usmnt world cup roster assumptions
Don't care too much about the roster for the third place game, so skipping ahead to the world cup.
In something that I'm not happy I got right, I'd like to hate myself for predicting JK would throw out Wondo, Beckerman, and Zusi. Zusi at least was defensible, but my working theory is that Wondo and Beckerman have dirty pics of Klinsmann somewhere. I've got to believe that they'll be too old for the WC though (or the pics will have expired or something).
The good news is we have the back 6 set for the WC.
Guzan
Yedlin Cameron Brooks Johnson
Bradley
Strikers also seem to be set (I'm assuming Dempsey stays despite age).
Dempsey as false 9, with Altidore getting injured and Wood as the other striker. Altidore will get injured. It's a major tournament.
The questions are in the midfield/wingers
Does Fabian move up? Pusilic? Do Julian Green/Zalelem put it together? Does Beckerman give his dirty pics to Nagbe?
Guess you could also add Morris as backup striker though I think he made fun of Klinsmanns hair, his fathers hair, and his grandfather hair. And Wondo didn't.
Anyone I'm missing?
Finally, if anyone has any good links/usmnt blogs, that'd be great. The ones I'm finding are pretty Bleacher Report-esque. In depth info would be appreciated. Thanks.
All in for Zalelem!
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Not yet.
Next game for WCQ is in September.
Check here out: LINK
We are currently 2nd in our group, 4 matches down, 2 remaining. Top 2 advance to the Hexogonal. A 6 team Round Robin tournament of home-and-away matches. Top three from the Hex advance to the World Cup. 4th place team plays in a playoff home-and-away match vs. the Asian Football Confederation playoff bid. I think each of CONFACAF and AFC get 3.5 bids to the WC. That playoff settles which confederation gets the 4th bid.
If we clinch a spot in the Hex rounds, we won't for sure have the bid secured until at least Sept/Oct of 2017. We won't know if we will even make the Hex until Sept 2016. The playoff to the WC isn't until November of 2017.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
That's how Mexico made the last WC... I mean I would take a bid any way I can. But, if we can't finish in the top 3 of CONCACAF then Klinsman should be fired.
We are not great but it'll be stunning if we don't get to the Hexagonal. Our last two games are against St. Vincent and the Grenadines and at Trinidad and Tobago. We pooped our way to a tie against T&T last time around but we beat the everloving shit out of St. Vincent. If we play even close to decent* in September we'll win our group. Then it's just a matter of holding on for dear life against Mexico and CR, which are scary (we are literally tied in Elo rating with CR at the moment), and several teams that we should outclass.
*I acknowledge that "close to decent" is not a terribly safe bet. Still.
You can bet Zardes will be starting if JK is still in charge. And Bedoya will be early 30s so he may keep his place as well.
Your guess is as good as mine OP. I'm guessing Maizga and Cameron Carter-Vickers will make an impact on the backline somehow. Hopefully we can groom a LB and get Johnson up into the MF. Hopefully Bradley stays at the 6 and one of CCV/Maizga can push Cameron to that role as well for healthy competition.
Pulisic is a lock for 2018. I'm guessing Emerson Hyndman is a lock for the team as well. Hoping those two and one of Green/Zelalam can push into the starting lineup. Zardes/Bedoya/Finlay can fight it out over one wing spot. Wood with Altidore and Johannsson backing him up. Morris with Dempsey backing him up.
Looking at next summer's gold cup (usually the B team the year before the WC) will be huge. 3-4 names you aren't expecting will latch onto the WC roster.
And Guzan will not be the #1 keeper.
Assuming a 4-4-2
TBD Goalie
Yedlin - CCV - Brooks - FabJo
Zardes - Nagbe(10) - Cameron(6) - Pulisic
Morris - Wood
Assuming a 4-3-3
TBD Goalie
Yedlin - CCV - Brooks - FabJo
Bradley(8) - Nagbe(10) - Cameron(6)
Zardes - Wood - Pulisic
We will have better depth than normal. But out top talent still won't get us past the round of 16.
+1 you have a brain.
Really excited for CCV who is the jewel of the Tottenham youth system right now. Also like that it pushes Cameron into the #6 role. I agree mostly with your strikers, just prefer AJ over Morris.
Yeah, strikers are hard to figure out sometimes. Injuries seem to always hit us there the hardest. Hopefully AJ turns into the beast I thought he would. He seems very technically gifted. My only qualm is that he and Wood seem to play the same spot. Guess I see Morris in more of a SS role? Maybe Morris is more Wood and AJ is a better alternative to Dempsey?
Either way those 5 are going to be fighting over about 2 spots in a 4-4-2. And probably only 1 in a 4-3-3. Maybe Wood and Morris could flex out to be a winger in a 4-3-3, but Wood didn't look best out there, and 2 more years of Pulisic doing his thing is probably a better option out there. I'd love to think they could push Zardes or Bedoya out of the other wing. But their work rates are all the rave for JK, and I think Finlay is a better player at that spot already than Wood or Morris would or should be.
I don't like Wood flexing out, he is much better as true striker.
I would really like to see Wood and AJ play together in a 4-4-2 to see how that pairing works.
Klinsi won't even play Nagbe and Pulisic in Copa at home. No way he starts or gives serious minutes CCV, Miazga, Zelalem, Green. All would be fortunate to start in Gold Cup next year.
None of the latter names could really do much at the US youth levels let alone senior in 2 years.
I think Ecuador starting line up will largely be the WC starters. I hope replacements for Jones and Bradley are available or at least to push them bc I consider our central midfield weak.
Back line is set until WC. Only changes if a LB emerges which would be great so Johnson can move to midfield.
FWDs will be strong, I hope Altidore is limited to a Dempsey backup from now on. Wood better stay ahead of him with Morris actually coming on in a like for like with Wood starting next year.
I worry Klinsi loves altidore though...
I too suspect Guzan will not be the goalie. After LB that is priroity #1 IMO.
I was looking more at the roster composition. If you look at my starting 11, the only new players are Pulisic and CCV. And really, that's CCV/Miazga. If one or both can push into the starting lineup in the EPL, whether due to injury or earning it, they will get their shot with the national team. A huge turnout at the Gold cup next summer, another year in the EPL, and yeah. One of them would be a starter on this team.
If not, Cameron or Birnbaum slot back into that spot.
As for our bench, I'd love to go young. But that means we need to get those young guys going from here until the WC. My point is, our better bet at a deep run is the 2022 WC right? So do we really want all those players having their first taste of WC action in '22? Also, that group of youngsters is far more gifted technically than this current team. And our biggest issue is the "lost generation" of players. There are not too many promising players in the 23-27 age range.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Next summer is so important for us for the 2018 WC. Zelalam, Pulisic, Hyndman, Green, CCV, Miazga all need to latch onto first teams in top European divisions and start playing regularly.
agree re: bradley. never though i'd say it this soon after his excellent international work the past 6 years, but he is not close to elite anymore, not even by us soccer standards
it's bizarre because as a player that made up for lack of athleticism with technical soundness, you'd think he'd age better than guys that rely more on speed. But he just cannot complete a pass in traffic, turns it over way too much...shame.
I was most upset with Bradley in this game. He looked so nervous,made so many bad plays, lost the ball all over the pitch, indecisive, etc etc. People say he needs to be paired with Jones, but I want a centralmidfielder (and captain) who has the skill and composure to lead the team no matter who he's paired with. Bradley was a huge letdown last night.
Missing lots of players
CCV, Emerson Hyndman, Joe Gyau (fingers crossed), Rubin, Miazga, Arriola, Horvath, Steffen, Payne,
Other names to consider: Trapp, Finlay, Lletget, Aguadelo
I'm looking for a website with possibilities. Google isn't helping, so my info is all from two years ago when everyone made the lists of "possible next WC roster"
americansoccernow.com is prettty good. They also update their consesus top 100 US players every few months.
USMNT is my 2nd favorite team after Michigan football/basketball so I follow the u-23 and u-20 stuff pretty closely.
Check out yanks-abroad.com. I think Skurnie writes stuff for them on occasion.
There is also the ussoccer subreddit and the USMNT board on bigsoccer.com. Typical message board stuff, but sometimes there is good discussion.
http://blog.3four3.com/ An interesting read on what needs to change in US soccer.
Luis Gil, Jerome Kiesewetter, Mario Rodriguez are three more to add.
Despite not qualifying for the Olympics, the U-23 team has some decent talent. The U-20 squad that played in last season's U-20 World Cup is the best probably since Landon Donovan was on it.
CCV's rise at THFC is very promising.
Forgot about Gil. Amazing that he is still only 22.
Kiesewetter looked great in the friendlies at the start of the season. Hopefully he can get some starts in Germany and push for one of the wing spots.
You know JK will take Beckerman and Wando over any of the young players without main national team experience.
do these players probably need to start seeing time with usmnt to be legitimate options for the World Cup?
I get there's some good young talent possibly coming up the ranks but at the same time would Klinnsman really want a bunch of guys with little to no caps on the roster?
Pulisic made the Copa roster with only a few months with the first team. If any of the guys in Europe begin starting for their clubs they'll almost immidiately get a call up.
There are times when miazga and ccv would get chances but the CB situation seems stable for now. Hyndman is a solid option in the midfield and Gyau was coming up with the senior team until he got injured. Basically the point is that your pessimism is clouding your view of how fast things can change with the roster, even under blah Klinsmann.
You're talking about a two year stretch where a majority of the national team games and camps are going to be centered around qualifying for the WC. If we were already a lock to move on to the hex round I would say that maybe Klinsmann could start some of these guys and see whats up. Unfortunately we're not so we're probably riding with this crew through the end of this year.
Assuming all goes well in September you're talking about Hex round qualifying in 2017 and, once again, you likely have to depend on your reliables for the most part. That and the 2017 Gold Cup (which you can bet Klinnsman will be taking seriously after our choke out last year) and likely the same guys for the most part save for some back of the roster tinkering.
Then 2018 rolls around and its WC time again and you can't really start new people during that.
There will inevitably be injuries and perhaps a player who starts lighting it up for his club team like Nagbe and Pulisic did such that Klinsmann has to give them a look in some friendlies and camps. That said, wholesale roster sea change before 2018 is unlikely because the opportunities for new faces to get in during a non-pressure situation are minimal. Klinsmann can't insert newbies into life-or-death games and most of what the USMNT plays from here until the WC are likely life-or-death unless we somehow completely kill it in the WC qualifying hex round and maybe have some late hex qualifiers we can use as indoctrination games because we're already guaranteed a spot.
I like kwiessetter (brooks old teammate I think) too for some reason. He always brings a charge to the team. He's not going to get enough looks either though before 18.
I think Rubio (poacher), Emerson (now on Bournemouth) and I hope jack Harrison (once he becomes American please pleas please) might be surprises.
I think the real intriguing question is who won't make it and who will get Swift boated like Donovan. I see Dempsey and jones as biggest targets who still might be playing well enough in the mls but might be in trouble. Even more controversially, I think even Bradley looked like he did not belong against Argentina. Be scared to see him in two years.
I think at minimum Demps will be a late sub FWD that we bring on when we need a goal in Russia. His playmaking ability is still second to none on the team. I don't think his scrappiness in and around the box will go away.
I don't think he will have the legs to go a full 90 though. Not sure he will have that for WCQ even.
If Demps can start and go 60 in Russia then I'm all for it. He's earned the benefit of the doubt imo until 2 Fwds are clearly better. Right now only Woods is on that path to eclipse him. Woods I agree was the Big Big winner.
I think Bradley needs to embrace the beckerman role and go full on D Mid with limited possession duities. Problem is Bradley is not that great defensively. He just runs around a lot often times with limited purpose. Beckerman for all his physical short comings puts him self in good positions. Unfortuantely, even that is not good enough now bc he is so slow and lacks any possession skills.
Beckerman should not suit up ever again unless its a concacaf bottom dweller.
Is Spot On.
about starting lineup vs. roster on the thread. OP refers to roster but seems to just be talking about starters. I think everyone is throwing those names around as possibilies for those surprise end of roster spots that a couple of them will inevitably get. Not sure anything thinks they'll be in contention to start.
Was about to post that. When I read roster, i just assume the 23.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Birnbaum, Wondo, Beckerman will never play for USMNT again.
We desperately need a replacement for Bradley, hoping one of Zelalem, Hyndman or Kitchen is the guy. The key player is Wood. If he continues to improve he could see a significant transfer in '18.
Zardes -- Wood -- Dempsey?
Hyndman -- Bradley -- Nagbe
Lichaj -- Brooks -- Cam -- Yedlin
Horvath
Bench: Pulisic, Zelaman, Johnson, Kitchen, Ream, Miazga, Johannson, Jordan Morris, Carter-Vickers, Stanko, Villafana
New coach: Roberto Martinez
Zardes will get a Euro contract, perhaps in Turkey or Serie A. He does somethings very well and I think a spell at Roma would be perfect for him.
Nagbe to Crystal Palace. He has BPL quality, I think he needs experience against top flight competition. Sunderland is another option.
One of Wood and Pulisic to Liverpool in '18. Book it.
The Netherlands would be a good place for Zardes.
You have Fabian Johnson on the bench? He's literally the last guy who will be on the bench. By far USMNT's best player.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad