Author: Jack Venezia

Reviewing USMNT Player Pool in Europe 2020-2021 Part 2

Jack Venezia Uncategorized

Welcome back! For more of an intro and context, check back in Part 1. Again, I will be looking at each players’ minutes, games played, assists, and goals (mostly all available at https://fbref.com/en/ with some help from https://www.transfermarkt.us/). I didn’t include stats for youth players or if I couldn’t find them. Here in Part 2, we will mostly examine the prospects of the USMNT player pool in Europe. Come back for Part 3 to read about the fringe of the USMNT player pool, and Part 4 where we talk about the top USMNTers in Europe.

Reminders: I narrowed my focus to just players in Europe. Sorry Johnny Cardoso fans. Also if you don’t see a name in their expected section, keep scrolling, as there are some special sections throughout, or go back and check Part 1 (that’s where the undeclared dual-nationals are).

These tiers are *supposed* to be in order from worst-to-best but I’ll admit I got a little lost in the sauce. Also, who’s to say whether its better to play for Benfica B vs. Frankfurt’s U19s? I sure as heck don’t know. Within each section I listed the players in order from most-to-least interesting. Overall this is kind of a “who is the best player in a vacuum” ranking while also being a “who had the best season” ranking. So, like, don’t take it too seriously? I don’t know I just do this for fun.

Extra Disclaimer for this part: It is really difficult to get reliable stats of any youth games anywhere, so I did not bother including them here. I simply named where the player is playing.

Player Name, Age (Club/League; Total appearances, total mins, goals, assists)

** – Has appeared for USMNT under Gregg Berhalter

U19, U18, U17, and U16 Teams

  • Kobe Hernandez-Foster,18 (Wolfsburg U19)
  • Federico Oliva, 16 (Athletico Madrid U19)
  • Mason Judge, 19 (Frankfurt U19)
  • Maximilian Dietz, 19 (Freiburg U19)
  • Michael Wentzel, 19 (Borussia Mönchengladbach U19)
  • Pablo Soares, 19 (Borussia Mönchengladbach U19)
  • Nico Carrera, 19 (Holstein Kiel U19)
  • Niklas Dossmann, 18 (FSV Mainz U19)
  • Bobby Piere, 18 (Strasbourg U19)
  • Nicholas Cyrus, 19 Midtjyland U19)
  • Patrick Leal, 18 (Sporting CP U19)
  • Devan Tanton, 17 (Fulham U18)
  • Alex Borto, 17 ( Fulham U18)
  • Zack Booth, 17 (Leicester City U18)
  • Carver Miller, 17 (Arminia Bielefeld U17)
  • Evan Rotundo, 16 (Schalke U17)
  • Lucas Tamarez, 16 (Hoffenheim U17)
  • Aethan Yohannes, 17 (AZ Alkmaar U17)
  • Rokas Pukstas, 17 (HNK Hajduk Split U17)
  • Grayson Dettoni, 15 (Bayern Munich U16)
  • Robert Deziel, 15 (Celta Vigo Youth)

Even though this list feels pretty comprehensive, I likely still missed some players. Guys like Joe Scally, and Justin Che are in a special category later. Kobe Hernandez-Foster showed well on the US U17 team in 2019. I have never seen Federico Oliva play, but he’s playing up an age group for Atletico Madrid which says something. Plus, he was recently training with Atleti’s first team, according to some social media sleuths. For reference: in the fall of 2019 Gio Reyna would have been on this list. In the spring of 2017 Weston McKennie would have been on this list. Obviously not all of them will pan out, but could one or two of them be the next Reyna or McKennie? With a list this long, and only getting longer, the odds look good. Lastly, yes Zack Booth is the younger brother to Taylor Booth who shows up later.

B-Team, II Team, Jong Team, or U23 Team

  • Bryang Kayo, 18 (Wolfsburg II)
  • Chituru Odunze, 18 (Leicester City U23)
  • Alex Mendez, 20 (Jong Ajax)
  • Stuart Ritchie, 19 (Hannover II)
  • Quincy Butler, 19 (Hoffenheim II)
  • Aaron Cervantes, 19 (Rangers II)
  • CJ Dos Santos, 20 (Benfica B)
  • Johan Gomez, 19 (Porto B)
  • Ethan Wady, 19 (Chelsea U23)
  • Andrew Andrade, 18 (Portimonense U23)
  • Matteo Ritaccio, 19 (Liverpool U23)
  • Augustus McGiff,18 (Reading U23)
  • Jonathan Tomkinson,19 (Norwich City U23)
  • Kyle Scott, 23 (Newcastle United U23)

Despite the different names, all of these teams serve the same purpose: a launching platform from which academy players join the first team. Again, I may have missed some players. Kayo and Odunze have been called into a few USMNT senior camps but have yet to make an appearance. Odunze, Las, Wady, and Dos Santos are all goalkeepers, and may take longer to breakthrough than the rest. Mendez looked great for the US U-20’s in 2018 and 2019, but physicality was always his biggest issue. Considering he hasn’t made waves at Jong Ajax, I would assume he wasn’t able to handle the physicality of playing with grown men. But hey, even though 20 is old for this group, it’s still relatively young. Anyone 20 or older in this group probably wants a move soon to get professional minutes. There were rumors Kyle Scott could come to MLS recently. Think about it though: in the spring of 2019 Sergino Dest would have been on this list. Alternatively, in the spring of 2017 Antonee Robinson would have been on this list. Anything can happen!

Speculative Dual Nationals (Various League)

  • Folarin Balogun, 19 (Arsenal; 6 apps, 82 mins)
  • Kik Piere, 20 (Twente; 24 apps, 2110 mins)
  • Alex Mighten, 18 (Nottingham Forrest; 27 apps, 1276 mins, 3 goals, 1 assist)
  • Bryan Okoh, 17 (FC Liefering; 15 apps, 1223 mins, 1 goal, 1 assist)
  • Kristoffer Lund, 18 (Midtjyland U19)
  • Kevin Bright, 18 (Milan U18)
  • Kaile Auvray, 16 (Lille Youth)
  • Malick Sanogo, 16 (Union Berlin U17)
  • Hassan Ayari, 19 (Sheffield United U18)
  • Malik Tillman, 18 (Bayern Munich II)
  • Lennard Maloney, 21 (Borussia Dortmund U23)
  • Patrick Koffi, 19, (Paris FC; 2 apps, 62 mins)
  • Jann George, 28 (Jahn Regensburg; 28 apps, 1488 mins, 6 goals, 3 assists)
  • Scott Pittman, 28 (Livingston; 38 apps, 3321 mins, 7 goals, 2 assists)

These players have never represented the US at any level but are eligible to switch to the USMNT if they so choose. The talent level here varies widely, and there’s a chance none of these players play for the US, hence why they are with the “prospects”. The older players here are unlikely to ever play for the USMNT even if they made that switch. Kik Piere was supposedly contacted by the USMNT last fall, according to the Athletic. Just to round it out: in the summer of 2020 Yunus Musah would have been on this list. Speaking of Musah, Folarin Balogun and he are buddies, so, there’s a chance Musah helps persuade Balogun to play for the US. Balogun is the biggest name here by far. For the record, I had Siebatcheu on this list earlier this season. Goes to show that these players could switch at any time, and the current USMNT regime seems to be targeting dual nationals like never before.

Thanks for reading! Come back for tomorrow for Part 3 and Friday for Part 4. Have any questions or qualms with how I organized this? Then leave a comment below or yell at me on Twitter, @Beardedjack

Reviewing USMNT Player Pool in Europe 2020-2021 Part 1

Jack Venezia FIFA, MLS, Soccer, Uncategorized, USMNT, World Cup

Welcome back! I wrote a similar pair of articles like this past December looking back at Fall 2020. Check there for the premise. Now we will examine the entire 2020-2021 season. For the most part, this series is more about breadth than depth of information. I will be looking at each players’ minutes, games played, assists, and goals (mostly all available at https://fbref.com/en/ with some help from https://www.transfermarkt.us/). I didn’t include stats for youth players or if I couldn’t find them. I definitely went overboard and tried to make this way more comprehensive than it needs to be. Here in Part 1, we will mostly examine the bottom of the US player pool in Europe. Come back for Part 2 where I look at the prospects, Part 3 to read about the fringe of the player pool, and Part 4 where we talk about the top USMNTers in Europe.

New rules: I expanded this article to include Americans playing in European 3rd divisions or lower, Americans playing in European youth systems, and some potential dual nationals who have yet to officially switch to the USMNT. On the other hand, I narrowed my focus to just players in Europe. Sorry Johnny Cardoso fans. Also if you don’t see a name in their expected section, keep scrolling, as there are some special sections throughout.

These tiers are *supposed* to be in order from worst-to-best but I’ll admit I got a little lost in the sauce. Also, who’s to say whether its better to be in the English 4th division or the Premiere League 2? I sure as heck don’t know. Within each section I listed the players in order from most-to-least interesting. Overall this is kind of a “who is the best player in a vacuum” ranking while also being a “who had the best season” ranking. So, like, don’t take it too seriously? I don’t know I just do this for fun.

Player Name, Age (Club/League; Total appearances, total mins, goals, assists)

** – Has appeared for USMNT under Gregg Berhalter

The Land of Misfit Toys

  • Jordan Morris**, 26 (Swansea City, loaned from Seattle Sounders; Tore his ACL)
  • Paul Arriola**, 26 (Swansea City, loaned from DC United; returned early due to injury)
  • Jonathan Amon**, 22 (Nordsjaelland; injured for a vast majority of the season)
  • Richard Ledezma**, 20 (PSV; tore his ACL)
  • Sebastien Soto**, 20 (Norwich City U23; joined US U23’s for Olympic Qualifying)
  • Ulysses Llanez Jr.**, 20 (Heerenveen, loaned from Wolfsburg; injured before Olympic Qualifying)
  • Nick Taitague, 22 (Became Free Agent in January, retired later in the spring)
  • Joshua Pynadath, 19 (Free Agent)

These players were either without a team, injured, or simply did not play in the spring of 2021. Taitague was released by Schalke after a few injury plagued seasons and then decided to retire from the sport. Richie Ledezma looked great in the fall before he tore his ACL in December. Jordan Morris and Paul Arriola had their loan spells cut short by injury. Joshua Pyndath was last with Jong Ajax at the end of the spring 2020. From what I can find, he has yet to sign for a new club. Llanez and Soto left to play in Olympic qualifying for a large chunk of the spring. Llanez was injured before qualifying started. They were also both on loan for parts of the year, Soto in the Dutch 2nd division and Llanez in the Dutch first division. Soto will likely be loaned again next season since Norwich were promotoed. There are rumors Llanez might reunited with Tab Ramos, his former US U-20 coach, in Houston with the Dynamo.

Smaller Leagues (Ranked 20+ by UEFA; Israel, Poland, Norway, Ireland, Sweden, and Hungary).

  • Aron Johansson, 30 (Lech Poznan; 9 apps, 519 mins, 2 goals)
  • Kenny Saief, 27 (Lechia Gdnask; 23 apps, 1430 mins, 1 assist)
  • Josh Cohen, 28 (Maccabi Haifa: 40 apps, 3600 mins, 16 Clean Sheets)
  • Ben Lederman, 21 (RKS Rakow; 13 apps, 484 mins)
  • Nebiyou Perry, 21 (Ostersunds FC; 6 apps, 340 mins)
  • Romain Gall, 26 (Orebro; 5 apps, 266 mins)
  • Henry Wingo, 25 (Ferencvaros; 12 apps, 608 mins)
  • Eduvie Ikoba, 23 (AS Trencin; 25 apps, 1123 mins, 4 goals)
  • George Fochive, 29 (Bnei Yehuda; 24 apps, 1752 mins)
  • Will Seymore, 29 (Finn Harps; 11 apps, 898 mins)
  • Jacob Bushue, 29 (FC Haka; 1 app, 90 mins)
  • Tim Murray, 33 (FC Honka; 4 apps, 360 mins)

Note some of these leagues (Ireland, Norway, Sweden) have a summer schedule, and just started playing. These leagues are ranked outside of the top 20 leagues in Europe by UEFA. These guys would be better off playing in MLS. Some of them even tried to play in MLS and did not make a large impact (see: Gall, Saief, and Wingo). Plus, none of these guys are particularly young, otherwise I might have placed this section higher on the list. With all that said, Wingo won the Hungarian league with Ferencvaros. Johansson decided to move to the Polish league in January rather than going to MLS, where there was rumored interest. Saief is @away_goals favorite niche player. Interestingly, former USL goalkeeper Josh Cohen was voted Player of the Season in the Israeli league (no not GK of the season, *Player* of the season). He won the Israeli Premiere League with Maccabi Haifa. Fun Fact: Cohen also played the most minutes of any American in Europe this season. Otherwise, this group is barely worth discussion, and we have bigger fish to fry, so, we are moving on!

3rd and 4th Divisions + Obscure 2nd Divisions (England, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Turkey, and Switzerland)

  • Indiana Vassilev, 19 (Cheltenham, loaned from Aston Villa; 12 apps, 218 mins)
  • Justin Butler, 19 (Ingolstadt; 15 apps, 398 apps)
  • Jalen Hawkins, 19 (Ingolstadt; 6 apps, 75 mins)
  • Noah Jones, 19 (FC Will 1900; 23 apps, 799 mins)
  • Arda Bulut, 21 (Karacabey, loaned from Kasimpasa; 17 app, 749 mins, 4 goals, 2 assists)
  • Marlon Fossey, 22 (Shrewsbury Town, loaned from Fulham; 8 apps, 523 mins)
  • Kevin Lankford, 22 (SV Wehen Wiesbaden, loaned from FC St. Pauli; 16 apps, 977 mins, 2 goals, 2 assists)
  • Isiah Young, 22, (Rot-Weiss Essen; 3 apps, 204 mins)
  • Lynden Gooch, 25 (Sunderland; 39 apps, 2398 mins, 4 goals 9 assists)
  • Maki Tall, 25 (Francs Borains; 0 mins)
  • Mael Corboz, 26 (SC Verl; 20 apps, 1463 mins, 2 goals, 3 assists)
  • Ryan Malone, 28 (Lubeck; 23 apps, 1686 mins, 2 goals)
  • Terrence Boyd, 29 (Hallescher; 35 apps, 3042 mins, 18 goals, 5 assists)

The teenagers here have potential to make a name for themselves one day, but they need to rise up the ranks quickly. Vassilev is probably the most recognizable name as he received cameo appearances for Aston Villa in the Premiere League last year. Butler and Hawkins’ Ingolstadt were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga at the end of this season, which will be a great place to get minutes at their age. Marlon Fossey was loaned down from Fulham and it seems like he scuffed his chance. He was originally loaned down to an English 3rd division team and in January they switched his loan to a 4th division team … not great. Gooch and Boyd have made cameos for the USMNT in the past, but at this point they are no longer relevant.

Players Returning to MLS/USL

  • Alfredo Morales**, 30 (Dusseldorf -> NYCFC)
  • Bobby Wood, 28 (Hamburg -> Real Salt Lake)
  • Geoff Cameron, 35 (Queens Park Rangers -> FC Cincinnati)
  • Leon Flach, 19 (FC St. Pauli -> Philadelphia Union)
  • Cameron Harper, 19 (Celtic -> Red Bull New York)
  • Chris Gloster, 20 (Jong PSV -> NYCFC -> loaned to Sacramento Republic)
  • Brendan Hines-Ike, 26 (Kortrijk -> DC United)
  • Michael Edwards II, 19 (Wolfsburg II -> Colorado Rapids)
  • Brandon Austin, 22 (On loan from Tottenham -> Orlando City)
  • Damian Las, 19 (Fulham U23 -> North Carolina FC)
  • Jack Imperato, 18 (Villareal U19 -> Orange County SC)
  • Rickson van Hees, 18 (NEC Nijmegen U21 -> North Texas FC)
  • Travian Sousa, 19 (Hamburg II -> Sporting Kansas City II)
  • Jordan Adebayo-Smith, 21 (Sutton United -> Tampa Bay Rowdies)
  • Duncan Turnbull, 23 (FC Portsmouth -> Las Vegas Lights)
  • Joshua Gatt, 29 (Dundalk FC -> Pittsburgh Riverhounds)

These are players who were not making the cut in Europe, so they decided to return to MLS to find minutes. These players are not necessarily in the bottom of the player pool, but they did leave Europe so it feels weird including them higher on the list. There’s a real range here, as Leon Flach, Chris Gloster, Travian Sousa, Michael Edwards II, Cameron Harper, et al. are young and could pan out into good players if they find playing time. Flach in particular has started well in MLS. On the other hand, I doubt Bobby Wood will find enough form to rejoin the USMNT striker conversation, but he could see a career rebirth in RSL. I feel similarly about Morales, although he was doing better in the 2. Bundesliga than Wood. Cameron came home to retire, lets be real. Gatt is a throwback, and Adebayo-Smith comes from the English lower leagues, but hey who knows.

Thanks for reading! Come back for Parts 2, 3, and 4 later this week. Have any questions or qualms with how I organized this? Then leave a comment below or yell at me on Twitter, @Beardedjack

Ranking USMNT Players Abroad in Fall 2020 by Tiers Part 2

Jack Venezia EPL, FIFA, MLS, Soccer, USMNT, World Cup

Welcome back! If you missed it, check out Part 1 of this article here. For a quick summary, last time we examined the male Americans playing in lower leagues. Now we’re looking at the USMNT players who play in the Top 10 leagues in Europe, plus some of the best South American leagues.

Again some housekeeping: I am only looking at games that count towards the ’20-’21 season. In order to limit this already really long list, I am only looking at players who have received first team minutes (Sorry Alex Mendez fans, Jong Ajax won’t count). Additionally, I didn’t go any lower than 2nd division in any country (apologies to all of the Sunderland/Lynden Gooch fans out there). Lastly, I didn’t include a bunch of potential dual nationals because we don’t know what they might do (sorry Florian Balogun fans). These statistics are from December 28th approximately.

These tiers are generally in order from worst-to-best but you could argue the order for the bottom tiers. Within each section I generally listed the players in order from most-to-least interesting. This is kind of a “who is the best player in a vacuum” ranking while also being a “who improved the most between the summer and now” ranking. So, like, don’t take it too seriously? I don’t know I just do this for fun.

Player Name, Age (Club; Total appearances this season, Continental Cup mins, Domestic League mins, Domestic Cup mins if applicable)

Decent 1st Division League (Portugal, Belgium, Austria, Netherlands, Brazil, and Argentina)

  • Matt Miazga, 25 (Anderlecht; 10 app, 900 Juniper League mins)
  • Reggie Cannon, 22 (Boavista; 11 apps, 964 Primeira Liga)
  • Johnny Cardoso, 19 (Internacional; 11 apps, 477 mins across all competitions)
  • Alan Sonora, 22 (Independiente; 12 apps, 563 mins across all competitions)
  • Luca de la Torre, 22 (Heracles Almelo; 12 apps, 730 Eredivisie mins)
  • Chris Durkin, 20 (Sint-Truiden; 13 apps, 784 Juniper League mins)
  • Erik Palmer Brown, 23 (Austira Vien; 11 apps, 990 Austrian Bundesliga mins)

This is a bit of a grab bag section for all of the guys who play in non-Top 5 Leagues. I would argue that all of these leagues are a step up from MLS. Miazga has played well on loan from Chelsea to Anderlecht. EPB is technically still a Manchester City player but has been on loan for 4 straight seasons, similar to Miazga with Chelsea. Gotta wonder when either of them will find a permanent home. Cannon has impressed at Boavista, grabbing the attention of Portuguese giants Benfica in just 9 games. Cardoso is one of the first Americans to ever play in Brazil. Honestly, I’ve barely seen him play but getting minutes in Brazil at 19 usually leads to good things. I don’t know much about Sonora either, but again seeing minutes in Argentina at his age is a good sign. It’s nice to see Luca de la Torre get regular-ish minutes after riding Fulham’s bench for a few years. Only one assist in over 700 minutes is disappointing though. Lastly, Chris Durkin is quietly stacking up mins in Belgium. I think he has more defensive bite now than when he played in the 2019 U20 World Cup.

Good Situation, Small Sample Size

  • Tim Weah, 20 (Lille; 15 apps, 111 Europa League mins, 212 Ligue 1 mins)
  • Richard Ledezma, 20 (PSV; 6 apps, 25 Europa League mins, 93 Eredivisie mins)
  • Konrad de la Fuente, 19 (Barcelona; 2 apps, 19 UCL mins).
  • Zack Steffen, 25 (Manchester City; 4 apps, 90 UCL mins, 270 EFL Cup mins)
  • Owen Otasowie, 19 (Wolverhampton; 3 app, 112 EPL mins)
  • Ethan Horvath, 25 (Club Brugge; 2 apps, 90 UCL mins, 90 Juniper League mins).
  • Chris Richards, 20 (Bayern Munich; 7 apps, 129 UCL mins, 89 Bundesliga mins, 15 DFL Super Cup mins)

All of these guys have around 300 mins or less but they are on good teams who either play Champions League, Europa League, or in a Top 5 League. Horvath and Steffen are both backup keepers and will naturally be limited barring injuries to the starters. But goalkeepers hit their prime later so I’m not too concerned. And, recent rumors have Horvath on the trading block. Otasowie got his first EPL appearance and start in the closing weeks of 2020. From what I saw, he looked raw, but with a few moments of skill. Ledezma tore his ACL, which derailed a breakout year for him. Weah had a ton of cameo appearances out of precaution after he lost most of last year to injuries. Last few weeks his minutes for Lille have been trending in the right direction. Richards saw an uptick in mins for Bayern, but it seemed to be more “out of necessity due to injuries” than “he beat out other players in practice”. Konrad barely makes the cut here as he mostly still plays with Barca B. His appearances in UCL were cameos in games where Barca was leading. Hopefully he will see more meaningful minutes soon.

Sustained Success in a Top 5 League (England, Spain, Germany, France, or Italy)

  • Tyler Adams, 21 (RB Leipzig; 16 apps, 109 UCL mins, 701 Bundesliga mins, 104 DFB Pokal mins)
  • Christian Pulisic, 22 (Chelsea; 12 apps, 175 UCL mins, 605 EPL mins)
  • Josh Sargent, 20 (Werder Bremen; 14 apps, 1010 Bundesliga mins, 175 DFB Pokal mins).
  • John Brooks, 28 (Wolfsburg; 12 apps, 1008 Bundesliga mins)

These guys play in Top 5 Leagues, and they are good players, they simply haven’t made significant improvements since the summer. Pulisic has been slowed by injuries but looks great every time he plays. Notably, Pulisic started 2 games for Chelsea in the last week. Sargent is now a regular starter for Bremen but hasn’t done much in that time (3g 2a in ~1300 mins). Adams has been in the rotation for Leipzig and looks comfortable without being flashy. John Brooks is just a known quantity at this point. An overall good centerback who has the occasional error. Now, these guys are not necessarily worse than the players in the next tier. They just sustained a level of success rather than raised their game in some way. I don’t want to undermine what these guys are doing. It is not easy to continuously play at a high level.

Significant Improvement in a Top 5 League (England, Spain, Germany, France, or Italy)

  • Gio Reyna, 18 (Dortmund; 22 apps, 407 UCL mins, 887 Bundesliga mins, 138 DFB Pokal mins, 19 DFL Super Cup mins).
  • Weston McKennie. 22 (Juventus; 15 apps, 295 UCL mins, 591 Serie A mins
  • Sergino Dest, 20 (Ajax –> Barcelona; 19 apps, 450 UCL mins, 77 Eredivisie mins, 743 La Liga mins)
  • Yunus Musah, 18 (Valencia; 15 apps, 961 La Liga mins, 35 Copa Del Rey mins).
  • Antonee Robinson, 23 (Fulham; 15 apps, 1080 EPL mins, 270 EFL Cup mins)

This group is exciting to say the least. Yunus Musah broke onto the scene in this his first professional season. While technically still not committed to the US, I suspect the multi-national Musah will play for the Stars and Stripes going forward (knock on wood). Robinson may not be playing his first pro season, but it is his first EPL season and he has been up for the challenge showing well in Fulham’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool. The USMNT starting LB spot is his to lose. McKennie and Dest both moved to bigger clubs (you could argue that Dest’s move was more lateral, but I digress) and are regular starters in their respective new homes. McKennie’s goal against Barcelona in the Champions League was one for the ages. Quick reminder: Messi and Ronaldo were on the field and 22 year-old American Weston McKennie had the best goal of the game! Gio Reyna takes the cake though. His goals + assists per 90 mins are top 30 in the Bundesliga (top 25 if you don’t include penalty goals) and the kid turned 18 last month. Unreal. People are talking about him as one of the best teenage soccer players in the world, and rightly so.

Thanks for reading! Have any questions or qualms with how I organized this? Then leave a comment below or yell at me on Twitter @BeardedJack!

Ranking USMNT Players Abroad in Fall 2020 by Tiers: Part 1

Jack Venezia EPL, FIFA, MLS, Soccer, USMNT, World Cup

Hello all! It has been a hot minute since I wrote about soccer. Graduate school will do that to you. Enough about me though. 2020 has seen the rise of many young US Men’s National Team (USMNT) players balling out for large clubs in Europe. Thus, I wanted to check in to see how all of them are doing. For the most part, I will be looking at their minutes, games played, assists, and goals (mostly all available at https://fbref.com/en/ with some help from https://www.transfermarkt.us/). Here in Part 1, we will mostly examine the Americans in lower leagues. Come back for Part 2 to read about Christian Pulisics of the world.

First some housekeeping items: I am only looking at games that count towards the ’20-’21 season (some Scandinavian leagues play a summer schedule so I counted their whole 2020 regular season). In order to limit this already really long list, I am only looking at players who have received first team minutes (Sorry Alex Mendez fans, Jong Ajax won’t count). Additionally, I didn’t go any lower than 2nd division in any country (apologies to all of the Sunderland/Lynden Gooch fans out there). Lastly, I didn’t include a bunch of potential dual nationals because we don’t know what they might do (sorry Florian Balogun fans). These statistics are as of December 28th, approximately.

These tiers are generally in order from worst-to-best but you could argue the order. Within each section I generally listed the players in order from most-to-least interesting. Overall this is kind of a “who is the best player in a vacuum” ranking while also being a “who improved the most between the summer and now” ranking. So, like, don’t take it too seriously? I don’t know I just do this for fun.

Player Name, Age (Club; Total appearances this season, Continental Cup mins, Domestic League mins, Domestic Cup mins if applicable)

Honorable Mentions:

  • Cameron Carter-Vickers, 22 (Bournmouth)
  • McKinzie Gaines, 22 (Hannover 96)
  • Nick Taitague, 21 (Shalke)
  • Alex Mendez, 20 (Ajax)
  • Chris Gloster, 20 (PSV)
  • Cameron Harper, 19 (Celtic)

According to FBref, none of these players have made an appearance for their first team so far this season. There are a million other names that could be here, with the increasing number of Americans in European academies, but these are the ones who (I feel) are closer to 1st team minutes The most notable name here is Cameron Carter-Vickers who recently moved to Bournemouth and reportedly has a nagging ankle injury keeping him out of the squad.

Okay-to-Bad Situation, Small Sample Size (Various Leagues)

  • Ulysses Llanez Jr., 19 (Heerenveen; 5 apps, 95 Eredivisie mins)
  • Matthew Hoppe, 19 (Schalke; 3 apps, 111 Bundesliga mins)
  • Timothy Tillman, 21 (Gruether Furth; 12 apps, 141 2.Bundesliga mins, 74 DFB Pokal mins)
  • Charlie Kelman, 19 (Queens Park Rangers; 3 apps, 42 EFL Championship mins)
  • Tyler Boyd, 25 (Besiktas; 4 apps, Turkish Super Lig 315 mins)
  • Jonathan Amon, 21 (Nordsjaelland; 1 app, 26 Danish Superliga mins)
  • Joel Sonora, 24 (Talleres Cordoba; 8 apps, 156 Argentina Superliga mins)
  • Matko Miljevic, 19 (Argentinos; 1 apps, 45 Copa Sudamericana mins)
  • Sebastien Saucedo, 23 (UNAM; 3 apps, 141 Liga MX mins)
  • Brendan Hines-Ike, 26 (Kortrijk; 4 apps, 360 Juniper League mins)
  • Desevio Payne, 25 (FC Emmen; 2 apps, 32 Eredivisie mins)
  • Dillon Powers, 29 (Dundee United; 8 apps 290 SPL mins)

These are guys who would be in one of the higher tiers if they were were seeing significantly more minutes. Llanez and Kelman just arrived to their new respective teams this fall, and may still be adjusting. Both regualrly feature on the bench but have been rarely selected as substitutes so far. Might be harsh to put Hoppe here since Schalke play in the Bundesliga, but you would understand if you saw Schalke play at all this year. It’s not pretty. Amon just recovered from 13 months of injury and will likely jump into the “Good in a Not-So-Good League” tier if his regular minutes resume by the spring. With the rise of other wingers in the pool (Gio Reyna, et al.), Tyler Boyd probably isn’t relevant to the USMNT anymore.

Good in a Not-So-Good League (Scandinavian Leagues, Poland, Switzerland, and Scotland)

  • Haji Wright, 22 (Sonderjyske; 12 apps, 690 Danish Superliga mins)
  • Emmanuel Sabbi, 22 (Odense; 13 apps, 956 Danish Superliga mins)
  • Jordan Siebatcheu, 24 (Young Boys; 17 apps, 71 Europa League mins, 434 Swiss Super League mins)
  • Aron Johansson, 30 (Hammarby; 22 apps, 1343 Allsvenskan mins)
  • Christian Cappis, 21 (Hobro; 10 apps, 869 Norway’s 2nd Division mins)
  • Mix Diskerud, 30 (Helsingborg; 28 apps, 2428 Allsvenskan mins)
  • Romain Gall, 25 (Orebro/Stabaek; 18 apps, 585 Allsvenskan mins, 373 Eliseserien mins)
  • Henry Wingo, 25 (Molde, 25 apps; 366 Europa League mins, 1213 Eliteserien mins)
  • Ian Harkes, 25 (Dundee United; 17 apps, 1411 SPL mins)
  • Kenny Saief, 27 (Lechia Gdnask; 11 apps, 826 Ekstrklasa mins)

This section kind of speaks for itself. These guys may look good on paper but you have to consider the context. The Scandinavian leagues, Polish League, Swiss League, and the Scottish Premiere League (outside of Celtic and Rangers) are arguably worse than MLS. Sabbi’s Goals + Assists per 90 is .47, Johansson’s is .80, and Wright’s is .91. My shorthand for those numbers is around .50 is “good for their league” and closer to 1.00 is “they should play in a better league”. I would love to see Wright get a chance to be on the U-23 Olympic roster next year. Harkes, Saief, Gall, Wingo, and Diskerud couldn’t cut it in MLS and that’s why their leagues make this list. Diskerud is 30 now? Woof.

2nd Division Heroes (2nd Divisions of France, England, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, and Germany)

  • Sebastien Soto, 20 (Telstar; 10 apps, 542 Eerste Divisie mins)
  • Nicolas Gioachinni, 20 (Caen; 15 apps, 1135 Ligue 2 mins)
  • Julian Green, 25 (Greuther Furth; 15 apps, 931 2.Bundesliga mins, 178 DFB Pokal mins)
  • Andrija Novakovich, 24 (Frosinone; 12 apps, 660 Serie B mins, 36 Copa Italia mins)
  • Duane Holmes, 26 (Derby County; 15 apps, 600 EFL Championship mins, 55 EFL Cup mins)
  • Matt Olosunde, 22 (Rotherham; 11 apps, 614 EFL Championship mins)
  • Shaq Moore, 24 (Tenerife; 19 apps, 1648 Segunda Division mins)

These guys are all playing about as well as they can given that they play for a second division team. All of the young guys here should continue to prove themselves for the rest of the season and hope for a transfer upwards in the future. Notably Soto has been lighting up the Dutch 2nd division with 6g about 540 mins. Novakovich also has 5g +2a in under 700 mins. Green is arguably the best player on the best team in the 2. Bundesliga right now. If they get promoted I would love to see how Green plays against Bundesliga competition. Holmes had a small injury limiting him this fall.

Declining Veterans (Used to regularly play in Top 5 Leagues at some point)

  • Tim Ream, 33 (Fulham; 6 app, 450 EPL mins, 90 EFL Cup mins)
  • DeAndre Yedlin, 27 (Newcastle; 6 apps, 185 EPL mins, 270 EFL Cup mins)
  • Geoff Cameron, 35 (Queens Park Rangers; 18 apps, 1560 EFL Championship mins)
  • Timmy Chandler, 30 (Frankfurt; 5 apps, 55 Bundesliga mins, 19 DFB Pokal mins)
  • Eric Lichaj, 32 (Faith Karagumruk; 10 apps, 736 Turkish Super Lig mins)
  • Alfredo Morales, 30 (Dusseldorf; 8 apps, 382 2.Bundesliga mins, 110 DFB Pokal mins)
  • Bobby Wood, 28 (Hamburg; 10 apps, 96 2.Bundesliga mins, 13 DFB Pokal mins)

In some ways I think this is the most controversial section, especially putting it in the bottom half. Suffice it to say that if any of these guys want to stay in the USMNT picture, they need to find a new club where they can earn playing time. In my personal opinion all of Ream, Morales and Wood should consider a move to MLS. Lichaj just got to Turkey this fall, otherwise he would also be an MLS candidate. Yedlin and Chandler could probably move elsewhere in Europe and still get starting minutes but it will likely be a step down, perhaps similar to what Cameron is doing in the English second division. And to be clear Cameron is not in the USMNT picture these days, nor should he be. *Late edit*: Yedlin started the last two games for Newcastle, and he is on the young side of this group. Perhaps I was too hasty placing him here. I hope he proves me wrong and continues this run of form!

Thanks for reading! Come back for Part 2 later this week. Have any questions or qualms with how I organized this? Then leave a comment below or yell at me on Twitter, @Beardedjack

Gold Cup 2019: USMNT vs. Panama

Jack Venezia Uncategorized

On Wednesday night, the USMNT won Group D at the Gold Cup by defeating Panama 1-0. The US started a 2nd string group after they guaranteed qualification into the quarterfinal with their win over Trinidad & Tobago. Panama also rotated their lineup, resting many starters for the quarterfinals. Despite making their World Cup debut last year, Panama still aren’t CONCACAF powerhouses, so all the same “we’re playing against lesser competition” caveats apply. Here are my thoughts on the night:

  • Miazga looked fantastic defensively, and okay with the ball at his feet. Zimmerman has him beat when it comes to passing out of the back, which is likely why Zimmerman was favored in the previous two games.
  • O. Gonzalez was shaky defensively at times, similar to Tim Ream. Outside of those 2-3 scares, he was fine. Better teams are going to capitalize on those opportunities much more easily.
  • Lovitz was solid defensively, but relatively ineffective going forward. He played the LB role differently than Ream, who usually stays at home. Lovitz ventured forward more often, but to little avail.
  • Cannon held his own but also didn’t push for the starting spot. He showed that he can hold his own against CONCACAF competition, and we will need players like that in the future. However, I do not expect Cannon to be the first choice RB anytime soon.
  • Johnson had little to do on the night, and did not make any mistakes. I doubt he will start again over Steffen, but he showed that he was not overwhelmed playing in a competitive match. Again, we will need guys who are comfortable against CONCACAF teams.
  • Roldan and Mihailovic both played okay, but did not have the “creativity”, for lack of a better word, in connecting passes together in the final third. Both are obviously downgrades from Pulisic and McKennie.
  • Trapp didn’t look awful or overwhelmed, like he did in the friendlies leading up to this competition. Panama is probably a worse team than Jamaica and definitely worse than Venezuela, but it was encouraging to see Trapp put in a few physical tackles
  • Lewis and Morris had as good of showings as they could with poor service. As mentioned above, Mihailovic and Roldan are not Pulisic and McKennie. So Lewis and Morris were not getting the same kind of passed played their way. Suddenly it feels like winger is a strength of this team when it felt like a weakness 2 weeks ago.
  • Altidore still looked rusty, but he got the job done scoring the only goal of the night. I was surprised he played 80 mins in this one after only getting 15 against T&T. I would expect him to play limited minuted against Curaçao but I am not sure whether it’d be smarter to start him and take him off or to bring him on off the bench.
  • Pulisic came in as a winger and, like Lewis who he replaced, struggled to get service. Previously, I thought he might play better as a winger since he usually plays their for his club, however, I see now that if we do not have enough passing ability in central midfield than we’re practically handicapping our own best player. Might change if we have McKennie, Holmes, Lletget, and/or Adams in the middle, but I won’t make that assumption just yet.
  • Boyd and Zardes both cameo-d for 10-15 mins but barely made an impression on the game.

Two larger notes:

  • Head Coach Berhalter’s system was still evident when the second string was playing. Altidore missed on two good opportunities which were setup by Berhalt-ian passing sequences with which we are becoming familiar. Not to mention, we still did not concede any goals (Last team in this tournament who can still say that).
  • While the collective performance wasn’t anything to write home about, I feel more confident in each of these players filling in for a starter than I did before the game. Right? Like if Boyd and/or Arriola gets injured, I think Lewis and/or Morris could do just fine in the same spot(s). If Lima gets injured, Cannon is a downgrade, but he won’t be a liability. The only two players that might feel like liabilities are Trapp and Gonzalez. Fingers crossed that’s not a problem in this tournament.

Next up is Curaçao on Sunday night. I would expect the starting XI out there which is mostly likely this:

Altidore

Arriola – Pulisic – McKennie – Boyd

Bradley

Ream – Long – Zimmerman – Lima

Steffen

We always knew Altidore was an upgrade over Zardes, he simply wasn’t healthy. I think Miazga deserves to be in the lineup over Ream but I am unsure how well he would play on the left side. Long usually plays on the left side for the New York Red Bulls, but I think Berhalter wants to keep him in the center so they can use his speed as the team’s sweeper. Other than that, I don’t believe anyone made a compelling case to push for the starting XI.

Come back for more Gold Cup action next week!