Gio Reyna is back with the U.S. men’s national team for the first time since the FIFA World Cup, and will have his first chance to put the soap opera of the past four months behind him when the Americans return to action in Concacaf Nations League.
Reyna, Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie headline a 24-man USMNT squad for the team’s upcoming Concacaf Nations League matches against Grenada and El Salvador.
Reyna is back with the team for the first time since the World Cup, where his lack of minutes became one of the stories of the tournament for the USMNT.
A total of 13 members of the USMNT World Cup squad are back, including Sergiño Dest, Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson.
One player who won’t take part is Tyler Adams, who will miss the March matches with a hamstring injury.
The USMNT’s quest to repeat as Concacaf champions continues on March 24, when the Americans travel to Grenada. The USMNT returns home to face El Salvador on March 27 in Orlando.
The USMNT posted a 5-0 victory over Grenada on June 10, 2022 in its opening match of the Concacaf Nations League group stage, with Jesus Ferreira scoring four goals. The Americans followed that up with a 1-1 draw at El Salvador on June 14, 2022, with Jordan Morris providing the stoppage-time equalizer.
Striker Daryl Dike will seek his first USMNT cap since the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Semifinal. The West Bromwich Albion striker is heating up just in time for the call up, scoring five goals in 2023.
Ricardo Pepi makes his return to the USMNT on the strength of a solid season with Dutch side FC Groningen. The young striker has compiled 10 goals and three assists in all competitions this season.
Here is the USMNT roster for the March Concacaf Nations League matches:
GOALKEEPERS : Ethan Horvath (Luton Town), Zack Steffen (Middlesbrough), Matt Turner (Arsenal)
DEFENDERS : Sergiño Dest (AC Milan), Mark McKenzie (Genk), Tim Ream (Fulham), Bryan Reynolds (Westerlo), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Auston Trusty (Birmingham City)
MIDFIELDERS : Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo), Weston McKennie (Leeds United), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Alan Soñora (Juárez)
FORWARDS: Taylor Booth (Utrecht), Daryl Dike (West Bromwich Albion), Ricardo Pepi (Groningen), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Tim Weah (Lille),
What do you think of the roster? Who are you happy to see included? Who are you disappointed to see missing?
Share your thoughts below.
Weah out with a concussion (stretchered off yesterday). Mihailovic on. Let the Cade Cowell committee light the pitch forks, however, could Hudson not choose the guy with …. Checks notes… 0g and 0a to start the season after on 3g and 3a all last season.
you’re confused about my argument, which is that if we’re calling first choice plus the best of january that wasn’t the best of january we added. cowell was in fact one of them, as was vazquez. i am actually fine with djordje but think it’s be more useful to be trialing players broadly as i see this sheet as generally elephant after a mosquito. fwiw while i support fast tracking dual nationals like zendejas within experimenting, that’s not what this regime has generally done. it’s then odd to fast track zendejas ahead of trialing djordje or rewarding cowell. he wasn’t the best non MLS nor best 23 nor best of january. so it’s special treatment. don’t mind it, just not how they’ve rolled — ochoa, etc. we were willing to lose in service of pure meritocracy.
not hard to understand. hmm
Cowell not on U20 roster for March training camp. I wouldn’t read too much into it. Edelman who usually starts for RBNY wasn’t either. Probably doing those teams a solid for agreeing to release them for WC. Parades will be in camp.hopefully signaling Wolfsburg has agreed to release him in May.
so your excuse for the MNT cut was he’ll play U20 and now the U20 excuse is he’ll be cold-called for the U20 worlds. without acknowledging the first excuse failed or the second excuse is goofy as MLS generally speaking outside of atlanta is a soft touch for callups even outside of windows or for youth teams. the majority of U20s called now are MLS and many quietly play important roles for their teams too.
He’s not good enough for the NT. U20s can’t force SJ to release him, they have a match next weekend of which he’ll start so he was called just couldn’t answer. Varas didn’t confirm names of guys not released but hinted if they’ve been a regular and aren’t in Spain that’s why. Neal not released either because he’ll start for LAG, Edelman, Brady, Gutierrez, Wiley not released because they will start in MLS next Saturday. Yapi and Wolff the only regular MLS starters that got released. Owen because his manager is his dad and Colorado because they know it’s probably the only chance their youngster has to make the roster.
since some advocate continuity — i think some people are confused what has and hasn’t worked for the US. nations league 21 they played all out attacking soccer, naive defense, and won the final 3-2 in OT over mexico. gold cup 21 they played defend and dead balls for goals, and won the final 1-0. gold cup 19, WCQ, and world cup teams got stuck someplace in the middle — not high scoring, but not shutouts — with middling results.
i also think they haven’t sorted out is this a crossing team or a balls to feet team which is why one ends up scoring brute force sheer bravery goals in the world cup. you want it easier you need a plan and a team selected to the plan, regardless who you think is hot. but then sometimes we talk “profiles” and sometimes we talk “form.”
pick an identity.
i’d like to see us either over the top to weah or on the ground to the 9 more. that could work with CP and GR but then i’d have ferreira or sargent or guys who combine balls to feet into the box. wall ball stuff.
conversely, we’ve called dest and jedi which to me is put some bangers in the middle to score crossing goals. act like the 9s are there to finish what the rest of the team is set up to do.
i also don’t think weston and musah should be anyone’s idea of a possession MF. those 2 to me are more get the ball down the field athletically in a hurry and turn them lose types. the ball should then build wide and not through them up the middle. if we are building through the middle, CP, GR, or some other technical mids. as in people who complete passes.
part of the problem, to me, is an all star team mentality disconnected with the system. what is the Big Idea. how does the selection fit it. i doubt we win or lose this weekend on that basis, but some other nights, yes. and the call sheet reflects the same confusions.
he seems to have the misbegotten idea we played europeans for NL and MLS for gold cup last time. we actually had 4 MLS at NL — including ochoa who later defected — and 4 europeans at GC, with more like richards and reynolds turning it down. i say this because i thought NL vs. GC was more A team vs B team (as of that point in time) than europe vs MLS or whatever he has planned. i say this because vazquez might be the target/header finisher jedi and dest could use, if he’s not ticketed with the MLS cohort to Mexico and then GC this summer.
i throw this out there because the fanboy response is “hudson has a plan.” but hudson won 8 games in like a season and a half in MLS and having a plan doesn’t mean having a good one. why not a schemed A team and then a B team. the A team will then be mostly european anyway. should it be all but one non-MLS, maybe that’s going too far.
It would be pretty pointless for Hudson to implement a whole new system (in three days) for it then to be scrapped for in June by a new manager. How mad would you be if he trots out a new formation with untested players and we lose to ES at home and don’t make the semis. There’s absolutely no reason to try new tactics before the new manager.
(1) both of the summer 21 variations occurred without changing the system.
(2) we have player a different way in games like the CR friendly or the second half of the honduras qualifier, on short notice, without the world falling apart or abandoning GB’s system permanently. actually went well.
(3) they would likely have weeks to practice.
(4) it doesn’t have to be perfect.
(5) do they even look that drilled now.
(6) it might be worth seeing if we thrive even dipping our toes elsewhere. might hint where the next coach should head. or we can basically play half a season the old way to give the old guard hope.
(7) you’re missing my fundamental point — not even necessarily systemic — which is a) pick a basic idea how we will score goals b) pick a basic way we will defend c) pick players to fit d) and maybe favor one side of the ball in a good way as opposed to compromise both ends with a bunch of half cooked hybrid types. are we a defensive team or an attacking team? then go all out. not that complicated. achieveable easily without touching system. but why is system a sacred cow anyway.
funny thing is you watched that same world cup i just watched and seem to want to indulge this staff in doubling down on what we already know doesn’t work well enough with most of the same players it didn’t work well enough with. i guess the world cup win in 2026 is supposed to come from gelling or magic. how much more gel do they need. my personal experience improved results were never gel, it was different bodies on the team.
“2026 is supposed to come from gelling or magic”. Only if you think players stop developing at age 19. Most of our roster is aged 20-24 and will have 3 1/2 years to develop by playing in top leagues under good coaching staffs. Guess what someone from U20s or even the U17s or someone completely off the radar will develop in a way no one say coming but throwing a bunch of teenagers against a wall and seeing what sticks doesn’t work for anybody anywhere.
JR: you’re missing my point which is that in my personal experience what improves a soccer team is adding new superior faces and not doubling down on the same system and faces hoping they develop more scheme facility and chemistry over time, which is generally where this call sheet heads. even if you trusted the scheme play around with the roster.
this regime generally sandbags the kids to age groups so pimping them as staffing the NT with kids is laughable. they will play the U20s when they turn like 21 or 22 later on, ie, are no longer kids. we have plenty of donovan/beasley/pulisic experience. we have players like weah and miles who got pointlessly sandbagged. don’t try and make that a virtue when he eventually reverses.
Per your comment far below: All fall windows are part of 23/24 Nations League. There are no friendly windows other than this summer prior to tournaments or next summer prior to Copa America. But yes Mexico in April is a celebration of our continued partnership aka a money grab.
you basically lay out in a nutshell why we have problems. fill out a schedule with a bunch of half cooked opponents but say the games “count” and we lose all interest in changing tactics or experimenting with players, even though grenada or salvador are hardly the toughest opponents we have ever seen. basically their insecurity complex in a nutshell. the US used to send B teams to games like these in world cup semi rounds.
the system doesn’t actually work and america doesn’t have to field its first choice every game to win most of them.
but let’s do it your way great formula for finishing 3rd in regional qualifying behind not just mexico BUT FREAKING CANADA.
The US didn’t play their best team everytime that’s literally how we finished 3rd in qualifying (remember the B team playing terrible at Panama). While Mexico and Canada trotted out there best teams through the whole summer the US played an almost completely different side for the GC. Berhalter played more players than anyone else in Concacaf and I’m guessing most of the world, you’re argument is fantasy.
JR: that’s misleading. (1) your coach likes to rotate players based on form. don’t pretend he would call the same over and over if he could. i do think he calls from too tight an ensemble of usual suspects, but he’s deliberately leaving healthy people off sometimes. (2) he did have injuries but i think it’s self indulgent to act like that’s why this finished 3rd. i think he created an inefficient weak concept which makes the team very fragile. i think the offense ends up being improvised, as such player specific, and thus teammates cannot rely on the next starter to execute the same concepts. you play one way with weah. you play another way with reyna. for all the style talk he hasn’t really drilled a universal style in. so it matters too much who is healthy. (3). i think most of why we finished 3rd is he has neither made the defense airtight nor seized upon a goal creation concept where the system fits the players and the players fit together to score goals. eg crossers and headers. or ball to feet inverters with false 9s. it’s a suboptimal mess that can be beaten by less talented teams who are single minded in their tactics and molded to execute them.
the odd thing to me is for all the snob support of baby pep ideas none of them go berserk on the coach for the MF and F selection — specifically the lack of good technical possession players selected to keep the ball and create chances to feet — or the way the build from the back ideas dwindle down to whacking crosses in final 3rd, which is not very pep. so it’s never really an attacking machine or, given the way wingback is compromised, a defensive wall. not sure how you hope to win anything major being kind of average execution both sides of the ball and depending a lot on crossing. and the talent is better than that, but we pick all star teams and we don’t play a high percentage attacking style.
at least when the late 90s early 00s teams tried this they had the good sense to throw on mcbride, ching, or jozy, they didn’t tell themselves they were barca then whack crosses in to 9s not picked to be targets.
What are people’s thoughts on Pulisics comments about the Berhalter V Reyna’s feud?
Kind of paints a picture of the two best attacking players not exactly seeing eye to with each other.
I thought he was mostly criticizing Gio’s parents, and there’s no getting out of that for Reyna. Everybody on the team would be like: “Gio, your parents are so…youth soccer”, and the only thing Gio can really say to that is to hang his head and say: “Hey, it was my parents, not me.” He’s going to get dinged for that no matter what he does. He’d get dinged for that on some of the older U19 and U18 teams I coached, much less the USMNT.
Gio’s gonna take some crap, and it’s going to be awhile before his teammates let it go. If he wants to stay, he’s got some a-provin’ to do.
I think it will blow over pretty quickly as long as Gio is working his butt off for the team.
2Tone-
And producing. That buys a lot of forgiveness too. But creating a situation that may have cost a coach his job is something that is going to linger, and if he pouts and cops attitude in a big way again, I’d say he’s likely gone. This is an ambitious, talented bunch and they’re not going to have time for any of that drama.
Also sounds like Pulisic supporting Gregg to stay as manager.
Yeah but you have to really concentrate to tease that out of the interview. Mostly he tried to criticize the “whole situation”. I wouldn’t call it a full-throated endorsement.
Also FWIW the party line seems to have been drawn and Pulisic sort of tiptoed over to the right side.
My read is that Pulisic didn’t want to support him so much that it would help him become coach again. I think he wants a new coach like everyone else but has to be careful what he says on camera.
“No comment” would have served him and everyone else better. As it would Berhalter and the Reynas. And every athlete everywhere.
On vacation so haven’t been able to watch the whole thing but what I read was they asked are you saying you want Gregg to still be the manager and he said yeah. So maybe my transcript was wrong.
yes, if you read the full source material, yes. debatable conclusion but pretty clear what he wants.
“Pulisics comments about the Berhalter V Reyna’s feud?”
Cristian knows how to handle the media.
He left himself enough room so that, if you lean more towards blaming evil diva shitbag Gio and his little league parents ,THE Reynas, you can take that route or if you want to blame Gregg more you can take that from the comments as well.
Whatever side you want to wave your torches and pitchforks at, it is clear is that Pulisic and the USSF want Gio back perhaps because they know just how good he is.
The USSF clearly want Gio back as well because Hudson isn’t doing this without approval from the powers that be.
Mostly everyone wants move forward, in Cristian’s case, ASAP. I thought it interesting that he used the term “childish” because what the situation needed/needs is someone to be an adult in the room.
Pulisic is the leader but for what it’s worth Roldan , who should be a Gregg supporter right?, clearly wants Gio back and said so before Pulisic did .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8la48NbUVFg
You’re seeing similar sentiments from the top and bottom of the 26 man roster.
If this is one of those fabled USMNT 2022 WC team players only voting elections,
” Gio on the team? Yes or No?”,
it looks like Gio’s going to win this. Tim Ream already voted yes.
This also, unfortunately for my predictions, means Uncle Gregg isn’t likely to come in the back door.
Roldan was asked during MLS media days. Pulisic hasn’t been doing media because A. He’s been injured and B. It’s the week before camp so USSF is making players available for media to promote the matches. Ream made comments on his podcast to try to squash rumors that were swirling at the time to get everyone past it. Some things are just coincidental.
JR
“Some things are just coincidental.”
Yes but the actual timing was not as important as the fact that both Ream and Roldan were pretty supportive of Gio .
That’s what matters.
So was Gregg if you want to get technical
JR,
“So was Gregg” yeah but the question wasn’t really about Gregg , it was about whether the locker room would accept the return to the team of diva shitbag Gio.
If Gregg does come back ( which is not impossible) I’m sure he’ll do his best to negotiate a settlement with Gio. After all, Gregg’s job will be to get the most out of Gio that he can. Maybe he’ll get it right the next time. I wouldn’t give it a second thought.
This scandal is a shock to clean living, morally superior US soccer ( Harkes + Wynalda was buried for many years ).
The little league parent thing is a novel twist, even if it should have been predictable given the long tradition of nepotism and cliquishness in the USSF/USMNT but the Netherlands and Germany, for example, have had many editions of their national teams with various permutations of players and coaches who, sometimes publicly, sometimes privately, hated each other’s guts and managed to play well together.
And I’m sure there are many other examples in the world of sporting endeavor. Hating your manager but still working well together is not original or uncommon.
i took his comments, for good or ill, to be defending the coach and saying get him back in charge. he thinks the complaints are childish, age group soccer playing time moaning — and i think he means the parents and the “child.” he then goes on to say the core is there and what’s happening to the coach is unfortunate and act like just get them all back out there. i agree more with the first part than the second half. i don’t know how he expects a lot more out of the same people and coach. i think it would be the end of the golden generation hopes.
re your concerns, in my personal experience friction-free teams tend to suck because they aren’t as internally competitive or they force out perceived trouble at the expense of team quality. it calms down but is not as good. comes down to are we more about values or more about winning. my 2 cents you don’t want thieves or adulterers around — i understand harkes/wynalda — as that goes to basic trust. but a player wanting more playing time is standard stuff.
i am also pretty sure pulisic and reyna can work together and he can still think reyna is at times being a whiny kid. i don’t see those as mutually exclusive in any sort of terminal way. he’s basically saying “grow up.” if he scores a goal or gives him an assist this month he’ll probably hug him just the same. that’s not the part he’s grouchy about.
side point but personally i am a little concerned they’ve turned into censored robots. i don’t like where all this went but i like that we have a player with some fire in the belly. i haven’t heard much 2026 talk anymore and we barely hear a berhalter criticism. i can’t imagine they think this is being run perfect. i feel like the fact we take our foot off the gas every time right about here, is why we peak here. we need to want more. and it’s just odd 99% of the beefing is either anonymous, parental, or players who haven’t seen the field much in years eg miazga, pomykal. no one else has an opinion? no one else wants more from this? i don’t want this kind of insanity, but i also don’t want it all driven underground. i think i want to know if klinsi is starting to lose the team after guatemala, so to speak.
last point, i do find it telling he didn’t modulate his feelings any for the leadership speech. i mean, didn’t say a pox on both their houses, trust is broken. he could have gotten stuck in but acted like it was unfair, an interesting response from the guy who once pouted getting pulled from canada.
“childish” is not the same as “unfair”
Pulisic’s own dad probably would have been doing a Claudio with Chelsea’s bosses if he thought he had the kind of pull Claudio thought that he had with the USSF “brain trust”. He plays at a club where the fan and media scrutiny is hyper intense and not always in a good way.
Maybe more than any of the others, Pulisic sees the USMNT as a haven from that crap and does not like it when off the field shit is staining “his’ national team.
As for Gregg, he didn’t try to play Pulisic at wingback . Gregg finally learned to basically leave CP alone. Pulisic wants to be an auto selection and to be left alone.to play ball. He had that with Gregg. In that sense, CP does not want any change.
That doesn’t mean he thought Gregg was any good.
If we get a Mourinho., for example, in here maybe they try to turn Pulisic into a wing back.
“they’ve turned into censored robots…………..we barely hear a berhalter criticism.”
When Gregg was the boss. what would be the point? The players aren’t stupid. They had to know that Gregg played favorites, literally.
What I liked about both Gio and Reyna was that you could see on their faces when they played with him that they thought Lletget was a useless traffic cone. But they were the only ones arrogant enough to think they could get away with “politically incorrect diva shit bag body language”.
Gregg was not rehired but the players also know that, its possible he might come back and that you guys, the fan base, are sensitized against diva shitbags complaining. These days being a USMNT player means keeping your mouth shut is the best course. Pulisic has the standing to get away with it and Roldan has nothing to lose anyway. CP is the most established of them all and he has always been loathe to criticize managers as a general rule.
“in my personal experience friction-free teams tend to suck because they aren’t as internally competitive or they force out perceived trouble at the expense of team quality.”
Your experience is limited.
The actual amount of friction in a given team is unlikely to ever be accurately reported.
If they are doing well and everyone is getting what they need, then there is no need for friction and it’s a boring narrative. The media hates that. Look at Manchester City.
Not a whole lot of friction but boring as hell but they don’t suck.
The preferred narrative and a better story is when people who hate each other actually play well together.
People need to either go read or give a listen to Hudson’s post roster release press conference, where some of the things folks here are asking about was addressed.
since you insist:
hudson mentions we are trying to win both matches. but a team at this stage of the cycle is also usually focused on discovering new talent. when does he plan to do that if he calls conservatively for these games, then mexico, then summer tournaments? you can see how this schedule would encourage a coach to, say, keep calling ream, or not fiddle with his backs and mids, seeking short term reward when we need some changes to be better in 2026, and won’t have ream at that point. worse, we already won summer tournaments with many of these guys in 21 and it didn’t change that we qualified 3rd or how 22 ended.
a caretaker, particularly one who may be a candidate or an assistant to another one, also has some incentive to squash teams like bugs with holdover players regardless if they can be around in 26, eg ream, or whether they showed problems against better opponents. to me a running US problem is we seem content to trade cheap wins now for really figuring out a system that works with all the best people later on.
hudson refers to continuing what we have done and building on it, but those might be at odds. too much continuity might just repeat results. it has to be balanced against change. at this point in the cycle many teams err on the side of change as their goal is not just to repeat what they just did.
hudson talks about letting GR back in, and i appreciate that much, but he also called zendejas, which makes 3 people on that side, which is not a full vote of confidence. i also question if he will be any more creative than his boss about system or how GR gets used within it, including trying him as a 9 or 10 where you don’t have 2 of your best players pigeonholed with each other. normal idea to soccer is find a way to get them all out there “somehow.” landon and dempsey were sometimes wings, sometimes attackers. dmb played wing and back. and setting aside GR specifically we should look at pulisic central as well. our best players are wide, and i think musah and mckennie are either overrated or could be swapped wide.
hudson talks as though he has a whole plan set up through the summer, and i question if he should even have that long tenure or that much power. i also think an april MLS availability game with mexico is kind of dense. save that for a new manager in september. the coach whines about domestics missing a lot of soccer if they kept getting called, but this implies the win first mentality as many teams would be trialing players this time in a cycle and rotating them through anyway. they only get overused if you contemplated some set over and over yourself. and personally i think it was more important we saw cowell or tolkin or vazquez play with money on the table with the first team than save them for mexico and a january camp set of teammates again. he mentions the 21 summer tournament split but i don’t want to see the MLS guys with MLS teammates all year. i want to see a chosen few being already integrated.
i like booth being involved but it’s odd he was listed as a F. he justifies trusty but richards was the starter before the tournament, plays in a tougher league, and has long been esteemed higher. and if miles needs a run out to test the achilles why doesn’t richards get a once over.
he justifies pepi and dike but as i explained, bolagun sounds interested, and his choices continue to feel like GB’s “all star” or “form” picks, not like we have a coherent attacking plan.
he then tells the reporter like a catch all at the end where he implies anyone left out either has a knock or will get called this summer. without naming names that’s unverifiable and a tad cute. is richards “hurt?” vazquez? bolagun? mighten?
i would personally be more experimental, and historically the US would have experimented more in these kinds of games. it’s not mexico and canada. it’s salvador and grenada. live a little. but even if it’s a first choice, it feels too continuous to last year, like same system, most of the same starters, and like we’re not questioning many assumptions despite how holland went. i personally think we could have run out an experiment for at least grenada without the slightest worry. probably both. and we’d learn more about a broader set of pool players and could then pick the ones who played well for the summer. per usual we seem to have it all planned out suggesting the games don’t really matter. eg how was zendejas the most impressive thing from january.
Booth has been playing as a wing for Utrecht. Saint Polten did some too. Heck Bayern played him as a RB some. Alex Mighten is playing in the Premier league 2 U 21 league because he failed in his loan to League One side Sheffield Wednesday. Balogun said no.
There’s this thing called context and your rant lacks it.
It misses the main point about Hudson and the entire post WC USMNT.
Context?? We don’t need no stinking context!”
Whatever his merits or lack thereof, Hudson is a temp manager. He wants to do the best he can because:
1. He can showcase himself for other jobs
2. He can maybe even make a play for this gig
3. It’s a pretty interesting bunch of players and what manager wouldn’t want a bunch of games with them?
That said, as a temp he doesn’t have a lot of power and he also isn’t likely to indulge you.
This USMNT is not a blank slate. This isn’t 2018 when the Jay and Gregg, the Nepotism Berhalter Boys waltzed in and sold the USSF on replacing Arena’s wreckage with the Berhalter Ball system ( but wait there’s more!).
Well strike me handsome if Gregg didn’t finish up the 2022 World Cup with a very good performance by a pretty decent and interesting core of a team, one that is a good foundation for 2026.
The USSF aren’t looking to come up with a new 23 man squad like you are. They are looking to upgrade not completely revamp. We all know where they would like to upgrade, backup or replacement for Adams, a reliable #9 , better fulbacks, better CB’s etc. and they have three years to find those guys.
But “ i would personally be more experimental, and historically the US would have experimented more in these kinds of games.” ??
That’s a masturbatory fantasy that the USSF isn’t going to grant to you.
It’s their team not yours Mr. Voice.
Because guess what, the USSF approves of what happened under Gregg, at least in terms of how the player pool developed.
These players did a great job even though they were handicapped with a weak manager who was too much of a wussy to fight off an ironically different version of his own nepotism, a pair of little league parents.
In any other truly professional team, a truly professional manager, the minute this started, would have told the Reynas to fuck off.
And if they didn’t he would have underlined the point by sending Gio home from Qatar. The Croatian Manager did that in 2018, sending striker Kalinic home for refusing to go into the opening game leaving them with 22 players for the remainder of the tournament which wound up with Croatia making the World Cup final. Now that’s real leadership. That was a real manager backed by a real organization.
The fact that Gregg didn’t just get rid of Gio and his whole family and that Earnie, Brian and whoever else was involved also did not support Gregg by telling the Reynas to fuck off, tells you all you need to know about the spineless Gregg and the USSF clown car.
Which means the players were very good and very together to perform well under those circumstances.
Now you want to throw out the baby with the bath water by throwing out everything Gregg did, even the good stuff.
What JR said.
That said, I’d strongly prefer to look at Booth as an 8. I think he could challenge or at least supplement McKennie.
And Zendejas was by far the most impressive thing I personally saw in January and it wasn’t close. The dude looked like he could flat play and he’s a guy I personally would want on any team I coached. His skillset was very impressive.
IV: perhaps the extra forward is because Gio and/or Pulisic are on limited minutes do to recent injuries or Gio’s preventative maintenance at BvB. Gio hasn’t gone even 135 minutes in a week in some time and Pulisic hasn’t since WC.
Q: I thought it took Zendajas awhile to get going, but especially the last 15 with Williamson as the 8 on his side were good. Eryk gave him a lot more space to operate. Hoping to see Williamson against Mexico in April.
JR: we’re saying “talks are ongoing.” he’s saying stuff about “go where you’re wanted.” how on earth do you get “no” from that? and you’re missing my point that maybe if we had some star coach hired right now, the answer is “yes.” the caretaker problem is there is some incentive to blow this off as meaningless, whether the coach has a clue or not. wait and see who we hire.
JR: utterly contradictory on player rest. you’re saying we should manage CP/GR minutes now when genuine good rest would be give them the summer off, when CP often looks exhausted. USSF forgot the lesson as of the transition from reyna/mcbride to the ever-called donovan that we don’t need the stars every time. it has not achieved superior results to 2002 fwiw. that time period also reflects the transition from using games and tournaments for a purpose to winning games becoming the end all be all.
also, we don’t normally call hurt people. this isn’t the world cup final.
also, while i appreciate getting zendejas locked down, and would personally go that more experimental and cap-tying route, if this is first choice and we are still doing selection solely on merit — not fast tracking — then zendejas is not the 4th or 5th best winger i have seen. i don’t think we are consistent about first principles.
IV: they don’t need rest they’re just coming back from injury. CP isn’t tired he just needs to manage his minutes. Zendajas and Booth also have recently returned from injury so not a bad idea to bring 5 wings. They are all fit and playing for their clubs but likely their clubs left some stipulations on minutes they’d like them kept under. Aaronson actually makes it 6 of need be. Yes you reward Zendajas since he announced his commitment, ball is in Balogun’s court he hasn’t filed.he can’t be called. Seems from his Instagram he was still hoping for a call up from England so Hudson can’t call him until he submits his papers which usually takes some time to get approved.
Time for Matt Turner to look for a different team in the summer. After giving up two goals in the first leg against Sporting CP…. Ramsdale starts for Arsenal at home. Clearly Arteta does not trust Turner.
Horvath is the most in form of three GK’s right now. For me he is the starter. We just went through the same thing with Steffen where we all said he wasn’t getting enough game time and was becoming error prone due to a lack of match fitness before the WC and shouldn’t be the starter. Matt Turner is now in the same boat.
He may not trust Ramsdale anymore, either.
Lol. True
One bad game isn’t going to get a guy regarded as one of the best young keepers in the game, with a €38 million valuation, dropped as a starter…and it shouldn’t. As a coach you’re always going to wave it aside and express “full confidence” in your guy. It’ll take a string of bad games before you make that move.
Turner will likely have to make a move, though, unless Ramsdale just flat falls on his face. My guess is that he’ll have some options. He’s a known quantity in the Prem now and that Arsenal pedigree on him does carry a ton of weight whether or not it’s justified. With a good World Cup and some Arsenal games under his belt – where he did pretty durn well – any lingering doubts about Turner being big enough for the Prem will have vanished.
Right now A. Robinson is the best LB the US has, but he really needs to figure out how to make crosses that actually find US attackers. Too many of his “crosses” are just balls into a crowded box with no clear intended target, much less hitting that target.
I think Dest often tries to get too cute and while that can work against weaker teams, but as we saw in the W.C., against better teams it simply doesn’t.
Without Adams or Acosta, it will be interesting to see who plays that role and how well.
Is there any realistic way that Weah, Reyna and Pulisic can be on the field together?
Dennis did you see I explained how to fix your problems with scored being shown and how to get full replays on Apple TV. It’s on last week’s MLS preview article
Thanks, I missed it.
If you can’t find it let me know I’ll repost.
jedi is not the best LB we have. he gets caught up on defense. he then as you suggest hits hopeful rather than precise crosses. i think his fanboys like the “idea” of the player and don’t question reality or how it nets out eg the holland game.
i think go back to first principles, find backs who can mark, then worry about which ones of those can also contribute. neither of our wingbacks could consistently mark.
i also think the Big Concept of wings who press then wingbacks who push high is a little crocked. i want attackers who create and backs who defend. when you pick wings to chase and backs to attack you kind of get a muddle not good at its actual purpose. we couldn’t score and also didn’t pitch shutouts. that isn’t a good recipe.
Then who is the best LB we have? I’m not a huge Jedi fan but most of the others in the pipeline are in the Jedi mold of better going forward than defending.
“but he really needs to figure out how to make crosses that actually find US attackers. Too many of his “crosses” are just balls into a crowded box with no clear intended target, much less hitting that target.”
Is that Jedi’s fault or the fault of the intended recipient of the cross?
With defenders, it is not who can defend, but who can do it for 90+ without making mental errors. When comparing the best defenders, it takes multiple 90 minute games to gather the evidence.
It is impossible to use international games alone to determine the best choices (and first choice subs). There simply aren’t enough games. So you have to look at club games and then it gets complicated by the quality of the opponents. I think it is pretty safe to say that the highest average quality is found in the EPL, so comparing defenders there should be relatively fair. But the USA has only 3 defenders there: Ream, and Richards; Ream has been outstanding for Fulham and Richards was named player of the month for Crystal in January. It is hard to argue against their inclusion now for games that matter. Other choices like, CCV, Zimmerman, McKenzie, M. Robinson, and Trusty all suffer from not facing comparable quality opposition. It is pretty much a crap shoot when trying to compare them. In my mind CCV has the lead among that group mostly due to his performance at the W.C.
I am mystified regarding Richards not being on the squad and wonder why McKenzie is included given his shaky performance for the USMNT in the past. Trusty is to me an unknown, apparently he was not good enough to be even Arsenal’s second choice but is doing well in the Championship. Maybe Arsenal is just that good in the back that they don’t need him right now.
So bottom line Ream, despite his lack of pace and age is the first choice for games that matter now (and the next 2 games do matter). Why Richards and CCV are not included is a mystery. After that whomever!
Well, Arsenal were ready to bring Trusty back to the club a few months ago because he was playing that lights out, so I think they rate him highly enough. Arsenal is stacked in defense, they don’t give up too many goals, and with Trusty it probably came down to them wanting him to get acclimated to playing on the continent as a whole and the Championship is not a bad place to do that
CCV is injured alongside Adams, Richards, and Tillman
Striker good to see you back.
Thanks Johhnyrazor ✌!
Thanks Johnnyrazor ✌!
Thanks Johnnyrazor ✌!*
balogun reportedly responded to yet another england omit for march by saying on social media “go where your [sic] appreciated.” this is when you seal the deal. sometimes life is time sensitive. we need a 9. we have an opportunity now. some other window they may have smoothed it over. this is why this 7 month caretaker crap is actually harmful. that and more of the same system and emphases on the personnel choices.
i don’t know if he needs a fifa switch due to playing england U21. get cracking. if he could play now, call him, run him out for grenada. lock this puppy down. now.
we used to be able to hire a coach in a week. this is bureaucratic nonsense.
related thought, now that GB has been nominally “cleared,” does he become his own caretaker next time or do they continue with his minion? not a GB fan but on the pecking order of US coaches he’s a few notches above this guy. conversely if they continue to leave him off is that a signal, report or not, they didn’t like how it went and it’s not going to be his job. because, one way of looking at january is the coach was all but suspended, and he’s now deemed ok to hire again.
i wouldn’t do it, but if you think about it, the report came out before the call sheet, if we have his xerox as caretaker, why not the coach himself. i obviously think we should be hiring faster. and i think we should be hiring “different” ideas for a caretaker, in part to see how the team responds, to weigh that in where to go for the full time hire. to be fair, he’d get his claws back in, and some might see anyone else as preferable to avoid that. but i think the team suffers.
Hudson will not be the full time USMNT manager, we can book that, and interestingly enough there is an article on goal.com where Thierry Henry is said to be holding out for the USMNT job, although I don’t know how I feel about that lol. We have some time to find a manager, let Hudson lead the pool for the upcoming tournaments this spring and summer, and hopefully obtain a bigger, more respected name after the european season is done.
Hudson said in the post roster drop press conference that thy have ben in constant communication with Folarin, so tbh I think we get him! We’ve been really good(or lucky)to get most of the dual nationals we’ve wanted over the last 3-4 years, but this coup would be the “ONE” that changes everything if it happens though lol
Totally agree strike while the iron is hot! Balogun should absolutely be approached by whom ever is making decisions about the USMNT. Sadly it seems to be adrift at the moment due to a lack of professionalism from so many sides. At the end of the day this is all about 2026 personal agendas and the sort need to be put aside.
It isn’t rocket science contact the coaches and have them in line so when you hire your GM he/she has a list to work from. There is no sense on dragging your feet with all this any other Federation would’ve had a coach in place within three months tops. We’re three months out now and saying a decision might be made during the summer why in gods name are you waiting so long it doesn’t help the club at all if anything it’s hindering them. If you make the wrong hire you can always axe that person. Look at other nations they do that all the time why do we have to be so damn different we’re not unique nor are we exceptional. These are the things that drive me crazy as the USSF seems to be stuck 20 years ago without the type of growth that you would’ve expected from a nation that is growing the game.
They accidentally left off Zendejas name. He is on the roster.
For the 1st time in a long time the roster called actually is very close to the best possible/available with the exception of 2 positions….
Center Back – I’d have liked to have seen Richards & CCV get some camp time and possible reps together, but I’m OK with them taking time to recover.
Defensive Mid – With Adams out injured and Acosta not in camp it’ll be interesting to see how the next in line performs. These 2 matches should be a good place to start grooming someone.
I’d have liked Sargent to have been included, but I’m ok with him taking time to recover (similar to Richards & CCV). That said I’m particularly pleased to see that many of GGG’s favorites were left off the roster…No Long, Roldan, Arriola, Morris makes me happy.
You’ll see them next month against Mexico. Outside a FIFA window they’re the best available in MLS.
i think it feels very familiar to people with a similar core but the core lost round of 16 so are we trying to win the world cup with the golden generation or not. i mean, did dest and jedi work? not really. did the MF work? not really. should reyna be off the bench instead of striker or 10? not really. are the formation and system working? exactly. i think they need less continuity. i think fans have an all star team confused with the best team in a system to win soccer games.
one of my concerns with leaving hudson in charge is he has every incentive to pretend that the same system, a new player or two, and some gel, and it’ll be awesome. that they were doing their job well. i think this team should have qualified top in concacaf and gone deeper. i feel like the fans have a status quo bias where they fall in love with last week’s roster. i think this was more justifiable when the US had limited talent.
the defense and the midfield absolutely worked in Qatar, don’t know what you were watching. What let us down was a lack of scoring from chances that you would expect players that we like to say is high caliber just didn’t put away, but more importantly inadequate depth, and injuries ruined us furthering our WC, so Greg was forced to play our top lineup more than I’m sure he wanted and the boys got fatigued vs the Netherlands. Quality depth and a legit ST is what separates the USMNT from top nations, but we’re coming in that department too and this first full roster would suggest a bit of that
the MF got fed into a buzzsaw to start all of holland’s counters. you have stalemate soccer — 3 DMs bodychecking anything that moves — confused with a MF that can either set up goals or at least not be so sloppy they set up counters for elite opponents. i think possession soccer is naive but why those 3 to possess? i think people like backpatting themselves it’s leeds leeds valencia but we could also have christian or GR or aaronson in there. we could also play another formation with more mids period. i can’t buy 3 MF is the formation. i can’t buy these are literally the 3 best MF we have. even if adams was healthy. people have “we tied a bunch of group games” confused with a success recipe. are we trying to imitate brazil klinsi/2010 bradley or are we trying to become dominant?
likewise, while people thought the ream bet paid off, dest and jedi got torched by holland getting caught up on counters.
setting aside we have musah and morris in games and reyna not.
bluntly, i don’t think a lot of fans have TRULY thought about why what just happened, happened. i don’t think some folks want to think about whether a 433 works, or attacking wingbacks are risky, about whether we have enough finesse in the MF, or defense in the back, about whether to deploy a leading guy like christian or weah or reyna as 9 if the position continues to struggle, etc. we didn’t win the world cup so maybe ask why. i kind of don’t buy it’s that they are all kids and just need maturity. holland systematically undid us. so maybe not that system. holland took advantage of certain players repeatedly. so maybe not them. and then, yeah, figure out 9. well, more broadly, decide how we plan on scoring goals. to me we confuse an all star team with a plan. we trying to whack crosses or play balls to feet. get the selection all on a page like we have a plan. don’t just call people on hot streaks who can’t work together.
IV while the core has basically remained the same it’s not like we’ve got a bunch of better players waiting in the wings. What most of this roster represents is the same core from 2022 with an improvement in the depth/roll players. Booth & Zendejas are better options than Morris & Arriola. Pepi is a better option than Ferriera. Trusty & McKenzie are better options than Long. Reynolds is a better option than Moore or Yedlin.
IMO Gregg failed to make full use of his player pool. His formation, tactics, and substitution strategies were the primary causes of the struggles throughout the 2022 cycle. Unfortunately until USSF actually hires a qualified manager, we’ll have to rely on our players to make the right tactical adjustments….something they were not experienced enough to do on their own in 2022.
Genuinely excited to see some of this group go. Dike remains an intriguing prospect with unknown upside…he got hurt in the Gold Cup two years ago and so the jury is still very much out on him and we haven’t gotten a look at him since.
Dying to lay eyes on Taylor Booth. They’ve got him listed as a “forward”…yeah, he can play the wing, personally I like him as a 6 or especially as an 8. He’s not just scary-fast and box-to-box; he’s also got that wicked shot from distance seemingly all of our mids except maybe Acosta lack, and I think that could be a major component towards fixing our goalscoring woes. (Obviously a money striker is Priority #1, but the lack of goals from our midfield has been glaring as well. McKennie is dangerous on set pieces with his head; he’s not goal-dangerous otherwise and the others to a man aren’t goal-dangerous at all.)
I still think scoring Zendejas is a major coup for us…and I think he’ll show that against Grenada. (I absolutely would start him in that game and I’ll bet you Hudson does too.) Especially in a 4-3-3 having a left-footed inverted right wing is huge, particularly when you consider how much our outside backs like to get forward. I’m also genuinely curious to see how his presence might help unlock a low block…instead of having everything funneled to the outside and then we dink and dunk hopeful crosses into a (very crowded) box, Zendejas will pinch in and use the inside-right and middle channels, even pop up in the inside left channel at times, and he’s so technical and can play in a shoebox. The quick precise 1-2’s that unlock a packed defense will suddenly be there. For me Zendejas is a situational starter, not a depth guy, and I’d always run him out against teams that like to pack all 11 guys behind the ball, where Weah’s speed tends to be negated and guys like Aaronson get bullied and kicked.
Also curious to see if anyone can make a case at themselves as our 6 in the absence of Adams.
I agree with those who say “roll out the backups for Grenada.” I absolutely would. El Salvador is a frustrating squad to play and I think they could well beat or tie a group that hasn’t played together at all. Save our starters for that one, let the trialists go against Grenada.
It is good to see a few debutants on the roster and a few returning faces. Now is the time to blend in the emerging talent over the next three years. With Ream aging out, looking forward to see if Miles Robinson can regain his form. Austin Trusty gets a deserved callup at defense too. Here’s hoping they both get minutes. Taylor Booth also get his well-earned shot. Both Dike and Pepi playing well, and scoring. Only real surprise up front is the Sargent omission.
No to Ream because he will definitely be too old for the next WC. And why no Sargent at striker? I would pick Chris Richards over Reynolds. We know we will be in the next WC and yet it is still a long way away. So, the emphasis should be on younger players.
Reynolds is younger than Richards and plays RB not CB.
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As for Ream so much will change between now and 2026 it’s way to early to be worrying about meshing for WC. We do technically still need to qualify for GC but it would take 2 losses by a lot of goals this window. But GC this summer should be a big window to work incorporating new CBs. I also think there must be some other issue Richards isn’t here beyond just not being picked.
He may be the American Maldini.
If Ream is playing at this same level 3.5 years from now he’s on the roster for me, age is just a number and people focus on it to much imo
zendejas got left off. because once you realize that, it complicates the GR picture a little. is he 2nd or 3rd string. is zendejas being used as a contingency to hold out in front of GR.
that does give them 4 wings though we are still double counting aaronson as wing and mid.
Zendejas is actually on the roster.
Looks like the copy and paste for this article accidently left the last name off 🙂
i meant left off the article. as in, as you say, included.
hence my explanation of the interesting dilemma he poses for GR. the coach nominally says no hard feelings but then calls in 3 RF. not 3 strikers. not 3 LF. 3 RF. so, remembering how he got treated at the world cup, is he here to be a dutiful 3rd string and take his lumps? or is he here to be second string — or maybe even start the easier game — but zendejas is there in case he acts out again?
it’s an odd mix of trust you but don’t trust you because most positions save keeper were only stacked 2 deep, if that.
i still think the solution to part of this is make the very technical reyna a sometimes 10 and sometimes 9 but i doubt this continuity caretaker is the guy to make that adjustment. one of my complaints with this silliness is you don’t want the old coach back but we’re going to endure 1/2-3/4 of a year with his half baked apprentice implementing similar system and personnel choices. so little growth. we identify new kids who play well in january and they get cut. he turns zendejas into the next arriola. this is not progress.
Other than Richards and CCV having strong cases to be on the team it’s a pretty strong group. MLS just started so I can see why some of those guys were not apart of this. Miles Robinson is back to being is usual self for Atlanta.
Playing Mexico outside FIFA window in April so the MLSers will have that chance.
if MX is a N American roster then why not just make this completely european with some MLS players within a shorter plane flight on a call sheet as the injury contingencies.
i think per recent usual they are being too clever by half, as an effective MLS vs MX all star game favors them not us. if i am playing a team above me in the WCQ table, who i want to show my team it can now beat regularly, i want full availability. i want to continue our recent turn of form. i don’t want to risk confidence and results on a january camp roster.
personally i thought it was a silly fixture choice just like much of 2018 was. they took their experiments in january and fed them into a colombia and serbia woodchipper. the first choice get grenada and ES. then run the trialist and MLS guys into Mexico. this starts to sound like the schedule they handed sarachan. who after the fall losses racked up, they ignored a lot of who he called. but you only spent a year playing portugal ireland france england colombia brazil etc. with U23s.
odds are we see mexico one or both times this summer anyway. this is like when we played mexico in GC 2019 then again that september. you know what was actually valuable? some time in between to change personnel. 2 years later a different team beat them twice. but playing tough teams only tends to encourage roster conservatism of the sort that tends to impede the changes that improve and improve results. plus i don’t want hudson anywhere near this game anyway.
i think it’s first choice but refracted through a conservative berhalter lens. same ol keepers even though steffen got cut. i like the backup wingbacks but they won’t get more than second string minutes behind the guys who cost us qatar. which won’t change because berhalter = jedi dest. similarly, our starting MF looks very similar, give or take adams, even though they got whooped in qatar. i do like johnny and we’ll see if he starts/plays. striker continues to reflect perceived form over talent.
the MF looks a little shallow if one realizes aaronson is being double booked when he is pulisic’s sub/rotational guy. i mean, if you start weston musah johnny/booth your remaining bench is like johnny/booth DLT sonora and then aaronson who would leave you without a LF sub.
conversely, if booth and aaronson are used as mids, then you have 2 strikers and 3 wings for 2 games that count.
though booth should be classified a mid. that’s odd. ream is too old for another world cup and a wasted choice. why mckenzie over richards and CCV?
personally i would have gone more experimental, but this way, i would have called more people, start reyna and aaronson against grenada, with subs like cowell and konrad, then first team ES at home, which is the real result that matters. the US of late never fails to reset up the couva scenario of the starters being potentially tired for the actual deciding fixture. we could max out on grenada and ES remains within 2 points and we still need a result. so if you are so obsessed with results what you do is “cuba,” you run out the second team, the first team then gets “canada,” el salvador.
last point, this still reads like an all star team slapped together in a 433 and not purpose designed. how are we defending, how are we scoring goals. ferreira had 4 goals on grenada last time and to me is a better fit to trying to play a passing game. attacking wingbacks and dike/pepi is like we’re going to do more dysfunctional crossing. the starting mids look like DM types. the backups all look like technical types. it’s not obvious what the point of this is.
Honestly, glad to see Zack had no hard feelings and is back. True class.
what is the point in just defaulting back to the same pack of players including the guy who got cut? personally i don’t think we need turner to beat grenada and ES. we already know what he has. so call some fresh blood. the old USA didn’t use to freak out all insecure like they couldn’t get through what looks like WCQ semi competition. they would try some things out. i think horvath has something to prove after the away version of this fixture. i would like to see some players like cohen or gaga. maybe celentano. i expect turner to play 90-135′ followed by 45-90′ of a second choice of horvath or steffen. i don’t think that teaches us that much at all. i mean, i would like to test if horvath gets over being a glitch machine. but this feels a little too much like berhalter autopilot, as does a lot of the roster. as in, the ones who will actually start and see most of the minutes.
actually, i am forgetting these games count. this is not some 6 sub friendly. so you will likely not see a keeper sub. we will either divvy the games up 90/90 or turner plays the whole weekend.
Is Tyler Adams hurt or just getting a break? Is Chris Richards seeing regular minutes right now?
adams is staying with leeds to rehab a hammy injury from practice.
what’s up with no Chris Richards?
exactly! what does how palace’s coach rates him relative to danish world cup starter joachim andersen say about his value to us? he played well when used. he got dropped not for his own poor play but because the starter’s calf healed. why does the other guy’s calf injury and rehab. decide if he is ready to play grenada and ES? worse, if i can see this explanation why do the people paid to make decisions speculate the worst, that this secretly is a critique of his form or something. the worst part, to me, is they have 2 points in their last 5 games and lost their last 3. the team which was about 10th is down to 12th.
so a coach with their own brain might consider the club coach made the wrong decision. that maybe i shouldn’t be a xerox machine.
you don’t suddenly get untalented. if you were playing awesome 3 weeks ago you didn’t suddenly lose it. this team is run and surrounded by tv fanboy idiots.
i mean, if no one gets hurt, qatar was going to be miles and richards in the back, [at which point fanboy favorite tim ream, who is a pimple on richards or miles, fights for a bench roster spot with walker and CCV.] miles gets the call 3 games back from an achilles but richards having set the internet afire in february is forgotten by march. so we call up a 14′ sub in 2 U20 world cup 2017 games over a regular starter in U20 2019. we call up a guy loaned down to the c’ship over a guy who was playing decent in the EPL 3 weeks ago. presumably because he played more recently and had an assist on rotherham. yay club form!
to be fair, i wouldn’t mind if we trialed trusty in games like this to kick the tires. run some experimentals out. but i read this to be a serious first choice by hudson, omitting richards after last month. that’s giggle inducing. like i said, we take form way too serious. if this is The Guys, richards should be starting. not just on the list. definitely not left off.
I was surprised the press didn’t ask specifically about Richards. He may have asked to stay to battle for his position, but that’s speculation. Hudson mentioned having to factor in minor injuries, but Chris has dressed for each match so that seems unlikely. It could be that he could play in emergency but they don’t him traveling and going 90 minutes.
as i just said above, before the pre tournament injury, he was going to start in qatar. after that point i want to go lalalala i am not listening a la eddie murphy.
[even accepting your speculation, if you left him off because he was going to be your bench — for grenada and ES no less — and he responded by asking to stay and fight for time in club — you already mis-rated him and caused the response. which, we have discussed reyna ad infinitum. part of the job is proper talent evaluation, keeping key players happy, and getting the good players on the field somehow.]
along similar lines, while fanboys tout securing the hustling zendejas, what about balogun? but then balogun would probably want a serious coach and some commitment on his anticipated role, neither of which hudson can offer. even if hudson drooled on him he can’t commit the future.
this time period now is not harmless. it’s several more months on through the summer tournaments, training in the same dumb system, limited effort after dual nationals, more selection oddities. vs. imagine if we had some huge name right now saying balogun come play with us. you wait another half year and surely england notices some 15-20 game ligue 1 striker season particularly when he reverts back to an EPL team from loan.
I’m not saying Hudson said no. I’m saying maybe Richards said no because he wants to stay London and keep battling for his spot back. Not a lot of Palace guys on national teams so with Anderson gone he can show with the first team. Again pure speculation I could be totally off. As you’ve said we should have most of the ball so we don’t need our best CB against Grenada and ES.
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Per the other thread I’m not worried Hudson is planning for a match in April. Even if they hired a GM tomorrow the manager won’t be in place by then. They’ve made it pretty clear that they’re waiting for the end of the Euro league seasons anyway, otherwise your probably looking at MLS managers.
JR,
Hudson already knows what they have with Richards and CCV.
Those two, along with Ream, are currently the three best CB’s.
We don’t need all three to beat Grenada and El Salvador.
And if we do, that would be good to know right away. The Nations League is a low rent version of the Gold Cup , which is a sub-garbage tournament but it is still a tournament and Hudson, I would think, has to balance wanting to win it vs learning more about potential solutions for the soon to be weakest part of the team.
If it were me I would rather test my potential replacement CB’s in a competitive game, no matter how cheezy as opposed to some 6 sub friendly
Ream is great but can he maintain his form as he ages?
And no one is happy with Walker who is also old.
Trusty is hot right now but he’s also a raw newbie.
MacKenzie has shown well in the past but has also had Gonzo disease, the symptoms being committing a stupid, WTF game losing howler at least once per game. Miles is still recovering.
Hudson needs to know who from MTM is a little more trust worthy.
We all know about the #9 position being a problem but the potential answers post Qatar , Pepi, Josh and Dike are all in form and Hudson has two of them here. w Zendejas committing the attacking section looks promising for now.
Besides the USMNT can survive w/o a productive #9.
They can’t without a solid CB pair.
JR: surely you can make a distinction between “a game” and “the game” as in the mexico rivalry. i think we will see plenty of mexico all summer. i don’t see the necessity of this other than USSF wanting to make $. surely you see how it would be brighter to save a mexico friendly for september with first choice players and a new coach. i don’t think you lot are considering this is a worse coach than sarachan playing a mexico team that will have high availability based on their domestic/expat ratio when for us it will be a january camp type team.
i am also concerned as said elsewhere that scheduling hardcore games in a first cycle year encourages conservative roster choices instead of a fresh look at the pool.