USMNT: Watching From Outside The Arena
- Thread starter Titans Bastard
- Start date
Rubin has a lot of good qualities. Lack of end product and injuries are why his career hasn't gone the way we hoped it would when he was an 18 year old starting in the Eredivisie.
Parks-for-Corona, Green-for-Weah, and Novakovich-for-Sargent are all more or less like-for-like subs.
Gotta admire Bolivia's persistence in building the attack even though we keep turning them over
These kids are young and raw, but there have been so many flashes of creativity and good play. I know this Bolivia side is bad, but I am so ready to start the youth movement. This game has been more fun to watch than most of the qualifiers combined.
Needs to be an official fixture to fully cap-tie anyone who has dual-eligibility. Friendlies don't count.
There are many things that make me feel old but Julian Green looking 38 is definitely one of them
Tough night for Pulisic. He's had a frustrating season and is physically and mentally spent. Rest up, young man.
That was legitimately funny. Fourth official couldn’t hide his laughter coming over
Fun game. Good stuff from a lot of young players.
Bolivia wasn't much of a test, but that's okay - next up are Ireland, France, Brazil, Mexico, England, and Italy.
Bolivia wasn't much of a test, but that's okay - next up are Ireland, France, Brazil, Mexico, England, and Italy.
wait, what? when?
For a second I thought that "NIT World Cup" had come together. Let's get Chile, Italy and the Dutch down here. CP won't mind, right?
Just FIFA-window friendlies.
June: Ireland & France
September: Brazil & Mexico
October: ??? but rumored to be Argentina & Colombia
November: England & Italy
These will be a lot of fun, especially because the new manager should be in place for the September friendlies. But, well, it might not be good for our ELO rating.
yeah no fucking kidding. I mean, goddamn. Why not schedule Real Madrid while we're at it.
This was my biggest question when I saw the lineup...how did that work out? And is that a temporary experiment or do we think they’ll try to shoehorn him in there?
It was a lot of fun to watch these young players. All usual caveats re: rawness, mistakes, lack of pressure in this game, poor opposition, etc. but they were on the front foot throughout and seemed to enjoy playing with each other.
I may be overstating things but as I watched, especially in the first part of the second half, I was thinking "this XI goes to Trinidad and they don't lose that game."
I may be overstating things but as I watched, especially in the first part of the second half, I was thinking "this XI goes to Trinidad and they don't lose that game."
That went about as good as you could have hoped; with three of the youngsters getting on the board in an easy win. Bolivia isn't much of a challenge, but their squad is basically the equivalent of a typical CONCACAF side, so it's nice to see a bunch of American rookies clean up.
Weah is a bit of a binky for me; he has great physical tools and makes some insightful runs, but as stated above, needs to become more clinical in his decision making. Holden made a great point in his analysis of his one-on-one opportunity and how he looked down too early and made the save easy for the keeper.
Weah is a bit of a binky for me; he has great physical tools and makes some insightful runs, but as stated above, needs to become more clinical in his decision making. Holden made a great point in his analysis of his one-on-one opportunity and how he looked down too early and made the save easy for the keeper.
This is definitely a “make the best of a terrible situation” opinion, but I had more fun watching Weah, Sargent, Robinson, McKennie, Parks, and the rest of the kids ball out tonight than I would have if I’d been watching the likes of Graham Zusi and Kyle Beckerman flame out of the World Cup group stage.
To use a hackneyed baseball analogy, the farm system looks deep and talented - perhaps more talented than any USMNT crop since the Donovan-Beasley era. There’s no guarantee that any of this will translate to sustained success, but at least I’ll be able to watch some young, promising players hopefully put together a bunch of fun matches along the way.
To use a hackneyed baseball analogy, the farm system looks deep and talented - perhaps more talented than any USMNT crop since the Donovan-Beasley era. There’s no guarantee that any of this will translate to sustained success, but at least I’ll be able to watch some young, promising players hopefully put together a bunch of fun matches along the way.
I thought he was fine back there, but it is hard to draw conclusions given the quality of opponent. There weren't any real DMs on roster, so someone had to do the job. I think it's temporary.
I'm excited to see McKennie play a somewhat freer box-to-box role with Tyler Adams behind him at the #6. Adams is a better fit for the role - he's not as good a passer, but his field coverage is legitimately in the "world class" conversation.
There's also Chris Durkin, another member of the '00 U17 cohort along with Sargent and Weah. He's not quite NT-ready, but I'm high on him at DM too.
Despite all that, at some point I do think we'll need to give McKennie a bigger test at DM because we may need him in that spot in an injury/suspension crunch or perhaps against a CONCACAF bunker where we'll want to get more offensive firepower on the field.
In the next cycle, this is how I see the CM breakdown (in no particular order):
DM: Adams, Durkin, Trapp
CM: McKennie, Parks, Delgado, Roldan, Acosta
??: Bradley, Nagbe
Out: Bono, Horvath, Olosunde, Zimmerman, Guido, Pulisic, Gooch
In: Steffen, Yarbrough, Moore, Parker, Yedlin, Adams, de la Torre, Saief, Trapp, Wood
GOALKEEPERS (3): Bill Hamid (Midtjylland/DEN; 5/0), Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew SC; 2/0), William Yarbrough (Club León/MEX; 3/0)
DEFENDERS (9): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur/ENG; 2/0), Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 15/1), Matt Miazga (Chelsea/ENG; 5/1), Shaq Moore (Levante/ESP; 0/0), Erik Palmer-Brown (Manchester City/ENG; 1/0), Tim Parker (New York Red Bulls; 0/0), Antonee Robinson (Everton/ENG; 1/0), Jorge Villafaña (Santos Laguna/MEX; 17/0), DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United/ENG; 50/0)
MIDFIELDERS (10): Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls; 3/0), Joe Corona (Club America/MEX; 21/3), Luca de la Torre (Fulham/ENG; 0/0) Julian Green (Stuttgart/GER; 9/3), Weston McKennie (Schalke/GER; 2/1), Keaton Parks (Benfica/POR; 1/0), Rubio Rubin (Club Tijuana/MEX; 6/0), Kenny Saief (Anderlecht/BEL; 2/0), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 4/0), Tim Weah (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA; 2/1)
FORWARDS (3): Andrija Novakovich (Reading/ENG; 2/0), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/GER; 1/1), Bobby Wood (Hamburg/GER; 37/11)
In: Steffen, Yarbrough, Moore, Parker, Yedlin, Adams, de la Torre, Saief, Trapp, Wood
GOALKEEPERS (3): Bill Hamid (Midtjylland/DEN; 5/0), Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew SC; 2/0), William Yarbrough (Club León/MEX; 3/0)
DEFENDERS (9): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur/ENG; 2/0), Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 15/1), Matt Miazga (Chelsea/ENG; 5/1), Shaq Moore (Levante/ESP; 0/0), Erik Palmer-Brown (Manchester City/ENG; 1/0), Tim Parker (New York Red Bulls; 0/0), Antonee Robinson (Everton/ENG; 1/0), Jorge Villafaña (Santos Laguna/MEX; 17/0), DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United/ENG; 50/0)
MIDFIELDERS (10): Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls; 3/0), Joe Corona (Club America/MEX; 21/3), Luca de la Torre (Fulham/ENG; 0/0) Julian Green (Stuttgart/GER; 9/3), Weston McKennie (Schalke/GER; 2/1), Keaton Parks (Benfica/POR; 1/0), Rubio Rubin (Club Tijuana/MEX; 6/0), Kenny Saief (Anderlecht/BEL; 2/0), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 4/0), Tim Weah (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA; 2/1)
FORWARDS (3): Andrija Novakovich (Reading/ENG; 2/0), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/GER; 1/1), Bobby Wood (Hamburg/GER; 37/11)
The GM positions, as described by the USSF, sounds like it sucks.
http://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states/story/3512129/us-soccer-federation-general-manager-search-in-final-stages
We need somebody who is capable enough to handle and who can be held accountable for our youth development system writ large. This is just a babysitter/micromanager for the manager.
http://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states/story/3512129/us-soccer-federation-general-manager-search-in-final-stages
We need somebody who is capable enough to handle and who can be held accountable for our youth development system writ large. This is just a babysitter/micromanager for the manager.
lol
Another retrospective on the WCQ failure. This one is fairly well sourced with quotes from Arena and a bunch of players.
An interview with LA Galaxy II manager Mike Munoz, which touches on top prospect Efrain Alvarez's decision to play for Mexican youth teams for now.
An interview with LA Galaxy II manager Mike Munoz, which touches on top prospect Efrain Alvarez's decision to play for Mexican youth teams for now.
Bruce Arena is insufferable, and that article needed to be even harder on him. I'm Team Cameron.
He's incapable of admitting his own mistakes. It really is incredible that he can act the way he has when he was the one in charge of that T&T game. After that, you'd think that you'd shut your mouth and disappear for a while, but Bruce was a talking head on Fox a month later (shame on them for that too) and immediately churned out a fucking book about the disaster. He's the worst.
Carlisle is pretty harsh on anyone who didn't talk to him for that article, so both Cameron and Klinsmann get it pretty good. And I get it, Jurgen had a lot of faults and made a lot of mistakes. But in the end, he doesn't seem to be a delusional asshole like Arena is and has had a pretty good attitude about how everything went down. For that, and for the escaping the Group of Death, he's OK in my book. Arena can fuck right off.
I think Klinsmann is just as arrogant as Arena and just as much of an ass, but he at least had the sense and grace to move on quietly after he was fired.
I mean, Klinsmann was famous for never admitting that he made any mistakes and throwing players under the bus. Arena pretends to admit to mistakes and take responsibility, but then turns around and blames players in his next breath.
In the end I think you have to have more respect for Klinsmann because of the purity and unflinchingness of his arrogance. Arena tries to have it both ways and comes off even douchier.
I can't wait to fully hit the reboot button, which will happen when the next permanent manager is hired. It will be great to have a cycle with hopefully less acrimony and ill-feeling and more young talent and positive vibes.
I mean, Klinsmann was famous for never admitting that he made any mistakes and throwing players under the bus. Arena pretends to admit to mistakes and take responsibility, but then turns around and blames players in his next breath.
In the end I think you have to have more respect for Klinsmann because of the purity and unflinchingness of his arrogance. Arena tries to have it both ways and comes off even douchier.
I can't wait to fully hit the reboot button, which will happen when the next permanent manager is hired. It will be great to have a cycle with hopefully less acrimony and ill-feeling and more young talent and positive vibes.
The USSF announced the roster for a U18 camp that will take place in Kansas City. These are all players born in 2001.
GOALKEEPERS (3): *Owen Finnerty (Crew Sc Academy Wolves; Walled Lake, Mich.), *John Pulskamp (LA Galaxy; Bakersfield, Calif.), Alex Rando (New York City FC; New York, N.Y.)
DEFENDERS (9): Julian Araujo (Barca Academy; Lompoc, Calif.), *Edward Berumen (Sacramento Republic FC; Salida, Calif.), *Kendall Edwards (Atlanta United FC; Atlanta, Ga.), Justin Haak (New York City FC; Brooklyn, N.Y.), *Julian Hinojosa (FC Dallas; Garland, Texas), *Erwin Martinez (Real Salt Lake; Gilbert, Ariz.), David Mendoza (Chicago Fire; Gage Park, Ill.), *Andre Reynolds (Chicago Fire; Chicago, Ill.), Leonardo Sepulveda (LA Galaxy; Corona, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Luis Arriaga (Real Salt Lake; Santa Rosa, Calif.), *Michael Carmona (Atletico Madrid; Madrid, Spain), *Jeffery Copper (Chargers SC; Tampa, Fla.), Cameron Duke (Sporting Kansas City; Overland Park, Kan.), Hunter George (Sacramento Republic FC; Lincoln, Calif.), Azriel Gonzalez (Seattle Sounders FC; Las Vegas, Nev.), Aidan Morris (Crew SC Academy; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Thomas Roberts (FC Dallas; Little Rock, Ark.), *Tanner Tessmann (FC Dallas; Birmingham, Ala.)
FORWARDS (6): Quincy Butler (Sacramento Republic FC; Sacramento, Calif.), *Salvatore Esposito (S.S.C. Napoli; Manhattan, N.Y.), *Charlie Kelman (Southend United; Wickford, England), *Gibran Rayo (FC Dallas; Dallas, Texas), Gabriel Segal (Bethesda SC; Bethesda, Md.), *Julian Vazquez (Real Salt Lake; Sandy, Utah)
I've hardly seen any of these players, but a few observations:
GOALKEEPERS (3): *Owen Finnerty (Crew Sc Academy Wolves; Walled Lake, Mich.), *John Pulskamp (LA Galaxy; Bakersfield, Calif.), Alex Rando (New York City FC; New York, N.Y.)
DEFENDERS (9): Julian Araujo (Barca Academy; Lompoc, Calif.), *Edward Berumen (Sacramento Republic FC; Salida, Calif.), *Kendall Edwards (Atlanta United FC; Atlanta, Ga.), Justin Haak (New York City FC; Brooklyn, N.Y.), *Julian Hinojosa (FC Dallas; Garland, Texas), *Erwin Martinez (Real Salt Lake; Gilbert, Ariz.), David Mendoza (Chicago Fire; Gage Park, Ill.), *Andre Reynolds (Chicago Fire; Chicago, Ill.), Leonardo Sepulveda (LA Galaxy; Corona, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Luis Arriaga (Real Salt Lake; Santa Rosa, Calif.), *Michael Carmona (Atletico Madrid; Madrid, Spain), *Jeffery Copper (Chargers SC; Tampa, Fla.), Cameron Duke (Sporting Kansas City; Overland Park, Kan.), Hunter George (Sacramento Republic FC; Lincoln, Calif.), Azriel Gonzalez (Seattle Sounders FC; Las Vegas, Nev.), Aidan Morris (Crew SC Academy; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Thomas Roberts (FC Dallas; Little Rock, Ark.), *Tanner Tessmann (FC Dallas; Birmingham, Ala.)
FORWARDS (6): Quincy Butler (Sacramento Republic FC; Sacramento, Calif.), *Salvatore Esposito (S.S.C. Napoli; Manhattan, N.Y.), *Charlie Kelman (Southend United; Wickford, England), *Gibran Rayo (FC Dallas; Dallas, Texas), Gabriel Segal (Bethesda SC; Bethesda, Md.), *Julian Vazquez (Real Salt Lake; Sandy, Utah)
I've hardly seen any of these players, but a few observations:
- Gibran Rayo and Julian Hinojosa, both of FC Dallas, have been to a bunch of Mexican YNT camps in the past
- FC Dallas sure is vacuuming up talent from states in the Deep South. They've signed two Alabamans recently and have a third guy from Alabama and a player from Arkansas in this camp.
- Azriel Gonzalez is the only player on professional terms that I know of.
- Kendall Edwards is a Jamaican-American dual national and would have to file a one-time switch to play for the US in any real games after playing for Jamaica U17 at CONCACAF championship.
- I've been loosely aware of the three foreign-based players (Carmona, Esposito, Kelman), but I have no read on how they are regarded within their academies.
Lineup vs. Ireland:
Bench: Steffen (GK), Lichaj (RB), Moore (RB), Parker (CB), Robinson (LB), Corona (CM), de la Torre (AM), Novakovich (FW), Sargent (FW)
Julian Green and Kenny Saief are injured. Yarbrough, EPB, and Parks didn't dress.
There's not much creativity in the central part of the field. We may see McKennie/Adams could generate chances by simply running Ireland into the ground via pressing. Weah, Rubin, and Wood all have good qualities, but none have been clinical lately.
I'm curious to see if Yedlin and Weah have any immediate chemistry. There's a lot of athleticism on that side of the field, plus Weah's off-the-ball game is strong given his youth.
The Miazga/CCV partnership was pretty great at the U20 level three years ago.
Wood
Rubin -- McKennie -- Adams -- Weah
Trapp (c)
Villafaña -- Miazga -- Carter-Vickers -- Yedlin
Hamid
Rubin -- McKennie -- Adams -- Weah
Trapp (c)
Villafaña -- Miazga -- Carter-Vickers -- Yedlin
Hamid
Bench: Steffen (GK), Lichaj (RB), Moore (RB), Parker (CB), Robinson (LB), Corona (CM), de la Torre (AM), Novakovich (FW), Sargent (FW)
Julian Green and Kenny Saief are injured. Yarbrough, EPB, and Parks didn't dress.
There's not much creativity in the central part of the field. We may see McKennie/Adams could generate chances by simply running Ireland into the ground via pressing. Weah, Rubin, and Wood all have good qualities, but none have been clinical lately.
I'm curious to see if Yedlin and Weah have any immediate chemistry. There's a lot of athleticism on that side of the field, plus Weah's off-the-ball game is strong given his youth.
The Miazga/CCV partnership was pretty great at the U20 level three years ago.
Not much to report from the US, though they've picked it up in the last few minutes. They spent the first 15 minutes on the back heel, unable to maintain possession and having trouble playing out of the press.
Now US nearly scores on a deflected Tyler Adams shot from outside the box.
Now US nearly scores on a deflected Tyler Adams shot from outside the box.
Ireland playing a decently strong side, however also some weird experiments going on. Declan Rice is a CB who can play DM in an emergency. He started at CM for some reason.
Wood! 1-0.
Deep free kick from Trapp is flicked by Miazga and tapped in by Wood. Not particularly great goalkeeping there from Ireland.
The US certainly hasn't outplayed Ireland, but whatevs. Wood needs whatever he can get right now.
Deep free kick from Trapp is flicked by Miazga and tapped in by Wood. Not particularly great goalkeeping there from Ireland.
The US certainly hasn't outplayed Ireland, but whatevs. Wood needs whatever he can get right now.
CCV has been making me nervous today. His acceleration looks slow and I don't think he's inspired confidence in his ability to play out of the back.
Hamid is a great shot-stopper, but stuff like that is why he hasn't made deeper inroads into the USMNT.
Simple, strong hold-up play from Sargent there, helping the US maintain possession. You don't always see that from Wood, who doesn't like to drop back, receive, and lay off the ball as much.