USMNT Gold Cup roster announced
The US soccer Gold Cup roster dropped today.
Berhalter Names 23-Player Roster for 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup
Mix of Veterans and Promising Young Talent to Pursue USA’s Seventh Gold Cup Title; USMNT Opens Group B Play on June 11 in Kansas City
www.ussoccer.com
I know I’m in the minority in that I personally get more excited for this tournament than I do for the Euro Cup, Copa America, Champions League, EPL, or any other competition aside from the World Cup.
I’m assuming that anyone who clicks on this thread already saw the preliminary roster and knew the US wasn’t going to send its first team to the is tournament. But just to be clear, the US is sending a roster mostly made up of guys that are equivalent to third or fourth stringers on the US depth chart. The only first or second stringers are the 3 MLS guys who played in the Nations League semifinal and final (Acosta, Yueill, and Lletget), and Reggie Cannon who plays in Portugal.
If it were up to me, I probably would’ve sent most of the first team and just given a rest to Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, and Dest. Instead, Berhalter decided to let almost all of our European based players focus on the preseason with their clubs, and that even includes guys like Julian Green, Luca de la Torre, and Tyler Boyd who were not part of the Nations League roster but should still probably be higher on the depth chart than some of the guys who Berhalter selected for this tournament.
The Gold Cup is definitely going to be a huge challenge for the US because Mexico is bringing its first team, and as far as I know, everyone else is, too.
With all that said, I still think the US can put a pretty good team together with the guys that Berhalter did pick and I’m really excited to see this group in action.
There are a few guys who I’m excited to see play for the US for the first time or who haven’t played for the US in a while:
- Eryk Williamson – watch his highlights here:
- Shaq Moore – a RB in the Spanish second division who looked good for the US back in 2018 and has had some nice highlights in Spain.
- Matthew Hoppe – outscored Josh Sargent in the Bundesliga this season in less games playing for a worse team. First American ever to score a hat trick in the Bundesliga, only the third American (along with Dempsey and Pulisic) to ever do that in a top 5 league.
There are a few that didn’t play in the Nations League who I wish had been on this roster:
Julian Green, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Erik Palmer-Brown, Tyler Boyd, and Luca de la Torre are all European based guys who didn’t play in the Nations League but could’ve improved this roster, but it looks like Berhalter decided to let them focus on preparation for their club seasons. Boyd and de la Torre were not even on the preliminary roster.
Cade Cowell and Chris Mueller both are MLS guys who are way better than Jonathan Lewis, IMO, and play the same position. All US fans were really hoping to see Cowell in action, IMO. He’s also a US/Mex dual national with a huge upside, so that’s one more reason it would have been nice to have him on this roster and cap tie him. As things stand, he probably won’t be cap tied by the US or Mexico until after the 2022 World Cup. He seems like a guy who’s much more likely to play for the US than Mexico, but you never know.
Caden Clark, who plays in MLS but is moving to Leipzig this winter, is one guy that everyone was dying to see but he just had an appendectomy, which is why he’s not on this roster.
Roster thoughts:
This roster has 5 guys (Acosta, Yueill, Busio, Williamson, and Sands) who you could argue that their best position is DM, plus Roldan has played DM for the US, too. Frankly, that reality brings up some bad memories of the Olympic Qualifying fiasco. I think Berhalter will try to use Acosta and Willimson as 8s and Sands as a CB, leaving Yueill and Busio as the 6s on this roster. But whether or not there’s enough attacking creativity in this group of midfielders is an open question. I get that this was a tough position to sort out because the US B-team is loaded with CMs and DMs and a little short on wingers… in fact Berhalter brought 6 guys who can play DM and that still leaves guys like Leon Flach and Johnny Cardoso on the outside looking in, even though both guys are promising young prospects that a lot of people were hoping to see on this roster.
That concern – that the midfield could be lacking in creativity and attacking ability – is compounded by the fact that this roster is really light on wingers. Jonathan Lewis and Paul Arriola are the only true wingers on the roster. There’s talk that Berhalter might use Matthew Hoppe and Nicholas Gioacchini on the wing, and that makes sense because this roster is short on wingers and way to heavy on strikers if those guys are going to play striker. I don’t really rate Gioacchini and it’s kind of shocking to me that Jonathan Lewis – who isn’t even a regular starter for the Rapids and struggled at the CONCACAF u23 – is on the roster ahead of Chris Mueller and Cade Cowell.
If Hoppe can function as a winger, I think you can put a pretty good XI together with this roster, but I really question who you’re going to bring on to make things happen when you need a goal. Here’s our best XI, as I see it:
Hoppe-----------Dike-------------Arriola
--------Acosta------------Lletget----------
-----------------Yueill-----------------------
Vines-----Zimmerman---Robinson------Cannon
----------------Turner---------------------------
That leaves Williamson, Zardes, Gioacchini, and Roldan as guys that you can bring off the bench to make a difference on offense which is a pretty underwhelming group.
I guess we’ll see what happens. It’s a decent roster but a little light on attacking punch, IMO. I’m still very, very excited to watch this tournament.
Thanks for posting!
Kind of disappointed to see that Gregg opted for the B squad (or C squad) here. Was hoping USMNT would keep their momentum going after the Nations League - but I can't see how this team can beat Mexico or even a Costa Rica squad. With WCQ right around the corner, too, it would have been nice to get some more time for the 1s to gel together.
Ah well. I'll still look forward to seeing what this team can do, but I don't have high expectations.
Yeah, it's going to be a really challenging tournament for sure. On paper, the US still probably has the second best team (a distant second, behind Mexico) in terms of what clubs these guys play for but obviously that's not how soccer works. It's going to be tough because all these other countries' first teams are used to playing together and our group isn't.
Even in the group stage, our opponents are not pushovers.
Our first game will probably be against Haiti, who won their group last time (going 3-0 in a group that included Costa Rica), and then they knocked Canada out in the quarterfinal and took Mexico to extra time in the semifinal.
Our second opponent, Martinique, is the 4th best team in the group on paper but has taken 3rd in their group the last two tournaments. In 2017, they were in our group and we needed a late goal to beat them 3-2. They also lost a tough game to Mexico 3-2 in 2019. They're not a strong candidate to make a deep run, but they're a lot better than the typical weakest team in a group in past Gold Cups.
The third game is against Canada who was in our group in the Nations League. Our first team beat them at home and lost to them on the road. They feature Jonathan David and Alphonso Davies who might be worth more in the transfer market than our entire roster.
I think the US could make a deep run and if you make it to the final, anything can happen. But assuming that Haiti wins its play-in games and is in our group, none of our opponents are pushovers and every group game is going to be extremely competitive. And then like you said, teams like Honduras, Costa Rica, Jamaica, etc, are going to be huge tests for what is essentially our third team. Hell, our first team needed a last minute goal to beat Honduras in the Nations League a few weeks ago.
Anyway, I agree with your point and I'm writing this comment partly for the benefit of anyone who clicks on this thread and doesn't have a good feel for the competition level in this tournament.
I know I’m in the minority in that I personally get more excited for this tournament than I do for the Euro Cup, Copa America, Champions League, EPL, or any other competition aside from the World Cup.
Sweet Baby Jesus. This isn't a minority group. It's basically you and MAYBE the Gold Cup Roster players moms? Especially with this "next man up" roster we're fielding.
That said, nice little write-up here. Although, in most cases the European-based players who are fighting to establish themselves (all of them) can't risk missing out on pre-season looks. There was a good article in The Athletic re: Luca de la Torre about how strategically he would have to skip the Gold Cup to ultimately get a better shot at making USMNT WC qualifying squads.
Ultimately, if we're going to encourage more high-end european sides for our guys, then we have to be realistic about what it takes for them to keep playing time on those teams. I like Berhalter's pragmatic approach, previous coaches have been more puntative.
Yeah, I’m a huge soccer fan in general but the only teams I’m a true fan of are the USMNT and León in Liga MX. I get what you’re saying about the quality being way higher in some other tournaments, but I like that this is our tournament and it’s filled with guys from MLS, USL, Liga MX, Liga de Ascenso, and the CONCACAF Champions League. I know that sounds crazy, but I’ll also watch a Rutgers – Penn State basketball game over an NBA game or a Purdue – Minnesota football game over a game like USC – Oregon. I’d rather watch an OK-White high school football game over an NFL game. Or I’d rather watch a fishing show about catching walleye in Michigan than a fishing show about catching marlin. It’s just personal preference. But I still love the Euro Cup, Copa America, Champions League, EPL, etc, and I watch a lot of that stuff.
My close circle of friends and I have watched the Gold Cup religiously, even the games that don’t include the US or Mexico, since about 2007 and it’s a blast. We even do our own fantasy league where the only stat that counts is goals.
There’s one other thing that I love about the Gold Cup. I think we all know that feeling we get when you wake up on the day that the US plays in the World Cup or Michigan plays OSU or plays in the Final Four in basketball. It’s an incredible feeling of anticipation and excitement. Well, for other countries in our region, the Gold Cup is like that for them. If you’re from Guatemala and you make it to the Gold Cup quarterfinal once a decade, that’s a huge day for you. If you caught the videos of the celebrations in Port-au-Prince when Haiti knocked off Costa Rica and Canada last time… we’ll let’s just say it was a site to see… so to me it’s a really special tournament even if the competition level is not the same as in the Euro Cup or Copa America.
I'm with you on this though. Obviously the new Nations League kind of waters this down, especially after it was postponed into the same year and this isn't a compelling roster because of that, but in past editions, I've been more into the Gold Cup than most other tournaments. I like the Euros and CL, etc but I don't have a strong rooting interest in any of those matches. So I watch for the stars and the quality soccer, but I'm not as passionate about the outcomes as I am about Gold Cup.
Exactly, I'm the same way! It's nice to read I'm not the only one. I love the Euros, Copa America, Champions League, etc, but I'm not a true fan of any of those teams.
Yeah, I get Berhalter giving the guys a rest and I get it. If we're looking at this as a 6-year project building towards 2026, the long term health of guys like Tyler Adams and Pulisic is way more important than one Gold Cup. And I was aware that Luca de la Torre asked not to participate. With that said, de la Torre isn't even in our first 23 and I wish that we would've encouraged him to use this as an opportunity to play his way into our first 23. Mexico also has a bunch of guys playing in Europe and they still called them into the Nations League and the Gold Cup.
Probably a dumb question but why are the Americans sending their 3 stringers and every other country is sending their first team? Presumably Mexico has all of the same major events coming up that the US does so why are they good with sending the first team and we're like "nah, send the scrubs"?
With the exception of Mexico, the US has considerably more A-team European-based talent than any other CONCACAF team. That said, all of our hopefuls are young guys that are still establishing themselves on their squads. Even Pulisic is fighting to maintain his playing time at Chelsea (Tuchel is an ass). The Gold Cup will run concurrent to the beginning of preseason training/matches, and this tournament is not nearly as important as the US players earning and establishing significant playing time during the season with their clubs.
Opting out of preseason could cause them to either lose their spot, or worse be punished, which would then create a situation where a player that could be playing significant time, would instead be riding significant pine. So, Gold Cup, OP's TL4E opinion of it notwithstanding, is basically a throwaway tourney. Berhalter will use it as a "rising star" tourney to get a look at the guys behind the guys.
Guys I'll be looking forward to keying on are: Daryl Dike, Walker Zimmerman, Kellyn Acosta, Paul Arriola, Matt Turner
Curious on your reason for keying on guys like Zimmerman, Acosta and Arriola?
For me, I feel like we have seen those 3 play enough to know what to expect from them.
Guys I'm real curious about are Williamson and Busio. Hopefully they get some actual run to prove what they can do.
Curious on your reason for keying on guys like Zimmerman, Acosta and Arriola?
It's just a personal preference thing mostly for Zimmerman, I think he's a quality player and I'm a fan. That said, everything for me is about WC qualification. These three are probably the closest (maybe? so many questions) to the "A-squad" so if they're in top form, the team is likely playing well. And we'll likely be seeing them in the fall and winter through qualifying.
Nothing you're saying is wrong, but it's not a "throwaway tourney" for any of the other countries that are participating, including Mexico.
As for the US, I don't blame Berhalter for his decision, but the tournament actually matters a lot for the FIFA rankings in fact it counts quite a bit more than the Nations League did. That's significant because we're currently right on the edge of being a 2 or 3 seed in the 2022 World Cup (assuming we make it), and in a 4-team group the difference between being a 2 or 3 seed is huge. Especially because it's not set up where the worst 2 seed plays the best 3 seed; it's just random.
One other thing is that it's really important for the US to stay in the top 20 of the FIFA rankings because it makes a huge difference for getting a work permit in England. For example if we're in the top 20, any MLS guy who plays one or two games for the US can get a work permit. If we drop below 20th, suddenly you need to have played like 7 or 8 games for the USMNT (it's based on a formula) which makes it a lot harder for American players to get work permits in England which makes it harder for us to develop talent.
FWIW, I probably would've rested Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Dest, Brooks and maybe a couple of others but I would've called in a stronger squad than what we called in. Excited to watch this group, though.
Excellent points about the importance of the Gold Cup in establishing FIFA rankings and enabling MLS players to obtain work permits if England. Would there be similar restrictions for MLS players seeking opportunities in some of the other European Leagues?
In the most-recent FIFA rankings, the USMNT was 20th. Would the USMNT need to finish no worse than runner-up in the Gold Cup to maintain that ranking?
I agree with this - most of Mexico's European based guys are a lot more established on their clubs and also further along in their development so they have less to lose by missing their clubs' preseason.
Yep, Mexico called their European based players into the Nations League and the Gold Cup. We could've done the same thing but chose not to. It's probably smart to give many of our guys a rest but there are also probably 10 or so European based guys that could've made this roster a lot stronger and we could've called in without risking guys like Pulisic and Adams that are really, really important to the long term future of the team and need some rest.
"I know I’m in the minority in that I personally get more excited for this tournament than I do for the Euro Cup, Copa America, Champions League, EPL, or any other competition aside from the World Cup."
Do you actually like soccer or do you just like USMNT/USA? I love the USMNT but as an objective soccer fan you can't beat the beauty and style of play in the tournaments you mentioned. I've watched far too many ugly USMNT games against CONCACAF opponents they should dominate to actually be more excited to watch that slog than the highest quality of soccer in the world. It's like saying you're more excited for a pre season Detroit Lions game than playoff or superbowl football.
I'm also okay with leaving out our best guys. Let them get into good form with their clubs during the preseason and as their domestic leagues start in August to ensure they'll solidify their spots in their teams' lineups and get regular playing time so that they'll be in their best form when they play in September when World Cup qualifying starts. At the end of the day, WC qualifying is all that matters for a team that embarrassingly missed it in 2018.
Yeah, I’m a huge soccer fan in general but the only teams I’m a true fan of are the USMNT and León in Liga MX. I get what you’re saying about the quality being way higher in some other tournaments, but I like that this is our tournament and it’s filled with guys from MLS, USL, Liga MX, Liga de Ascenso, and the CONCACAF Champions League. I know that sounds crazy, but I’ll also watch a Rutgers – Penn State basketball game over an NBA game or a Purdue – Minnesota football game over a game like USC – Oregon. I’d rather watch an OK-White high school football game over an NFL game. Or I’d rather watch a fishing show about catching walleye in Michigan than a fishing show about catching marlin. It’s just personal preference. But I still love the Euro Cup, Copa America, Champions League, EPL, etc, and I watch a lot of that stuff.
My close circle of friends and I have watched the Gold Cup religiously, even the games that don’t include the US or Mexico, since about 2007 and it’s a blast. We even do our own fantasy league where the only stat that counts is goals.
There’s one other thing that I love about the Gold Cup. I think we all know that feeling we get when you wake up on the day that the US plays in the World Cup or Michigan plays OSU or plays in the Final Four in basketball. It’s an incredible feeling of anticipation and excitement. Well, for other countries in our region, the Gold Cup is like that for them. If you’re from Guatemala and you make it to the Gold Cup quarterfinal once a decade, that’s a huge day for you. If you caught the videos of the celebrations in Port-au-Prince when Haiti knocked off Costa Rica and Canada last time… we’ll let’s just say it was a site to see… so to me it’s a really special tournament even if the competition level is not the same as in the Euro Cup or Copa America.
My favorite part about this whole thread, other than seeing one man's love for a mid-major/minor regional soccer tournament, is that you copied and pasted this entire reply and put it down here too!
That, and the tiny tiny ass USSF logo up in the OP.
This thread is what I believe the entirety of MGoBoard could aspire to be someday!
Thanks! Yeah, I basically got the same comment twice and was heading out the door, LOL, so I just copy and pasted the response.
Not surprised. Guys like pulisic played a crazy amount of games this year. Gold cup isn't as important as world cup qualifying which is what they should be focusing on. I'm fine with the A team getting a rest, recharged and ready for a more important club season, than this second rate competition. Same with all the international tourney. I'm a Man City fan, and we have a ton of players in Euro 21, and I kind of want to see them do well, but I also want to avoid injuries(ala Debruyne) and want these guys who have played a ridiculous amount of games to take a month off and get ready for another wild club season. Club soccer is just better than international. Quality of play is better, teams get to prepare. International is ok and fun for world cup, but give me EPl, La liga, Bundasliga any day of the week over summer international comp.
Curiously, what does a WC Qualifier game roster look like for the USMNT? Seems some here have more insight than myself, there are some obvious upgrades, but how big of a difference is there/will any of these guys be on that squad?
Massive night and day difference. The WC Qualifying Team for 2022 is chock full of a ton of young talent that are legitimately earning playing time on some of the world's biggest clubs. Then you pepper that out with other guys who are on great teams but haven't quite grabbed top flight playing time yet. And then mix that with some young bright stars who we are all dying to see prove themselves and then a handful of "leader" types who have been around the block a few times.
The interesting thing come qualifying time is what the full side looks like when they're finally together. We haven't quite seen them all together due to some injuries and other issues that have kept guys from the team. Last year with COVID and a full year of no real international matches, also kept us from seeing some friendlies and warmups during last summer.
The names I'm most excited about (not exactly the guys who will be the starting 11)
Josh Sargeant F - Werder Bremen
Christian Pulisic F - Chelsea
Gio Reyna F - Borussia Dortmund
Tim Weah F - Lille
Konrad de la Fuente F - Marseille
Sebastian Soto F - Norwich
Daryl Dike F - O City
Weston McKinnie M - Juventus
Tyler Adams M - RB Leipzig
Yunus Musah M - Valencia
Sergino Dest D - Barcelona
John Brooks D - Wolfsburg
Chris Richards D - Hoffenheim
Cameron Carter Vickers D - Tottenham
Erik Palmer Brown D - Man City
Antonee Robinson D - Fulham
Zach Steffen G - Man City
I'm sure I'm missing some more.
Honestly, how the OP feels about this Gold Cup, I feel about qualifying. I'm super excited about seeing how this team turns out. How all of these super young, super talented players turn out. This could be a transformational generation for the USMNT. Or a big effing disappointment. :)
Yeah, I'm always absolutely as excited for the Hex (or in this case the Octagonal) as I am for the Gold Cup. I guess the main difference (in terms of my fan experience) is that for the Gold Cup I'm excited to watch all the games, even the ones that don't involve the US or Mexico. Whereas during the Hex, a lot of those games are at the same time as our game, since they're all on the same day, and a Honduras-Panama WCQ isn't necessarily even on TV in the US.
But it probably was an oversight not to mention World Cup Qualifying, because I definitely get as excited for our qualifiers in the final round of qualifying as I do for our Gold Cup games.
JMo's list of guys is a pretty good list. You can also look at the US' Nations League roster from a couple of weeks ago which was basically Berhalter's first 23 at the time.
That roster included:
Forward - Sargent, Pefok
Winger - Pulisic, Reyna, Weah, Aaronson
M - McKennie, Lletget, Adams, Acosta, Yueill, Musah
LB/RB - Dest, Yedlin, Robinson, Cannon
CB - Brooks, McKenzie, Ream, Miazga
K - Steffen, Horvath, Ochoa
In reality, Matt Turner is probably ahead of Ochoa as our third keeper. Chris Richards and Aaron Long were both out injured or else they would've been battling to partner Brooks as our #2 CB. Daryl Dike is definitely in the running for our starting striker. But that's pretty close to our first 23.
I think most US fans think Acosta, Lletget, Yueill, and Ream are some of the first guys that could easily lose their place in that 23 as younger guys develop and pass them.
I will not stand by and allow this James Sands slander to continue. He should be in the starting XI, either in the middle of a back 3 or at the 6 over Yueill.
Very excited to see Eryk Williamson accept the call-up after being snubbed by Kreis for the Olympic qualifiers.
Also, this roster has one too many strikers. I guess GB is expecting one of those 4 to move clubs sometime in the middle of the tournament and become unavailable.
I agree on Williamson. He has shown ability to be a creative player going forward. Creating scoring opportunities might be something that this roster struggles with. Hopefully Lletget and Williamson can provide enough playmaking.
I don't understand the Jonathan Lewis call up. My guess is Gergg might slide Gioacchini out wide since he has some experience playing wide.
Yeah, I think there's a good chance that Gioacchini and Hoppe both play some out wide. Otherwise it makes no sense that we'd bring 4 strikers and only 2 wingers.
I totally agree on Jonathan Lewis... no idea how he made this team ahead of guys like Cowell and Mueller.
Yeah, I would love for Sands to end up being a standout and starting ahead of Yueill for example. Or if he turned out to be our best CB on the roster, that would be awesome. I tried to make a "starting XI" based mostly on where I think these guys stand with Berhalter but it would be great to see some younger players beating out some of the older players.
The coach isn't taking this tournament seriously. So, no reason to pay attention.
Will the US leave it's 'first stringers' out next winter in Qatar so they can prepare for the remainder of their European season?
LOL this is such an amazingly bad take.
I knew they were going with an MLS-heavy team for Gold Cup, but couldn't they have called up a few young guys that didn't play a lot for their clubs last year and could use the playing time? I'm thinking Weah, Musah, de la Fuente? This team is going to try super hard but they'll be lucky to make it to the finals where they'd get smoked by Mexico.
Those are exactly the guys you want in preseason training with their clubs so they can try to lock down clear roles. Weah seems to have a defined role as the 3rd wing at Lille, but Musah basically was dropped in the last 6 weeks at Valencia and Konrad is joining a new club.
Preseason club training has much greater long term benefits to them, both at their clubs and as national team players than playing with a bunch of guys who are going to be marginal in this qualifying cycle.
I'm with you... I think Aaronson and Weah could've gotten valuable experience in this tournament without it affecting their situations with their clubs that much. Musah's a tougher call because he's desperately in need of playing time, but that's also why playing for the US would be good for his development. Not to mention that Valencia never lets him play as an 8, but maybe if he could have a good tournament playing that position for the US he'd get more consideration there with his club.
De la Fuente just transferred to Marseille so I would not have called him in (I don't think he's done enough to earn a call up anyway) but guys like Tyler Boyd, Yedlin, De la Torre, McKenzie, EPB, CCV, Robinson, and some others could all probably have helped this team and I don't think the US would be taking a big risk by pulling them away for their clubs during the preseason.
I mean what's the point of having Tyler Boyd in the player pool if we can't call him in over Gioacchini or Lewis in a situation like this? He's not likely to ever play for the US in a World Cup anyway and he's already 26... he could've helped us in this tournament and it's not like we'd be risking the health/development of a future World Cup starter even if he did get hurt or lose playing time with his club. I think that description fits a number of guys we have over in Europe that we didn't call in.
I think we all selfishly want to see these guys play and play well. Honestly, I'd love to see more exciting young talent on this roster because I'd be more interested in watching the matches.
But I think thats all it is, selfish on our parts to want to see our young guys perform on a big stage after watching two weeks of fun European matches. The point you made above about Fifa rankings makes some sense, but again, I don't think it makes ANY sense to bring any of the big names in. So then the next names, Konrad is on a new team. Musah is already in declining club minutes. De La Torre who keeps getting mentioned, literally has said he doesn't want to play. EPB, CCV definitely need time in club. What are we talking about here?
Yedlin, sure. But he's only 6 months in at Galatasaray and what exactly does he need to prove with the US Team? The fact that we're talking about Yedlin only says to me that we're talking about our selfish wants to see better players in the Gold Cup versus any real strategic advantage. The only justifiable reason is the previously mentioned FIFA rankings, and the impact this singular tournament will have on FIFA rankings versus the long-term impact all of these players will have by not getting a better shot at earning time on club is such a crazy gamble. This is why they're not doing it.
LOL at this point, I think we all know who the worlds biggest Gold Cup Super Fan is. It's awesome. I'm 100% in the tank for your love for this tournament, and if you start GoldGoBlog put a link here, I'll come read your shit. But let's have some perspective here. There's NO REAL good reason to play any of our A or B team players OVER them earning valuable club time. That's why the people in charge of making these decisions made the decision they did.
I miss Klinsmann. He built the German team for the toupee wearing Loew.
There's promising young MLS guys that could've been called up too, instead of more of Acosta, Yueill and Ledget, all of whom should be 3rd stringers at best for the WCQs. Plus Roldan and Lewis are questionable selections.
The midfield is pretty bad, frankly. We shouldn't try to play a possession based game with these players, but berhalter probably won't adapt.
I'm excited to see Busio, Dike and Hoppe get their first extended playing time with the MNT... Hopefully that actually happens and we're not treated to heavy doses of Zardes and Yueill.
Also worth mentioning. We could've used this tourney to cap tie Musah, Ochoa, and Che. Busio should be locked down at least, but still more head scratching stuff from berhalter.
I’m not sure whether this Gold Cup team can be classified as the USMNT’s “B” or “C” team, but I look at it as an "experimental" team, considering that (a) the “A” team recently won the Concacaf Nations League tournament and (b) Berhalter might’ve seen enough of those players in competition to know how to use them in the World Cup qualifying matches.
Only nine of the 23 players on the USMNT Gold Cup roster have at least 10 caps; eleven have three or fewer caps. Brad Guzan, Kellyn Acosta, Paul Arriola and Gyasi Zardes are the only ones on the roster who have at least 30 caps.
Also, if the Gold Cup isn’t going to take priority over having European-based players being with their clubs for pre-season training, then this tournament gives a lot of players the chance to be in the mix for roster spots when the Concacaf World Cup qualifying matches begin with nine matches in September and October. UEFA clubs will NOT be on international breaks during October when the USMNT has six World Cup qualifying matches.
UEFA clubs will NOT be on international breaks during October when the USMNT has six World Cup qualifying matches.
I completely forgot about this. All the more reason why most all European players of significance are not on this team. Does anyone know what our Fifa ranking was when we DIDNT qualify in 2018? I don't. Nor do I care.
As of September 14, 2017, the USMNT was ranked 28th in the FIFA World Rankings. LINK
After the loss to Trinidad and Tobago on October 10, 2017 that knocked the USMNT out of the 2018 World Cup, the USMNT was ranked 27th as of October 16, 2017. (Go figure.) LINK
When the World Cup began in June 2018, the USMNT was ranked 25th. LINK
This is equally missing the point, and entirely the point. All at the same time. Nice work chatster.
"But our FIFA ranking" seems like a reasonable justification for playing guys in the Gold Cup, except FIFA rankings are effing ridiculous. See evidence above.
The only reason anyone wants quality players playing in the Gold Cup is because they dont want to watch an MLS select squad play some no-name CONCACAF teams. Neither do I. So, I probably wont. But to sacrifice club position for our young players for a useless call up with qualifications just a couple months away, is selfish at best, silly nonsense at worst.
I'm just glad that the people making the decisions are smart and rational, and not crazy Gold Cup super fans. :)