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Berhalter: Yueill heading for USMNT camp, January training camp still being planned

When the U.S. Men’s National Team unveiled its plans for a rare December training camp, there was at least some concern about whether that could signal the looming end of the traditional January camp, but Gregg Berhalter put any questions to rest on Tuesday, making it clear he still plans to bring a group together for yet another gathering in January.

“We are planning a January camp,” Berhalter told reporters on Tuesday. “There’s a little bit of uncertainty when exactly it was going to start so we went ahead and stuck with a January camp to keep these guys playing. We think it’s an important year for them.

“The plan is to have a training period and end with one game in late January.”

Speaking to media on Tuesday, Berhalter also revealed that San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Jackson Yueill was on his way to the current USMNT camp in Florida. He had been a surprise omission from the initial roster, especially after San Jose’s elimination from the MLS playoffs.

“Jackson is finishing up a COVID protocol, pre-camp protocol and he should be in within the next day,” Berhalter said.

While Yueill is one of the players being added to the December squad, two others who won’t be are Portland Timbers standouts Eryk Williamson and Jeremy Ebobisse. Berhalter clarified on Tuesday that injury concerns led to both being excluded, and that both would have been part of his plans if not for their injury situations.

“Erik is injured. He’s got an ankle injury that rules him out,” Berhalter said. “He would have been called in, but he can’t participate.

“We didn’t want to take any chances with Jeremy,” Berhalter added, referring to the Portland forward’s recent leg injury that kept him out late in the MLS season. “It would have been nice to work with him again, but there was some concern. I know he did come in as a sub in the last game, but we were still a little bit concerned. There’ll be other times for him, particularly with the Olympic pool.”

The USMNT is expected to add some players from FC Dallas, which was eliminated from the MLS playoffs on Tuesday night, with Jesus Ferreira and Bryan Reynolds the leading candidates to be brought in.

Comments

  1. I just saw where the usmnt has 3 players valued over 20 million by transfermarket and France have 25 players valued at the same price or higher but havent been called up. Seems like a pretty big gap right now.

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    • Is it more reasonable to expect a massive gap to magically disappear over-night, or that it will be a long process with sustained hard work and investment and to be happy with significant, measurable progress? Was not long ago the U.S. had no players rated over 5 million and a starter on a bottom of the table team was a rarity and every touch celebrated. We should not restore be satisfied, but nothing wrong with being happy that our talent pool has never had this quality or been deeper.

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  2. Yueill fans go crazy!! Williamson & Ebobisse would’ve been called in, but are injured. Did anyone watch Sounders vs FCD? …because in the ‘13 minute, Jon Strong said one of Dallas’ beat writers reported that Juve was putting together an offer for Bryan Reynolds!! Dude just started playing RB this year, and started after Cannon left in August?! Amazing!! O, b4 4get! Tessman isn’t a 6 (Thiago Santos), like JR said over the weekend, but he, Taylor Booth, Indiana Vassilev would make a wonderful U20 midfield. The Stars & Stripes could make a real run at the U20WC. (Bassett, De la Fuente, Otowasie, Busio, Bryant Kayo, Charlie Kelman to name drop a few). Being honest, I’ve had my comments deleted on more than one occasion, and I still love SBI? It’s gonna b a busy ‘21. US fans are wanting to know more about players, injuries, formations, & tactics now, more than ever. I have to give credit. SBI supplies the demand!! I’m glad the players on the pitch are excelling to coincide with fan excitement & expectations!!

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  3. It doesn’t sound like you actually follow Yueill’s development. He has been and is continuing to improve. He’s athletic, a good passer, quick, and can we some hard nosed challenges when needed. More of a 2-way player like a young Michael Bradley. Might have a higher ceiling than Bradley. Matias Almeyda rates him very highly and that means something. He stats might not look great but he is on a poor team.

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    • IV only takes into account NT appearances, preferably those that occurred during the Obama administration. He believes that players don’t improve after their 19th birthday they only gain in fitness so watching players on the field is pointless to him.

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      • you have it backwards. i like NT appearances and recent ones. in the case of wood or green it’s not their fault they weren’t used since 2018, when they both scored key goals, and that’s not exactly 1920. you pretend like (your cherry picked) facts matter. be accurate about what i say then.

      • i also don’t see how relative passive and offense oriented club and NT performances salvage how much better the NT looked defensively in midfield the past couple games. no sooner do we fix something then you want to bring the no-defense passers back. and yes they are soccer savvy and make a positioning play or two a game that impresses. but i prefer people who STOP EVERYTHING even if it means using bodies and not just brains. adams and co. are so much better it’s not funny. and you even say so below before talking out of both sides of your mouth on this set of posts.

  4. I think my visceral response to Yueill is more a GB critique. He’s OK. He’s a deep lying passer who is good for about a goal and an assist or two in MLS per season. I am curious how that ever adds up to NT production. We don’t have 30 games a season to wait for an assist if the position is premised on how great of passers they are. An assist a season is not a dozen Pirlo assists a year where they will do something positive every other game to offset their defense. And the two crunching games in Europe should be a wake up call for anyone who buys GB’s idea of a 6. I loved Adams McKennie Cardoso actually winning balls other side of the half line for a change. Soccer savvy is nice but I prefer winning the actual ball. So to me it’s like shoehorning him back in speaks to a lot of what is wrong with GB. We’ve done the “soft passing DM” thing for a couple years and it doesn’t work. We don’t have an actual player good for dozens of assists while jogging around the 6 hole. So give me a specialist leg cruncher. Or if you want offense stick another virtuoso attacker out there.

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    • I don’t disagree that Yueill is behind Adams, McKennie’s best spot isn’t as this destroyer 6 either, Cardoso seems on a trajectory that will take him past Jackson too. However, to call him soft is just showing ignorance. Yueill is a good defender and looking only at g and a doesn’t take into account his offensive game. If you’ve ever watched SJ you would realize that they are not a good soccer team. I didn’t look up this season but last season he was one of the best CM in analytics categories, meaning he made the right plays the rest of the team couldn’t finish. Considering Williamson and Sands are hurt, Amaya has Covid, several are still in the playoffs there really isn’t a guy out there that really deserves a look. In his last 5 starts with NT they haven’t lost they are 4-1-0, even if you take out the two Cuba matches they’re 2-1-0 outscoring Canada, CR, and Uruguay 6-2.

      Reply

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