The U.S. men’s national team resumes its World Cup qualifying campaign on Thursday night and the latest episode of The SBI Show breaks down the challenges that await when the Americans take on Jamaica in Austin, Texas.
Episode 331 of The SBI Show goes into detail about the USMNT-Jamaica clash, the third meeting between the Concacaf rivals in 2021, with Gregg Berhalter calling on some youngsters to step up and fill the void left by the absences of Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna and John Brooks.
Host Ives Galarcep breaks down the players to watch for the USMNT, including the tandem of Brenden Aaronson and Tim Weah, while also laying out why Gianluca Busio is poised for a big October.
This episode of The SBI Show also looks at the rest of the Concacaf Octagonal schedule, including the high-profile showdown between Mexico and Canada.
We also discuss Carli Lloyd’s looming retirement, and also touch on the latest news around MLS, including Chris Albright’s hiring by FC Cincinnati.
You can listen to The SBI Show on Spotify, the Apple Podcast App and Soundcloud, and you can listen to Episode 331 here:
Re Julian Araujo, I confess to knowing very little about him, but I find it interesting that Mexico seems to be recruiting so many Mexican-Americans. I would be interested in a piece that tackles how these players stack up to prospects who are born and raised in Mexico. Is this a case of Mexico trying to cast a wide net or has it gotten to the point where the U.S. in some cases is starting to develop players at level that is on par or better than Mexico?
Also, could this potentially have a negative affect on other Mexican-Americans when it comes to being called into US U17, U20, and U23 teams? The US has lost a few high profile Mexican-American players from these teams and could have spent the time developing other players instead.
I just think their net is narrower. We have guys all over the world who are dual-nationals and we’ve dipped into that pool heavily, scoring guys like Jermaine Jones, Fabian Johnson, Julian Green, Timothy Chandler, and John Brooks from Germany, to Tim Weah – technically of Liberia – and many others. On this roster alone, Luca de la Torre, Ricardo Pepi, Antonee Robinson, Sergino Dest, Sebastian Lletget, and probably several others I’m forgetting could have played for other countries.
Mexico doesn’t have that widespread net of dual-nationals the way the USMNT does, so when they see a Mexican-American who can represent them and they have the opportunity to steal that guy and in the process deny us, I think they’re inclined to go there. Plus it feels like this Mexican roster is aging and they really don’t seem to have the bumper crop of promising young guys under that group that we do, and I think they’re a little desperate, frankly, for new blood.