The U.S. men’s national team’s first two competitive matches under Mauricio Pochettino are right around the corner and the Argentine manager will have plenty of tough roster decisions to make.
Jamaica opposes the Americans in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals this month, with both teams seeking advancement into next March’s Final Four. Kingston will play host to the first leg on November 14 before CITYPARK in St. Louis hosts the return leg four days later.
Pochettino’s first pair of matches in charge saw the Americans defeat Panama 2-0 before losing to rivals Mexico 2-0 in October. However, the Nations League quarterfinals will be a good test to see where the USMNT is at in the early stages under Pochettino.
Right back Sergino Dest remains out long term while forwards Folarin Balogun and Josh Sargent will also miss the November window through injury. Chris Richards has remained sidelined at Crystal Palace, opening the door to others at the centerback position.
Midfielder Tyler Adams will be fighting to be back amongst the plans after missing several months due to back surgery. Weston McKennie, Malik Tillman, and Johnny Cardoso will also be among the expected call-ins for this month’s camp.
The No. 9 race continues with Haji Wright, Ricardo Pepi, and Brandon Vazquez all among the striking options. AC Milan’s Christian Pulisic continues to play a leading role at club level, but now returns to the USMNT captaincy.
Tim Ream, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Auston Trusty, and Mark McKenzie all are jostling for starting jobs at centerback while Matt Turner and Ethan Horvath continue their fight for the No. 1 goalkeeping spot.
Joe Scally will likely occupy the starting right back job in Dest’s absence while Marlon Fossey aims to earn his third-straight monthly call up.
Regardless of who gets called in, the USMNT will be favored to advance past the Reggae Boyz. If not, many questions will be asked of Pochettino and his decision-making.
What will the squad chosen for the USMNT’s November window look like?
Here is a closer look at SBI’s selections:
Goalkeepers
Matt Turner, Ethan Horvath, Patrick Schulte.
Missed the Cut: Zack Steffen, Sean Johnson, Drake Callender, Gabriel Slonina, Diego Kochen.
Defenders
Tim Ream, Auston Trusty, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Mark McKenzie, Marlon Fossey, Joe Scally, Antonee Robinson, Kristoffer Lund.
Missed the Cut: Kevin Paredes (Injury), Richie Ledezma, Bryan Reynolds, Chris Richards (Injury), Miles Robinson.
Midfielders
Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Brenden Aaronson, Malik Tillman, Tyler Adams, Johnny Cardoso.
Missed the Cut: Tanner Tessmann, Gianluca Busio, Djordje Mihailovic, Griffin Yow, Lennard Maloney, Paxten Aaronson.
Forwards
Christian Pulisic, Haji Wright, Ricardo Pepi, Tim Weah, Brandon Vazquez, Cade Cowell.
Missed the Cut: Josh Sargent (Injured), Taylor Booth, Alex Zendejas, Jordan Pefok, Jordan Morris.
What do you think of our projected roster? Who made the cut that you are hoping is included? Who did we leave out that you think deserves to be part of the November squad?
Share your thoughts below.
I think the big differences between club play, even the top 5 leagues, and international soccer are speed of play, physicality, and organization. Each of those are primarily defensive traits. Of the 3 club soccer has an advantage in only the 3rd.
In the late 80s and early 90s, AC Milan was very well-organized and applied pressure all over the field, when pressing they were formidable, yet they seldom got caught in transition. Those backs, Maldini, Baresi, Costacurta,and Tossotti, formed the defense of the 94 Italian WC team that allowed only 5 goals across 6 games. They had the advantage of playing together for many years; the understanding from that long association is something most national teams can only wish for. (Of course they were also individually very talented.)
I think Poch’s challenge is to identify his starting back line early so they can develop some understanding of the way to play together.
Ream is done. Too many turnovers, too slow.
I agree bring in Henry Kesler, Drew Murray, Noahkai Banks, Noah, Cobb, or Noah Allen .
Banks plays in the 4th Div in Germany what on earth makes you think a 17 yr old is ready for the NT when he plays against U23 teams each week. Cobb got benched (for 29 yr old Norwegian with 4 int caps) and was part of the U20s who lost the Concacaf Championship. Murray is another teenager playing 4th division ball. He’s not even a lock starter for them. Noah Allen isn’t a true CB, he plays a CB in a back 3 for Inter , but he’s not really used as 2CB guy except in the final minutes of a desperate situation, he’s a LB. Problem with Kessler is his team stunk so he hasn’t been playing for three weeks.
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Anyone or none of those young guys could help the US in the future but putting them out there next week would be insanity. Your original January camp idea is perfectly reasonable. Anrie Chase would be a better out there choice but I’m not sure he’d switch on Japan.
JR, a lot of countries have called up 17-20 year olds. They may have gotten exp that has made them elite. Look at Bellingham. Even Pulisc was 18 on Klinsmanns roster.
Bellingham was elite when he was called up. He’d already had a whole year as 16 yr old starting in The Championship and several months in the Bundesliga when called in. Even a guy like Yamal had a few La Liga starts before call ups. Endrick was a starter for a whole season in Brazil’s first division before being called by Brazil. The guys you named are good for their age group but far, far, far from elite. The other big thing to notice? It’s a lot harder to name teenage CBs starring for Nats.
Not yet for Cobb. But he does have a bright future.
No need to call in Horvath. Like Turner, he is not playing and his penchant for giving up soft goals seems to be getting worse.
Turner isn’t our number 1. His distribution is below par, which doesn’t help a team that struggles to maintain possession.
I don’t think Haji Wright makes it; I think Zendejas does. Wright just isn’t a fit for what Pochettino does. I also think Pochettino may pass on Tyler Adams this time, not because he doesn’t like him or rate him, but because Adams has had so many injury problems lately and is just starting to get back into the flow of playing again and probably the last thing Adams needs at the moment is more load. I think Tanner Tessmann may be the call though we may also see Aidan Morris again if his last performance against Mexico didn’t disqualify him in Pochettino’s eyes.
I would hope Pochettino takes a look at DuJuan Jones instead of Lund – I emphatically prefer Jones – but I’m not sure Jones is even on Pochettino’s radar and Columbus’s early (and shocking!) playoff exit won’t help him get there.
Wright with another goal today playing in a two striker system. I do think Wright has a lot to offer the US. Especially if he goes back to playing striker for Coventry. They makes six goals on the season fir him.
I agree DuJuan would be a better choice than Lund If nothing else, it would be an upgrade in speed and experience.
Adams is not ready, let him work back to 90 min with his club FFS, we have to quit calling guys coming off major injuries and throwing them in these games when they’re not yet top form, it’s just stupid. Busio was a starter last time, Zendejas was the only player giving us some fight against Mexico, hard to see those two being left off completely.
i agree with adams. i disagree with the rest. this is not some club team with roster rules and a salary cap. we should be calling, generally speaking, the best players available who we think will play well for us. if, like busio and zendejas did last time, they kind of stunk, bye. we have dozens of other options, no need to play within some narrow roster universe. what, because they were on the last team they make this one?
when we start rewarding the players who some mix of (a) play well in the games or (b) do well within the scheme, we will have more success.
Zendejas didn’t suck last time, that’s your feelings pretending to be facts again IV
If we’re going off a game here and there where players have as you say “stunk”, especially recently, that list should include players like CCV, Musah and Cardoso
I would not mind seeing a 3 man backline of the Three Noahs. Noah Cobb RCB- Atlanta Untited, Noahkai Banks CB-Augsburg, and Noah Allen LCB-Inter Miami. That 3 man backline would be nice in a camp cupcake or a B team Jamaica or Panama, or, Costa Rica.
if you think they are playing that well — and i considered banks myself — call some of them up now. we roster way too conservative for a team playing like absolute crap even when it wins.
The Imperative Voice agreed💯 I want to see American youth go off strive and contribute to both mens and womans nats team. Plus Cobb and Allen are def European ready. Could see a Serie A, Championship top flight team, Bundesliga, or Eredivisie team calling and biding for Cobb and Allen.
banks is with the U20s, as appears to be campbell from dortmund.
Nice to see Campbell and Banks with U-20’s
people wonder why i keep harping on, “do the games matter?” well, this theoretical call sheet likely results in the same lineup (give or take richards) that barely beat jamaica in the semi in march, couldn’t hold them scoreless for 5 seconds (i only somewhat exaggerate, they scored 1′ in), couldn’t score on them until 90+6 on an own goal, and basically turned into throwing random attackers on until we got OT goals. that we are sending to play an away game first. stop me when this starts sounding like a bad idea.
if we want different results we need to try some different people.
yeah, and as i said back in october, i am a little worried the “injury” narrative would mean we’d continue to revert back towards the summer roster that sucked rather than rethink the whole thing and move forwards.
new answers, please.
koleosho pulisic musah campbell gressel vazquez wright
green sullivan ferreira luna castaneda maloney sands
jedi bello fossey weah dietz mckennie trusty CCV
schulte celentano kochen
Just fyi, Dietz is injured. I think Ferreira would be risky since he’ll be almost a month since his last match and theoretically on vacation not regular training. Good call on Castaneda, I don’t think he’s ready but you found somebody I hadn’t heard of so kudos. I agree we don’t need Adams this time. Oh, Gressell only puts up numbers because he plays with Messi and Suarez. He’s so slow! But he’s a good dude.
to explain my thought process
more table setting attackers, fewer strikers
put musah back up top
i see campbell as the next big thing
gressel will put service where he means to
more of a sharp division of labor at mid, 10s and 6s who are good at creating or stopping, fewer mediocre 8s who just kind of are there and run around
more technical mids who might build, possess, or create
more DMs to try and find someone who can stop a transition
try weah and mckennie in the back
reward fossey
see if the celtic duo works for us
try some new keeper ideas and let turner chill
as i have said 20x, i feel like for a possession team the offensive selection is sloppy, pick some technical guys
conversely, the defense should be no messing around, quit calling people who can’t mark “but can pass”……your new job is win the ball and pass to a 10 or wing. let them handle it.
if they bring in turner we never see anyone else for enough time to compare people.
in general this team is way too much about some idea in GB’s head, that arguably already disproved itself back as far as qatar or the following gold cup — but we can’t seem to quite admit it — even 2 coaches later.
like someone explain to me what the tactical idea is of the selection, other than these are the guys i see on tv alot. and i don’t mean poch’s theoretical xs and os right now. i literally mean how, particularly in the absence of balogun or adams or reyna, some of you think the goals will be scored or attacks stopped. explaining how they then fit a possession scheme of poch would then be gravy………just how is player A setting up player B to finish a goal. not in the abstract. i mean their toolsets.
to me the defense needs to get more stout, or the offense needs to get either way faster or way more technical. we are like stuck in hustle town someplace. we need like, we’re faster than you, we’re more skilled than you, we’re better in the air……something. right now it’s mush.
campbell is with U20.
Never mind Dietz was back today. I guess that “late November return” wasn’t hard and fast.
If you want better results you either need better players or better tactics. This isn’t your youth club team where coaches just went and invited the best players from the other team to join your team. We can’t just bring in Haaland or Van Dijk. Although I could see a few different faces brought in and probably more than exactly 23 unless that’s Concacaf mandated. What you are trying to sell us is there are guys out there being completely average in lower leagues and they’re the difference maker for the NT where space and time are compressed? I could see Cremaschi or maybe P.Aaronson. I’d sure like to see a LB besides Lund. But really this teams chances are much better by playing more quickly and freely. Hallmarks of previous Poch teams. I’m ok with sliding Pulisic central which should free up the CF and lessen pressure on the CM. Especially with the absence of Reyna who was the difference last time.
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As for Jamaica this is a different team from March. Gone is their manager capable of organizing their defense playing a CB as their #10 to control the midfield and preventing the US from building out and winning the second ball when playing long. McLaren hasn’t coached in 5 years, and they were lucky to survive Honduras at home. Managing just four shots none on frame. They’ll play harder and the crowd will be up for it.
we’re going around and around in the same circles. (a) have we not disproven at this point that club play means country play. it can suggest but only some translate. (b) a team of fanboy all stars can kind of suck if it doesn’t fit the scheme or play well as a group. (c) a younger or overlooked player, or guy who fits the scheme great, may be gold in a way some “star without a position” isn’t.
i mean, i went very technical on my theorized MF because we are sloppy as heck and supposedly trying to build up slow and possess. i will keep repeating this til blue in the face. if we’re gonna tiki taka, get some skill players in. it’s like watching 90s or 00s MLS kickball teams try and execute barca ball. and then amazingly for MF seemingly picked for scrappy qualities we aren’t that good on transition, either. hmmmm
conversely, if you want to play the athletes, fire the coach and play counter soccer where i don’t have to depend much on mckennie completing accurate passes. i can just have him outlet it wide then box crash. then you can have all these scrappy guys out there, some fast wides, 1-2 finishers up top, and just win the ball and counter.
i dunno, it’s weird, we seem to be making a point of finding 10 types to play on the age group teams but somehow full senior team that becomes sloppy mckennie and musah. setting aside we miss reyna, it should be pretty clear even in his absence that we do worse with an 18 wheeler level skill midfield.
i fully get jamaica has somewhat imploded of late, but running out the same team and tactics that barely beat them last time is doing them a favor.
can we learn from the games?
i digress, i await us bringing back scally to get backdoored, ream to get reamed, the diesel MF that makes opposing mediocrities look efficient, and wasting our frontline talent by not seeming to have a plan how goals happen other than pump balls vaguely into the box.
I’d like to address the issue of speed. Speed is important, but not all important. I remember Robbie Findley and the 2010 World Cup. Before the Cup started he was being highly touted because of his breathtaking speed. Eric Wynalda proclaimed he was going to star. He did nothing. Kylian Mbappe may be the fastest striker in the world right now. He wasn’t even called into the French team for their November Nation’s League games. In his last CL game he was almost totally ineffective. Before that game Thierry Henry dissected his game and was brutal in his assessment. Mbappe is lazy, doesn’t play D, doesn’t move much off the ball, and just waits for a chance to make an open run off a long pass. If you can get someone who finishes AND has speed, great, but speed isn’t what is most important. Finishing is more important. I think our all time best finisher was Dempsey, who was also a very hard worker. We need more Dempseys.
IV,
“(a) have we not disproven at this point that club play means country play. it can suggest but only some translate. “
Berhalter was fired so you can stop ranting about Berhalter induced flaws.
You take a lot for granted. There are no guarantees for any of this.
In your language, country play today does not mean country play next game.
You refuse to recognize that a national team manager has little choice but to gamble to a far greater degree than a club manager does. National team managers will almost always have far less hard, reliable data on a given player than a club manager does.
Playing well for the USMNT does not mean you will ALWAYS play well for them every single time into perpetuity, which is what you suggest. USMNT playing experience is always an advantage but only if it means you continue to play consistently well.
Every country has a number of stalwarts who can always be counted on, but they are not usually great in number.
• Our only stalwarts are CP and Jedi. They do not always play well but the alternative is usually so far behind them that it is best to stick with CP or Jedi if possible.
• Weston and Weah are heading there but are not there yet.
• Adams and Gio are usually consistent if they show up, which is not often.
• Turner is the starter because he sucks less than his competition.
Everyone else is a crap shoot as to what the USMNT will get. Their USMNT history is not robust enough to guarantee anything.
So, if the IV approved USMNT regular is looking like crap for his club, you would be a fool to not consider a similar player who is playing well for their club, even if he has not yet played for the USMNT.
Similarly, the alternatives to those regulars that you have suggested are an even bigger crap shoot. Of course the only way to find out it to try them out.
But, as always the devil is in the details.
“ (b) a team of fanboy all-stars can kind of suck if it does not fit the scheme or play well as a group. (c) a younger or overlooked player, or guy who fits the scheme great, may be gold in a way some “star without a position” isn’t.”
I believe Pochettino when he says he has enough time to coach up this team into a respectable unit. But that means he must narrow the pool to a smaller more manageable core so that he can focus and the whole thing has a better chance to gel.
So, he has little time to fuck around with an IV approved wish list.
I could be wrong but my guess is that Pochettino is a better judge of talent than you, IV, and that he has access to more resources (contact with scouts, coaches, players, teams, etc., etc.) and more experience than you at making decisions on players. My guess is that he is doing a deep dive on our pool and will be determining what style, and systems will fit our best players.
Which means, he can produce his own wish list.
That’s not to say it will be better than yours, but it will probably be more accurately focused on what he plans to do.
When you give someone 6 million to do a job you ought to let him do it his way in the best way he knows how.
As for Campbell, Cole’s ceiling may well be much higher than Zendejas’ but he is not there yet and HE MAY NEVER GET there. And until he starts reminding everyone of a young CP or Gio then the best thing to do with him is leave him with the guys at BVB where they specialize at turning kids like him into higher value big money buys. Why do you want to take him away from that environment?
And if he is Mbappe2.0 there is enough time before 2026 to get him on the roster.
Besides soccer, I am a big fan of college basketball and the two games have a lot in common. Here is what college basketball coaches have discovered. Having talented players is very good and a certain level necessary to be successful. However, talent is not enough. Good teams play well as teams and the best way to put together a good team is to use older, more experienced players who have learned what the coach wants to do and can do it instinctively and automatically. Thus, they seek to have teams with juniors and seniors and few sophomores and freshmen. A good example is a recent game my alma mater played. The other team had thrown a bunch of different defenses at my team and at a crucial part of the game the other team switched again so that my team couldn’t see any openings. The coach yelled out to one of the players, “Cut,” he did and he scored and it was important in the win. The coach said later after the game that if he had more experienced players this year they would have known right away what to do without him yelling at them what to do. The idea that you take a bunch of talented, but untested players and throw them out there and expect them to do better than good players who are playing in top leagues and have years more experience, with many of them having played together for a number of games, is little short of ridiculous.
Heartily agree. That said a weak player can doom a team to at best mediocracy.
IV: your journeymen who are average in average league theory gets you 1998-2010, yes you might get lucky and make a run to the quarters. But there’s a reason Julian Green plays in the 2Bundesliga, he’s nowhere near good enough. Why did Rangers send James Sands back early from his loan because he can’t play with Spain, England, or Germany. He can’t handle Aberdeen for goodness sake’s. You need to take your allstar team and get them to play together like a team. You aren’t going to beat France, Brazil, and Germany (what you have to do to win a WC) three in a row with guys in 3Bundesliga, Denmark, and Norway. Morocco and Croatia the most recent Cinderella’s of the WC are chock full of top 5 league starters. So we could play your roster and never get any further but not get much lower but your way never moves the needle forward. The talent gap is too great. Getting your best players to play their best is the key to success, not picking a bunch of average guys because you want to play low level soccer.
IV,
“people wonder why i keep harping on, “do the games matter?” well, this theoretical call sheet likely results in the same lineup (give or take richards) that barely beat jamaica in the semi in march, couldn’t hold them scoreless for 5 seconds (i only somewhat exaggerate, they scored 1′ in), couldn’t score on them until 90+6 on an own goal, and basically turned into throwing random attackers on until we got OT goals. that we are sending to play an away game first. stop me when this starts sounding like a bad idea.”
Am I missing something ?
They beat Jamaica didn’t they?
Why does “barely” matter? The “barely” qualifier is your opinion, not a fact .
We’re talking international soccer not Olympic figure skating where style points matter.
International soccer is mostly about one thing, advance or die. Because, if you don’t advance, you don’t get to play games against big teams where most of the money and the glory is. And Pochettino really needs to play as many games as he possibly can.
Your fevered ranting about this “barely” shit, is just a masturbatory fantasy and is pointless. If Greg were still around it might make sense but , if you didn’t know, he’s not here any more. He’s back in Chicago.
There is a new boss and he may be the same as the old boss but we’ll see.
“if we want different results we need to try some different people.”
Maybe. Most of the new people you want to try out are not used to competitive international soccer. I’ve seen most of the games with Jamaica, friendly and otherwise and they tend to be “barely” regardless of who the USMNT manager or the players are. Jamaica are usually brutal and physical and are always hard to play against, especially down there..
You could also try a new manager and use the players from that game who have since improved.
I’m pretty sure that it is not uncommon to lose or to “barely” beat a team and come back a year or two later and with more or less the same players and beat a Jamaica more than barely.
I’m sure that beating Jamaica is not impossible or even improbable. As long as they get a result I don’t care but Pochettino will be looking for for things beyond what I care about. He wants the result and he wants to see progress on whatever principles he is trying to install in this team.
“yeah, and as i said back in october, i am a little worried the “injury” narrative would mean we’d continue to revert back towards the summer roster that sucked rather than rethink the whole thing and move forwards.”
Injuries are just a part of the deal with international football and there is little to nothing Pochettino or any manager can do about it.
“new answers, please.”
There is only one answer and Pochettino does not control it.
And that answer is we need maybe 10 of so new players in a variety of positions, all playing at the level CP is playing at right now. If that happens between now and 2026 that should solve our depth problem.
No Brendon Aaronson. He didn’t play well enough last two games.
I concur. He’s a Championship-level player easily knocked off the ball.