The U.S. men’s national team rebounded from Saturday’s loss by earning an important win for morale, and after not getting the starting nod in Saturday’s loss, Folarin Balogun and Alex Zendejas led the way against Japan.
Balogun and Zendejas were both goalscorers in Tuesday’s 2-0 home victory, a result which helped ease the pressure on USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino. Both players were in the starting lineup on Tuesday after featuring off of the bench against South Korea.
Zendejas opened the scoring with a sublime left-footed volley in the 30th minute, celebrating his second senior goal for the program. Despite being a key player for Liga MX side Club America over the past three seasons, Zendejas has struggled to replicate that success on the international level.
However, the 27-year-old’s impressive outing in Columbus not only propelled the USMNT to a key win on home soil, but also boosted his stock to potentially making the World Cup roster next summer.
“We are so pleased because he, with his performance, makes us to doubt about [our roster ideas],” Pochettino said about Zendejas postmatch. “With this type of performance, he’s in the race for the roster of the World Cup.”
“It’s all about just waiting for my moment,” Zendejas told TNT’s broadcast team during a postmatch interview. “It’s god’s timing man. It’s crazy to take all of this in. I didn’t expect to be called up but it’s all timing. I am trying to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Balogun, who came close to scoring against South Korea, eventually found the mark against Japan. The Monaco forward was denied twice by Japan goalkeeper Keisuke Osako in the first half, but didn’t hang his head ahead of his shining moment after the hour mark.
Christian Pulisic’s deadly through-ball pass allowed Balogun to race onto it before he drilled a shot into the bottom-right corner. It marked his first goal for the USMNT since the 2024 Copa America, a major confidence booster.
Among the favorites to potentially lead the USMNT line next summer, Balogun urged fans to be patient with the team’s preparation ahead of what could be a special moment in U.S. Soccer.
“We’re building something big here,” Balogun told reporters. “He’s obviously a top coach and it takes time, and he tried to emphasize that to us to be patient. Confidence, I think it’s really important. The results are at the end of the day the sort of industry we’re in.”
Both Balogun and Zendejas now head back to their respective clubs, hoping that they will return to the USMNT fold for October’s pair of matches.
IV,
“one game does not form make.”
According to you, it does.
You get aroused because Green scored one goal for the USMNT in the World Cup and 9- 10 years later you say it means he should be called up.
Well AZ has now got a goal on his USMNT track record.
” zendejas has struggled to separate on the wing to get off service. he has 2G 1A as a forward in a dozen caps.”
That was then, this is now.
it’s not my fault your memory has failed you and you can’t remember green scored on not just belgium in a world cup but also F*CKING FRANCE in a tie friendly the year before sargent’s last goal in a US shirt, which is probably soon enough for you to say call him again.
but your argument is basically a cheap shot. green at this point is not first on my list, someone like campbell is.
but let’s be clear, if i am watching some mediocrity like busio or LDLT or johnny or roldan or the older sullivan or the like, sorry, i’d rather have the guy who scored on belgium and france than that nonsense.
IV,
“but also F*CKING FRANCE in a tie friendly the year before sargent’s last goal in a US shirt, which is probably soon enough for you to say call him again.”
I saw that game. It was a 1-1 draw. It was one of Sarachan’s friendlies.
USA: 12-Zack Steffen; 18-Shaq Moore (2-DeAndre Yedlin, 74), 5-Cameron Carter-Vickers, 3-Matt Miazga (14-Erik Palmer-Brown, 57), 21-Tim Parker, 17-Antonee Robinson (19-Jorge Villafaña, 82); 4-Tyler Adams, 20-Wil Trapp (capt.), 6-Weston McKennie; 16-Julian Green (8-Joe Corona, 70), 7-Bobby Wood (13-Josh Sargent, 74)
Substitutes: 1-Bill Hamid, 11-Tim Weah, 15-Eric Lichaj, 23-Rubio Rubin
Head coach: Dave Sarachan
Decent goal but overall I got the impression that there was nothing on the line for France and there was nothing on the line for the USMNT, especially as compared to the USMNT vs Japan game. France did not take us very seriously. If Gregg had, once he got on, decided to call in Julian who at that point had dropped into midfield, I would have been fine with it . But he chose not to and I was fine with that as well.
The roster has to be submitted in May of 2026 and by then Zendejas may be on a bench in Mexico while Campbell could be leading the BL in scoring .
But right now, calling in Cole over Zendejas, at any point going forward, would have to be based on Cole’s club form and we all know that, according to you, club form is bullshit criteria.
Cole has never scored a goal for the USMNT while AZ just scored an important one.
dude, there’s this thing called talent. there was a point when the US could see it independent of numbers. you’re saying we have to wait on (a) his first team coach to start playing him and (b) for him to start outputting first team numbers you like. sorry, this is not what we did for donovan, pulisic, or green. we saw talent. we went with it.
second, your idea of “important” is backwards. important in order is world cup games, WCQ, tournaments, and only then friendlies.
third, your flavor of the month analysis ignores zendejas’ last NT goal (before this one) was 2 and a half years ago. at this rate he would score again in 2027 or 2028. tad late for the world cup we need productive players for.
existing pool players you evaluate based on skillset, scheme fit, and productivity for the NT. you have already been scouted. do you get the job done for the US. if you don’t, reminding us constantly of scouting data is perseveration. “sargent.” “zendejas.” their NT output does not mirror their club numbers. we know their track record. evaluate the track record.
new players the question is can you help us. sometimes we grab the big prospects. sometimes we go with numbers. the approach varies. currently we are big on numbers, which perversely last cycle seemed to favor aaronson types who lucked out on club over pepi, richards, weah, and other regulars from top clubs. you are almost punished for going to a good club where you wait in line.
if you look at weah, reyna, and green, they were all productive on age group teams for top clubs. that is a strong hint they will be successful pros someplace.
campbell was rushed through BVB’s system but was fairly productive as a youth player. i also think his raw speed plus skill scales up better than zendejas’ aptitudes. zendejas’ problem, like albert at BVB, is he struggles to separate. that will only get worse as the quality of opponent rises.
it was a nice finish but it’s not much of a body of work. since he’s not done much over time, he shouldn’t be cemented in the team on an isolated play he hasn’t done before.
to be fair, i think the team is run by your principles so i fully expect him back. but japan this time kind of sucked so it’s can he do it again against a decent team. even luna hasn’t looked like the guy this summer.
IV,
“dude, there’s this thing called talent. there was a point when the US could see it independent of numbers. you’re saying we have to wait on (a) his first team coach to start playing him and (b) for him to start outputting first team numbers you like. sorry, this is not what we did for donovan, pulisic, or green. we saw talent. we went with it.”
Bullshit on rye toast w Velveeta on top.
They were short on numbers 25 years ago.
Landon and DMB were kid phenoms and one could argue the USMNT didn’t have any proven players better at the time in terms of dynamic attacking talent.
The USMNT had nothing to lose by taking them to the 2002 World Cup. That was 25 years ago and a few things have changed since then.
“second, your idea of “important” is backwards. important in order is world cup games, WCQ, tournaments, and only then friendlies.”
?? So what? Cole Campbell has no goals in any of those competitions.
“third, your flavor of the month analysis ignores zendejas’ last NT goal (before this one) was 2 and a half years ago. at this rate he would score again in 2027 or 2028. tad late for the world cup we need productive players for.”
That’s nonsense. Cole’s last USMNT goal was never and at this rate will be zero.
“existing pool players you evaluate based on skillset, scheme fit, and productivity for the NT. you have already been scouted. do you get the job done for the US. if you don’t, reminding us constantly of scouting data is perseveration. “sargent.” “zendejas.” their NT output does not mirror their club numbers. we know their track record. evaluate the track record.”
Bullshit, a player’s goal scoring rate can be dynamic. You’re saying Zendejas has now shown us what his rate for scoring USMNT goals is. That’s childish quackery. He could just as easily go on a scoring tear. You don’t know.
As for perseveration. you’ve been telling us the same thing about Cole for a very long time now and he keeps failing to win a first team spot. That is perseveration.
“new players the question is can you help us. sometimes we grab the big prospects. sometimes we go with numbers. the approach varies. currently we are big on numbers, which perversely last cycle seemed to favor aaronson types who lucked out on club over pepi, richards, weah, and other regulars from top clubs. you are almost punished for going to a good club where you wait in line.”
In your world the ultimate is the USMNT whereas for a lot of the players in 2025 the ultimate is to be a regular in the best club they can make.
Your sporting mentality is not geared towards being the best you can be; you just want a nice comfortable club and country existence where playing time is guaranteed i.e. mediocrity. Well, these guys are professional with a limited time in which to have their peak earning years. BA’s cut of his 30 million transfer was probably about 10 % or 3 million. Good for him, he’s not going to see a lot of deals like that. Patrick probably made about 100 K at Charlotte. At Derby he’s on about 1.2 million per. Good for him.
“if you look at weah, reyna, and green, they were all productive on age group teams for top clubs. that is a strong hint they will be successful pros someplace.”
A lot of kids were “productive on age group teams for top clubs.” And a lot of those kids failed to amount to anything and you have never heard of them and will never hear of them.
“campbell was rushed through BVB’s system but was fairly productive as a youth player. ”
Rushed?? CP and Gio were more productive when they were his age.
” i also think his raw speed plus skill scales up better than zendejas’ aptitudes. zendejas’ problem, like albert at BVB, is he struggles to separate. that will only get worse as the quality of opponent rises.”
That’s your opinion. There are a lot of speed guys in the pros. You need more than speed.
“it was a nice finish but it’s not much of a body of work. since he’s not done much over time, he shouldn’t be cemented in the team on an isolated play he hasn’t done before.”
Again, that’s your opinion, one not shared by Pochettino. What we can be sure of is Cole has no body of work.
“to be fair, i think the team is run by your principles so i fully expect him back. but japan this time kind of sucked so it’s can he do it again against a decent team. even luna hasn’t looked like the guy this summer.”
This is your way of pimping Campbell. You say that as if to demean the goal that Zendejas scored by implying that the Japanese were shit. You hope that by demeaning Zendejas that makes Cole look better. What is this 7th grade?
The USMNT has no time or capacity to develop players. Zendejas has not received one iota of help from the USSF. Why should Cole get any more than him or Gio or Pulisic got?.
Pochettino has set forward a simple expectation, you have to be playing first team football. This is true of every player, and it is little enough to expect from Cole.
If BVB is treating him unfairly because of some personal or political issue then it is on Cole to force a move to someplace where they will play him.
But if he chooses to wait it out at BVB then that’s okay too. There is always the 2030 World Cup but if it means he misses out on the 2026 WC then that is on him and no one else.
Your analysis boils down to this: You, IV are saying
” Cole Campbell is better than Zendejas”
” Pochettino should not waste any more time on Zendejas and should instead elevate Cole to the first team .” Presumably you want the USMNT to call Cole in for every remaining game so that the rest of the USMNT can catch up to him.
That is your opinion.
As far as I’m concerned, if you’re right a fire will get lit under him and the excellence of his play will force BVB to elevate Cole to a starting spot and he should have a good run between now and the winter break.
Let’s see what happens.
Bac,
In other words, odds are that they will face more than one team with a player capable of ripping them (Reamless or not) open.
Did you need any convincing that Pochettino is ruthless about cutting players who are underperforming?
Yet somehow he seems convinced that Ream is still viable. CP, Tyler and Timmy lead the team in appearances. He also seems convinced that our CB pool is pretty lame. He’s seen Mark a few times already. And he’s practically avoided CCV, a player he should know very, very well, like the plague.
Being younger and faster does not automatically make you better. It means you might make the mistake faster.
If Pochettino saw a viable alternative to Ream for 2026 he’d have already been kicking the tires.
And it may still happen.
Ream is as close to a lock as it gets but that is not a guarantee.
For now, they need to focus on playing the tightest team defense that they can.
I don’t disagree with any of that, I was just pointing out what Deuce said.
As of now, I think Ream is a lock, back 4 or back 3.
Hey Vac,
the issue isn’t whether Ream and Richards are top 2, it’s who plays if one of them can’t. that’s the issue. if the idea is to rely on Richards, who has dealt with injuries, and Ream who will be 39, for 3 group stage games all the way through every minute of all of them top form and no one else, ok we’ll see. but that seems at least somewhat daunting an ask imho, and maybe the helpful whistles I anticipate will help make the difference.
do you think finding and incorporating another CB is important now? and if the answer is yes, and it’s Blackmon, he pretty much showed he can only do 3 back, maybe I’m wrong there and it’s only against Son, but if there’s 3 back there, then the urgency to still incorporate another CB seems paramount, yes? or will alll 3 make it all the way through, or if Ream or Richards goes down, is it Blackmon ad the remaining CB in a 2 back? or is it 3 back with the remaining, Blackmon, and who?
I’m just wondering out loud with your thoughts 😉
beachbum,
I understand you should worry about what happens if one of the starters gets hurt. But I think Pochettino is just worried right now about getting the starters to function well in the first place. Crawl, then walk.
I know they are running out of time. I’m not getting any younger either.
The USSF fucked up the chance to put together a credible team a while ago when they dithered on Gregg in the first place. They gave Pochettino no margin of error. He was arrogant to take this job and I think they will get grouped.
If they want to avoid that, they will just have to do what all good teams can do, wing it. If you are going to get an early exit you can at least be entertaining.
Richards and Ream , barring unforeseen circumstances are CB’s 1 and 2.
Those two have performed the best since Pochettino came even if IV blames Ream for everything wrong including inflation, rising prices and an increase in the number of cases of flesh eating bacteria.
In the situation the USMNT are in, the manager should always be looking for as much depth as possible but it does not look like they have found what they are looking for yet.
I don’t know about Blackmon but all the usual suspects don’t appear to float Pochettino’s boat. which leaves us with with Banks, who hasn’t been able to get on the field yet or conversions ( Scally, Tanner, McWeston, and anyone else y’all care to try).
I get how everyone here sets their panties on fire whenever there is talk of playing players in “unnatural positions” but over a short series ( at most 8 games to win the World Cup) you’d think one of these high powered players could do a credible job.
ha, no flammable panties over here. Scally was ok when asked before in the 3 back, maybe he’s in the Poch plans, but if one of the 2 goes down, again, if that happens…….
so far that seems the biggest gamble Poch is making whether it’s because he has no options he likes or whatever. the risk is high man
Anyway, I get it, they are the #1 and #2, we all do. but then what? that’s all I’m saying because it seems pretty inevitable that scenario may recur, or maybe Poch rolls double 6s on this one. we’ll see
I think it’s incredibly premature for any of us to know what Poch is going to do. I do know one thing, Poch couldn’t care less if someone on SBI promotes Zendajas over Weah or Tillman or Luna. I mean he hasn’t listened to me about Arfsten. I do know one thing for certain USSF isn’t firing him before the WC for anything soccer related so we might as well sit back and enjoy the show. He certainly has added interest in his naming of his October roster.
Oops I guess that means I know two things.
So JR here’s a question I’m curious about.
If starting in a 433 with CP and Weah, and we need a sub, who is the next actual winger? I’m not necessarily advocating for Zendejas other than I’d like to see him in camp again, but the other options seem to be Tillman, Luna, Gio, Aaronson… all guys that can play wing but are all more of attacking 10s
I’m curious because let’s say as an example we come out in a 433 and it’s working and we need a sub..
I’m not even saying that’s our best formation because frankly I have no idea..
I think Quozzell said on another post that we should probably see a 26 man roster, im just wondering how that plays out.
Again, one awesome volley does not get you on the plane, but I gotta think he’s gotta continue to bring him in.
Shit if it came down to it I’d consider Dest
Just lobbing this out there
I don’t know that Poch even cares about having “actual” wingers. We didn’t really even bring one to GC or January Camp. He’s going to get width from his FBs. In GC he used Arfsten on one side and then slid McGlynn or Berhalter out wide on the right. So I think your first guy off the bench for Pulisic or Weah is probably Tillman, Luna, or even Musah.
Yea I agree, I guess if Zendejas shows up and can get a few good outings and prove he’s ready for NT duty it would be nice to have a true wing option off the bench… IF it’s a 26 man roster.
Otherwise I don’t think he makes it for the versatility those you named offer
Bac, I mean minus Paredes getting healthy are there any true wingers in the pool? Wright playing wide might be the next closest option. I think Zendajas did enough to stay in the conversation. We also know it’s really hard to go through the whole season injury free.
Bac, JR
A 26 man roster would be so much better for the USMNT.
If you’re looking at the usual suspects,
1. the can’t play left back Max is a wingback in the mold of Marcos Alonso late of Chelsea.
2. Christian is the only “proper winger” that we have and he started morphing out of that role when he got to Chelsea.
3. Zendejas is more of an old fashioned inside foward as opposed to an inverted left winger.
4. Weah is not really a winger; he’s a wing forward in the mold of a Rashford.
5. If Sergino starts hitting his shots he’s going to be a whole lot more interesting to watch.
6. IV keeps pimping Cole Campbell for the “solve all of the USMNT’s issues ” slot but he has a lot of competition to get past.
7. Tillman and Musah are non wingers who typically operate out there.
8. That doesn’t even consider what Seba and McGlynn might do as an inverted pair.. Those two are the USMNT’s equivalent to the NBA’s now extinct 3-point specialist.
one game does not form make. before this zendejas’ goal contributions were a goal on grenada and an assist on st. kitts. i get it was a nice volley finish but i think people per usual get on the hype train as opposed to get stable ideas who belongs out there. zendejas has struggled to separate on the wing to get off service. he has 2G 1A as a forward in a dozen caps.
luna was just as dangerous as a sub against japan, and has more of a body of work. in a similar amount of caps he has 3G 4A — basically a goal contribution every other game. goal on CR, 2 goals on guatemala, assists on canada, CR, and trinidad. that and just in terms of skillset, luna is someone who can dribble defenders, and will also get back and bloody his nose. can be used as an AM or a wing.
if that’s your comparison.
personally i think we should have speedy wingers, push luna inside with the technical team leaders, pulisic, reyna.
it was a nice finish but do i really think zendejas is better than our list of wing options, weah, campbell, reyna, pulisic, arfsten, jedi, dest, freeman, etc.?
no. but this team is so desperate to prove some point that one game is apparently proof of concept now and not merely justification for future caps where we see “can he do this twice in a row/consistently.”
too much hype.
similarly, if johnny LDLT or roldan make the team ahead of mckennie reyna mcglynn musah berhalter, etc., as a bench option, we have lost our marbles. i am glad they had a solid, unincredible game against a japan team who generally looked a little lost out there.
setting aside some of the people pimping zendejas are the same ones pimping tillman this summer. there will be finite room for hype inclusions and they might be against each other for those spots.
IV,
“people pimping zendejas are the same ones pimping tillman this summer. there will be finite room for hype inclusions and they might be against each other for those spots.”
And you are pimping for Campbell as your hype inclusion for the same wing spot.
You’d better up your game.
So far those pimpers are pimping better than you.
If we stick with the 3-4-3, Zendajas, Pulisic, Reyna, and Campbell aren’t in competition with Dest, Jedi, Arfsten, Freeman. Weah I’m not sure where Poch would play him in that formation. The big thing for Cole and Gio is they have to get on the field for their club for fitness if nothing else. It sounds like Cole is going to the U20 WC and Gio started with the regulars that weren’t on International duty for BM during a friendly last weekend.
The pool, in no particular order based on a 3-4-3. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a couple.
Strikers:
Balogun. Pepi. Agyemang
Downs. Sarge. Wright
White
Attacking Midfielders:
Pulisic. Luna. Weah?
Tillman Zendajas
PAaronson B aaronson
Reyna Campbell
Paredes. Yow McGlynn
Ferreira
CM
Wes. Musah. Roldan
Adams. Morris. Tessman
Busio. Luca. Berhalter
Sands
B/WB
Weah? Dest. Jedi
Arf. Freeman. Tolkin
Scally. Wiley.
CB
Richards. Ream McK
Miles, Blackmon Banks
CCV, Trusty, EPB
GK
Kochen, Steffen, Freese
Schulte, Celentano, Horvath
Turner
That’s over fifty players, I think one of the U20s could jump onto this list if they play well and are in MLS so they are invited to camp cupcake. I don’t think the timetable works for the U17s, unless Albert gets promoted to the first team and actually plays.
Johnny, just a long term thought for CB. Freeman evolving into a CB rather than a RB. He has more intangibles for defending than getting forward in the final third. Size, rangy, recovery speed, lateral footwork, and can win a ball in the air. Freeman’s speed gets him into the final third but not great with the ball beating defenses on the dribble or unlocking accurate passes. Arfsten, significantly better on the dribble, attack, combining, crossing, passing percentage, etc.
The best CB’s read the game in front of them, while maintaining the offside trap. Next level CB own the space around them and quickly diffuse an offensive advantage. Richards is currently the only CB in the pool who owns the space around him.
The other mental read is calculating angles. Change the angle of a run or dribble and quickly gain an advantage. With the ball a quick dribble and pass will completely change the defensive shape
Anyway, I think Freeman has the frame and legs to be a quality CB
Two mile: perhaps you should rewatch the Saudi match. He pretty much made large naive mistakes in those areas that you said make a great CB. I suppose it’s a matter of opinion which would be easier to learn but unless Freeman goes somewhere and plays CB on a weekly basis it’s going to be hard for him to learn angles and space and he was solely responsible for the 2nd Mexico goal in GC by not maintaining the offside trap. As long as he’s still bombing up the sideline at Orlando I’m going to leave him in the FB/WB category. 2030 WC maybe that’s where he is but he doesn’t have time to learn that trade in 8 months (2 of those vacation.
IV,
“one game does not form make.”
According to you, it does.
You get aroused because Green scored one goal for the USMNT in the World Cup and 9- 10 years later you say it means he should be called up.
Well AZ has now got a goal on his USMNT track record.
” zendejas has struggled to separate on the wing to get off service. he has 2G 1A as a forward in a dozen caps.”
That was then, this is now.
Zendejas could very well be a flashpoint in here and with the media. He will take Luna’s WC roster spot. Simply based on merit through performance. Most of all he combines well in the flow of game moving the ball and creating attacking space for himself and others. Zendejas is effective and makes others better, especially when sharing the field with Pulisic. Luna does not!
Luna’s livewire style can dictate tempo and be attacking and aggressive but effective against sound discipline defense. It was evident against S.Korea. He would make similar runs to Pulisic. A few times literally the same angle and same space? Also, the US would have an overload on the left side with Pulisic and Luna. Pulisic would try to combine with Luna playing numbers and defenders pulled out of position. Nope Luna would send a looping switch away from your best player. Most of all a ball aways from the 18 and the best player with the ball in the 18. Luna thinks I want to operate or set the attack up where there is space but no players. Granted he played a great ball against Japan in the box which should have resulted in a goal
Zendejas is a known commodity playing for and leading one of the best clubs in the region Playing for Club America comes with performance based expectations or suffer the consequences.
Going to be really interesting as the competition ramps up for WC positions.
Who knocks him out? We’re probably taking 26 if everything I’ve heard is correct – that extra game because this WC has gone to 48 teams instead of 36 almost certainly guarantees it – so more than likely we bring 7 attacking mids, and they’re all largely going to be guys who play in the half-spaces and can combine in the box…and who work their tails off in the press.
The three locks I see are Pulisic, Tillman, and Weah, and Weah’s the only one who really could be considered a true winger – but Poch plays him on the left. After that Luna and Zendejas have almost certainly made their cases, and the sixth looks like it’s very likely going to be Jack McGlynn – Poch likes inverted wingers, McGlynn’s a leftie (Zendejas is the only other left-footed attacking mid we have) and Pochettino wants to get his width from the outside backs/wingbacks. If there’s a seventh my guess would be it’s Brendan Aaronson or more likely Sebastian Berhalter because those guys will absolutely work their tails off for you.
So…how do you figure Zendejas knocks him off the roster? I can definitely see him starting ahead of Luna in that 3-4-2-1…but Zendejas started ahead of Weah, too, in that look – and Weah actually never made it off the bench against Japan, while Luna did.
Twomilerule,
I think he takes Weah’s spot.
But then does Weah take Arfsten or Freeman’s spot?
JR,
That’s a tough one.
Max and Freeman are the shiny new but powerful, puppies.
Wingback is arguably the most physically demanding position on the field. The World Cup itself is always physically demanding and draining.
So having two powerful puppies like them who , in the best way, may not know enough to be tired, can be a real boost.
On the other hand if Timo is really feeling it, it’s hard to deny him. And he hasn’t really been at his best for a while. A lot will depend on how it goes at Marseille. If only one of Max/Freeman goes it is probably Max .
The two puppies also put Scally at risk.
V: I wouldn’t read much into Weah this window. He had some muscle tightness and with Marseille’s match today (Friday) there was no reason to run him out Tuesday. There’s no way Zendajas and Freeman make the WC roster and Tim doesn’t.
JR,
“there’s no way Zendajas and Freeman make the WC roster and Tim doesn’t.”
With about 9 months to go realistically it’s probably more a question of who is left fit , healthy and standing at the beginning of May.
The cliche is depth means you have 22 starters.
For the non- Big Boy teams it’s more a question of having backups who won’t embarrass themselves.
Assuming all goes well that just might be the case in 2026.
At least we can look good while getting grouped.
V: for sure, I should have said if healthy Weah makes it above those two. We know there will be injuries between now and June for sure.
i thought about everyone who played the japan game but ream came out of it smelling better. it ends any balogun foolishness, is starting to make freese permanent, gives arfsten and freeman some momentum, may have revived roldan, and may keep blackmon viable. even bench as downs, mcglynn, and luna let loose some bench havoc.
but when i say such things, it’s a competition and it tends to be an illusion everyone was great.
in terms of losers, i thought ream played bad both games (but he also played both games). weah disappeared game 2. sargent laid another egg. banks never saw the field.
i also think you could parse the supposed “winners” list for people i think are actually reliable — particularly considering some had rough nights against korea just days earlier — eg, the center backs. i thought zendejas had a nice finish but has a long history of freezing up and not producing, and until he scored i thought he looked tentative and the worst of the forwards. but it’s a production position.
a grander US problem has been they will have isolated games like this, often when they try something tactically, and then they revert back. so to me it’s integrate this into the A roster and come back playing like this again. string some results. string some players doing it again. make 3 backs work again.
Japan playing a 3-4-3 forced them to basically play man on man. When Pulisic then would drop in we could hit him and then he was just owning his defender and beating him over and over in the second half. That would leave Balo one on one and one of the wings wide open his marker had to help on Pulisic. Japan has also kind of abandoned their midblock traps instead pressuring higher up the field leaving space for our attackers to run into, not something provided by South Korea. So how does the 3-4-3 look against a team sitting in a low block. Not sure about Ecuador or Australia but Paraguay and Uruguay may provide that answer.
Japan was just not as good as S. Korea. Maybe they didn’t play as many of their first team, but it skews the evaluation of the US in the two games. Hardly anyone looked good vs. Korea and Pulisic was rather invisible. Our best attacker seemed to be Chris Richards. Against Japan Pulisic was all of a sudden a terror. and the US had a lot more space to operate in and looked so much better. As a result, I really think that you can’t fairly compare players in the first game with players in the second game. BTW, Korea scored 2 goals against Mexico (Japan was scoreless) but missed 2 easy chances so that it was a 2-2 draw.
If you’ve been watching the new podcast with Rog and Dempsey Men in Blazers, someone asked at the end of the pod last night about whether a back 3 could really work and can Ream play as our LCB.
Deuce kinda smirked, rolled his eyes, said Thats a great question, then said “well I’d like to see how he does in that formation going up against someone like Mo Salah.. better to find out now than next summer”
Nobody we have would do well against Mo Salah (Egypt hasn’t qualified yet) and we didn’t do very well against Son. I think we should bring in McKenzie and see how well he does in place of Ream. Richards is the only lock at CB in my opinion.
Bac,
There are more than a few players ( assuming their teams get in) out there that we have no answer for now and probably won’t in 2026.
Messi, CR7, Mbappe, Yamal, Haaland , Kane………………and probably some we haven’t heard about yet.
Unless and until they find someone who does what Ream does better than he does he will be on the team.
Bac,
In other words, odds are that they will face more than one team with a player capable of ripping them (Reamless or not) open.
Did you need any convincing that Pochettino is ruthless about cutting players who are underperforming?
Yet somehow he seems convinced that Ream is still viable. CP, Tyler and Timmy lead the team in appearances. He also seems convinced that our CB pool is pretty lame. He’s seen Mark a few times already. And he’s practically avoided CCV, a player he should know very, very well, like the plague.
Being younger and faster does not automatically make you better. It means you might make the mistake faster.
I’m convinced that if Pochettino saw a viable alternative to Ream for 2026 he’d have already been kicking the tires.
And it may still happen.
Ream is as close to a lock as it gets but that is not a guarantee.
For now, they need to focus on playing the tightest team defense that they can.