2021 USMNT Thread

[Orangezoo]

Doesn't make any difference but surprised how many on this Haitian team play in Europe. Mostly in lesser leagues like French Ligue 2, Belgian Ligue, Romanian Ligue etc.

 

[IthacaMatt]

It's his schtick in this thread. There's no insight to it -- it's like saying "NCAA football is no where near as good as the NFL".

The whole excitement about the league (and frankly what should be the excitement about this team in the Gold Cup, except for the stupid lineup selection) is seeing guys who could be the next Adams, or McKennie, or Steffen, or Reyna, or Aaronson, or Busio, etc coming through the league and its development systems and trying to make it big.

Eh, we didn't make the last World Cup, and we didn't make the last couple Olympics, maybe 3.
I think it is super important for this group of players to qualify for the World Cup, period. Let them play a bunch of 17 year old kids in 2023.

 

[IthacaMatt]

On the Euro broadcast they said Roberto Mancini called in like 65-70 unique players over the past few seasons. No stone left unturned. IMO I think GGG does not do enough of that.

What was the name of the interim guy, Dave Saracin? He looked at the entire player pool for 18 months, while they waited to hire Berhalter. And I do think Berhalter has played a lot of guys, especially a lot of young guys.

 

[IthacaMatt]

1. I’ve been very unimpressed with Lewis and Yuell in the first half.
2. You don’t think Robinson has the potential to grow into a true national team player? I haven’t watched him closely enough but keep hearing that he is full of potential. And he is Orange!

Shaq Moore was outstanding. My Man of the Match. Lleget was again terrific in turning defense into offense and was in the middle of everything, it seemed.

I thought Miles Robinson was pretty good in defense. Walker Zimmerman was strong in the air, for the most part. Kellyn Acosta was OK, and after a few good appearances, I guess I was Paul Arriola's jinx tonight.

 

[sutomcat]

Shaq Moore was outstanding. My Man of the Match. Lleget was again terrific in turning defense into offense and was in the middle of everything, it seemed.

I thought Miles Robinson was pretty good in defense. Walker Zimmerman was strong in the air, for the most part. Kellyn Acosta was OK, and after a few good appearances, I guess I was Paul Arriola's jinx tonight.

Miles got excellent grades from an MLS site. Congrats to him.

USMNT player ratings: Letdowns, pleasant surprises in Gold Cup opener against Haiti | MLSSoccer.com

The US men's national team kicked off their 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup march with a passable 1-0 victory over 2019 tournament darlings Haiti at Children's Mercy Park on Sunday. Aside from a few brief episodes, the home side was basically in control of the game both before and after Sam

www.mlssoccer.com

 

[cusefan88]

What was the name of the interim guy, Dave Saracin? He looked at the entire player pool for 18 months, while they waited to hire Berhalter. And I do think Berhalter has played a lot of guys, especially a lot of young guys.

I guess my point is he called in guys that we all know are not up to the quality of making a final WC roster so to me it's a wasted chance to evaluate other players. Of course I don't know what happens behind the scenes but for me I don't need to see Yueill, Lewis, and even Zardes ever play for the US again.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I guess my point is he called in guys that we all know are not up to the quality of making a final WC roster so to me it's a wasted chance to evaluate other players. Of course I don't know what happens behind the scenes but for me I don't need to see Yueill, Lewis, and even Zardes ever play for the US again.

Well, you can't judge a player by a single game. We don't see what they do in practice.

But generally speaking, I agree with you about Yueill and Zardes. I haven't seen enough of Lewis to know that much about him.

 

[Alsacs]

Shaq Moore was outstanding. My Man of the Match. Lleget was again terrific in turning defense into offense and was in the middle of everything, it seemed.

I thought Miles Robinson was pretty good in defense. Walker Zimmerman was strong in the air, for the most part. Kellyn Acosta was OK, and after a few good appearances, I guess I was Paul Arriola's jinx tonight.

Moore is exactly the type of player I want getting PT in this Gold Cup.
He is a young prospect playing in Europe and getting minutes helps his development.
Play Matthew Hoppe who is the same type of prospect. Let him get the minutes.

Stop wasting caps on players that aren’t capable of helping the US in WCQ road matches.
We need to find a better option to backup Adams if he can’t play.

Berhalter’s selections are just frustrating. Start Busio. Enough Jonathan Lewis or Gyasi Zardes.

 

[Orangezoo]

Moore is exactly the type of player I want getting PT in this Gold Cup.
He is a young prospect playing in Europe and getting minutes helps his development.
Play Matthew Hoppe who is the same type of prospect. Let him get the minutes.

Stop wasting caps on players that aren’t capable of helping the US in WCQ road matches.
We need to find a better option to backup Adams if he can’t play.

Berhalter’s selections are just frustrating. Start Busio. Enough Jonathan Lewis or Gyasi Zardes.

Yeah Lewis, Acosta and Zardes have had so many opportunities already. I actually like Acosta but he needs to make a move again and go east. Otherwise he is more an emergency midfield option.

Zimmerman too he looks good against these lesser sides but doesn't cut it when up against a stronger side even in Concacaf

 

[cusefan88]

Well, you can't judge a player by a single game. We don't see what they do in practice.

But generally speaking, I agree with you about Yueill and Zardes. I haven't seen enough of Lewis to know that much about him.

Lewis is not a lock starter for his MLS team. In fact he's only started and went 90 minutes once this season.

Tbh I would have called in Kevin Paredes from DCU, maybe Tyler Boyd, and definitely Chris Mueller from Orlando City.

Two MLS wide players who have outperformed Lewis this year and another winger in Europe who has had good results with the national team. And then fringe random guys like Duane Holmes or Anthony Fontana from Philly.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Lewis is not a lock starter for his MLS team. In fact he's only started and went 90 minutes once this season.

Tbh I would have called in Kevin Paredes from DCU, maybe Tyler Boyd, and definitely Chris Mueller from Orlando City.

Two MLS wide players who have outperformed Lewis this year and another winger in Europe who has had good results with the national team. And then fringe random guys like Duane Holmes or Anthony Fontana from Philly.

I was wondering what happened to Tyler Boyd. He was a firecracker in that first tournament he played for the US a couple years ago.

 

[cusefan88]

I was wondering what happened to Tyler Boyd. He was a firecracker in that first tournament he played for the US a couple years ago.

He had a registration issue with Besiktas (they signed too many foreign players) so he sat out and then went on loan for 2nd half of season.

7 starts 7 subs and 5 goals.

 

[Melancer46]

I would like to see more of the young guys as well, but I get that they're starting to ramp up for the World Cup stuff and are trying to see who might snag an end of the roster spot.

I didn't get to see the whole game, but Shaq and Busio looked pretty good to me. Bummer to see Arriola go down; I love that dude and think he's the kind of player that makes sense at the end of the roster with his versatility. Acosta is still fine; he hasn't really developed the way people hoped but he's okay.

 

[orangenauburn]

They should play the entire u-20 squad v Martinique

 

[cusefan88]

They should play the entire u-20 squad v Martinique

TBH had the U-20 WC went on the USA would have had a very good team (De La Fuente, Llanez, Ochoa, Busio, Hoppe, Reynolds, Clark). LOTS of good U20's honestly.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

FC Dallas turning into an American Ajax and keeps feeding young talent to big leagues.

 

[cusefan88]

FC Dallas turning into an American Ajax and keeps feeding young talent to big leagues.

Tessmann has some potential. What's nice is we'll know if he can raise his game to a higher level or if he's MLS quality. Best of luck!

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

Heck of a ball from Hoppe and Dike is clinical. First of hopefully a bunch tonight

 

[orangenauburn]

Heck of a ball from Hoppe and Dike is clinical. First of hopefully a bunch tonight

Big fan of this lineup tonight

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

The Hoppe/Wondo comparisons earlier in this thread are looking a little silly. I know the competition is awful but he’s been a live wire and his skill is showing more than it was allowed to for Schalke.

 

[Alsacs]

Heck of a ball from Hoppe and Dike is clinical. First of hopefully a bunch tonight

Wait so playing the European prospect with upside is what the coaching staff should be giving minutes too over these MLS retreads?

I mean it was obvious as day to whom we should be playing this tournament.
Gold Cup should be an u-23 style team whenever we can.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

Wait so playing the European prospect with upside is what the coaching staff should be giving minutes too over these MLS retreads?

I mean it was obvious as day to whom we should be playing this tournament.
Gold Cup should be an u-23 style team whenever we can.

I agree. Even though I do actually like Roldan in this role a lot and he’s an MLS guy

 

[Orangezoo]

Interesting first half. Lots to like about Hoppe. And Dike has been solid. Busio is way too cavalier with some of these passes. Has a ways to go and making the move should help.

Williamson is a roller coaster. Way too many giveaways and his spacing is awful at times too. He doesn't read the game well to me despite having some slick talent in tight spaces.


Outside that one little hiccup Sands has been solid. I love how aggressive Miles is but needs to take it easy as his timing can get pretty bad. Way too many fouls.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

MILES!!!

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

Holy s*** Daryl