The U.S. men’s national team roster for the final friendlies before the World Cup is now set, and features a few players who have pushed themselves back into the World Cup roster conversation.
Josh Sargent and Ricardo Pepi are among the 26 players called up by Gregg Berhalter for the USMNT’s upcoming friendlies in Europe against Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Gio Reyna is also back in the mix after making his successful return to action with Borussia Dortmund, while stars Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie are set to lead the team through its final camp before the 26-man World Cup roster is finalized in November.
Injuries have kept some regulars out of the mix, with Zack Steffen, Antonee Robinson and Tim Weah set to miss the September friendlies after both being sidelined in recent weeks. Cristian Roldan is another squad candidate who is set to miss out due to injury.
Sargent returns to the USMNT for the first time in a year, with his last stint coming during the opening matches of the Concacaf World Cup qualifying cycle. Sargent has scored five goals in his past five matches for English League Championship side Norwich City, recapturing his top form just in time to state his case for a place as one of the strikers on Berhalter’s World Cup squad.
While Sargent’s return didn’t come as a surprise given his recent form, Pepi’s inclusion was a bit more surprising given his struggles for playing time in Germany prior to his loan move to Dutch side Groningen. Pepi returns for the first time since the March World Cup qualifiers and his game-winning assist in his debut for Groningen bodes well for the kind of successful loan stint that could propel him back onto the World Cup roster.
Among the notable absences are Jordan Pefok, who has settled in as a regular starter with current German Bundesliga leaders Union Berlin, Mark McKenzie, who is off to a strong start with Belgian side Genk, and FC Cincinnati striker Brandon Vazquez, who has the fifth-most goals in MLS with 16.
Robinson’s absence has opened the door for Sam Vines to earn a return to the national team for the first time since the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup. Vines is in the midst of an outstanding start to the season with Belgian side Royal Antwerp.
The USMNT will face Japan on September 23rd in Dusseldorf, Germany before traveling to Murcia, Spain to take on Saudi Arabia on September 27th.
Here is the 26-player USMNT roster for the September friendlies:
USMNT roster for the September friendlies
GOALKEEPERS: Ethan Horvath (Luton Town/ENG; 8/0), Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 10/0), Matt Turner (Arsenal/ENG; 18/0)
DEFENDERS: Reggie Cannon (Boavista/POR; 27/1), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic/SCO; 11/0), Sergiño Dest (AC Milan/ITA; 17/2), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 27/3), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 8/0), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 2/0), Sam Vines (Royal Antwerp/BEL; 8/1), DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami; 74/0), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; 31/3)
MIDFIELDERS: Kellyn Acosta (LAFC; 52/2), Tyler Adams (Leeds United/ENG; 30/1), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP; 11/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 35/9), Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 19/0), Malik Tillman (Rangers/SCO; 2/0)
FORWARDS: Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 22/6), Paul Arriola (FC Dallas; 47/10), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas; 13/7), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders; 48/11), Ricardo Pepi (Groningen/NED; 11/3), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 51/21), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 12/4), Josh Sargent (Norwich City/ENG; 19/3)
At this point I think I’m just going to trust GB and HIS PROCESS. According to him the BEST PLAYER is not always THE RIGHT PLAYER…..and based on his record I’m just going to go with that.
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*No defender is playing at a higher level than Tim Ream. Not only has he Captained an EPL team…..he is currently playing with a lot of the players that are going to be on the English Team we will be facing in the World Cup. Yet he is left off the roster.
*No Striker is playing at a higher level than Theoson Siebatcheu. Not only has he proved himself as a Swiss league golden Boot winner but came into the Bundesliga AND CAPTURED the starting striker spot for a team currently in first place in the league. Yet he is left off the roster.
Don’t even get me started on Jordan Morris (whose has lost his top gear completely), Ricardo Pepi (who couldn’t cut it in the Bundesliga) and Malik Tillman (who is not even scoring goals in the SPL….a league currently lower than MLS)
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We are rewarding players that haven’t been tested against world class opposition, that are not even starting regularly in their current positions on their current teams or players that are not even getting outstanding results against average-to-below-average opponents. But I guess when it comes to GB his results speak for itself so I’m going to trust the process but sometimes I just don’t understand his strategy and tactical approach.
THE JAPANESE NATIONAL TEAM A.K.A “SAMURAI BLUE”
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RESULTS:
JAPAN 2 vs 0 CHINA (01/22)
JAPAN 2 vs 0 SAUDI ARABIA (01/22)
JAPAN 2 vs 0 AUSTRALIA (03/22)
JAPAN 1 vs 1 VIETNAM (03/22)
JAPAN 4 vs 1 PARAGUAY (06/22)
JAPAN 0 vs 1 BRAZIL (06/22)
JAPAN 4 vs 1 GHANA (06/22)
JAPAN 0 vs 3 TUNISIA (06/22)
JAPAN 6 vs 0 HONG KONG (07/22)
JAPAN 0 vs 0 CHINA (07/22)
JAPAN 3 vs 0 SOUTH KOREA (07/22)
JAPAN _ VS _ UNITED STATES
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World Cup Opponents Played this year: SAUDI ARABIA, AUSTRALIA, GHANA, TUNISIA, BRAZIL, SOUTH KOREA
he finished 3rd on a tiebreaker, you mean that record? with what i thought was first place talent.
How many matches did Reyna, Pulisic, McKennie, Dest, Aaronson, and Weah play together?
Tim Tebow was a Heisman trophy winner and led the Broncos to an AFC West Championship but it was still the right move to go get Manning because his skill set fit better with the rest of the team and how the coach and GM wanted play. Ream is playing well sitting deep for Fulham, play him high as the NT does and just like Brooks he can’t cover the space. Jordan largely has played in a two striker set for Union and Young Boys where he’s one on one with the CB, he’s very good at like Jozy was far better early in his career with a second striker. US doesn’t use two forwards because that takes off one of our talented MF or Wings. He also isn’t as good in the pressing game which we use because MMA isn’t great at passing so we want win the ball upfield and pass against a disorganized defense not a set one. Is there a lineup that you could play a 4-4-2 double 6 with Brooks and Ream sitting behind Sands and Adams with Jordan and Dike up top and Reyna and Pulisic as wide MFs. It wouldn’t be horrible but it probably doesn’t fit the rest of the team to set the style for Pefok and Ream
Overall I’m happy with the roster and our player pool in general. My lingering concerns are around our GK and CBs.
2 of our top 3 keepers aren’t seeing consistent minutes. Making them a concern. Steffen is frequently injured and in poor form, and I’ve never been impressed with Johnson.
None of our CBs is really distinguishing themselves right now. Long hasn’t been good since returning from injury. Richards isn’t seeing many minutes and CCV & EPB haven’t shown very well against higher level competition.
When Jedi returns I think either Sands or Yedlin get left out. There’s too much potential (as seen at the club level) & versatility in Scally to not bring him as the 5th back.
Midfield is fairly well determined. Especially considering Aaronson & Reyna can be deployed centrally and Malik can be used as a wide attacker. I just hope Gregg finally realizes that he doesn’t need to call in Roldan for every camp. The team can live without their cheerleader & vibes guy.
When Weah returns it bumps either Arriola or Morris. I’m not a fan of either, but think Arriola is probably the better choice due to his defensive game. I wouldn’t be disappointed if both Arriola & Morris were left home for another CB…but I don’t think Gregg will do that.
At CF I think the competition comes down to Ferreira & Sargent for who’s the starter and who’s the backup. Then the 3rd spot will be a coin toss between Pepi & Pefolk. If Pefolk stays hot & Pepi doesn’t start getting goals than Jordan goes as the 3rd CF for the last 5-10 minutes of games we need a goal. If Pepi does start getting goals he’ll take that spot since he is better pressing the Jordan.
Interesting that Araujo, Alvarez, and Ochoa are not on Mexico’s 31 man roster but Pepi is on ours. To be fair I always felt that Araujo and Efra felt more pulled culturally to Mexico and weren’t making their decisions based on playing time. I do hope it sends a message that El Tri will call you into meaningless non international window camps but when the real games come the Mexican-Americans aren’t getting called in.
Mexico’s got a predatory, zero-sum approach to capping Mexican-Americans, and it seems they don’t mind pressuring and outright lying to them. That stuff with Zendejas leaves me sort of shaking my head. They may not even want them…they just don’t want us to have them.
I actually think what’s going on with Pepi right now may have something to do with just this issue. The USMNT won a major high-profile tugging match for Pepi against El Tri and I think Gregg (and US Soccer) would like to see that decision prove successful so there’s going to be the inclination to give him every possible benefit of the doubt. They’d love to make Pepi one of the the main faces of US Soccer if they can, IMHO.
Not really sure what the vibe will be like for Mexico with 31 in camp, either. Phew. That’s gonna be one cutthroat locker room, when you know at least five of those guys are going to be voted off the island when the plane to Qatar is boarding. As a coach I would personally not do it that way. At this juncture you’re trying to solidify your team, not keep the deathmatch going. At least I would be, anyhow.
not sure how “haven’t called you at all” is any better than ” called you once then forgot your number.” i also think berhalter in his car salesman mode is neglecting that he is selling the idea he may ignore you now but will do you the solid in the future. but then martino can say “it’s only one cap SO FAR, i may come back later.” and it neglects some players like mighten or vazquez or holmes have shown loyalty then either gotten nothing or one cap for it. to me it’s media management and player prospect head games by a conservative coach who has in fact lost several players, trying to spin how his foot dragging approach is somehow more effective or fair.
It is unclear whether Mighten has actually filed his paperwork. His agent said he was but nothing was ever reported after that. Whereas USMNT has announced the one time switches of other players.
One thing about GB.. Listen to his interviews, there’s no poker face.
He’s pretty much done exactly what he’s hinted at…
He said he probably wasn’t gonna bring in more than a full squad, he called in 26.
He said there was no way he was bringing in 4 strikers, he brought 3.
He’s said he basically is going to play his style- high line, pressing from the front, Ream doesn’t get a call even though he’s captained Fulham, Long looks fair at best, Richards hasn’t played – he didn’t bring a 5th CB.
He is really high on Tillman and said so in a few of those interviews, my guess Tillman is on the plane if he’s healthy.
He was raving (at the time) about Sean Johnson – look who’s in camp.
I think the only surprise is Pefok, and I’m sure he’ll have to address it soon. Maybe the club says he needs more recovery time… Who knows..
The 2 big questions are CB and Striker, which we all know.
What I’m wondering is how does he get Aaronson, Gio, and/or Weah on the field? He’s going with MMA in the midfield, so 2 of those 3 guys aint starting
Gregg said something about if a guy has been a regular in the group and they have a good evaluation of them they could make the squad without being brought in in Sept. That sounded like Pefok to me. If Pepi and/or Sargent don’t look right and Pefok fully recovers from his injury. He’s still got a chance but it appears Pefok has to depend on poor performance from someone else.
Yea I think Pefok is really the only one who falls into that category, unless Long continues to be average at best, Richards or CCV lay an egg or get hurt then I’d bet Ream could be the back burner, but I think Pefok is really the only one
Apparently in his presser today he mentioned this and used Jordan’s name when describing the situation.
Gregg did seem pretty specific with Pefok.
Like a lot of others, he’d probably be on my final roster. When it’s late, you’re facing a packed box, and you absolutely, positively have to get that headball slammed in…I mean, is there better anywhere in the world right now than Pefok? Not many, for sure. He’s one of the big reasons Union Berlin is atop the Bundesliga ahead of Bayern freaking Munich right now. Pepi’s not bad with head, but Pefok’s a whole different level.
meh. i think that’s his way of keeping the door open for they look bad in these games, injuries, club form, or the like. you mouth words to the effect of “this doesn’t have to be the 26” unless they all stay healthy in which case it is. this motivates the marginal player who can kid themselves that they have a straight up chance and aren’t a contingency. if you want someone to play hard now through november you might sell that “we know what he has” and then wait and see if everyone’s knees and hammys are intact. that also maybe makes the incumbents ever so slightly less comfortable.
you know what would make the marginal plays truly motivated and the incumbents work hard? have actual roster competition for these friendlies. that’s like i believe i am being tried for real as opposed to mind games and rhetoric.
I get why Pefok not called because of style of play, etc. and that GB has said we know what we have with him….
so all that might be a good reason Pefok gets called to make the final team, because he IS different so allows flexibilty to GB somewhat depending on things, matchups, late game stuff, etc.
if so, the ones called now maybe a musical chair for one? still far enough away that injuries could decide all these things, but just a thought
on the midfield plus Weah question, and if all are available, they will all play significant roles in the group stage, right? GB won’t be able to start all the same guys and play them all the minutes in every game; matchups again will determine things imo
the depth is a weapon if used
Yea I’m thinking Weah is the first one out of those 3, and frankly I think he’s a great bench option with that speed.. (He’s Cobi -esque)
I just don’t know how you sit Aaronson or Gio (if fit)
I just watched one of the youtubers who was pointing out GBs comments about having a double pivot in the build up to help Tyler & how he loves Musah there..
And he seems committed to MMA right? So….
Weston should go watch every second of Jermaine Jones in Brazil and say to himself “that’s gonna be me”
I’m wondering if he’s willing to start a more offensive midfield vs Wales by sitting one of those guys & starting Gio at the 10.. Then going with MMA vs England
I mean this is a fun problem to have right…
i think the man is confused what his style of play is. if we lapse into whacking crosses in then big man pefok is actually useful. i think he has some mental image of this team as a dutch passing team in a 433 with a false 9, and that may be how the lineup cards get done but it’s not how the goals get created.
I wonder if the fact that Pefok can’t do an interview in English is a factor. It wouldn’t play too well with a broad US audience if he scored and needed a translator. Probably not but in a tie-breaker maybe they go for they more marketable guy. Still doubt it. But I gotta wonder. Or maybe it makes him harder for GB to coach. Can’t be helping. Also for the love of God pick a last name and stick with it!
Pefok is his mother’s maiden name. He says that she is his best friend and it was her coming to the US when she was pregnant with him that makes him eligible, so he wears Pefok for US. Young Boys likely kept him listed as Siebatcheu given French being one of the official languages of Switzerland. Jordan’s Twitter handle is CallMePefok so I think he’s made it clear what he wants to be called.
I don’t know if his twitter handle counts as making his name clear when he allows his pro team (and in turn most of soccer reporting) to call him something else. To make matters worse, he wears “Jordan” on his club jersey, so there are people out there who think his last name is “Jordan”.
So if he’s on the WC team, in every game a commentator is going to have to tell that story about his mother just to explain why you get two names when you google him.
Branding. One thing Americans are better at than French.
Lots of guys use their first name on their jersey. Brazilian’s use their nicknames. Maybe your Twitter handle isn’t official if your handle is Jordyscoresgoals87, but if it’s Call Me Pefok that seems pretty clear.
I think this is the world cup squad (minus Weah) as things stand now, and I can’t quibble with much. Only wrinkle I can think of is Pefok might end up beating out whichever striker impresses least in this camp. Or maybe that’s just me trying to justify why the guy scoring goals in the best league among our strikers isn’t there.
Love roster drops. Time for everyone to get angry.
Looks like a good roster to me.
Quite clearly Berhalter doesn’t trust Pefok. And that’s understandable.
Understand why Morris and Arriola are there. Arriola has 9 goals and 5 assists for Dallas, and combines extremely well with Ferreira.
Morris has 7 goals and 4 assists for Seattle. Has game breaking speed and athleticism none other attacking player has, and can play multiple attacking positions i.e Striker, second striker and both wings.
Morris has looked bad lately though, and only has 1 g and 1a in the last 10 games I believe, so my question would be do you really think Greg brings the both of them?
he doesn’t trust pefok, but he trusts sargent? i mean, you get these roster things aren’t abstracted but are competitive. it’s not “what about pefok,” it’s “we have one spot left, who off this list gets it?”
i like morris and agree he is usefully versatile. to me i see the waste as arriola, and i question some of the others more on the “well, GB got his way on that one” basis where he’s set the game up where we don’t have much other choice at this point. konrad, hoppe, vazquez, etc.
I think it’s actually he does trust Pefok. He said he knows what Pefok brings. He knows what Sargent used to bring but isn’t sure if his current form is real. If your only playing one striker at a time there really aren’t game minutes for 4 strikers.
JR: what exactly does sargent “bring?” his last multigame run as a starter coincides with the 2019 struggles including being on the ropes to canada in NL group ball. i tend to think GB instead melds his initial mental image of how this would line up, with a fanboy’s obsession with club form. he would love to “rehabilitate” steffen, mihailovic, sargent, and the others he adored back in 2019. i think he waits with baited breath for them to put up club stats to justify it. compared to a shorter plank that pefok, wright, vazquez, and others who he has never called or grudgingly brought in. they could put up as good or better numbers and he remains skeptical. and yet the thing is, particularly on vazquez, he doesn’t have a track record defining him as bad, and pefok has managed goals on more serious opponents than sargent.
Weah has everything Morris has and more athletically. Morris could barely get minutes in Championship before an injury. If Weah returns to health should get nod over Morris. There’s a big difference between Lille and Seattle FC
That’s being a little unfair to say “couldn’t get minutes in Championship”. Coming in in preseason form was gradually increasing minutes had started against Man City in FA Cup. He was also brought in to be the 3rd striker after Lowe and Ayew that both scored double digit goals that season.
I should have added no one is saying Morris over Weah. Weah is currently injured so the question is Morris or Arriola
sorry but even framing it as morris vs arriola is vaguely berhalter-on-the-brain. we have a ton of other wings. we also have dest and jedi that play more like wings and could be converted higher up. arriola only appeals to berhalter-fans who have forgotten how, say, panama away went. the confused, paradoxical idea of wings who track back and backs who attack. how about find me 4 guys who can mark someone and then 3 frontliners whose expertise is setting each other up for goals. this is not hard.
re arriola’s numbers, not sure if you want to hang your hat on getting goals on grenada (5-0) or panama (5-1). that doesn’t tell me he’s ready to do a thing in qatar. i think you’re trying to spin that he’s also an attacking danger when this is more like a wondo scenario where you roster someone to chase defenders then need them to score a goal on a good team and they don’t have it. and while i am very much a team defense guy, i am also a division of labor guy. field a solid back 5 (including adams) and let them worry about defending. then pick 5 attackers who create actual danger. now, it might disqualify if they literally wouldn’t track back, but if they will do some running, pick the one who is a better attacking threat. i think y’all vastly overrate the degree to which arriola running around might bother, say, england, then blow off the real concern, that if we have a chance, against them, i don’t want him tasked with finishing it.
IV please name these other wings? If there are tons it should be easy. Please start with your #1 qualifier goals for NT as their first attribute. I’ll wait as look for people with more than 10g 8a or 11g 8a. On 23 man roster Morris and Arriola would be out both are likely on the border of 26 if Weah gets healthy, we don’t have “a ton of wingers” out there scoring goals on England, Wales and Japan.
JR: sargent, hoppe, musah, reyna, aaronson, dest, jedi, konrad, morris. you and coach don’t seem to get you need to adjust numbers across leagues for level of difficulty. you also don’t get that numbers aren’t everything, sometimes it’s about skillsets and whether they work for the US at that level. wondo was the all time great MLS scorer but it didn’t translate.
Mr. Voice,
Re Morris vs. Ariolla:
“this is more like a wondo scenario where you roster someone to chase defenders then need them to score a goal on a good team and they don’t have it. and while i am very much a team defense guy, i am also a division of labor guy.”
Despite all his shortcomings as an international Wondo does not deserve to have his reputation shit on by being compared to Ariolla.
Paul pissed all over himself in Couva and has done nothing to redeem himself since.
Paul as a defensive winger, what a load of shit. Guy with great engine chasing down tired defenders late in the game ? I’m pretty sure there will be 5 subs allowed just in case anyone forgot.
If that sort of calculus matters just bring another fullback, a Joe Scally, if you need someone late in the game to shut things down. Or give that job to Luca DLT.
Arriola has been very cold since NL as well. 2g 2a in games since El Salvador.
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Morris hasn’t gotten that game breaking speed back. Also he’s not going to play striker and Berhalter doesn’t use a second striker for the NT.
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Just given the math one or the other will be in Qatar. The only way they’re not is if all 3 strikers look awesome and they decide to play Sargent as a RW and then Weah gets healthy.
“Arriola has 9 goals and 5 assists for Dallas, and combines extremely well with Ferreira.”
For Paul to play more than a few minutes in Qatar, the USMNT will have to be in trouble.
like i said to JR above, the risk is arriola-as-wondo, that if he does see the field, we’re in a tactical situation where we need goals and finishing and have rostered someone who at that level has a skillset suited to pressing and harassing second or third rate NTs.
so GB sold himself to the snobs who wanted to see skilled attacking soccer but this looks like it’s set up to press and play keepaway. so arriola makes it to chase and green misses with his big game goals, vazquez off, etc. curious if the UCL snobs pay enough close attention to see the contradiction. this is not a pep team that tiki takas around but then looks to play through the cracks in the middle. this is we fart around wide then hit a cross, which sounds more 80s england than 2000s holland and spain. maybe it’s they like how the wingbacks get forward but then it’s odd the wings are then picked for pressing and tracking back. hmmm
The question is, do we stick with that pressing 4-3-3 or do we switch to more of a double pivot 4-2-3-1 (which we showed signs of the last set of friendlies) with Aaronson and Gio Reyna as our 10’s and the other mids largely relegated to double-pivot 6’s? Because I like Musah, Adams, Acosta, and LDLT all better as double-6’s than single 6’s or 8’s.
In this deployment, we might also see Weston McKennie moved to right wing in Weah’s stead with Weah out with injury…McKennie’s been playing right wing at times with Juve this year.
Be genuinely curious to see what Gregg does. I think we all know Aaronson and McKennie are starters against Japan, but which one plays centrally and which one moves right? Or do we see Gregg experimenting with tactics some over the course of a single game?
there is no way Greg puts McKennie on the wing, we have too much depth at the wing to do that(Reyna, Aaronson, Arriola, Weah).
Ronnie…
I actually think he might because Aaraonson and Gio are natural 10’s, and more impactful there than on the wing. You take those two away from the wing that leaves you with…well, Pulisic and Weah, who hasn’t been healthy. You’re not going to get much out of Morris or Arriola against the likes of England or Brazil so I don’t know if you can call them “depth”.
It’s worth noting we blasted Morocco – who is ranked #23 in the world, a spot ahead of the Japanese team we’re about to play – right off the field 3-0 with Aaronson playing the 10…and Aaronson’s been really, really effective with Leeds playing the 10 this year as well. I know everybody thinks Gregg didn’t notice…I’m really hoping he did.
my sense is GB is trying to revert back towards his older rosters so my sense is he’s going back to old tactics, too. i personally would like to see more technical players central like reyna and pulisic and the speedsters or dogged dribblers wide eg weah aaronson morris. i mean, people like LDLT hustling the ball upfield, but we have better technical players on the team if you are sick of mckennie turnovers and want someone to carry the ball up.
or if they are going to leave the technical pair wide, “clear the runway for them,” quit pinching them in or overlapping them with wingbacks all day. only makes finding them more awkward and draws defenders over towards them. i don’t get why we want to run so much of the offense through the weaker wingbacks as opposed to iso the best players on the team and have them take people on. once in a blue moon have the wingbacks come forward when we’re actually stuck and need the runs.
We’ve always morphed into a 4-2-3-1. Musah drops deep to bring the ball up instead of making Adams connect. The difference this summer was playing Aaronson in the Wes role (Wes’s lack of fitness off the foot injury). If Weah and Reyna are fit we won’t see Wes as a winger, even if it does make some sense.
i don’t think the average US fan has sat down and thought about, why did the summer of 21 end different than WCQ did in 22? wanna know why? 21 in nations league we sold out on OFFENSE. so that team won the final 3-2 in OT. you want your attacking wingbacks so bad, even if we get countered? then why are we worrying about attackers who can defend. sell completely out. at which point it’s malarkey that green and some of the others somehow don’t “fit.”
OR
go 21 in gold cup. that team had a bunch of defensive oriented players including attackers known for tracking back. they could barely score but the concept there was defend, and win ugly 1-0. a team that doesn’t compromise its defensive concept with attacking wingbacks is more likely to achieve that.
what i think GB’s fanboys have missed is the 22WCQ team lands squarely in between, omitting some of its offense for attackers who press, then watering down some of its defense for wingbacks who get forward. i can see some of you saying that’s “balance,” but it really isn’t, it’s less offense than it could be combined with a weakened defense. to me they instead need to sell out one end or the other and pursue that commitment as our advantage. otherwise we, well, finish 3rd behind canada and mexico,
so, what is this? is it an attacking team or a defending one. right now it’s a muddle. lands in between someplace and thus is jack of all trades master of neither. this roster is more muddle. pick a lane.
personally i don’t think the fanboys have yet grasped this is arena’s assistant and not some well drilled pep protege who fully knows what he is doing. i am not sure he did 21 on purpose so he may not understand why 21’s variations worked but 22 less so.
I don’t think he’s as hopeless as you portray, IV, but if we stick to playing a pressing 4-3-3 and lumping in bad crosses from our wingbacks (none of whom can cross a ball to save their own lives) and getting no killer balls through the middle because we stubbornly stick to our “MMA” midfield, and continue to generate few if any chances at goal when we’ve got guys like Aaronson and Gio who have shown they can pick a lock, I’ll start more vociferously questing Gregg’s tactics.
Like I said, I’m curious to see what he does, and how pragmatic he ends up being when we arrive in Qatar. I genuinely don’t have an opinion yet, though I’ll admit I’m worried he’ll be stubborn.
what Green do you keep referring to? Julian Green?
bro, creating chances has never been our problem, finishing has, so this idea that we are watering down the offense for what you say is too much of a reliance of wingback play just doesn’t match up with what’s been happening on the field. We’ve had the top chance creation and shots on goal in NL, the GC and WCQ, but don’t let any of that disrupt your rant!
When we’ve had Dest, Reyna, Wes, Pulisic, Weah and Aaronson playing we haven’t had trouble creating chances since the NL final. The issue just was we haven’t had all those pieces.
Press and Cross all day with (arguably of course) our tallest, and most physical center forwards left at home…..….
yes. it’s a package deal if you have a coaching brain cell in your head. if we are going to play a false 9 use a bunch of technical attackers to combine with them. if we are going to whack crosses all day duh roster 1-2 big lunk target players. if we are going with wide speed the strikers and mids need to have the foot speed to stay with the play.
i think the “US player” has improved over the last 20-30 years, more technical, ball on the ground. but i think “US tactics” have become more fashion followers of late, disconnected from the players we roster, not fully coherent. people can diss 2010 all they want but that team had a plan designed to thwart better teams, and it picked players to that system. and to me at this point everyone and their dog fields something like a 433 so you aren’t cute or clever anymore.
to me the best this looks is a game like CR or the second half of Honduras away where they drop the BS and play fast down the wings, then either cut in or play the ball to feet in the box. we do not look any danger at all passing around the perimeter for flag crossing. bluntly when i was in youth select that endgame — take it to the flag and whack it in — was seen as running out of ideas, not some sort of game plan. a team with a clue is more direct to goal and has some sort of team concept conjoined with roster choices to create chances. and the plan is not usually play keepaway for 20-30 passes and see if the other dudes get bored.
You think too much — not that that’s a bad thing, really, but I think it’s simple in this case. These are our best players, plus a small number of Berhalter faves. Except I would have had Pefok over Pepi. Maybe injury related as someone pointed out below – maybe we’ll find out. You really would have put Vasquez in with no caps?
I’m still not sold that Pefok is totally out of the picture for Qatar. We know what we have in Pefok as a goal scorer, Greg said as much,and I don’t see the harm in bringing Pepi back in for another look atm. Pefok will not ne a starter on this team, he’d be more of a late game sub to wear down a tired defense and get on the end of things, and that’s down to hi inability to press the way Greg wants, and there is no shame in being a super sub at a WC
this is not the world cup roster, it’s the last friendlies roster. friendlies don’t count. you give vazquez and maybe some of the other candidates some minutes and you decide it on the field. my beef is GB is basically handing the slots over. i get ferreira and pepi — though i think he put a finger on the scales in their favor. but that last slot sargent hasn’t played or scored for us in a long time. to me i would have left an obvious starter home and auditioned 3rd choice strikers. but GB tends to decide things before the fact, on paper, and not after the fact, having held a competition where the others got to play also and make their case.
it’s almost more a process complaint than a substance one. how are you so sure sargent is the guy. i liked him in 2018 but i grew out of it when he failed to score for a while. he goes on a run for norwich and all is forgotten? like vazquez isn’t torching MLS?
nah, instead of puzzling over it on spreadsheets, then deciding now, decide later — put them on the same field and decide it there. call 30 if you have to.
i mean part of the worry on pepi is we don’t know if what he did was a flash in the pan. but if he gets so many minutes — if vazquez is never called, or sargent — then you have no other choice when we get to the final decisions. ok, all my money on pepi. to me the US used to take more time to decide who won a roster competition and you won it on the field. landon might get cut but he was in camp making his play, before that happened. can you imagine if JK just decided before camp landon was done?
i also see this as a guardrail against coaching and scouting arrogance. based on finishing 3rd in WCQ he should already be less full of and sure of himself.
Used to be the US was proficient in its aerial game. Take out Weston or Pefok and nobody is really a threat in the air. US should not be dumping crosses in the box against the likes of England and Wales should be playing fast and direct through the middle imho with Pulisic, Weah, Aaronson et al.
re some of the pepi/ferreira comments, my concern there is more process than result. i think they are the ones who have scored goals and at this point in the cycle you can’t fight that. do i believe GB put his finger on the scales in their favor, handing them so many caps and minutes that pefok, sargent, vazquez, and others are an abstract discussion instead of a concrete one. like what “could” they do as opposed to how did they “do.” this to me is a function of GB tends to pick his winners up front, and then if he gets frustrated, he doesn’t reopen the process, he picks a new winner, which sucks oxygen from anyone else. so we kind of don’t know what the others would do. and he can then say well x and y started a lot and scored goals. as good as we can do? who knows. which is my point.
slightly concerned there is a luchi gonzalez distortion on that outcome. we magically end up with FCD’s frontline from a year ago. (FCD wasn’t very good then.)
i would also like to see a little more tactical diversity in the 9s, some speed, some target play. like roster people as if you might have to “game plan” or “adjust” and not just “sub.”
– Would it be a shock if the three goalkeepers on this roster are the same for the final WC roster? Probably not.
– Sands lost his opportunity by dropping a stinker against Ajax. CCV deserves the callup. It means we go 2 deep at CDM.
– GB went for youth and pace with no Tim Ream.
– Cannon is likely here because his team plays three in the back, with him outside.
– My gut tells me Scally pushes Yedlin out of a final roster spot this camp. The teenager has greatly improved over the last year, can play both sides. Yedlin is vulnerable.
– 1/2 expected LDLT to miss the cut for Djordje Mihailovic. LDLT’s playing time is very limited at Celta Vigo.
– Thought maybe Pefok might push out Tillman, who mercifully got pulled at halftime in the Ajax match. But Tillman matches Pefok’s athleticism and can play MF and up top.
– Contrast the way Ferreira, Pepi and Sargent play the 9 with Pefok. All three distribute, defend, and transition as well as they can score, and that is what GB is looking for. There still may be a spot for Pefok if one of the others doesn’t impress.
– So happy to have Gio back..I’ll bet he is too.
I think Vines could win a spot at left back. The advantage of Vines is, like Jedi he’s a true left back. Vines might even get the surprise start against Japan. He’s the one true left back we have on this roster with Jedi out injured.
I am with you Yedlin needs to turn it around or he might himself be a surprise omission from Qatar as well. If Scally shows well this camp, Yedlin’s probably in trouble.
why didn’t sands lose the chance when his caps sucked? how does club form override the NT performances? like he looked a nervous wreck and bad in the shirt. i then don’t care how he looked in SPL or UCL last week. i think we can throw 4 CBs out there who don’t look a jittery, no-marking mess for the US before. and sorry snobs but that probably includes long.
the one i question is CCV. i liked CCV back in 2018 but he looked a mess in his caps this spring. wasn’t winning his headers, getting caught out. i would have preferred to see EPB. he looked steady for the US and he plays first division france which is an underrated league.
Agree on Sands, he can’t be trusted right now, no less in a WC, but I disagree with you on CCV, more so that he looked a lot better than EPB in the June window. CCV has been dominant in the SPL(I know it’ not the strongest league), and is playing CL too.
i was a CCV fan based on 2018. while i thought sarachan was tactically clueless i thought he had a sharp eye for the youth talent and a lot of sarachan people GB dropped in 2019 were back later. like if you want fun go back and look at the U23 rosters from 2019 vs the senior teams lineups now. he totally missed it.
anyways, i was happy CCV got brought back last year but then he was having headable balls fly over him, looking out of position. i rate US games over club. so that raises questions if he’s up to US games right now.
some people make a fuss about his fouling but i’d rather have him ending plays than miazga or brooks or ream matador waving players into goal. but if he starts whiffing cross headers like the defender in me thought i saw, no, that’s bad.
on a more basic level i don’t get USMNT fanboys who seem to think every current lineup is optimized even as we sit 3rd in the region on a tiebreaker, barely in qatar. we have some good players and he has more of a clue than in 2018, but i don’t believe we’re even close to what this is in 2026, even among the ones ready to play now. i think there is a conservative impulse where people get used to, say, mckennie or steffen as starters, and they miss the world evolving around them, and they obsess about their resumes. we have a pile of resume players at this point. you play for juve, but he plays for leeds or chelsea. so “why him?”
Down 1-0 to any opponent who’s putting 10 behind the ball in the 80th you don’t think Pefok offers something over any other striker? If you couldn’t break down to defense all game you’re gonna be reduced to dumping crosses into the box I’d much rather have him on the receiving end than any of the above. It’s situational soccer something that Burkhalter seemingly doesn’t think about he has one game plan and doesn’t adjust that’s going to be our downfall unless you can figure out a way to adjust when he needs to were in trouble.
all due respect but c. 2010 what we would have done down 2 goals is sub on davis and jozy. guy to cross and guy to head it in. this is basic tactics. i don’t think playing 90 minutes of the same ol stuff is that brilliant of coaching. i get it appeals to aesthetic snobs but sometimes precisely what you need to do is try something different, more direct, and perhaps even crude. it seems to be like a snob thing that even trailing a game it still has to be 20 pass builds and that we can’t try putting on speed and playing it behind a defense, or pumping balls in the box late. this is how practical teams operate. the US has gotten derailed into some sort of purity thing.
impression i get is these are his first choice keepers. i am fine with johnson and turner in an abstract sense but don’t think calling in the obvious for more minutes helps us settle the back end of the keeper list for qatar. i would like a third keeper who has won the job rather than gotten picked on analytics or subjective preference. i would like to have seen a fresh keeper or two (cohen?) to try and escape GB’s loop where the keepers he keeps calling aren’t playing or have had poor NT games.
Other than Pepi there’s not much I would quibble with…and there’s an argument you can make for Pepi. Mind, Wright, Pefok, and Vasquez are all in torrid form and are scoring for fun, granted, but none has proven much with the Nats yet either, Pepi was productive before his Augsburg move and he fits what Berhalter does better than the others as well. So I get it despite the fact that Pepi’s form is currently crap.
This is probably the World Cup roster barring injuries, IMHO. I think Jordan Morris almost certainly loses his spot to Tim Weah if Weah gets healthy but other than that…well, that’s probably your roster, and it’s probably real close to the one I myself would take.
I probably would have given a look to Vasquez, myself, but I can understand why Gregg didn’t and elected to stay with Pepi, for several reasons, and I could certainly have been convinced to see things Gregg’s way on this one.
i agree the more i look at it this looks like his first choice, and having done it this way, barring injury or the like, he has fairly well shut the door on his other options by removing any oxygen for their candidacy. they can’t show up and make a competing case in practice or games. the people who pretend like this is about competition might consider that. their idea of competing for a NT spot is you do club form or sign someplace in europe and we use that as a proxy — not that you outplay the other dude in an actual cap, like normal.
but then my knock on this coach going back to 2019 is he picks the winners in his head from analytics instead of watches his own games and rewards the ones who perform.
re “pepi vs vazquez,” sorry, no, the debate isn’t starter vs cut, it’s barely makes the team vs cut. vazquez’s real competition is more like sargent. same thing horvath, arriola, tillman, LDLT, etc. the poor schlub just trying to make the back end of the roster isn’t fighting reyna and pulisic, he’s fighting them. properly framed it’s much more dubious and debatable.
i like bringing vines back but scally had such a miserable last window how could you trust anything you see this time. kind of like horvath. you could play 90 good minutes with japan and i still wouldn’t be sure you’re the keeper who gave up the near post howler to el salvador.
a theme of the team is it seems to be perseverating about ideas in his head over prior NT performers or fresh ideas. personally i think the primary form that should matter is how you looked in your last NT games. beyond that i would rather see someone fresh than a gaffe machine who already got caps. back in the day you cost us NT goals or games you were done for the cycle. and we didn’t assume club form meant anything for international performance. it might earn you a trial and a cap but it didn’t override how you looked in your last cap. you got picked for how did you look in the shirt.
“but scally had such a miserable last window how could you trust anything you see this time.”
Because the kid is 19 and sometimes young players get better as they gain more experience.
I saw the kid survive – admittedly by the skin of his teeth a couple times. and once thanks to VAR -against Bayern a couple weeks ago in front of a packed house at Allianz Stadium. Hard to unsee that and think he doesn’t have the ability and just needs to get worked into the setup. This is truly Big Boy Soccer, here, folks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvzsfmSqT94
what is about to happen in november is “playoff soccer.” the idea is to be as certain as possible. can i rely on you to do the job in qatar. what you are suggesting is subjective optimism. you “think” he’s up to it. so what. i can go down a list of wondos and brookses and such that people thought were going to be international soccer studs based on production or their address. so what. when have you done it for the USA.
y’all don’t get it, you perseverate that wondo is the same guy he is in MLS and if he gets subbed in on belgium he misses the sitter. there should have been concerns wondo wasn’t up to it from US caps.
re scally, there is always next cycle. he probably has 2-3 more in him. this is not when to get cute and stuck on scouting ideas or club form. i liked what i saw on tape before, too, but this is money on the table time.
IV – I agree it’s “money on the table” time and Scally needs to show well to win a spot or Yedlin’s on the plane and he’s probably off it when Qatar rolls around. Yedlin’s the known quantity.
Vines probably gets in with an even adequate performance just because nobody else has really shown up behind Jedi as an actual left back…actual left backs are unicorns anyhow and he is playing and playing well for Antwerp. I checked the SPI stats over at globalfootballrankings.com and Antwerp’s got a 56.2 rating, good for fourth in Belgium, and ahead of every MLS team (including LAFC) except the Philadelphia Union, which are carrying a 60.0 per SPI at the moment. So Vines isn’t playing in the Prem or Bundesliga, but he’s on a pretty good squad and he’s playing well. I guess we’ll see if it translates.
How safe a pick is Yedlin though? He’s acting like the fire’s gone from his belly more ever year since he left the Prem and despite the fact he’s only 29 he’s a player on the definite decline. He’s looked glitchy and unfocused since coming back to MLS.
You put such emphasis on NT games, but that’s just CONCACAF. Which is a more difficult competition, CONCACAF competition or Champions League or Europa League? If you want to judge on the basis of play in the past, I’d go with the European club championships over CONCACAF competition. Likewise, playing in a top 5 European league is probably a better gauge than CONCACAF. For example, we learned A. Robinson is good because of how he was able to shut down Mo Salah, who has no equal in CONCACAF.
gary: i watched brazil and england torch jedi 4 years ago. it’s like people forget stuff. so the pretense is players already cracking at concacaf level should be doubled down on because they sometimes hack league or UCL ball.
re jedi my concern is the people who call him usually have these ideas in their heads about him cheating up as an attacker and if that’s the case then he is going to get torched on the counters. at fulham this year, i actually think he is staying more at home and being more picky in his risktaking. but that is not the case if your whole concept is cheating up ie push the wingbacks up to the midfield line and leave 2 backs actually “back.” in that case i don’t care how well you think he duels, because in reality he’s gonna be desperately chasing his man having been throughballed. i actually think he’s decent defending when he stays at home but that is never the reason the fanboys want him.
IV you don’t think any players level has changed in 4 years? 4 years ago you saw Green score a lucky goal on France. 4 years ago you saw Robinson get torched by one of the best players in the world at the time. Since then Robinson has played over 100 professional matches 26 NT matches including 2g and 4a. Meanwhile in 4 years Green has suffered a significant knee injury a significant ankle injury and a back injury last year that limited his minutes for much of the year. Add in that Green has aged to 27, and for a guy who was never known as a great athlete who has had leg and back injuries. Neither are the player they were in 2018 so to judge them by those matches is not insight but ignorance. You and I don’t differ much on our evaluation of Robinson but he’s competing against Bello, Vines, and Ream at LB. Green is competing with Aaronson, Musah, Reyna, and Pulisic. Should Green have gotten at least a cap under Berhalter? I think yes given his technical ability and the possession style that was initially attempted why he wasn’t brought in over Roldan in NL group stage is baffling. German restrictions made call ups in fall of 2020 difficult (Adams, Sargent, and Reyna all had call ups denied each German state had different rules). A Corona infection that he struggled with recovery prevented March ‘21 callup. Furth prevented a GC callup in July ‘21 according to both Green and Berhalter. He didn’t play very well on a terrible Bundesliga team combined with a switch in style to high intensity pressing kept him out since then.
Same mls nonsense as always. Sabbi? Green?
no and no! Sabbi and Green both play in lesser league than MLS, and Green has not been impactful in Bundesliga 2. and neither has Sabbi in his league. This roster is heavy on european players as it should be, but you can’t argue that it’s too many MLSers, and really one of Arriola and Morris is probably not here is Weah isn’t injured!
Lois, please tell me the last time Sabbi played a game? Don’t know? May 26th. I’m assuming he’s hurt but there’s no story I can find to prove that.
Oh Berhalter, you funny man, you. I have a feeling Vasquez will strongly consider that one-time switch to Mexico with not even having a sniff of a chance lately. Pefok as well just can’t get much There will be games a good target forward will be needed for a possible scrappy goal. Hate saying it, but the “what if” Sargent gets injured situation. None of those other guys can be that 9 position needed. Ferreira isn’t a true 9. Pepi is still very raw and barely getting game time since his loan move. I’m not saying only have target forwards but why not more variety of forwards to possibly fit what opponents are giving or adapting to against us.
one of my concerns with the club form snobs is they don’t seem to care if the player in question already had a runout and didn’t do much. i was even a sargent fan off his 2018 experience but i haven’t seen that player since under GB. to me it’s GB perseverating to grab onto a few weeks of club form on someone he wanted to have involved. pefok has scored in a nations league semi (where sargent struggled to score on anyone better than cuba) and vazquez hasn’t had his chance and messed it up. either reward NT track record or go with the unknown over the perseverated.
GB’s cult backs whatever he does but his odd choices/omits and unwillingness to be aggressive on dual nationals creates added risk on the vazquezes of the team.
He should have been brought in June but there is just not enough time in Sept camp to learn all the nuance and acclimate to the team. FCCs style is totally different. I’ve been on the Vazquez train since U17 WC and thought it was never going to happen after it didn’t work in Atlanta or last year in Cindy. I think we’ll definitely see him in Jan or March.
I loved how De La Torre looked for us, but he’s not getting much time with Celta de Vigo. Would Berhalter take him to Qatar if he continues to (mostly) sit the bench for his club? With Roldan injured and Busio I guess off the radar, DLT may be benefitting from a lack of competition. Nice to see Tillman get another look.
LDLT is overrated but GB by picking him over and over got to the point he finally did something in a game he can hang his hat on. but i am at a loss, in terms of NT games, “why tillman.” this point in the cycle i want to see people who have done something with their caps. i was underwhelmed. he looked like he needed to go back in the oven a year or so. i mean, the coach does get these people might see the field in, say, a game with england, right?
I like Luca but I’m not sure he’s overrated and I say that bc tbh we haven’t even seen a lot of him as a starter, which may in and of itself tell us something about his ability to start internationally, but it probably has more to do with the people who are in front of him LOL. On Tillman, the upside is there for all to see, but like you, I think he needs more seasoning. I’m a big fan of Eryk Williamson and thought he would get a look this window but I think the fact the he’s been injured pretty regularly(although not right now)has hurt his chances, although Greg did ant him in for the June friendlies(but he declined the call up bc of fitness).
tillman looked athletic and interesting but he’d basically give the ball away or shoot it in the stands. i don’t see how he’s any more ready or polished than, say, hoppe. and hoppe at least i know he can hit a cross. to me tell the kid to polish his game and we’ll talk 2026. there are guys out there like green and holmes who can do something now off the bench. fully cooked.
i think the kid might be something later on but the idea isn’t a team of theoretical upside but instead like players actually ready now. soto based on panama might be something. he’s not ready for the world cup either. ditto scally and a few others.
i mean to me the idea on these games is qualify but also sort out who is performing well now. i like experimentation but at the end of the cycle winnow it down to the ones who did something with their chances. i don’t see where he ever did. he’s instead like that kid who looks interesting in the friendlies after the world cup is done and we’re moving towards the next one. that and you’ve got 4 years to sort out the kinks. now, not so much. ready or not. IMO not. and i say that as someone who had pefok and this kid and his brother on a dual national list a few years ago. i just don’t see it yet for him. glad we swiped him. but not for this roster.
Beerholder is an absolute moron. Aaron Long isn’t even a standout MLS player. Neither Morris nor Arrieola has any business on the national team. No Pefok. Fire Beerholder. He is so stupid is reminds me of a Trump supporter.
Who would you call up at this time instead of Arriola and Morris?
A 9 (Pefok) who actually might have a role to play versus two wingers who will only see the field if something dreadful has happened
But Morris isn’t a 9 so why are you replacing him with a 9. We only play with one forward at a time so what’s the point of have 4 guys share 180 minutes. Is there a wing that has looked good that’s out there? Konrad, poor for US trying to find his footing in Greece. Uly looked great for US but is in Austrian 2. Ledezma coming off ACL hasn’t played much at PSV. None of the U20 wings have shown anything as pros. Paredes, more WB than W, wasn’t as productive in MLS as Morris or Arriola. Like it seems pretty ridiculous to be fire the manager because I don’t like his 3rd striker and 6th winger. Those guys ain’t gonna play.
Morris and Arriola are there because Weah is injured. Maybe one of the two goes as a depth option. No one else across the pond deserves a callup.
And who do you pick over Long right now? McKenzie is OK but not really an upgrade. Sands has shown he needs more seasoning in recent games and isn’t ready. This position used to be our strength..how times have changed. Miles Robinson will be missed.
Absolutely absurd that Pefok did not get included. I continue to be optimistic about Pepi’s long term upside, but NO way he is in better form than JP. It’s about talent and form NOW. Come on, GGG!!
it may have something to do with Pefok just coming back from injury, so let’s not assume we know why until Greg has to answer questions about roster selections in his post roster release presser coming up soon……Haji Wright was always going to be on the periphery of a call up bc of the comments Berhalter made about him after the ES match unfortunately
I don’t get Pepi over Pefok and Wright. You can argue that Pefok doesn’t fit the style that Berhalter wants to play, but in the end do we want strikers who score or strikers who don’t score?
I still think we could see Pefok as a situational guy in Qatar. We know what Pefok is; he’s magnificent in the air and he needs service and if you’re looking to bang in a late header in a packed box against Wales or Iran he could well be your guy. Other than that, he’s not a great fit for what we do, though.
I think in the interim Gregg wants to take a look at Pepi and see if the guy can still help us. My guess is it’ll be Ferreira/Sargent against Japan and Sargent probably starts with Pepi coming off the bench against Saudi, and we see where we are then.
all your players and subs shouldn’t be carbon copies. god forbid we need to change the game plan or the Berhalter System TM isn’t working 80′ into a must win game where we are down a goal. one of my concerns with his system zealotry is part of coaching is knowing when your paper theories don’t work, either in general or on a specific night. so you need some diverse players with different attributes and maybe even some alternative “packages.” as in someone who can cross or deadball plus a target to finish them. or someone who can hit a throughball and a speedy winger. or a DM who can close out a game and some more defending oriented backs. situation specific like you say. but i think GB runs one speed and wants to front run the game from whistle to whistle. when recent NT history is we often have to come back.
obviously not a fan, think the team does what it does in spite of rather than because of him.
A good coach adjusts his style of play to fit the best players he has. I always point out basketball Coach John Wooden, one of the finest coaches ever in any sport. He always got the best players he could and then adjusted his style to fit those players. Berhalter does the opposite. He decides on a style and then tries to put his favored players to fit that style. That is not how you win championships. If he had a club team, then you go out and buy the players to fit the scheme. With a national team, you can’t do that. Berhalter’s approach insures that some of our best players are not utilized or are utilized incorrectly.
the reason i pout as much as i do about this is i think we should be the top team in the region — now — and a dark horse to do something in qatar. people are instead making excuses for canada while finessing that canada’s key parts are kids too. you don’t figure a way ahead in that race and it may last this whole generation’s careers.
personally i am concerned that when the organization picks a coach to play a certain “way” that you have suits making soccer decisions and then inflexible ideologues implementing them. i want proven “winners” who ideally have had to develop more than one team into something, and work within constraints to do it. the irony of much of GB’s tenure is he’s been given excuses for messing up — because we are on a long term project of ideas — rather than showed he can make this into a team that looks sharp and gets results. i’m curious how deep into 2026 or 2030 he gets if this just continues sputtering along, better than 2018, but still kind of meh.
i beef about the selection because he’s been so off a first choice for so long, but also because i see a fanboy element of the USMNT getting “stuck” on the “flavor of the month” constantly. i think there are some exciting but messy guys like mckennie who are probably long term subs. i am not sure in 4 years if steffen is still in the mix. people need to keep pushing this along, particularly when it’s 3rd place on a tiebreaker. it is obviously not there yet, at all, not on personnel, not on tactics.
Gary, That’s complete and utter fallacy. You’ve been against Berhalter from the start because you wanted Tata. You used to be a reasoned and logical voice, but you’ve turned into the guy on the porch yelling get off my lawn. Look at Mexico are they better today than they were when Tata took over? No, and it’s not even close. When Berhalter changed his ideas to meet his players, which you claim he didn’t do after the Covid break Gregg is 3-0-1 against Tata. How we play today is nothing like the possession system described by Berhalter in 2019 because Wes and Ty couldn’t play that way. Musah wasn’t ready to break down defenses with passing either, might be by next summer but not yet. Is he John Wooden heck no, but neither are 99.999% of all coaches in the world.