The U.S. men’s national team’s quest to repeat as Concacaf Nations League winners continues this month with Trinidad & Tobago standing in its way of a spot in the Final Four.
Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, and Paxten Aaronson headline Gregg Berhalter’s 24-player for the upcoming quarterfinal showdown against the Soca Warrior. Star forwards Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah were left off the roster after suffering respective injuries at club level.
Pulisic recently left AC Milan’s UEFA Champions League victory due to a hamstring issue and is ruled out day-to-day. Weah was diagnosed with a thigh injury in late-October at Juventus.
Key players Yunus Musah, Sergino Dest, and Folarin Balogun were also among the inclusions made by Berhalter. Young talents Kevin Paredes, Gabriel Slonina, and Aaronson also made the cut after growing roles at club level.
“Both of them, it’s not too serious,” said head coach Gregg Berhalter on Pulisic and Weah’s absences. “But unfortunately, they aren’t going to be able to participate in this camp. We see them on track to get back to play soon. But it’s too short of a deadline, so they won’t be involved. And for us, we’re used to this type of thing.
“…Think about World Cup qualifying and all the adjustments we’ve had to make as guys drop off, particularly this time of year as the pitches get heavy, as the game schedule is getting loaded, the players are always at risk,” he added. “So we’ll adapt, we’ll put guys in the field that are prepared and know what we’re doing on the field and will make a good impact.”
Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas will host the first leg on Nov. 16 while the second leg is scheduled for Nov. 20 at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The USMNT currently holds a 21-3-4 all-time advantage against Trinidad and Tobago and last faced them in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup. The Americans won the 2021 and 2023 editions of the Nations League, defeating Mexico 3-2 in 2021 and Canada 2-0 in 2023.
Should the Americans advance in the competition, they would enter the Nations League semifinal round in March 2024.
“The objective ahead of us is clear. We want to compete for our third Nations League title and the chance to play in Copa America, and it’s going to take focus and determination to get past Trinidad & Tobago,” Berhalter said. “We have had a core group together for the last two windows in preparation for this opportunity, and we want to finish the year on a strong note and position ourselves to compete in two important competitions next year.”
Here is a closer look at the USMNT roster for November’s Nations League matches:
GOALKEEPERS: Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 9/0), Gaga Slonina (KAS Eupen; 1/0), Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 35/0).
DEFENDERS: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic/SCO; 14/0), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 30/2), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo/ITA; 3/0), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 53/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 14/1), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 37/2), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 27/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 7/0).
MIDFIELDERS: Paxten Aaronson (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER; 1/0), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA; 9/0), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP; 19/0), Lennard Maloney (Heidenheim/GER; 1/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 48/11), Yunus Musah (AC Milan/ITA; 31/0), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 22/6), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 6/0).
FORWARDS: Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin/GER; 36/8), Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA; 6/3), Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg/GER; 2/0), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 20/9), Alex Zendejas (Club América/MEX; 7/1).
Possible 11:
Reyna, Balo, Brendo
———Tillman——-
Musah, Mckennie
Jedi, Ream, Rich, Dest
Turner
That would be my 11.
I’d switch Reyna and Tillman.
Interesting that Gregg brought up how well John Brooks is doing without being prompted in his press conference.
right after he got benched, because he keeps up but only kinda.
You can count on T&T parking the bus and packing it in. I think we would be advised to have a striker who is good in the air. Pefok was injured, but I haven’t been able to find out how bad it was and if he would be available. Either he or Haji Wright should be called in to provide that option.
Gregg said Pefok is out for a couple weeks and was not available. The giant hold up man Jesus Ferreira was able to break them down this summer though so …
With Pulisic & Weah both sidelined do to injury, it’s not our best roster but it’s still significantly better than our GC roster this past summer. And considering the GC team beat T&T 6-0 then, so I fully expect that this squad to win these games.
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Those saying National Team call-ups are about current club form would be correct in most instances. However, GGG has rarely made his selections based on players form; instead choosing players based on their familiarity with GGGs system and strategies. As SBI quoted in the article….”we’ll put guys in the field that are prepared and know what we’re doing on the field”. This is why we’ll see Zendejas & Brandon start (most # of caps) over Paxton or Paredes. It’s also why we won’t see a 442 or a 352….because GGG doesn’t change his strategies and over values/relies on familiarity.
————————————————————————————————————-
What I’d like to see us play is a 4-1-4-1 in the home game and a 3-5-2 in the away game….but we won’t see that. I think we’ll see GGG’s favorite 433….
——Brendon————-Balogun—————Reyna—-
—–McKennie————Musah—————LDLT——-
Jedi———-Ream——————Richards———Dest
—————————-Turner———————————-
Subs: Cardoso, Tillman, Pepi
What form is Paxton and Paredes in?
Pax: only 40 Bundesliga minutes, 2a across all comps. One of those against a 3Liga side in Pokal.
Paredes: 1g in 8 app
Agreed that Brenden has struggled at Union but had 1g 1a in Sept. Zendajas 4g 1a in last 6 matches.
I think that Zendejas will get the start over either P Aaronson or Paredes., because he’s been playing well at his club, is older, and has more experience both with the national team and as a professional player. But to write Paredes off because of 1 g in 8 apps is a little misleading. He was generally coming on as a late game sub, getting 10 minutes an appearance. Until the last two games, when he’s become a starter. We’ll see if he solidifies his position as a starter, but it appears he’s been showing more lately. His one goal comes in 214 Bundesliga minutes, which is not a bad rate for a midfielder – if he was a starter averaging 70 minutes a game, that extrapolates out to over 10 goals a season.
Johnny99, not writing him off, Lost was saying how much better form the young guys are in but Gregg won’t play them. Neither are in really great form, Paredes trending up, we’ll see if Wolfsburg stick with their change to a 3 man backline which corresponded with Kevin’s move to the starting lineup.
J99: it’ll be brendan and zendejas wide. arena liked “experienced” mid-20s guys and though some pretend GB is evolution, he’s from the same tree. i wouldn’t be surprised if it’s brother for brother then paredes other side. paredes to me has more potential than zendejas. but personally i’d be pushing one of the MFs out wide. i do not buy anyone he’s thinking of playing RF is better than dest-as-wing, mckennie, or musah. dest has played that slot for barca, musah used to start there for valencia, and mckennie is a jack of all trades. the idea to me is get more of the best talent on the field at a time. less work within cubbyholes.
either that or particularly for zendejas, quit wasting our time. at some point accept that, as with brooks, someone can be a flawed but successful club player in league, who if we were naive little children would repeatedly be triggering scouting interest, but we should know better they can’t be relied on with the senior team. the idea on scouting club form is to find people you overlooked, not to confuse a poor NT track record by going soft on your convictions.
fwiw i get revisiting some 20 year old on a rapid ascent but people keep wanting to bring in 25 or 30 year old players like someone new is waiting. no, i severely doubt it. to me it’s cherry picking by folks who never wanted to admit it was a mistake in the first place.
We do have last window as a possible indication. Berhalter played Paredes but not Zendajas. The September window Zendajas wasn’t even invited and Paredes played. Berhalter called Paredes as far back as 2021 but he got injured and didn’t play against Bosnia. I’m not sure it’s quite so obvious what Gregg will do.
IV,
“fwiw i get revisiting some 20 year old on a rapid ascent but people keep wanting to bring in 25 or 30 year old players like someone new is waiting. no, i severely doubt it. to me it’s cherry picking by folks who never wanted to admit it was a mistake in the first place.”
??? The national team ain’t like a club team. Instead, it is basically an ad hoc committee formed to address the next important tournament, in this case Copa America.
The focus is entirely on how the team looks for the CA not 2026. If Gregg shits the bed on CA, he may not, maybe, even make it to 2026. In reality the core of the CA team will probably make up the core of the 2026 WC team but adjustments will have to be made in the interim.
However old you may be, Gregg has to determine if you will be good enough for the length of the CA.
After that, it don’t matter. You can retire for all that anyone cares.
Like Gregg, you are very thin skinned and seem incredibly worried about what people might think of your decisions on players. However, for him all that matters is how those decisions work out.
No one was excited when JK brought Yedlin, Green and JAB to Brazil. But all three were successful and made tangible contributions to the team in Brazil. Similarly, I wasn’t crazy about bringing Ream to Qatar but I was clearly wrong.
” but we should know better they can’t be relied on with the senior team. the idea on scouting club form is to find people you overlooked, not to confuse a poor NT track record by going soft on your convictions..”
That sounds like some 9th grader talking. We’re not in high school anymore. Gregg’s convictions mean nothing.
If he can turn Alex into Pulisic-lite, great. If he can’t then, hopefully, he does not turn this into another “shove Ferreira as a #9 down your throat” scenario and just move on.
We’re very close to the time when Gregg has to make some decisions about the Copa roster, which means if he thinks they need new blood, he ought to start kicking the tires on whatever prospects he has been thinking about whatever their age. If that includes Kevin and Alex, then give them a shot, times a-wasting.
Lost I don’t think LDT will stzrt. GB ‘discovered” Reyna’s value as an attacking mid. I don’t think he will forget it so soon.
IV Wow an entire post by you that I agree with.
if current form was the decider, maybe no Gio, ok?
but it’s not so simple…hope we can all get there some day and understand this.
who fits, what are we playing, who are we playing, who are the players that fit best in GBs system that he wants to play, etc.
not dismissing current form, never! but it’s WAY more than that
A bit surprised Trusty didn’t get the call up over M. Robinson who is currently playing in MLS playoffs.
The word is out!!!! Hurry up kid!!!
“Valentin Castellanos is currently in the process of doing “paperwork” to become eligible for the US — He will need to come to the US next year around March to sign his residency.”…..I know he Received his U.S. Green Card almost 4 years ago at NYCFC.
A dynamic Left winger, Right winger or Center forward…….this would be interesting …..very interesting if it ACTUALLY happened
Lets gooooo Taty Lol, what the @#$%??!!!!
There was a rumor that Luciano Acosta is trying to do the same thing………now that would be crazy!!!!
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/luciano-acosta-to-usmnt-fc-cincinnati-star-reportedly-pursues-citizenship
I had heard about Acosta…if there was a guy in MLS who I would have coveted for the US national team it would probably be Lucho. He’s just pure magic and the absolute poster-boy epitome of what a string-pulling 10 should be. The big issue is, he’s 29…but he’s not a speed guy, so I’d definitely expect him to be fine for Copa America next year and 32 when the World Cup comes around. The Eurosnobs will undoubtedly turn up their noses at him…but I’m living in northeast Ohio at the moment and those of us who have watched him play regularly for awhile know what an incredible difference-maker this cat is. Would it translate to the national team? Dunno. I’d be incredibly intrigued to find out…other than Thiago Almada and that new guy called Messi and maybe Hany Mukhtar I’d argue he’s the best player in MLS. At the very least we suddenly would not have a shortage of creative players like we so often have in the past, especially with Diego Luna emerging as well.
Castellanos would be a genuine shocker…and an instant threat to Pepi if not Balogun though he can play anywhere across the front. I’m very high on Pepi and I think he’s definitely got a future in the Top-5 leagues…but Castellanos is already there and is well ahead of him right now.
Which would mean: so much for our issues at the 9 as well. Wow. So I very much hope these rumors are legit.
It is ridiculous how much talent Argentina has, that they can just shrug and let players like these two go because they’ll never see the field.
i mentioned this the other day but noted both he and acosta have the same “richard rodriguez” issue with FIFA. acosta left then came back. taty just left. FIFA these days wants not just a passport but that you stayed here 5 straight years to get it. so these guys might have the passport but not the 5 years. acosta might be good to go in ’26 age 30+. taty the 5 year clock isn’t even running. if they wanted to play USA they should have stayed here til they got the passport.
I am surprised that Miles R was called in as Atlanta is still in the MLS playoffs. He did call in 24 and I checked the rules, maximun of 23 players 90 minutes before each game so one of the 24 can’t dress. I thought LDLT was injured but he was called in. Thought with LDLT injured he might call in Julian Green which would have made for fun reading on this site. Congrats to 2Tone who predicted 21 of 24 correctly.
i have been a miles fan but found him unimpressive this season. to me it seems to take 1-2 years to come back from knees and achilles.
I think that the midfield will be Musah, McKennie and Reyna. Whether they play 3 across or with Reyna being more advanced is a detail that will most likely be worked out during the game as play develops. I do expect the US will have the advantage there. Up front Brendan, Balogan and probably Zendejas should be able to score a couple goals.. In back A. Robinson CCV, Ream and Dest seems solid.
The only caveat I have is that traditionally TnT have speed up front and Ream’s lack of speed could be found out. (But, he has seemed to be able to read the game well enough to avoid being in a position where he is in a foot race. Familiarity with Turner is a plus. Dicey field conditions may hurt Ream’s ability to anticipate as bad bounces can change things in a hurry.)
Dennis, I still think he will go with a 442 so he can get pepi on the field with balogan, mcKennie, Reyna, and musah who I consider the 5 best attacking players on the roster. I don’t see any other formation that would get those 5 on the field togethor. I think the cbs will be decided by training as I don’t think any of them really have a leg up on anyone else that being outplayed in training would be overlooked.
Tele57,
If Atlanta United move on in the playoffs, I think Miles Robinson could get sent home. If they are eliminated, he will certainly get run with the USMNT in this window.
I think it is highly unlikely that Berhalter will go with a 442 formation that has Balogun and Pepi on the field at the same time. That will definitely not happen in the first leg at home in Austin. For the second leg in T&T, the 442 formation could be a possibility, but I still think Balogun and Pepi on the field together is unlikely.
Who else would you trust in midfield in an important game? You’ve only named 3 midfielders.
Tele57 previous comment was reply to you.
Dennis, for me the 4th would be either Johnny or M Tillman depending on who shows better in training. If Johnny does than he would be the 6 with Musah as an outside halfback like McKennie, but if it were Tillman I would play musah at the 6 and Tillman as an outside halfback with McKennie on the other side. LDLT could also be an option as an outside halfback but I wouldn’t play him as a 6. I would use Maloney as a 6 before LDLT and definitely before McKennie. If pulisic and weah aren’t hurt, they would be 2 players I would definitely have on the field which lends itself more to a 4231 or a 433, but a 4231 probably puts one of the teams’ best players (McKennie) on the bench. But in the 433 I would have McKennie and Reyna as the 8s, I wouldn’t use Reyna as a wing.
Papi, just curious why you think he won’t play Balogan and Pepi togethor.
Tele, probably because if you only have 2 forwards and you start them both you can’t sub for fatigue or injury. Typically if you were going to start 2 you’d bring at least 3.
JR, there are a bunch of people on the roster that can play as a forward in a 2 man front. Both Aaronsons, McKennie, Reyna, Tillman, Zendejas. I don’t see any evidence to suggest any of them would be any less effective in that role than BAaronson and Zendejas would be as wingers based on extended recent performances by the two of them for the national team. It’s not like he picked four people that play wing for their club teams. He is counting on versatility. I think of the 24 people selected, only Zendejas plays wing for his club team.
Tele57,
In short, mostly because of the historical precedent that Berhalter has set.
In more detail…
Berhalter has not used a 442 formation in the past. He is not one that changes things up much. It was a miracle when he adapted to a 4-2-3-1 this past international window in October 2023.
Same reason for not having Balogun and Pepi on the field at the same time. Berhalter sees them as like for like replacements and therefore unlikely that he sees them as playing side by side.
Papi, thanks for your response. I definitely seem to be in the minority on this one. Maybe wishful thinking on my part.
tele: i spitballed 442 because he called “too few forwards.” 5 guys for 3 slots. it would also strike me as an intelligent response to having 2 good strikers but none of your usual regular wing help. it also fits how the defense was sometimes shaping up after being 4231 for offense, when reyna pushed.
but i remember making similar comments at least twice before. too few LFs at some point back in 21. too few mids one of the windows this year. he didn’t actually change formations then. i think it’s my over-intellectualized response to “wow, that’s an odd allocation of players.”
also if you wanted 442 you’d list the wings with the mids, definitely call 2 full sets, and then have pepi and balogun with more like striker backups, wright, ferreira, etc. calling just those two says they are each other’s backup. and none of the 3 wings strikes me as an emergency striker.
Why is Tim Ream in this roster? He is not a factor for 2026. Would rather see Trusty, McKenzie or even EPB.
Ream is a lock starter and captain for a premier league team. As long as that remains true he will be a lock for us and probably starts.
We need to beat T&T to qualify for Copa America. Put our best team out there, regardless of who’s going to be around 3 years from now.
It’s not about age, it’s about current form…that’s how USMNT callups work.
Plus, he provides an experience factor and leadership to the young CB’s and the team, as a whole.
Ream will continue to get called in and play, regardless of his age, until CCV, Miles Robinson, and Chris Richards, are all playing regularly and well for their respective club teams. If that time comes, Berhalter will have decisions to make. Until then, don’t blame Berhalter for calling in Ream.
Blame Berhalter for not calling in John Brooks! 🙂
John Brooks? never heard of him 🙂
Remember back in the day when GK was our strongest position and there were 2 top keepers to pick from. That’s all.
nah we don’t need koleosho or an experiment we can call……..zendejas. and paredes, (paxten, and luca). just an odd F call sheet. 5 total F guys missing your best 2 forwards — including brendan who often doubles as a M. if we’re playing to win, no TnT-giant ferreira (who can multitask and doesn’t have to be a 9). or try weston or musah wide and churn the MF a little.
meanwhile, the defense looked shaky last window and this is basically a xerox. round up the usual suspects. people wonder where “why do we play the games” comes from, it’s that performance followed by this part of the list.
if your response is we’re trying to win games and have to watch our risks, this is contradicted by some of the chest thumping i heard when this matchup was drawn, or the strange wing selections and short F roster, which will make it harder than necessary. “oh, but his fall stats,” yeah, we watched him stink all summer, which is more pertinent. but if GB doesn’t coach it, didn’t happen, or have we forgotten his whole 2019-21 learning curve on circling back around to all that sarachan had learned. and sarachan is hardly a genius.
IV
“or have we forgotten his whole 2019-21 learning curve on circling back around to all that sarachan had learned. and sarachan is hardly a genius.”
Why don’t you remind us of exactly what “sarachan had learned” that seems to matter so much?
ripping on Sarachan? red card dude
V: you have forgotten, i guess. in 2019 GB busted down to U23 a huge chunk of his future lineups, eg CCV miles jedi weah sargent wright. one of those, you brought them along slow, or you made an isolated bad call. all 5 — i question your scouting ability. i think sarachan had called them all in 2018 as senior players. then GB demotes them back down. then later brings them back up.
As the only keeper who’s actually playing, does Berhalter give Slonina the start?
In the back, Dest and A Robinson on the outside, with CCV and either Ream or Richards in the center. Berhalter will likely go with Ream next to CCV.
The starting midfield has to be McKennie and Musah with Reyna in front of them. Berhalter has favored bringing De La Torre on as the next midfielder, but I could see him bringing on either Cardoso or Maloney, who are true 6s, if we have the lead.
Starting up top should be B Aaronson, Balogun and Zendejas.
zendejas? as in stunk in the gold cup/most of the spring zendejas? this is precisely where i think the club form folks go nuts. to be fair, entirely possible based on the thin call sheet (taken literally by positions). personally if i was to the point it’s zendejas it would be dest, musah, mckennie, koleosho, ferreira, gressel, or some prospect first.
suggesting slonina just because he is seeing the field is even worse. dude’s averaging >2 GAA. that’s “getting playing time” in the loosest sense. turner is the clear #1 and while folks are panicking with some reason, he has literally been benched one league game, he started liverpool right around halloween. i do think some people owe me an apology about stacking up americans at forest, and the risks of a coach who has already rendered an american redundant, but we aren’t yet to the point where he’s so covered in rust and cobwebs the downside is manifest. he played 11 days ago. to be fair, i would like to see a more experimental side, but gaga wouldn’t get it right now. and if it’s the real deal then turner it is. this whole discussion is taking club form way too seriously.
i already said my piece above about the backline perseveration. i realize it’s TnT but when you lose to germany that bad there should be some evolution and not just injury swaps. (and goofy ones at that).
Berhalter will probably start Turner. However, and with the qualification that I haven’t seen Slonina play in Belgium, he’s on a bad team so you have to factor that into the goals against average. Turner, in addition to not playing for a couple of weeks by the time we play T & T, has to have his confidence shaken a bit. Starting Slonina would be a bold move, though.
Re: Zendejas, who are you starting over him? And I don’t want to debate who should have gotten called up and didn’t, but who should start over Zendejas that’s actually on this roster? Paredes? P Aaronson? Tillman? Do you want to put Reyna back out on the wing and start DLT along with Musan and McKennie in the midfield? Should, or will, Berhalter switch to a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1? I don’t think he will change formations. And as much as I’d like to see Paredes or P Aaronson, I doubt Berhalter will start guys with 3 total caps between them over Zendejas.
I could see starting Tillman over Zendejas, even though Tillman’s not a winger. I think he has played some outside midfield, although it may not be his best position. It would be an unorthodox move, and I doubt Berhalter would do it.
Berhalter was asked about Koleosho. He said he is in regular communication with Luca. “Everything happens in due time, we’ll see what happens.” It’s been widely reported he has been asked and is still deciding what else would you like him to do?
IV,
Zendejas stinking in the Gold cup was 5 moths ago. He is currently playing better for Club America and is scoring for them. The team is peaking and moving into the playoffs as the top seed in Liga MX. That said, using Ferreira as an example for not choosing Zendejas???…renders that argument for not choosing Zendejas null and void.
The GK’ing position is issue at this time. Slonina is playing, but I wouldn’t say he is playing well. Horvath is not even rostered for Nottingham, so he is not playing at all Turner just had a nightmare vs Liverpool and was subsequently benched, and rightfully so. To boot, Turner playing weekly in the EPL had an upside and a downside…upside = regular playing time…downside = Turner’s flaws are being exposed…tactically he is deficient…technically he is average at best…he is athletic and a good shot stopper but not technically clean with his hands…he is BRUTAL with his feet.
Club form is not only pertinent to callups for a National Team, it the foundation of the logic behind a callup. Anyone who doesn’t understand that doesn’t understand how National Team callups work, or doesn’t want to. Simple as that.
JR: dude, isn’t the total absence of either starting wing the time to call up koleosho and say, if you roll with us, you will start all week? that you will compete for copa america and the world cup roster? no, you’re right, we should wait until next year when we get the starting wings back and sell how he might just win backup if he sticks with USA. the game here is if he ever picks here you pronounce the coach genius and if he goes elsewhere he was supposed to.
papi: no, you’re wrong wrong wrong, historically the USMNT starters and most of the bench would be picked for a mix of long term talent and US performances. the last couple guys on the bench might make it for being on a streak. “wondo over landon.” and as i am hinting at, even the wisdom of that was debatable. but the idea was maybe the last guy to make the team, who might not play, be on a hot streak if he does ever see the field.
if you have been watching this team for decades you have watched plenty of stats wonders flop (lassiter, twellman, wondo, etc.). you’d also get that the question is not just can you produce in some other situation but do you fit our system and can you feed our 9. if you can’t, if you tend to hog the ball, freeze up, and get sloppy when with the NT, so what about club america.
johnny99: i gave you my list. dest. mckennie, musah, koleosho, gressel, ferreira, or try a prospect. zendejas got plentiful chances this spring and summer and wasted them. JR above beats his drum about “knows the system.” yeah the summer team knew the system so well we went out quarters of gold cup. he is an “inside the tent” choice by a coach who likes His Guys. this is roldan-dumb. at a point you tell yourself you got it wrong and move to Door 2. i gave you a mix of available regular players in an abundant MF or experiments. be blunt, i’d rather have a good player out there slightly out of position than a mediocre one at his specialty.
or, you know, move reyna out there for the week. to me it’s indicative of the inflexibility of the thing that it’s gotta be an experienced regular in their usual hole and not anything that brings up awkward memories or is a little bit of improv.
i thought aaronson played well last window, but he’s not consistently done so, and to me the wide position depth hasn’t been tested.
J99: slonina has a high GAA his whole career. i tend to believe a good keeper behind a bad team has an average year, not a poor one. with my then-lousy MLS team the starter was a half goal a game better than his backup. same lousy defense. i don’t buy all things are equal.
slonina has had a series of poor stats years but he also keeps playing for dog teams. but he hasn’t had to consistently do a good job. he has some raw tools and shotstopping but who knows. signing CFC was dumb. he is just going to get loaned around for half a decade.
IV: you don’t know that Gregg didn’t say exactly that to Koleosho. Just because a guy didn’t come doesn’t mean he wasn’t asked.
Turner missed one start and probably one more before camp. He played well last year while sitting. Why would you sit him now?
Some people seem to have amnesia about Turner’s previous play with the national team. Since being given the starting job, due to Steffen’s injury, he has been good or better in qualifying, Gold Cup, Nation’s League, World Cup, and whenever called upon. He made a poor play on one ball vs. Liverpool and all of a sudden some think he’s garbage. These are probably the same people who said A. Robinson was garbage because he got torched by a Brazilian winger, as if that never happens.
Gary, I in general agree with your sentiment that Matty should start no question. However, the Liverpool “gaffe” was awfully similar to the Panama goal. He’s either got to do better as a “sweeper keeper” or quit coming out.
i generally believe turner is superior by a margin, and he’s not yet out of game sharpness to fuss about. he also seemed to show in previous years he could be relied upon to play well regardless his club situation. however only a dunce dumps all his playing time on a single guy who could get hurt. you want to prepare the backups and you want to test they are even up to the situation. you bring up amnesia, as a former horvath booster, the dude has had some huge gaffes. and to me for all the snob talk about competition, they really mean that you’re on a good team that is perceived as competitive. they don’t actually mean that our spots should be fought for and won. i think turner has won his job, but people get hurt, and we need prepared and tested contingencies. i don’t think we’ve resolved anyone beyond the 1 shirt. that to me is wasting games. a team with both its starting wings out — about to start, who, zendejas and aaronson — should know better just as a process/structural thing.
johnny99,
My initial thought, which is subject to change… 🙂 …is that Paredes should start over Zendejas.
Paredes on the LW, Balogun at striker, and Brenden Aaronson on the RW.
While Zendejas is playing better and right now is scoring for Club America, Paredes is also playing well for Wolfsburg and scoring for them, as well. The difference for me is the speed that Paredes brings. He is very young and untested at the USMNT level, but we need someone that is able to get behind the defense’s line, can run / dribble by a defender, and has the work rate to press defensively. Paredes plays as a LWB for Wolfsburg, so him playing as a LW for the USMNT has a level of similarity to what Weah is doing for club and country.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Paredes, the kid seems to have forced his way into Wolfsburg’s starting lineup. I think Berhalter will go with Zendejas before Paredes, though.
Papi Grande,
I’m not sure it’s a case of Zendejas vs Paredes. I can see both not playing at all.
But if it turns out to be a choice of one or the other, ordinarily I would say go with the veteran over the new guy because of the importance of the occasion.
However, Zendejas’ most recent body of work for the USMNT has been pretty bad. And that’s the Gold Cup where the competition that Zendejas took on was pretty lightweight.
I get he’s playing better for CA now but it’s not like Zendejas has a previous track record of playing well for Gregg before the Gold Cup. Basically his entire USMNT portfolio sucks.
My guess is Gregg would start Alex over Paredes. But if Paredes
does well in training and impresses, I can see Gregg subbing KP in for Alex in the second half. TNT is crap and the truth is either player should be fine against them. And, from a tactical standpoint KP’s speed could be quite handy.
But don’t be surprised if neither one plays
“As the only keeper who’s actually playing, does Berhalter give Slonina the start?”
No. Matt is better. No fucking around in these two games. I don’t know why he even called Slonina in.
???
the question marks were for Striker91’s post.
Papi Jonny plays in Brasil not Bundesliga. Of course they edit it correctly to make me look dumb and gaslite 😂
Striker, it must have been edited by the time I saw it. 🙂
Striker 91,
Didn’t Johnny just get transferred to Real Betis?
V: not completely done, but should happen in January when the window reopens.
Eintracht Frankfurt/GER; 1/0), Johnny Cardoso you all put Paxtons club for Johnny. Thanks for covering this SBI staff I like the article and roster.