyau over any of those I listed first or Green. At least Holmes has finally been recognized… I am happy about that.
Outside of Wooten none of those guys are in any crazy good run of form. Gyau was definitely a surprising part of this preliminary roster, but there aren’t any glaring omissions that I see. There is no LD being left off the roster here. If Berhalter sees something he likes in Gyau and wants to explore that further then thats fine with me. The players you listed may have a better case than Gyau for inclusion, but they also haven’t posted great seasons to demand inclusion in the US squad either.
Cases can be made for these guys, for sure.
Idk, feel like Nova has had his chances over the past year and failed to impress in the USMNT shirt. (aside from his awesome family cheering section).
Wooten, a such a shame. Remember this guy coming up as a top prospect. 29 already.
I’m ok with him not being here. Assuming he would compete at target striker. So we got Jozy, Zardes, and Sargent there. And Morris. Does he unseat any of those guys?
I’d leave home one of the keepers and bring in Wooten just to see another fwd compete, sure.
Out of these guys, I think the biggest snub is actually Lichaj.
LB position…….
I think the guy has the talent. Total speculation but i think he competes with his personality reputation.
Lichaj will be 31 in Nov. so unlikely he’ll be a fullback option in Qatar. Although everyone wants to win the GC it is not a must win. Like FJ, Lichaj is a guy in a must win could be brought back but this is time to check on guys who are more likely to be around for the next WC.
With all these guys you can make a case they could be a bench guy, but none would be starters, so not much to get excited about. It’s not like leaving Vela home.
Biggest snub is Yedlin. He can play multiple positions
Yedlin had sports hernia surgery he’s out for months
Marky Delgado?
Marky Delgado is thrash internationally.