The two weakest areas are CB and forward. How is it possible that Tim Ream, who was probably too old in the last World Cup is projected to start 4 years later in this upcoming world cup? Our CB pool has definitely not progressed enough the last 4 years... where is our Gooch of this generation?
Personally, I like Ream, and I think if you play him in a back 3, he will be like a coach out there to keep guys in the right position. Yes, his quickness isn't what it was, but he reads the game better than any of our other CBs.
As for Gooch, he wasn't very good, IMO. When the US would be under pressure, all the would do is kick the ball out of bounds, over and over, immediately returning possession to the other team, and not relieving the pressure. You have to make sure your clearances stay in play, so there is a chance of your guy getting the 2nd ball. He was terrible at that.
It's still not clear to me if any of our forwards are good enough to score a goal in the World Cup... they really weren't last time (yes Wright had one well out of the run of play). It's better than Berhalter ball where the primary job of the forward seemed to be first line of defense, but I still don't see it with these guys. It's crazy that in a country as large as the US we can't find a single guy who is even considered below average at the international stage at forward.
I think Balogun is pretty good. He kind of reminds me of Nicholas Jackson, former Chelsea guy. Makes good runs, presses effectively. We have other guys scoring in the 2nd tier leagues in Europe. Hopefully one or two of them finish the season on a hot streak.
Dest and Reyna are the X factors in our pool... if Dest is healthy and playing well he brings a quality and attacking presence to balance out Pulisic on the other side and makes the team truly dangerous moving forward. Without him on the pitch the opponents will focus on hacking the crap out of Pulisic. If Reyna is in form and plays like he did recently he brings an attacking element to the middle of the park that no one else in the pool can provide.
Dest is a key guy. What I got from that article is that Poch has 3 different viabe options at right back / right winger, depending on the formation.
Reyna hopefully landed a job as a late game attacking sub, along with somebody like Aaronson, who is an agent of chaos.
I think Reyna will be called back for March, and I hope he does well. He did get 4 starts for Gladbach in December, and has already played more minutes for them that he has in the last couple years at Dortmund.
USMNT game used to be appointment viewing for me... but like so many of the sports teams I follow the last decade or so has really soured me on them. I really hope we get a fun team to watch.
I'm getting excited about our chances. We are playing some top teams leading up to the Cup. I would love to see us pull an upset or two over European competition.
