I think with the summer's tournaments behind us, we should get a new thread.
The September roster has dropped. Its selections are... shockingly fine. A few bold try-em-out moves, no are-you-kidding-me level snubs, basically what most smart fans would have expected. It doesn't stop USMNT Twitter from whining, but then again nothing could.
First and foremost, set your calendars now for these sparkling friendly lineups:
USMNT vs Uzbekistan, 5:30pm ET, Saturday 9/9, in St Louis
USMNT vs Oman, 8:30pm, Tuesday 9/12, in St Paul MN
We have, at worst, the A-minus roster in there right now. We have opponents who resemble the opening-credits directors from Monty Python and the Holy Grail ("those responsible for sacking the sackers, have been sacked."), who were replacements for what would've been Brazil and Argentina had CONMEBOL not changed their WCQ schedule kinda last-minute. There's no need to stretch what's asked of any of the starters in this window - the higher-quality friendlies are in October, and the actual-stakes Copa America qualifiers are in November - so let's just let everybody get some reps in, install a few new tactics, try out the newbies, and everyone get home in one piece please.
Except Horvath. He should just not get on the plane back to England and should poke around to find a job in MLS, transfer window be damned.
Potential starting lineup:
Could be a 4-2-3-1. Could be a 4-3-3 with Tillman or Aaronson in a more-advanced position. We'll know on Saturday.
Roster Absences (the difference between the current roster and the theoretical full-strength one) for availability reasons include:
- GK Zack Steffen (Man City) - injury, "not being good enough anymore"
- GK Sean Johnson - injury, hand fracture, back ~October
- CB Erik Palmer-Brown (Panathinaikos) - new-club integration
- CB Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic) - medium-term hamstring injury, back ~November
- CB Walker Zimmerman (Nashville) - short-term leg injury
- DM Tyler Adams (Bournemouth) - returning from injury, fitness, new-club integration
- DM Johnny Cardoso (Internacional) - minor knock, too important to his club
- CM Taylor Booth (Utrecht) - short-term injury on 8/12
- AM Gio Reyna (Dortmund) - returning from injury, fitness
- CF Josh Sargent (Norwich) - brutal recent ankle-ligament injury, probably 3-4 months
- CF Jesus Ferreira (Dallas) - not mentioned in USSF injury list but had a 1-week illness he just got over
- CF Daryl Dike (West Brom) - long-term injury (achilles) from April
Of those, only Adams and Reyna are lock starters for us right now, plus Zim a likely starter. Everyone else is available and in St Louis, more or less.
If you're looking for snubs, the only people you could name (i.e. are performing at a good level, aren't too young-and-prospect-y, aren't old and largely dismissed from the program, and/or have been a part of the team before) are:
- CB Auston Trusty (Sheffield United) - just got a move to the EPL from Birmingham and isn't seeing the field yet, but would likely get the call if he's getting minutes; this is sort of a new-team-integration absence but he also hasn't been a core part of the program so he still has to earn membership, sorta
- CB John Brooks (Hoffenheim) - banished from the team for reasons still unknown, likely including "being slow-footed". Someday we'll know the full story.
- LB Sam Vines (Antwerp / UCL) - Vines has never looked to be at the USMNT level but we need a Jedi backup at LB and nobody else has really seized the job either. His club just made the UCL group stage, and although he got hurt in the last game before the window, he had already been not-called-up at that point, so he's a snub.
- RB DeAndre Yedlin (Miami) - "not being good enough anymore", though he might still be arguably more reliable than Joe Scally today.
- RB Reggie Cannon (Without Club) - needs a club. Lot of believers in his talent out there but he needs minutes before he cracks the squad.
- DM James Sands (NYCFC) - has looked good but not great for the USMNT, still developing, his stint at Rangers went fine but they couldn't afford him.
- CM Djordje Mihailovic (AZ Alkmaar) - Did good but not good enough at the Gold Cup. Rumors of a slight knock. He's probably the next name on the CM depth chart after Musah, McKennie and LDLT, but they're all healthy.
- CF Brandon Vazquez (Cincinnati) - Has been getting Bundesliga offers, might move soon, but just isn't as good as Balogun and Pepi.
- CF Haji Wright (Coventry City) - combination of new-club-integration and not being as good as the other options.
I think it's "happy trails, let's do a testimonial in a few years" for the following well-capped veterans: CB Aaron Long, CB Matt Miazga, RB Shaq Moore, DM Kellyn Acosta, CM Alan Soñora, AM Cristian Roldan, AM Paul Arriola, RW Jordan Morris, and CF Jordan Pefok. And likewise, some young guns we're all excited about just aren't quite seizing a full A-team invite yet, from GK Gaga Slonina to CB Jalen Neal, LB Caleb Wiley, DM Aidan Morris, AM Diego Luna... but some will be a part of the Olympics squad for next summer and have every chance of becoming part of the senior-team picture, and so you can't really call them a "snub" yet. Cade Cowell and Benja Cremaschi would be in this category had they not been called, but they were the lucky winners of the "give 'em a shot" lottery this time around.
Expected USMNT Schedule:
September: Friendlies withBrazil and Argentina Uzbekistan and Oman
October: Friendlies with Germany (in Hartford! Everyone should go!) and Ghana, which should be more fun
November: Copa America qualifiers, a home-and-home against a team that will not be Canada, Mexico or Costa Rica (probably Jamaica or Panama), which if we win, we're in Copa America
January: Camp Cupcake, an MLS-heavy familiarization camp that doesn't occur on a FIFA window so all the big-boy A-teamers on big-boy clubs can't attend. U20 / U23 YNT guys with a legit shot to play for the senior team will get extra scrutiny, and we'll play some patsy team just for fun.
March: If we win the November matchup, this will be a Nations League Finals for us - semi and then final (or 3rd place match). If we lose the November matchup, this will be a second-chance qualifier for Copa America, a home-and-home against one of the other teams that lost in November.
June 20th to July 14th: Copa America 2024. Neymar! Messi! *checks notes* Darwin Nunez! This is the highest-quality tournament we could possibly play in before the World Cup and thus is the most important thing we do in the next 2.5 years before WC 2026.
July 24th to August 10th: Olympic Football Tournament. It's a U-23 roster (born 2001-or-later) with a maximum of 3 over-agers allowed. We might otherwise send a bunch of A-teamers who are age-qualified (which includes Gio Reyna and Yunus Musah, among many others), but their likely participation in Copa America means that very few if any will pull double-duty next summer.
For those summer tournaments I think we'll have a new thread. But for now, let's see how we do this window!
The September roster has dropped. Its selections are... shockingly fine. A few bold try-em-out moves, no are-you-kidding-me level snubs, basically what most smart fans would have expected. It doesn't stop USMNT Twitter from whining, but then again nothing could.
First and foremost, set your calendars now for these sparkling friendly lineups:
USMNT vs Uzbekistan, 5:30pm ET, Saturday 9/9, in St Louis
USMNT vs Oman, 8:30pm, Tuesday 9/12, in St Paul MN
We have, at worst, the A-minus roster in there right now. We have opponents who resemble the opening-credits directors from Monty Python and the Holy Grail ("those responsible for sacking the sackers, have been sacked."), who were replacements for what would've been Brazil and Argentina had CONMEBOL not changed their WCQ schedule kinda last-minute. There's no need to stretch what's asked of any of the starters in this window - the higher-quality friendlies are in October, and the actual-stakes Copa America qualifiers are in November - so let's just let everybody get some reps in, install a few new tactics, try out the newbies, and everyone get home in one piece please.
Except Horvath. He should just not get on the plane back to England and should poke around to find a job in MLS, transfer window be damned.
Potential starting lineup:
Code:
Balogun
Pulisic - Aaronson - Weah
McKennie - Musah
Jedi - Richards - Miles - Dest
Turner
Roster Absences (the difference between the current roster and the theoretical full-strength one) for availability reasons include:
- GK Zack Steffen (Man City) - injury, "not being good enough anymore"
- GK Sean Johnson - injury, hand fracture, back ~October
- CB Erik Palmer-Brown (Panathinaikos) - new-club integration
- CB Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic) - medium-term hamstring injury, back ~November
- CB Walker Zimmerman (Nashville) - short-term leg injury
- DM Tyler Adams (Bournemouth) - returning from injury, fitness, new-club integration
- DM Johnny Cardoso (Internacional) - minor knock, too important to his club
- CM Taylor Booth (Utrecht) - short-term injury on 8/12
- AM Gio Reyna (Dortmund) - returning from injury, fitness
- CF Josh Sargent (Norwich) - brutal recent ankle-ligament injury, probably 3-4 months
- CF Jesus Ferreira (Dallas) - not mentioned in USSF injury list but had a 1-week illness he just got over
- CF Daryl Dike (West Brom) - long-term injury (achilles) from April
Of those, only Adams and Reyna are lock starters for us right now, plus Zim a likely starter. Everyone else is available and in St Louis, more or less.
If you're looking for snubs, the only people you could name (i.e. are performing at a good level, aren't too young-and-prospect-y, aren't old and largely dismissed from the program, and/or have been a part of the team before) are:
- CB Auston Trusty (Sheffield United) - just got a move to the EPL from Birmingham and isn't seeing the field yet, but would likely get the call if he's getting minutes; this is sort of a new-team-integration absence but he also hasn't been a core part of the program so he still has to earn membership, sorta
- CB John Brooks (Hoffenheim) - banished from the team for reasons still unknown, likely including "being slow-footed". Someday we'll know the full story.
- LB Sam Vines (Antwerp / UCL) - Vines has never looked to be at the USMNT level but we need a Jedi backup at LB and nobody else has really seized the job either. His club just made the UCL group stage, and although he got hurt in the last game before the window, he had already been not-called-up at that point, so he's a snub.
- RB DeAndre Yedlin (Miami) - "not being good enough anymore", though he might still be arguably more reliable than Joe Scally today.
- RB Reggie Cannon (Without Club) - needs a club. Lot of believers in his talent out there but he needs minutes before he cracks the squad.
- DM James Sands (NYCFC) - has looked good but not great for the USMNT, still developing, his stint at Rangers went fine but they couldn't afford him.
- CM Djordje Mihailovic (AZ Alkmaar) - Did good but not good enough at the Gold Cup. Rumors of a slight knock. He's probably the next name on the CM depth chart after Musah, McKennie and LDLT, but they're all healthy.
- CF Brandon Vazquez (Cincinnati) - Has been getting Bundesliga offers, might move soon, but just isn't as good as Balogun and Pepi.
- CF Haji Wright (Coventry City) - combination of new-club-integration and not being as good as the other options.
I think it's "happy trails, let's do a testimonial in a few years" for the following well-capped veterans: CB Aaron Long, CB Matt Miazga, RB Shaq Moore, DM Kellyn Acosta, CM Alan Soñora, AM Cristian Roldan, AM Paul Arriola, RW Jordan Morris, and CF Jordan Pefok. And likewise, some young guns we're all excited about just aren't quite seizing a full A-team invite yet, from GK Gaga Slonina to CB Jalen Neal, LB Caleb Wiley, DM Aidan Morris, AM Diego Luna... but some will be a part of the Olympics squad for next summer and have every chance of becoming part of the senior-team picture, and so you can't really call them a "snub" yet. Cade Cowell and Benja Cremaschi would be in this category had they not been called, but they were the lucky winners of the "give 'em a shot" lottery this time around.
Expected USMNT Schedule:
September: Friendlies with
October: Friendlies with Germany (in Hartford! Everyone should go!) and Ghana, which should be more fun
November: Copa America qualifiers, a home-and-home against a team that will not be Canada, Mexico or Costa Rica (probably Jamaica or Panama), which if we win, we're in Copa America
January: Camp Cupcake, an MLS-heavy familiarization camp that doesn't occur on a FIFA window so all the big-boy A-teamers on big-boy clubs can't attend. U20 / U23 YNT guys with a legit shot to play for the senior team will get extra scrutiny, and we'll play some patsy team just for fun.
March: If we win the November matchup, this will be a Nations League Finals for us - semi and then final (or 3rd place match). If we lose the November matchup, this will be a second-chance qualifier for Copa America, a home-and-home against one of the other teams that lost in November.
June 20th to July 14th: Copa America 2024. Neymar! Messi! *checks notes* Darwin Nunez! This is the highest-quality tournament we could possibly play in before the World Cup and thus is the most important thing we do in the next 2.5 years before WC 2026.
July 24th to August 10th: Olympic Football Tournament. It's a U-23 roster (born 2001-or-later) with a maximum of 3 over-agers allowed. We might otherwise send a bunch of A-teamers who are age-qualified (which includes Gio Reyna and Yunus Musah, among many others), but their likely participation in Copa America means that very few if any will pull double-duty next summer.
For those summer tournaments I think we'll have a new thread. But for now, let's see how we do this window!
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