The Concacaf Nations League semifinals get underway in two weeks and new U.S. men’s national team interim head coach B.J. Callaghan announced his roster for a June 15 showdown vs. Mexico.
Gio Reyna, Christian Pulisic, and Folarin Balogun headlined Callaghan’s 24-player roster for the tournament’s final four. Balogun, who had his one-time international switch approved by FIFA earlier in May, will be seeking his USMNT debut.
The final roster is due on June 5 after being trimmed to 23 players.
Several of the past USMNT call-ups including Tyler Adams, Tim Ream, Cameron Carter-Vickers, and Malik Tillman have not been included due to respective injuries at club level. Zack Steffen and Ethan Horvath are two of the newest additions to the injury list following positive loan spells in the English Football League Championship this season.
Eight of the 23 players called into the Nations League roster were part of the 2021-winning side led by former head coach Gregg Berhalter.
“In addition to having big-game experience and top-level talent, what’s great about this group overall is the familiarity and understanding that’s been built together these last four years about our style and our culture,” Callaghan said of the roster. “We’re excited to integrate some of the newer faces as we set out to achieve our first goal of the summer in defending the Concacaf Nations League title.”
The USMNT faces rivals Mexico in Las Vegas, with the winner facing the winner of the Canada-Panama semifinal on June 18 in the tournament final.
The Americans clinched their semifinal spot in March after defeating both Grenada and El Salvador in group stage action. Several players excelled during the March window including Ricardo Pepi, Auston Trusty, and Alex Zendejas, all of whom are included in the new roster.
Here is the 23-player USMNT roster for the Concacaf Nations League:
USMNT Nations League roster
GOALKEEPERS: Drake Callender, Sean Johnson, Matt Turner, Josh Cohen
DEFENDERS: Sergino Dest, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Miles Robinson, Joe Scally, Auston Trusty, Walker Zimmerman
MIDFIELDERS: Johnny Cardoso, Luca De La Torre, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Gio Reyna, Alan Sonora
FORWARDS: Brenden Aaronson, Folarin Balogun, Taylor Booth, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Alex Zendejas.
What do you think of the roster? Who are you happy to see included? Who are you disappointed to see miss the cut?
Share your thoughts below.
summer tournies overrated? it depends, there’s no blanket coverage answer imo.
ask Bob Bradley what he thinks 😉
and no way I buy the ‘it doesn’t matter’ stuff, at all, whatever WC this or that argument put forward
why? because controlling our region matters, respecting the incredible effort needed to do so in prep throughout the cycle matters; plenty of other opportunities to call in this guy or that, always. the last coach to not understand this was JK and his terrible prep for 2018 cycle (his destroyed locker room wins you nothing unless uber uber uber talented…like the A’s from the 70s, not our USMNT). These tournies allow the coach to build the team, the group, the leadership, the locker room…it’s not EA sports management, these are actual people. turns out that stuff matters, a lot.
ask Klinsmann what he thinks?
re Z — i see people now making flattering ream comparisons in defense of his age –despite how the world cup actually went. what’s funny beyond ignoring performance for an ageing player is acting like ok is the only outcome. i lived the last cycle. ream was not the only old fart. anyone remember mike bradley, jozy, zardes? and most of that drama was self inflicted. we already knew they were playing worse. we already knew they were older. if you have to argue Z is some secret messi-ream hybrid of the fountain of youth — against all world cup video — maybe acknowledge i might have a competing, perhaps superior point that plenty of old farts on the first gold cup roster last time were not even in the pool by the end.
i dunno it’s like you’re using Z as a ream proxy. this is about does Z who gave up goals in qatar make the team, not ream. save “ream did well” for ream’s inevitable third act. this is Z is O-30 and in contrast had a poor qatar. that is more like jozy, zardes, and bradley — fairly easy stuff for a well run NT. we have probably a half dozen obvious, younger options. EPB, trusty, etc. normally a team with aspirations doesn’t run right back out there the guy(s) who helped it lose the last world cup. or compare the ones who don’t play well to the ones who did have miracles. surely we can make distinctions, no?
With USSF’s announcement of there being 2 different rosters for the Nations League and the Gold Cup; and the release of this roster I kind of expect the Gold Cup roster to be more of an experimental squad which will probably feature more MLS players.
This squad (NL) represents most of the available usual/known players. It’s a short window (2 games) with a trophy on the line.
The GC squad will probably have a couple hold-overs from the NL squad, but it’s unlikely to be any of the core players who are going to be on the move to new clubs. That will likely rule Pulisic, McKennie, Musah, Pepi, Dest, Aaronson, Weah, etc…. out of the GC. The U20 payers aren’t likely as that’s not really USSF’s way, so that means we’re going to see a lot of the MLS guys and some of the retreads that GGG had an affinity for (Acosta, Roldan, J. Morris, Arriola, Ferreira, Long, Yedlin, Moore, etc….) . I certainly don’t think the Assistant to the Assistant of Gregg to blood a bunch of new names. The only new name we might see is Timothy Tillman now that his switch has been approved, but beyond that I fully expect the roster to be similar to that of a January Camp with a sprinkling of Euro players (Horvath, EPB, Sargent, Busio, etc…). They’ll have more time together (3 wks) and the general level of the first 3 matches will be easier than the 2 teams we’ll face in NL.
I agree we’ll probably see a fair number of MLS guys. Many of the Euro guys are ragged and tired. I’d send most of them home too after Nations League…though there are some of the younger Euro guys I would assuredly want to keep in camp for the Gold Cup. I’d definitely hold onto Taylor Booth, Austin Trusty, Joe Scally, and Chris Richards (Richards could badly use the games.) For the same reason I’d keep Matt Turner around. I also want to get a serious long look at Tanner Tessmann and Kevin Parades. and I expect US Soccer does too, and Brian Reynolds certainly deserves a longer look. There’s a couple other fringe guys like Busio, Julian Green, and (drum roll) John Brooks who may get looks as well. Haji Wright may get a call. (I’d want to call Wright because I’m not prepared to fully dismiss the idea he could be one of our best three strikers and I’d want to give him an extended chance – which he’s never really gotten – to make his case.)
I’d also expect Alan Sonora and Zendejas from Liga MX to stay with the squad…so we’re already up to 13-14 guys who do not play in MLS.
As for the MLS guys, obviously Zimmerman and Miles Robinson stay. Hard to leave Jordan Morris out after the torrid start he’s had. Timothy Tillman will get called. So now we’re up to 17-18 guys already…so the number of Berhalter favs and meh MLS line players getting looks will likely be more limited than we’re accustomed to for Gold Cups.
obviously Z stays? did you watch the world cup? i would be shopping his position hard. last thing i’d be doing is handing it right back to him. i even get where to a US fan with a certain bent they think he’s good enough to win them the trophy this summer. i’m about the trophy in 3 years that i thought he showed he wasn’t up to. when US fans sort out the cynicism and short termism that’s when this might achieve its ambitions.
also, but as i have pointed out on seanjohn, ream, and others, Z is 30 and would be 33 next time. to me good teams anticipate age issues and attempt a succession.
Obviously Z stays, unless they decide to completely serve youth. If you knew the guy – I do, he used to train my son along with some of the other Furman players back when he was in college – you’d understand why, too. The guy is committed in a way you’d have to see to really understand. He’s this savage, intense competitor, super-high-character, an awesome teammate. ..and a leader. Physically, up close you see what a specimen the dude is, and while he doesn’t have a ton of speed he’s incredibly athletic for his size. And he is also incredibly, incredibly aggressive and physical as a defender, is just a presence that virtually any striker will shrink from.
No, his distribution out of the back – especially his long passing – is not great, which limits him at a certain level. (The difference between his passing out of the back and Tim Ream’s was pretty glaring, though Zimmerman is really underrated at serving balls over the top.) And he did make a mistake and hack down Gareth Bale in the Wales game. But there’s a reason he was one of just two MLS guys to get called up against Mexico, I think he’ll likely start (and he should, especially in the absence of Tim Ream), and I definitely think he could well still be around at age 33…which honestly is not terribly old for a centerback.
If he gets displaced as a regular callup, it’s going to be because the likes of Richardson, Trusty, Robinson, and CCV are able to displace him. Could happen. But Z won’t make it easy, either.
Z did what he did at the world cup and he got feasted on. the rest is noise. we should act accordingly.
as a former defender to me it’s a defense first position. i thought he had that. he proved he didn’t. maybe tack on “anymore.” he might have gotten old. it happens.
i think we need to be more concerned do they defend their position and less concerned how fancy they pass. some of our best man markers were fit to do little more than pass to the next attacker and let them handle it. that to me is sufficient.
i see the differences in offense as exaggerated or misplaced. i like dest’s offense but you break it down and it’s like once every 10 games something happens. jedi crosses endlessly and same thing, once in a blue moon it goes in. ditto the CBs. people love brooks’ diagonals. brooks hits one of those that gets scored, about every couple years. at that rate they are not adding so much i will ignore what is subtracted. you have to net it out against how much they ship. we ship too many for a team trying to play low scoring controlled soccer. we take too many risks for a team trying to keep the score down. we either need to amp up the offense and just take the risks with that, or we need a tighter defense that, say, doesn’t allow wales’ second, or 3 from holland on the counter.
last, sorry, but in my experience people often overrate the marginal differences among the backs on passing and creating. moore and cannon have assists. long was an attacking god like boca. people ignore that. people want to push dest, brooks, and jedi, at marginal if any offensive added difference in actual goals, then tell me ignore the defensive weakness. that to me is a recipe for medocre 1-1 soccer. we exaggerate their offense. we ship extra goals. being world cup competitive revolves around fixing one or both of those where we are as good as the sales pitch. either a legit 3-4 goals a night terror, or actually able to control the games and pitch shutouts like italy in the euros a while back. one or the other. running out some half cooked hybrid with wings in there to chase people and wingbacks who can’t defend, isn’t likely to do much. ditto running an ageing Z out there who’s not the elite game man marker i hoped.
pass the baton on to CCV, EPB, miles, richards. i think that generation is better.
Mr. former defender
“as a former defender to me it’s a defense first position. i thought he had that. he proved he didn’t. maybe tack on “anymore.” he might have gotten old. it happens.”
More of your made up stuff.
Thor was going for the cross and Bale somehow managed to get himself in between Thor and the ball just in time. Thor never saw him coming.
Bale “won” that penalty. Watch the replay.
He’s past it and now is old and slow. But Bale was still one of the greatest forwards, especially in the big occasions, who ever played and decrepit as he was in Qatar he got Thor to clatter him good.
Bale has done that to much better defenders. I’m sure he knows every little trick in the book.
I bet he could even have lured you, Mr. former defender, into fouling him. And, other than that foul, Thor was fine.
I don’t know Thor personally.
He’s beast in the air but otherwise, I didn’t particularly rate him before Qatar.
One thing I did notice though was that he made small improvements as qualifying rolled on. So even though he is “older” he’s got enough wherewithal to improve himself.
Does he have a lot of work to do to get better? Sure, but he looks like he’s up for it .
I get the feeling he’s one of those tough SOB’s like Jordan Morris who get counted out and then keep coming back. I will never bet against Morris again and I think Thor is the same kind of guy.
We’ll have to see how “I’m not Hudson ” wants to set up but for him to be a starter again in 2026 he’ll have to improve his form a bit. All things being equal I see no reason why he can’t do that.
I feel Ian Harkes deserves a look.
a 28 yr Old midfielder of average ability who plays for one of the worst clubs in a very, very bad league is not deserving of a USMNT call-up. Beyond the usual USMNT midfielders (McKennie, Musah, Adams, LDLT,) There are a number of players more worthy of a call-up…..M. Tillman, T. Tillman, A. Morris, Cardoso, Tessmann, Busio, Mendez, Pomykal…. all of better quality/ability than Harkes and all with potential upside.
personally i am of an experimental bent but i would spend the guts of the experimental period this summer — when we have more practices and games at a time — on the most interesting prospects, which he is not. i’d instead give him a stint in a game in a spring or fall window and see what happens. that’s me. i don’t anticipate him getting much love because location (non old firm SPL might be a step down from MLS) and because under an analytics driven operation he has low stats. that and i am somewhat skeptical on quality.
i generally agree with the guy answering you, try green, ledezma, mighten, older tillman, reyna/pulisic as CM, something different.
i am glad harkes got his career rebooted. i think more MLS should look for transfer SPL. everyone seems to do well by it. or holland. compared to everyone in england seems to be on loan or picking up splinters.
Chris Mueller and Sebastian Soto might tell you not to go to Scotland. Christian Ramirez had success but then they wouldn’t sell him when his family wanted to move back to the US. So no landing spot is perfect.
JR: geez, dude, we all know there are probably exceptions for everything. it’s about a batting average. the vast majority of US SPL signings do well. vs. the majority of EPL signings end up on a bench or on loan.
also, when you bring up transfer treatment you’re mixing in business with soccer. the reality is his career was on life support when he was in houston and aberdeen fixed it. it may have taken him a window more than he wanted but he would have been USL or off a MLS bench if he’d stayed. instead houston looks like a blip, as we often do.
I agree. The best player on a bad team but I’d look at Tessmann too.
Luca is leading the Nation’s league in assists. In every match he’s played, it usually takes to multiple players to dispossess LDT. You haven’t been paying attention, or else you wouldn’t be clueless as to why he is included. Gall isn’t playing for anyone. Kayo isn’t playing 1st division futbol. Tessman & Green aren’t defensive midfielders and Llanez for Kreis’ sake is a winger. So you’re suggesting, don’t bring the assist leader, and similar player (Sonora), don’t bring a defensive midfielder in Cardoso (backup 6) and bring in a mix of players who don’t play in the defensive midfield at all. You’re suggesting experimentation in a semifinal? Am I correct?
at F i am fine with balogun, aaronson, and zendejas as they have something to prove. i would rest pulisic and weah waiting for the new coach. i’d like to see some mix of pukstas, konrad, green, ikoba, michel, pefok, or soto. maybe try dest or musah as wings.
booth should be retasked as a mid. i was underwhelmed by him as a wing. we could use a stopper minus adams.
Brenden Aaronson, Folarin Balogun, Taylor Booth, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Alex Zendejas.
the mid list feels like mckennie and musah are being set up to start which i thought qatar made a little questionable. yay continuity. i do think they are both clear first choice but it feels like a xerox. personally with a new coach coming in i would have been inclined to leave them both off to rest and await the first choice manager.
listing reyna as a MF suggests that experiment may continue. fine. new coach may help. and he more so than the other repeats has something to prove club and country. so do call him. he needs to show something. march was meh.
i don’t get johnny, sonora, and LDLT. i have been pro johnny but i didn’t think he played well in march. though if we have to, fine. not an LDLT fan and thought he underwhelmed in march. try someone else. ditto sonora. i know the argument on the whole bunch may be this is our access window. but what about, i was underwhelmed and we have a list to look at?
i could put it different, can you imagine the soft LDLT battling for a ball with mexico? or canada? exactly. this isn’t his week. call him up when it’s touch football window.
i get brendan is a decent CAM and he probably has something to prove but he’s also double booked behind pulisic. fine with that pick but not the others.
i would have liked to see some mix of gall, green, kayo, llanez, tessmann in with brendan and reyna.
Gall: doesn’t start in Serbia for last place team only playing once in last 5 matches
Kayo: good season 7g 4a but it’s the German 4th division also known as their U23 league.
Llanez: 5g 2a in Austrian 2nd division
Soto: 1g in Austrian 1st division
Konrad: hasn’t dressed since Sept 11 at any level
Michel: 1g 1a appears hurt hasn’t dressed last 3 after consistently coming off the bench
Ikoba: 11g in Hungary, the leading scorer had 26, he’s Hungarian and they rate their own league so low they don’t call him up.
Pefok: 0g 1a in his last 25 matches
Pukstas: just completed his first pro season, then flew directly to Argentina then you want him to get on a flight and go play in Vegas, and you claim you want our guys to get rest.
You want to rest McKennie and Musah?! The only two healthy starting central players from our world cup team?! The nations league match against Mexico is easily the biggest USMNT game of the year. That is first choice city, and McKennie and Musah need to be on the field, full stop.
have you not seen where NL or GC do not correlate to WCQ or the WC itself? we act like it’s very important we win these every time. you then see a few years later the selection was all wrong. i personally think it’s more important to get the selection sorted and players evaluated, and that’s how historically these tournaments were handled pre-2011. we would throw out an interesting team, try some things, and see what happened. contrary to the inferiority complex of many of the fans, an experimental team could probably still give most of concacaf a tough game, win most of them, and meanwhile we will learn something.
i assume you are right as a matter of what actually happens. familiar rosters, familiar tactics. i also assume we will continue to make change slowly if at al. i also assume this will continue to plateau as a round of 16 or perhaps quarters team because we get complacent and risk averse right at that juncture.
to be blunt with you, i think mexico and canada are good and this time will see us coming and am severely skeptical more of the same gets us the trophies again. you think that’s the only way to chase a W. i think canada made us look bad in WCQ and am thus skeptical of your analysis. more pointedly, i don’t think most US fans have the self awareness to question whether per WCQ this remains only the 3rd best team in the region much less where we stand worldwide, and to question whether progress might require more activity and aggression than the fanboys seem to think necessary. i mean, holland did clobber us 3-0 in the ugliest US knockout game i ever saw. and we won 1 game in qatar. and we have been struggling around that. at a loss where the confidence comes from. maybe the same place that makes a big deal out of assists on grenada by a guy who can barely see the field in spain, and has fewer assists there a whole season than on grenada?
also re mckennie or musah 1) they were not that dominant in qatar and 2) are known quantities. we do not have a regular coach. i don’t see what it adds to call them now. the tactics will be different in the fall. to me this is to cynically chase trophies. to me we need to work on MF quality depth where the next coach has more than 3 decent mids to work from.
“The only two healthy starting central players from our world cup team?! ”
You want them to stay healthy? If it was a guaranteed exchange I would trade NL and the Gold Cup success for those two going into next season fully fit and healthy in a heartbeat. Every single time.
If the USMNT never wins another NL or Gold Cup it wouldn’t bother me in the least, as long as they play well.
btw rest sometimes is nice. players in the reyna and mcbride era got more rest and fewer caps.
Why leave JAB off 🤦♂️. Tired of him being snubbed
to me he’s good at marking air in a zone. mexico + canada is not hide your slow technical CB in a zone week. can you imagine him trying to mark davies? really, to me, he’s getting old and had played his way off, look the new direction.
I get it IV good points, but I wanted to see him over Long or Zman Thor
i am eager to see miles and richards start, but we will see if that happens. people are obsessed with trusty but i think some of that is the “arsenal signing (though not actually playing at arsenal)” fanboy thing. i would like to see EPB and rogers get opportunities. i had a longer list but those are the approved choices around here. to me Z at 30 y/o after a bad qatar is what is blocking your ideas or mine. he may even start or at least get time. i thought that was a dumb decision and dumb or lazy decisions on roster composition are what blocks trying other things. and after how he played we should be trying other things.
bluntly i think i am forever scarred on brooks by the costa rica away game that got JK fired. i think he’s a decent back in highly controlled circumstances of 2 teams jabbing nervously at each other. i think canada like CR would be quite happy to kick the ball over his head and beat him in a footrace. i think mexico will go right after us too.
to cut you some slack i debate sometimes whether a mediocre brooks would have been better than the americans arena played in 2017 eg cameron gonzo. i kind of think we missed that one for dumping all the germans. but i think he’s now old and he never did get more mobile or dominant in the back.
Klinsmann losing Gold Cup and us getting knocked out by Jamaica was why he got fired, not the Costa Rica away game.
striker, no, go back and look at the date he got fired. GC was 15. he got to do semi qualifying and CA 16 after that. there was actually a pattern by that point, 4th in both tournaments and struggling in semi group qualifying. he survived until hex started. he blew mexico home and then got beat 4-0 away. that’s when he got fired. arena then handled quali to the end and GC 17 which we won but meant nothing big picture. hence my arguments that summer tournament success is overrated.
in reality GC 15 4th place was the better predictor of WCQ 17 5th place. however he had the job more than a year after.
i do think they were in the beginning stages of shopping around after the guatemala nightmare but the hospitalized flynn tried to keep the hiring/firing power so no action was taken.
at back i would have left off Z based on qatar plus age, maybe try dest as a wing, leave off jedi as abundantly studied and due rest, call richards, robinson, scally, trusty, EPB, and some others. i think that would still be a solid defense and give us sufficient chance to win the trophy still, while learning something in the process. i don’t see the point to continuity when the new coach will want to play some other way and have his own personnel choices. it’s like a berhalter regime zombie. berhalter’s been fired. act like it.
i would like to have seen reynolds. he played well when he’s been called. he has played well in belgium and should be rewarded. “but he’s picking up splinters for roma” isn’t valid anymore and to me is a false equivalence argument anyway. how many of our other backs get to sign serie A. at a loss.
Yeah don’t get 4 GK. Add another defender take out the GK. That pretty much says Horvath and Steffen will be on the Gold Cup team.
Pretty much what I expected for NL roster.
As I explained to IV below Cohen will have CL qualifiers in July so this is probably the only time he’s available. Obviously Turner probably plays all 180 minutes but if he gets hurt you have a vet in Johnson but Calendar and Cohen still get experience in training. (You’d think Celentano, Steffen, and Horvath for GC maybe Brady if club situations prevent Zac or Ethan)
this all sounds nice except he’s a 30 year old veteran on his likely last cycle who basically needs to be stuck out there on the game field and either work or not. we need an “answer” — which to me games only give — and this STILL won’t give that. and game tape the new coach can dissect at their leisure or watch from the stands. the senior coach won’t be there watching him train. what callaghan thinks of him in training may mean little or nothing. they left off horvath and steffen — though to be fair they may have transfer needs — why couldn’t they leave johnson off and give cohen a game.
i get some of the win-obsessed folks are like “but he could lose it for us.” one, you’re assuming. two, that’s what we play the games to see. given some time to play turner made his show.
i mean you’re like but he can’t PLAY GC. ok, but is he going to PLAY NL any different this way. this is precisely what i am getting at where the continuity-vibe and concern about Ws and little else gets in the way of even limited evaluation. you will come back and say, but maybe he looks good in practice, and i’ll say in front of a lame duck regime who won’t have any say next time, and that games are what really matters. the likely scenario here is turner gets both games, or he and johnson split, and everyone else is there to watch. both are not 19 year old kids. callender should be with the GC squad and cohen should be allowed to start. failing that should have been called one of the many windows this year as i have been banging on about. do you start to see where i am coming from that this is not a well oiled machine?
steffen is actually hurt, but horvath has played a long year for which he deserves rest, and also probably needs to get it sorted whether luton keeps him or he goes someplace else. ironically i think a good way to shop window him is play well in NL — which previously launched him — but he may think the promotion final already serves that purpose.
i would have given most of the A team the summer off and trialed new players. odds are it’s a new coach with a different system so i don’t get what the point of the first choice now is. they could use rest. we know what most offer. the next coach might want to drill the team a different way and pick different people. USSF in general has “voted” to go a different way. lost what purpose continuity serves other than chasing trophies while protecting the jobs of players whose manager just got fired. to the contrary the initial guiding assumption should be sorting out what GB got wrong before we just rotely reconstitute his choices under someone else.
Not everyone gets a turn sorry. Winning matters at this level, if it’s a competition you play to win. The NT is not a development team.
JR the part you are confused about is (a) THE NT DIDN’T WIN LAST YEAR and (b) this was completely unsettled behind turner. or do you forget all the fall kvetching who else to make the team. in that context i don’t think calling in, say, cohen, celentano, and mccarthy is “developmental” or “not trying.” i think you underestimate the quality of our pool as well as the fact the same weak continuity arguments could have been made about turner when he was proposed. and they took their sweet time trying that one.
i mean if we’re calling MLS keepers there are ones having better years than seanjohn who have some tread left.
JR, also, he’s not been cut, he’s on the team. in which case, use your window. outside of some 18 year old prospect we want to fast track, i don’t understand calling players to then not cap. to me a team with a brain sets up potential new options — called into camp — to have some chance. you’re acting like i am still proposing a theory. he’s on the list.
to me the US while now obsessed with success cases has forgotten basic international soccer folk wisdom like club success doesn’t always translate, and you might want to sort out your second and third string since people get hurt. playing the reputational first choice all the time helps chase trophies but achieved modest world cup results, and sucks all the oxygen from sorting out the depth chart on the field. i mean the whole thing and not just the 1 jersey. cohen may not beat turner out but we have 2 other slots to fill and their tenants aren’t perfect and have shifted around lately. to me the constant framing of any new player vs. the starter is wrong. the comparison is to the last guy on the roster at their position. are you better than horvath or roldan, so to speak. that is less obvious.
JR,
Josh Cohen is a made up issue worthy of about a minute of your time.
He reminds me of Johnny Walker of Colo Colo. (any chance I get to write “Colo Colo” I do) .
Nice keeper but nothing special. If all the regular keepers gets abducted by aliens maybe Cohen makes one of the three keeper slots. And while I imagine the USMNT can do better, I don’t think that if it came down to it, Cohen would embarrass the USMNT.
Matt Turner remains the best keeper. Forget the physical and technical skills, he has the best mental makeup of any of the candidates.
And in a goalkeeper that counts for a great deal.
But he doesn’t play regularly!
Guess what, before 2026 that’s quite fixable .
If not, I’m comfortable with the idea that I might have to rely on Ethan , Zach or someone else.
While we’d all like Courtois-like performance, the keeper position isn’t what’s keeping this team from getting to that fabled “next level”.
re the supposedly “made up issue” — steffen cannot stay playing and healthy enough to even select, horvath whose shot stopping i sometimes like has routine brain farts like near post free kick goals, and seanjohn is well into his 30s. are you seriously acting like we have friedel as the backup? turner has the job by being the only one who generally stays healthy and saves shots when he’s supposed to.
i also don’t understand the knee jerk opposition. our seeming backup is MLS. this is not exactly the starting keepers for everton and villa. historically we would work our way down to keepers 3 or 4 for trials and someone like robles might see a gold cup game. to me it is quite valuable to see if robles has a haiti glitch now rather than have them in the net after an injury at the world cup itself. if they have issues let them get tried now and see them.
the odd thing is steffen had his costa rica nightmare and horvath has them routinely and yet those don’t seem to count. but cohen has to be the walker in the equation. considered the current 2 and 3 aren’t exactly spotless?
and fwiw i had a list and not just cohen. i’d like to see celentano also. i thought callender was the big waste, but i also think calling turner and seanjohn ensures they will see all the time and we will learn nothing about keeper at NL. and in 3 years when seanjohn ages out this will have netted us precisely one keeper we trust. when we need to roster 3 we believe in.
V: great shout, I always think of Johnny Walker as Universidad but Colo-Colo is much more fun to say. I really need an American to join Go Ahead Eagles in the Netherland. Feel like William Yarborough is similar too, the pessimists used to scream about how he was ignored then he came to NT and MLS now no one says a word because he’s average. I don’t care he’s on a roster just get annoyed by guys who’ve never seen him play criticize the manager or US Soccer that he has never been called before.
Mr IV,
You had a list?. You vomit out so much copy I must have missed it.
And coming from someone who overelaborates as much as I do, that should tell you something.
Fuck it, it doesn’t matter. Thanks for proving my point that this is just a made up issue so that you can pour out more copy.
The next roster selection that really matters is the one for Copa America where “I’m not Hudson” will get to test drive the team for 2026 and see what needs to be done.
By then, I expect Matt. Zach, Ethan, and “the list” will have figured out a way to get more regular PT.
It’s irrelevant who is on your list. Matt is flawed but he’s our best keeper and the only one with World Cup experience. Top that.
But if something happens to Matt, we should still be okay with whoever is left over for Copa A. And if they aren’t, I’m confident Matt and the others or someone new will emerge before 2026.
Zach and Ethan make their share of mistakes but then I remember that Timmy Howard started out like a house on fire with Man U and then started making mistakes culminating in a famous howler he made in the Champions League vs Porto which put Man U out of the tournament. He went back and forth with Roy Carroll for the #1 spot which he eventually won back but then they brought in Van De Sar and shipped Timmy off to Everton probably because Moyes and SAF were BFF. Everton rebuilt him into the Howard we all think of today.
All Zach and Ethan need is to find their Everton.
The goalkeeper position is the least of “I’m not Hudson’s” problems.
Steffen just had surgery, and Horvath injured his hamstring in the promotional final, which is why they are both absent from this roster, so the chances of them being available for the GC is very low
Yeah just saw that, man this having a job is cutting into my soccer message boarding.
Josh Cohen was one of those USA goalkeepers I was hoping would finally get his chance. Even if he’s in the Israeli league, he’s been outstanding during their European campaigns, even shutting out Juventus. Definitely could be some good competition in camp.
Cohen’s home match against Juve was his only match he held teams under 2 (not necessarily his fault given the talent difference). The other 5 group stage matches his average was 4.2 goals per game. By contrast Horvath has 4 CL appearances and has a 0.25 goals against average, Steffen has a 1.0 goals against average in 2 CL matches, and Turner 0.6 in Europa League (Cohen 1.0 in Europa).
And he’s probably right at where he needs to be….#4 if all available, but Horvath and Steffen are both injured, so probably a good call-in opportunity….
this is such a fake argument. you have taken away his league stats. in his league he shipped 17 goals in 18 games which is <1 GAA with 7 shutouts. even in CL quali he allowed 7 G in 6 games. his cup games fall right in at that pace as well. you instead only count numbers from a small country team lucky to make the UCL group stage getting slaughtered (macabbi haifa against benfica, juve, and PSG). "oh, see how he has issues?" have luton go play juve and see what happens. the question here, is with our defense and team in general how would he hack it.
and to get more pointed i have over and over put the point that the answer to all these "how does his league compare" questions is call them up and run them out there in the controlled environment of our selection. then we know if you're right that he can't hack a higher level of play, or instead he thrives with better talent. similar comments have been made about MLS players who in 1-2 years are playing "in europe." the world soccer setup is not a perfect sorting machine. there's thing guy and the dual national kid in hungary scoring like crazy.
and i get ideally this would be tried in GC but as said cohen isn't available. so try him while you can. it sucks all the oxygen out of everyone else on the roster to hand every game to the perceived first string. and with all the injuries and wrong choices we've had we should know better than to only test one player. this is what i keep getting at where the process is now "off." we really need to sort out 30-odd players we like in case x retires, y is injured, or we misevaluated z. and to do that you have to try more like 50.
Yes a fake argument because his 3.5 g allowed in all group stages matches was better. And yes he’s from a weak league, but yet you used his league stats as a pro for his inclusion. Even if you include CL qualifiers he’s at 2.5 in CL which is far worse than the other US keepers with Euro experience. There is a false narrative that Cohen is some Diamond ignored by USSF. He had one good game against Juve that everyone saw and no one noticed he got shelled by PSG and Benfica. I’m fine he’s on the list but he hasn’t been outstanding.
Mr. Voice,
“and to get more pointed i have over and over put the point that the answer to all these “how does his league compare” questions is call them up and run them out there in the controlled environment of our selection.”
That’s no answer. That won’t work. Calling it a “controlled environment” is blowing smoke up someone’s ass. For example, with this particular roster you have guys who have played some games together but if you are a brand new player like Josh Cohen you would not have played with anyone.
The players on this roster may or may not be better than the guys on Josh’s club team but defense is mostly about consistency, and predictability with your team. This is especially true for keepers.
The amount of practice Josh will get with the first team this June ( three games) is good but it’s nothing compared to what he is used to with his club. So there is a good chance you don’t see the best of him.
And Josh isn’t likely to be the #1 or #2 so he’s likely to get less quality practice time with the better players. Everyone is different and some players take longer than others to learn how to work together with this team. And that bond between a keeper and his defenders is particularly critical., You might have noticed that many national teams are loathe to rotate their keepers, especially during a tournament.
Josh is likely to get very minimal time with the players with whom his best will come out. So you can’t expect to learn much about Cohen in this tournament. Of course some time is always better than no time but you’re overstating the reliability of your “process” to determine if a player is a good fit for the team.
“then we know if you’re right that he can’t hack a higher level of play, or instead he thrives with better talent”
So if he “thrives with better talent” how is it that he “can’t hack a higher level of play’?? You’re contradicting yourself.
The Gold Cup is not a higher level of play than the league play of the majority the USMNT players. Our opponents are seriously inferior to us and being a national team are further handicapped due to a minimal amount of practice and game time together.
If you are a neutral, the level of the soccer being played in the Gold Cup or most CONCACAF games should make you vomit.
CONCACAF is seriously rigged in our favor, which is great but it does mean that most of the USMNT’s tactics, preparation time and actual competitive game time is spent playing crap teams. Which means anytime we play tougher than CONCACAF competition we are disadvantaged. Playing Belize , Nicaragua and Grenada is not good preparation for trying to beat Brazil.
“and i get ideally this would be tried in GC but as said cohen isn’t available. so try him while you can. it sucks all the oxygen out of everyone else on the roster to hand every game to the perceived first string. and with all the injuries and wrong choices we’ve had we should know better than to only test one player. this is what i keep getting at where the process is now “off.” we really need to sort out 30-odd players we like in case x retires, y is injured, or we misevaluated z. and to do that you have to try more like 50.”
The USMNT has historically been barely able sort out 23 first team players. Good luck with sorting out an additional 27 players. You love to make all these demands but then you never give a sane explanation for how to do it. That crap you keep throwing up against to the wall? You need to work on it and make it stick better.
V: sorry but it is nonsense to argue that “trying someone out with the team they would play with” isn’t the most ideal test of whether they fit and can cope compared to some sort of proxy guesswork based on club ball. the better argument is who deserves those chances — which in this case he’s already being handed. i am just saying having given the chance how about handing him the actual gloves where we know a darned thing.
otherwise you’re kind of saying god knows what he does when put with our NT for the first time. this is the dilemma for literally every new player we call. the WHOLE POINT is who responds, shows quality, and develops rapport. this is one reason i am pro experiment at this point in the cycle, is we should quit ASSUMING who fits from past history (circular logic) or analytics, and actually TEST it. with the team they would be playing for. to me it’s nuts to finally bring him in and it’s set up where he can’t play a minute. do you get how timid that feels? “oh, i am so scared if he plays what might happen?” is this team that insecure? personally i want to know now what they can do so we pick the right keepers and know what we have if contingencies arise.having experienced the joy of a US team still not sure who its 9 and GK backups were in qatar, maybe do it now and not in 3 years??? this is why historically it’s these type guys that would play gold cup. and funny enough we would still win about half the time. maybe don’t be so scared.
Mr Voice,
“V:”. i am just saying having given the chance how about handing him the actual gloves where we know a darned thing.”
How do you propose to do that?
“otherwise you’re kind of saying god knows what he does when put with our NT for the first time.”
Yeah that happens sometimes, so what? You lose a game to Nicaragua. Big fucking deal. Team loses, you learn something.
“this is the dilemma for literally every new player we call. the WHOLE POINT is who responds, shows quality, and develops rapport. this is one reason i am pro experiment at this point in the cycle, is we should quit ASSUMING who fits from past history (circular logic) or analytics, and actually TEST it.”
How do you propose we actually test it?
“with the team they would be playing for. “
Okay. Ideally you pick those 10 guys and put Josh in with them.
How do you know who THAT team is since it might not have been decided yet?
“to me it’s nuts to finally bring him in and it’s set up where he can’t play a minute. do you get how timid that feels?”
Poor baby. I’m not the one who wanted Josh called in this go round.
“oh, i am so scared if he plays what might happen?” is this team that insecure? personally i want to know now what they can do so we pick the right keepers and know what we have if contingencies arise.having experienced the joy of a US team still not sure who its 9 and GK backups were in qatar, maybe do it now and not in 3 years??? this is why historically it’s these type guys that would play gold cup. and funny enough we would still win about half the time. maybe don’t be so scared.”
Guess what sometimes these things take time. You want answers now? Well they aren’t there now, you’ll just have to wait. Give me a break. The way most of the contenders do this is they pick the guys who are playing the best for their clubs that season and then try to integrate them into the existing structure. For example, France will retain a certain core from the Word Cup finalist team and then try to introduce the latest hot shots, based on their club form , into their positions of need. Or maybe bring back some oldies but goodies.
But France could not do that if you were in charge:
1. Retaining the core
2. Giving a player a chance based on (horrors) their club form
are two things that are against your religion. So this process used by the likes of France is a non-starter for you.
Now, an important distinction here.
The big teams from Europe and South America are all on 2 year cycles ( WC, Euros, WC, Euros ) or (WC, Copa, WC, Copa) .
Right now France is already prepping for a REAL tournament, the 2024 Euros. This has the beneficial effect of keeping the team and the player pool sharp. No made up cheap shit Gold Cup and NL for them. Over time this also has the effect of adding more experienced internationals with big time tournament experience to the player pool. That can come in handy down the line.
.
The best way to test Josh to your standard is to have him replace Matt Turner in the same lineup (except for Matt) that played the Netherlands and then play the Netherlands( with the same lineup and being managed by Louie) in a tournament with the pressure at the same level as it was in that game.
When you can arrange for that to happen you just let us all know. Anything short of that is bullshit.
What you are left with then is to try and integrate Josh into the best lineup you can and sometimes that isn’t possible because there are other candidates and considerations.
Whoever ”I’m not Hudson” (INH) turns out to be, they won’t have all the answers for you. Not right away. They won’t be able to live up to your standard.
Rebuilding the wreckage of the Berhalter vs Reyna collision is just going to take a little time.
You’re dealing with players who are people here not just diva shitbags. And 26-50 individual human beings who all make a living with skills that can sometimes be volatile can be pretty unpredictable.
INH will just have to learn to live with your disapproval.
I think John Brooks recent form, his international and club experience warranted a call-up because we seem a bit weak in central defense with Ream and CCV out injured and Richards who never played this year.
brooks is 30, would be 33 for the next tournament. as with Z and johnson he’s too old to help, or at least to cook into the pie. i also see these games as information events and i think he’s had abundant opportunity to put it on tape. going in circles, to me, teaches us nothing new. let’s try some other people, make sure miles can still play, rogers, maloney, CCV, EPB, pierie, etc.
i feel like the lesson of 2016-17 on getting CB blinders on was never learned correctly. we still want to go around and around in tight circles of prior washouts based on supposed form blips.
Tim Ream was 34 at the WC and by far our best defender. Not sure in what world 33 is too old for a world cup.
Brooks has been in super form in a top 5 league. What other defender in the pool can say that aside from Ream. So the “old” guys are our best performers. Age shouldn’t matter it’s about how good you are playing.
mat, all due respect but i can go down a list including berhalter and lewis in 2006 where the same age argument in fact blew up in our face. ream turning out ok is the exception. more pointedly the normal approach on these things is try the 20 year olds and see if there is a new path to go, and circle back to the old farts later. you already know what the old fart offers. to me the issues arena had with depth in 2006 and again 2016-7 are what happens when we over-invest in older players and do not properly identify age appropriate options.
bluntly, the odds are someone already 30 will be one out of retired, broken, or less effective in 3 more years. jermaine jones. mike bradley. jozy altidore. etc. the odds are against it.
another example — zardes. he was peak age for the summer tournaments and semi-productive but began a power fade by the end of the cycle and was long gone by the end. father time is undefeated. we need to be attentive to the age of the players and roster.
along those lines, i am half concerned that talking marsch we may be planning on making the big push 2030. by 2030 key elements of this team will be pushing 30 or past that. if they have a brain 2026 when they are prime age is the goal instead. i think US soccer has a constant glitch where it caps too slow then holds on too long, when the bigger upside part to a career is the front end. think beasley and donovan in 2002 vs. the old farts in 2006. it’s a running sport……
IV – it depends on the player and how good they are playing. Argentina won the last WC with probably half their roster near/over 30. Messi and Di Maria 35 years old each. Point being people get fixated on age like you suddenly hyper-age after 30. It’s player dependent. Rule of thumb is if you are playing well in a top league you need to get a look. As for Brooks, given our injuries, it would be rational he gets another look. The guy was voted player of the month for his team in Bundesliga and get snubbed for dudes who barely played like Richards or MLS dwellers (no offense to MLS but Bundesliga is way stronger). From a rational standpoint it makes no sense and that is why we keep missing out on our full potential. Select the guys who deserve it based on their performance or else what message does it send? Favortitism and nepotism. Brand name vs proven results etc… a guy like Richards hasnt played all year sorry buddy figure it out and earn your callup. Reward real tangible performances and have the competition within the squad.
You bring up Lewis and Zardes… were they named player of the month in their team in a top 5 league? Didn’t think so. Ream on the other hand playing really well with Fulham totally different result. It’s about form and demonstrated ability. If we can’t move away from that we won’t make any progress. Hope the next coach understands this.
Mr. Voice,
“brooks is 30, would be 33 for the next tournament. as with Z and johnson he’s too old to help, or at least to cook into the pie.”
There’s a very ,very long list of 30-33 + years old center backs who played vital roles in World Cup and Champions League teams.
Brooks might have things wrong with him but his age isn’t one of them.
“i feel like the lesson of 2016-17 on getting CB blinders on was never learned correctly. we still want to go around and around in tight circles of prior washouts based on supposed form blips.”
The USMNT is not a club team.
This ain’t 2016-17 no more.
The manager will be different.
The players will mostly be different.
The competition will be different.
The tournament will be set up different.
Slight changes in some cases perhaps but enough to make a difference.
You have a lot of superstitious practices , as best as I can tell, on how you pick a player. You often contradict yourself sometimes even in the same sentence. Mostly, what you write is stream of consciousness.
Here’s what matters:
Get the best players you can find and as many of them as possible.
Get the best manager you can find.
Get them tested in the best preparation you can find (Copa America)
Hopefully the manager will be able to stage everything so that it is all in place and going well at the right time.
So much of project managing is about being able to schedule everything just so. Timing is everything in team building.
Hopefully Crocker’s choice is a good project manager.
IV: “Berhalter in 2006 blew up in our face”. How exactly did the unused sub who was only there as an injury replacement blow up in our face? He was the 5th CB. Bocanegra, Conrad, and Onyewu all saw the action along side Eddie Pope, so even the young players saw plenty of action.
JR: maybe you’re not familiar but GB was being groomed to start at 2006 then the backs including him got shredded by germany 4-1 in a pretournament friendly. he was dropped. (the video is online btw) arena left the ageing lewis and reyna on the field. they then got shredded at the tournament itself. there are similar stories for 1998 and 2017 and some of our other nightmare cycles.
comparing us to argentina is funny. hmmm maybe it comes out different if your ageing star is messi at PSG and not eddie lewis at leeds. hmmm
to be real, i am not completely throw baby out with bath water. i am open to circling back around in a year. but i think smart NT spend their first year or so seeing if they have younger better options, particularly when they don’t lift the trophy. you can always do the equivalent of calling mike bradley or jozy later on. but IMO you often find a shell. as GB did after dumping them first part of the cycle then coming back to see if they could fill holes any better. with the benefit of hindsight, sorry, but pepi ferreira and the rest are aeons better than zardes and jozy were, ditto adams at DM instead of bradley.
you are just scared of change. change often involves older established fan favorites being cashiered. but you will like the new favorites too. get over it.
IV: Fake news, Berhalter had played in 1/2 of the qualifiers and two of those were late cameos most of the starts came when Pope was hurt. He played those two March friendlies because Pope and Conrad were in preseason form with their MLS clubs. Again he never played so he can’t be blamed if he never got on the field. Spector, Gibbs, Marshall we’re guys who has been tried at CB but we’re all injured.
“R: maybe you’re not familiar but GB was being groomed to start at 2006 then the backs including him got shredded by germany 4-1 in a pretournament friendly. he was dropped. (the video is online btw) arena left the ageing lewis and reyna on the field. they then got shredded at the tournament itself. there are similar stories for 1998 and 2017 and some of our other nightmare cycles.”
More made up Bullshit.
Gregg did not make the 2006 WC squad but was an alternate. He was on vacation when he was told that Corey Gibbs blew out his knee. So Gregg got on the squad as an injury replacement. Bruce and I, we don’t talk so I can’t say for certain what he was thinking but grooming Gregg to start ? I doubt that. There was a reason Gregg was an alternate in the first place.
“comparing us to argentina is funny. hmmm maybe it comes out different if your ageing star is messi at PSG and not eddie lewis at leeds. hmmm”
Really?
STARTING CB’s in the 2022 WC Quarterfinals 30 or older.
France , Varane 30
Portugal, Pepe 40
Brazil. Thiago Silva 38
Netherlands, VVD 31
Morocco, El Yamin 31, Saiss 33 (played a back five)
Croatia, Lovren 33
Average age 33.7 JAB ought to fit in just right.
You can find more if you go back to 2018 and 2014
“to be real, i am not completely throw baby out with bath water. i am open to circling back around in a year. but i think smart NT spend their first year or so seeing if they have younger better options, particularly when they don’t lift the trophy. you can always do the equivalent of calling mike bradley or jozy later on. but IMO you often find a shell. as GB did after dumping them first part of the cycle then coming back to see if they could fill holes any better. with the benefit of hindsight, sorry, but pepi ferreira and the rest are aeons better than zardes and jozy were, ditto adams at DM instead of bradley.”
More made up bullshit.
MB90 and Jozy were retired players when Gregg took the job. They were still playing but they were retired. If they were the option to call in , then it meant you were out of options.
Gregg started out with as clean a slate as I’ve seen in a long time because:
1. He had no 2018 World Cup team core to build on.
2. The vast majority of the veterans of the failed qualifying effort aged out
at the same time. Only Pulisic was a hold over and no one complained about that.
The Dests, Westons, Tylers, Sargents, Weahs, etc.etc. the ones you say Dave “discovered” (what a crock) were known and much anticipated but weren’t quite ready in 2018 just yet.
A lot of the Golden Children did well for Dave in the 2018 Sarachan World Tour but those were just happy, happy, joy, joy friendlies. While promising they had to be taken with a grain of salt. Gregg started out with his moronic 2019 Gold Cup where he gave us a taste of just how insane and embarrassing he could be but no one paid attention maybe because , with Jay busily making the USSF offices a hostile workplace environment (allegedly), Gregg was unfireable anyway..
” IMO you often find a shell. as GB did after dumping them first part of the cycle then coming back to see if they could fill holes any better.”
Maybe there were those who had some depth chart up somewhere but that was a waste of time because it was pretty clear to the casual observer that Gregg was waiting for the kids to come good. When you are as shallow as the USMNT player pool was and is, depth charts are just a masturbatory fantasy.
“you are just scared of change. change often involves older established fan favorites being cashiered. but you will like the new favorites too. get over it.”
More made up bullshit.
When Gregg came in there were no older established favorites that fans missed and wept for. The vast majority of the USMNT fans wanted those guys burned at the stake. The rest had no idea who they were.
Fans appreciate what Ream did. He was arguably our best player in Qatar. But the praise I’ve seen for him goes like this. ” If he’s still playing at this level in 2026 great. If not , if he shows sign of dropping his standards,too bad.”
That’s not you .
You’re like “Don’t give him a chance, he’ll be 34. Fuck him get him out of there. Now.”
You don’t care about actually earning a job, or merit or actual performance.
You just care about a standard, a parameter that two, three years ahead, YOU set up. So, of course, you must be right. That’s very Berhalterish.
After all Greg did not have Timmy in his team until Qatar. If “I’m not Hudson” does the same thing I’m cool with that so long as Timmy’s replacements are performing better than him. If not then I expect “I’m not Hudson” to call him in.
You and Gregg. Are you sure you’re not related?
buried beneath the horse patties you admit GB played half the WCQ and then didn’t make the team. you refuse to connect the dots why…..ie, the spring german friendly where we got abused by direct soccer. the rest is noise trying to make white look like black. dude was starting one of the final pre-tournament friendlies. dude got dropped. anyone with a brain knows something happened in between.
Hudson probably was informed he was not a candidate for the permanent role, and pursued other opportunities. I cannot blame him. With Callaghan in place, it’s clearer the list of candidates has been narrowed down, and possibly waiting for the end of the Euro season to make a move. Thinking Pellegrino has potential, as small-market Hoffenheim punched above their weight this season. Hard to tell with Marsch, as he is looking for a team? Berhalter interviewing in Europe, so he may be out too.
i don’t get 4 keepers for 2 games. if this is a caretaker tournament i don’t get this weird mix of regulars and experiments. i don’t get sean johnson on age. i don’t get callender on performance. i am pleased to see cohen tried but calling him for this event and not GC, 2 games, first choice, real game sub rules, means lame duck coaches watch him practice then he likely sits. the next coach isn’t going to have a clue how well the ones on the bench “practiced.” they may be jaded about callaghan’s opinion of same. bringing in noobs to train then sit has zero value to the actual coach. play them or just call the usual suspects.
I believe Maccabi Haifa will be in CL qualifiers in July. Not sure on the dates for those but I think the GC would end maybe within a week of those qualifiers so I’d guess that’s why he’s included here. USMNT videos all training sessions so the next manager could find out how he practices if they want to.