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1. Canada and Mexico are MLS / Liga MX “HEAVY”……this is going to be an interesting evaluation and assessment!!!

   CANADA

   Canada’s three goalkeepers this window will be:
   Maxime Crépeau from Portland Timbers, Jonathan Sirois from CF Montréal, and Dayne St. Clair from Minnesota United FC. ​

   Defenders selected are:
   Sam Adekugbe from Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Moïse Bombito from OGC Nice, Derek Cornelius from Olympique de Marseille, Alphonso Davies from Bayern Munich, Alistair Johnston from Celtic FC, Richie Laryea from Toronto FC, Kamal Miller from Portland Timbers and Joel Waterman from CF Montréal. ​

   Midfielders joining the group are:
   Ali Ahmed from Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Mathieu Choinière from Grasshopper Club Zurich, Stephen Eustáquio from FC Porto, Jonathan Osorio from Toronto FC and Niko Sigur from Hadjuk Split.

   Forwards:
   Stephen Afrifa from Sporting Kansas City, Theo Bair from AJ Auxerre, Jonathan David from LOSC Lille, Cyle Larin from RCD Mallorca, Liam Millar from Hull City, Tani Oluwaseyi from Minnesota United FC, and Jacob Shaffelburg from Nashville SC.

   New Canadian Faces ​
   Niko Sigur, eligible for Croatia (20-year-old, recently committed to Canada through a FIFA-approved one-time switch). Playing for six-time Croatian First League winners Hadjuk Split, nearing his 50th cap for the senior team and is a versatile player (midfield and defense). ​

   Stephen Afrifa, born in Toronto and eligible for Ghana, is a 23-year-old winger having a breakout season in the MLS, plays for Sporting Kansas City.

   MEXICO

   Goalkeepers:
   Luis Ángel Malagón (Club America), Raul Rangel (Chivas), Alex Padilla (Athletic Bilbao)

   Defenders:
   Julián Araujo (Bournemouth), Alan Mozo (Chivas), Israel Reyes (Club America), Cesar Montes (Almeria), Johan Vásquez (Genoa), Víctor Guzmán (Monterrey), Jesús Angulo (Tigres), Jesús Gallardo (Toluca)

   Midfielders:
   Luis Romo (Cruz Azul), Fidel Ambriz (Monterrey), Erik Lira (Cruz Azul), Carlos Rodríguez (Cruz Azul), Luis Chávez (Dynamo Moscow), Sebastián Córdova (Tigres), Orbelín Pineda (AEK Athens)

   Forwards:
   Diego Lainez (Tigres), Julián Quiñones (Al Qadsiah), Roberto Alvarado (Chivas), Marcelo Flores (Tigres), César Huerta (Pumas), Guillermo Martínez (Pumas), Santiago Gimenez (Feyenoord), Henry Martín (Club America)

   Shocker:
   Hirving “Chucky” Lozano – PSV????
   Raúl Jiménez – Fulham???

   Reply

   • Not sure your point. Those are pretty similar to their Copa rosters. They are MLS/Liga Mx heavy because that’s where most of their players play.
     ——————
     Sigur has lost his starting role at Split not sure why could be injuries. Who by the way haven’t won a league title since 2005.
     —————-
     Afrifa does have better MLS numbers than Shaffelburg I guess. I can’t figure out how Jacob is so much more dangerous for Canada than he is for Nashville.

     Reply

     • Johnny – “Not sure your point. Those are pretty similar to their Copa rosters. They are MLS/Liga Mx heavy because that’s where most of their players play.”

       bizzy – Canada and Mexico are MLS / Liga MX “HEAVY”

       Why are you confused. Top USMNT players in MLS are better than their Canadian counter parts….Mexico are made up of mostly Liga MX players and their league is on par with MLS……..yet those players are not only going to start but are going to stand toe to toe with us…….and yet here we are, looking down on OUR MLS PLAYERS (and their Liga MX counterparts) starting day in day out in league play, and somehow have to take a back seat to pine riding, grit-lacking, substitute-role players who find it hard to even see the field for their club.

       This is just a meaningless friendly but USSoccer up to this point has been struggling because of the backward mindset of the organization.

     • The US hasn’t lost to Mexico in 5 years. Perhaps that the US roster is mostly Euro based while Mexico’s has largely gone from Euro based to domestic based is a reason. Or that perhaps Canada’s success isn’t related so much to its MLS players but its elite Euro players David and Davies. US is 3-1-1 against Canada the last 5 years.

     • Hahahaha…… When it comes to elite players of Canada, they don’t hold a candle to players playing in the higher division like the United States.
       And yes, when it comes to Mexico because they’re using mostly their home-based players they have not beaten us in a while but they are dialing in and trying to figure it out game by game and competition by competition.
       Let’s see how these friendlies go

     • bizzy,

       “Top USMNT players in MLS are better than their Canadian counter parts….Mexico are made up of mostly Liga MX players and their league is on par with MLS……..yet those players are not only going to start but are going to stand toe to toe with us…….and yet here we are, looking down on OUR MLS PLAYERS (and their Liga MX counterparts) starting day in day out in league play, and somehow have to take a back seat to pine riding, grit-lacking, substitute-role players who find it hard to even see the field for their club.”

       I won’t argue that the USSF are less than wonderful in every way.

       I will say that in my experience, when the rubber hits the road and it really matters,the USMNT doesn’t discriminate against MLS players.

       The USMNT doesn’t care where the players play with their clubs.

       For example, here is the lineup when the US met TNT at Couva in 2017 for the very important WC qualifier:

       GK1Tim Howard RB2DeAndre Yedlin CB3Omar Gonzalez 90+1′ CB5Matt Besler 90+5′ LB15Jorge Villafaña 72′ RM21Paul Arriola 46’CM4Michael Bradley (c) CM6Darlington Nagbe 84′ LM10Christian Pulisic CF17Jozy Altidore CF9Bobby Wood
       Subs
       MF16Benny Feilhaber 84′
       F23Kellyn Acosta 72′
       FW8Clint Dempsey

       Of the players who played these were the only overseas ones:

       Yedlin, England
       Pulisic, Germany
       Villafana, Mexico
       Wood, Germany

       Everyone else was MLS.

       One problem you have with the top American players in MLS is that they ten to move overseas fairly quickly after making a splash, Aidan for example.

       If you’re thinking Djorde, why? I’m sure he would “run through the proverbial wall” but he has not been impressive with the senior team and he was present at the Olympics, I think. As an overage, you expect more than just being “present”.

2. IV,

   “that and they continue to not pick target CFs.to me call yow and campbell atop pulisic and drop some of the CFs.”

   Yow and Campbell are target CF’s?

   ” either call balogun and wright for producing”

   They did call those two. What are you bitching about?

   “or call sargent and pepi and tell them it’s put up or shut up time.”

   They called them up as well, but you want threaten them with your faux macho dick waving for a trio of friendlies? That’s beyond stupid.

   National teams spend so little time together, you want to save your threatening the lives of your players for when it really matters since if you don’t follow it up right then, you end up looking awkward and idiotic.

   Starting out firm is one thing. But this immediate put up or shut up ultimatum posing is painting yourself into a corner.

   Reply

   • maybe try reading my post next time, you quoted it like you supposedly did. i said 4 guys who play the same position where we use 1 person at a time is overkill. i said it was like we didn’t make any tough decisions and just kept calling people. i suggested making actual decisions. i suggested calling the ones who score, as a reward. or i suggested calling the ones who don’t score, as a last chance for a while. the idea that a team eventually has to cut some people, is basic reality. it’s been a long time since pepi played for us like he used to. people throw around club form but balogun is the one scoring in the nats shirt lately.

     i explained what my concern was, i guess you skipped that part. literally 8 of the guys called — 1/3 of the team — play 2 spots on the field, GK and CF. while they called 4 CF — when we play 1 at a time — they called 2 wingers — when we play 2 at a time. the allocation might make sense if we were trying a 442. it’s goofy for a 433 where we want the wingers to run around and cover on defense.

     at least part of it would also be i’d like to see us try pulisic inside as a 10 — where he plays a fair amount in club. but we’re barely bothering to call the man a wing sub much less giving that flexibility. and any flexibility we might have seems premised on pushing wright — one of the strikers who is scoring for the nats — wide.

     Reply

     • IV,

       “maybe try reading my post next time, you quoted it like you supposedly did. ”

       I always read your posts. They can be interpreted in a variety of ways, not all of which make sense.

       “i said 4 guys who play the same position where we use 1 person at a time is overkill.”

       This is a roster for a series of friendlies and is therefore experimental, especially considering we have a new manager who might actually want to meet and see some of these guys in training. It’s always a good idea for a manager to actually meet his players.

       ” i said it was like we didn’t make any tough decisions and just kept calling people.”

       That’s right. No need to make tough decisions now.

       ” i suggested making actual decisions.”

       Why? It’s September 2024. You want to decide on the 2026 WC roster today? A little premature I would say.

       ” i suggested calling the ones who score, as a reward. or i suggested calling the ones who don’t score, as a last chance for a while.”

       Granted the new guy is already short on time you don’t really know why each of these guys were called in. Maybe the new guy has a different way of managing players than you do. Is that possible?

       “In other words you don’t know the idea that a team eventually has to cut some people, is basic reality. ”

       No shit.

       “it’s been a long time since pepi played for us like he used to. people throw around club form but balogun is the one scoring in the nats shirt lately.”

       You want to cut both of these guys since they were on the Copa America roster and you want some accountability so what’s the worry?

       “i explained what my concern was, i guess you skipped that part. literally 8 of the guys called — 1/3 of the team — play 2 spots on the field, GK and CF. while they called 4 CF — when we play 1 at a time — they called 2 wingers — when we play 2 at a time. the allocation might make sense if we were trying a 442. it’s goofy for a 433 where we want the wingers to run around and cover on defense.”

       Yeah? So what? Maybe the new guy is not going to coach as if he was you.

       “at least part of it would also be i’d like to see us try pulisic inside as a 10 — where he plays a fair amount in club. but we’re barely bothering to call the man a wing sub much less giving that flexibility. and any flexibility we might have seems premised on pushing wright — one of the strikers who is scoring for the nats — wide.”

       A roster is names on a page.

       Once you have a real game, that is when we will see what these players actually do. I see no need to limit CP to a #10 role.

     • V: this is not complicated. we did the same experiment over the summer and the 4th guy, sargent, didn’t dress for the friendlies, then played all of 22′ in the copa. nothing happened and we lost both games he played scoring 1 team goal. for the 5 games all summer we managed 5 total goals.

       the allocation ignores that CF is probably one of the stronger positions on the team. i think you could put wright and balogun out there and do fine. i get in the abstract we “can” try things. i don’t see any “need” other than fanboys all excited about club numbers.

       and other than giving sargent his 20th chance, it’s not really an experiment, they are all regulars, they have track records. it’s more refusing to accept the conclusions and forcing more competition.

       where we could use experiments is about everywhere else.

       and we did something similar at gold cup 23 with the B team — called a bunch of experimental strikers and almost no wings — which was notorious as the tournament where we kept having to win games 1-0 for lack of service. which you seem to be missing the point that if i have 2 wings called and they ever get tired, how do i serve your many CFs? they will starve. and you can’t test CFs without service.

       the 23 gold cup team offered the same excuses, too, that some of the CF could double as wings. and then we struggled for goals, as we did at copa trying the same thing.

       last, as with reyna constantly being redeployed back off the 10 hole, it’s like this team isn’t bright enough to accept it has 1 position sorted, leave that player be, and move elsewhere. and so wright, who will score including at the world cup, has to move to wing, so i can watch sargent, who won’t score, trial as the CF. that’s backwards. you don’t move the one who works. it should be sargent panhandling for a wing job.

     • IV,

       “In context: considered together with the surrounding circumstances.”

       “V: this is not complicated. ”

       I never said it was. What your take is, is out of context and irrational.

       You are treating the release of this roster as if there needs to be a Congressional Committee formed to investigate the atrocities committed by the Berhalter administration and furthermore, prevent, immediately, further perpetuation of Gregg’s sins. You’re carrying out a jihad against all things Berhalter and anyone associated with him such as the esteemed Varas.

       Where does the context come in? For one thing you don’t even know what context is.

       Gregg was fired. He’s not here anymore. The Clown Car USSF is still here but there ‘s nothing anyone can do about them So this extreme holy war you keep waging is insane. The analysis you are providing is based on what Gregg did because Pochettino hasn’t done anything yet , that we know of.

       It’s as if you’re getting yourself ready to criticize Pochettino based on any resemblance to Gregg because, you wish to be perceived as being the first one on SBI who knows anything. This is ironic as I rarely, if ever, see anything original or perceptive in your takes.

       The only real interesting aspect of this roster is that Fossey is being given a shot in great part because of his CLUB PERFORMANCES. That must set off hatred oozing in every fiber of your being.

       I get that Pochettino needs all the minutes he can get with this team but business is business.

       “this team isn’t bright enough to accept it has 1 position sorted, leave that player be, and move elsewhere. and so wright, who will score including at the world cup, has to move to wing, so i can watch sargent, who won’t score, trial as the CF. that’s backwards. you don’t move the one who works. it should be sargent panhandling for a wing job.”

       This team has one position sorted, Pulisic plays somewhere.

       Other than that no other position is sorted. This logic of yours that the only goals that count are ones a player scored for the USMNT AND that that means other goals for the USMNT by that player are SURE to follow, is amazing.

       Wright and Balogun are fine up front but it is entirely possible that the two of them will never score another goal for the USMNT.

3. 2tone

   Do Matt and Ethan look anything like ter stegen to you?

   Reply

4. Bizzy,

   If this was a competitive game , they might not be. This is the equivalent of a icebreaker meet and greet. The new manager, whoever he might be, wants see how some of these pieces fit.

   These are glorified practices.

   Reply

5. i like reyna as 10 which the call sheet implies, and while he’s not my first choice, ok, let’s give morris a go and maybe discourage him getting canadian ideas, but the rest of that MF call sheet is second-rate accountability-free xeroxing.

   Reply

   • Morris is cap tied he has played in 5 matches including the Gold Cup. Also he’s not generally a 10, he’s an 8 or a dual 6. He could in a pinch but Gio, Malik, and Brendan would all be more traditional 10s than Aidan. Some people think he’s a like for like for Adams but he’s not that either.

     Reply

     • JR,

       If he turns into anything like his manager, Carrick, I’d be happy.

     • i would never have confused morris with a 10. to me as long as we’re still trying this mess of a formation it should be reyna + 10 twin-6s. reyna alone does the 10 job better than 2 crappy 8s. and we don’t have a 6 of adams’ level yet, so use two of them. this is why i keep saying we need one more “reyna.” that way we don’t feel like we have to change tactics when we sub the 10. you then call four 6s to clean up messes. if we have twin 6s then individual 6s don’t have to be incredible, though ideally you pick the best defenders.

       it’s a better concept by far than having a single 6 not up to adams’ standard, so we ship goals, and twin 8s not able to create. setting aside personally i think our obsession with 8s is daft. let’s see how many low productivity mids we can get on the field at once!

       anyhow, to me, anyone picking LDLT malik johnny after copa isn’t very bright. some point we need to grasp it’s a goals-scored game about either snipers or legbreakers. people who do a morsel of both aren’t very useful. LDLT who doesn’t do much then can’t defend is useless.

       V is pretending like this is some showcase for poch reflecting his input. i don’t buy that for a second. there aren’t any real wild cards like a new coach scouted this.
       for example the Fs reflect the same 9 overkill as the summer. and anyhow the mids don’t look like an EPL coach picked them or like anyone reflected upon recent years or how the summer went.

     • IV: rereading I see what you’re saying. I thought you were saying start Aidan over Gio to cap tie him. You were saying start him with Gio. As long as the ten is coming back between the CBs to get the ball I don’t care.

6. the deal is you get a sense how we work and you see where someone like trusty just doesn’t get many minutes, if any, despite how crap we looked this summer.

   jedi, scally, richards, and ream started every game at copa plus the colombia debacle and brazil tie. the results speak for themselves. there should be some accountability to that. i can’t believe only one of them gets the hook, and technically he probably asked to skip. the chuckleheads below can amuse themselves at my predictability, but GIGO. or do we care if we win?

   i like some of the fresh faces but again, as with keeper, the underlying structure of the call sheet plus our pattern of not churning the team implies we will play usual suspects for 1-2 games everyplace but LB. and that mckenzie will probably be next in line for a sub. and that despite our struggles including at LB the LB auditions will be a booby prize for a seatwarmer.

   we don’t act like a team that just got whooped.

   Reply

   • IV

     That’s because this is a different team.

     It even has a new manager

     This is a national team not a club

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     • on this we disagree. i think this is the last gasp of the old regime not the first light of the new dawn. among the tell-tales — the same 4 strikers as copa. similar roster breakdown by position. several of the regulars who do little or do outright bad. does this really feel like a new coach with a broom, or does it feel like varas and a xerox machine? some experiments aside, generally the latter.

       and you’re missing my point re how our rosters are set up and used lately. we tend to call the regulars and start the obvious. people who look new get sub minutes if at all. so if turner or ream gets called, they are the weapon on the mantle in a chekhov play. they will play. we treat new faces like freshmen.

       i say this because save perhaps LB you could put a xerox unit of regulars out there from this roster. turner, 3/4 of the backs, regular mids and Fs, adams and weah out but that’s almost cooked in at this point.

       thing being, we got drubbed this summer. why on earth would you do continuity? i can’t believe poch is on Team Same Folks. if he is we hired the wrong guy. and it wouldn’t just be a sprinkling of new subs. one assumes he’d have a few new starters. so, no, this is the ancien regime perseverating.

     • IV,

       “V is pretending like this is some showcase for poch reflecting his input. i don’t buy that for a second. there aren’t any real wild cards like a new coach scouted this.”

       Bullshit.

       You want the new Freddy Adu. Then you can “take credit” for “discovering” him. You haven’t figured out yet that others may or may not have discovered your Freddy but just not written anything about it.

       I want good, motivated players. This is Varas (who may do a Dave Sarachan if Pochettino dumps us for Man U) or Pochettino, if he gives a shit, using the opportunity to check out some people they may not have the opportunity to later.

       “there should be some accountability to that. ”

       “Accountability”??? are you familiar with the concept of cutting off your nose to spite your face?
       Did you expect the new permanent manager, whether it was Varas or Pochettino, to clean the decks and submit a roster that excluded anyone on the Copa America roster?

       “thing being, we got drubbed this summer. why on earth would you do continuity? i can’t believe poch is on Team Same Folks. if he is we hired the wrong guy. and it wouldn’t just be a sprinkling of new subs. one assumes he’d have a few new starters. so, no, this is the ancien regime perseverating.”……….”on this we disagree. i think this is the last gasp of the old regime not the first light of the new dawn. among the tell-tales — the same 4 strikers as copa.”

       Yeah? Which 4 strikers did you expect if not those 4? Give us your “accountability” roster excluding any Copa America guys.
       The new guy is already short on time so he can’t do what Gregg did when he began, which is cap a lot of shit that he wound up discarding later.
       There are a lot of familiar faces but that does not make it the same team.
       The games are friendlies, so the motivation of our guys and the opponents is completely different.

       National Teams, unlike a lot of club teams are very different from major tournament to major tournament. The Qatar team would have kicked our Copa America team’s ass. And that was with the same manager. Now there is a new manager. This alone makes it a different team.

       This will be a different team but it ain’t no new dawn. I’d be happy to completely exclude the entire Copa America roster from the 2026 World Cup just for the hell of it, but the USMNT player pool does not have enough good players to replace the entire or even just most of the Copa America roster.
       What are you going to do? Bring back Cohen, Green, Holmes and Sapong? What about Juan Agudelo?

       “similar roster breakdown by position. several of the regulars who do little or do outright bad. does this really feel like a new coach with a broom, or does it feel like varas and a xerox machine? some experiments aside, generally the latter.”…………..”and you’re missing my point re how our rosters are set up and used lately. we tend to call the regulars and start the obvious. people who look new get sub minutes if at all. so if turner or ream gets called, they are the weapon on the mantle in a chekhov play. they will play. we treat new faces like freshmen.”

       The key word is lately.

       You continually miss the point that national team rosters and how they are composed EVOLVE over the course of a cycle.

       This ain’t no select team and it ain’t even any club team. National teams build rosters towards a major tournament. In the USMNT’s case it’s the World Cup, so we’re on a 4-year cycle. Should Copa America become a regular feature it will become a 2-year cycle, which is what all the adult teams, like France, Spain or Argentina, are on.

       Gregg started out with bupkus, nothing, a shattered program. The only thing he had was Pulisic and at the time CP had a lot of developing to do.
       So he threw a lot of shit on the wall, did the best he could, which wasn’t that much and we are where we are.

       But at some point, when you do this, and you never have, you start to get more comfortable with an expanding core of players.

       How you build changes a bit.

       Because guess what, building a national team, pretty much from scratch? Especially when you are not experienced or gifted, your player pool is mediocre and limited and you aren’t getting a lot of help from your fuckwit USSF, this is fucking hard to do.

       So, as you get towards the end of the cycle, a core that you trust tends to emerge. This means fewer new guys get called in and “freshmen”, happen less frequently because the manager must focus on coaching up his existing core, because he really doesn’t have enough time to do that any case, unless said “freshmen” show right away that they have something needed by Gregg. Because Gregg was running out of time the whole time.

       Could Gregg have been smarter about all this? Sure. He pissed away 22 caps on Ferreira trying to make him into a #9. And all he got for that was nothing. A ton of wasted time. So, Gregg did the bare minimum and just skated by. You can only expect so much when you send someone so amateurish in to do a professional job. He did a good job for someone who was so ill equipped, and I give him credit for trying and doing the best he could but that’s it.

       Pochettino, if he comes, is far more accomplished as a manager, the player pool is less putrid than it was when Gregg started and, I assume, Pochettino will have a lot more clout with the USSF that Gregg did. Maybe they will try to help him.

       But this is a difficult and screwy job. I won’t be surprised if the USMNT that Pochettino puts out there is far better coached and more organized when they get to the 2026 World Cup. They might look good.

       But that doesn’t guarantee that their results are going to be any better. It depends on two things, both out of Pochettino’s control, injuries, and the draw.

       We don’t have the player depth to be more certain than that.

7. Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP; 22/0) and Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 31/8) should not be on this roster. De la Torre because he’s coming off an injury and should be with Celta Vigo, showing his commitment while trying to get his spot back……and Gio because he is riding pine and not seeing the field for Dortmund and this selection sends the wrong message, especially for hard working consistent players.

   With Tillman, Musah, AaronsonCade and Cardoso available, we should have called Cowell (tearing up Liga MX) and/or Diego Luna (5 goals 12 assist, 87 pass %), and /or Djordje Mihailovic (10 goals 10 assists, 82 – pass %)

   I guess this is still “GB’s team”…..with Mikey Varas at the helm.

   Reply

   • There are levels though Bizzy. Did Mihailovic do anything at the Olympics that made you think he was ready for first team minutes? I didn’t think he was one of the best players on that team. I don’t see Mihailovic getting minutes at BvB do you? I love Diego, but I don’t think he’s better than Gio. RSL has brought in two different players to play the #10 role in Crooks and Goncalves instead of playing Diego there where he says is his best position. Gio had 4g 2a in his first 6 under Gregg 2.0 then this summer Gregg decided to make him a regista and drop him between the CBs. Put him up underneath the CF and let him cook.

     Reply

     • i guess people have forgotten the meh oly U23s this summer were a decent part of the awful gold cup B team last summer with the senior NT. it’s amusing watching some folks see that bunch as the answer to our problems. there’s a reason i tend to look either wild card, older, or younger than that cohort.

       djordje? cowell? am i back in may 23? there is a particular set of reasons i think the club form stuff is dumb, and one of them is it’s people get ideas like draft in the gold cup B team, like it’s not the same people. as though a lot of them don’t have like 5-10 caps and definite meh track records.

       to me it’s like can we not just literally repeat trying the same mistakes? old days you got a couple caps and you either did something or not. we didn’t reargue the debate just because you transferred to blah blah FC.

   • Bizzy,

     If this was a competitive game , they might not be. This is the equivalent of a icebreaker meet and greet. The new manager, whoever he might be, wants see how some of these pieces fit.

     These are glorified practices.

     Reply

     • i think this was going to be roughly the same team as usual except a few regular guys bailed or were hurt. i think we are sufficiently brainless at the moment that the idea was show poch the usual, as though that’s not already on tape, miserable last summer, and not a redundant use of the games. “let him decide.”

       good sense to me would have been kick the ball somewhat downfield in a different direction where the coach gets new information. or literally have someone play at being poch with his input.

   • bizzy,

     “and Gio because he is riding pine and not seeing the field for Dortmund and this selection sends the wrong message, especially for hard working consistent players.”

     By wrong message it sounds like, and correct me if I’m wrong, but you are worried about the unfairness of someone working his butt off and not getting called in while Gio, lazing around on his butt and playing 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there gets called in. You are saying you see some unfairness there.

     Tyler recently gave an interview where he said the men’s national team’s next coach must be “ruthless” and have a proven track record of getting results.

     Given that I think of Bill Parcells a ruthless SOB if there ever was one:

     “He treats all of his players fairly, but he doesn’t treat them all the same. “I have no interest in being consistent,” Parcells said between Thursday’s two practices. “That’s not what my objective is. My objective is to be right, and to have it turn out right — first for the Dallas Cowboys and secondly sometimes, hopefully, for the individual involved.”

     Treat everyone fairly but not equally, because not all players will contribute equally to the team.

     Pulisic, for example, does not contribute equally to this team; he contributes more. No one is saying you can’t drop Pulisic; but you better have a really good reason and everyone else is going to have to make up the difference; assuming they even can.

     In calling up Reyna the message to the rest of the players from the manager is that I will pick who I think makes us better. If you don’t like it then prove me wrong, outdo Gio in some way. The world is not fair.

     The USMNT player pool has always been so shallow that managers have often felt the need to take a chance on players who were not perhaps as fit as they should have been . Bob took a half fit Gooch to South Africa in 2010 when he probably should not have.

     Reply

8. F continues to be weird. one way of looking at it is 4 CF and just 2 wings when wing is an important creative position in our formation, and exhausting. if it’s a 1 CF formation 3 is a lot. 4 is overkill — sargent never saw the field last window. what’s the point to calling other people you don’t actually play? and don’t tell me practice is the same as a game.

   i know reyna “can” play wide but we “need” him at 10. i know wright “can” play wide but of late he’s “been” our most productive CF. and malik at wing, pfffft. it’s like they can’t make a CF decision so they carry way too many CF and then will say people who should play someplace else count as numbers wide.

   that and they continue to not pick target CFs.

   to me call yow and campbell atop pulisic and drop some of the CFs. either call balogun and wright for producing or call sargent and pepi and tell them it’s put up or shut up time.

   Reply

   • IV,

     “that and they continue to not pick target CFs.to me call yow and campbell atop pulisic and drop some of the CFs.”

     Yow and Campbell are target CF’s?

     ” either call balogun and wright for producing”

     They did call those two. What are you bitching about?

     “or call sargent and pepi and tell them it’s put up or shut up time.”

     They called them up as well, but you want threaten them with your faux macho dick waving for a trio of friendlies?
     That’s beyond stupid.

     Reply

     • Vacqui – 4 CFs for 2 matches, & if Varas only plays 2 in both matches will be a waste to call in guys who are not going to play. CP & BA are the wings. To IVs point, it’s the same ol same ol. Not to IVs point, Sargent did play in Copa America. We don’t need to keep seeing the same players over and over again especially if they played in both the WC ‘22 & Copa ‘24. I agree with Beachbum about B Vasquez getting a look. We don’t see anyone new because we never rotate. We as fans think the depth chart at certain positions is thin because Turner, Ream, CP always start. Do we need to know about Musah, Sargent or Gio in these friendly’s or high level scrimmages? Redundancy has been slowing this country down these 2 cycles. US soccer coaches we’ve had, have always been unimaginative! Varas is another example. Matko, Lucho, GB, BJ Callahan, Anthony Hudson are all fruit from the same tree. We don’t need any more US soccer coaches with their eyes attached to Europe. We need American team sport principles. We need NFL route running to be taught to US futbol players. We need NBA sideline out-of-bounds plays to be taught to US futbol players for throw ins. We need our defenders to use basketball techniques like sliding your feet instead of crossing them while defending (Shaq Moore does this at a high level. He’s the only 1). We need back shoulder passes taught to US soccer players like QBs to WRs so when things break down the players know what to do without a thought. We need players on rotation like MLB pitchers. Most of all, listen up name callers, & willfully ignorant, and I do mean most of all – WE NEED PLAYS. It’s time. Example- Steffen to Jedi; Jedi to Mckennie, McKennie to Adams, Adams to Jedi, Jedi to BA, BA to Weah, Weah switches field of play to Musah, Musah lays it off to Dest. Dest shoots w/ left foot scores. I doubt you paid any attention to anything I said, or what this represents. If you did, what country was this against? And it what competition? @ Johnny Razor, if you see & read this, double check my work on the play, because this was all from memory.

     • what i said and meant isn’t hard to follow. we don’t need 4 CFs on a roster. to play 1 CF slot a game with perhaps 1 sub. 2-3 guys including subs covers 2 games. and pulisic or reyna as the emergency 9. take that emptied room and use it on wings. we have 2 actual wings rostered as specialists. aaronson and pulisic. are they never coming out for subs? you do need 4 wings at least because it’s exhausting. if the wings are exhausted or non-specialists your 9 starves from lack of service.

       yow and campbell as some of those wings. would have been paredes too had he stayed healthy.

       and this is literally what GB did this summer, same mistake, which is the tell tale varas is GB xeroxed. why did i fire the coach and have this guy caretake if i could have just rolled a xerox machine to the sideline?

     • It’s: Costa Rica in Columbus WC Qualifier. I had no idea the order other than Weah to Musah to Dest. I couldn’t find the full clip but it ended Adams-Wes-BA-Weah-Musah-Dest, so I give a lot of props for being as accurate as you were. Then it was Weah’s goal that was ruled an own goal to win 2-1.

     • IOTTHINK,

       Again, no one here has been told exactly why these people were picked.

       It has occurred to me that perhaps Pochettino talked it over with Varas and this is his requested roster.

       Maybe you and IV don’t need to see these 4 CF’s because you both are familiar with their every nuance.

       But Pochettino is not.

       Maybe he’ll be there. Maybe he wants to meet them and see them in training, even if they don’t play in the game, hang out with them in the hotel later.

       Camps for friendlies are different from camps for tournaments.
       camps for friendlies are more like preseason while camps for friendlies are more like when you install your packages for offense, defense and special teams.

       If I hire a guy to manage my soccer team I let him manage my soccer team, I don’t micromanage the hell out of him and ask him why he wants 4 instead of 3 center forwards.

       Pochettino is a very experienced manager but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to occasionally see his players in person, especially when he’s never met them.

       The USMNT has never had a lot of rotation because the manager did not have enough time to spend with the starters in the first place. And they usually wanted to maximize that time. Which led to rotation being somewhat limited.

       Sure now we have all these shiny new players coming out of the woodwork to play for us. But it’s not clear that there is more time and opportunity for the manager to work out all these new players and fit them into a rotation. The USMNT’s biggest problem is that the starters are not performing well enough to make up for the overall mediocrity of the entire roster. If you go iron man like Gregg did in Qatar, then you need more from them, while they are still standing.

       A club team has preseason, various cup competitions, foreign and domestic. loans, reserve leagues, etc. to evaluate and /or work in new players.

       The USMNT has none of this. They mostly have to go by club performance which , IV notes, is useless.

       You want “PLAYS”? Did you ever hear of repetition?

       NO problem.

       Get better players, better managers and more reps in practice and games for the player pool. Do that and the USMNT will be a lot more coached up and look better.

     • V: ah, you did get one right. my emphasis is on “plays.” we do way too much of this off of club numbers, club video, or practices. abstract, in our heads. this needs to be more about, you call some people, they play for the US, within the scheme, and it either goes well or not. you keep the ones it usually goes well. you cut the ones it goes badly.

       the US process is after it goes badly some analyst or fanboy starts whispering in the coach’s ear, “ignore the last US games, look at club form.” so we ignore what we just learned. guy comes back, earns 22′ and 0 goals, “more club form talk.” back again.

       striker is loaded. and if you want to try people, there are dozens without a bunch of cap history and negligible good done with it. go find someone else who actually shows up on game day.

       and to break the poor hearts of the club form folks, sometimes it’s surprising who will produce. it is not just a club stats comparison. sometimes it’s scheme fit. sometimes it’s you need some brutal elements and not all lace and frills. especially when lace and frills hasn’t produced since 2021.

       we have a finite amount of games and it doesn’t move the team downfield any, metaphorically, to go in circles like arena calling omar besler cameron over and over in 2017 like that’s the only possible answer. if one of the usual suspects keeps frustrating, call someone else.

       before big club abundance this used to be obvious. you either produced for the nats or got dropped. the “but he scores 25 goals a year in club (wondo) or plays for dortmund (kirovski)” line of discussion lasted about 5 seconds. you either contributed or not. if not, that’s what the rest of the pool is for.

9. Really like the Fossey inclusion.
   Weird Slonina wasn’t called up. Kochen call up seems to be a move to get him involved with the group. Barcelona has nothing but great things to say about the kid, but he isn’t supplanting Ter Stegen anytime soon.

   Reply

   • kochen [and morris] i took to be about actual or moral cap-tying. for whatever reason that’s not been a priority. i am not even sure it sets up to actually do us any good if he sits behind turner and horvath and doesn’t get capped.

     schulte has good numbers and was the U23 starter. occasionally he makes an eyepopping save, but slonina has had weaker numbers and was his U23 backup.

     if you really want gaga involved, IMO turner has had endless caps and we know what we’re getting. there will be pressure to give him 1-2 more games and that sucks some or all the oxygen from the position. that and horvath has always been shaky and has had a horrific start to this season, 10 GA/4 games (2.5 GAA) with some gaffes.

     you drop him and turner and run out someone else. personally to me it’d be celentano or frei, but a fresh trio would mean the fresh faces would actually play. which is what we need.

     as it stands, turner gets a game or two, and decent chance horvath gets any other minutes. wow, whoop, big diff. i don’t see how capping the usual suspects helps nail down kochen or really kick the ball downfield at keeper personnel wise.

     Reply

     • I’m going to agree with IV somewhat here. New faces don’t mean anything if they don’t play. In Hayes first game we saw 9 changes from SK game 1 to SK game 2. Go “first team” if you want against Canada and then rotate most of the guys for NZ. You can always bring in Pulisic, Reyna, and Balo the last 30 like Emma brought in Triple Espresso. Given that there are 4 GK I feel like Kochen is probably just there to feel things out. I don’t believe he’s yet available for Spain so if he played he would rule out Spain forever. You can only switch teams you were available for at the time of your first cap. I don’t think there’s much chance he switches to Peru or Venezuela at this point. So I think it’s a I’ll come but I’m not playing but we’ll see.

     • Further digging some people say he is currently eligible for Spain some say he isn’t. He’s eligible to apply for citizenship but it doesn’t look like he has. I’m not sure if that covers you for a later switch or not.

     • i think this regime believes in “moral capping”.– “he was in camp and got a feel for how we do what we do, so hopefully he’ll stick with us.” i think if you have ever played soccer calling me in to ride the bench, maybe watch the whole time, is not the sales pitch this regime thinks it is. and if some other team is saying come here and you will play now, it’s an immediate negative contrast.

       you’re almost better off not calling them at all as leaving him off or calling him to age group is not insulting while sitting bench might be. do we think suggesting to the kid he’s 3rd or 4th string sells us?

       no, you want the kid you chase him like dest. if he’s overrated or undercooked you back out when he has enough caps he has no choice left. it’s a little cold blooded but i don’t think it’s evil fast tracking a big prospect from a big club into a top 16 national team. even if we back away after. any one of us would probably give our left attachment for one lousy 10 minute garbage time national team cap.

       and this isn’t how to treat every 18 year old, but it is how to chase the big time ones. we badly need out of the “try us, try them” passive nonsense. we want you. you want us? we’ll play you at least a half this weekend. you’ll go as far as your keeping carries you.

     • JR: and yeah if you set up the rosters and the lineups where in reality the noobs at most play 30-45 minutes behind the same guys i just watched blow the summer, it’s mostly a waste of time.

       to me it’s the paradoxical absurdity of wanting to send out a group the brass thinks less likely to lose that in reality often does so. i don’t get why we see change as so risky when the regulars are risky enough.

     • IV: you’re missing my point. It’s not that the US doesn’t want to play him, it’s that he’s said he won’t play because he doesn’t want to potentially eliminate Spain from his options.

     • JR: i didn’t know kochen said he can’t play. if he isn’t sure he wants to commit, screw him, he can go stew with barca for all i care. the 10 items or less line is for committed. camp is for people who want to be capped and commit. if he wants to feel things out, we can buy him a plane ticket to drop by like balogun did. but roster coffee is for closers.

       i remember dest back at his origins saying he wanted to keep his holland options open. every prior US coach and i would have put him back on a plane or train immediately. you reward the loyalty with the premature cap. if he won’t commit then i don’t skip him ahead of the line because i can’t get my upside. we already have several veteran keepers worth trying.

       as i have said 20 times, you only encourage this sort of behavior by indulging it. if you say you only reward commitment, you get quicker commitment. if you allow games, you play games.

     • IV: I don’t know for sure he said he didn’t want to play, but that makes sense with the extra GK. Maybe I’m reading in too much and it was just they added Turner when Palace said it was ok after he got his late transfer, or perhaps Schulte will leave early because The Crew have matches during the international break. Klinsmann did allow Green to come and hang out before he officially switched so it did happen before. It’s also such a different time. We didn’t have guys like Aidan Morris or Gaga Slonina being courted by other countries nearly as much as happens now and the guys we were courting weren’t being wooed by big countries. Thomas Dooley wasn’t being contacted by Germany and Earnie Stewart wasn’t getting calls from the Netherlands. Having hard lines didn’t work out so well with Rossi or Subotic.

     • The Imperative Voice

       “he was in camp and got a feel for how we do what we do, so hopefully he’ll stick with us.” i think if you have ever played soccer calling me in to ride the bench, maybe watch the whole time, is not the sales pitch this regime thinks it is. “

       You’re the same guy who doesn’t believe in interviewing managers before hiring them.

       “ if some other team is saying come here and you will play now, it’s an immediate negative contrast.”

       Like Spain? Unless it is as a third keeper on the bench, Spain probably won’t call Diego into the first team for the Nations League They have 3 keepers in the 27- 29-year-old range. All of them probably have brighter futures than Matt, as far as anyone can tell. That does not mean that in two years’ time Diego won’t be Spain’s #1. Stranger things have happened.
       Venezuela? Tough team but I would say playing in a World Cup is more likely to happen with the USMNT than either Peru or Venezuela.

       “you’re almost better off not calling them at all as leaving him off or calling him to age group is not insulting while sitting bench might be. do we think suggesting to the kid he’s 3rd or 4th string sells us?”

       Who said anything about 3rd or 4th string? How stupid do you think Diego is? Everything about this call up should suggest to Diego that someone, somewhere is very interested.

       “no, you want the kid you chase him like dest. “

       Saying we “chased” Dest is more of your malarkey. He played 5 games with the U17s and 12 games with the U20s. That gave him a good idea of what to expect here. He then listened to Koeman’s sales pitch because, well if you’re Dutch Koeman is a guy to be listened to. In other words he did what any sober, reasonable person would do, research his options give it sometime and then make a decision. You would have his kneecaps broken and then him dumped in an alley in Camden, New Jersey.
       How would you feel about playing with a team full of guys that you had to bully to get them to play for you?

       “if he’s overrated or undercooked you back out when he has enough caps he has no choice left. it’s a little cold blooded but i don’t think it’s evil fast tracking a big prospect from a big club into a top 16 national team. even if we back away after. any one of us would probably give our left attachment for one lousy 10 minute garbage time national team cap. and this isn’t how to treat every 18 year old, but it is how to chase the big time ones.”

       So if you are a dual and you’re watching the USMNT do their version of a Jonathan Gonzales on some poor schmuck, you’re not going to think “ these people are c==ksuckers!”? It’s a small world out there and everyone will take notice. But being the biggest bully around I guess we Americans should not give a fuck.

       “we badly need out of the “try us, try them” passive nonsense. we want you. you want us? we’ll play you at least a half this weekend. you’ll go as far as your keeping carries you……..if he isn’t sure he wants to commit, screw him, he can go stew with barca for all i care. the 10 items or less line is for committed. camp is for people who want to be capped and commit. if he wants to feel things out, we can buy him a plane ticket to drop by like balogun did. but roster coffee is for closers…..i remember dest back at his origins saying he wanted to keep his holland options open. every prior US coach and i would have put him back on a plane or train immediately. you reward the loyalty with the premature cap. if he won’t commit then i don’t skip him ahead of the line because i can’t get my upside. we already have several veteran keepers worth trying.”

       I’m taking a wild guess here but I’ll bet the USMNT wouldn’t be dancing with Diego if they thought those “several veterans worth trying” were worth a fuck. I dislike mediocre keepers but as long as the defense is okay with him, I don’t really care who is in goal.
       Managers, however, want a guy who is written into the lineup and forgotten about for several years and I can’t say I blame them. If Diego can be that guy that is one less thing to worry about.

       “as i have said 20 times, you only encourage this sort of behavior by indulging it. if you say you only reward commitment, you get quicker commitment.” if you allow games, you play games.”

       So you like to recruit by bullying? I get you like to play the “We’re America!! You don’t like us? Fuck you and horse you rode in on.”

       From what I’ve seen with the USMNT, duals look for:

       1. Teams that have a significant role for them to play, if not right now then sometime in the near future.

       Diego can look at USMNT and possibly see himself starting by 2026. Maybe. The keeper picture for Spain is lot more crowded.

       2. FA’s that seem well organized and with a reasonable future.

       In our favor is the WC in 2026 and the likelihood that as biggest fish in the smallest CONCACAF pond, we will always have a clear path to the World Cup. Jamaica has many duals in Europe who, if they all committed to Jamaica might form a decent side. But and this is hard to believe, the Jamaican FA is reputed to be worse than the USSF. Even more toxic. Who knew?

       Duals who have at least a few percent of their brain engaged don’t go for the coach because all coaches are temporary, while committing to a country is even more iron clad than marriage. There’s no divorce in international soccer. Commitment is literally for life. That said, having Pochettino on board does not hurt recruitment in the least.

       So when the camera pans down the line before the game do you like the idea of wondering how many of them were bullied into playing for us?

   • 2tone

     Do Matt and Ethan look anything like ter stegen to you?

     Reply

   • Pretty sure Slonina/League 1 don’t stop play during Int’l break.

     Reply

     • Correct.

10. I question Luca he hasn’t even been on the bench this season. I had heard he was injured.
    ———————
    Good to see Kochen and Schulte. I didn’t think Trusty and Turner with their deadline day moves.
    ———————
    A little surprised to see Fossey over Reynolds.

    Reply

11. Most fascinating call up; Kochen
    Most interesting call up: Aidan Morris
    Most interesting exclusions: Maloney, Jordan Morris
    Most infuriating to IV call up: Ream

    Reply

    • Maloney left in the first half today with an injury. Don’t know if he would have been on the list before that.
      ————
      Sounders have a game with Columbus during the break. So if asked they might have politely ask he not be included.
      ———-
      Middlesbrough has been raving about how well Aiden has played.

      Reply

      • JR

        This is why IV hates the ground that Varas walks on:

        “(Fossey) hasn’t been in the group for a long time, but I think it’s a great example that even if you haven’t been in for a while, what you do with your club matters,” said Varas. ……………………………He’s done a great job with Standard Liege, performing really well. We’ve been tracking him, and we want to give him an opportunity.”

      • V: you’re trying to make a virtue out of being late to the party. “oh but the quote the other week on fossey.” yeah, i’ve been proposing he get a look occasionally for years. welcome to the party.

      • IV: I’ll confirm you’ve been on Fossey most windows. I think he was referring to the club form portion of the comment.

      • IV

        “V: you’re trying to make a virtue out of being late to the party. “oh but the quote the other week on fossey.” yeah, i’ve been proposing he get a look occasionally for years. welcome to the party.”

        You’re deflecting again.

        Varas said he picked Fossey because “it’s a great example that even if you haven’t been in for a while, what you do with your club matters,”

        You think club form is useless . Varas disagrees with you and thus does not play into your narrative

      • my deal is the club form stuff is like a knee jerk faucet that goes on and off at a whim. like one of those motion detected ones in a public restroom. and then in a few months it starts to sound like people hate reyna again. on. off. on. off. it’s silly and if you pay attention you figure out getting at career choices more than their talent level, which doesn’t change week to week.

        i don’t think US scouting should be on “i liked him last week.” it should be on more of a longer term impression. and comparison of their toolkit to what we want the position to have.

        we need to look more how the player looks as opposed to obsess about numbers. eg reyna is just a better soccer player than weston or malik, and i don’t care who plays where or what happens in club. when reyna does play, the stats usually start to manifest anyway.

      • IV,

        “my deal is the club form stuff is like a knee jerk faucet that goes on and off at a whim. like one of those motion detected ones in a public restroom. and then in a few months it starts to sound like people hate reyna again. on. off. on. off. it’s silly and if you pay attention you figure out getting at career choices more than their talent level, which doesn’t change week to week.

        i don’t think US scouting should be on “i liked him last week.” it should be on more of a longer term impression. and comparison of their toolkit to what we want the position to have…………………..”
        .
        “more of a longer term impression”
        You’ve always lacked context. You’re always comparing peppermint patties to land mines.

        You talk about “longer term” impression.
        That implies performance over time.
        If so, then we’re back to numbers and the numbers are overwhelmingly in favor of club performance telling you more about a player than national team performance does.

        Taken as a whole the player pool played far more club games than they did USMNT games. And that will always be the case. And I have not even mentioned practices and training.

        Gregg managed 74 games over 6 years.
        The top 4 outfield players with the most Gregg caps?
        Weston, 46, CP, 44, Jedi 37, Ream 34.
        What I notice about those 4 is that they all played , for the most part, very regularly with their top 5 league clubs over the Gregg years.

        During their club games they often had to beat out better players than their USMNT competition for playing time just to get on the field.

        And their opponents were often teams and players who were much tougher than anything or anyone Gregg’s boys played.

        You consistently piss all over player’s club form when you really shouldn’t.

    • Maloney left the field today with what seems like a possible serious injury. While he plays in the Bliga he is and incredibly limited player. I guess it will take time for people to see him on the Nats to get that, or he will be that player some will always complain about being overlooked as he is in the Bliga!!! If Kochen is that highly rated and only playing in Barca B why not? Ream is an experience/leadership call up who now doesn’t have to fly across the ocean. Makes sense. Is what it is. As for Aidan M? Has only produced whenever he is played. Steadily and consistently. Maybe less glamorous and boring but a fighter, wants to play for the US (easily could have been on Canada’s Nats) already but turned them down. IMO, we need MORE guys like him. A lot more. Way too much excuse making for others who are in more glamorous positions who aren‘t up for it or as reliable. Weston made his first Juve appearance today and looked like s**t TBH. Conditioning and touch real bad. Sigh. He better get up to speed quick.

      Reply