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1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Yiwbp8pGM
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   quozzel thanks for highlighting Taylor Booth pace and speed…..It makes you ask the question why haven’t we seen him on the team? A dynamic defensive midfielder with pace and skill (though I didn’t see ANYTHING DEFENSIVE about him in this game lol). Like how is he not playing along side Tyler Adams??? It looks like FC Utrecht is picking up momentum in their new found 4-1-2-1-2 system and so is Booth. In terms of strictly ball control, dribbling, passing and movement off the ball, this kid is good. In this game he seemed to cut through the defense again and again, with one touch passing and dribbling with ease, then of course finished a beauty…….and HE IS LISTED AS A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER (Player profile 22/23 – Transfermarkt)?!!!!! Like how lol?????

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   • He was at the December camp last year but didn’t get in. At the time Bayern was using him as a RB . (I feel like Bayern tries to make every American a RB, Che, Richards, Booth). Most people don’t know about him because it was his U20 cycle that got canceled by Covid. He was picked by many to be one of the stars of that team that never got to play in U20 WC.

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   • reality is they don’t play much defense in holland. most teams defend like my 2021 dynamo did which is not at all. sit back in the lines and jog side to side waiting for a bad pass. (one reason i am amused by all the LDLT fanboying is he could barely get an assist there. it’s the league jozy had like 30 in. routine 4-3 type games. entertaining but naive.)

     re JR’s comment the usual route to being made a wingback is to start out as a forward or wing with footspeed and be better at the defensive part than your finishing is. re richards in particular, italy and the US like athletic CBs — cannavaro, pope, boca — but germany and spain seem to want stick figures. personally i had pimped richards as both CB and RB when miles was healthy. i want a row of backs who can all mark and then worry about their offense if you have more than 4 guys who can defend.

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2. side point re my previous comment on GB acting in ways to shut up the media. season was over yesterday. no one has asked after previous weeks’ eliminations who was added to camp and on what time frame. still true today. there hasn’t been any, “these 10 guys got added” announcement. so what’s happening is he cuts the ones whose teams were eliminated, long ago when camp started, only light grousing ensues because they didn’t even make camp and we have no pre tournament friendlies to see and critique. no announcements of who gets added as teams lose. do we hear a thing before we just get a final list?

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   • There was no announcement because likely no one was added. The only person with recent caps on NYCFC or Austin is Sean Johnson. The fitness workouts ended Nov 5. Being a keeper has less fitness requirements Sean was probably given the week off before he heads to Qatar or he’s already been eliminated. This isn’t a tryout camp it’s purely for roster players or potential injury replacements. The roster has been done since October that was the tryout camp and final friendlies.

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     • you can’t seem to keep the story straight whether it was a tryout camp or a fitness effort for players already selected. i have been called in one time for a guest player audition where i was signed after the weekend. we had 2 new players. i never in years of HS, college, select annual tryouts saw my team barely call more than it planned on taking and call that a group tryout. a tryout is you have in 20 and take 10. he called 9 and might take 7-9. that’s prep work. this was a fitness camp for basically who he plans on taking or having ready as injury contingencies. there was little fat, perhaps slonina, who doubled as a U20.

       this isn’t semantics. you narrow it down to only the ones you want you should bear unusual responsibility for getting that very right. based on rumors players like ream may make the team, he may be betting heavily on debatable ideas of club form for players with problematic recent cap histories.

       last point, no, sorry, you would not shut down any playoff player for any length of time before a week camp and the world cup. we expect for our keeper, in the GB regime, to do some running, sweeping, and passing. you don’t shut down any player and hope they don’t pull a muscle trying to get their game shape back in a week after being in a barcalounger. sorry, no, they should have been in US camp the day after preparing since we have a week of practice then games. they can rest when it’s over. i mean, have you played? my memories of youth ball were like we’d end HS season, shift into select 2 weeks later, and in that short time we had a first select season game end like 6-4 because everyone was rusty and working back into game fitness. just nonsense.

     • I don’t want to offend you but your high school club experience was likely very different from the National Team. I’m not sure how you were confused on what I said, “this is not a tryout camp it’s purely for roster players or potential injury replacements.” As for Johnson he is a professional athlete he can go home with a set of workouts to complete. Especially for at best the third string keeper.

     • JR,

       ” my memories of youth ball were like we’d end HS season, shift into select 2 weeks later, and in that short time we had a first select season game end like 6-4 because everyone was rusty and working back into game fitness. just nonsense..”

       Mr. Voice,

       Your high school didn’t have big deal high money games to play until just before the break.

       And after you and your high school team finished playing in Qatar, you didn’t have a ton of big money, high pressure relegation and championship winning relevant games to transition to right away.

       This World Cup will be pretty unprecedented in terms of how player fitness will be challenged.

       The game is in uncharted waters here. Frankly you have absolutely no idea how this is going to work out because I doubt any of the teams do either.

       One thing I’m sure of, you’ll see a lot of injuries before during and after this tournament. Which may well open the way for healthy, unknown stars to make their mark.

     • sorry dude but if you have ever played soccer, sending people home with a sheet of workouts on the honor system is massively different than running them through supervised practice. my college coach used to send us preseason workout schemes. run this much today. do this tomorrow. i would ignore them, do my own workouts, and train and play with my local U23 team. show up fit and start every game. players generally have their own fitness regime.

       more pointedly, you seem to be forgetting he’s a keeper and his position specific training is not something he can do on some HS track with a stopwatch. keepers have their sets of reaction time and catching drills. keepers need to stay sharp on shot stopping. they need someone practicing at a high level of hitting accurate hard to save shots they have to dive around for or block. that is a team effort. the US GK coach would be with the team. the high level talent to test him would hopefully be in camp.

       i dunno, what are you even thinking? windsprints down at the HS? this is a world cup. by now in a normal cycle they would be in a 4-6 week camp almost to the final friendlies and squad selection. you want to shut him down, send him a workout list, and hope your fairly new guy shows back fit and sharp as usual? sorry, no no no. you bring him over to camp and he starts getting slonina’s training minutes.

       he gets his rest after. in a normal season they don’t send the european players off on holiday before they start world cup camp in may. are you kidding ,me. you get the vacation after. which is what i think you have confused. city or chelsea sending someone fresh from euros on holiday during preseason training camp, with the idea they aren’t winning or losing the league title week 1 if they rest some busy stars. this, if they get unfit, rusty…..see the field…..that can be the end of your tournament if they make a mistake….in one game.

     • IV,
       Perhaps work ethic is the difference between being a professional soccer player and someone who just likes to complain about the current state of affairs and constantly remind everyone how much soccer he played back in the day.

     • i may not know the pros but i have played at a high enough level to know what planning ahead looks like. the poster mentions injuries, well, you can’t use an injury replacement that you told to go home and take the rest of the cycle off. and most coaches would like roster competition in camp if but to get their favorites sharp, or to have them actually fight for the team. this is not crazy talk. the sheer amount of injury announcements recommends my suggestion to maybe have a lot more players in camp, and to have anyone like johnson who made the playoffs not go on vacation before they start world cup camp. you can make snide comments about my background but having as many good players as you can fit and ready in a camp when we are preparing for the world cup and dealing with injuries is COMMON FREAKING SENSE.

       my experience every team i was on up through NCAA usually had double or more trial players in than it meant to cut. most world cup camps for the US they cut about 10. you can make fun of me all you want but a team dealing with injuries doesn’t just call up the exact quota it needs. that is stupid.

     • Berhalter has brought over 100 players to camp over the last 3 years over 60 in the last 18 months. He doesn’t need 4 more days with someone. There is not time for that. If all the US players were in MLS they’d have a “final cut camp”, but MLS isn’t going to be more than 35% of the roster. Injury replacements also don’t have to come from MLS either. Pepi sprains an ankle call in Pefok. Zimmerman strains a groin Sands or Palmer Brown. All those guys are in season form and playing through the weekend. They aren’t going to lose sharpness or fitness in a few days. If Johnson didn’t fly to Dallas for three days he still has plenty of time to ramp up to be the third goalkeeper. 2 weeks off for a isn’t going to so dull the skills of 13 year professional.

3. SABBI should be in the USMNT ALL DAY

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   • A danish league player who’s oft-injured and not much of an impact player in a lesser league? Nah, we have too much talent in that spot to have a need for him him at his age. If he goes to a better league and makes an impact, maybe!

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   • I’m starting to feel Lois is related to Sabbi.

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   • to be real, i thought sabbi was very raw and not ready, but the reality is he is the sort of athletic speed player GB resists. the only reason weah started was reyna got hurt. this coach does not seem to link our inability to get downfield and create chances with the wings he chooses. i think the US is better with wide speed because we can build with fewer passes, get downfield, and play balls behind the defense. costa rica friendly. we seem obsessed with playing right through the press in a 20 pass build that generally cracks up before it gets there. that isn’t sabbi.

     i would like to see him and a few others get a 2026 look but it will only happen with a change of coach and system. i feel like reyna and pulisic should be the starting central AMs for their technical play and wing should be a position for either swashbucklers or sprinters.

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4. Starting to feel some hope we might catch a break from the constant injuries. Most of the core players seem to be healthy and playing. Even sounds like McKennie is back training already, ahead of schedule. Not sure what is going on with Dest. Only one more week of games…

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   • my caveat on this would be that being back training is not the same thing as game ready. and we can’t carry a half dozen question marks hoping they are fit and healthy enough to play world cup games. i would pick a guy or two to carry and hope, but marginal choices carrying a knock should get cut. eg i might carry mckennie who can knock in some goals off headers and box crashing.

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5. Most in form American striker in Europe right now is Haji Wright. Just saying. 8 goals and in second place for the golden boot.

   Awesome to see Booth doing well.

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   • Hmmmm…..Would you rather have Haji Wright (CF/LW/RW), Jordan Pefok (CF) and Josh Sargent (CF/LW/RW) on your team……or Jesus Ferreira (CF/ACM), Paul Arriola (RW/RM/ACM) and Jordan Morris (CF/LW/RW) lol? We both know GB’s selections for his lack luster 4-3-3 system though….
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     Let’s just say November 9th and 21st going to be interesting…..lol

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     • I rather have Haji Wright , Jordan Pefok and Josh Sargent.

     • I like Ferreira. But I think Ferreira would be best utilized in a two striker setup. He is a tweener 10/9 hybrid. I also think he will continue to get better.

       My 4 would be Wright, Pepi, Ferreira, Sargent. Right now Pefok A. Doesn’t fit the USMNT and B. Hasn’t been good for Berlin since the beginning of September.

     • you mention Arriola and Morris as if Pulisic, Weah, Reyna and Aaronson aren’t all playing ahead of them at those winger spots! These narratives that try to obfuscate reality have become really tiresome, but expected! And tbh, do we even know if both of Morris and Arriola are going to Qatar?

     • Ronnie …..Ronnie …..Ronnie you really think GB are going to leave behind the people who have at least been training and are familiar with the pathetic 4-3-3 system that no one seems to understand. Come on now……
       1. Ferreira, Arriola and Morris are going to Qatar (we might as well accept it)
       2. “you mention Arriola and Morris as if Pulisic, Weah, Reyna and Aaronson aren’t all playing ahead of them”…..my point EXACTLY….. then the question is why are they going when we have better quality players???? lol

     • Bizzy – the answer to your question of “why are they going if we have better players” is simple….Gregg. No other reason or justification. It’ll be the same reason why we’ll see Roldan making the roster when it’s finally announced.

     • Players that are better or have more potential? At least at their wing positions?
       Mihailovic: gives you the same thing as Reyna, Pulisic, and Aaronson but not as good. He was poor for 3 months following ankle injury
       Konrad Jr.: seems to have soured his 2nd club in 12 months
       Llanez: he’s one of my guys but is a couple goals in 2Austrian worthy.
       Hoppe: 2nd straight team that will not put him on the field
       Giaocchini: 134 mins in 13 matches on the roster more DNP than matches
       Cowell: worse numbers in same league
       Clark: 1g 1a in MLS
       Aaronson or Sullivan: neither are true wingers, neither were able to get significant minutes for MLS runners up
       Sabbi: played 60 mins this season in league worse than MLS
       Ledezma: not true winger been moved to CM, hasn’t played much this season
       I’m sure I’m missing someone but these are all guys that someday could be better but currently they could also play a ton worse.
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       We’ll see what Gregg does with those 3 extra spots and I guess where he wants to use Reyna and Aaronson. Those questions will frame whom of Arriola, Morris, and Roldan make it. I also add Arriola and Morris were also used by Klinsmann and Arena so it’s not like it’s just Gregg who believes in them.

     • JR,

       “I also add Arriola and Morris were also used by Klinsmann and Arena so it’s not like it’s just Gregg who believes in them.”

       The proper term would be “believed”.

       That was then. They are both worse now.

       In Jordan’s case, he’s not recovered from his injuries. If he was back to his old self, he’s my choice to go to Qatar. But he’s not back and may never be. Which is a shame.

       JK brought Paul along slowly but eventually he was just starting to make inroads with the USMNT when JK got canned. It’s not like JK had him pegged as some future star yet. Paul was taken by Arena to Couva where , like his manager, he was convinced that qualification was a mere formality. After 45 minutes of playing like he was on quaaludes, he was pulled for Clint who probably should have come in a lot sooner. Paul was garbage and hasn’t improved since.

     • morris is underrated by snobs due to his limited abroad stint. he has some speed, can serve a ball on the ground, productive player. he gets a goal every 4-5 caps, gets some NT assists. things actually happen when he plays. look at his nations league productivity. not his fault the coach only intermittently uses him in quali.

       maybe it’s people think he looks like a football player. have they looked at wayne rooney’s build? i mean people adore scrawny LDLT who barely produces and gets shoved over on every challenge. what’s wrong with a stout dude with foot speed and 11 international goals?

     • re JR’s comments on mihailovic and ledezma, i think both would provide a more accurate service than we currently have — remember soto’s goals off ledezma’s play?? — and if you wanted to take the team in a different direction you could have one or both as wing subs while weah the speed guy starts RF and then push reyna in. in which case it’s not duplication. it’s more like you could have a hypertechnical unit. which i find it odd the snobs haven’t given the coach grief over excluding green holmes djordje ledezma and others, to play tiki taka stuff, while calling cruder players like arriola or roldan. to me the coach can’t decide if he wants athletes or technicians, attack or defense. and you may want some mix but to me it defeats the point to have crossing wingbacks but no target 9. or to have tiki taka ideas but sloppy mids. or to act like LDLT is some technical god vs green holmes ledezma djordje.

       but then a lot of what the coach does is contradictory or selective.

   • 2tone-

     Yeah I was looking at Booth’s film today; I had never really watched him. Guy is impressive, seriously. FAST – like, REALLY fast – really crafty and good on the ball, lethal strike from distance, casual finisher in the box, makes it look routine, very nice long passer, really, really active and looks like he’s all over the field. Obviously Bayern saw something they didn’t like if they sold him on but that means next to nothing given what Bayern’s standards are…I think he pops up in a Big 5 league in the very near future.

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     • His brother Zach plays with Chituru Odunze at Leicester U21s. Zach has started their last 4 matches after not dressing at the beginning of the season (injury ?).

     • what is booth’s position? i’d swear in his no-cap senior camp he was termed a “forward.” bayern2 by the end was playing him as a RB with some mid. utrecht is using him as a DM with some wing. as someone who played about everywhere in select, college, and men’s league, including emergency keeper, i don’t necessarily freak at that, he sounds like a fast athlete. but particularly with a stats nerd like GB you would want a set spot. he is going to pigeonhole then rate you within the cubbyhole. if you have no set slot he will struggle what to do with you. and to be real that might be a problem with a replacement just the same. not necessarily as OCD but just “what is he.”

       i do think we could use DM depth and a functional RB who can mark. it almost feels like they are trying to convert him into defense a la hedjuk or albright. we shall see. but with no set position and no caps it will be 2026 cycle anyway.

     • to be fair, “what is roldan?” and he may make the team. the coach isn’t entirely consistent on this (or anything else).

     • IV: in Austria he played all over but played the most as a RW. The US lists their wingers as forwards. Gregg tries to bring some Pulisic types and some Weah types. Booth is more the Pulisic type start wide and cut in. Much like Musah he doesn’t seem to have found his final position AM, CM, DM, W. Probably as much related to team need as skill set.

   • the conundrum we face is usually you carry a couple proven international strikers and then you could do something like this with a 3rd or 4th choice — go with the hot one. but they gave most of the oxygen to pepi and ferreira, they only did ok, and because so few other 9 minutes got handed out, it’s like, ok, “what would ______ do if we called them?” that is usually tested with the NT and not still a scouting question at this point. if gomez or some striker people grumbled about made the team as the last guy, they had some scoring history with the Nats to justify it. oddly for a NT we don’t seem to be considering proof of concept at the NT level. wright and dike to me had the numbers but looked like nervous messes. i’d go with pefok because he had that honduras winner in the semi. i also think he has more of a missing banger body type.

     i’d actually expect someone like sargent. which is not the worst choice in the world, he’s technical and can finish, but he disappears for days as a US 9, has limited US production against bad teams, and to me is a little soft for not showing more to ball or holding up well, or scoring much. landon was soft but he was constantly on the ball or running for people.

     personally i think 9 is a mess, particularly if they just end up whacking hopeful balls in. normally one joins a type with a system. if dest and robinson are whacking in lofted crosses that calls for a mcbride, not a false 9. i like ferreira but his premise — as well as sargent’s — is balls to feet and combining into the box for a chance. then you need wing play that inverts or cuts in more often. less whacking flag crosses. which i could do without anyway.

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