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1. Ledezma, Reyna, Alex Mendez, are current central attacking mid’s. Arriola, who played the 10 in YNTs, & Lleget are veterans, who play attacking mid’s. Efrain Alvarez, Adam Saldana, Frankie Amaya, have played the 10 at some point as pro’s. Andres Perea played CM, for Colombia during 2019 U20 WC. He’s not much of an attacking mid, now tho. What is the common dominator? While Coach Quozzel sentiment, used to be the norm, it isn’t anymore. If you’re going to talk about biases, let’s look at the big picture. Eryk Williamson has been the only African-American to ever play the 10 for the US. Name 2. Black players are thought to be ONLY athletic, not creative, technical or smart. Most fans can’t even name a 10, with melanin, who plays in a top 5 league, with a billion dollar club, to prove my point. This is something that’s discussed amongst soccer fans of my ethnicity. Even more of a reason why, I would like to see Julian Green at the 10 for WCQ. Only been done once. GB w/ Williamson. He’s the 1st coach to do so. Some of us, who’ve been watching for decades, had to wait until 2021. No coach in the 80s was biased against Claudio Reyna! Lol. Green has grit, skill, and is a 25 year old version, of what you get from Jesus. Don’t get me started to what my Asian-American soccer friends open my eyes to (Brian Ching, Lee Nguyen, and Bobby Wood). Who else do they have to look up to? It’s even less than Latin and African-Americans. What about coaching? Can you name an MLS coach?

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   • Musah? Although even with your Williamson shout out, are we even using a 10 anymore? Wes played as a 10 sort of in 2019 at times, but your point is definitely true. Soccer is still in this country a game for the wealthy. You either have to have money or have the connections to get “scholarships” at youth clubs to have much of a chance to get noticed. Dike is such the exception never played at a big youth club, no development academy, no YNT (despite his brother and sister playing for Nigeria), played college. I really started following USNT in 1994 and it’s been talked about since then “how do we got more diversity in our game”. It continues to be an issue but with African-Americans getting into top leagues it gives kids someone to look to more now than before. With social media it’s easier to follow to, Demarcus Beasley is probably just as cool as Wes but we never saw it because there was no platform. Was Cobi Jones just as stylish as Busio, maybe but without Insta who knows. Nancy and Frazier would be the only managers correct? I think Gyasi is working on his coaching licenses for when he retires from playing.
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     As far as Green goes, I think it’s lack of a true position that hurts him most. Is he a #9, is he winger, is he an 8, is he 10. He’s played all over for his clubs. I tried to watch Furth Saturday and they are so bad, I watched about 10 minutes and I think Julian had 1 touch because no one could get the ball close to him or any of the other attackers. If he played for Dallas would he shine as much as Ferreira, probably. I think he’d probably score more and assist less, anytime I’ve seen him he’s more shoot first but is that who’s around him or his style I haven’t seen enough to know.

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     • If Musah plays on the left, he would be the 2nd one. In GBs 4-3-3, the left mid is usually the more creative/offensive minded of the two. That’s where Williamson comes in! During the few GC matches, he was in, he got a chance to dictate the pace a lil’ bit. Got fouled a lot, tho. I heard later than everyone else, that he tore his ACL. I was sick. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. I don’t root for someone because they’re a dual citizen, or the color of their skin. I root because these players are good and can help my USMNT win. This is the world’s sport! It’s a bonus when the players on the pitch, resemble what the country looks like. BTW- My Left midfielder depth chart -everyone’s healthy- Reyna, Ledezma, Green, Williamson, Ferreira, Lleget, Pomykal. I’d play Hoppe there also, if the 1st 5 are injured, because he’s also my LW. I got him 3rd. Crazy; Hoppe’s only been playing forward for only 2 years, or so.

   • Nagbe?

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     • Best American midfielder in the MLS, 99, but Nagbe is an 8. Great at possession but not an attacking/playmaker.

   • Well, your sneering aside – keep in mind I put my money where my mouth was and went down and coached Title 1 kids for less money, and enjoyed it, thoroughly – sorry, coaching kids in the hood who are hungry to play is just plain way more FUN than coaching entitled rich dentist’s kids in Academy – and I found more talent in three years than most Academies find in ten. You do not have to convince me the Academy deck is thoroughly stacked against kids of color, I’ve seen it with my own two eyes – and I’ve also seen with my own two eyes the way refs’ whistles were biased against kids of color too.
     So I do agree with your take on Williamson. Williamson’s game actually reminds me a lot more of Reyna’s than it does McKennie’s, and I’ve been howling for Julian Green for awhile now. When I saw him playing in the B2 last year he came across as just an entirely different guy than he once was…Green always had a very high technical skill level, what he needed was some urgency and lead in his butt and it definitely looked like he’d finally matured and grown up. So I’m right there with you that the USA has not one but at least two potential black 10’s. Skill is skill, period…and yes, there is a tendency to rate black kids on “athletic potential” instead of IQ but in Green’s case my beef with him was precisely the opposite – I thought he saw it wonderfully and had a ton of skill and was absolutely clutch in the crunch, I just thought he was kind of an athletic lightweight.
     I have learned to see through traditional biases, though. For instance, I look at Dike and I see a massively high-IQ guy (he comes from a family of doctors, for cryin’ out loud), whose potential is a straight up arrow, he’s just raw and from a college background and needs to develop some basic skills, especially when it comes to receiving the ball in tight spots and playing with his back to goal. I don’t think he’s a guy like Gyasi Zardes (who is also super-smart, BTW) who makes up with a fundamental lack of touch with a high IQ and work rate, because I’ve seen times when he takes the ball beautifully…I just think he’s still raw and a work of progress because of the so-so level he played at and I think he’s going to get a lot better. You sneered at this sentiment too – but I think Dike’s his ceiling is actually around Lukaku’s though obviously he’s got miles to go before he gets there. But developed properly I think he can. Dike’s going to have to be really choosy about his next destination, and I’d like to see a club with a history of developing and selling on talent get ahold of him.
     The point, though, was that aside from guys like Arriola and Christian Roldan – who again, play with a lot more fury and relentless effort than high skill – we really hadn’t connected well recently at all with the Latin players in the pool and as a nation we’ve wasted so many kids of color – yes, black as well as Latin – who just couldn’t pay for play. And sorry, I still wince in envy when I see Mexico and Spain and Argentina zipping balls around in the center of the park in a shoebox, and we’re often still trying to kick and run and lean on our speed and athleticism.
     And sorry, why can’t America have both?

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2. I’m glad Pepi’s no longer a long shot, and not chosen because he’s a dual-national. He keeps earning what his worked for. Ferreira is back in attacking midfield. Servania is actually playing, along side Quinones & Cerillo keeping Ferreira clean.

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   • Yeah I’m not sure what the deal with Servania has been. Maybe just giving him rest after spending the Spring in Austria. Cerrillo has finally been given a good run after hardly playing last year. I hope Servania and Cerrillo continue to get time but with Quignon healthy and Acosta back from international duty it might be spotty again for a few weeks. I still can’t believe Luchi wasted the first month of the season starting Jara as the CF with Pepi as a winger.

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     • I know you watch way more FCD than I do. I gots to say that 1st. I think, the problem was FCD had too many midfielders. ‘Embarrassment of riches!’ Luchi had to figure out his chess pieces. Tessmann, Santos, Acosta, Cerillo, Servania, Ricaurte, Ferreira, Pomykal, to name a few off the top of my head. FCD has great midfield depth. (I was going to type FCD has a Deep Midfield’ but that sounded too provocative!). I’m interested to FCD is going to make the playoffs. Here’s to interesting MLS season.

3. I said it last week when we needed a replacement for Wes. Ferreira would be a great #10 with Wes and Tyler in support. He’s good at finding the open space to get on the ball, good enough in the press and kind create chances for his forwards. If we want to disorganize defenses with the ball we should call guys who disorganize defenses with the ball. Also Pomykal is definitely earning another look, and I’d be shocked if Che isn’t in Munich in January.

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   • Forgive me for the “stereotypes” but I’m a guy who coached a TON of Latin kids – both with school teams when I was coaching at-risk Title 1 kids and Academy club teams – and my eyes were definitely opened to the cultural differences in the way Latin players played the game and the way white/black kids from the more traditional “American” sports culture play the game. The Latin influence is about vision, feel, creativity…Latino soccer usually starts with brothers and uncles and nephews all knocking it around in the backyard at family gatherings and out in the street…the Latin style isn’t about hard running and fury and max effort the way more traditional “American” kids approach sports, it’s about letting the ball do the work and using your brain and eyes and sort of going with that inaudible but nonetheless very present Latin beat. It’s almost a dance.
     I definitely learned if you wanted a string-pulling #10 who could compose and conduct and operate in those impossibly tight spaces and just SEE it, who could be nifty even in the box in between a mass of agitated defenders and make that killer just-right subtle touch in and out of pressure or short splitting ball at the right time, you almost always wanted that Latin influence on the ball. American coaches tend to rate speed and athleticism too highly, I think, when it comes to evaluating players for all positions.
     You don’t necessarily need a big or fast #10, you want a guy who sees it better than anybody else and can unlock that D when the room to maneuver gets super-tight. I’ve always thought the US of A wasn’t doing a good job of rating or connecting with our own American-born Latin players, particularly in the 10-spot, or looking for the right attibutes in that position.
     I mean, MLS certainly gets it on the club level. They constantly bring in and feature foreign #10’s like Alejandro Pozuelo, Nicolas Lodeiro, Diego Valeri, Lucas Zelarayan, and Rodolfo Pizarro…but then at the youth level we turn around and completely ignore our own Latino guys, especially at the Academy level, because they’re not big enough or fast enough and far too many of our youth coaches have that unconscious bias against that Latino style because they don’t seem to be going hard enough or running fast enough. And they tend to completely miss what these kids are actually bringing to the table, particularly in terms of creativity and vision.
     That bias seems to permeate upwards all the way to our senior teams…and then all of a sudden we’ve got these wildly athletic teams that can’t operate in the middle of the field like, say, Mexico can, and we wonder why. And THEN MLS teams notice that lack and go and import a foreign-born string-puller because they can’t find an American one. Gosh, I wonder why.
     Well, gee, maybe it’s because we don’t have composers at the 10-spot.
     In Ferreira’s case, yeah, technically he’s got his American citizenship but he was also born and raised in Colombia and played there until he was 10, and then he got into that FC Dallas system when he was 16…I’d be genuinely curious to see how he beat the Academy bias in between during his big formative years but I’d strongly suspect it was because he was playing with Latin teams.
     Whatever, I’d agree that’s what Ferreira brings is the missing ingredient in the USMNT, and if we want to be successful in the middle of the park it’s going to be when we finally collectively open our eyes to how we’ve been ignoring our Latin influence in favor of guys who conform to that go-fast/go-hard “American” sports style.
     When we finally learn to meld the two, that’s when we’re going to be at that final top level, IMHO.

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     • Agree with most of what you said q.

       GB doesn’t really play with a 10… but… I’ll say it again- Reyna should be in the middle of the field pulling strings- especially w/ the amount of quality options we have out wide… Weah, Konrad, Aaronson.

   • Ferreira is quietly having a great season. I would love to see him get a call up. Btw I think Berhalter sees him more as a winger then a 10

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     • Yeah, but for whatever reason he keeps insisting Reyna’s a winger too. I mean, sure, Reyna can DO it but at the end of the day I’d strongly prefer he was in the middle of the park directing things and getting more touches, and you want a pure dribbler/creator like Konrad or a speed guy like Weah on the wing. (I like the Konrad types for the unlocking of tight defenses, Weah to blaze against people who dare to press up and try to bang with us in the open field…it’s like: you wanna turn games into a track meet, fine, here’s THIS guy called Weah…)
       You only get half of what you could get out of Reyna that way, IMHO. I love him in the middle of the park…he’s got all his dad’s vision and smoothness but he’s also a much better athlete…ultimately I think he does become our 10. But you always want a list of guys who can step in, too. As recent events have shown repeatedly…you often need them.

   • It seems for Berhalter to be all about the pressing shape. He’s not really using a 10 anymore, he sees his wings as the creative midfielders and the CM are 8s that are going to win the ball. He wants Gio closer to goal so when the CM wins the ball they can hit Gio or CP near the top of the box for a goal scoring opportunity. Which is why we’ve transitioned from Man City style to Red Bull we just didn’t talk about this switch. Canada exploited this by beating our press wide and not turning it over except for the US goal. Once we went back to our normal 4-3-3 and turned up the pressure we were able to effective against Honduras.

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     • Yeah, I get that pressing shape is big for Gregg, but I’d still trade a bit of that shape for getting an actual 10 on the field. Our combo play in the center of the park sux and it makes us very one-dimensional at times and overly reliant on our wingers.
       I really, really like the idea of a Reyna/McKennie/Adams combo. Or heck, as It’s OK To Think suggested, Williamson with McKennie because Williamson is a lot more like Reyna than he is McKennie. But I want somebody who can create and operate in tight spots and find that killer short ball or just the right touch in a shoebox and we haven’t seen that often from the USMNT…and a big part of the reason has BEEN our football (as in, American football) mentality that relies too much on speed and athleticism as opposed to finding the really, really good soccer players and trying to make them bigger and faster later. (Obviously there’s only so much give in either case, obviously you want both.)
       Once we get there, though, that’s when we’re truly Top-5 in the world and contending for World Cups.
       I still opine we have the youth player pool to be everybody’s nightmare because we literally have the full garage as far as tools. We have every kind of youth player imaginable here in the US of A. We just need to connect better with the entirety of it. I remember watching Owen Coyle when he was at Houston talking about FC Dallas academy, he seemed to think there was something scandalous and possibly even illegal that FC Dallas could have free access to so many quality youth players and nobody was even trying to take them…in England they do actual deathmatches over those kids and if you recruit a kid a block over the line…well.

     • Quozzel, exactly I think you could adjust the pressing shape out of a 4-2-3-1 to do what you wanted. We really have not been able to break down teams with set defenses and honestly our attackers have been pretty slow in transition.