USMNT Fall 2023 - Spring 2024: Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

rguilmar

rguilmar

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The 60 man for the upcoming Nations League matches was announced. The 23 man roster must be selected from this list. Old friend John Brooks made the cut.

https://x.com/lhenry019/status/1762150799742779597?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

Adding Mexico’s 60 man which apparently has zero players from MLS.

https://x.com/allfutbolmx/status/1762171579113333077?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ

And if you wanted a villain to hate, this would be of interest…

https://x.com/jafutbal/status/1761938472410267718?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
 
rguilmar

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Heads up that the USMNT Nations League roster drops on the UCL pregame show, which kicks off right around now.
 
rguilmar

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Given that CCV is out, that’s as strong as the team gets right now. Let’s go!!
 
InstaFace

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SO happy for Josh Sargent. If there's any guy whose career is primed to take a parabola shape, it's him. Relegation, injury, and now banging 'em into the net in every way imaginable. With Balogun going through a dry spell for Monaco, I expect Sarge to get some minutes.

We now have an answer for "what is it going to take for Drake Callender to get a look with the MNT".

Tyler Adams is a surprise given that he hasn't taken the field for Bournemouth yet.

Miles Robinson... the only other MLS player besides Callender on the list. What a pity he didn't opt for Europe this winter, but at least Cincinnati made it worth his while. I'm still a huge fan, but I'll admit it's mostly due to 2021-2022 and he wasn't quite at those levels after coming back from the achilles injury last year.
 
Jimy Hendrix

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InstaFace said:
Miles Robinson... the only other MLS player besides Callender on the list. What a pity he didn't opt for Europe this winter, but at least Cincinnati made it worth his while. I'm still a huge fan, but I'll admit it's mostly due to 2021-2022 and he wasn't quite at those levels after coming back from the achilles injury last year.
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If we play Miles, just play him on the right side of the defense please. Berhalter has a weird habit of taking the right footed poor passing MLS CB and playing him at LCB to exacerbate his weaknesses and really screw with buildout on the left. He did to with Aaron Long in those pre WC friendlies (not that Long should've been near the team even in his more natural position), and he did it with Miles in January as well. It truly drives me insane any match where it happens.
 
InstaFace

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Jimy Hendrix said:
If we play Miles, just play him on the right side of the defense please. Berhalter has a weird habit of taking the right footed poor passing MLS CB and playing him at LCB to exacerbate his weaknesses and really screw with buildout on the left. He did to with Aaron Long in those pre WC friendlies (not that Long should've been near the team even in his more natural position), and he did it with Miles in January as well. It truly drives me insane any match where it happens.
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I'd expect Miles to be Richards' backup (or rotation partner in a longer series) on the right side, while McKenzie is backing up Ream on the left side. McKenzie is a lot more two-footed than Miles or Ream, although Richards is pretty two-footed himself, but he's mostly played on the left for us, and the last few years mostly on the left for club, too. Last time I can recall McKenzie playing RCB was that famous 2021 Nations League Final vs Mexico, where he started on the right (opposite JOHN BROOKS!) and coughed up a turnover and quick goal inside the first few minutes. So I think you're pretty safe to assume Miles on the right, if he sees the field at all (and he may not, being out of season).

Sidenote: It's a shame that FBRef lost StatsBombs' estimates of what percentage each player is for right vs left when they switched to using Opta's data, that was a cool thing to be able to have in our back pocket.
 
67YAZ

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Richards is up to 7 matches as a CDM for Palace. I wonder if Gregg will give him some time there.
 
InstaFace

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what the hell happened to Leon Bailey? He's arguably the best forward in CONCACAF right now, anything short of threatening the life of his teammates and he ought to be out there.

*googles*

ok, uh, this says: "He did not sleep at the team hotel during the last tournament and missed the bus for training the next day."

...Yeah I think that's the kind of incident you let slide as a one-time thing, for probably your best player. I guess we suspended Weston McKennie for one game of WCQ for sneaking out of the team hotel to go hook up while in Nashville, but even so, I mean, c'mon. Dude is averaging >1 G+A per 90 in the Premier League, literally first in the league (fractionally ahead of Diogo Jota), you can squint and argue him for EPL Best XI at the rate he's going. Just fake up some sort of "appeal hearing" that lets you play him against the USA "while it's being heard", and then suspend him for the 3rd place game if you lose.
 
Cellar-Door

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InstaFace said:
what the hell happened to Leon Bailey? He's arguably the best forward in CONCACAF right now, anything short of threatening the life of his teammates and he ought to be out there.

*googles*

ok, uh, this says: "He did not sleep at the team hotel during the last tournament and missed the bus for training the next day."

...Yeah I think that's the kind of incident you let slide as a one-time thing, for probably your best player. I guess we suspended Weston McKennie for one game of WCQ for sneaking out of the team hotel to go hook up while in Nashville, but even so, I mean, c'mon. Dude is averaging >1 G+A per 90 in the Premier League, literally first in the league (fractionally ahead of Diogo Jota), you can squint and argue him for EPL Best XI at the rate he's going. Just fake up some sort of "appeal hearing" that lets you play him against the USA "while it's being heard", and then suspend him for the 3rd place game if you lose.
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SOmetimes discipline is important to improve a player, and a squad, makes sense to send a message by suspending him for a madeup cashgrab tournament with no real stakes
 
Jimy Hendrix

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67YAZ said:
Richards is up to 7 matches as a CDM for Palace. I wonder if Gregg will give him some time there.
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Having seen some of those minutes, that feels more like a "in case of emergency break glass" capability during a tournament (or long injury hit PL season) than a strategy we want to spend too much time employing intentionally.

Cool that we have it, but especially with Adams coming back to health while Johnny emerges probably not a high priority to do.
 
rguilmar

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Jimy Hendrix said:
Having seen some of those minutes, that feels more like a "in case of emergency break glass" capability during a tournament (or long injury hit PL season) than a strategy we want to spend too much time employing intentionally.

Cool that we have it, but especially with Adams coming back to health while Johnny emerges probably not a high priority to do.
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This is where I’m at too. I’d be annoyed bringing Adams across the pond if he wasn’t going to get some run. Otherwise leave him in England to continue recovering. I’m very, very biased, but I really want to see what we have in Johnny too. He was Betis’s player of the month for his first month there. I’d even put a Musah-Weston dual pivot against better competition ahead of seeing Richards at the 6.

Besides, Richards is likely the rock of the D for a while. I’d rather him get minutes there now to get comfortable in a role that takes a lot of communication with his CB partner and the GK.
 
rguilmar

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Luca and Josh are out due to injuries. Brenden put in a shift this weekend and Haji has been playing well, scoring a HUGE goal this weekend. Both are now in.

ROSTER NEWS: Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright have been added to the
#USMNT roster for the 2024 Concacaf Nations League Finals.

They replace Luca de la Torre (right
quadriceps strain) and Josh Sargent (right ankle irritation).

Wishing Luca and Josh a speedy recovery.

https://x.com/usmnt/status/1769383545292673531?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
 
cromulence

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Wow, Lozano totally misses (literal whiff) on a chance to win for PSV in the 97th minute, so the ball falls to Tillman who crosses to Pepi who volleys in a nice finish. Perfect way to go into camp.
 
Titans Bastard

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Granted he's playing for a team that's steamrolling the Eredivisie this year, but Pepi's goalscoring record is wild this year. He's played a paltry 353 minutes in the Eredivisie and scored even goals in that span, which works out to a goal every 51 minutes.

Give old man Luuk de Jong some rest down the stretch, for the love of god.

The forward position has evolved into such a position of strength. We're having to leave some pretty solid players off the roster, who are in good to very good form — Pefok, Vazquez, Wright [initially], Ferreira.
 
rguilmar

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There is something to be said for having a striker who can come off the bench cold and score. Pepi has been doing so, and not just garbage time goals. This one was the game winner in what was a 0-0 game. El Tren scored the biggest goal of the PSV season, the game winner at Sevilla to get them to the knockout rounds of the Champions League (shrugging off World Cup winner Acuña in the process).

Pepi says that he’s learning a lot from Luuk de Jong too, and the Dutchman would be a fine act to follow. De Jong burst on the scene when he was 19, hit a speed bump when he went to Germany, a move he now says was a mistake (sound familiar?) before his career took off at PSV when he turned 24. He had a few successful years in La Liga, mostly at Sevilla and one at Barcelona where he had a huge impact off the bench. If Pepi can have half of de Jong’s career we should be very happy.
 
InstaFace

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Bump - game vs Jamaica tonight, at the (reasonable by their usual standards) earlier time of 7:00pm ET. Should be a great atmosphere down in Austin.
 
rguilmar

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Adding to Jamaica’s woes, Michail Antonio is also out. Bailey, Nicholson, Gray, and Pinnock among others were already out for various reasons.
 
Jed Zeppelin

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Unfortunately for Gregg and all of us, even the best life coaching in the world can’t help you figure out how to break a defensive shell.

He’s bad, folks.
 
rguilmar

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Jed Zeppelin said:
Unfortunately for Gregg and all of us, even the best life coaching in the world can’t help you figure out how to break a defensive shell.

He’s bad, folks.
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I think they've looked more dangerous tonight than they have in the past against a bunkered in opponent. Still not very good considering the talent available. Something like a 3 foot high jump being better than 2 foot high jump.
 
DennyDoyle'sBoil

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They are playing too slow. They are prioritizing possession. They don't want to give up the ball so are taking their time on the ball instead of trying quick passes that could get picked off. I'm ok with giving up possession if it means quicker action. They can't just stand over the ball -- they need to make passes while Jamaica are moving.
 
rguilmar

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I’m excited to see Adams back, and I’m sure this was the plan to bring him on the 60 minute mark, but why the f*ck are we bringing on a great defender while trailing 1-0?
 
DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Had to allow advantage there. I'd rather just have play on that taking two minutes for a free kick anyway. The free kick gives them a break.
 
DennyDoyle'sBoil

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What a disaster this is. Credit to Jamaica but this team just has a fatal flaw. I don't know how much I can watch the team get to the top of the box and go 1 v. 4 until they give it away. Really hard to enjoy or watch.
 
Titans Bastard

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The downside to the equalizer is that we have 30 more minutes of suffering now.
 
Jed Zeppelin

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I couldn’t be more cynical about this so I say the following with that in mind but I’m at least a little pissed no lessons will be taken from this now.
 
Jed Zeppelin

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DennyDoyle'sBoil said:
What a disaster this is. Credit to Jamaica but this team just has a fatal flaw. I don't know how much I can watch the team get to the top of the box and go 1 v. 4 until they give it away. Really hard to enjoy or watch.
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Can’t high press or counterattack if the other team never has the ball. So they are left doing whatever this was.
 
DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I feel bad for Jamaica. I'm glad we scored but really there's nothing here that makes me particularly optimistic.
 
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