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Ferreira, Slonina, Roldan headline USMNT pre-World Cup training camp roster

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The U.S. men’s national team is 27 days away from kicking off its schedule at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the preparation for several MLS-based players will continue in Texas beginning this week.

Jesus Ferreira, Gabriel Slonina, and Cristian Roldan were among nine senior players included in the final pre-World Cup camp, set to run Oct. 25-Nov. 5 in Frisco, Texas. All nine players have concluded their respective MLS schedules and will head to Texas, along with 16 U.S. Under-20 men’s national team players.

Cade Cowell, Aidan Morris, Chris Brady, and Brian Gutierrez were among the USMNT U-20 players chosen to also take part in the training camp. A total of eight players named in Mikey Varas’ roster were a part of the Concacaf U-20 Championship-winning roster from this past summer.

Additional players will be added to the camp roster as their seasons conclude,

USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter will announce his final 26-player roster on Nov. 9 in New York City. The Americans will open group stage play on Nov. 21 against Wales before also facing England (Nov. 25) and Iran (Nov. 29) in Qatar.

Here is a closer look at all players called into USMNT camp:


GOALKEEPERS: Gabriel Slonina, Chris Brady, Antonio Carrera.

DEFENDERS: Shaq Moore, Walker Zimmerman, DeAndre Yedlin, Aaron Long, Marcus Ferkranus, Jalen Neal, Kayden Pierre, John Tolkin, Caleb Wiley.

MIDFIELDERS: Cristian Roldan, Daniel Edelman, Daniel Leyva, Aidan Morris, Niko Tsakiris.

FORWARDS: Paul Arriola, Jesús Ferreira, Jordan Morris, Cade Cowell, Benjamin Cremaschi, Brian Gutierrez, Jackson Hopkins, Marcos Zambrano.


Comments

  1. The never Berhalter crowd should be ecstatic that Mihailovic and Vazquez aren’t here. It’s a clear signal Gregg isn’t looking ahead to the next cycle.

    Reply
    • rumor is my crappy houston dynamo went up to frisco and beat the campers in a scrimmage. not a joke. that’s what i think of the people acting like being a GB critic is stupid.

      fwiw MX is ending their season this weekend. i doubt they will call 5 or so real choices to something they will call a fitness camp. their coach will realize he is boss and he can call a bunch of people and still cut them, and realize if he does his job right any “donovan” controversies are a footnote when it’s over. if you do your job badly then you will hear about “harkes/ wynalda” the rest of your career.

      Reply
      • You must not have scrolled far enough. Tata has called 31 players. He has an advantage that only 12 of his players are Euro based, whereas Berhalter’s is likely more close to 20. Tata can have a friendly against Iraq with his nineteen and at most cuts 5. Probably 5 or 6 starters minimum in that group. Berhalter would have 2 or 3, maybe 1 starter.

  2. let me explain my fudge factor point numerically. we have an injury bug problem. this is a camp for anyone MLS who might possibly go to qatar — or at least it should be. he has called just 9 people to that camp who are intended for the NT. that verges on a waste by itself. but i also see maybe 2-3 tops he might cut, eg slonina, roldan, maybe moore or morris. so this constitutes roughly his MLS universe for qatar. with what has gone on i think building in just 2 “cuts” into the concept is childishly naive. but then this has been the man who we would say call 30 for the 3 game camps and he’d called closer to 26 then have injuries. my point is call some extras and give yourself wiggle room. but then i think he’s a control freak who since he dictates roster choice off spreadsheets regardless how they actually play for the US on game days, neither wants to give false hope nor wants to provide his snubs any media oxygen. if he calls vazquez, mihailovic, or others, at least on paper they have hope. the media can start up a louder drumbeat. you do it this way you cut it closer and risk numbers problems if people get hurt who you didn’t plan on, but you stay ahead of the PR problem of “cutting a landon” where you can be questioned even before the games start.

    to me it’s a throughput thing even more than a “slonina and roldan” critique. to me if you plan on calling maybe 7 MLS total, if no one from either abroad or here gets hurt, you don’t call 9 total MLS to the fitness camp. you call more like 12-14. i think he doesn’t want those 3-5 having a media drumbeat when he doesn’t think they should make it.

    HS varsity and select coaches don’t usually have a “20 man” tryout for an “18 man” dress roster.

    Reply
      • you’re not thinking it through in practice. 11/13 is the roster deadline. 11/14 is european player release. there is no long camp with everyone. if a european player you liked gets hurt in the next 2-1/2 weeks, and some other guy you were interested in has been rotting on a european bench, there is no time to get the european option fit and sharp. but a MLS player is already game shape and has 2-1/2 more weeks to get ready at the intensity level you can control.

        so if you think about it, if you were bright, you’d be trying to get MLS fit because you can’t control your european contingencies.

        let’s be real, his mind is made up, which i guess you think is fine if he picked well, which is questionable. and from my perspective with how many we have gotten hurt lately, i would have as many bodies around as i could possibly have. contrary to his BS mentality, i am sure endless MLS players would be willing to show up for a low odds chance camp just to have any chance at all. they wouldn’t feel strung along. they might not appreciate getting called to a friendly camp to get cut or sit all wekend but this is the world cup.

        i’d have 20 MLS in plus the kids so they can scrimmage 11v11.

        last point, i think it’s insane he’s treating slonina like a serious senior option. his GAA is like 1.5 on a team near the bottom of the east. he is not ready. i could get calling him as a U20 roster filler but he’s on the senior roster competition list.

      • There would need to be like 5 or 6 injuries between now and Nov 13 to need more MLSers. Even then if a guy gets injured this weekend you can still bring in someone next week and have them fit by Nov. 21. Everyone’s heard Berhalter’s story of being on vacation at Disneyworld when he got called in as a replacement and he started 2 knockout round matches.
        ———————————
        Slonina may be politics. He’s been in NT camps before the players union might throw a hissy if they stashed him on the U20 list which get paid less. I’m not really sure how the pay structure works for these “fitness camps”. Might also be to placate Chelsea who might not release him and risk injury for just a U20 camp when they want to loan him in January.

      • all due respect JR but GB was on 3 world cup teams and played 1-1/2 games as an injury replacement. he is known for the germany chance but it didn’t go in and we lost the game. that is reality outside the myth. he then got abused so bad in a 2006 friendly against germany (4-0? 4-1?) i think he barely played ever after that.

        i think the myth appeals to fanboys who remember almost beating germany. except we beat germany in some friendlies around then. except having hired him we aren’t beating anyone like that anymore. except everyone knows pope and boca and later on demerit were the good ones and berhalter was mediocre slow foot bench material.

        personally i wonder if half the reason he is so club form obsessed is part of him thinks mr. dutch clubs and crystal palace thinks he should have been playing instead of (better) players who were at something more like fulham or DC. sampson was right. bruce was right.

        fwiw the pro brooks cadre has been riding a similar ghana play — which was a goal — for years despite an overall similar unimpressive track record over the broader arc of his appearances. the big picture is both guys were probably subs elevated beyond their level by chance, and let’s not blow it out of proportion.

    • for comparison’s sake, MX is already in its 2-leg final right now. one assumes this was done on purpose. they are getting their league out of the way. they presumably will begin a training camp and it won’t be a couple seniors and a bunch of U20s. they won’t relabel it “fitness camp” to minimize what it matters.
      even if a lot of the people who will make MX’s team will be abroad. to me you can always cut people you call in excess, but you can’t shut people down then turn them back on if you underestimate.

      Reply
      • They’ve already released their 31 man roster for a next month. 19 are Liga Mx based so they are playing a friendly Nov 9 against Iraq. It will be a little sparse for that one but have another full squad friendly the 16th. There’s a couple injured guys on their 31 one though so Tata’s cutting his numbers close too. I read on a US outlet though so maybe if I read a local Spanish language version more are training as precaution but that wasn’t in the story I read.

  3. Klopp said something recently enough like he’d heard how his system had been found out, etc. (even tho they tinker and maneuver it all the time) and his reply was telling imo. Klopp said it was found out a couple years ago, that last year was the same system with what they did, but that the difference was the intensity…his word.

    it’s more than that I think, but whatever is going on now for the USMNT is all about who can do GB’s system/ideas with intensity, with belief, and do it the best. beating Mexico twice and with those different teams shared one thing, that intensity, that belief in the system and each other and themselves…all of that and more

    I’m no GB apologist. No way and I have not been. For example, I hope we have more than just one style of play to lean on, like pressing all the time for example, and say it all the time. we’ll see. Miles going down hurt (and if Adams is not ok) and now without him, we all share concerns re. the CBs especially in some matchups where we may be in a defend/counter position because of the opponent who forces us into it. who cannot see that as a possibility?? or being suckered forward and countered hard?? different almost opposite scenarios both very possible not only game to game but within a game itself, and all that must both be accounted for, yes? I hope we have. those not selected raise immediate questions for sure about that

    favorites all coaches have, earned for whatever reasons, but also GB has evolved the team selection thru the cycle too, to move on from of his.

    So it’s not all bleh from GB from my seat. Pepi is a recent cool move to get him back feeling good. the midfield’s evolution throughout the cycle is cool, winning stuff too, and qualifying (expected for sure but the pressure not to fail was immense and he and the guys didn’t)

    but the intensity part…that’s the KEY to whatever happens imo. like they’ve already shown they can do a summer ago but haven’t recently.

    That first game

    Reply
    • there was never a golden age for the GB system. summer 2021 they didn’t even seem to play the way they usually do.

      Reply
    • i agree the defense has been soft and not intense but a 433 is hardly the way to team-defend. and IMO pressing is a gimmick and not fundamentally sound.

      Reply
  4. I can’t believe GG. What a fool. Why get players to be in shape and form? My goodness, there is 0% chance that Reyna, Pulisic, or someone else gets hurt. I can’t stand having a coach that is preparing for the worse. If anyone does get hurt it is all GG fault because he is preparing for injuries.

    Reply
    • You all are gas lit and naive, to think he is setting us up for success, wow.
      1. Not setting players up for success. How dare he have a system and force it on players he does not have the man power for Long and Zimm laying out the back with no Musah last window.
      2. GGG Player selection Playing favorites for the Roldans and Longs, Not calling up Milhailovic, Trusty, Slonina, and Vazquez he will not be calling them up later. Also he gambled with Slonina by not cap tieing him, we could have lost him, thank goodness he was loyal.
      3. Burning bridges. Brooks was so over it he decide let me just chill on the bench and get a check its not worth the stress and closed mindedness with tactics like GGG. Also their are false rumors players like Mendez are annoyed and want to rep Mex when that is not true Mendez is not included because GGG has favorites( like mentioned above), and plays and ineffective system with lackluster atrocious results.

      Reply
      • Mendez plays for a mid table team in Portugal. Sporting, Benfica, and Porto are high quality but after Braga the rest of the league is MLS quality. In said league Mendez has 1g 0a in 36 matches. You’d be up in arms if an MLS 8/10 with 1g and 0a in 36 matches got called up. You’re throwing a big baby hissy fit over Roldan and he’s got 4g 5a this season. Sonora in a league very similarly rated to MLS has 4g 2a 34 matches. Those players aren’t on the WC roster because they aren’t good enough not the system.

      • Jonny Roldan has not done anything at international level he is not good enough crazy how you all are defending him. Roldan has not performed better than Vazquez and Milhavoic, Roldan has been a bench warmer the whole cycle. He cant even score on a minnow team like Grenada.

      • No one said Roldan should be there but your huge outrage over guys that aren’t performing in leagues at or near MLS level is perplexing. You are ranting and raving about a guy who is unlikely to make the roster and if he does to not play and wanting him replaced by guys who are producing less in their mid level leagues. You’ve been gas lit that your postal code determines your value.

      • Also how can you say certain players are not good enough for the WC roster, when Berhalter never gave them time and a fair chance to prove they are good enough. Look at Trusty and Cohen. Both should have been given time to prove themselves, now Turner is injured. Roldan has not performed in MLS better than Milhaovic and Vazquez.

      • Mihailovic: turned down call up in December to train, June was to be called and got hurt. In time between May and Sept. camp he had 1g 1a in 12 matches. Mihailovic isn’t on the squad because of poor choices, poor form and bad luck. Even with not great form Morris and Arriola outperformed Mihailovic in the same league. To break into a team for the first time in three years in the last evaluation camp before WC you’ve got to be obviously better.
        ——————————
        Vazquez: I was big on Brandon following U17 WC. Thought he was better than Wright. As others on that team flourished Pulisic, Adams, DeLaTorre, Vazquez floundered showing brief flashes then long periods of nothingness. In 5 years he had 20 professional goals. This season he had 20 goals. It was too late. In June he had to beat out his U17 teammate Wright who had had his 2nd successful Euro season, and Ferreira who was outperforming him in same league and had been a regular starter in MLS for 3 seasons. His fate was largely sealed at that point, with Pepi and Sargent hot in bigger leagues and Ferreira keeping pace in MLS there was no room for Vazquez in a 1 forward system in September. Add in he’s never had success in a 1 forward setup. Vazquez took too long to find his form. Managers have to look at floor and ceiling for each player. By not excelling until 6 months from the WC Berhalter couldn’t trust his floor, what if Brandon reverted to 2021 form, he’d never been this good before? Was Vazquez a little hard done, sure but he had 5 years of not being an even average level pro and one amazing season he did largely too himself. And I say that as a guy who checked his stats after every Xolos U19 match and ATL II match hoping he’d finally hit big.

      • Striker in June July and August Roldan had 2g 2a Mihailovic had 1g 1a. Djordje was not good coming off his injury. The roster was decided in September, Djordje didn’t refund it until October. It stinks but Roldan is not going to play and I don’t think he’ll make it either.

      • JR

        Re this thread. Gregg has almost certainly already submitted a “provisional” WC list.

        It’s confidential though.

        If I read this right, it is not necessarily binding but it will be difficult to pick someone not already on it.

        Besides , from the USMNT perspective do we really have 55 guys we want to take to a World Cup?

        Besides, knowing Gregg it is unlikely he submitted a full 55 names.

        https://theathletic.com/3705334/2022/10/20/world-cup-squads-provisional-explained/

        “What’s the first cut that players have to make?
        That’s tomorrow (Friday, October 21), a date that was initially meant to mark a month out from the competition before it was decided that hosts Qatar’s opening game with Ecuador would be brought forward by a day.
        FIFA asks all 32 nations to submit what it terms a “release list” in time for the cut-off point, which amounts to a provisional squad of players.
        That must include a minimum of 35 names, with at least four of them being goalkeepers. As many as 55 players can be listed should a national association see fit, as well as 70 officials and support staff who will travel.

        The ability to name such a large squad is a new rule introduced for this World Cup.
        Four years ago, when Russia staged the finals, the maximum number to be named in release lists was 35 and for Brazil 2014 it was just 30.
        However, the FIFA council met in June and decided special measures would be required for Qatar due to “the need to retain additional flexibility due to the unique timing” of a World Cup planted in the middle of so many countries’ domestic seasons rather than in the northern hemisphere’s summer. That also included an increase of the final squads from the previous limit of 23 players to 26, as well as the ability to use five — rather than three — substitutes from up to 15 reserve players.
        FIFA is conscious that many players will still be turning out for clubs the Sunday before the World Cup begins on November 20, also a Sunday, and therefore, are in danger of picking up injuries. The previous World Cup, by contrast, did not start until 32 days after the 2017-18 Premier League season concluded.
        This increased flexibility will afford managers the chance to include players in their squads who are considered injury doubts, such as Reece James, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips in the case of England, who all look unlikely to be involved in Qatar.
        Those deemed in danger of missing out and their potential replacements can still be named in a squad that can include more than twice the number of players that will eventually travel.
        This release list is not necessarily binding but the tournament organisers stress that changes “can only be made in exceptional cases”.
        FIFA’s approval will also be required once medical assessments are made for any player withdrawing through injury.
        Will the release lists be made public and will players be aware of their inclusion on them?
        FIFA will not be making them known, so that will be a decision left to each association.
        The expectation is that most of the 32 nations will keep their release lists private and delay any announcements until the final squads are submitted next month.
        This week’s deadline is essentially for FIFA and its planning and administrative purposes.
        Unlike European counterpart UEFA, which did not ask competing nations for a release list before the European Championship last summer, there is a need for FIFA to compile a database of names that will surpass 1,000 footballers who are in line to potentially play at the World Cup before the final figure headed to Qatar is cut to 832.
        England, for example, have made the decision to neither publish nor inform players of their inclusion on a release list submitted by manager Gareth Southgate this week, with the United States and Canada expected to take the same approach.
        The focus is only on the final 26-man squads which don’t have to be named until next month.”

      • JR.

        “after Braga the rest of the league is MLS quality.”

        I see this kind of phrase thrown around a lot and I wonder, what “MLS quality” are you comparing those Portuguese teams “after Braga” to?

        Are we talking Philly, LAFC and Montreal quality? Or are we talking DC United , Quakes quality? Or something more middle of the road like Real Utah or Orlando.

        Those top three are pretty good. DC and the Quakes suck abysmally and have been shit for a while.

        Europe is not the only place where there can be a huge disparity between the haves and the have- nots.

        “a big baby hissy fit over Roldan and he’s got 4g 5a this season. ”
        “Those players aren’t on the WC roster because they aren’t good enough not the system.”

        And Roldan is good enough?

        Roldan’s performance in MLS for his club is irrelevant. He’s always been very steady for Seattle. And for Gregg, he’s had numerous opportunities (32 caps, 0 goals,2 assists), much more than most, to make a case that he can be an indispensable player for the USMNT and as far as I’m concerned, he’s never proven his case.

        He is said to be a great guy. If so, maybe if Lletget had been as personable as Roldan, he’d be on his way to Qatar right now. With the injuries piling up I expect that Roldan will be able to prove, yet again and once and for all, that he should not be on the World Cup team.

  5. Having defended GB because of his record as USMNT coach, I think he has ran out of ideas for the team and is at the end of his rope. He does not want to put himself in a negative position before the WC, having to showcase his badly organized team anymore, especially after a horrible showing against Japan and Saudi. The 4-3-3 he is using only works against weak opposition he has been up against and has produces no goals / wins against even decent teams (Uruguay, Japan, Saudi…..even Canada recently). Going up against mightier opponents in this World Cup is going to expose him and his system if he decides to stick with it. Even in the EPL the 4-3-3 only works successfully with teams that have HIGH QUALITY PLAYERS like Liverpool, and even Klopp’s army is left exposed against weak opposition sometimes if they don’t field the right players. Well now, we are going up against the best in the world and I strongly believe it’s going to be bad…like really bad.

    If GB doesn’t want to play other countries, yet wants to keep his team sharp, focused, in shape and learning his system, maybe he needs to organize (publicly) 2 or 3 friendlies with MLS-ALLSTARS using players from teams eliminated from the playoffs….……lol.

    Reply
  6. I have a really bad feeling that some second tier MLS guy is going to have a great camp and Berhalter’s going to roll the dice on him for the Qatar team, like a Klinsman/Green situation (I know Green was not from MLS, but he was from Klinsmann’s comfort zone).
    A lot of people in desperate situations try to make a bold last minute move to make something happen and inject some energy.

    Reply
    • green had a goal on belgium. he then scored on france this cycle. i am not sure how that was such a bad idea. personally i think the last spot or two are precisely where the coach should take “form” or “youth” gambles. my beef is pick the 20-odd others on talent and performance over time, and save the form rollercoaster for tiebreaking who is the last man who gets a jersey. i kind of think that last jersey should go to the player who most impresses me just right now. because if i get down to the last man to make the team i kind of want to roll the dice on they aren’t a veteran scrub but are some kid coming off 15 goals for bayern2, who might be better than we think. now, you don’t do a lineup on that basis…….but a guy off the bench when we need a goal or it’s over…..better than throwing roldan on……then i can assure you nothing will happen……

      Reply
      • Come on man Klinsmann got so lucky that Green scored the goal of his life in that moment, and that one random outcome cannot justify leaving Donovan behind. Green went on to have the career that a II Bundesliga player should expect. He didn’t do much.
        10 times out of 10 you are supposed to choose Donovan in that situation.
        And I’m not even a Donovan fan.

      • Sry my facts might have been slightly wrong. Wasn’t Green on Bayern II, playing in the III Bundesliga? Anyway, total moon shot, and got lucky. I’m justifiably afraid of another moon shot. The fact that it actually worked with Green makes it even more scary.

      • Dave P.

        “Klinsmann got so lucky that Green scored the goal of his life in that moment, and that one random outcome cannot justify leaving Donovan behind.”

        Of course it could.

        But Landon wasn’t left out because of Green.

        Landon lost a power struggle with JK.

        LD saw the USMNT as HIS team.
        JK saw himself as the boss.

        Put it this way, look at Man U. today.

        CR7 is Landon
        Ten Hag is JK.

        A few years ago no way CR7 loses this power struggle to ETH.
        A few years before 2013 no way LD loses that power struggle to JK.

        Not a perfect comparison but close enough.

        But no one beats father time.

    • Green scored in the Belgium game and gave them a shot at a draw in overtime and maybe taking Belgium to penalties.

      If Gregg can dig up a “second tier MLS” guy who winds up being that effective then more power to him.

      Reply
  7. it’s not a camp a month before the World Cup to introduce new players. it’s because the World Cup was sold to Qatar through bribes so now we have a winter World Cup, and MLS is over, so GB wants to keep the MLS guys already in the loop on this team in shape. That is TOO easy to understand.

    Being upset/confused about GB’s callups throughout the cycle? I get it! But here, now? Makes no sense at all. JR the only poster making sense here and not just whining out loud because they hate GB.

    Reply
    • the coach took first place talent and made it third place tiebreaker qualifiers. thinking the coach is a joke is also making sense here. they don’t look slick, or well organized in defense, nor are results there despite hearing the gears grind constantly. and his selections are weird and this is just par for the course.

      like i said below, one or two kids in a pre world cup prep camp is standard, for extra bodies for training, and to “blood” key future prospects in what the experience is like. but this is nonsense. he has very few actual candidates called to maintain/work on their postseason fitness, at least one of whom i find a joke, and then almost a U20 camp around them. there are more kids than candidates, even taking into account other eliminated players may begin trickling in.

      i am fairly sure the purpose of handling this, in this matter, is to control it thoroughly and ensure that no vazquezes or mihailovics come in and upset his apple cart. done this way he is only allowing the players he is willing to take, into camp. most of the oxygen is removed from any insurgents, the press, fans, and other players can’t start advocating the excluded. they are done, barring a miracle. it’s a very control freak way of minimizing any “donovan” potential. except in this case it’s a month before the tournament and stuff happens.

      Reply
    • and my point below is if you remove player competition and the friction from that, and instead decide among options in your office, seeming selection mistakes should be squarely on your desk. people beef about 9 or back selection but when’s the last time they were all in one place, including the insurgents, to fight it out for time? it never happens. he’s a serial monogamist who falls in love with zardes or pepi or ferreira and sucks the minutes oxygen from everyone else. if you pick a winner like that, you should have higher accountability for turning what is usually decided on the field into an office exercise.

      even at keeper, it was never keller vs friedel, rotating. it was steffen for years. and now it’s turner. the rest it’s how much can we read into the one game they got to play, vs is steffen as bad as he’s looked.

      to me when a coach is this inflexible and top down it should be a highly accountable exercise. he’s saying this is my show. ok, account him to it.

      Reply
    • Your not making sense beachbum, thats the point of the outrage. He has made asinine decision throughout the cycle, and now going with Roldan who just came back from injury and has been lackluster. Why not call up Vazquez and Mihailovic or Ream, Glad, or Trusty over Long???? Vazquez and Milhavoic bussin in form atm! Gregg system is why we cant have nice things, like Alex Mendez and Alan Sonora. Pulisic dont play defense, stop with that excuse with Sonora!

      Reply
    • I agree 100 percent Beachbum!! The complaining about what we already know to be true about GB tactics, personnel, interviews or press conferences is as old as moldy bread. For example- the system is a 4-3-3. We as fans, will say any other formation, instead of focusing on how the 4-3-3 actually works. We’ll shout out players, we want, in positions that don’t fit the system, then complain about the system not working. When it’s clearly, evident to most of us; they along with GB don’t want the 4-3-3 to function properly. I’m glad you’ve taken time out to notice. Vincente Del Bosque, Del Bosque 2.0 (Guardiola), Arteta are the standard barriers. Ancelotti, Klopp, Jill Ellis, are the non-Spaniards who have success using the 4-3-3. It would be nice if 98% of the fan base was willing to have that conversation, until the Soccer IQ goes up, these people aren’t worth talking to!! Imperative just proved your point, and he’s in his 50s. SMH

      Reply
    • Beachbum,

      Yep. It’s like GG knows he has players that tend to get hurt and he is just prepping guys just in case. Cause Reyna and Pulisc are amazing talented players who get hurt easily.

      Reply
  8. Another roster drop and another example of Gregg making idiotic player selections. Proving once again that he has no clue how to manage at the international level and continues to protect “his guys”.
    The sooner this guy gets fired the better.

    Reply
  9. A lot of good critiques here with which I concur. Rather than repeat them, I have another point. Why mix U-20’s with some MLS players and leave a lot of good MLS players at home? So many times GB will not take as many players as allowed for qualifying or friendlies, as if the Federation were strapped for money. Ridiculous. Why not bring in enough MLS players like Mihailovich, Ebobissee, and others mentioned to have a full squad and then some, bring in more U-20 players and have enough total for 2 full squads, plus a couple of extras and have some real scrimmages? It does seem as if he doesn’t want any of the outsiders to shine so as to call into question the players he has already decided on.

    Reply
    • Because they’ve already made up their minds. They set the pool after Sept. There is literally no time to have the full group on the pitch before rosters are set. They’ve watched Vazquez and Mihailovic, live, on video, talked with them and their managers and they’ve decided they’re not good enough or don’t fit what’s needed. You can disagree with that but that’s the way it is. Is Mihailovic better than Aaronson, Weah, Pulisic, or Reyna? No. Is Vazquez better than Sargent, Pepi, Pefok, or Ferreira? That’s a bit more debatable, should he have been in camp in June I think yes, but at that time he’d had 2 months of good form in his entire careeer. Mihailovic looked really good last week 2g 2a in 2 games or something like that. Before that when the final decisions were being made leading up to September he had 1g 1a in 12 matches. I think the only spots with wiggle room are CB and CF and even those with Richards still out maybe set barring injury. They don’t need these MLS guys with a full season on their legs scrimmaging they know who they are at this point. They need light fitness workouts to maintain, then a couple days off before they head to Qatar or to the golf course.

      Reply
      • Milhavoic is better than Roldan and Acosta. Funny how you missed them and immediately compared Milhavoic to our top talent playing in Europe like Pulisic, Mckennie, and Aaronson 😆. Also he is going to AZ, also you know Acosta has always wanted to go to Europe, but he is not consistent enough.

      • But none of them will play that’s why. In the a normal WC the 21,22,23 players don’t play. How do you think 24,25, and 26 will?

  10. i have argued — but people were dismissive of the idea — that berhalter avoids position competition and tends to pick his winners ahead of time rather than on the field. do you need any more proof that’s true? the net effect is someone like vazquez or mihailovic not only doesn’t compete for their job, they don’t even get called. IMO because someone you don’t call can’t show up the ones you decided from spreadsheets and club form should be there instead.

    given our history of injuries i think it’s arrogant. anyone with a brain with our history would call extra capacity even at risk of complicating the roster choices. because health may force your hand.

    to be real, historically the USMNT has called a kid or two for these sort of camps. bradley got a camp and a few friendly minutes before getting cut for 2006. so a slonina or two, fine, whatever. blood a lead prospect or so. but what he’s done here is get rid of 90% of the marginals in favor of U20s, bet there will be no injuries or need for competition, because it would be goofy to get forced to take any of these kids as your injury replacement. only an idiot doesn’t have roster competition now, whether to hold your favorites accountable or simply as contingencies.

    Reply
    • and of course he is still trying to wedge roldan in. there is very little position competition, maybe morris or moore, but it’s kid mids plus roldan, which means he is The Guy as the mid contingency.

      Reply
    • The U20s are not there to trial for the WC. US Soccer even announced the 2 camps with separate rosters. They aren’t even calling the senior team a camp (probably because then they don’t have to pay them as much) it’s “fitness workouts”. The U20s are preparing for the U20 WC in May. Sharing facilities eases logistics and will provide opportunities for the MLS guys to do some limited large side training, but they won’t be having 11 v 11 everyday.

      Reply
      • are you telling me he can’t assemble 11v11 from eliminated players mostly with some cap history? and you continue to miss that these camps usually include more than can be taken, injury contingencies, and a cut. part of the idea is if two guys get injured you have options already there. you are double-book-keeping the kids, “oh, they are there ahead of U20 stuff,” but most world cup teams would have 5-10 extra players as either contingencies or cuts. only an idiot cuts it close and has “just enough.”

      • Because the other players aren’t available. There are 9 there already, plus Acosta and Johnson. Add in the 20 + still playing with their Euro clubs and they are well over the limit of 26. You are continuing to misunderstand what this is for. It’s to stay in shape.

      • what you’re missing is how many players you would want to keep in shape and how much competition you might want in camp. particularly in light of every roster player seems to pull a muscle getting out of bed. he has called probably right in the neighborhood of who he expects to use. most coaches do a fudge factor for a camp, have the contingency there, instead of leave them off then make desperate last minute phone calls defeating the point of a camp.

        err on the side of too much.

  11. I guess no big surprises. This would have seemed like a good time to bring Vazquez and Mihailovic when you had plenty of time to explain things with no matches and a small roster. Maybe they both declined when told they wouldn’t be going to Qatar. Nice to see Shaq still in consideration. I’d have invited a different one or two but I’m not surprised by the senior list.
    ——————————
    For the U20s no Luna? Is he hurt, he did miss the playoff match? I guess Clarke really must be heading to Germany.

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  12. GB, what is going on with the USMNT??? Where is Brandon Vasquez, Jeremy Ebobisse, Matt Miazga, Eryk Williamson, Djorde Mihailovic and Brooks Lennon??? Calling in U20 National Team players to USMNT Training Camp? Like what is going on?
    I cant help it but think Qatar is going to be a disaster….just don’t get it

    Reply
    • Varas can get a look at a few more U20s that may have to fill in if qualifying group players don’t get releases. There is probably one window left before U20 WC in May so he’s got to get guys when he can. Also like Slonina hasn’t been with Varas since last November because Chicago blocked it. Since the MLS group is also a lot of “vibes” guys they can help the youngsters. Although Varas’s version of Berhalterball is more free flowing, quick tempo’d and effective so maybe that’s not a good thing.

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      • what you’re missing is this is not a friendly showcase window, it’s the world cup camp. 95% of the campgoers, even ones destined to be cuts, should be the best players we have, getting as fit and sharp as they can, just in case. i get that even bradley or klinsi probably had a good idea who they were going with, but they aren’t dumb enough to leave themselves poor injury contingencies out of that certitude, and they would let the players decide who makes it as opposed to decide off a spreadsheet without even letting the other option in camp.

        the amusing part to me is he never gets called out for the arrogance. people complain about the “wrong choice” but not that the process how he reaches it is equally “narrow and arrogant.”

        can you imagine if landon not only got cut for 2014 but didn’t get called and we had in a bunch of U20s instead? cause to me it’s like someone who wants to make sure his “landons” can’t show him up.

      • Everyone agrees Berhalter is arrogant! Even media that are pro-Berhalter talk about his arrogance. Guess what there are no real life Ted Lasso’s out there every manager at the pro level is arrogant, and everyone gets bitten by that arrogance from time to time.
        ———————————
        I said it above this isn’t the WC Camp, it’s purely to keep these guys in shape should they go to Qatar, because some of them are those injury replacements you’re accusing Berhalter of not having.
        ————————-
        The roster is done no one is getting in or out of Qatar based on these fitness workouts (unless they get injured). The roster has to be submitted on the last day of European league play Nov. 13. The US is even announcing theirs Nov 9, because there is no time for any evaluation workouts at this point with the entire pool. This camp isn’t evaluative that’s been done the last 3 years. You can disagree that’s fair, but quit with this why is Gregg calling Gutierrez and not Vazquez. He’s not Varas is for Indonesia not Qatar.

      • GG already said the roster is 90-96% set. But he did say there are always injuries. I guess GG is just being a good manager and preparing for someone getting hurt.

      • DIT: i don’t consider calling a handful of MLS players total for a fitness camp to be “thinking ahead.” thinking ahead is calling more people than you need. i think give or take roldan or slonina he’s literally called exactly who he wants which has no fudge factor if anyone gets hurt.

  13. The main objectives for this camp have to be keeping Zimm, Yedlin, and Fereira in shape, and Long picking up a light, painless knock that causes Gregg to think twice. I’m not asking for Long to get injured… That would be horrible. I just want something to happen such that Gregg realizes a guy who can’t track MLS attackers and needs a personalized camp cupcake just to stay up for the tournament probably shouldn’t go.

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    • LOL on Long. You are not alone there, my man.

      I mean, we established pretty conclusively against Japan and Saudi Arabia we can’t play out of the back and we don’t have the personnel to successfully either play a high line or press successfully either, so the fact that we’re bringing Long instead of Ream and Brooks remains, uhm, a head-scratcher at best. When the Grand Plan isn’t working, you might as well call up your actual best players, be pragmatic, and See What Happens, right?

      I mean, we can fire Berhalter the second the Cup ends, and we almost certainly will, but that isn’t likely going to make us feel a whole lot better, either. I’d rather do something in Qatar while we’re there.

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      • if he was willing to toss it all out and just call his best people and play counter soccer then he’d be 2014 klinsi and not himself. he’s incompetent as opposed to semi-competent. he would never consider being open or practical now. there will be no “jones beckerman bradley” dramatic shift. he will go right off the cliff with his analytics-driven selections and dysfunctional idea of play. england is going to clobber us like in 2018 and it will come down to can we get enough off wales and iran for 2nd.

        our out of region friendly results should be screaming do something else but we hired a zealot to implement a specific change. we didn’t hire an actual manager with an eye for talent and a whole bag of tactical choices. if you don’t like these corn flakes you just have to fire him because he won’t do cheerios or fruit loops.

      • “I mean, we can fire Berhalter the second the Cup ends, and we almost certainly will, but that isn’t likely going to make us feel a whole lot better, either. I’d rather do something in Qatar while we’re there.”

        Shit or get off the pot.

        If you believe Gregg is not your 2026 guy, get rid of him now .
        If you believe that Qatar will be at best, a boring mess of ugly draws, then fire him today,

        The only reason to keep Gregg even one second longer in the job is if you seriously believe that this team is going to shock the world and advance out of the group.

        Believing that that is a possibility ( because it is) is one thing.

        Believing that it is a REALISTIC possibility is another thing altogether.

        Firing Gregg would cause chaos you say? Well what do you have now ? Even those of you who support Gregg don’t say that he is a great manager laboring under some very difficult circumstances.

        Instead his supporters default to the usual go to excuses; bad players, injuries, anti American prejudice, ad. nauseum. The fact is all those factors were faced by every USMNT manager and are baked into the job. Gregg, the 3rd Place CONCACAF finisher, was hired to overcome those excuses.

        Firing Gregg may cause chaos but sticking with him is conceding the 2022 World Cup and that’s unforgivable.

        The advantages of firing Gregg today:

        1: It will light a fire under every player.

        Gregg’s boys will certainly have to up their game if they
        want to stay on the roster.

        Greggs’ haters may feel freed up to actually play.

        The middle ground boys will be on fire to impress the
        new person and make Qatar.

        2. There is a worry that some genius like Kreis, Porter or
        some other humpty might be brought in. I say that’s
        unlikely. Even if it happens they won’t have
        enough to time to do much damage. The USMNT just
        needs someone to set up a basic frame work and tell
        the players to go out there and have a great time.
        What is Dave Sarachan doing?
        Personally I’d hire Bob on a temporary consulting
        basis. It won’t happen but the basic idea, get a veteran
        wise head to just do the World Cup and no long term
        promises, makes perfect sense. In any event a
        potential new manager “bounce” in the first three
        group games sure beats a slow grinding death march,
        watching Long, Ariolla and Roldan prove they are WC
        worthy.

        After four years if the USSF don’t already know exactly what kind of manager he is then they are even more of a clown car than I thought. If they love him then they should show that support by signing him to a big contract extension now before the World Cup to show their faith in him. That might prevent some other country or club from stealing Gregg after a successful World Cup.

      • Vacqui…

        Well, I personally would do that myself. I’ve seen enough absolute-pathos underachieving under Gregg now where the team looked like it couldn’t get out of its own way and just futilely tried to do what it never was going to have the skillset to do to want to watch it some more in the Cup.

        Hard to see US Soccer doing something so radical at this late juncture, though. They probably should have pulled the ripcord the second the Saudi Arabia match was over if they were going to do that.

        The only thing that gives me hope is the last Gold Cup, where we went straight defensive and ground out 1-0 wins and won the whole thing with what amounted to a C team. So Gregg does have that file on his hard drive. So maybe Gregg did enough analysis to realize he can’t do what he was originally planning and if you’re leaving guys like Ream off the team when they’re in the form of their lives and starting game-in, game-out playing survival ball in the Prem, you’d be a fool to leave them off if survival ball is what you’re going to be doing in Qatar.

        I’m glum at the moment, but I guess there’s an outside hope.

      • BTW, with Klinsi, the only times we played defensively/counter were when we were forced to, like vs. Belgium, not by choice, lol. I predict that will happen again this time.

        Ream the answer some now say? Did you watch the Leeds game? Leeds finishing sucks, but Ream was exposed over and over again anyway only for the Leeds attack to misfire in front of goal, like they have all season. It wasn’t becasue Ream played some amazing game. it’s Bamford can’t score, neither can Gelhardt, even when they slipped by Ream no problem, which happened a lot.

        I am not defending Long either tho I hope he plays the tournament of his life. He’ll have to. The biggest issue is Adams’ health

      • beachbum…

        I’m not really sold on Ream or Brooks as genuine “answers” either. I’m not really sure there is such on several position groups within our roster. We don’t have a money striker…and aren’t gonna this cycle either, way too late for one to just fall off a tree into our laps. Our backups at fullback are lacking behind Robinson and Dest, and once you get past Zimmerman the CB pool is…flawed, to put it mildly. We still really don’t have a true lockpicking 10 in the middle of the park either.

        So we’re sort of left looking at what we do actually have and going: “well, what is it we CAN do here?” It’s not like America has ever walked into a World Cup with anything resembling a perfect roster at any prior Cup either, and we have usually gotten out of Group in recent editions.

      • Quozzel. Ream over>Long all day, anyday, everyday. Ream starts DIV 1 EPL who cares about the Lees game others mentions. Long is not even good enough, and would not have even started that game. Also Ream is not injury prone, ding ding we have a winner; chicken dinner. Trusty is also better than Long. A bench warmer in form Brooks, would be better than Long. That playing out the back will be our demise if GGG does it. -__-

      • quozzel,

        “So Gregg does have that file on his hard drive. So maybe Gregg did enough analysis to realize he can’t do what he was originally planning”

        Mexico were shit in the Gold Cup. Their players are garbage. This is the worst I’ve seen them since 2013. Vasquez should declare for them because they really could use him.

        However, you make a good point. The USMNT decided that they were going to win that GC no matter what. I didn’t see some fluid Gregg inspired “system” in play. I saw a lot of old fashioned USMNT heart and grit.

        So if they can rekindle that in Qatar, it will go a long way to holding off utter humiliation. Unfortunately, at the GC, I thought most of that fire came from Miles Robinson.

        But you should still be excited and looking forward to the World Cup.

        I’ve said this a million times because it’s true.

        Nothing the USMNT will do in Qatar will surprise me. They can shock me but not surprise me.

        They could go 0-3 or they could advance and make some noise. Win the thing? Unlikely but hey, you never know.

        The World Cup is just that kind of tournament. Shit happens all the time.

        Adams might be out . That’s bad. But not as bad as it used to be since Musah has gotten better. And Bale or any number of the English players could also pull up lame. That’s good.

        Gregg is arrogant.

        But just scan the English team some time with an arrogance meter from Amazon and tell me what you’ll find. It’s entirely possible England will forget to show up for the USMNT game.

        I’m pretty sure I know what is the most likely outcome for Gregg’s holiday in Qatar.

        But I could be wrong.

        So for me this will be a very exciting World Cup.

        If Wales blows us out in the first game then it will be amusing trying to figure out where Gregg crams in Ariolla and Roldan so that his guys can get their World Cup minutes in.

        Or maybe Gregg will show his true colors and play it straight and hard all the way through. One thing for sure, these three games will be where we FINALLY get to see what kind of manager Gregg really is.

        They will be his three biggest, most important games .

        This could be a pretty dramatic ending to a 4 year soap opera.

    • why not? because if they shined in camp or someone got hurt, there would be immediate pressure to include them. a player left out of camp entirely cannot pose an insurgent threat to his favorites. to me it’s a control thing where the coach hold the selection power this way. which is always true but most coaches pit the last few competitors against each other, or have some injury contingencies around. they don’t treat some vazquez like he would be showing them up if they got in camp then made it. he’d have already been camped, played some friendlies, and he’d be in this camp just to see what transpired.

      to me it’s the difference between a coach who knows his lineup before he plays a game versus a coach who plays the friendlies to sort out what the lineup should be. you can put your thumb on the scales or you can let the players decide. GB frames the roster calls like he not only doesn’t want the players to decide, he wants to go with who he decided from the scouting. an insurgent player he didn’t favor is like a threat to that scouting. better not to call them at all.

      Reply
  14. Uhm….. Yeah Mihailovich left off? Well I guess Berhalter thinks these guys are the ones to include from MLS. May not like that decision, but if Berhalter is rolling with this then so be it.

    Reply
    • what i wish is that there was some degree of accountability not only for his choices but also for this sort of oddness meets hyperdecisiveness. it’s not like he’s a selection and managing genius and they look awesome. weird process, goofy selection, doesn’t play well. to me if someone is this decisive AND THEN wrong, that should be the easiest firing in the world. because when you give someone time it’s like they have some flexibility or options. not because in a pinch their mid contingency is roldan for the 25th time.

      Reply
      • Yeah like when Berhalter selected this young kid played for Chicago for the 2019 GC. Had a funny name? Everyone complained Berhalter didn’t know anything if he brought him instead of Holmes or Green. What was his name total bust? Jordy Michaels? No that wasn’t it, oh yeah Djordje Mihailovic that was it!

  15. 😡Why leave off Djorde Mihailovic? Berhalters player selection is asinine and atrocious. Please fire him after the WC . We need a new coach to lead the charge for 2026!

    Reply
      • I think the question was rhetorical… Striker91 is perplexed that DM has no shot at making the roster, but Long and Morris somehow do. Why not give Morris a full off-season to recover from one of his worst professional seasons in memory?

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