A trio of respective Injuries has forced U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino to make three changes to his roster.
Midfielders Jack McGlynn and Brian Gutierrez, and defender Max Arfsten have been called in as injury replacements for this week’s CONCACAF Nations League Final Four, U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday. Defenders Antonee Robinson and Auston Trusty and midfielder Johnny Cardoso have all departed camp due to respective injuries.
Both Arfsten and Gutierrez earned their first two senior caps in the victories against Venezuela and Costa Rica last January. McGlynn, who made his senior debut in January 2024, scored his first international goal against Venezuela last January.
Robinson’s departure is a major loss to the USMNT backline while Trusty and Cardoso have also played key club roles this season.
The USMNT faces Panama on Thursday in the semifinal round, with the winner taking on either Canada or Mexico on March 23 in the Nations League Final.
Should the Americans repeat as tournament winners, it will mark their fourth-straight triumph in the competition.
No Jedi at L wing back? We’ll be fine.
As previous posters have already said, Weah and McKennie have both played L and R wing back at Juve. Scally and Fossey both have some experience playing LB.
Arfsten is cover for LB. He has some impressive accolades at HS and college level, which may translate into a significant role at that position going forward. Have not seen him play for the Columbus, but I hear he has impressed. I imagine Poch has scouted him and believes he has potential to be a starter, or at least a solid number 2 at LB. Hope he gets some playing time so we can have a look. Panama will have speed and physicality on the wings, so putting either McKennie or Weah out wide in one of the back positions might make sense. Or Poch thinks that Fossey and Scally can handle it, at least for the first half, and that putting our speed and strength up front with Weah at RW, McKennie as a destroyer / playmaker in the midfield along with Adams will give us enough defensive cover. He might need to make adjustments at half-time. And, as others mentioned, also Musah can play in the midfield or at R-back, and has done so at AC Milan. Even Puli has Bundesliga and Champion’s league experience playing LB w/ Borussia Dortmund. We have plenty of options. Relax! USA 3-1! Let’s go, USA!
LB and LWB are not the same position.
Hasn’t Scally played LB?
I’d move Scally to LB, Weah to RB,
Adams and Weston in the middle,
CP, Gio, Musah across the attack
Sargent up top
Simple.
Instead of Jedi being a 4th midfielder in attack, same concept but flip the field with Weah as the 4th mid in attack.
Like I said, simple, should work..
Now if we could just get a Ferdinand/Vidic pairing in the back we should be good to go
Seems to be a lot of confusion on what formation we are going to use. Don’t get caught up in that, technically Poch called it a 4-3-3 the last few camps but his players move around and exchange in different phases. In possession it’s been a 3-2-4-1 (sort of). How we got there changed once with Tanner and Johnny as the two then Tanner and Jedi. Pulisic tended to be higher than Wes so some people say it’s 2 up front. Defending in our final third a 4-4-2 with Jedi dropping back wide. Ream isn’t likely to play as a LB but he’ll probably be a LCB with the RB and RCB forming a back 3 in possession. I’d imagine something a little more traditional without Jedi’s versatility but who really knows, no one predicted Jedi sliding into a DM role in possession in the 2nd Jamaica match. Just sit back and enjoy that Poch (and his staff) no far more about soccer than of us and that he’s not going to set the team up the way your high school coach did, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Honestly if he just convinces everyone to not get a red card we’ll be fine against Panama.
JR,
That could be but I remember Tuchel bringing it up in the context of a conversation where the topic was as a kid, Pulisic impressed at BVB with his willingness to do whatever the manager wanted.
I’d put CP at left back and never worry about but he is most likely more useful elsewhere on the field for the USMNT.
V: looked it up a couple times at both places under Tuchel.
he seems to like scally so my guess is fossey plays LB with arfsten as his backup. richards, weah, or musah as emergency RB. i wouldn’t mind seeing richards start a gane as RB if the concept is stay at home anyway.
anyone suggesting ream wide has had a stroke and forgotten the first part of the 2022 cycle, examples, canada, switzerland. i think he is overrated in general but placed on a wing he will be exposed for speed. that and in his older age he doesn’t fit some sort of end to end assymetrical concept on the left.
i could see poch drilling some tactical audibles but i can’t see him abandoning his formation from minute 1.
i don’t see him using a 352 because we’re not that proven and solid on defense, and you wouldn’t need very many wings — 2 starters plus subs. everyone else in that concept is basically central. you’d want 4 CF types and fewer wings. and you’d want the wings to be end to end types who mark well. do you really see puli or reyna easing up on offense to mark then make whole field sprints forward on counters? nah. they are half court guys or people to make plays in press transition.
my understanding of poch’s idea of variations is drop the DM back as a 5th back, or free the forwards up from channels and have them playing dutch positionless up high.
When you take a look at where the CBs play at club level it is often in a 3-5-2. Seeing how Pochettino has shown different wrinkles in each window….a 3-5-2 or something similar like a 3-4-2-1 wouldn’t surprise me. Pulisic and Reyna as the two behind Sargent and Weah on the right as a winger. The left winger could be McKennie with Adams and pick-a-partner in the middle. McKenzie plays on the left of a three back set and Richards on the right. Then they just need a CB (Ream). These guys all know the positions and it may even play to their strengths.
you like your central options but as someone who played that wide slot in a 352 for years, it is harsh. end to end running, tracking back, then trying to catch the other team out. you get caught up you maybe cost a goal.
who do you see as handling two way wing play? we kind of get away with a division of labor and layered wings. we have wide backs, but also wide forwards. that gets more wide players on the field and gives them cover.
i would like to see puli and reyna central but to play 352 they basically have to go there. you need wide guys who will grind in a 352. watch atleti play 352. it’s defend defend defend, then get out and try and get behind a team too far up.
does that sound puli/reyna? no. that sounds at best weah/musah. in which case the big dogs go middle. or don’t bother.
people keep suggesting 343 so they can have their cake and eat it too — reyna and puli can stay wide. but i think that’s defensively naive. but then i think 433 is a bit naive too. poch is the closest to patching that and even he depends on guys sliding around — ok, the RF will also duck back and play interior mid defense — to hide the basic defensive swiss cheese problems of 3 mids.
personally my experience the 352 you’re gonna get caught up some and you better have CBs who can island defend. i am not sold we have enough defenders yet who can 1v1 mark by themselves.
to me 3 backs is graduate school after you prove you can handle 4 backs. i’m not sold we’ve made that grade yet. when we succeed it’s usually a lot more to do with scrappy DM play when adams is healthy than the backs pitched a shutout….
TIV, you took the words out my mouth when it comes to Ream.+1👍
i mean, people forget that 2022 cycle ream was dropped from the team for YEARS because he was seen as a LB and got absolutely scorched out there by canada and the swiss. he only made that team rebooted as a CB after all sorts of injury attrition ahead of him.
i think he’s like brooks in the sense he’s seen as part of the 2014 cycle even though he actually got cut. ream’s been around since 2010 but his first world cup team was this last one. that should hint at something. just like on 2014 brooks was a sub, and he never really converted that to effective starting material. 95% of that 2018 cycle team never really actualized. and yet here we are with him still.
i am at a loss how he gets called. EPL rep that actually plays in MLS now. since summer 2022 he started holland (L), TNT away (L), germany (L), colombia (L), paraguay (L), panama (L), canada (L), mexico (L). that’s about every horror movie we’ve shown in recent years.
the sales pitch is he can pass the ball but the last time he contributed to a goal was northern ireland in spring 2021. to me if you’re gonna put a weak defender back there he needs to actually output goals. not just be delightful to the passing eye.
JR and Vac, I will also be the one to say he will not put Pulisic as left back. I’m pretty sure about that.
yeah, the premise in his assymetrical thing is that LB, while often swashbuckling, be at least capable of coming back and successfully marking in an ordinary 433 format. so i think it needs to be a specialist LB or if a winger someone who is known for wing defense or squabble-ability. weah or musah might fit. reyna and puli, not so much. and the offense is designed more around reyna and puli.
Tele57, yes because thankfully England snatched Tuchel and we got Poch. I think V was joking when he reminded us that Pulisic played there once not suggesting.
JR,
“I think V was joking ”
It’s more about the irony of worrying about who can play left back for a game or two.
“Scally, McKennie, Weah, Musah, or Adams.” + Pulisic = 6
That leaves Turner, Richards, McKenzie, Ream and Josh left over in a theoretical starting 11.
Richards spent a fair amount of time as a right back( Bayern requires their young CB’s to do that).
Ream plays left back
I have seen Josh play left back or something like it at Werder.
The USMNT could field a starting 11 in which only 2 players might look out of place at left back.
JK ‘s 1990 World Cup winning team started five players who played at center back a lot.
Good teams know how to play asymetrically if it is only for a few games.
Losing a left back need not be a big deal.
But losing Jedi, the man and the player, is a big deal.
Damn…..who is going to play LB?!!! Tim Ream???? lol
Max Arfsten is a LW that can play RW and RM
Jack McGlynn is a CM who can play LM
Brian Gutierrez, is an ACM that can play RM and LM
Antonee Robinson and Auston Trusty left, so these guys coming in are not substituting for Jedi or Trusty AT ALL. SO who do we have left?
Cameron Carter-Vickers is a Bonafide CB
Marlon Fossey is a RB THAT CAN PLAY LB and RM
Mark McKenzie is also a Bonafide CB
Tim Ream is a CB THAT CAN PLAY LB
Chris Richards is a CB that can play RB
Joe Scally is a RB that can play RM
so
————————-SARGENT———————–
–
PULISIC————–MCKENNIE———–WEAH
–
————–MUSA—————–ADAMS————
–
FOSSEY——REAM——RICHARDS—–SCALLY
–
————————-TURNER—————————
–
I think Ream might be in that left CB spot because both CCV and Richards feel at home in the right CB spot (Trusty played in the left CB spot with CCV). This is going to be interesting. Let’s see what Mauricio Pochettino selects
Bizzy I was wondering too how Fossey looks at LB. I would not mind seeing that experiment.
Me too. I’ve seen some of his games at RB with Standard Liège (sitting 7th in the Belgium Pro league) in which he is quick and very aggressive in overlapping on the wing…….but nothing on the left side, so it will be interesting to see if Pochettino trusts him to handle the LB position.
he’s played some LB games. i think we generally overrate the differences left side vs. right. athletic wingbacks can play either side. i think a lot of the emphasis on footedness is more for teams that want to get forward.
that being said, in this scheme unchanged we’d want the LB pushed higher and trying to get downfield. so you have to be able to get downfield using your left or inverting onto your right.
i think we saw some inversion in one of jedi’s games. a rightie could do that.
I believe it will Scally at LB and Musah or Fossey at RB.
Seems likely to see a more base 3-5-2 now. Pulisic partnering Sargent and Weah at the LWB spot with Musah at RWB. MCkennie, Adams, Tessman in the middle. Or does Luna or Gio get a start?
I’ve said it before that I don’t think it’ll be Gio and maybe not Adams either – neither has paid their dues with Pochettino yet and neither is overly familiar with how he likes to play.
I personally think Pochettino surprises us with his starting lineup against Panama, and we see some guys moved to positions they haven’t played before with the USMNT and at least one of the Camp Cupcake guys starting. One thing I’m cognizant of is, Weah has played both LB and RB for Juventus so I wonder if he drops to wingback to stand in for Jedi while some combination of McKenzie, Richards, Ream, and Scally fill the other three defender spots. Poch’s 4-2-3-1 tends to morph into some form of three-man backline on the attack, with a single 6 parked over the back three, but how he gets there has varied a lot based on the personnel he has available and we’ve already seen several twists and variations out of him; unlike Berhalter, who wanted the same formation and the same guys rigidly locked into it every time, Pochettino just shrugs and moves guys around based on what he’s got that day and I’m already learning it’s hard to predict exactly what he’ll do.
quozzel,
“Pochettino just shrugs and moves guys around based on what he’s got that day and I’m already learning it’s hard to predict exactly what he’ll do”
That is what a good manager is supposed to do.
Why should you be able to predict what Pochettino will do?
He has a long track record but those situations were all very different from what he is facing here. He’s barely been here, he has a player pool that he is still learning a lot about and he’s dealing with a unique situation.
And he also has a very impressive backroom staff that seems far more together and competent than what we’ve seen before.
It feels very much like an NFL staff where you have a number of position coaches and Andy Reid just makes the final decision. An efficient, professional setup. Imagine that. You have to understand how they think if you want to predict Pochettino.
As best as I can tell, he does not talk tactics or formations; he only talks about having the right kind of attitude, that the players need to have that belief and what can he do to help them get that belief.
He’s Mr. Blue Sky and his staff do the nuts and bolts.
USMNT fans are unused to the idea that the manager has a plan or isn’t at least partly full of shit.
From day one Pochettino has said that everyone gets a clean slate, that he doesn’t care where you play if he thinks you can do the job, you can play for him. Unlike most of SBI, Pochettino took everything seriously. He took Cupcake seriously and now maybe some standout Cupcakers may get a serious shot. It may be that behind the scenes Pochettino and his staff are panicking over the injuries and hate calling in all the Cupcakers. We’ll see.
None of the Cupcakers make my World Cup squad but it seems like Pochettino may see things differently from me. Besides, we’re not talking about the World Cup, we’re talking Nations League. A lot of fans like to project into the future. Right now, Pochettino is thinking Panama then Canada or Mexico.
Yikes no Jedi.
Well that stinks, no Jedi seems like a pretty huge hole to fill, and kinda blows up the way we played previously. Is Arfsten really going to start these matches? If not, I don’t see another LB on the roster. Will Poch move Weah or McKennie back there? 3 in the back? Curious to see how we adjust.
jb,
“Well that stinks, no Jedi seems like a pretty huge hole to fill, and kinda blows up the way we played previously.”
One door closes………..they needed to figure out how to play w/o Jedi anyway.
Now is as good a time as any to figure that out. It is an opportunity for others to show what they can do.
Anyone who was wondering if Pochettino was bullshitting about him taking Cupcake seriously now has their answer.
my guess arfsten is cover for LB. no jedi hurts because thus far the team’s been designed around assymetry built for jedi. so they called up another left side player who can get forward.
the other 2 are not like for like and are probably the perceived next best of players with games this weekend on the west coast. after all i think richards + ream/mckenize is getting watered down and we could have stood another CB. and johnny and mcglynn are different mid types.
marcinowski is LA’s backup and who knows if he’s doing both sets of practices. his virtue is he’s local, available, and has some YNT experience as a contingency.
they start playing in 2 days so i think it had to be domestic or mexico. also had to be off the provo list. why not miles/campbell and then eneli? gutierrez impresses me technically but i don’t know if he can separate wlel enough to use it.
Well when the roster came out we thought it was light on attacking wingers and heavy on CBs. It will be interesting to see who starts between Fossey and Arfsten (no doubt someone will suggest Weston or Weah starts at LB of course). So your like for like is Arfsten for Jedi, McGlynn for Johnny, and Guti fixes the 5 CBs and 3 wingers.
JR, I’ll be the one to say it; if he goes 4 in the back, the left back is going to be one of Scally, McKennie, Weah, Musah, or Adams. That is a lot of choices but I think Poch believes he has a lot of choices on the roster already.
Tele57,
Don’t forget Tuchel played Pulisic at left back/wingback at BVB.
V: I believe it was actually at Chelsea not Dortmund that Pulisic played WB under Tuchel.
puli will put in work on an individual play to win a ball but does not strike me as interested in the constant end to end grind of tracking someone back every play, then trying to beat them back the other end. neither he nor reyna strikes me as mr. afterburners. i think there were discussions about this under GB where with them as the wings we got stuck on our own end when the CFs sucked.
to me you need to be super fit like hedjuk or landon or jetpacks like weah. puli is more like the guy who fakes you out or uses soccer IQ to make an outlet. or who runs at you from CM on the dribble.
JR,
That could be but I remember Tuchel bringing it up in the context of a conversation where the topic was as a kid, Pulisic impressed at BVB with his willingness to do whatever the manager wanted.
I’d put CP at left back and never worry about but he is most likely more useful elsewhere on the field for the USMNT.