The U.S. men’s national team’s Concacaf Gold Cup schedule kicks off in 12 days with B.J. Callaghan’s full roster now set for the upcoming competition.
Alex Zendejas, Brandon Vazquez, and Matt Turner headlined the USMNT’s 23-player finalroster for this summer’s tournament, U.S. Soccer announced Monday. Sean Johnson, Miles Robinson, and Alan Sonora rounded out the five USMNT players who are also on the current Concacaf Nations League roster.
“This is a group that we have a lot of confidence in as we look to win another Gold Cup trophy. It’s a roster that has a good mix of veteran players that have World Cup experience and younger players have earned an opportunity to come into camp and represent the United States in the Gold Cup,” Callaghan said.
“Many of these players have performed well at their clubs as well as the previous opportunities that they have had in the national team environment. We’re trying to expose as many players as possible to tournament competition. Some have a lot of experiences that we continue to build on, while others are just starting out. In all cases it will be valuable for the group moving forward.”
Gianluca Busio, James Sands, and Cristian Roldan have also been named in the final roster after being part of the 2021 Gold Cup-winning squad. 11 players will be seeking to make their Gold Cup debuts this summer.
Jamaica, Nicaragua, and a future preliminary round winner will join the USMNT in Group A of the tournament. Curaçao, French Guiana, Sint Maarten or St. Kitts and Nevis will be the fourth and final team in Group A following the preliminary round.
The Gold Cup will run from June 16-July 16 across 15 host venues in the United States and Canada. The USMNT’s schedule officially begins on June 24.
Here is the USMNT roster for the Concacaf Gold Cup:
Final USMNT Gold Cup roster
GOALKEEPERS: Sean Johnson (Toronto FC/CAN; 12/0), Gaga Slonina (Chelsea/ENG; 1/0), Matt Turner (Arsenal/ENG; 26/0)
DEFENDERS: DeJuan Jones (New England Revolution; 2/0), Aaron Long (LAFC; 32/3), Matt Miazga (FC Cincinnati; 23/1), Jalen Neal (LA Galaxy; 2/0), Bryan Reynolds (Roma/ITA; 3/0), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 21/3), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls; 1/0), DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami; 78/0)
MIDFIELDERS: Gianluca Busio (Venezia/ITA; 9/0), Djordje Mihailovic (AZ Alkmaar/NED; 6/1), Aidan Morris (Columbus Crew; 2/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 32/3), James Sands (New York City FC; 8/0), Alan Soñora (FC Juárez/MEX; 2/0)
FORWARDS: Cade Cowell (San Jose Earthquakes; 3/0), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas; 18/8), Julian Gressel (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 2/0), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders; 52/11), Brandon Vazquez (FC Cincinnati; 3/1), Alex Zendejas (Club América/MEX; 3/1)
What do you think of the roster? Who are you happy to see included? Who are you disappointed to see miss the cut?
They discussed on the Total Soccer Show that maybe guys like Neal might be close to making deals and need a cap or two to get a work permit. I don’t know I guess maybe. We did that with Sebastian Soto a couple years ago. Perhaps why Hoppe played GC’21, even though he ended up in Spain.
re the NL v GC discussion, technically speaking i think we have a right to demand players for the regional championship which is GC. i think we could force a first choice GC if we were so inclined. i think we instead made a choice — as with 21 — to use the first choice in NL. probably because it’s earlier in the calendar year and allows for us to return first choice players before their european preseason (for the bulk of the selection).
there are hints of our “rights” at GC keeper and the midfield where we did call a few europeans. reynolds might be going in loan circles where no big deal — might even be a showcase — but turner getting called might even be a little problematic for him.
but generally GC is purposefully B and MLS. they could have called a lot more europeans including experimentals, as they could flex to get anyone they really wanted. i think give or take turner it’s mostly a bit timid, or nice if you want to be charitable. they get their 2 games out of the “key” players then send them back in a way where they step on no toes. that then continues into GC where they only minimally stepped on european toes there. it’s an odd position to take considering most of the appropriate age players aren’t being called for youth teams that we can’t require release for. most of our stuff will be window games. why do i need to kiss up about window releases?
more pointedly, i’d give some people a rest. how about “0” games. give them their vacation as opposed to take most of it. it’s a caretaker, what are we implementing? what new are we learning? “the new coach will see you in september.” if you wanted this summer to have value hire a real new coach before it.
personally i would rest the As and be trialing Bs and A bench this summer. the one time when i would be looking to field the A team in the summer at length would be 2025 in the buildup to 2026. then i think we should get the gang together and twist arms if it’s required. but 3 years out without a hired head coach? even for the A team this is just playing games chasing trophies, putting yourself on tape for the new guy. most already have recent caps. let someone else get on tape. get your rest.
Arsenal kicks off their summer tour against MLS All-Stars 3 days after the GC final. He’ll miss about a week in London then meet the team in California if we make the final. Not as big a deal for a keeper.
Just eyeballing I count 8 holdovers from 2021 GC. Steffen, McKenzie, Pomykal, Acosta, both Tillman’s injured so they aren’t available. Add in guys like Horvath who are sorting out club situations and there’s not a lot left. It looks as good as the 2021 roster so certainly should compete. This idea we need to call guys from teams in Serbia or Hungary that are being relegated is just people who think they sound smart by being argumentative. If you want to play for the NT you can’t be playing in leagues that the national team from the country doesn’t even use domestic players.
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This will cap tie Aidan Morris and Sonora assuming they get on the field.
the sonora comment reminds of counting dest as a “get.” sonora bro has a string of USA. this sonora has said he wants to play for us and already appeared. that should already be banked like when dest had a list of USA. likewise morris already appeared earlier this year for us. are we now counting “holding serve” as a new “get?” we should already have “got” both.
to be fair, big picture principles, i generally favor us fighting for dual nationals including morris. and that one is currently contested. however it kind of underlines the inconsistency of GB fanboys who have otherwise backed their man on a competing principle, only playing people they deem “ready.” willing to lose other contested players they aren’t sure they like or are ready. based on what i saw earlier this year, morris is “not ready.”
cause if we are in the preemptive caps business i have a list and aiden morris isn’t very high. sonora would be higher up because he hit some decent setup passes.
I never was worried about Aidan going to Canada and let’s be honest Sonora wasn’t getting calls from Argentina anytime soon. As for Aidan is he ready to play alongside Reyna and McKennie vs Argentina? No, but against Curaçao, Nicaragua, and Jamaica, I think yes. Against likely B, Canada, Mexico, or Costa Rico, I think yes. Given Acosta and Tim Tillman are injured I don’t think either are predatory caps, they are the next best available.
JR: i was not blown away by morris. i’d go along with the cynical version of calling him before i’d say he’s really the next guy. personally to me booth has been miscast, try him as DM where he often plays. we have many options and few incumbents. i don’t get why USSF likes assuming they’ve figured it out and just stopping. you stop when they play like adams is when you should actually stop looking for that slot. ie performance.
to be fair i liked morris for columbus last year but i haven’t seen that translate yet. if you want a good NT you need the ones who in fact translate to international ball.
but my theory on how the summer should be used — setting aside i think this should have been a new coach — is lock people down who have other options, and try a bunch of people. i have the opposite view of GB on this. if you want to explore or keep your options open maybe you aren’t the fire in the belly american i want on the field in a dogfight. come to me when you are that guy. that used to be the attitude up through klinsmann. that and contrary to the snob thesis i already know what i think of pulisic, i want to know how the second tier guys handle starting a few or playing first choice mexico. i want to know if i am sitting on some surprises. i want to know who cracks under pressure or doesn’t translate. i want to do that in 2023 and not 2026. i do not get arriving in qatar and it’s not 100% settled who your keepers or 9s are. people need to start thinking about the team like is this really the best lineup? or when it’s 1-1 with wales who can we put on to change that? the fanboys need to understand it’s a team game and by that i mean figuring out about 30 people who play well under pressure and we can rely on. not just banner carrying for the few UCL guys. (some of whom to me need some other system than whatever it is we’re trying…..to me…….keepaway as defense)
I watch Aidan every week for my Crew so I am biased. He continues to improve both offensively and defensively for Columbus. I do think he’s ready for Concacaf level competition, especially with Tim T, Pomykal, and Acosta all injured. Aidan is Olympic eligible so maybe that’s why he gets the nod over say Keaton Parks who I think has earned another look. But Parks is more a tall Busio than a Adams like energizer tackling bunny.
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I’m not sure what position is Booth’s best but it appears they’re letting him go to preseason with Utrecht. He played most wide this season sometimes as a wing sometimes as RM (listed as CM but he was on the outside of the 3 MF). Bayern played him as a DM, AM, RM, and RB, St. Polten used him as a CM, DM, AM, a W. Sometimes position is what your club needs (Weah filling in for injured FBs) than your best position. Luca was a W for Fulham II, CM for Heracles but then moved back to W by Celta, so who knows.
personally i think it’s goofy if he’s getting positive feedback on how long he perseverated with his ageing 19-21 core as a “23 change.” by that i mean yeuill arriola roldan zardes guzan etc. to me they should have been gone after 19 and well before 21. some lasted into 22. i am not throwing him a parade if wow see how they are gone by 23.
glacial.
Huh? I’m not understanding who are you talking about there?
JR: you know exactly what you said and i was responding to. “8 holdovers.” it’s that few in part because in 2021 he was still running out some of his 2019 bad ideas, at least for GC. it’s giving the man too much credit to be like, look at the churn between 21 and 23. a lot of that churn should have been 19-21 ie not even made the 21 team.
historically selection has been driven by do you play well when you get called. i think there are a handful of people he obviously ditched eg holmes got one look and disapeared. however there is a much bigger list who get repeated inexplicable caps like the next ben olsen. neal is the obvious one. what has roldan done to earn literally as many caps as john o’brien got for playing very well but having injury issues? roldan is on 32 caps! you get to those numbers normally by “doing something.” i remember like one nice WCQ slide tackle play in about 5 years. and to get at a dynamic i think is in play here, roldan on paper has good MLS production numbers. the analytics people like to toss around. this is where i get into, does it ever translate? you do not select people based on 5G 5A a MLS season when in reality they have never scored for the USA in 32 caps. how many times are we gonna pretend maybe it translates next time? used to be numbers like that opened a door but you had to actually walk through it and do something. used to be if neal messed up like he did, this is not a charity — precisely the sort of thing you try to ding me for — see you in 2 years or so. grow up a little and play better next shot.
IV: I wasn’t trying to be cute you just said “he”, since we were discussing Morris and Sonora I didn’t realize you were talking about Berhalter who wasn’t mentioned in this thread. Since neither Sonora or Morris were involved in the Berhalter era I missed the reference. I thought you were referring to Morris and Sonora being a part of youth setups but not progressing. As I said I did understand.
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Roldan has made 2 starts since before Covid and the the US is 10-2-1 (WTL) in matches he’s played. He was largely used to run out leads. Not a role you typically use a young untested guy for. Roldan is a utility player he can play 5 or 6 different position so he’s often the 20th field on the roster. He’s played 36 minutes in the last 18 months. Could someone else have been included for those 36 minutes, yes but we wouldn’t know much about them from 36 minutes either. There’s a large crop of CM that have either been worse in MLS than Roldan or been meh in Europe in lower leagues. No one has really stepped up and demanded inclusion. Williamson seemed poised but two major knee injuries cut that, Bassett looked promising but then was unsuccessful in Eredivisie might have been included but missed most of April and May when rosters were decided, Mendez has 4g 2a in two full seasons in Portugal. Yes Roldan has shown he’s not going to score internationally, but when have we seen someone be average in MLS and be good for NT? Given constraints of upcoming Euro seasons this is what’s available. You used the analogy of the JV guy who’s scoring getting a shot at varsity. The problem is the JV guys aren’t doing anything in JV. You’ve mentioned Ikoba and Kayo before. They play in Hungary and German Regionliga, that’s like saying they’ve had good seasons in Freshman B squad let’s just start them on varsity and see what happens. I don’t think 12g in Hungary or 7g 4a in Regionaliga justify that jump.
“didn’t understand” not ” did understand “. We all have experienced autocorrect for the past few years and still think AI is the way to go?
how can you have “churn” when the entire world was dealing with a pandemic? We didn’t play any games for almost 2 years, which stunted the growth of some and pegged back opportunities with the senior team for others. So, I don’t know if it’s smart to try and diminish or attack the methods of Berhalter when there seems to be serious confirmation bias at play here, or a serious lack of perspective. I do recall there being a focus on youth being brought into the team after the pandemic let up, where beforehand Greg needed to see what he had in some of the veterans from the previous regime, so a lot of it made sense
Busio over Tessman…… huh? That’s a bit of a head scratcher.
A bit surprised Haji Wright wasn’t included.
Will be interesting to see if Morris and Cowell both start on the wings in one of these games. That’s a lot of speed.
Long continues to somehow get on these rosters.
I thought McKenzie was told he would be on the Gold Cup team? A bit confused by that. Not unless he picked up an injury?
Anyways looking forward to the tournament.
McKenzie separated his shoulder in the last game of the season. I’m not sure if he needed surgery or not but that’s why he’s not here. Long has been out with concussion and head laceration but maybe he’s cleared protocol but not the cut.
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I assume the Busio vs Tessman situation is club related. Either Tanner is working on a move or they want Busio showcased to facilitate a move.
Forgot Vazquez and Cowell would also be cap tied. Gressell but I don’t think Germany is calling. Slonina would be cap tied if he plays.
very straightforward and little to do with soccer is the explanation. busio has been called in recent years. tessmann not so much. this bunch operates on xeroxing. busio is approved and inside the tent to be xeroxed.
this is part of the reason i complain is this has nothing to do with competing for jobs, testing their assumptions, or performance. it’s inside the tent vs outside. i don’t like it because it is indifferent to performance and intellectually self-absorbed and arrogant. neal in particular. like anyone with some humility would be like maybe that one was a mistake after he got burned earlier this year. he would usually get a nice long break before we bothered again because we cared about performing. but they adore analytics over scouting and are so sure of themselves. so we perseverate.
historically coaches had their bornsteins or olsens but this is a whole new level of head scratchers. used to be a whole list of these guys would be gone on indifferent or bad play and we’d be shopping for others to try. so what if the coach thought it would work or the analytics seemed so hopeful. it didn’t work.
as with the tactical issues i think the attitude on this is bad as we seem to assume we have found the money tree tactics and correct players already as opposed to prove it on the field. and the thing is i think a lot of fanboys find it real easy to support calling an approved set of regulars over and over even if we need to improve to get serious hardware. to me to improve you don’t “play harder,” you either get taught up better, or you go get new people and maybe play some other way. and if you think players don’t tend to magically get amazing overnight, then you should favor at least some experiment and change. as someone said, learn something. to me if you call a bunch of people from the mexico and winter friendlies what are we even learning new? it’s kind of arrogantly assuming we know what works regardless how those games and player performances actually went. and we don’t exactly have SAF at the wheel displaying this arrogance.
I don’t get Neal either. I don’t like he’s been great for LAG either.
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Gary Page can you tell us anymore on how he’s been for Galaxy?
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His analytic numbers aren’t great either other than pass % but his progressive passes are low so he passes sideways and back a lot. I wonder if they want to get him some international experience ahead of next summer’s Olympics since he wasn’t released for U20 WC.
if i had to hazard a guess, richards robinson Z trusty reads like a berhalter era first choice. should Z still be first choice? not on age, not on performance. but if you’re xeroxing the first 3 they meant to have in qatar that’s them.
what then happens is if you have (generally) europe vs MLS availability constraints but want to run A then B for the tournaments, it goofs up your keepers and backs because we do have some MLS first choice at those positions. they have dealt with the keepers by holding over the A keepers with the B team. this then excludes many european B/experimental level players from getting a chance as they don’t make A then aren’t available B.
but they did not hold over the A defenders except miles , even though half the CB are MLS (Z and miles). you then have more problems calling europe for the B tournament. i think it’s dumb to respond to that plight by continuing to invest so much in neal but they like to xerox the people they called last time. i think they are scared of just cold calling some new MLS CB. i don’t believe GC is so scary you can’t experiment and find the whole argument a bit insecure. like we can’t try new people without risking losing.
elaborating on “insecure,” part of it is we have to call “A” in general. we didn’t use to be so scared we couldn’t try things in GC, before there was a NL. we assumed USA = good = our trialists will beat their starters too. and if occasionally we slipped, cost of doing business, and the A team got rested.
but even if you just had to get A and B in this summer, why can’t you slightly fudge that at keeper and back where at those positions maybe the europeans go with NL and the domestics with GC, just to keep it neat and max out the talent. cohen goes with A, seanjohn or other MLS with B. EPB or someone like that with A, miles and Z with B. i don’t believe EPB is blowing NL by himself. i think that’s insecure. you then get a better GC backline by keeping MLS together. and you don’t end up calling neal from desperation when you’re already using MLS CBs with the As.
this to me is basic “sequencing.” how do i rotate people through the pool to get as much availability and eval and use as i want without having people turn me down all summer for being stubborn. but then the USA struggles to rotate subs at tournament as it is. because it’s so insecure.
either that or you give some A a break and that means some can kick over to A duty or it’s less complicated to split up GC and NL. we instead have people doing double duty like it’s 2007. for all the happy talk and hiring EPL people i don’t see the decisionmaking getting smarter.
last point, to me if you’re still quoting me stats numbers and analytics after how january meant, you’ve lost it. think about it like you’re coaching select U16s. some kid gives up 2 goals guest playing a tournament with your team and you lose. does he get registered permanently with your club? come back next time? i might try him again in a couple years and see if he’s grown up. if people are quoting me stats you’re trying to tell me the opposite off paper of what my eyes just told me. pass completion? he made defensive howlers against second tier opponents. done. over. next. try someone else and hope they do better. don’t waste your time.
Q said below that Tessman is getting married during the GC so that pretty much explains his exclusion.
To answer your question, I haven’t seen much of Neal or the Galaxy. I used to be able to see just about all Galaxy games home and away in my sports package. Since they went to Apple TV, I have only seen a couple of their games. I already have signed up for ESPN+ and Paramount+. I’m tired of paying for all these extra subscriptions, so no A[pple TV for me yet. I have been a Galaxy fan by default; I’m a native San Diegan. Since the city has a new MLS expansion team, I may just wait till they start to play before going all in on Apple TV for MLS.
Tessman is getting married soon, so that’s why he’s not here, and I think Haji got left out because he’s possibly getting another transfer to a better club this summer is the rumor I’m hearing. Long being included is criminal to me, as well as Miazga. I would have rather seen Brooks and EPB, over Long and Miazga tbh
I’m going to the Jamaica game in Chicago not happy I dropped 160$ just to watch a b/c team 🤦♂️. Never seen Pulisic nor Mckennie play in person.
It will still be a fun match. Both teams usually play pretty open. Perhaps Bailey and Antonio will be there Jamaica hasn’t announced their roster yet. Blake is usually good for a couple acrobatic saves.
Thanks for that Johnny. I hope Jamaica starts a couple of first teamers.
I reread your comment your just assuming who they will call up. I dont see them calling premeire league players for usa b/c team, if we get dog walked by them like we did under Klinsmann that will not be good. My complaint is I want to see all USA first teamers even JAB would have been nice . Turner, Zandejas, and Robinson only first teamers.
Striker1: from my search it doesn’t look like Jamaica has released their roster yet. I was just being hopeful for you. They have a new manager, the guy that took Iceland to the Euro quarters and 2018 WC, so maybe they’ll get all the guys together. Bailey and Antonio are established pros so maybe you’ll get lucky. The rest of the roster is usually made up of MLS and USL journeymen so don’t lose hope if the EPL guys show up.
Sorry Striker, Jamaica going experimental, but they’ve got 17 yr old ,Richards, who is supposedly signing with Chelsea.
130$* Not 160$ mistype
I find this roster really wanting. This is like a B/C level team. It’s clear hat the staff values the Nation’s League more than the Gold Cup. I don’t see much difference between the 2 tournaments–neither matters much in the grand scheme of things and should be used to find and rank the best players. Therefore, I think there should be more overlap between the two squads. For example, put more of the expected bench players for the Nation’s League team on the roster of the Gold Cup and let them play more in the Gold Cup. And I still wonder about some of the people left off. Where’s Haji Wright? Why isn’t he on one of the two squads? People might say, well, he’s in the wind because of likely transfer. Well, that’s true of Pepi, McKennie, and Pulisic, too, yet they are all on the Nation’s League squad. Why isn’t Brendon Aronson on the Gold Cup? So many things I would change on these 2 squads, it would take me a long time to straighten this out if I were in charge and req1uire a lot of effort to write it out. I have neither the desire nor time to do that since my opinions count for nothing.
Gary, Nations League is played during FIFA windows so the players from Europe are always available in theory since the clubs are not officially allowed to refuse a callup for a player. Every team can field their best team for Nations League but few can for Gold Cup.
The Gold Cup is considered an international window and teams would have to release if pushed. Generally the US doesn’t push too hard for the GC if a club or player asks to not be included to work on their club situations. Sometimes you might have agents say we want to come play to improve our situation and others might say we want to be rested when we sign so we can go all out in preseason. You have to remember that next summer is Copa America and the top team will be used for that so saving them 4 matches this summer is probably considered. I think if we had the new manager in place you’d see more regulars so they could acclimate but that was not USSF plan.
Just about all European leagues are over by now and players are on holiday or going to national teams.
Gary, the GC pushes into European preseason. That’s why NL is preferred by US. Euro guys get competition but still get rest time before their season starts. Since many of our guys will likely move this summer it allows them to start with new clubs day one. GC finishes July 16, Chelsea and Arsenal are playing on US tour the 19th against Wrexham and MLS respectively. Juventus plays in San Francisco the 22nd. Dortmund is stateside starting 27th. Obviously Arsenal is ok with Matty just joining them in DC on the 19th but field players need some more time. Mochengladbach lists July 9 as the report date for players so probably other clubs would be within a day or to of that.
not only that but the majority of the A teamers have had a long season and need a break before their preseasons begin, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have them commit to playing in consecutive tourneys unless the players didn’t play a lot during the year or are looking to be shopped for better moves. Another things is we need to see who can assist the senior A team as depth pieces going forward, this allows a few guys to do that while playing alongside some veterans with experience in the GC environment. I don’t agree with many of the call ups but it’s our Fed, and they’re going to do what they’re going to do!
Gary,
NL happens when our Euros have not had too much time off from training and practice so they are still reasonably close to game fit.
That decreases the chances that they injure themselves.
Gold Cup does impinge upon some of Euro’s preseason but it also means they have not been playing or training for a while and might be thrown into a game not fully fit, thus increasing the possibility of injury.
These guys are not robots. Also they belong to someone else so the USMNT has to be very careful about their health.
The biggest complication is the lack of a manager. One very underrated aspect of all this is that the staff itself is in chaos.
They are the people, manager and staff, who are supposed to schedule the players and prep everything. Having all that arranged by people who may or may not be around after this summer is not the greatest.
Anyway, once they hire the manager things should, overall, get dramatically less fucked up, or so we hope.
the regional tournaments are not predictive of quality and IMO success can encourage tactical or selection complacency. i think like 2 regional winners have doubled up with the next world cup — spain 2010 and argentina just now.
i think the suggestion we can’t compete with experiments is insecure. the US used to feel more confidence in its layers of talent.
last, our guys struggle with injuries. there is some value to REST. you aren’t learning much new at NL other than balogun. you are chasing trophies at risk they are tired later on. we used to get this and reyna and mcbride would average around 10 caps a year. am i really worried they suddenly suck next week? no. is it more valuable to chase summer Ws if they are that much more tired in december or march? but i think this is all about a weird mix of “meritocracy” meets “insecurity.” we want to play the stars all the time and are scared we play anyone else. to the point we don’t care if it adds injury risk. but the game next week, gary, the game next week………athletes need rest…….pulisic doesn’t look good tired……..
and if you want me to get really punchy, we just lost round of 16 and more or less fired the coach, it’s a tad goofy to act like we are so sure we know what the tactics and selection should be. i think that’s just one big circular logic loop where the snobs think the status quo won their jobs by working harder and how could we possibly question they are in fact better? to be blunt the whole exercise aggrandizes GB and his staff/caretakers. since when are they such geniuses i should assume they picked it right? i think a lot of it is the fanboys assume whoever was just starting were the right ones. which is easy to do with how hot our hype machine runs. even if x y z had a bad world cup or A looked bad in january we don’t second guess it.
the continuity is what continues to bother me. the choices are utterly predictable no matter how the games go or how old some of them get. for example, i like tolkin reynolds miles but long? miazga? neal? or yedlin age 29? do we care how they played before or is quantitative “experience” more important than showing any quality when you do it? likewise morris roldan sands at MF, or cowell and the 28 year old morris up top. it is all very “safe.” i don’t think “safely” picking mediocrities for gold cup helps you actually win that tournament or build for 3 years from now. take some risks.
also bears noting that cohen is off GC and cut for NL, which means grander picture what we will witness all summer is the 1 and 2 keepers swapping, no trialing of cohen, and even slonina likely just sits. this may be the fanboys’ idea how to run a soccer team but historically gold cup has been where the last, rather than obvious first, keeper slots get sorted on the pitch.
if you’re comfortable with familiar faces living off reputations then i am sure you’re fine with this. this list was fairly predictable ever since january. but some of its components are kind of old in soccer terms, and others had lousy games the first half of the year. doesn’t seem to matter. to me the concept of “played your way off the team” is giving way to “experience.” neal couldn’t handle january. how is he handling gold cup when it gets serious. are you kidding me. and long and the others, well, maybe or maybe not they hack this summer, but is that how far the vision goes on this? long, seanjohn, roldan, they are not possibly making 2026. that is a waste. try something else. it’s a risk but maybe USSF forgets there can be upside and not just downside on taking some risks.
and like i said, particularly on 3rd keeper, we have some unknowns we don’t even want to address. you are an injury away from that slot being very important. the reputation and hype driven focus on starters (and calling them over and over) is a bad mentality for making out functioning full rosters.
It is always easy to complain about the players put in a roster, but much harder to say who specifically you would put in those players place.
Which players would you substitute for these “predictable” and safe picks?
Not trying to pick a fight, but rather I genuinely would like to hear your picks since you seem to follow this team very carefully.
rick: one constraint in play here is both tournaments had provisional rosters where technically a guy had to be in an original 60 man list to even be eligible to make the 23.
another constraint is are you more concerned with trying people as the primary goal or winning games. i feel like the US has become fairly conservative since roughly klinsmann where we are not willing to use summers to experiment, which used to be a 2000s US ethos. that i already know what pulisic does. that all is not lost if i play around with the roster, that we are good enough to have a pretty good degree of success with some experiments. as of klinsmann this became that we should constantly reward the best players by reputation with most of the caps. implicit in that is we are scared we might lose without them. irony is this mentality was coming in like when we finished 4th in GC and copa america in 2015 — when the A team let us down!! and those finishes then predicted the limits of the 2017 WCQ team that finished 5th.
plus, to me, how the heck does some caretaker with little head experience really know who our best players in the pool are? his former boss got canned. and he’s with some exceptions replicating IMO what his old boss had plans to do.
i think we have 3 years to gel a first choice team. i would have treated this summer as more a chance to trial players at length. ideally with the new coach. you get weeks to work on formation and system. coach gets weeks to watch them. way this is being done most of the players are known, the tactics will be old shoe stuff, and all we’re learning is how does balogun look and what are the results. that is a waste of weeks of practice and games.
i would have given a lot of the busier healthier first choice guys the summer off. pulisic, weah, turner, etc. i would have brought back robinson, mckennie, richards, the ones who got hurt, to double check they still have “it.”
i kind of want to see more what happens if some of the bench guys or noobs start. balogun gaga jones reynolds tolkin gressel djordje vazquez zendejas; scally trusty reyna booth, to start with. guys already in the lists, just give them a chance to start. is that so scary? are they so sure to lose if we gave the usual starters the summer off? i don’t believe it. i kind of want to know how the supporting cast looks and handles stress. because our starters get hurt ALL THE DARNED TIME. if turner plays every game, who should be the backup, so to speak. ditto 9. you don’t know if you don’t have an honest roster competition.
behind them, i would like to see some mix of amir richardson (an actual “get” like balogun) and cohen celentano (i don’t get callender, his starts are worse and his team is last place!) moore maloney reynolds cannon sandler pierie EPB rogers aaronson tessmann konrad pukstas green gall lennon ikoba ledezma llanez michel mighten nico soto koleosho pefok wright.
people can make fun of me all they want i had balogun and the tillman bros on a list of potential dual nationals for years.
i would also like at some point to see musah, dest, and robinson tried as wing forwards, and reyna as a 10. i think we have them all backwards. that might be a more innovative excuse to call regulars but then spend a few weeks trying a new position, if people have to have them in.
“the continuity is what continues to bother me.”
You won’t get any until the new manager is named.
dude you could have picked 90% of each roster in march. A is mostly the march people. B is mostly the january and mexico people. they wouldn’t even shuffle them where MLS backs and keepers could go with B so that they picked better B players and leave A open to some new europe. to be real it’s not even so much the newer ones who played well, it’s the guys who played bad but stayed in the rosters because they were in the last one with their “shift.” and some of the GB regulars like roldan. if you leave off neal and the other ones who played bad, plus the ones pushing or well past 30, you have like a half dozen or more slots to play with. you can then run out some fresh faces who aren’t already so frustrating. NT is supposed to be the best players in the shirt and not like some team picked on analytics despite performance or because 5 years ago GB loved someone and they became regular.
people always act like i am trying to bench pulisic and weah. i am trying to retire roldan and Z. the real competition for these players i am suggesting is the last people making these summer teams. i am just saying rest starters in bulk to where you can play around more with the people we haven’t seen so much.
Meh. I think there is little to be learned by putting Long, Yedlin, Morris and Roldan on this roster, because we already know what they can bring. Just let them make their case with their club form and bring in more young players into the mix. It’s not like the Gold Cup matters this cycle. It’s all about gaining information that can be applied for when we host in 2026.
the favoring of reputation over performance, and the “upperclassman” protectionism vibe feels like how bad HS and select teams are run. “he’s a senior, he got me to the first round of the playoffs last season, are you seriously telling me to start the sophomore dominating JV?” then the mediocre senior blows out his knee in a late regular season game, never plays a competitive game again, sophomore is brought up from JV, scores 5 goals in the playoffs, goes on to be all-state and a college all-american. yes, if you have a brain you move forward and are always looking for upgrades.
to get at a fundamental media reality here, in my experience what happens is the conservative coach takes (and often abundantly receives, in the form of articles and awards) credit for what in reality was his delayed, forced decision he resisted with all his might. JR gives him a back pat when he finally makes changes. references underclassmen numbers the next season. reality is the coach had no choice, was dragging his heels as hard as he could to make changes, and only did so when absolutely forced.
that is not a good coach but it’s a subtle thing to discern. any idiot can cycle among names with experience and reputations, it’s arguably what arena did in 2017 in his backfield. bad enough a team picked on reputations and experience and you might actually get punished. but any event, this doesn’t really kick the ball much downfield for 2026. handful of actual new faces.
If Reynolds and Jones get a majority of RB minutes, Aidan and Busio get the CM minutes, and this is prime Jmo Smooth opponents so I don’t have big issues with those vet inclusions. If those 4 are regular starters, yikes. I mean Berhalter rarely played Roldan in 2021 so hopefully BJ continues just using him for “vibes”. Pomykal is injured and I assume Tessmann is sorting out his club for next season. I’d have liked Ledezma or Parks but NYCFC needs to get things sorted out (like sign a striker).
Tessmann’s also getting married this summer…right in the middle of the Gold Cup.
Thanks for that Q, that pretty much solves the mystery.