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John Brooks continues strong run to help Wolfsburg post third straight win

When John Brooks was left off the recent U.S. men’s national team roster for November’s World Cup qualifiers, he responded by saying that he would continue to work to earn his spot back. On Sunday, the veteran centerback took a big step toward that goal, delivering his latest impressive performance for Wolfsburg.

Brooks logged 90 minutes as Wolfsburg edged Augsburg 1-0 in Bundesliga play. It was the club’s second shutout in its past three matches in all competitions, which has it sitting in fourth place on 19 points earned through 11 matches.

Brooks made his sixth straight start for Wolfsburg on Saturday, delivering another solid showing on the heels of his standout effort in the team’s midweek Champions League victory over Red Bull Salzburg. On Sunday, Brooks made three clearances while also making one interception and two recoveries to go along with his 93% passing rate (77/83).

Brooks retained his spot in Wolfsburg’s back-three and helped concede only three shots on goal as Wolfsburg used a 17th-minute winning goal from Lukas Nmecha.

Kohfeldt is now 3-0-0 since taking over as manager for Mark van Bommel and Brooks has been a key part for the undefeated record for the new head coach.

Brooks will remain in Germany for the international break as the USMNT prepares for qualifying matches against Mexico (home) and Jamaica (away) this month. Wolfsburg returns to action on November 20 at Arminia Bielefeld before visiting Sevilla on Matchday 5 of the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Comments

  1. In my opinion (n=1) the challenge is that Berhalter is a “system” guy. He will die for his system, and yes, I was once that type of coach too. When you believe so strongly in your system, the weak link, is that you have to find players that will fit the system. Berhalter has a complicated system– he can’t really articulate it very well. Sometimes, you can only envision certain players playing in that system, even when they are inferior to other players. Now that I’ve been deprogrammed, the thing that really jumps out is that it must be very difficult to win as a National Team coach when you have an intricate system and only get players for a few days at a time. In contrast, look at Herdman for Canada. He has a system and it’s simple. His players get it and he keeps them in their comfort zone. The contrast is striking.

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  2. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if Dest and Brooks were both really left off because they have new coaches at their clubs. NT duty is wonderful, but their careers come first.

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    • Dest did not play in the Champions League midweek and did not even dress Saturday. It may not be that serious but two transatlantic flights if your having back trouble are probably not good for you.

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  3. Its infuriating how this current US coach holds the european players to such a high standard while selecting the same MLS players who are either average or below average over and over again. Not to mention the MLS players who moved abroad and are not contributing daily for their clubs. What about holding everyone to those standards? I mean John Brooks has been excellent after the last rounds of world cup qualifying. His champions league game recently was a gem. Yet Mckenzie is called in who never comes off the bench and has played much worse than brooks for the national team. It just doesn’t make sense.

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