The U.S. men’s national team’s fall schedule is starting to get filled out with European and African opposition making the trip to the United States this October.
Germany and Ghana will oppose the USMNT on October 14 and 17 respectively for a pair of international friendlies, U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday. The USMNT will face the Germans in East Hartford, Conn. on Oct. 14 before closing out a two-match window on Oct. 17 against the Ghanians in Nashville, Tenn.
Germany is set to host the 2024 UEFA European Championships next year and will use this friendly as preparation for the tournament. The USMNT holds a 4-7-0 all-time record against Germany with the last meeting coming in 2015, where Bobby Wood’s late winner propelled the Americans to a 2-1 triumph.
The Americans have defeated Ghana twice in four all-time meetings, with one of those victories coming in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The last head-to-head meeting came in 2017 in East Hartford, Conn.
The USMNT is currently preparing to face Concacaf rivals Mexico in the upcoming Nations League Final Four, scheduled to begin on June 15. B.J. Callaghan was recently elevated to the team’s interim head coaching role as Anthony Hudson departed the program for a new opportunity.
“if this wasn’t such a groupthink continuity mechanism right now, he would be in some trouble to make the NL roster, or at least to see the field. but i fully expect him to get called as we are on a sort of continuity autopilot where the last call earns the next one.”
??
You are the one who wants to call in Green based on a goal he scored in the 2014 World Cup. Nine years ago.
first off, i have given a list before and not just green. EPB, pefok, ledezma, others. most have looked good when called just not been included. that is not their fault.
second, it’s not just a decade ago, green also had a goal on world cup champion (18)/finalist (22) france when he was called in 18. you remember, when we tied france and could get a result off a good team. or have a lead on colombia. because he was brought in so young he’s still 27. i personally put a lot on guys who can do it in big games. cuz our fate rests a lot more on those level contests than how we handle grenada.
let’s be real, GB didn’t like him, but that should hardly be authoritative. hudson just listed his ex teammate tim tillman (now moved to LA) who GB made no effort after either. so maybe we are getting past “greuther furth” or the fact he’s more of a true AM or SS as opposed to a DM posing as one.
you want blunt i think green is probably better than LDLT at doing the technical thing LDLT is brought in to do. might actually score sometimes, wouldn’t be shoved over as easy.
one flaw in US fanboy thinking is candidates being compared to current starters. their real competition, initially, is the last guy off the bench. are you telling me green is obviously worse than, say, roldan? arriola? tessmann? busio? sonora? morris? cowell? williamson? he doesn’t have to be better than balogun or reyna.
when have any of that list ever done anything much less score on belgium or france?????? you’ve lost objectivity or a sense of who competes with whom to make a roster. bench fights bench. he doesn’t have to be pulisic to make the team.
You literally haven’t seen Green play since 2018, how can you say he’s better than Luca or anyone? We do know Furth felt Tillman was better than Green last season since he started almost twice as many matches. This season they generally both started after Seguin left for Union Berlin. By the way Tillman had to file to be called in so you don’t have any idea if Berhalter tried to bring him in or not. Green had some bad luck in Berhalter’s reign. Injuries prevented call ups, Gregg was talking him up right before Covid shutdown (people we’re assuming he was on the roster that got canceled) extended absence from contracting Covid right before the a window, his club prevented him from going to 2021 GC, lingering back injury and then lack of belief from his manager in 2022 (Paredes had better numbers in Bundesliga than Julian did last year). He was in camp 2 years ago and apparently wasn’t better than Lleget, Acosta or Yueill who all played against Switzerland.
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I’d love Ikoba to get a chance as a fellow Iowan,but he hasn’t earned it. 11g in Hungary is not enough. The leading goal scorer hit 26 and he only has one cap for Hungary. Even their own national team doesn’t value the league. This is the NT it’s not an open tryout, everyone doesn’t get a turn.
“second, it’s not just a decade ago, green also had a goal on world cup champion (18)/finalist (22) france when he was called in 18. ”
Big fucking deal. I saw that goal and it was a very good one but that was a friendly. The French didn’t give a shit.
Absolutely no nation takes friendlies and what happens in them anywhere near as seriously as US fans. I have been Julian’s biggest fan over the years and that goal proved almost nothing to me. I already knew he could do that and the French frankly barely gave a shit. It was not exactly a great reason to celebrate.
Had it been a World Cup game everything would have been different.
Julian was a good finisher.
Before Balogun came in, he had the best finishing skills of anyone in the pool. But he hasn’t played striker for a very long time. and 2018 was four years ago. I don’t know where his head is at right now.
He could be Clint Dempsey deadly or he could be garbage. I haven’t seen him play in years but then neither have you so you don’t know what you’re talking about.
You’re just bringing this up to argue the point. Smarty pants knows something no one else does.
Except everyone knows. You know what everyone, especially you, does NOT know? How Julian would feel about it.
Ancelotti praised his finishing ability. And before Carlo, since his days in the Bayern system everyone has praised his finishing ability, Yet he wasn’t able to make it with a Bayern that seriously needed a backup to Lewandoski. After leaving Bayern he really wasn’t doing well until he got to GF and revived his career by dropping back into midfield.
Those great finishing skills of his were NOT what has kept him employed all these years.
If Crocker’s new person wants to sit down with Julian and ask him if he would consider trying out for striker, I got no problem with that.
I just wouldn’t do it on your say so because while Julian knows how he feels about it, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Tillman just did his One Time Switch from Germany. He only just became eligible for the US.
also, god forbid we had some plans B and C on the bench even if he’s not a perfect starter system fit. to me the US for years has badly needed a vazquez or pukstas who could come in and head the ball late for goals. or a sniper off the bench like green. or a pure speed option off the bench. as in some tactical variety and specialism as opposed to the next hustle player up. because sometimes you’re down 1-0 and a hustle player trained to press like the rest won’t work.
“to me the US for years has badly needed a vazquez or pukstas who could come in and head the ball late for goals. or a sniper off the bench like green. or a pure speed option off the bench. as in some tactical variety and specialism as opposed to the next hustle player up. because sometimes you’re down 1-0 and a hustle player trained to press like the rest won’t work.”
Short answer?
The USMNT has been trying out people for those particular roles for years.
You didn’t discover something new.
It’s just that the USMNT player pool has always been a little thin on talent and sometimes they just didn’t have anyone good enough available. There were guys who could do those roles in MLS who, when called up, did not exactly produce at the national team level. I haven’t seen all that much of Vasquez but based on what I have seen I’d take Pefok over him. And Pefok is not exactly tearing it up.
Longer Answer?
Define “for years”?
You’re not paying attention. The USMNT has for years tried to address those particular roles, with varied results.
“Head the ball late”
Conor Casey, Alex Gordon, Pefok, Weston. They have also usually bring up the center half notably Balboa, Boca, Geoff,, Brooks, for set pieces.
“Sniper off the bench”
If we had such a guy they usually wound up starting in fairly shot order.
“Pure speed option”
See above, Donovan, Davies, DMB, Robbie Findley, Bornstein were pretty fast. Once they got elevated to starters you were left with speed guys who could barely play like Paul Ariolla, the American Dan James. .
What’s a hustle player? Don’t all these guys, except diva shitbag Gio hustle?
i don’t see the point to this degree of scheduling difficulty when we will likely be spending what little time we have with the new coach this fall evaluating players and implementing their tactics. i do not see how scratch and claw tough games with germany and ghana promote system installation. this is the sort of thing that should be scheduled a year from now when the team is settled on selection and system. this sort of thing now only encourages procrastination, short cuts, or throwing the same people out there in the same lineup out of concern how an experiment might fare. we aren’t hiring a new guy because the last one did perfect. give him room to work. schedule something moderately hard but not overwhelming like northern ireland where we can bed in the system.
to be fair, germany and ghana are both down ebbs for their programs, but not so much we will have a milk run. personally i think hard games like this should be saved for a more installed and drilled unit. i don’t think we got a thing out of 2018’s buzzsaw and i don’t see the point to this given the delay in hiring a coach. you have to carve out some time for them to do the actual coaching work in a setting that allows the players to show they “got it.” the response to games like germany is scratch and claw and hope we can compete which is poor environment for having the team “get” their lessons.
i don’t think the fed plans worth a hoot. if you wanted to play some world cup teams then hire a new manager in january and give him all year including a double tournament summer to work. this is crazy. work less than a week with the team then play germany. sure……
as a reminder, it took klinsi his whole first cycle to figure out a functioning successful way to play — 3 years. that involved a tactical change and some player swapping to fit the tactics. it took GB all the way through the 21 tournaments to get decent results in a streak — including an awful 2019 that nearly got him fired. the team took years to show any comfort in his scheme and he took years to figure out selection. arena got some quali wins and a tournament but it’s debatable if he ever got the team truly sorted in a year, particularly his defense. people act like a switch flips. the last coach to be real successful his first year was bradley as interim in 2006-7.
i think the fanboys miss the learning curve this will take, and i think as a basic matter they miss that you don’t learn from scheduling these teams, you learn from adversity against them. i think those sorts of lessons would be muddled by also trying to implement scheme same time. to me these games are for when you have your stuff together and want a test. and then contrary to recent US soccer efforts you have to listen to what the test results say. the fanboy premise it’s enough to set these games with hard teams and show up and magically get it by osmosis is not real. you get it by self-criticism, ok those tactics didn’t work, that player couldn’t handle it, that particular pass won’t work, vs. what did work. a team with a pre-determined scheme, an adoration for club stat analytics, and set ideas which players might help, doesn’t want their whiteboard and spreadsheet abstraction confronted by that reality.
GB has the highest winning percentage and has won the most games for any manager during one term with the NT, and you may sniff at that, but it’s not nothing because every team in our region has gotten better(except maybe Mexico lol). You forget Greg had to content with 2 Covid years where the team couldn’t play games and when they did they were underwhelming because everyone was dealing with the virus. It’s humorous to see you call people “fanboys” because they don’t agree with your premise on the game or the way you see things withing US Soccer, you need to tame your arrogance a bit, because not everyone thinks the same but what’s certain is we all want the same things for the USMNT
Ronniet,
“because every team in our region has gotten better(except maybe Mexico lol).”
True but all of them, except maybe Canada, had a million miles to go to catch up to us so their improvement was only enough so that our games with them were a little harder, that’s all it meant.
” You forget Greg had to content with 2 Covid years where the team couldn’t play games and when they did they were underwhelming because everyone was dealing with the virus.”
Very true.
But the US is far richer, with way more privileged players and coaches than everybody else in CONCACAF. As hard as it was on the USMNT it was much, much harder on our CONCACAF opponents.
You want proof? Look around your hometown.
Poor people in America had it much harder than rich people in America did
When everyone got back, the USMNT were that much further ahead than our CONCACAF brethren.
Money is power and we have a ton more money than the rest of CONCACAF.
What is your alternative? Not playing at all, playing a CCONCACAF team or what? Ghana is ranked 60th right now, so it’s not like they are a major challenge. Plus the fact that you can’t just play anyone you like, it is something you have to negotiate with another federation. You complain about other fans being unrealistic when a post like this is the cheapest type of critique–complaining about something, ignoring the difficulties in doing what you want, and providing no alternative.
“i don’t think we got a thing out of 2018’s buzzsaw ”
buzzsaw? Those were all friendlies. Or scrimmages if you prefer.
Depending on the team you get 45-60 minutes at maybe 90% . Then the mass subs kick in and things often descend into chaos.
Friendlies are not meaningless but you’d have to ask the coaching staff what they told the players they want to see out of them to know exactly what the coaching staff saw.
“disappointing” is probably fairer than “worst.” these teams carry 25 or so number-earner players on their rosters. some of them are wet behind the ears or can’t even see a minute. compared to that 2000+ mins and some G and A is at least mediocre and hardly “the worst in the EPL.” they aren’t naming the ones who got released or loaned to the irish premier league. they are really comparing the players to their own earlier hype which can be seen as actually flattering of the player.
i will say that past a point sometime last year he hasn’t been the same impactful international player but i could say the same thing of reyna and a few others. if this wasn’t such a groupthink continuity mechanism right now, he would be in some trouble to make the NL roster, or at least to see the field. but i fully expect him to get called as we are on a sort of continuity autopilot where the last call earns the next one.
i was responding to bizzy
“if this wasn’t such a groupthink continuity mechanism right now, he would be in some trouble to make the NL roster, or at least to see the field. but i fully expect him to get called as we are on a sort of continuity autopilot where the last call earns the next one.”
??
You are the one who wants to call in Green based on a goal he scored in the 2014 World Cup. Nine years ago.
Damn, Brendon Aaronson name in EPL “worst team” selection this season. I think, base on his playing time, that’s a little harsh…..
https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/leeds-united-news-as-four-players-named-in-worst-team-of-the-season-and-radrizzani-completes-club-takeover-4163605
How is that even a little harsh?
Did you see him play? If he cost 8 or10 million then that’s one thing but Brenden cost about 30 million.
That’s a lot of money. He didn’t play like 30 million. He was pretty not good at the World Cup.
Like it or not expectations are heavily related to how much you cost.
If you buy a beater for a 1000 bucks and it gives you a year or two that’s great.
But if you buy a Range Rover and it gives you a year or two then you feel cheated.
Brenden was supposed to be a Range Rover and turned out to be a beater. So yeah people are pissed.
If you talk the 30 million talk you better walk the walk and all those cliche’s or else you get mildly criticized by the Yorkshire Post.
The bottom line is Leeds went down in flames and Brenden, who was supposed to help keep that from happening, in the end, was not very helpful. Lots of other Leeds players were as bad or worse but this is about him not them.
Should he get a break just because he’s from Medford, New Jersey?
More to the point, if you saw a lot of his games, particularly near the end when they really needed him, he did a lot of that Paul Ariolla, American thing furriners love so much , run around a lot like a chicken with his head cut off and not get much done.
Bottom line, for those of you who want pro/rel in MLS, this kind of intensity is what relegation is all about.
Can Americans handle it?
I thought it was a little harsh too, but I agree with you in that if you come into a team at his price tag you need to be showing more than what he did! Aaronson has the requisite skill level to be successful in any league, but he has to either bulk up or strengthen his core so he can withstand some of the punishment he took in the EPL this season, he falls down way too easy!
“he has to either bulk up or strengthen his core so he can withstand some of the punishment he took in the EPL this season, he falls down way too easy!”
I always hear this about “smaller” players.
Then I look around at the very, very long list of players smaller and possibly just as “strong” as Brenden who are doing real well at the highest level.
All I know is Brenden lacks confidence. He came to Leeds from a pretty consistent team that smashed their opponents to pieces on a regular basis. They did play tougher teams in the Champions League but they had confidence in themselves and in each other .
At Leeds maybe he doesn’t have confidence in his rather shaky teamates or in the managers.
And vice versa.
Now you become tentative. And when you are tentative, you are much easier to “knock off the ball”.
Getting Brenden “stronger” wouldn’t necessarily hurt.
But better he goes to a team where his teamates have confidence in him and he has confidence in them. And in the manager.