USMNT: Hold My Beer

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Roster for Switzerland on 5/30. This is NOT the same roster that we'll be taking for CONCACAF Nations League games in early June.

GK
Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge)
Chituru Odunze (Leicester City)
David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake)

RB
Reggie Cannon (Boavista)
Sergiño Dest (Barcelona)
Bryan Reynolds (Roma)
DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray)

CB
John Brooks (Wolfsburg)
Justin Che (Bayern)
Mark McKenzie (Genk)
Matt Miazga (Anderlecht)
Tim Ream (Fulham)

LB
Antonee Robinson (Fulham)

CM
Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids)
Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig)
Julian Green (Greuther Fürth)
Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy)
Weston McKennie (Juventus)
Yunus Musah (Valencia)
Jackson Yueill (SJ Earthquakes)

AM
Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg)
Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund)
Tim Weah (Lille)

FW
Daryl Dike (Barnsley)
Matthew Hoppe (Schalke)
Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen)
Jordan Siebatcheu (Young Boys)


A few notes:
  • Pulisic and Steffen are unavailable because of the Champions League final. (Crazy to type this!)
  • Adams is here, but I'm pretty sure he's at least somewhat injured and won't play
  • Injured: Richards, Long, Morris
  • There's probably been some preference given to Euro guys since the game is in Europe and there's a friendly in the US after the two CNL games.
  • Justin Che is the surprise inclusion — a dual national '03 center back who has impressed on loan at Bayern II from FC Dallas. It is rumored he will be moving permanently. He has a German passport and the German fed may have been sniffing around him.
  • Dike's inclusion is, I believe, conditional on Barnsley not reaching the Championship playoff final.
  • Odunze, Che, Green, and Hoppe aren't on the CNL provisional roster so they're here only for the friendly
 
Last edited:

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Very excited to see they are bringing in Che given how shallow the CB pool is. Have to say that Berhalter has been doing a nice job with the senior rosters lately.

That RB depth chart is ridicuous.
 

Senator Donut

post-Domer
SoSH Member
Apr 21, 2010
5,500
Dike's inclusion is, I believe, conditional on Barnsley not reaching the Championship playoff final.
Green and Sargent could be meet in the promotion/relegation playoff, the second leg of which is scheduled for May 30, so the US could be thin at forward.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Roster for Switzerland on 5/30. This is NOT the same roster that we'll be taking for CONCACAF Nations League games in early June.

GK
Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge)
Chituru Odunze (Leicester City)
David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake)

RB
Reggie Cannon (Boavista)
Sergiño Dest (Barcelona)
Bryan Reynolds (Roma)
DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray)

CB
John Brooks (Wolfsburg)
Justin Che (Bayern)
Mark McKenzie (Genk)
Matt Miazga (Anderlecht)
Tim Ream (Fulham)

LB
Antonee Robinson (Fulham)

CM
Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids)
Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig)
Julian Green (Greuther Fürth)
Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy)
Weston McKennie (Juventus)
Yunus Musah (Valencia)
Jackson Yueill (SJ Earthquakes)

AM
Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg)
Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund)
Tim Weah (Lille)

FW
Daryl Dike (Barnsley)
Matthew Hoppe (Schalke)
Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen)
Jordan Siebatcheu (Young Boys)
The USSF announced the CONCACAF Nations League roster today. It's mostly the same as the above, except:

In:
Steffen
Pulisic

Out:
Odunze
Reynolds
Che
Green
Dike
Hoppe


Notes:
  • Adams (back injury) is touch and go, and might be replaced before the CNL games
  • Dike will travel with the team and start in the Costa Rica friendly, but will not be eligible for CNL games
  • An unknown 25th player will also be traveling with the team
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
The lineup appears to be:

Sargent
Aaronson --------------------- Reyna
McKennie (c) -- Lletget
Yueill
Dest -- Brooks -- McKenzie -- Cannon
Horvath
Bench --
GK - Ochoa
DF - Miazga, Robinson, Ream, Yedlin, Che
CM - Musah, Green, Acosta
Wing - Weah
FW - Siebatcheu, Hoppe

Not dressed: Odunze, Reynolds, Adams, Dike

I'm still expecting Adams to be dropped from the Nations League roster for injury reasons, eventually.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
One big question is to what extent these lineup choices reflect Berhalter's current "best XI" preferences and how much of it is juggling/rotating in a fast-paced four game stretch. Particular questions in mind are:

- RCB
- the fullbacks (Dest at LB + Cannon/Yedlin or Dest at RB + Robinson?)
- Musah vs. Lletget


Not really a positional battle, but this is a major test for Yueill against a high quality opponent. Eventually other guys are going to come for the backup DM job, but that pool is still very shallow.
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,667
So, it looks like this softball game is still going on. Where is the game going to be airing?
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,667
Twitter told me its on ESPN3, which I didn't even knew still existed. Game is on ESPN+ but the screen is telling me it hasn't started yet.
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,667
I'm watching it on my ESPN app on Roku, but it's telling me the game hasn't started yet. Are other people still seeing that?
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,667
US clearly the better squad in the first half and yet lucky not to be down 2-1.
 

Jed Zeppelin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2008
51,289
Sargent did a nice job winning the ball there but I can’t articulate how much I hate that possession in the attacking half with minimal pressure ending up back with the GK for a long ball. The hoofball bs is so last decade.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Pretty solid performance so far given the quality of opposition.

I remember when the US recently got wrecked by Mexico's press. We've looked much better playing out of the press today. I'm glad to see the USMNT more than holding its own against a top-quality European team on the road.

We'll see what the second half brings.
 

Jed Zeppelin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2008
51,289
I think Dest is pretty comfortably the most technically skilled player I’ve ever seen suit up for USMNT. Ridiculously gifted.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
I think Dest is pretty comfortably the most technically skilled player I’ve ever seen suit up for USMNT. Ridiculously gifted.
I’m still in disbelief that he chose the US over the NL. The Berhalter Era has a high floor just by landing Dest.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
I get that he's supposed to be the backup possession CB to play the Brooks role when Brooks isn't available, but I just don't think Ream is a good enough defender.
 

Jed Zeppelin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2008
51,289
Need to see more from Reyna. For me he has lagged a bit behind the rest of the Core 5.

Obviously still super young.

(Worth mentioning I did miss most of the 1st where it seems he performed better)
 
Last edited:

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Well, a 2-1 loss to this Swiss team on the road feels like more or less an expected result. I thought the USMNT was pretty encouraging in the first half. In the second half, the wheels came off and the US was fortunate that Switzerland didn't score a few more. The US didn't look great in transition defense and, in particular, the combo of Dest getting stranded upfield leaving Brooks isolated at LCB was a big problem. There's a Berhalter quote from after the game where he took responsibility for the (lack of) balance between pressing high and defensive stability, which is definitely something that needs to be addressed. I thought Yueill did well enough (aside from one very bad giveaway early on that led to a dangerous counterattack) against good opposition to pass the "can this guy be a serviceable backup" test, but he's never going to be rangy enough to cover up for the rampaging Dest + lumbering Brooks defensive issue. You can move Dest to RB, but I don't think that Antonee Robinson is going to solve this kind of issue either.

The US defense seemed to get worse after the subs in the 61st minute. With all the changes, the game gets choppy, and I'm not sure where blame lies, but it probably doesn't reflect well on the Acosta-at-6 experiment.

Offensively, I can see some chemistry coming together. I feel like there were times you could see a bit of unfamiliarity with each other's habits, and a bit of static off-the-ball movement at key times. I think this will come together with repetition. Sargent is the starter but hasn't truly seized hold of the #9 position the way you'd want him too. I like what Aaronson brings and I think he's the sort of player who's going to continue to improve. I agree with @Jed Zeppelin about Reyna. It isn't that he's been bad, but there's a sense he could be doing so much more. Hoping for a big 2021-22 season for him where he pulls his game together and figures out how to work within a system and use his talent more effectively.

TBH, I think this game showed why Lletget may be ahead of Musah in Berhalter's eyes right now. Musah seemed a bit tentative and his ball security wasn't awesome. He's still so young, and didn't have the opportunity to play his best position much at Valencia this year.

Horvath was okay. He had some nice shot-stopping, but his command of the box makes me nervous. One of his big saves came on the heels of a decision to not charge out of the box and clear a long ball that (IMO) was gettable for him. He remains in the mix for the #3 GK slot.

This team needs more reps together. This is the first time Berhalter could assemble his best available players since late 2019.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
The lineup, featuring this enjoyable graphic from a prominent fan on Twitter.

There's some grouching about the choice to start Lletget over Musah. I don't feel super strongly about, but I don't have a problem with it. Musah is good, but I think fans who rightly love his potential gloss over some (normal, expected-at-his-age) inconsistencies in his game.

View: https://twitter.com/blharreld/status/1400583490220052483
 

rguilmar

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
1,610
I was really hoping to see Tyler Adams in there. I know there was a lot of chatter about how exposed Brooks was last time out, and I wanted to see how Adams could help cover for that.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
I was really hoping to see Tyler Adams in there. I know there was a lot of chatter about how exposed Brooks was last time out, and I wanted to see how Adams could help cover for that.
Hopefully he's healthy enough to start the next game!
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
I’m interest to see Dest move over to the right on the heels of playing left and how he works with Reyna.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
I was going to complain that Sargent is too static, but that clearance in the goal gets him full credit for this half. Bad decision by Steffen to chase that.

Elis is trying hard to get a few yellow cards drawn on Americans. Brooks needs to keep his cool.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Huge save by Steffen.
Dest was WAY behind the line keeping Lozano on.

It hasn't been an encouraging game. We are generating chances and haven't finished, but we're giving up too many chances.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
You’re real CONCACAF now, Gio. Got 2-foot-tackled in the box and then leg-whipped with no call.
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,667
Lol this game is so CONCACAFy. Of course there is some dumb rule that it's straight to penalties, so Honduras has every incentive to stall as long as possible.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Don’t like Sargent playing back to goal, waiting for a ball to his feet. Seems like every time it’s played to him, he loses possession. Hoping Siebatcheu works the channels and provides passing lanes. Would have loved to see Dike out there because he has been great finding spaces lately.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Brooks not looking good in 1v1s.

A little thing, but love how Aaronson holds the ball. Invites 2 defenders to chase him into the corner to kill clock.