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1. Gaga Slonina chance to be the biggest winner of all this summer. By you know actually winning, the Club World Cup. I mean watching the guys wearing his jersey from the bench possibly win.

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2. CHRIS RICHARDS WAS ONE OF THE SPORTS ANALYSTS FOR THE PSG VS REAL MADRID GAME…… MY MAN IS MOVING UP!!!!!!!

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3. i read a stat somewhere where we were one of the slowest teams to get the ball moved upfield in all of the gold cup, and also near bottom on balls into the box. i don’t think some of the fanboys get how absurdly, exaggeratedly risk averse this has gotten. and that risk aversion then plays out in finals when you badly need a goal and can’t get out of your end and barely get balls in the box. 0 corners. 3 shots on goal. you can’t do that.

   and then as i am going to keep repeating, for a team scared of attacking the net, we are almost cavalier defending and exiting our own end. we have 3 shutouts in 12 games in 2025. GAA of 1.33. we routinely hand other teams goals with wayward passing from the keeper or backs.

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   • Panama was the slowest and Mexico was third slowest (USA 2nd). While I agree speed of decision making is a big problem it doesn’t seem to really mean much. The combined record of those 3 teams in group play (which was the ranking I saw) was 8-1-0 and Panama had the most goals scored and the US was third. Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea were in the bottom third in the EPL in speed of progression and were all at the top of goals scored and the standings. Those four big clubs were also 4 of the top 5 in chance creation. The only team in top 5 in chance creation and speed of progression was Bournemouth (2nd in speed, 4th in chances created). So speed of progression doesn’t really play much into how much you score or win.
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     The speed of decision making is the issue not the style we choose to play. Being to slow to recognize the space to run into, being to slow to pass when the run is made, and not recognizing where the next run is has plagued this team for a while. Those issues don’t go away if we sit deep and counter. They are just further exposed because we are giving the other team more of the ball.
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     Also from the same ESPN story, Poch’s teams are playing slower than under any other coach so please start calling it “Poch Ball”

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     • you keep saying some other team doing good is “like us,” that finishes ahead of us, basically running interference for bad ideas and suggesting we just need to stay the course and we will be like mexico. like it justifies our mess. have you considered this system does not fit us specifically? teams have different skill sets in their pools. mexico typically has a bunch of skill players. we tend to have a mix of athletes and skill. we need a scheme for our roster and not theirs.

       you love the EPL. well, city has managed 1 UCL recently. defensively sound teams tend to win UCL instead: CFC, but a lot of bayern and real madrid. those 2 — and CFC when it has defensive coaches — would be embarrassed at our leaky defense. and i think spain and germany are simply better leagues. based on what i see, EPL divides right now between sloppy longball teams and city teams that do what we do. we don’t have city’s roster, and as you saw this year, city requires a set of stars to align. the roster changes and their secret sauce dries up. it’s more about sheer talent and a checkbook than you admit. the US cannot buy skill players to fix missing development.

       no, what spain did in 2010 worked for them. what we did to them in 2009 worked FOR US. i am about winning and not aesthetics or mimickry. i am not interested in being the “JV keepaway team that plays pretty before it loses.” i want us to be the best at our own thing.

       you stereotype the soccer i like. i prefer something more like serie A, napoli, or the defensive teams in spain, both big madrid teams.

       you have me wrong. i am a defense first guy. not necessarily a counter guy. that covers both napoli and atleti. napoli does sit back some, but they aren’t a counter team. they send it wide then work their diagonals and triangles all the way upfield methodically. occasionally they bypass the mids and hit a swerver on the ground to the forward. which btw requires PLAYERS TO MAKE RUNS AND SHOW TO THE BALL. but they don’t tend to backpass unless there is just nothing on. and they aren’t naive children who try to start their attack by having a CB play a square ball straight upfield to a central mid. on defense they hunt in packs and help each other.

       i do also like teams like atleti. get back. hunt in packs. win the ball. counter. get it wide. feed the striker or the far post.

       i would be fine if we played like napoli, but we then need to be able to string passes and wall balls between the wings and the CMs. the. offense needs to be able to constantly show in triangles. do you see our players being active enough off the ball. and have they had the “long ground ball to striker” coached out of them.

       i have advocated counter ball because until recently we seemed to be abundant on wide players and speed, and low on central skill. that and since we seem to either exhaust ourselves or get pulled out of shape playing the press, my experience a counter allows a team to conserve energy and hold shape.

       but i think it needs to be either napoli or atleti — and not city — because we lack the patience and skill for the long toying build, and we respond better to a system that encourages positive play. we suck when pass it around the back, and then play flag keepaway, and then whack an aimless cross in to a forward with no particular heading skill. how many times did we send a cross in to be headed right at the keeper. how many times in other games does the cross not even connect.

       anyhow, quit stereotyping me as “counter” guy. i would be fine with something like napoli just the same, work your triangles up the field, and you better not pass back much. my deal is i don’t like naive offensive soccer like the dutch, where you set up your own doom going the other way — and they don’t do crap at UCL or the world cup — and i think tiki taka is overrated checkbook soccer. you can toy with opposing teams if you have twice their budget. at the world cup we won’t necessarily be the better skilled team or even the better paper team at all. we need a scheme that leverages what we do have rather than reflects our arrogance and pretensions.

     • I gave you EPL because they published the data, that was the same data you referenced in your quote. Found some more data.
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       Real Madrid was the 2nd slowest team in LaLiga at progressing the ball. Atleti 3rd, Barca 5th. Yet are top 3 in scoring. Also 1,3,5 in time of each possession and passes per sequence (RM,B,AM). I couldn’t find updated info on Bundesliga but from two seasons ago Bayern and Dortmund were the two slowest. I found Dutch from 23/24 Ajax was the slowest, PSV and Feynoord in the middle but they were the three with the longest possessions.
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       Obviously top teams move slower because they don’t need to take risks. They are also more skilled so they can pass around defenses. Is that going to be the US case against Spain or Germany, of course not. But even our backups should be good enough to out skill Guatemala or at least maintain some possession against Mexico (who had mostly LigaMx players).
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       Again your let’s play like Napoli theory still revolves around players being decisive with the ball. Here’s a snippet in an article breaking down Conte’s setup at Napoli. “The Napoli defenders and holding midfielders will look for straight passes, breaking the opposition lines and finding the attacking midfielders who can turn and drive at the defense.” This what we saw at times during the GC, when Luna or Tillman were the recipients, it was dangerous. Unfortunately, when it was Luca it stunk. Against Mexico when Luna and Luca were pinned deep and Malik ran out of gas or hope there was nothing to do but whack it out and hope. Furthermore “In the 1-3-2-5 formation, Napoli are great at creating numerical advantages against the opposition’s defensive line. Playing with a front five means the forward line naturally becomes numerically superior against a back four.” This is what we’re trying to do all tournament and what Mexico scored on and used to draw the foul on Luna resulting in the free kick. I see two issues with the GC roster, Adams and Luca cannot turn and advance the ball, and as we discussed when the roster came out the lack of true wingers. He used Max as a quasi winger as I suggested he would be instead of using an Aaronson or Malik on the right he used Berhalter or McGlynn. There was no advantage because the FB knew Seb and Jack weren’t likely to beat them 1 on 1, and the ball mostly stayed on the left.
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       For the full roster, Pulisic has to trust his teammates and not over dribble, and Reyna needs to replace Luca as the 6/8. If he’s not able physically able to defend that much then slide Malik deep and put Gio underneath Pepi.

     • JR,

       IV criticizes every game the USMNT plays as if that team, the Gold Cup final team, is the team we will field on opening day of the WC.
       .
       I see the team as a work in progress and do not care much about pre-WC “results” as long as they get something accomplished. Of course, there is a need to give the fans the false impression that there will be something worth watching in 2026. Americans should be used to being lied to on a regular basis by vendors. There probably will not be anything worth watching but you have to sell tickets.
       I do not know where you fall in that spectrum.
       I do not think you can immediately expect Champions League level, bold, swift decision making especially on the lower percentage plays from guys who:

       1. Have little to no experience playing with each other
       2. Are fairly new professionals
       3. May not be that good anyway.

       A 30+ yd pass over the top of the defense from Captain Jack may sound good to y’all but at best, that is a 50/50 ball.
       And if you are putting it out there for Patrick, the odds drop even more. Jack knows this even better than any of us. You want to bet he might be more inclined to take that chance if his target was Flo or Pepi?

       That was what Turkey/ Swiss, and the Gold Cup was for. Regardless of what style you want to play, you need to play games to get a group of unpracticed players to settle down and get comfortable with each other.
       Their job was not so much to get ready for the World Cup as to put pressure on our much-maligned A team.

       Pochettino needs the A guys to come good but if you are one of them are you willing to call his bluff and refuse a September call up or not work your damnedest to impress him? Does anyone remember Landon Donovan? I doubt any of them are stupid enough to take the chance that Pochettino might make an example out of one of them.

       Starting off with two tough teams who were more of a cohesive unit, the USMNT predictably struggled. They got better when the GC started and they faced teams that were less formidable. They used those games to get to be more comfortable with each other, which is why I think Pochettino did not make a lot of changes.

       They did not look great but at least you could see the emergence of some structure and understanding of each other.
       Mexico was a different proposition.
       With Mexico, you will not have the ball very much, so the challenge is to be efficient and score when you do have it. Do that enough, and we did at the start, then Mexico is forced to come out of their shell a bit.
       This Mexican team has been together quite a bit more than our guys, so they are better at what they do than the USMNT is at what they do, whatever that is.

       On paper this was not really a fair fight.

       I give credit to Pochettino because he was trying to win these games while still experimenting with players and tactics.
       When you experiment sometimes stuff blows up and the subjects die.

       As for the stylistic debate that is just a bunch of feces that IV is throwing up on the wall to see what sticks. Citing examples from any USMNT history prior to the reign of Gregg the First (Expect Seba 2) makes no sense. The players and the staff are all gone and even the USSF, to a lesser extent, is changed. That said the debate about the USMNT’s “style” has been ongoing since day one. The USMNT was supposed to play a synthesis of all that was good about the American game.
       Being a melting pot, American soccer has always aspired to take the best from Europe, South America and anything in between and meld it intro what works best. The so-called uniquely American style.

       In fact, the best club teams often have players and coaches from around the world, and they often are capable of that kind of synthesis.
       In the end it comes down your players and coaching staff and what they together, do best. But if you want to win the World Cup then you need to either have a style that is so dominant that you can sweep everyone away or you have to be able to defeat whatever style you encounter.

       ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

       You said something about not feeling good watching this team.
       “I am kind of confused. Our last 150 minutes of soccer were pretty terrible. Hanging on for dear life against Guatemala and then being pretty much played off the field by a fairly average Mexico squad.”
       Other than the four games in Qatar that is exactly how I felt, more or less, about watching every single game Gregg’s team played. That is six years + extra time of feeling terrible.
       These last 150 minutes of USMNT soccer did mostly suck but I have never watched the USMNT, ever, expecting to see good soccer. In terms of watching the beautiful game the USMNT has over the last 30 + years or so struggled to raise its head out of the toilet.
       Then I see things like IV saying “what we did to them in 2009 worked FOR US.”
       What a steaming pile of bullshit.
       That team was unbelievably lucky to not get grouped. In Group play we lost 3-1 to Italy and 3-0 to Brazil. It required Brad Frikin Guzan to pitch a 3-0 shutout vs Egypt. And it required Brazil beating Italy exactly 3-0 on the last day of group play. Both things happened. And if you go back to 2002 we get grouped again, having shit the bed by losing to Poland, if not for South Korea doing us a solid and beating Portugal 1-0 in a game where S Korea only needed a tie to advance..

       The point is, notwithstanding some excellent performances, our two greatest international triumphs were heavily aided by a lot of luck.
       A ton.

       However incompetently enacted, the search since probably the end of the 2010 WC has been for a style that would allow the USMNT to be more consistently dominant against lesser teams and more consistently competitive with equal and better teams.
       I believe Gregg had something in mind but was just never able to get past a certain point. To me, every USMNT game under Gregg I felt like we were waiting for another shoe to drop and it never did.
       I’m expecting us to get torn apart in the World Cup. But I’m thinking we might go down in flames so it will be an interesting 0-3 watch.

     • V–in terms of the A team, objectively, games already played, the only positive sign, the only scheme growth, the only changed result, was the panama game last fall. we played different. we leveraged jedi and a sliding 6-RW. we whooped up on a team who had just beat us in copa america.

       that has vaporized, perhaps because if jedi can’t play, it was less a “scheme” than a tweak for a specific player with unique abilities. if we try and play arfsten the same way he ships even more goals than jedi and dest do. which was already too many.

       i did like aspects of the more positive passing we did at times, but that similarly vaporized in the final. so is that play a mirage we can only execute against mediocre or bad teams? because there are few of those at world cup finals.

       at which point i repeat myself. if i tried to get cheery about the coach’s new tweak postgame, he tended to wave it off and say we’ll see if this works against our big rival team for state. US fans continue to want to build sandcastles based on 5-0 trinidad games. i wouldn’t be sure a player or scheme works until we’re beating canada, mexico, panama, or good teams from other regions.

       and — in reality — not yet. and that’s not just at this tournament, that’s the pattern in every recent tournament, most friendlies, and the end of this tournament.

       you want my hope, when september comes, play different, win them both, and integrate the new faces. and then keep winning.

       otherwise, the risk is when the regulars returned for september 2021 WCQ it was like they had forgotten what worked all summer. and they aren’t going to have weeks to prepare and a month to get on a page. the rest of our windows until the world cup will be a week and a half. handful of those, then a final camp in may, then the Big Deal. this needs to start turning the corner and changing or it will be the new coach next fall changing things up.

       and hopefully with a new, open minded GM. like this is just barreling down Stupid Avenue without a hint of hitting the brakes. they don’t even have to play how i want. just different would suffice. this doesn’t work for us.

   • tangential point, but after reading about minnesota’s dead ball obsessions, eg, deep throws, keeper kicks from the half line,, and such; an ironic side benefit of getting dead ball service worth a crap is we actually feel compelled to play the ball into he box, as opposed to tap it sideways (or hit it to the first defender) and just perimeter pass some more.

     minnesota’s premise is you play enough balls in the danger zone and good things start to happen. you’re not getting penalty calls, ricochets, second balls, 50/50s,……much less skill and artistry……if you are scared to put it in the box at all. and obviously i’d prefer precision and on purpose but do you want goals or not.

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     • It was nice that our expert set piece coach finally paid off with a couple set piece goals and a couple more near misses.

     • JR– it’s about service. for years pulisic has hogged service even though he doesn’t mesh with this team as the deadball guy.

       my point is cynically that if the dead ball service is any good it encourages that limited aggression in attack indirectly by the fact it’s the one time you can be assured we will actually try to feed a ball into the box for a change. otherwise we can rarely find the 9 with a flashlight.

       i say that but at the end of the mexico game with a free kick late we tapped the ball back into play and farted around the back.

       this is starved of aggression and too willing to do the lazy thing. a big difference i have noticed between, say, us and napoli, is that a napoli wing will tend to look for an inversion, or a feed into the box or beyond the backs. we will kick a 30 yard cross vaguely in the forward’s direction while calling ourselves a possession team.

       ACM plays like us but when they feed a pinched wing they are as likely to spin inside as to take it wide. we are almost a 90s english crossing cliche minus the directness of kickball where we get more balls forward and crossed. crossing is a low percentage volume business and we can barely be bothered to attack much.

     • IV: I was screaming at the tv at that “free kick” at the end as well. I don’t think that was any tactical decision or direction. That was a tired team at the end of a game they’d been well beaten. Odds are after 5 subs they didn’t have the right guys on for whatever they had designed anymore anyway. But, yes bring up Freese put all the tall guys in the box and lay one in there.

4. This is going to be a very unpopular opinion, but while our 6’s genuinely struggled or at least didn’t cover themselves in glory at the GC. Christian Roldan played really well in the FIFA World Cup. Don’t be surprised if he gets called in September.

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   • Roldan has matured in his play. He does still give away some bad passes. But he does have an engine, can cover ground, and looks for forward passes more often than not.

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   • I always wanted Nagbe for that role for the USMNT. Great on the ball. Good passer. Hard to dispossess. How old is he anyway?
     Now I think if he ever comes back Gio would be my vote.
     I have no problem with Roldan in that role.

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     • Darlington is 34.

   • No.

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5. Lyon wins its appeal and will stay in Ligue 1. Now waiting to see if Palace will be allowed to stay in Europa League.

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6. Just my moderated opinion, but I think some fans have gotten in too deep. Is bloviating really the way to win the hearts and minds, and influence others?

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7. when was the supposed Golden Age of Ream people keep hinting at? he didn’t make the 2014 klinsmann team. he did start in some 2018 arena qualifiers but that should hardly be an argument in your favor. berhalter initially liked him in 2018 then dropped him for years. he was left off the 2021 tournament teams that won their trophies — peak america. he was brought back in world cup 2022 as an injury replacement when richards, robinson, and even some of the other backups got hurt. struggled in the holland loss.

   do you know what games he has started? the trinidad debacle this cycle; colombia friendly; copa america; the panama NL loss; canada, mexico, and switzerland friendly losses; and the gold cup final loss.

   please, explain to me how you keep your job and are like in your golden age as a regular starter when you correlate to all this mess, and have only aged from being an injury replacement level player last cycle.

   this is stupid.

   richards can play. ream cannot.

   for all the pretense about his passing, his last involvement in a goal was 2021 northern ireland. TM says 1G 4A in 15 years of caps. out of anyone, a CB has to be capable of doing his marking job.

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   • and to connect it to tactics, we load up on attacking defenders. we then have to win games on a single goal from richards on a free kick. that’s not exploiting the risks you are taking. we are then punished for the risks, we shipped 1-2 goals every game for the last 4 games of the tournament. we shipped goals in nations league. we shipped goals in copa. etc.

     if we want ream jedi etc., we need to score like 3 goals to overcome the bad defense.

     or, you bench ream, etc. because we are content to play for that richards free kick goal, but realize to make that work you need to pitch a shutout.

     again, this is neither fish nor fowl. if we are gonna score 1 goal in a final then it can’t be ream and arfsten or dest or the like. if it’s gonna be ream you have to sell out the other end.

     pick a lane.

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     • to use recent history, the 2021 NL team beat mexico 3-2 in extra time with reyna on offense. if you remember, they would fall behind, come back, fall behind, come back, and eventually just outscored mexico in OT.

       the 2021 GC team went undefeated and allowed a single goal the whole tournament, winning five games by 1-0.

       those are examples of trophy recipes.

       the CBs were brooks and mckenzie for NL 21. brooks can pass but can’t mark but if you score 3 goals maybe you can work around that.

       the CBs were sands and robinson for GC 21.

       and fwiw, NL 23 we also won, and that was richards and zimmerman starting.

     • actually, technically, ream started 2021 but he was LB in a 3 man backfield with brooks and mckenzie. but i don’t find where we have ever won a tournament final where he was CB with 4 backs. in 15 years.

   • The others stink worse. That’s it, that’s the reasoning for Ream. Yes he’s not a great defender, but the others are just as error prone and can’t pass. It’s not all that complicated. CCV see Copa America last summer, McKenzie really every game mistakes, Trusty not trusted by Celtic comes to camps and never plays. Banks benched for multiple mistakes, Zim and Miles well we know what they are. Dettoni can’t get on the field in Switzerland, Dietz had to be moved to DM, EPB barely played in 2 years see McKenzie for frequent mistakes, I mean what are we to Josh Wydner. The last time I saw him he was ok, I don’t watch Portuguese 2nd. Do you want a crap milkshake that comes with whipped cream and a cherry or do want a crap sandwich with a stale bun. Tim Ream comes with whipped cream so that’s what we got.

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     • first off, i see a bunch of straw men. you play games hoping people don’t read my posts. i didn’t mention wynder. i have been critical of mckenzie and he’s not on my list. i didn’t suggest zim or miles. the former is past it. the latter has not been the same since he got hurt. he has gotten his opportunity. i didn’t suggest or even mention dettoni. haven’t in months. i think he was briefly mentioned once for january camp or something.

       the others, per usual, you have myopic one sided “club form” arguments that ignore FFC just dumped their long term servant ream on charlotte MLS, which says something pointed like “paul mullin exits wrexham,” if you’re bothering to apply the same heuristic around.

       looking over your banter, your “definitive” takes on why we can’t even try someone else to replace a 2-goal-shipper are typical strained malarkey.

       CCV played only one half in copa. copa is not his fault. he came on at half vs. panama down a man and the first goal was already shipped. the second goal is jedi doesn’t close the crosser and adams’ man turns and scores on him — kind of like ream the other night. do explain how any of that’s CCV’s fault.

       you similarly argue trusty’s not getting capped means he sucks, which actually begs the question. trusty started 22 league games for celtic, including 2 of their last 3 games,, and several games in a row from january to march. he also started about every UCL game. you’re just flat wrong, and per usual you’re not factoring in who he’s signed up with.

       EPB had begun moving into the panathinaikos lineup at the end of the season until he pulled a hammy.

       dietz roughly split time between DM and CB, which when it’s sands or richards people think is neat. he played the next to last league game at back which hardly suggests he “had to be moved.”

       when banks played, his b.1 team won or tied every game except one. HIS LAST THREE APPEARANCES WERE SHUTOUTS. his last start he did an OG trying to clear a ball but it was the other CB who was at sea looking like crap allowing all the chances. what the heck do you mean, “benched for mistakes?”

       i usually just let you run at the mouth because i don’t want to spend half an hour dissecting why you’re wrong with your criticisms of my other options. but like the first guy i looked up it’s like dude’s just wrong about this.

       and then you suggest roldan at which point i am amused anyone listens. it’s too soon for campbell, and you don’t want green back but roldan you do. ok. whatever. don’t diss my suggestions then offer that 2019 rubbish.

     • CCV against Panama 59th minute gets nutmegged then grabs player from behind in the box, 63rd minute two footed diving tackle ruled penalty waved off because the player leaped over him instead of having his leg broken, Adams man doesn’t score it’s CCV’s man, he falls a sleep and leaves his man unmarked in the box. Canada in the fall largely responsible for first goal, and in a play very similar to Ream’s you screamed about Sunday, slow to close down David after his fellow defenders all run out of position on the 2nd goal. Colombia on the field for the last three goals none especially his fault but did nothing to shut off the danger either. As I said they all stink.
       ————————
       Banks, only played because of injuries. The experiment ended as soon as he flubbed that cross. You decide why that was. The three shutouts you bragged about he played a total of 24 minutes. He might not stink in a year or two but he stinks against adults right now.
       —————————
       What you want everyone to believe is that both Trusty and EPB have been in multiple camps with multiple managers and they all have refused to play them even though their better because…
       ——————————
       I did forget Jackson Regan, but Seattle wouldn’t release him in January or in June so who knows.
       —————————-
       I brought up Wydner because that is literally the pool. I bunch of guys who have not stood out in multiple camps. A teenager who was shaky in limited injury replacement minutes, Josh Wydner, and Regan and Blackmon. Two MLSlifers in their mid to upper 20s. No one is in love with Ream others just stink too.
       ————————
       I’m not advocating Roldan, I’m just preparing people for the possibility.

   • IV,

     “when was the supposed Golden Age of Ream people keep hinting at? ”

     From the first game of the 2022 World Cup until now.

     The four games Timmy played in Qatar were the four best games of his entire USMNT career up to that point. Those four games were also the four most important USMNT games Timmy had been involved in up to that point. Every game before Qatar ? Why does it matter? Who the fuck cares? I don’t.

     If you are a USMNT player and your best games for the USMNT are in the World Cup, you can’t do better than that. That is why I rate Clint Dempsey so highly.

     “please, explain to me how you keep your job and are like in your golden age as a regular starter when you correlate to all this mess, and have only aged from being an injury replacement level player last cycle.”

     Because as JR pointed out Timmy’s competitors stink worse. Gary laments that no one gets a chance because they keep playing Timmy. Well, they keep playing him because the team has been in transition since Qatar and they need some veteran leadership that they can rely on , especially on defense, and there are no other veterans available. 80% of life is just showing up and Ream has been good about that.
     Correlation is not causation. The USMNT is a team. Ream is not the sole reason for “this mess”. If you watched him in this Gold Cup it was clear that Ream and Richards have been helping to cover up for the defensive deficiencies of Tyler , Freeman and Max. I’m sure eventually one of these newbies will develop into a suitable replacement, but right now Pochettino has enough to worry about w/o having to break in Timmy’s successor.

     “this is stupid.”

     Yes your obsession with Ream is stupid.

     When Ream made the Qatar WC team I was unpleasantly shocked. WTF? Prior to Qatar , if you looked up the term “mediocre USMNT player”, you’d find a picture of Timmy right there next to the text.
     But then I watched all four games and in my view not only did he have the best four games of his USMNT career, he was arguably the US’ best performer.

     After Qatar he tailed off a little for a while but once Pochettino signed on I thought he picked it up again. And in the Gold Cup he showed he’s getting back towards his Qatar form.

     I’m sure you had a similar reaction as I did to Ream being in Qatar.

     But you react different than I do. People often disagree about players but you take it a quantum level up. I don’t mind being wrong about a player but you CAN’T be wrong. With you once a player is “bad”, they are bad forever. Instead of watching the 2022 World Cup or the Gold Cup with an open mind you look for anything and everything bad that you can lay at Timmy’s feet and not just at the 2022 World Cup but probably going back as far as possible.

     Any half way sane person would understand that if Pochettino thought he had a better option he would take it. He did not mind dropping Matt Turner. And you thought the fix was in for Matt. Pochettino did not mind calling out CP. Anyone who thinks Pochettino would not drop Ream in a millisecond if he had a better option is delusional.
     But you won’t let it go. because it’s not about the players performance. You don’t pay attention to the players. If you did you wouldn’t have blasted Pochettino for not giving Sands a shot at Ream. Sands, a player with a broken leg at the time.
     What happened to not picking injured players?

     Timmy has become your White Whale. You are Ahab to his Moby Dick.

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     • you are like mr. Out of Context. have you noticed the US’ run of performances since ream became a regular????? colombia. copa. trinidad. NL. now this.

       by your argument we should bring back omar gonzalez for being a “regular” in his golden age. just ignore how the games are actually going. he has clearly “earned it.”

       this is like the definition of decontextualized circular logic. he should start the next because he started the last. no one try noticing if we won that game.

       are you kidding me.

     • IV,

       So Ream is the reason for why the USMNT are bad?
       And if we drop him then they win the next game?

       Like I said……………….

     • V– did you not watch the game? Bs or not, we were in that until 77′ in. but with a stuttering offense ream can’t lose his man twice.

       what part of “he was an injury replacement who wasn’t going to make the last world cup otherwise” who is now THIRTY SEVEN and glacial are you struggling with? are the results not clear enough?

8. How fo people feel about PSV being interested in Gio Reyna?

   Reply

   • reyna badly needs the heck out of dortmund, and a home where he will get plenty of minutes. that would end a lot of the stupid form politics. on no planet should he be out of the 23 or watching as much as he did at the world cup or this nations league.

     i think technical dutch soccer with light physicality fits his skill game. i buy the american GM stewart might make this move as he signed several other americans. i am not sure with PSV being highscoring top of the league if that’s his best destination within holland to ensure the missing playing time.

     Reply

     • PSV rely heavily on counter pressing. When the ball turns over they are applying heavy pressure trying to immediately win it back. I’m not sure Gio is up for that. Malik was very good at it. If Gio doesn’t trust his hamstrings he won’t make it.

     • JR,

       “I’m not sure Gio is up for that. ”
       I think it is possible that Gio does a JOB and retires. Whatever has been going on, it has been going on a long time and BVB seems to be very protective of him.

       If he does come back to play he might want to think about dropping further back and , as you once suggested, take over LDLT’s job. Despite the conventional wisdom, he’s very clean on the ball, is hard to dispossess, is clearly a long range passing and scoring threat and unlike a lot of our players, is a deadly finisher. Instead of being a poor man’s Kaka, he can now be a poor man’s Rodri.

   • PSV is not interested according to the MLS Transfers Twitter account that I believe was the first to report that Gio’s agency had offered his services. The only interest in this move seems to be from the US fan base.

     Reply

   • If Gio can’t make it in a the Eredivisie (slow league, no solid defenses), on the best team in that league, and not only make it but have a major impact on the team…….then he might as well come back to MLS and at least be close to family….lol

     As far as standards, EPL is too high, Bundesliga seems to be too much…….so I think a team like Ajax or PSV in the Eredivisie, is his best move in terms of playing time, development and building confidence

     Reply

     • Offensively I have no concerns with Gio at PSV (again no indication they’re interested). Where my concern is, is he willing/and or able to counter press with intensity and quality of Malik. Pre-leg injury Gio certainly would have been not sure current Gio is able.

9. so is Poch a winner in this? idk, maybe

   hand ball, no hand ball, I mean, in CONCACAF it only serves to expect to never get that call yet figure ways to win anyway. That is the equation since I can recall which is back to Caligiuri for me, a long time. will it be different next summer in the World Cup instead of CONCACAF? hasn’t been before, I hope so, but idk, maybe

   a winner to me was this group of players; even though ultimately outclassed by a better Mexico team, they worked hard. will that mentality and ethic translate to the team next summer? I hope so but idk, maybe

   the balance of rest for european based players or playing in this tournament together under Poch in the last competition before the World Cup with only friendlies ahead to prepare and no qualis to sharpen steel with steel with etc. etc., and is that balance being found successfully? whoa, that’s a tough one that Poch is paid big to manage correctly, and we will see in a year.

   I hope so, but idk, maybe

   Reply

   • Hard to judge Poch yet imo because he has had so little to work with. This gold cup team is probably the weakest B team in my recent memory talentwise. We had starting positions filled by players that just aren’t ready for the international level yet (outside backs and striker). And then we had areas of the field where our more experienced internationals really got run over (almost every centermid). Despite that, the team gelled, fought for every ball and each other, and were still in that final to the end, I think Poch gets some credit for that.

     Reply

     • agreed jb, hard to judge but he gets credit which I gave him before the final, and still do.

       @Vacqui, no remorse here man, just wondering what we’ll see, and from what we’ve seen, who knows what that is, and maybe that is a good thing to be unknown, at least if Poch knows.

     • Were we in the final because of our play or Mexico’s ineptitude? We were not dictating anything the last 75 minutes they were just moving us wherever they wanted us. 38% of the game was played in our defending third.

   • I guess a fair question would be would any other manager done better without players 1-9 and 12-14
     No way to know

     Reply

     • Bac: I’m not frustrated by the result I’m frustrated that this group didn’t get better. Including Poch’s in game adjustments and substitutions.

10. I’m kind of confused. Our last 150 minutes of soccer were pretty terrible. Hanging on for dear life against Guatemala and then being pretty much played off the field by a fairly average Mexico squad.
    ——————-
    After Richards goal on the set piece we didn’t register another shot until stoppage time when Freeman headed it off the keeper’s face and Luna skied the rebound. We had Arfsten’s nice move that wasn’t off by much in the 56th and then despite needing a goal didn’t get another shot until the 87th. Then Pat’s barely makes contact in the 92nd. Given the number of corners and set pieces we were conceding it was only a matter of time before we conceded.
    ———————-
    Luna was fairly anonymous and Tillman was pretty bad in the final. We were pinned so deep we often looked to be in a back 6.
    ————————
    Yet, I keep hearing see, we’ve got to get rid of this possession system. What possession we didn’t try in the 2nd half against Guatemala and the entire match against Mexico. When we would win a ball we had no composure and would just bang it right back to them. Agyemang had 6 touches in the first half so we weren’t even successful at getting it to him. Adams, who should have been our most ready for the moment guy, couldn’t complete a forward pass.
    ———————
    Yet, because we ran around a lot people are excited? Poch made no changes during the tournament that improved our play, and his minutes distribution made us worse. Poch is now 0-2 against Mexico using midfields of (Ba, Malik, Musah, Busio, Morris) and (Luna, Malik, Seb, Luca, Adams) we had 11 shots 4 on target in those two games. Let’s stop this nonsense that we don’t need Weah, McKennie, Pulisic and yes Gio (if he even still plays soccer). Malik and Luna are pieces that can give us good minutes, but against real teams we need our best players and we need to have at least some control of the game.

    Reply

    • 100% agree with absolutely everything in this post.

      Next window is everything for me.

      Pochettino has coached 16 games. 11 of them vs CONCACAF. The tow that wasn’t in the lead up to this Gold Cup was vs Venezuela – so basically another CONCACAF and New Zealand. Then add Saudi during GC to make five nonCONCAF teams played. At this moment I’m inclined to think Poch is an overrated manager and/or is in over his head coaching at the international level. His opposition has been WAY below his and this team’s level in all occasions minus 2 Euro teams, and perhaps Mexico twice and throw in Canada. Five games. In those five games he’s had what appears to be his strongest squad only once – vs Canada in the third place game of Nations League. Up to that point it was the strongest opposition he would have faced with the top guys. They lost that game to Canada and looked bad doing it. They weren’t up for it and had no ideas going forward.

      So what about those other four games against better opposition? Mexico 1 – he sends home players to rest instead of resting them versus New Zealand earlier in the window. Two Euro teams that will be in for 2026? Instead recognizing the opportunity of testing his top players in a way he has yet to have seen and having a quick camp with those players available from the top squad and asking them raise their level against non-CONCACAF teams he elects to let them rest. He COULD have had Weah, McKennie and Pulisic for those games – Juventus released Yilmaz to Turkeye for the game and Pulisic offered to play those games. Musah was available and Sargent too. He still would have had time after to prep for GC.

      He still knows NOTHING about the top players in this pool because he hasn’t seen them play against anything not CONCACAF…and CONCACAF is almost a different sport – which he also hasn’t figured out. Think about that before you say so and so shouldn’t be called in *because Pochettino knows him*. Does he though? Does he really know what any of these players can bring outside of CONCACAF? I’m going with no.

      So yeah…bring on South Korea and Japan. However, I’m a little nervous about the roster that will get called in. There may be players breaking in with new teams or who have played “a lot of football” or whatever excuse player and coach come up with to keep them with their clubs. Yikes…time will tell.

      Reply

      • MotO, beachbum, JR

        Just in case you have buyers remorse about Pochettino please read this article for some perspective:

        https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jul/02/canada-gold-cup-exit-jesse-marsch-world-cup-2026

        Now that the Gold Cup is over, it served as Pochettino’s breaking in period. With all the focus on Pochettino and the Gold Cup squad people should remember that our rich, tattooed, spoiled millionaire A team looks pretty shaky and probably needed this break.

        Musah- cast out of Milan and still unemployed
        Weah – cast out of Juve and still unemployed
        Weston – back in the land of contract uncertainty
        Tyler – pretty crap Gold Cup, looks tired and injured
        Turner- in need of employment
        Jedi- recovering from serious knee injury
        Dest – recovering from serious knee injury
        BA- barely used in GC and still at Leeds but for how long?
        Johnny – underwhelming Gold Cup
        Josh – hopefully rested and awaiting new employer
        Haji- injured
        Pepi- recovering from serious knee injury
        Flo – only now coming back from shoulder injury
        CP- reputation injured
        Gio- MIA

        I’m missing some players but that is the bulk of the cavalry who will come to our rescue. Now go and think some positive thoughts.

      • V makes a different logical/factual error. that the Bs failed doesn’t justify the As. the As have been on a crap run of form since roughly the last world cup, 2023 nations league at the latest. copa ring a bell? nations league this year?

        what y’all want to do is keep doubling down on most of the same regulars. if that’s what you want, at least change the tactics where we play the same people a different way. like definitional insanity and with the repeated losses to teams like panama should be questioned.

        also, your lengthy list is funny. what has been fundamentally missing is a functional backline, some striker depth, someone to swap for adams, and then jedi. jedi and adams are maybe the only 2 players whose specific absence kills us. and with adams any sane team identifies more than one 6. and backs that can stop teams. and knows which backup forwards can score or not.

        you keep ignoring the mistakes. no wings called up for this tournament. the wingbacks who couldn’t mark. the recycled CBs. his struggle to find someone to sit next to adams. he keeps calling white over and over.

        he’s had the team a year. it shouldn’t be all the same questions plus some new ones cooked up by benching helpful players like reyna.

      • MotO, great post, thank you and we’ll see! it’s an exciting window of friendlies because of everything, with the clock ticking…….

      • From what I keep hearing from fans, it seems that no manager is the right manager for the USMNT, and if I remember correctly Poch and Klopp were the 2 managers that everybody wanted. Could it be that this iteration of the USMNT is just not good enough, no matter the manager? They haven’t gotten better since WC ’22, but I still hold.out hope they’ll figure something out and click before next summer

    • basic logical fallacy — you can be trying to execute something and simply do it badly. if you paid attention closely, when we did get out of our own end, or they backed off a little late, we were obviously playing berhalter ball. it was most obvious when we broke out for a period first half — then put our foot on the ball and played keepaway to catch our breath — and when we tentatively played it around the back late when we really needed aggression and a goal to tie.

      similarly weak is arguing we should play possession soccer because we got outpossessed by our opponent. you’re confusing the tactics that beat US with the tactics to beat THEM. or is this just about childlike mimickry or justifying schemes in the abstract.

      what actually worked in the tournament was, with some tempo, back hits pass to mid central, mid flicks wide, wide quickly sends agyemang between the backs. not possession. not kickball either, but not playing like some scrimmage practice drill where everyone touches the ball before we score.

      the problem with that concept is mexico and other good teams will just sit on the mids and intercept balls you try to play straight line upfield. you then don’t get the initial tempo ball and build upfield. we then went back to nibbling around the sidelines, then turn around and the backs play keepaway. as i have explained a million times, as a defender, i will send you a gift basket if all you do is pass around the backs unfrighteningly and rarely send balls in the box unless you get a dead ball chance. i don’t even have to work much other than stay awake and remember where my man is. and you’re not scoring much if the ball sees the box once a century.

      and then the kicker is you folks adore your goal-shipping defenders. so low-scoring offense meets goal-shipping defense. the overall outcome practically writes itself. you allow a goal or two. you maybe manage a goal on a good day. not many tough wins in that. and at the world cup we beat iran, tied 2 more, then got spanked by holland.

      this is not to completely say keepaway is stupid, but situationally. when we finally got off our end first half i was ok with us just passing a couple minutes to catch our breath and get some rhythm. it’s also ok sitting up 2-3 goals from early aggression tactics. but it’s idiotic at 0-0 or down 1-2 late.

      what we need is a concept of how to get the ball downfield that is more aggressive and unrelenting, and seeks to create chances. and then sparingly downshift into stringing passes at the end of a half or the game, or to control a big lead.

      you seem to think we are city or barca with a superior roster that can just toy with people and make the UCL semis. if we try to toy with teams we are not necessarily more skilled than concacaf teams and definitely not the big boys.

      Reply

      • IV: “V makes a different logical fallacy error.” Your error is no different, your belief is if the A’s failed and B’s failed, the C, D, and E’s must be better even though they’ve shown absolutely no sign of that with YT, clubs, etc…
        ——————————-
        No one wants “Berhalter Ball” but that’s not possession soccer. Neither does it have to be tika toka style either. The whole point is you are moving the ball around to make the defense keep moving. Mexico did that part very well. The hardest part though is once you’ve moved the defense to make the passes either across field or quickly thru the defense to take advantage of the disorganized lines. When there is no clear way thru you recycle the ball back hoping to draw the defense out and once again disorganize them by creating overloads and either driving into the space if no one helps or reversing the ball when help comes. It should create numerical advantages in different parts of the field. Watch Columbus they do it all day long, but Columbus also goes all out they’ll throw 2 CBs into the final 3rd if they need to. Next summer in the heat and humidity you aren’t going to be able to sit and absorb pressure for 90 minutes, you are going to have to be able to have the ball for at least 1/2 the time. Or you’re going to have to be like Panama in NL and hope your one shot on goal gets past the keeper.

      • And you don’t have to be this technical genius Sean Zawadzki and Aiden Morris aren’t Busquets or Xavi and no one has ever confused Christian Ramirez for Messi.

      • JR: re A vs. experiment, once A is losing, what you’re missing is if you don’t try anything else, then A is already toast. B doesn’t have to out play A as a whole. it merely has to contribute players who alter A in a more competitive way. do you think i really want to replace A with B?????? no. you selective dump the frustrating As for successful Bs. not every B is successful but then the winning nature of A isn’t riding on whether sullivan sucks at senior level. it rests on the 23-26 who eventually compose the A team next year. given A team can barely win a copa or nations league game, only an idiot wants to run those As out for world cup saying silly crap like “but maybe the draw will be easy since it’s 48 teams.” 2/3 of those teams would make it last time. and the other 1/3, several new teams from no-bsing uefa, colombia sits in 6th in conmebol. panama and costa rica are potential “added” concacaf teams beyond the hosts. not exactly scrubs.

        re tactics, i don’t need your lecture because (a) it’s not how we really play and (b) it doesn’t work. period. you’re like, we know it doesn’t work for real, but don’t you see how it could work in theory?????? which is like a french philosophy joke.

        the one guy capable of hitting diagonal switches (when they overload) like you imply this is built for, is mcglynn — who poch used this tournament to push back to the sideline.

        which also underlines the basic issue this team has where it can’t seem to correlate a roster to a scheme or goal scoring plan.

        eg, berhalter was unimpressive in the knockouts in the run of play, but without his kicks, we don’t even make the final. and he’s producing more than your wingbacks usually do, from that facet alone. you pull him out and the Bs collapse.

        you kind of don’t get it. just like everyone on here who wants reyna benched, one of the few creating run of play stuff.

    • hahaha JR!

      one thing I’d quibble is, yes we need our a listers, of course man, but the camps will be a real test imo, you can bet Diego will be at his best at those practices out to prove it, others best be too. you don’t think he could help unlock CP or Balo or Jedi flying on overlaps, if he was out there wit h them under pressure? plus he brings something out there defensively that other options do not because of what I’d call less belief in themselves defensively, at least not that I’ve ever seen consistently, so it breaks down. we’ll see. he may not touch the ball as smooth as some but he does other things better, too. like everyone’s down on Adams and LDLT, I get it, but at least they try to cover the second level in our defensive 3rd with an awareness, you know that space where all the opponents know to go to exploit the USMNT for many years now; everyone talks about Ream’s effort on the goal, but look where the leak comes from to spring him through, again, our compromised second level, bing bam boom. Man, if we don’t figure that out, none of this is gonna matter

      loved your post man

      Reply

      • What’s frustrating is Mexico was doing exactly what we were doing the first 4 matches of the tournament. Building out with a 3-2-4-1. The three would out number Pat and Malik, then they either had time to drive into our midfield or pass easily the FB creating a 3 on 2 vs Berhalter/Freeman or Luna/Arfsten. Thank goodness Arfsten was at least passable 1on1 with Alvarado or we’d have been in real trouble. Yet we made no adjustments for 60 minutes, we should have that figured out it was exactly our strategy for most of the tournament.

11. The outlandish claims over the last month about players in this group of USMNT players, as well as the excuses for yesterday’s loss never cease to amaze.

    The better team on paper played better on the field yesterday and earned a hard-fought win. Simple as that. Time to move on.

    Yesterday presented a much more challenging opponent and it allowed a truer assessment of this group as a whole, especially Tilman and Luna. Neither of the two is a sure starter for next year’s World Cup.

    If a World Cup team was selected today, and assuming all were healthy, playing regularly at their club team, and producing for their respective club team, I think we would see this roster ( starters in ALL CAPS ):

    Goalkeepers ( 3 ) – STEFFEN, Turner, Schulte
    Defenders ( 8 ) – A. ROBINSON, REAM, RICHARDS, DEST, DeJuan Jones, McKenzie, Miles Robinson, Scally
    Midfielders ( 8 ) – ADAMS, MCKENNIE, REYNA, Musah, Cardoso, Tessman, Tillman, Luna
    Wingers ( 4 ) – PULISIC, WEAH, Wright, Brenden Aaronson
    Forward ( 3 ) – PEPI, Balogun, Sargent

    The way things stand right now, the USMNT is not a very good team and they are not positioned to make a deep run next summer. Even more concerning is the lack of depth. A lot needs to be improved and there is not a lot of time. That said, it presents a very steep challenge…but I have not lost hope.

    EVERYONE will need to get on board with Pochettino’s expectations of effort, commitment, and culture, or they risk the very serious possibility of being left off the World Cup roster, and that includes Pulisic.

    It will be interesting to see who is called in for September. Ideally, Pochettino calls in Pulisic and benches him for both games. Next best scenario is that he doesn’t call him in at all. In either case, that will send a very strong message to the pool…if he will do that to Pulisic, he is definitely capable of doing to me. That gives Pochettino the best chance to get everyone on board, and fast!

    Reply

    • While I am pretty much in agreement with you, with some slight variations on the roster, there is one thing I think you overlook. With the expanded field, there will likely be a number of weaker teams in the field than in the past. A lot depends on the draw, but home teams often get favorable draws and that should mean that the US will be able to get out of its group without too much trouble. While I share your concerns about this team, we have certainly gone to the tournament with weaker teams. And, with the larger field I think it makes it more possible that we will win at least one game past the group stage. There are so many variables such as injuries, poor play, etc. that I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on any outcome, but I do think that this new format will help us.

      Reply

      • Gary

        “There are so many variables such as injuries, poor play, etc. that I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on any outcome, but I do think that this new format will help us.”

        It might but you’d be a fool to count it happening.

    • Papi Grande my man, I love your passionate take here, I do, and like Gary, I agree with a lot of this

      but Papi, get on board with what? I’m serious. I mean, don’t you want to see the so called best players excited and pumped to play? instead of anything else? or the bully coach thing, which is weak imo. I doubt Poch does that, but we’ll see. I can’t believe any American in the pool will not be down for getting down with everything next summer unless relationships are fractured, which under pressure, get exposed, as you know I’m sure

      and play Luna with the other ‘a’ listers and see how he plays, Tilman too; Mexico targeted them hard with focus, wouldn’t be the case with others on the pitch with them, including a backline that can play together (no offense to Freean and Arfsten who did some good things this tournament, but come on, they have a ways to go and everything broke down from their epicenters from being brutally exposed).

      of course the only looks we’ll get now are not under fire; yes, the games matter and the players will be playing for a lot, but no way is the focus (WIN vs. make the team) or intensity the same as in a competitive final, for example.

      Reply

    • Reyna hasn’t played any meaningful minutes in like four years – a total of 2533 minutes or an average of 633 minutes per year over that time. That’s all competitions – Bundeliga, Pokal, Champions League, Premiere League, FA cup.

      Reply

      • you keep getting fooled with this argument. sargent goes b.1, ump him. sargent moves c’ship, bring him back. ditto pepi moving MLS-Germany-Holland. did the player really change or did popular opinion shift based on how his pro career looked that season.

        i believe it’s the latter. quit following the fake form circus from town to town. talent is talent. reyna is reyna, pepi is pepi, sargent is sargent. some of them are more effective NT than others. that’s actual talent and fit.

        similarly, you see where we eagerly brought in 18 or 19 year olds in 2002 or 2018, but for some reason despite recent struggles act like some status quo stud team with no room for new talent.

        i’ve been advocating downs, he looked solid. bring reyna back. cole campbell and yow can ball. we also need some backs who can mark. then about 5 guys from this tournament (SB, agyemang, luna, tillman, maybe mcglynn). then the regulars. keep the best ones in the upcoming friendlies.

        scout talent and skill sets. reward NT performance. ignore the form roller coaster if a guy has performed for the nats (and sargent hasn’t).

      • Haha
        Unless Giovanni Reyna breaks something and continue to play (to show MORE HEART than Luna….haha), he is not going to see the field for the USMNT let alone start. There is an A-list and a B-List, and there is no one he beats out (in the position he CAN PLAY) in terms of grit, fight, heart and dedication. None.

        He’s too slow to be a winger (1 RW/ 1 LW – OUT), he brings ZERO defensive abilities to the table (2 CDM – OUT) and he is not even in the conversation central attacking Mid (1 ACM – OUT) and is behind Diego Luna and Malik Tillman. Reyna is not being used at Dortmund, not because the coach doesn’t like him or he has bad luck in training, or he needs time to develop on the team……..the fact is he is just not good enough……and with all the transfer hype going around for players around the world, NOBODY SEEMS TO WANT GIOVANNI REYNA. Plain and simple. Can he improve? Absolutely. Is he young enough to make a turn around? Absolutely.

        The days of automatic selection to the National Team because of:
        Where you ride pine
        Who your parents are and their relationship to USSoccer
        Or who people think you are or what you are capable of (that you are somehow not able to do day in day out with your club)

        ……..Is long gone lol. Over. The Gio-train and his so-called “dribbling only” abilities have left the station long time ago. We have moved on.

      • MotO,

        IV has a theoretical argument.

        It looks good in theory but it does not necessarily stand up to reality.
        It assumes that a player is a product that performs on demand, like power tools for example.
        And furthermore, it assumes that the problem is the USMNT manager keeps buying the wrong power tools from the wrong outlet.

        For example, instead of buying a Bosch or a Makita cordless drill from Graingers he sees the USMNT manager as buying an inexpensive knockoff from Harbor Freight Tools.

        The “you get what you pay for” argument.

        Talent or quality is indeed vital. But it alone is not enough.
        Gio for example, has aspects to his game that approach world class in terms of quality. In some ways he is a level above every other USMNT player. But he is no good if he cannot get on the field.

        If you are the USMNT manager you have to meet a prospective player in person and see how they interact with you and with the team. That is non-negotiable.

        But you have limited time and space, so you have to be very selective about who you invite to a camp. The USMNT manager has access to remote methods of evaluating these players far superior to anything anyone here on SBI has. My guess is they use that to weed out potential invitees.

        You can only invite so many people to camp.
        IV’s method makes no allowance for that

        Then once you get that player in camp you have to figure out how much time it will take them to blend in. Some are faster than others. Everyone is different and this may be the deal breaker. Johnny for example, undoubtedly has quality but how long before he shows it for the USMNT? Or will he ever show it for the USMNT? Can we afford to wait? Ferreira had 22 caps before they figured out that he had no role for the USMNT.

        IV’s method makes no allowance for any of this. It assumes that players are like power tools; as soon as you buy it, you try it out and if it does not perform you can return it for a refund. and just get another tool.

        If his method really worked, you wouldn’t really need a manager.

12. JR

    One really big deal question:

    Officially is it 23 or 26 man rosters?

    Reply

    • That has not been announced yet. From what I’ve read it’s probably 23, but both Euros and Copa switched last spring to 26.

      Reply

      • Its going to be 26 man rosters.

    • I read that the WWC was back to 23, but I have to think with the expanded field, the scuttlebutt about the heat & humidity etc that they’d be smart and keep it 26 for the men. I hope so.

      Reply

13. The guys we thought would be good were pretty good. The new guys generally played by new guys. Guys like McKenzie, both Aronsons and Cardoso hardly played at all. Luna showed he belongs on the roster, but a starter? That remains to be seen. I’m not sold on Freese. You may want him on the roster to sub in when there is going to be a shootout, but a regular spot is hardly a lock. Berhalter seems to be very good at free kicks, but the rest is to be decided. So many important players weren’t there, so as far as I’m concerned, this tournament proved nothing as regards how well our team will do in the WC. And did we find a new starter? Tillman was already being played frequently, but now he seems very likely. Same with Chris Richards. I think all we learned is that some players like Luna should be on the roster and we should hope our regular strikers are healthy. Pepi, Balogun, Wright, and Sargent all are better than Agyemang. Pulisic and Weah are still our best options at wing and McKennie, Adams, Musah, and either Cardoso or Tillman could be starters. Locks on defense are, left to right, Jedi Robinson, someone to replace Ream, Richards, and Dest, with Scally as a back up and McKenzie, CCV also possible CB’s available. Then there are guys like Tessman or Yow who might make the roster. In sum, I don’t see the tournament making much of a difference in who will play in the WC.

    Reply

14. IV,

    “:.i mean, where i come from, we don’t do tactics and personnel by aesthetics, we do them by results.”

    Okay. So now what are you going to do?

    Reply

15. I have a question, will teams have a full month to prepare for the world cup like 2014? I know in 2022 everything was all different and I was drunk in 2018 so I don’t remember.

    Reply

    • Looks like some leagues end May 17th, Serie A and EPL May 24th, WC opener is June 11 and USA opens on June 12.

      Reply

      • So I found on the WC official site that the total number of “combined” days of rest, release, and tournament days is 56 days, the same as 2010, 2014, and 2018. (Somehow doesn’t feel the same)
        Mandatory release begins May 25th with some exceptions.
        So basically a few weeks together after no qualifying, outstanding.
        I’m guessing we won’t have time for 3 warm up matches like ’14, outstanding.

      • US opened camp May 17, 2010. So they had a full extra week before their first match which was also June 12th. The difference is because with added teams the knockout stage will begin 2 days later than 2010 and by the time you get to the final it’s 8 days later in 2026. So one less week of prep because of the extra games.

      • As I said… outstanding

      • JR

        One really big deal question:

        Officially is it 23 or 26 man rosters?

    • Bac, the real question to ask is player burnout. Here we are in the middle of the Club World Cup taking place at the end of the 2024-25 season, which will lead pretty close to pre-season for players in Europe. Then for next summer, the time off before the World Cup is minimal, if any. That is asking a lot. I think Emma Hayes had it right in telling many of her Euro-based players to take a break this off-season. I am hopeful the extra rest for the USMNT players who didn’t play in the GC is also beneficial. This expanded WC format linked with a hot summer is going to be taxing.

      Reply

      • I’m curious because it’s been a LONG time since we’ve had all our guys together at the same time, and with no qualifying I was hoping we’d have the same amount of time together like in 2014.

16. The biggest winner is having a solid CB with Richards. He has raised his level of competition and competence at center back. Ream continues to be our best option with a left foot that can hit a diagonal pass
    Tillman is starting to figure things out and higher game appearances against top 5 league competition will determine if he wants to be a great player. I have a feeling Poch challenges him and Tillman is responding.
    Ageymang just does not have the combo of strength and most of all balance to play his position. All tournament he finished almost all of his touches on the turf. He was the best available option and Poch knew the offense needed to go through him and Mexico set the tone with a firm butt kicking.
    Berhalter was marked out of the match. Forced wide and pinned in by the chalk. You cannot hold the ball and let two players trap you consistently on the sideline. Berhalter sees the field when players are in front of him but mark him and he cannot hold the ball.
    Lina has a lot of hype and support behind him. He is good in tight spaces does a lot of little things to create positives. However, most of his positives are taking risks and not a high percentage player on defense or offense
    US midfield lacked so much last night; no possession, little dribble success ,few combo passes, Adams was trying to be a double 6 and double 8. The other guys stunk. Adams was the only US midfielder who matched Mexicos pace!

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17. The Gold Cup created the perception that we have competition for spots on the World Cup team.

    Pochettino did this, starting with Cupcake, by taking seriously the proposition that our Cupcake types, these fresh faces, might prove viable World Cup players.

    Whether he comes by this belief honestly or his oligarch paymasters have expressed a desire to promote the quality of the MLS American player is unknown.

    It’s a smart move because:

    + they will actually get a player or two or three out of it.
    + Our euros can’t be sure so they will feel some added pressure to compete for places. That is the theory anyway. Whether they actually buy into it remains to be seen.
    + Some of the fanbase and the media will buy it and the largely negative hysteria will ease somewhat. If the Asian friendlies go tits up , the team will be right back to square one.

    The reality is a little more nuanced.
    If we are to believe the media, we faced Mexico’s World Cup squad in a home game for them, They were under a ton of pressure to show well because, well, they always are.

    If so, then both teams have a lot of things to fix before the World Cup.
    Think of it as a lose-lose final.

    Between now and when the roster must be picked an awful lot can and probably will happen.
    There is a lot soccer still to be played so I’m loathe to pass final judgement on players. I have to admit that watching Patrick play target man is like watching one of those movie bar room brawls. I’ve been waiting for a defender to break a chair over his head.

    From the lists I’ve seen, the Winners aren’t that good and the Losers aren’t that bad.

    Pochettino is a pretty sharp professional. He probably still has a bit of work to do in terms of figuring out his players but that said , he’s probably not calling in Julian Green, Josh Cohen or Duane Holmes.

    He just has to figure out a way to not get grouped and to win that first knockout game. He will probably fail but it should be interesting watching him try.

    Reply

    • i think the fact the A team took last at the NL finals and could barely win a game since october, followed by the june friendlies, put the whole thing in question.

      if you throw out the 2021 tournament run, this is a team that qualified 3rd in 2022 — on a tiebreaker — and probably performs at 3rd-5th with its A team now. this is simply not exposed as we don’t have to qualify this time.

      at which point we circle around to the basic question of does that match the pool talent level. i don’t believe it. but we never fix the defense, we sandbag new attacking talent, and we generally act like one of the great US teams winning qualifying and destined to go 1-2 games deep in knockouts, when this is a struggling mess.

      and now you’re like, oh well, the Bs are the Bs. people have like goldfish memory. we couldn’t beat anyone A in march. we could barely beat anyone in copa last year. there is a reason the coach got fired.

      and it’s not getting fixed. it’s then fairly smug to be like, oh, well, send the “great” As back out there.

      Reply

      • IV,

        You’re wasting your time on a lot of dramatic bitching, whining, moaning and pissing about. Are you going to hold your breath until you turn blue?.

        You’re being a drama queen in a situation with very little drama to it.

        Pochettino’s first two games were friendlies a 2-0 win vs Panama and a 0-2 loss to Mexico. He wins his next 4 games , 2 in the NL vs Jamaica and the two Cupcake friendlies vs Venezuela and Costa Rica.

        Then the big shock losing the NL semi to Panama and the third place game to Canada, followed by the double blow of the Turkey and Swiss sandwich.. At that point he has gone 0-4 and the knives are out. He has lost to big rivals in Panama and Canada and then loses two games to legit euro good teams. The natives are restless and and everyone is bailing on the program.
        We’re 10 games into the Pochettino era and it did not feel like he knew the players and he has not had an extended camp with them save for Cupcake.

        Now we’re into the Gold Cup and Pulisic decides to play the bad guy . This has the effect of galvanizing the Gold Cup squad , which just so happens to have a lot of the Cupcake guys.

        Pochettino now has time to spend with “his” guys, an issue ( how much do you want to “suffer” for your country Christian) and some charming charismatic players with big balls.
        So of course the USMNT runs off 5 wins in a row before falling to Mexico in the final.

        What did Mauricio prove in the Gold Cup?

        Give him sometime with a group of young players and he can mold them into an effective unit. If he can do that with younger players he should be able to do that with the more established A team. And he can point to a reasonably successful tournament where they exceeded expectations. Canada was supposed to win this thing and we were not supposed to get by them in the semis.

        The perception around the team is now more positive because of the Gold Cup performance.

        The reality remains truly grim for our WC chances but an awful lot can happen between now and roster decision time to help the USMNT.
        All these games are for whipping into shape not just the players but also the manager and his staff who are new to this as well.. Now that they have had some games and tournaments under their belt, some semblance of an identity for this team, we should expect the next run of games to go better. Or not

18. Dave,

    Good teams don’t make those excuses.
    The USMNT is not a good team.

    We’ve been in CONCACAF for a million years now.
    In any given cycle, most of the USMNT game time is spent vs. CONCACAF teams.
    By now, we should understand the style of play and be as good at it as our CONCACAF brethren.

    Reply

    • Hmm last i looked this team made the final. What excuse? Mexico had their best players available the US didnt. Thats fact not an excuse. In the end you win some and lose some that’s sports. Winning this tournament doesn’t really have a bearing on how the team does next summer. Overall I thought this team performed well. Now its time to integrate players and mold a team for next summer. Roughly 9 games will be played before the start of the tournament. Time for Poch to solidify tactics and starting 11.

      Reply

      • If you look below Dave had said Mexico won because they were better at cheating. Vacqui was responding to Dave making excuses not the team.

    • you go back to like 2000-2010 and we’d only lose to mexico and CR regionally, and away games. we just hosted 2 tournaments and as of the semi stage won 1 out of 4 games.

      the implication of recent results is this is worse than canada, mexico, and panama. and fairly consistently.

      a lot of this speaks to the Year Zero mentality where the snobs felt this thing wasn’t looking good enough or advancing deep enough internationally. they won the tactical debate at the federation level. they then get results worse than the crude teams did.

      which to me says on the field this is actually worse. so maybe water the tactics back down, get more direct on offense and tough on defense, and act like a team that isn’t hot stuff anymore.

      i mean, where i come from, we don’t do tactics and personnel by aesthetics, we do them by results.

      Reply

      • IV,

        “:.i mean, where i come from, we don’t do tactics and personnel by aesthetics, we do them by results.”

        Okay. So now what are you going to do?

      • The tactical debate was so short sided because after suffering though the tacticless Jurgen the Federation was like “we need to play like Spain!” But Spain hadn’t really played like Spain in 10 years and we had beat them in a major tournament anyway. Lost in the federation’s tikitaka fever dream was the fact that that style of play is inherently Unamerican, and yes while we have more players at the club level in Europe than ever American Soccer is fast, physical and direct. C- level tikitaka sucks in CONCACAF that’s why our dominance has waned. Now we’re screwed because we selected and bred a generation of talent that doesn’t reflect what American Soccer should be. Other countries understand themselves. The Greeks know what Greek Football is and they play it. The South Koreans know. But we suffered from so idiotic inferiority complex and we all out of sorts.

      • BeardedSoccer, golazo man, great post, 100% agree

      • bearded: put differently, we glommed onto spanish tactics as the successor to 2010 soccer, having just shown the world in 2009 how to blow up our new tactics. by now everyone knows how to stop what we do. you clog the middle, deny the endless passing, make the tiki taka folks cross it for chances. head those out. collect your win.

        interestingly, our spanish win was us creating tactics that beat better teams. they might be perceived as negative, but they took opposing play and figured out how to disarm and exploit.

        now we ignore the opposing team’s tactics — when we are often outcoached — and rely on the shaky xerox of a xerox we are trying, which doesn’t really work.

        we need to go back to the drawing board and figure out, how do our tactics answer other teams, and how do we create goals against their defenses.

        and i am not saying kickball all day. but i am also not saying turn this into some sort of purist aesthetic exercise where the ball has to be on the floor at all times, and we play methodical slow soccer, and act like we are god’s gift to soccer. the best teams in the world don’t even play that way. most of them get down the field like a house on fire.

19. meh. the lineups were so xeroxed the wins and losses are evident on the field. somewhat like GB, it’s obvious good or ill who poch likes.

    i think the ultimate victors come down to where you play and who is healthy A side. LDLT beat out johnny, even if his ascension makes no sense. so if we need a 6, is LDLT handed it. (i think SB makes more sense)

    agyemang disappointed, but he hogged all the minutes, and we either have enough healthy 9s or not.

    ditto wingback. i thought the wingbacks looked shaky or bad. but he played them a lot, and who of jedi and dest are well, and then who else is he willing to try.

    freese was handed all the time ahead of turner. i thought he was soft in the final. but is that the decision already.

    i liked luna and tillman but those omelettes would require breaking regular eggs.

    the knockout round starters were the favored children and give or take turner or some of the backup CBs, the ones who will populate a first choice A team with the regulars.

    the ones who really suffered were turner, the ones either exposed by swiss and disappeared for a month (eg sullivan, harriel), the historical bench guys who didn’t see much time (eg aaronson), and guys like downs and tolkien who did fine but also got modest PT, where they couldn’t make much of a case.

    because i could see some of the supposed “losers” getting in the regular 23 almost by default. we are more like a kingdom succession plan and less like a thunderdome performance contest. you win by being in high rank at your slot. whether much happens or you outright screw us seems beside the point, as i will likely see freese and ream and arfsten and so on yet again in the fall.

    Reply

    • Poch and staff had these guys for a full month. Injuries to Johnny, Wright, and Downs limited their chances. But my takeaway from the rest of it is that Poch and Co. just didn’t rate the others. Frankly from what I saw of the others, I tend to agree. McGlynn is interesting because of his skill and wicked left foot, but he just isn’t fast enough or physical enough right now for the international game.

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      • my take is that poch did such a lousy job of (a) administering which As wanted to play this summer then (b) scouting quality B replacements, that he then (c) had to take a whole chunk of his nominal roster like harriel and leave it to rot — based on friendlies before the event even started.

        that’s a failure to properly take the temperature of the regulars, and then a failure to scout the team in general.

        yeah, he tripped over a US team good enough to make a final, but the talent pool hands you most of that.

        in particular, the failure to identify pretty much any reliable defensive prospects for the A team, will reverberate for the next year. richards is already an A starter. what we needed was guys to shove aside ream, supply a jedi backup, and sort out the right side, whether or not dest is well. did we fix that? no. not one bit.

        we did identify some offense, but we have some attacking talent, there the problem is more who exactly plays and what style. i mean, people liked tillman luna berhalter, but how do they wedge into the final product. ditto reyna and campbell. and to me if the lineup and tactics don’t really change, nor will the results. some favorite eggs have to get broken. you can’t just run the same team out playing a similar style kidding yourself they will play different soccer with better results next time.

20. Agyemang was a victim of Concacafing . A nonWWF ref changes that game completely with more fouls and a yellow or two. This was very much a game decided by the team that cheated the most. Give Mexico credit, the more experienced team knew how far they could go with the refs they had.

    Reply

    • Dave,

      Good teams don’t make those excuses.
      The USMNT is not a good team.

      We’ve been in CONCACAF for a million years now.
      In any given cycle, most of the USMNT game time is spent vs. CONCACAF teams.
      By now, we should understand the style of play and be as good at it as our CONCACAF brethren.

      Reply

21. Also big winner yesterday Stefan Frei who left the field in an ambulance at the end of Crew/Sounders after taking a knee to the head. Checked out of the hospital and returned to his home last night. Most people probably had switched to USAvMexico, but it was scary stuff.

    Reply

22. -Arfsten isn’t going to get better at LB playing as a WB for Columbus. So I guess that makes Caleb Wiley a winner this GC.
    -Freeman has been a pro for three months and it showed. He’s giving off Bryan Reynolds vibes to me who had barely played before making a big move to Roma and then sat. Stay in Orlando figure out the basics then go to Europe after the WC.
    -Because of Freeman and Arfsten’s defensive inadequacies, Luna and Berhalter just kept dropping deeper and deeper. When we did get the ball there was no one to pass to.
    -Big winners-Dest and Musah: those two made us unpressable the last 5 years. Maybe they don’t always make the right pass in the final third, but they would have just dribbled out of the pressure and not given Mexico 60% possession.
    -Agyemang isn’t likely to get much better. I understand the appeal of a target player, but he’s just not very good at it.

    Reply

    • Oh, he’s a really, really good target player. He’s huge, he’s strong, he uses his frame well, he chases everything if it’s remotely in reach and I saw him fish out more than a few balls this tournament that seemed like lost causes. He’s just not a good – or even passable – finisher at the moment. (In fact he’s really bad at finishing…that last miss was cringeworthy.) What he probably can’t improve is his first touch – that seems to get largely wired in by the time you’re 16 or 17 – but his finishing? Absolutely he can get better…and he likely will, if he gets a staff that really works with him on it. He’s still just undercooked as a pro player because he came out of college ball…and he spent the first two years of college ball in D3, which to be honest is inferior to high school soccer in a lot of towns.

      Do I see him ever being a starting striker for the USMNT over a long stretch or a Big-5-league guy? Probably not, he looks like a career journeyman, tops, to me. But he can still be a better-than-serviceable forward at the MLS or Championship levels, which are about dead-even at the moment, and I do think he’s got at least a chance of making it onto a World Cup roster as a third striker you bring along for his size, physicality, and energy. In fact I’d give him a better than 50/50 chance of making the 2026 roster; Poch obviously loves him.

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23. Portsmouth looking to buy Griffin Yow. I thought we could have used him in this Gold Cup.

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    • Portsmouth hasn’t been willing or able to spend 2 million or up since 2012. Now that they’re back in The Championship and have survived once might they spend more, sure but Yow should bring at least 3 million maybe 4. Not sure they’ll pay. I didn’t realize former Disney chief Michael Eisner owns and runs Portsmouth.

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24. I think this tournament showed that there will be a few of these guys on the 26 man roster. Freese, Luna, Berhalter look likely. Obviously Tillman has put himself in a good position to be a starter. Still question marks at back up spots. I tend to think if Arfsten is on the 26 man roster it will be in a more attacking situation. Freeman has some growing pains to go through still. But he does have a high ceiling. I think Scally is safe at the backup RB spot as long as Dest stays healthy. I am excited to see how this upcoming season shapes up. And the September friendlies will be interesting.

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25. Agree on the winners. Tillman locked up the #10 spot, full stop, and I’m 99% sure Luna is now our starting LW…and Pulisic will be playing RW. You can’t take off Luna and he has to play LW…and frankly Pulisic is better as a RW anyway because he gets less selfish because he’s not looking to put the ball on his right foot and dribble everybody the whole game. That likely demotes Timo to key bench guy and situational starter…where he’s probably also best anyway.

    Berhalter is certainly not starter quality but he’s shown he’s Diet Michael Bradley for this generation and that’s not half-bad. Guy has a mean streak a mile wide and will fight, scrap, and battle every second of the way and he can run until Doomsday without dropping…and his dead-ball ability is a big plus.

    Matt Freese may end up winning the starting gig by default if Zack Steffen – who I still posit is Pochettino’s preferred choice – can’t get healthy, and if Matt Turner can’t find game time somewhere.

    The others? Arfsten’s got some real talent attacking and I love his energy but he badly needs to learn how to defend. Of the young guys, Tolkin, McGlynn, Freeman, and Downs all have real talent but all except maybe Tolkin are still a couple years away from making a World Cup roster and McGlynn and Freeman badly need to get their butts over to Europe. McGlynn needs some bite and Freeman flashes big potential but is also wildly inconsistent.

    The only thing you can say about the striker position is, it remains wide open.

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26. Winners

    Tillman Should thrive at Leverkusen
    Luna Betting RSL’s phones lines are busy with offers from overseas
    Freese Betting NYCFC’s phones lines are busy with offers from overseas
    Berhalter Betting Vancouver’s phones lines are busy with inquiries from
    overseas, but needs to be sure it is the right move. His father will
    give him the right guidance.

    Breakeven

    Cardoso Lost an opportunity to impress Poch with illness and injury.
    Betting he meets expectations at Athletic Madrid, and the door
    remains open.
    B Aaronson Not a lock starter, but a reliable option off the bench
    Freeman Reminds one of a young D’Andre Yeldin.
    Give him some time to improve.
    Agyemang He’s young and still learning. Earned a transfer to Derby County.
    Let’s see how much he progresses this season.
    Downs Moving from Koln to Southampton. It’s the ECL, but Southhampton
    put up a generous transfer fee, and he just turned 21. Give him
    some time

    Losers

    McKenzie Didn’t impress and move up in the CB depth spots
    Robinson Didn’t impress and move up in the CB depth spots.
    Disappointing, as his speed and athleticism would be
    valued next summer.
    Turner Needs to ensure to make the right move if Lyon stays relegated
    De La Torre Might be the odd man out with the competition at MF.
    Skilled and talented, but really lacks physicality needed at this
    level.

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27. Well look at that Mckennie back on Juves transfer list. Every summer this guy is on there transfer list.

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    • They should have gotten his new contract done months ago but reportedly his agents want too high a commission fee (the club pays that). Then along comes Alberto Costa, a natural wingback, and Tudor starts playing him instead of Wes. So now instead of being the starter he’s rotating with Thuram and Locatelli. All of a sudden your 3.5 million euros seems a lot for a guy who is coming off the bench as a #8 and of course your agents still want their cut. They thought they were negotiating from a position of strength and then suddenly Juve was holding most of the chips. So yeah Juve stinks, but Wes’s agency kind of stink too.

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28. The Mexico game proved most of these guys are not first team players. Tillman, Richards, and Ream are probably the only ones contending for starting spots. Luna I think will be a good ‘energy’ option off the bench, but he is not a starter.
    I am very concerned defensively that we did not see anyone step up to be a roster contender. The outside backs are not up to this level. No challengers emerged at CB. Berhalter, Luca, Agyemang etc just very meh.
    I really think we need to consider a back 5 to help spread the defensive load. Dest and Jedi fit well as wingbacks and Richards/Ream is not a combo that inspires confidence.
    I would like to see Pulisic and Tillman underneath either Balo or Pepi with Dest and Jedi coming up the wings. Adams and someone else protecting the CBs.

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