The U.S. men’s national team returns to action this Saturday with European giants Germany opposing them in Connecticut.
Several first-team stars are back with the team this fall including in-form forwards Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun, as well as attacking midfielder Gio Reyna following his lengthy injury recovery.
Midfielders Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah are also expected to see plenty of time over the next week. Dual-national Lennard Maloney will be seeking his senior international debut after earning his first call-up.
Kristoffer Lund is back in the USMNT fold after making his senior debut during the September window. Veterans Tim Ream and Miles Robinson will headline the backline, but Cameron Carter-Vickers and Chris Richards are also fighting for important minutes of their own.
Here is the starting lineup we could see the USMNT deploy against Germany on Saturday, as well as the lineup we would deploy if we were making the final lineup decisions:
GOALKEEPER
Who will start: Matt Turner
Who should start: Matt Turner
There’s zero reason why we shouldn’t see Matt Turner in between the posts on Saturday afternoon.
Turner has remained the No. 1 option for Gregg Berhalter and Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper this season. The veteran shot-stopper has been known to make some big time saves against top opposition and Germany might just become the latest nation to join that list.
DEFENDERS
Who will start: Sergino Dest, Chris Richards, Tim Ream, Kristoffer Lund
Who should start: Joe Scally, Chris Richards, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Sergino Dest
Berhalter can go several different ways with his backline on Saturday, but I’d expect him to go with plenty of experience at each position.
Tim Ream is the veteran leader of the backline right now and will likely get the nod at the No. 1 centerback spot. Ream has endured some tough moments with Fulham during the early stages of the season, but overall brings stability and leadership to the backline.
Chris Richards and Cameron Carter-Vickers could both use minutes against Germany, but Carter-Vickers’ recent return to action from injury could force him to the bench. Richards could use a spark of confidence and a start against Germany could provide it.
Miles Robinson is in the middle of a crucial run for Atlanta United and might not be risked from the start against Germany.
Kristoffer Lund impressed during September camp and should be the No. 1 left back option coming into Saturday’s match. Lund has continued to play regularly for Palermo and could boost his stock with a strong October camp.
Sergino Dest remains the USMNT’s No. 1 option at right back and will remain in that role this window. Joe Scally and DeJuan Jones are also options to start at their respective positions, and although it would be great to get Dest and Scally both on the field, I’d imagine Berhalter goes with defenders at their natural positions.
MIDFIELDERS
Who will start: Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Gio Reyna
Who should start: Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Gio Reyna
Tyler Adams might be out injured, but Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah are crucial for the USMNT.
McKennie will likely be back in his natural midfield position despite being used as a wing back at Juventus this season. Although versatility has helped McKennie fight his way back into the Juventus squad, his role for the USMNT remains clear for years to come.
Musah has earned more minutes of late at AC Milan and that should carry over to a consistent spot in Berhalter’s starting lineup against Germany.
Gio Reyna has only made one appearance for Borussia Dortmund, but I’d expect him to get a starting nod against Germany. The 20-year-old attacker needs a confidence boost and a strong performance against the Germans could be what helps him get back to his best at club level this fall and winter.
Johnny Cardoso and debutant Lennard Maloney are also options at the No. 6 role if Berhalter wants to move McKennie and Musah higher up the field. It would be surprising if Maloney doesn’t see the field against Germany, especially after playing for them at youth level.
Luca De La Torre will also fight for minutes in both matches.
FORWARDS
Who will start: Tim Weah, Folarin Balogun, Christian Pulisic
Who should start: Tim Weah, Folarin Balogun, Christian Pulisic
The USMNT will want to impress in the final third against Germany and using their top attacking weapons will help those goals.
Tim Weah, Folarin Balogun, and Christian Pulisic are the expected starters against Germany, especially after earning continued minutes at club level. Pulisic’s four Serie A goals to date have helped AC Milan to a current first place spot in league play.
His goalscoring abilities paired with his creative distribution will be among the things to watch on Saturday.
Balogun and Ricardo Pepi will continue to fight for the No. 9 job in Berhalter’s set up, but expect Balogun to get the nod. He scored in back-to-back Ligue 1 matches leading into camp and overall has played more than Pepi this season.
Pepi will get his opportunities, but I don’t see how Balogun doesn’t start.
Tim Weah is the USMNT’s No. 1 right winger right now and that shouldn’t change against Germany. Weah has been impactful in his last few camps with the USMNT and overall will be eager to get back on the scoresheet.
Brenden Aaronson, Alex Zendejas, and Kevin Paredes will all likely see time out wide in the matches, bringing different traits to the table off the bench. Aaronson could also flex into midfield if needed, giving Berhalter another idea in his lineup later in the match.
What do you think of our projected lineups? Which would you start? Who are you most excited to see play?
Share your thoughts below.
IV,
I understand what you are saying below, and I agree with your example of Roldan ( see Nick Lima for an additional example ), but respectfully speaking, we are going to have to agree to disagree, because your argument below is flawed, especially when you use Cremaschi to support your argument.
To your point below of handing out a USMNT cap to someone based on potential, that is flat out wrong.
USMNT call ups and caps are for players that first and foremost have earned it ( with the criteria that has already be shared ) and for players that want to be here and with the USMNT. If a player wants to flirt with another country’s national team, that is their right, but make no mistake about it…if you don’t want to be somewhere else…goodbye, adios, verabschiedung, arrivederci, збогом, etc.
Why does Cremaschi get “to pass go, collect $200, and head straight to the USMNT? Because he has another passport for Argentina? Or because he now plays with Messi? What has he done to EARN a call up to the USMNT? Did anyone watch Inter Miami or him play BEFORE Messi, Busi, and Alba, arrived? I did!…and both Inter Miami and Cremaschi were sh*t!
Argentina brought him into camp in advance of their u20 World Cup, and they sent him home. While it is possible that he could develop into a player that some day plays for Argentina, the fact of the matter is, that is very unlikely.
I know this is provocative, but Cremaschi is as likely, if not more likely, to be a career MLS player than a top notch player in Europe, or for the USMNT. 18 year old players with POTENTIAL, who play in MLS, as spot starters, and benefit from playing with 3 world class players, but did not show the same, prior to the arrival of those same 3 players, have earned an opportunity with a USYNT, NOT the USMNT.
With that in mind, US Soccer finally got that right, as Marko Mitrovic called him into the current u23 camp. Now, let’s see what he does…but no more callups to the USMNT for Cremaschi, and others that are currently of the same ilk, until he performs regularly with his club team AND is a standout with a USYNT.
Papi: to me when a guy has 1 good game in a non-first team friendly out of 7 caps, and has been in pro settings for most of a decade, and is 25, move on. we have a big pool to work through. i wouldn’t favor him over cremaschi, cowell, gressel, hoppe, or sargent-as-winger. it’s a waste of a cap. i already know my answer. it’s like roldan perseveration, about guys in their mid 20s who kind of are what they are. if you want to wish for a player to improve do it on a 19 year old who shows raw promise but is like 2nd year in a pro environment and literally still growing.
I think I’m going to coin the phrase “fan old fart”. Someone who summarily dismisses any soccer idea that would have been frowned upon in the 1990s. Instead of their foil the “fanboy” who joyfully overlooks the deficiencies of their favorites with the joy and optimism of a six year old on Christmas, the “fan old fart” attacks anyone with the pessimism of retiree sitting on his porch yelling at children. They are unaware of video scouting services that provide the USMNT staff with every minute with multiple tactical views of any player they desire. They believe that any formations they see on the game report on Transfermkt signifies exactly how their JV coach implemented the same formation, and mostly they believe that somehow a winger that couldn’t get on the field in MLS, Sweden, and Serbia was the key to beating the Netherlands in Qatar.
IV,
You make a lot of good and interesting points in your reply below. I love the dialogue, discussion, and banter, on all of your points. I could do this all day! 🙂 But, I will wrap up with this…
The USMNT is the pinnacle of professional soccer for US players and the edict is to ALWAYS compete and ATTEMPT to win. That is why it is an honor to get called in and it is the ultimate competitive environment…an alpha male environment.
The USMNT is not a team, or environment, for developing players. That responsibility falls on the club teams and YNT’s.
The USMNT Head Coaching position is a very unique and difficult. He has to make decisions based on a player’s performance in another completely different environment that he has no control over. In doing so, he has to predict how those same players will perform in the USMNT environment and his chosen tactics.
The additional challenge is that the player pool is always dynamic and changing because of a slew of uncontrollable variables…current playing time with their club, current playing form with their club, current injuries / health issues, etc.
To your point, I think there is merit in not always rolling out the A team, and that is already done with the annual January camp, and if there was another time to do it, it would have been the September 2023 international window, when we played a couple of teams that quite frankly were ripe for bringing in newer faces.
Another quick point, if the USMNT arrives to the World Cup in 2022, or in 2026, and does not know who their number 9 is, that is a clear and obvious indictment of the coaching staff…and that does not get rectified by handing out unearned game time with the USMNT.
Lastly, an international window vs Germany and Ghana, both of who are preparing for their own very important continental tournaments, Euros 2024, and AFCON 2024, means they are arriving on US soil with intentions on rolling out their best…we need to do the same!
Cheers, in the name of the beautiful game, and I’m looking forward, with great interest, to the games in this international window!
papi: i think we should pick and choose when we roll out the real XI, not use it 99% of the time. manage minutes and make sure we properly evaluate and prepare the bench. we routinely have injury issues but prepare for it by handing the vast majority of playing time to perceived starters, meaning when a backup sees the field he’s barely played and usually not been used in the harder friendlies. i get germany is a “big game” but the way we run this show so is almost every game on the schedule. i might be more indulgent of the starters this particular game if they hadn’t played so often all year.
if you really wanted me punchy it’s i feel like GB picks his lineups off paper favorites and not games. if you want to know if we have the right 9, the right wingbacks, etc., you have to share out the time and see who emerges. we don’t. we then freeze when it seems like maybe we chose the wrong guy on paper. eg is pepi one of our top 2 strikers or not even worthy of the 23. maybe quit playing favorites so much.
re richards, i think he’s our best CB. period. i don’t care what his dumb club does. that’s his agent’s problem. i want our best players out there based on prior NT games. that’s richards for sure.
i am not so sure it’s miles anymore but peak miles was better than ream. i would like to see if miles or someone else can be richards’ pair. i feel like you have a finite amount of games with a NT and handing minutes to a player as old as ream is flushing them. i don’t believe he will be spry and competitive for 26 and if he somehow is that’s a bad sign for the defense.
re maloney, there is an increasing risk adams may be injury unreliable. we need to get on top of the 6 depth chart ASAP. musah is obvious. i think it wastes friendlies to just repeat obvious starter type choices. we need a couple more. you seem to suggest johnny or LDLT have somehow locked down backup and it would be insulting to hand maloney a chance. i thought both were crap 6s. i even liked johnny’s first caps but not since then. they have had their go. personally i wouldn’t even be calling them.
if it freaks you out to start these guys germany game start them ghana game. we need to see if they are up to snuff. but my theory is i want to see how emerging/ marginal guys handle germany. if they can hack that they will hack anything. i can then rely on them as backup for something serious like copa america.
personally i wish we saved the starting lineups for select friendlies and the summer tournaments. and kept the cap count down a little so players got some rest. i feel like the team c. klinsi got into a mentality where we have to win every game and that overrides everything including patching obvious holes. but if you don’t patch your holes you show up to qatar not sure who your 9 really is or who to use at keep if turner is rusty or hurt.
we need to identify and invest more deeply in about 25-30 players we can trust in big games.
papi: don’t get me wrong. i believe the guys we run out should play to win even when we send out the B team. i just don’t believe the best way to win over time is necessarily to call out the same guys over and over. the US has not yet started beating really good teams. until that happens we don’t go deep in a world cup. that does not happen if you assume the same people who couldn’t beat holland are the future. in order to change that outcome you have to take calculated risks that some fresher face is actually a better player than the ones we lean on most.
to get more specific, i am not a fan of some of the backs, some of the mids. i think the overall concept of whether this is intended to be a good offense or a good defense hasn’t been thought through. we have some good players out there but i think there are some better ones, and i am not sure this specific mix is a winner. i like weah, pulisic, turner, richards, and a few others. i think the midfield is stuck between being shutdown defense or trying to be more technical. i think the wingbacks are picked for offense which is at cross purposes with picking mids for defense. i don’t buy we are running out our best CBs, i think that’s stuck a few years back. and adams at 6 has now opened a personnel can of worms.
i see some movement on LB where jedi was left off. i think the fans tend to fall in love with today’s lineup. i don’t see today’s lineup doing it. if this doesn’t shuffle some this is a quarterfinal ceiling. it’s like what you’d run out for a 1-1 tie. not defensive enough. not offensive enough. i’d like to see them sell out more in a direction. i think at some summer tournaments we have tried, say, reyna at 10 and sold out more on offense. that might compete. or drop the no-defense wingbacks and play for 1-0 games. but right now it’s not leakproof enough for regular shutouts and not high power enough to run teams off the field with 3-4 goals a night. that’s a 1-1 recipe. 1-1 isn’t winning world cups.
IV,
I hear ya, and I’m aces with the newer faces overtaking the incumbents…that is what a truly competitive environment fosters…but, that has to happen at the club level first and the newer faces have to PROVE that in USMNT training sessions in order to EARN a start. The newbies can’t just be granted the keys to the kingdom, in the interest of taking a calculated risk, without first showing consistent excellence on the club level. That is the basis and foundation for USMNT roster call ups.
I go back to my earlier post, in order to be a legitimate World Cup contender, we need 3 top-tier players competing for each spot on the roster. That us what Argentina has, that is what France has, that is what Germany has, etc., etc.
What you are talking about is more an indictment of the overall development process of soccer players in the US, which funnels up to the USMNT.
While I will not say that a player is a finished product when they get called up to a USMNT roster, it is clear that they are almost fully polished at that point..it just depends on where they are in their respective career.
On a side note, we have already beaten top tier national teams…Portugal in a World Cup, Spain at a Confederation Cup, Brazil in a Gold Cup, Italy on European soil, and Germany stateside…to name a few…and the USMNT will continue to do so in the future.
Honestly it really feels like between a rock and a hard place here, without the urgency of a qualifying cycle all these friendlies matter to get our #1s as much time together as possible.
On the flipside, that lack of depth in the world cup hurt us ..along with the substitution pattern… and LVG doing what any good coach would…
But I digress
It’s tricky accomplished both. But I’m sure Gregory has a game plan
With all the injuries and condensed qualifying we had plenty of minutes for backups to gain experience. Berhalter judged they weren’t good enough to do better than the tired starters. You could play a lot of what if games if this guy or that guy just hadn’t been injured, but the bottom line is does Brooks or Pepi make a difference against Netherlands? I don’t think Brooks does against the mobile attackers but I think Pepi’s an argument. Do I think career journeyman Championship or 2Bundesliga midfielders could have started in place of MMA absolutely not. This isn’t 1990 you aren’t going to find some American midfielder playing in Kazakhstan that has been overlooked by everyone and steps onto the field and outplays the Dutch. We have what we have and playing them or not playing them in friendly isn’t going to change that.
JR,
No I don’t think that, but I do think some guys woulda been more effective on more rest.. I know it’s just an example.
But even so, I’ll go ahead and cut to the chase, I have almost zero confidence in our coach right now
Someone once told me, if you always do what you’ve always done you’ll always get what you always got
Bac, the thing about cliches is there’s a reason they’ve become popular but there’s also a reason they aren’t known as truths. If you look at our top 15, everyone is a regular in a top 6 league with the exception of Miles (who I’m not sure is a top 15). These guys are playing because they are better and in most cases significantly better. We saw in qualifying the 2nd string struggled against Panama, Jamaica. and El Salvador there’s no assurance that they would have done better against Wales or Iran. Berhalter isn’t bringing back Long, Acosta, Arriola, or JMorris. He’s replaced those guys with Paredes, Tillman, Johnny.
“American midfielder playing in Kazakhstan that has been overlooked by everyone and steps onto the field and outplays the Dutch.”
That scenario is not entirely unrealistic.
The best club in Kazakhstan is Astana and their UEFA coefficient is 143. For context, Celta De Vigo, LDLT’s club, is ranked 109
Hadjuk Split, which has Rokas Pukstas , a promising box-to-box midfielder from Barça Residency Academy in Arizona of Hoppe and Clark fame, is ranked at 187.
If he transfers to Astana and dos well, you never know.
JR: dude, what are balogun, lund, and (we’ll see on) maloney but the very foreign guys you’re pretending don’t exist? i had balogun on a list of dual nationals that might help, a few years ago. i was pooh-poohed it would never work. he’ll be england. i had both tillmans on the list for years. why would they shun germany? maloney has been on my list a few years, too. ditto. koleosho is still in play. etc. etc. setting aside foreign, we have some less familiar fresh meat on the U23. there are new U20 classes coming up all the time. i think some US fans are stuck back in the late 2010s where pulisic was the only new talent for years. we have a half dozen or so interesting pipeline kids every 2 year U20 cycle. or some random college kid flowers. we have several guys like EPB, green, and holmes who have quality and have just been forgotten.
i see it as a sort of circular logic confirmation bias. the coach wanted this list. ergo this is as good as we can do. no, sorry, even this fairly stubborn coach is digging up a mix of (a) known but “unlikely” and (b) people few realized existed.
i see zero reason to settle on a lineup now, years before the world cup, with a few players battling injury issues and their durability in question. i think it’s a complacent attitude USSF has had for years where once we make a knockout round we circle the wagons on that team. i think that’s why we tend to stagnate, is you make a fairly tepid round of 16 and those are the guys and that’s the tactics. i mean, global elite, or even our women, that kind of exit calls for some turnover. the attitude is contrary to my experience. we finish x spot in select league we need some people. churn, win league but lose state. churn, win state. you do not get there if you are complacent at steps 1 or 2. every single guy on this team needs to be constantly earning their spot. and the tactics should be subject to what works better more often. less hype more pragmatic.
V: thanks for proving my point a team that’s won 7 of last 9 is still 40 spots lower than a perennial relegation zone team in a top league. As for the Astana vs Hajduk Split, does anyone think Rokas Pukstas is ready to join the NT. No, he’s going to play with U23s or get a move to a better league first. He was never a star with the U20s. With video scouting no one is hiding anymore. We know what the pool is Josh Cohen was better than Matt Turner we’d know because an EPL team would be knocking down his door instead Atlanta is offering him an MLS Next Pro contract. If Eduvie Ikoba was better than Ricardo Pepi he wouldn’t be in Hungary or his best offer wouldn’t be 2nd division Portuguese team. We don’t need to see these guys suit up against Germany or Ghana we know how it will turn out.
balogun
pulisic musah weston weah
maloney
lund richards miles scally
horvath
i want to see what the noobs can do and then if we’re even or ahead at half you sub in the starting lineup to close it out — a la klinsi. i expect the obvious give or take ream, dest, and LDLT. dest is a defensive weak link and LDLT is too soft for 6. and yet we persisted.
the people touting ream — and i fully expect the coach to go that way — didn’t watch the oman game i did. to me one responds to a tough opponent by battening the hatches — think our game with france in 2018 — not seeing what spots i can get risky-clever at.
think “england game.” airtight and try and take your chances.
IV,
I ask in a genuine and respectful fashion…
Why Richards over Ream? Richards has only started 2 out of the last 5 games with Crystal Palace. While Ream has not been playing well with Fulham, nor did he play well against Uzbekistan, he is starting regularly with Fulham.
Why Horvath over Turner?
Why does Maloney get a start in his first call up? What has he done to earn it? What message does that send to the rest of the team? In your other post, you said past performance with the USMNT matters, what body of work does he have with the USMNT to support a start?
papi: i think we should pick and choose when we roll out the real XI, not use it 99% of the time. manage minutes and make sure we properly evaluate and prepare the bench. we routinely have injury issues but prepare for it by handing the vast majority of playing time to perceived starters, meaning when a backup sees the field he’s barely played and usually not been used in the harder friendlies. i get germany is a “big game” but the way we run this show so is almost every game on the schedule. i might be more indulgent of the starters this particular game if they hadn’t played so often all year.
if you really wanted me punchy it’s i feel like GB picks his lineups off paper favorites and not games. if you want to know if we have the right 9, the right wingbacks, etc., you have to share out the time and see who emerges. we don’t. we then freeze when it seems like maybe we chose the wrong guy on paper. eg is pepi one of our top 2 strikers or not even worthy of the 23. maybe quit playing favorites so much.
re richards, i think he’s our best CB. period. i don’t care what his dumb club does. that’s his agent’s problem. i want our best players out there based on prior NT games. that’s richards for sure.
i am not so sure it’s miles anymore but peak miles was better than ream. i would like to see if miles or someone else can be richards’ pair. i feel like you have a finite amount of games with a NT and handing minutes to a player as old as ream is flushing them. i don’t believe he will be spry and competitive for 26 and if he somehow is that’s a bad sign for the defense.
re maloney, there is an increasing risk adams may be injury unreliable. we need to get on top of the 6 depth chart ASAP. musah is obvious. i think it wastes friendlies to just repeat obvious starter type choices. we need a couple more. you seem to suggest johnny or LDLT have somehow locked down backup and it would be insulting to hand maloney a chance. i thought both were crap 6s. i even liked johnny’s first caps but not since then. they have had their go. personally i wouldn’t even be calling them.
if it freaks you out to start these guys germany game start them ghana game. we need to see if they are up to snuff. but my theory is i want to see how emerging/ marginal guys handle germany. if they can hack that they will hack anything. i can then rely on them as backup for something serious like copa america.
personally i wish we saved the starting lineups for select friendlies and the summer tournaments. and kept the cap count down a little so players got some rest. i feel like the team c. klinsi got into a mentality where we have to win every game and that overrides everything including patching obvious holes. but if you don’t patch your holes you show up to qatar not sure who your 9 really is or who to use at keep if turner is rusty or hurt.
we need to identify and invest more deeply in about 25-30 players we can trust in big games.
“If you don’t manage his minutes carefully you’ll likely never have him.”
Managing his minutes carefully is fine but if you keep yanking him at 60, he’ll never be able to go 90..
Use it or lose it.
Sure, he’s been injury prone but he’s also only 20 and his body clearly has been changing these last few years. Look at pictures of him when he first broke in with the USMNT and BVB and look at him now.
he’s played a grand total of 26′. i don’t even think he should be here this time. he should be a short term sub. this is not a healthy scratch club situation. this is he breaks every time we rush him back and is just seeing club minutes. common sense. this isn’t a testing ground for gio reyna prototypes and we don’t move on to v.5 with the carbon fiber if this one breaks again. nor should his role and playing time be a positive or negative response to the press or politics of whether he and the coach get along. which i thought was the whole point to the winter squabble.
for comparison, let’s say adams rolled up or picked up a phone and was like, dude, give me a run out. he would get a flat “no,” go rest your hammy. the fanboys would support it, and the decision wouldn’t be intertwined with other politics and emotional stuff. if reyna has been re-normalized then normal response to his situ is either nothing or 30′ or less.
if i wanted to get punchy, injury or rehab guys are usually just left off, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. we play again in a month.
but then CCV is also called in on 73′ of game soccer just the same after a hammy.
IV,
You’re being your drama queen self. This is not a big deal.
I’m on record as saying Gio shouldn’t be called up until next year sometime but he’s here now.
quozzel suggested limiting Gio to 60 minutes in a manner that suggested he meant permanently. I understand that emotion but it’s probably a bit over the top . Sure, take your time, let him work his way up to 90 minutes. But sooner or later he needs to play regularly fulltime or he will never play regularly full time.
Everyone is different. Some guys start regularly and go 90 for years without a problem but then you start resting them and they starting coming up hurt. Gio just needs to find what routine works for him.. It’s the player and whoever his long term physios are, if he has any, that are the best judge of his relative fitness not the fans, especially you.
This is not an exact science.
V: i generally don’t think club time should dictate our decisions when they get some PT and we like how they look. it’s our decision and not delegated to their club coach. but that’s for a healthy player. this is someone with 1 game lasting 26′ banked this year. that’s not he is in richards’ club situation, played 90′ the other day, but is crossways with a dumb coach we disagree with. we can then make our own decision. this is someone with basically preseason fitness. he should either be left off or play preseason minutes off the bench.
in terms of his role within the team, he has to stay healthy enough to find a consistent role and GB needs to decide if he’s an AM or a wing. until he gets fit and playing i think could he go 60-90 is academic unless we are cray-cray and literally want to test how brittle he is. this is not how smart NT run their railroad, is using friendlies as durability or psychological tests.
to me, he plays 30′ tops and instead of judging the hot air they passed on to the press, we judge whether he has practice effort and how he looks on a game field. personally i think that would be best tested when he is fitter and playing more for his club. you get a 95-100% reyna and say, show me what you got. bringing him in half baked to test his work ethic and game quality is odd. last thing i want to do with a 30′ guy just off injury is harrangue them about how hard they play and push them and push them. that feels like asking for it.
IV,
Gregg and his fitness team should be on notice with Gio.
If it‘s me I don’t call him in now.
Clearly Gio is at the delicate point where the team’s fitness people and manager have to figure out just how best to re- integrate him back into being a full 90 minute player.
I’m not fitness expert but I believe consistent treatment is very helpful when you are doing this kind of thing so I would feel better about letting BVB’s doctors do the heavy lifting and getting Gio back to where he is a 90 minute or so man.
Unfortunately for them, Gregg and his people are interrupting BVB’s process. If Gio gets hurt and further complicates his comeback, then everyone, the USMNT and BVB both lose.
Of course, even if Gio stayed with his BVB fitness people, he could get hurt anytime, anywhere but by calling him up the USMNT are putting him in a new environment and taking the responsibility for him should anything bad happen.
It’s like that sign “ you break it, you buy it”.
Nevertheless, I’m guessing that if BVB thought the likelihood was great that Gregg would damage Gio again, then they probably would have put up a bigger fuss. It does not look like they have.
I’m betting Gregg will be very conservative with Gio, regardless.
I would be inclined to agree with Vacqui.
I’d give Reyna the start at the 10, with plans to swap him out at halftime…or whenever he sticks his hand up or if you notice him gimping even a little. Truthfully I’d probably be inclined to yank Gio after 60 every game even if you think he’s 100%. If you don’t manage his minutes carefully you’ll likely never have him.
why not run him out for 30 minutes as a sub? A change of pace and tactic.
Midwest Ref, you are spot on.
Vacqui and Quozzel, a start in either of these two games does not reflect Gio’s playing time at the club level nor his current form, which given his lack of playing time at Dortmund, is non-existent. Anything more than 30 minutes in the first game vs Germany, or 45 minutes vs Ghana is irresponsible, and both runs should be as a sub. EVERY opportunity with the USMNT HAS TO BE EARNED. Like Striker91 said in one of his post’s, are we just going to ignore that Gio has not been playing and to date for this season, has only played 24 minutes in one game as a sub??
Also, and lastly, if Gio starts, what does that communicate to the rest of the team / players / and this roster?
papi: “earned” depends what time period we’re talking. i think he should be brought along slow on fitness grounds. this isn’t a world cup final, there is low long term value to aggressive risk. longer term though i am bored with the GB supporters ignoring how the rest of the year went like it never happened. reyna was good this summer. zendejas was horrible. do the games matter?
Imperative Voice, great point, and respectfully speaking, I thought I did define “earned” by sharing that each opportunity is earned based on current playing time and current form with their respective club teams. For more context and detail, current is defined as the time period since the last international window.
I agree with you 100% in that Gio should be brought along slowly with a focus on fitness / health since their is low long term value with any other approach.
While I understand what you are saying about Berhalter supporters, the rest of the year does matter. To your point, Gio was top notch this past summer and Zendejas was not. That said, those games are in the past, and we cannot live, nor can current USMNT call ups be earned, solely by living in the past. More appropriately, recent past performance with the USMNT needs to be considered, but weighted in a lesser fashion than current playing time and current form for club team.
If we only use past performance with the USMNT, then bring back Ramos, Donovan, Dempsey, and Altidore. While that is an extreme example, you understand what I mean. 🙂
Papi: to me when a guy has 1 good game in a non-first team friendly out of 7 caps, and has been in pro settings for most of a decade, and is 25, move on. we have a big pool to work through. i wouldn’t favor him over cremaschi, cowell, gressel, hoppe, or sargent-as-winger. it’s a waste of a cap. i already know my answer. it’s like roldan perseveration, about guys in their mid 20s who kind of are what they are. if you want to wish for a player to improve do it on a 19 year old who shows raw promise but is like 2nd year in a pro environment and literally still growing.
Papi Grande,
“EVERY opportunity with the USMNT HAS TO BE EARNED.”
Of course. Gio has earned a call up because of his track record. In his last appearance he led the USMNT to arguably the best looking game this particular bunch of players has ever played. Most of their Gregg era games have been clumsy, disorganized and stupefyingly boring. They have not been a delight to watch.
I want to see more of Gio working with Balogun. The record indicates that when he is fit and in the right frame of mind he is outstanding.
What Gregg appears to want to find out with this callup is to see for himself where Gio is in his recovery. I would not have called Gio up this early in his recovery but Gregg has a lot of reasons, valid or not, to want to get this out of the way as soon as possible and Gio seems willing to go along with it. So let them have their moment. If Gio breaks down, Gregg will look like a dork.
“Like Striker91 said in one of his post’s, are we just going to ignore that Gio has not been playing and to date for this season, has only played 24 minutes in one game as a sub??”
Yes. Absolutely 100%. All day long.
This is a friendly. One that Gregg needs to use to find out things about his guys. That’s why we play these games. Some believe you shouldn’t start players who you KNOW can’t go 90. Sure. If you’re in a competitive game. This is not a competitive game. It’s a glorified scrimmage. Start Gio and give him his 15-20-30- 45 minutes. Gio has been building up to this. If the build up was not going well I’m sure both BVB and Gio would have resisted a call up.
“Also, and lastly, if Gio starts, what does that communicate to the rest of the team / players / and this roster?”
That the manager is using this friendly to find out things about his players. I doubt the other players will have a problem with that but if they do I doubt it will matter. The team comes first.
“If you don’t manage his minutes carefully you’ll likely never have him.”
Managing his minutes carefully is fine but if you keep yanking him at 60, he’ll never be able to go 90..
Use it or lose it.
Sure, he’s been injury prone but he’s also only 20 and his body clearly has been changing these last few years. Look at pictures of him when he first broke in with the USMNT and BVB and look at him now.
for the record, I said run him out again at the 10 too 😉
Owen,
You are 100% correct sir……”You don’t have to be left footed to play the left side of the field” as they are rare (e.g. Luis Diaz or Jérémy Doku or Kaoru Mitoma or Joelinton are all right footed playing on the left in the EPL) but conventional wisdom has it that players on the right side of the midfield, that at right-footed and players on the left side of the field that are left-footed are advantageous, (Harvey Elliot or Lewis Hall or Antonee Robinson etc) if you tend to incorporate supplying the ball in from the wings. If on the opposition side (the left with right foot or right with left like Mo Salah) then the player would have to rely on their ability to cut in and curl crosses and shots with their stronger foot.
i believe more in “stronger foot” for attackers than defenders, where i see it as nonsense. for defenders the primary concern is can he defend his position. to me good athletic markers can handle either side. and then assists are rare and it’s more can you distribute the ball out. that’s overrated. it’s rare you have someone getting you 5-10 assists a season flying down the wing.
attack is another question. there you are part of the creative force of the offense. i would generally favor footed players unless they have massive speed to beat defenders or create separation that way.
i generally agree that it’s horses for courses. if i am sending you down the chalk to go around the flank or cross from the flag, you have to be able to use the outer peg. if your system has more inversion and feeding back into the middle in it, yeah, you can’t get cute and flip things. with the old dynamo brad davis would have a problem if the defender sat on the endline run with his good left leg and he didn’t have a right to use the overplay to cut it back middle. but the offense was based on get it to the flag and feed ching a cross so there wasn’t plan B.
also some offenses like ACM the wing can cut and pinch in instead of overlap to the chalk. we sometimes let dest just go to goal and shoot. to me best case it’s unpredictable whether you’re trying to go through or around the defense. to me one of the recent failures of the US offense is it’s so predictably going to the flag and being crossed inswinger.
all this is leaving out the mbappe notion of just flying down that wing past everyone. i think we have forgotten weah can be used that way.
For the game vs Germany, if Tillman were here, and / or Gio were 100%, I think Berhalter would consider a 4-2-3-1 formation, but since that is not the case, it will be interesting to see if he goes with a 3-4-2-1. That said, I anticipate a 4-3-3 formation, and my opinions below are a reflection of that, and they are based on current playing time with their respective club teams and their current form.
Turner in GK. Lund at LB. Scally at RB. Ream and Robinson at CB. Musah at DM. McKennie and de la Torre as M’s. Pulisic at LW. Weah at RW. Balogun at ST.
I think Berhalter will go with Dest not Scally. I chose Scally, because Dest is really a wingback and not a RB, and I have serious concerns about his defending, especially against stronger opponents, and more importantly / specifically, his interest in defending.
Some additional thoughts…
I, as much as anyone else, would like to see as much of Gio as possible, but it would be a mistake to play him more than 30 minutes vs Germany and / or more than 45 minutes vs Ghana. For Gio in this window, the focus should be to get reacclimated with the group / Berhalter, get some time on the field, and go back to Dortmund healthy, so his minutes need to be increased responsibly and anything else is irresponsible.
I disagree with the author’s opinion that Robinson will not be risked because he is in the middle of a playoff race with Atlanta United. If that is the case, why bring him into camp?
…if Lund is not having a very good game, I want to see DeJuan Jones for at least 30 minutes vs this stronger opposition.
For his first cap, there should be consideration given to getting Maloney on the field against players / competition he faces every week in the Bundesliga.
If Balogun is not having a great game, Pepi needs to get run in this game…potentially as early as halftime. I know that is provocative, and maybe even extreme, but the competition between the two, and the fire in each player, needs to keep being stoked.
The USMNT needs to compete at the highest level in these two games, as these two teams might be the best competition we see before Copa America. The team needs to go full throttle and get after it!
Papi, this is a friendly so IMO starting a guy that can only go 30 minutes to see him run with the first teamers isn’t a big deal. I agree that you shouldn’t start a player in a tournament like the WC when they are only 30 – 45 minutes fit but I would rather see Gio play with Pulisic, McKennie etc than with the subs at the end of the game. Just my opinion of course.
Tele57, I hear you and I appreciate what you are sharing, but while some USMNT games are “friendlies,” the USMNT needs to learn to compete with the highest intensity, and at the highest level, for EVERY game, especially in a World Cup cycle where there are no World Cup qualifying games.
Given that the November 2023 and March 2024 FIFA international windows are set aside for CONCACAF Nations League, which frankly, with the exception of Mexico, and maybe Canada, will be against subpar competition. As a result, there are a limited amount of opportunities to play against the top global national teams, so when the opportunity presents itself, the USMNT must maximize that opportunity. Otherwise, it is a waste of time and an exercise in futility.
If we are ever going to fulfill any of the info in the two aforementioned paragraphs, and / or win a World Cup, which I believe we can do, we need 3 high level, and in-form players, competing for each of the starting 11 spots, as well as the same for the 18 / 23 / 26 roster spots. To foster this competitive environment, no game is a “friendly.”
This is the USMNT…the top of the pyramid for US soccer players. We need competition at the highest of levels in every game, against every opponent, and at every training session within the USMNT. Otherwise, to quote a one Taylor Twellman…”WHAT ARE WE DOING?!?!?!?”
Papi, while I agree with everything you said, I am not sure which part supports not starting Reyna if the coach considers him one of his best field players. Based on a pretty large sample size, US best attacking players are Pulisic, Weah, McKennie, and Reyna. There is a very small sample size on Balogan but I suspect time will show he is in that group. Pepi is a tier below but has a lot of promise although is essentially limited to the 9 whereas the other four (excluding Balogan) are very versatile. Everyone else is very distant. If you want 5 attackers on the field, which I think he will in a friendly, it would be hard to exclude Reyna. IMO, the US is nowhere near having 3 top level players competing at every position and I dont think they won’t be anywhere near that going into 2026 but a lot can change in 3 years so we will see.
It is going to be interesting WHO GB TRUSTS on the LEFT hand-side of the US midfield because most of our best Mid players play almost the same positions AND ARE ALL RIGHT FOOTED:
Yunus Musah – CM / AM / RM
Weston McKennie – CM / RM / DM
Luca De La Torre – CM / RM / AM
So, “the X-Factors” with some experience left of the pitch are:
Brenden Aaronson – AM /CM /LM ——–NEEDS TO KEEP DRINKING HIS PROTEIN SHAKES AND HITTING THE WEIGHT ROOM
Giovanni Reyna – AM / LW /RW ——-DEPENDS ON HIS CURRENT FITNESS AND DEFENSIVE ABILITY
Alex Zendejas – RW /LW /CM —– IS THE ONLY LEFT-FOOTED PLAYER (BUT HOW IS HIS ATTACKING / DEFENSIVE ABILITY AT A “WE’RE PLAYING GERMANY” LEVEL???)
This is going to be REALLY interesting. When it comes to how we play this game, it’s going to be more about game execution and player selection rather than just about the talent on the field.
Aaronson has not been starting, or playing well, for Union Berlin.
Gio, as mentioned, in my post, is not 100%, so starting him would be irresponsible.
Zendejas, since the last window, has started two of six games for Club America and as a whole, has been subpar in the 2023 Apertura.
I agree 100% with your last paragraph.
You don’t have to be left footed to play the left side of the field. Landon Donovan nor Clint Dempsey are left footed and they made careers of lining up on both sides of the pitch.
sorry posted in the wrong section
Owen,
You are 100% correct sir……”You don’t have to be left footed to play the left side of the field” as they are rare (e.g. Luis Diaz or Jérémy Doku or Kaoru Mitoma or Joelinton are all right footed playing on the left in the EPL) but conventional wisdom has it that players on the right side of the midfield, that at right-footed and players on the left side of the field that are left-footed are advantageous, (Harvey Elliot or Lewis Hall or Antonee Robinson etc) if you tend to incorporate supplying the ball in from the wings. If on the opposition side (the left with right foot or right with left like Mo Salah) then the player would have to rely on their ability to cut in and curl crosses and shots with their stronger foot.
No CCV against Germany they will pit pocket him like Marsielle did in that UCL game. Start CCV versus Ghana. For Germany Turner, Ream, Richards, LB Scally RB Dest mids Mckennie, Musah, and Reyna, forwards Weah Pulisic and Balogun. Subs Pepi, Aaronson, Maloney, Robinson, De La Torre and Jones.
U23s 2-1 over Mexico, Esmir (45) Vargas (90) the goal scorers. Taylor Booth had his pk saved in 5th minute. El Tri scored 90 +3 to ruin the dos a cero.
I think Henry has this pretty spot on, with a caveat regarding Gio’s fitness. If he is less than at least 60 minutes fit, I expect he will play as a sub. Who would start then? I think it is a toss-up between De La Torre and Aaronson.
But Zendejas is a possibility depending on how he meshes with Musah and McKennie in training. He seemed to not connect well last time out, but that sort of thing can change rather quickly as others learn what to expect from him and he from them.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts aaronson in the midfield
None of us really knows what Gio looks like right now
Luca De La Torre will start over Reyna. Reyna is not in playing shape.
If he’s 45 minutes fit I think he’ll start. If he’s not it’ll be 20-25 minutes.
So do you start him knowing it’s gonna be just 30-45 mins or do you maybe bring him on at halftime.
Curious what your thoughts are…
Initially I thought you gotta start him if possible in an effort to show the feud is in the past, get him with the a team as quickly as possible… All that stuff
Then I thought about what he can do off the bench…
Just curious
Bac: if he’s for sure good for at least 45 minutes without trouble I think he starts and comes out at half like Balo last window. My caveat would be I’m not sure he’s fit to be a two way 8/10 hybrid. So maybe comes off bench against Germany and starts against Ghana.
Bac
You want to know how Gio looks with the guys he is supposed to play with, the A team. So start him.
It’s a friendly so let Gio go 30-45 minutes and then sub him out.
Or if you want to see if he still has that late game sub instant offense put him on with 20 to go.
Either way , it’s not a big deal.