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[QUOTE="IthacaMatt, post: 4692879, member: 405"]
I agree with this, Forza.  de la Torre, Acosta, the new dual-national kids they recruited away from Mexico - I don't see any top talent among those guys; at least not yet.

It seems to me we have 4 very good, World Cup quality guys right now in our midfield - Musah, McKennie, Adams and Reyna.  I think in a tournament setting, you rotate the 4 guys through your 3 group stage games to try to keep them fresh, and then go with the hot hand in your knock-out rounds.

A couple twists, tactically, that might be interesting:

(1) If MMA and Reyna are all fit, they could fit in a 4 man midfield if Berhalter chose to try a 3-4-3.  Use Adams and Musah as the deeper lying guys with McKennie and Reyna getting forward.  McKennie and Musah can take turns pushing forward, with the other guy covering for them.  In a 3-4-3, I'd have A. Robinson on the left of the back 3, with Miles Robinson, and then a very solid guy like Ream or Zimmerman in the middle, as the other nominal center backs.  The attack could remain Pulisic / Balogun or Pepi / Weah.

(2) The other alternative to get all 4 of your midfielders in the game would be a 4-2-3-1. Again, use Adams and Musah as the defensive mids; Dest and A. Robinson at the fullbacks, and still have Pulisic on the left, Reyna at the 10, and Weah on the right with Balogun / Pepi as the striker.

I think that in future knockout games, a 4-2-3-1 may be our best tactical set-up, because it gives us a lot of guys in midfield, and it still gives us proper cover for our defense.
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