The last U23 camp before the Olympics has been announced. The U23s will play two games in England against England and Qatar.
GK
Cody Cropper (Milton Keynes Dons)
Ethan Horvath (Molde)
Zack Steffen (Freiburg)
DF
Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur)
Matt Miazga (New York Red Bulls)
Eric Miller (Montreal Impact)
Boyd Okwuonu (Real Salt Lake)
Shane O'Neill (Apollon Limassol)
Will Packwood (-)
Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids)
Oscar Sorto (Los Angeles Galaxy)
MF
Gboly Ariyibi (Chesterfield)
Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake)
Emerson Hyndman (Fulham)
Benji Joya (Necaxa)
Marc Pelosi (San Jose Earthquakes)
Matt Polster (Chicago Fire)
Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew)
Gedion Zelalem (Rangers)
FW
Alonso Hernandez (Juarez)
Jerome Kiesewetter (Stuttgart)
Mario Rodriguez (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Rubio Rubin (Utrecht)
Maki Tall (Sion)
It's hard to judge this roster because we don't know who wasn't released and it's getting to be that time when YNT managers cut deals, e.g. "we won't call up Player X for Camp Y if you release him for qualifiers".
Keeping that in mind, this roster isn't our best.
1. The GKs are our top three, but it's not clear which of them will be released for qualifiers. Hopefully at least Steffen, who is only with Freiburg's reserves. Cropper is the #2 and starting cup matches; Horvath is Molde's starter.
2. Herzog may well use the U-20s starting pair of Miazga and CCV, as they did very well over the summer together and have been progressing with their clubs. Brooks is eligible, but won't be with the U-23s. O'Neill's career has gone of the rails a bit under Mastroeni and now he's in Cyprus. Packwood has been unemployed for a while and really shouldn't be here ahead of Tim Parker (Vancouver) and Walker Zimmerman (Dallas). Parker in particular has been doing well lately, for one of the top teams in MLS. But overall, CB is well-covered.
3. The fullback situation is dire. Yedlin is unlikely to take part in qualifying, particularly because it overlaps with the Confed Cup playoff. I'm disappointed that Kansas City's Amadou Dia wasn't given a shot at LB. Groningen's Desevio Payne was very good for the U-20s, but he's injured at the moment and his availability for qualifying is questionable. However, he would be our best non-Yedlin solution at RB. The guys in camp are scrubs (Okwuonu, Miller, Sorto) or are wingers out of position (Serna).
4. CM looks good. We have tons of depth at DM, starting with Trapp and Polster and extending to a number of players not in camp - Fatai Alashe (SJ), Kellyn Acosta (Dallas), Caleb Stanko (Freiburg). I'm a bit surprised not to see Acosta because he's having a good season and because he can provide cover at both fullback positions, a valuable trait on smaller Olympic rosters. A little further upfield, Hyndman, Zelalem, and Gil are solid options, although Gil is having a terribly disappointing season and seems to be stagnating or even regressing. Benji Joya is an annoying "YNT legacy inertia pick". He's busy not making the 18 for a second division Mexican club. NYRB's Sean Davis, Toronto's Marco Delgado, or Seattle's Cristian Roldan would be more deserving choices.
5. Pelosi and Ariyibi are uninspiring. I'd much rather have Paul Arriola (Tijuana) or Julian Green as wide options (and Serna, instead of using him at LB).
6. I hope Rubin's inclusion is a sign that he will be made available for qualifiers. If we can go into qualifiers with Rubin along with Jordan Morris and Jose Villarreal (JV is recovering from an injury and Morris is either in the same boat or has already recovered and will be on the senior roster), I'd feel pretty good about our forward situation.