US Men's National Team Discussion

MrMarcello said:
The sites I viewed had Ream as a CDM in a 4-3-3.
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You seriously still calling up and starting this guy?! :lol:

One of worst CBs in recent times in premier league, him and Denis Odoi complete disaster zone at the back for Fulham and they've improved massively at the back with the signings they made in October.
 
FootballHQ said:
You seriously still calling up and starting this guy?! :lol:

One of worst CBs in recent times in premier league, him and Denis Odoi complete disaster zone at the back for Fulham and they've improved massively at the back with the signings they made in October.
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no arguments from me. No issue with him being called up as he is apparently really respected in the locker room, but he should never, ever, see the pitch.


lucky goal for US. We don’t deserve the lead.
 
Something is rotten with the U20-23 setup to constantly fail to qualify for the Olympics in our region. According to a friend of mine, the starting XI tonight was all MLS-bred.

Lalas just mentioned some MLS clubs refused to release their players. Thought qualifying internationals were mandated to be released if requested?
 
MrMarcello said:
Something is rotten with the U20-23 setup to constantly fail to qualify for the Olympics in our region. According to a friend of mine, the starting XI tonight was all MLS-bred.

Lalas just mentioned some MLS clubs refused to release their players. Thought qualifying internationals were mandated to be released if requested?
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this is the side effect of all our best players going to Europe.

And feck Lalas. Only Atlanta refused to release players, and that was only Miles Robinson (I love MR, but the issue with this roster was not the defense).
 
I don’t know about the rest of you but I really look forward to never hearing Lalas on another broadcast of any kind.
 
The yanks produce some good players, fair play to them considering it’s a sport they generally don’t take any interest in, how goods our basketball team?
 
WI_Red said:
this is the side effect of all our best players going to Europe.

And feck Lalas. Only Atlanta refused to release players, and that was only Miles Robinson (I love MR, but the issue with this roster was not the defense).
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Zaphod2319 said:
I don’t know about the rest of you but I really look forward to never hearing Lalas on another broadcast of any kind.
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Fo sho. I recall Lalas and was Holden I think, arguing over proper development. Lalas argued NCAA still had a place for USMNT development while the other argued it does not, players are losing years of development to their counterparts. That the US is the only nation where a portion of its player pool comes from the college ranks. Lalas used himself as proof while the other mentioned going overseas after a year or two and learning in the reserves that blew away what he had learned throughout his US development.
 
Anyone, like me, who wondered whatever happened to the growth of US soccer now knows where all the planning and money has been spent. Why go through the arduous and decades long process of trying to build a tier 1 league when you can cherry pick the best clubs with established fanbases in world football, buy them out of their league and takeover their competition.

United versus Barca in Dallas, Real versus Chelsea in Beijing, The Milan Derby in New Delhi - this isn't hyperbole or an overreaction, that is and has always been the plan. Globalisation for the elite.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Anyone, like me, who wondered whatever happened to the growth of US soccer now knows where all the planning and money has been spent. Why go through the arduous and decades long process of trying to build a tier 1 league when you can cherry pick the best clubs with established fanbases in world football, buy them out of their league and takeover their competition.

United versus Barca in Dallas, Real versus Chelsea in Beijing, The Milan Derby in New Delhi - this isn't hyperbole or an overreaction, that is and has always been the plan. Globalisation for the elite.
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Hey, thanks for the valuable contribution to thread. You brought a lot to this discussion.
 
WI_Red said:
Hey, thanks for the valuable contribution to thread. You brought a lot to this discussion.
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Thanks - do you have a different viewpoint? Would actually be interested if you have any insight into MLS development.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Thanks - do you have a different viewpoint? Would actually be interested if you have any insight into MLS development.
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If by MLS development you mean the league I am less invested in that as I am about development of players in MLS. I think player development, at least for some clubs, has come on leaps and bounds over the last decade. The closing of the residency program in Bradenton was critical to this development as it exploded the pool of players who could be considered. For decades the US player pool was determined by who got the invite to Bradenton, and that was determined by who knew who. With the launch of the academies the geographic reach of clubs, and therefore the national team, increased exponentially. Take just my old hometown of Birmingham. The money that FC Dallas poured into their academy meant that they could bring in two players, Chris Richards (FC Bayern now) and Tanner Tessman (at FC Dallas) who would likely never be found previously. In just the last few years Dallas has produced Weston McKennie (Juve), Reggie Cannon (Bovista), Richards, Bryan Reynolds (Roma), along with Paxton Pomykal and Tessman who will be next to move. NYRB and Salt Lake have also done great with their academies. Reyna came out of NYCFC. Basically, with the exception of Pulisic I think all of the non-Euro national team members came out of MLS academies.
 
Every US club should be copying whatever Dallas blueprint/philosophy is. My guess is a few have although the likes of Red Bull and NYCFC probably brought European ethos over when buying into the league.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Thanks - do you have a different viewpoint? Would actually be interested if you have any insight into MLS development.
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Why should it matter when you clearly don't have anything to add to this thread. If it makes a difference, if players playing in the Super League are banned from international competition, half the US starting XI will be wiped out instantly so it affects fans from all over in the end.
 
sport2793 said:
Why should it matter when you clearly don't have anything to add to this thread. If it makes a difference, if players playing in the Super League are banned from international competition, half the US starting XI will be wiped out instantly so it affects fans from all over in the end.
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To add a little levity to the situation just think how amazing that statement is compared to 5 years ago!
 
WI_Red said:
If by MLS development you mean the league I am less invested in that as I am about development of players in MLS. I think player development, at least for some clubs, has come on leaps and bounds over the last decade. The closing of the residency program in Bradenton was critical to this development as it exploded the pool of players who could be considered. For decades the US player pool was determined by who got the invite to Bradenton, and that was determined by who knew who. With the launch of the academies the geographic reach of clubs, and therefore the national team, increased exponentially. Take just my old hometown of Birmingham. The money that FC Dallas poured into their academy meant that they could bring in two players, Chris Richards (FC Bayern now) and Tanner Tessman (at FC Dallas) who would likely never be found previously. In just the last few years Dallas has produced Weston McKennie (Juve), Reggie Cannon (Bovista), Richards, Bryan Reynolds (Roma), along with Paxton Pomykal and Tessman who will be next to move. NYRB and Salt Lake have also done great with their academies. Reyna came out of NYCFC. Basically, with the exception of Pulisic I think all of the non-Euro national team members came out of MLS academies.
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Interesting to hear - especially the old Bradenton setup. From an non-US perspective it does seem like the quality coming through is better (I'm a big McKennie fan) but maybe the quantity is not as much as I'd have expected. I guess Davis at Bayern also counts as an MLS product and people are talking about him as among the best in the world potentially. What will be interesting is if we start to see more transfers between the leagues, I think that's a sign of a league getting a lot stronger, like you saw with Ligue 1 and that period when they were being raided by almost every PL team (Newcastle even became known as Le Newcastle if memory serves), that money filtered into the league and it seems a lot more robust now. I've had some American mates saying there's a good crop coming through though at Fc Dallas - heard Pepi was a decent prospect if you watch them regularly?

Out of interest, would you prefer the best players to stay or is it better for them to play in Europe and then make more people aware of US players who are at the top level?
 
sport2793 said:
Why should it matter when you clearly don't have anything to add to this thread. If it makes a difference, if players playing in the Super League are banned from international competition, half the US starting XI will be wiped out instantly so it affects fans from all over in the end.
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Not sure why you think that, I do think there's a clear move here which is specifically catering for non European audiences - I'm not blaming the MLS and I am genuinely interested, I just think these billionaires are impatient and probably saw this as the fastest way to make loads of money and give large markets like China, India and US access to the perceived highest levels of the game. I always thought the MLS would eventually start to rival and supersede European leagues given the talent pool and proximity to South America, I still think it should.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Interesting to hear - especially the old Bradenton setup. From an non-US perspective it does seem like the quality coming through is better (I'm a big McKennie fan) but maybe the quantity is not as much as I'd have expected. I guess Davis at Bayern also counts as an MLS product and people are talking about him as among the best in the world potentially. What will be interesting is if we start to see more transfers between the leagues, I think that's a sign of a league getting a lot stronger, like you saw with Ligue 1 and that period when they were being raided by almost every PL team (Newcastle even became known as Le Newcastle if memory serves), that money filtered into the league and it seems a lot more robust now. I've had some American mates saying there's a good crop coming through though at Fc Dallas - heard Pepi was a decent prospect if you watch them regularly?

Out of interest, would you prefer the best players to stay or is it better for them to play in Europe and then make more people aware of US players who are at the top level?
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At this time they absolutely need to leave for Europe. The ability to play with better players will raise your game. Just look at McKennie. His game is light years better than just 12 months ago since moving from Schalke to Juve. Until MLS gets to a higher level those players need to leave to develop. Beyond that, the wages paid to young players in MLS will always propel players to leave, especially when combined with the relative pittance European clubs pay for young MLS players. This is compounded even more by the lack of solidarity payments in the US, so clubs want to sell to ensure some return on their investment.

Until all the MLS clubs go all in on their academies there is going to be a consistent trickle of prospects as opposed to the flood that should be fed by a country this large. There is no reason why LA Galaxy and LAFC should not be swimming in quality youth prospects,

In terms of the national team, right now what is holding back the youth National teams is a lack of quality coaching down there. While I am slightly warming to Berhalter (now at Tepid level), the lower level coaches have not been good since Ramos left. Wolfe was a disaster as Olympic coach. This has led to a prioritization of the old tactic of "get the athletes" as opposed to finding skill players. There needs to be a full commitment at the National level of fostering a valuation of skill and IQ in addition to athleticism.

Finally, you are starting to see the transfers happen in fits and starts. Most of the big incoming transfers (non old Euro edition) are from central and south america. My "local" club, Atlanta, has the 2 largest incoming (Pity Martinez and Ezequiel Baco) AND outgoing (Almiron and Martinez again) transfers. Both of those players are from the Americas. Most of the rest of the highest incoming transfers have been from the Americas as well. When it comes to outgoing it has mostly been young players (even Almiron was only 24).

The pseudo salary cap will always make transfers hard, so I am hoping this goes away at some point.

Oh, and Pepi is gonna be good :), but keep your eye on Caden Clark at Red Bull and Gia Busio at KC.
 
Lively match tonight, very attacking. US defending is still shocking. Steffen looks awful with his positioning in goal, flapping at a free kick that was drifting wide and saved by a defensive header to clear off the line. Brooks is a man mountain back there, probably the MOTM so far. Reyna had a Messi-esque play in the box only to shoot just wide. Could easily be a 1-1 or 2-2 but scoreless at the half.
 
MrMarcello said:
Lively match tonight, very attacking. US defending is still shocking. Steffen looks awful with his positioning in goal, flapping at a free kick that was drifting wide and saved by a defensive header to clear off the line. Brooks is a man mountain back there, probably the MOTM so far. Reyna had a Messi-esque play in the box only to shoot just wide. Could easily be a 1-1 or 2-2 but scoreless at the half.
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Reyna has been brilliant. Quite an entertaining game.
 
MrMarcello said:
Lively match tonight, very attacking. US defending is still shocking. Steffen looks awful with his positioning in goal, flapping at a free kick that was drifting wide and saved by a defensive header to clear off the line. Brooks is a man mountain back there, probably the MOTM so far. Reyna had a Messi-esque play in the box only to shoot just wide. Could easily be a 1-1 or 2-2 but scoreless at the half.
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this has been pathetic. Cowardly by Berhalter. The midfield is completely unbalanced because he insists on playing MLS All Stars(tm) Yuell and Llegett. Thats fine if you play one, but they are both so unathletic that it kills everything. Mussah or Adams is a must to regain balance. He also has two wingbacks play really defensively. So stupid. He’s a coward like ole.
 
WI_Red said:
this has been pathetic. Cowardly by Berhalter. The midfield is completely unbalanced because he insists on playing MLS All Stars(tm) Yuell and Llegett. Thats fine if you play one, but they are both so unathletic that it kills everything. Mussah or Adams is a must to regain balance. He also has two wingbacks play really defensively. So stupid. He’s a coward like ole.
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Agree. They’ve been so bad. Adams is a good player. Musah too. Weird manager.
 
Pathetic. I think I root for the two teams in the world with the most cowardly managers possible.
 
WTF? Am I high? The guy needs to be stretchered off due to faking an injury after a hand ball and the stretcher carriers are 4 teenage girls???
 
100% Berhalter watched Ole’s masterclass in the Europa league final and said “THAT is what I must do against the juggernaut that is Honduras”
 
The poor girls are back out again. I think these Hondurans might just be looking for some action
 
Berhalter likes to have one deep-lying playmaker in his midfields. Looking at that lineup, I only see two in Kellyn Acosta and Jackson Yueill. Unless Berhalter completely changes his setup, expect to see one of those two always starting.

The real problem is that Lletget is not useful in the midfield. He's there to offer a goalscoring threat, but he's struggling to get involved and make himself available against Honduras's numbers at the back. The ball keeps going to either Pulisic or Reyna out wide, and they're often forced to create something out of nothing. They don't need him when they have McKennie as a goalscoring box-to-box threat. They need someone to link up with in tight spaces and drag Honduras's shape out of order. They need Brendan Aaronson in there to interchange with Reyna and Pulisic and really cause problems.

The fact that the U.S. hasn't subbed anyone in is ridiculous.
 
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The lack of changes in both tactics and personnel is so Ole-esque that they should see if Berhslter understands Norwegian.
 
This might be a worse coaching job than Arenas in TnT based on talent available to Berhalter.
 
mazhar13 said:
Berhalter likes to have one deep-lying playmaker in his midfields. Looking at that lineup, I only see two in Kellyn Acost and Jackson Yueill. Unless Berhalter completely changes his setup, expect to see one of those two always starting.

The real problem is that Lletget is not useful in the midfield. He's there to offer a goalscoring threat, but he's struggling to get involved and make himself available against Honduras's numbers at the back. The ball keeps going to either Pulisic or Reyna out wide, and they're often forced to create something out of nothing. They don't need him when they have McKennie as a goalscoring box-to-box threat. They need someone to link up with in tight spaces and drag Honduras's shape out of order. They need Brendan Aaronson in there to interchange with Reyna and Pulisic and really cause problems.

The fact that the U.S. hasn't subbed anyone in is ridiculous.
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bur he doesn’t NEED one in this game. The presence of MLS Supermidfield(tm) has killed this game. I hate him.
 
WI_Red said:
bur he doesn’t NEED one in this game. The presence of MLS Supermidfield(tm) has killed this game. I hate him.
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Lletget's ruined it for the U.S. Yueill hasn't been bad in this match. One of Aaronson or Musah should have started in his place.
 
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