FIFA

World Cup 2022: Rest of World Team

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

Every four years the FIFA’s Men’s World Cup dazzles the globe. Most of the best soccer players get the opportunity to vault themselves, and their nation, into the spotlight, and maybe even the history books. However, only 32 teams get to play in the Men’s World Cup and so there are always talented players left to watch the big tournament from home. FIFA is addressing this by expanding the Men’s World Cup to 48 teams in 2026, meaning this 2022 iteration may be the last time where a glutton of big stars miss the tournament. What if we took all of those players whose nation’s did not qualify and placed them on one team? To imagine player combinations which we don’t usually see is part of the fun that international soccer provides. In this article, I am going to do just that: have some fun creating a hypothetical World Cup team comprised of player who’s nations did not qualify.

Most of the time, such imagined “Rest of World” teams only pick from the top 2-3 teams that missed out on qualification. For 2018, imagine an Italy/Netherlands combo team with a sprinkling of non-European players. In creating my own “Rest of World” team, I wanted to be a little more creative so I added a simple, yet limiting, rule: I am only allowed to pick 1 player from each country to join my team. This made for some tough choices which I will explore below.

Before sharing my team, a few more parameters: I chose a 26-man roster, as it is rumored each nation will be allowed 26 players in 2022. I did not include players whose nation qualified, but they are outside of their nation’s World Cup roster (sorry Hakim Ziyech of Morocco), as it made the pool of players almost too big, and we don’t know the official World Cup rosters yet. Also, given my 1-player-per-country rule, there are many permutations of this team. The team I name below is not a definitive team, simply the one I chose. If I didn’t pick your favorite player, or I missed a player, it’s not a knock on them. There are only so many spots on the roster and so many players deserving of a spot! I also went with a relatively standard 4-3-3 shape which affected my choices. With that, here is my roster followed by a breakdown of my choices:

Name (International team, Club team)

Goalkeeper (3): Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy, Paris-Saint Germain), Jan Oblak (Slovenia, Atletico Madrid), Odysseas Vlachodimos (Greece, Benfica)

Right-back (2): Mehmet Zeki Çelik (Turkey, Lille), Elseid Hysaj (Albania, Lazio)

Center-back (4): Guillermo Maripán (Chile, AS Monaco), Milan Škriniar (Slovakia, Inter Milan), Stefan Savić (Montenegro, Atletico Madrid), Willi Orbán (Hungary, RB Leipzig)

Left-back (2): Andy Robertson (Scotland, Liverpool), Arthur Masuaku (Democratic Republic of the Congo, West Ham)

Defensive Midfielder (3): Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria, Leicester City), Tomáš Souček (Czech Republic, West Ham), Renato Tapia (Peru, Celta Vigo)

Central Midfielder (4): Emil Forsberg (Sweden, RB Leipzig), Amadou Haidara (Mali, RB Leipzig), Konrad Laimer (Austria, RB Leipzig), Naby Keita (Guinea, Liverpool)

Wingers/Attacking Midfielders (5): Mohamed Salah (Egypt, Liverpool), Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, Algeria), Luis Diaz (Colombia, Liverpool), Elif Elmas (North Macedonia, Napoli), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Armenia, AS Roma)

Strikers (3): Erling Haaland (Norway, Manchester City), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon, FC Barcelona) Sébastien Haller (Ivory Coast, Ajax)

First of all, let’s acknowledge that, despite any limitation I put on myself, this team is *stacked like pancakes*. Almost every player plays in a traditional Top 5 league in Europe, many of which are Champions League caliber, and those who aren’t are at the very least playing on mid-table teams if not Europa League or Conference League teams. This team would pretty easily be competitive at the World Cup. Most of these players fell into one of four categories of my decision making process.

The Easy Choices. I found some national teams where one player stood out amongst the rest and made me say “Well I gotta pick him”. This includes, Salah, Aubameyang, Mahrez, Haaland, Haidara, Keita, Ndidi, Skriniar, Oblak, and Vlachodimos. While these mostly seemed like obvious choices, some did eliminate other good players from selection. For example, by picking Haaland, arguably the best young striker in the world, I eliminate the option of picking Martin Ødegaard, who isn’t at Haaland’s level, but is still a great player in his own right. Similarly with picking Mahrez over Bennacer from Algeria. Bennacer is a great player, but not as great as Mahrez. This is also where I noticed “Between, Salah, Haidara, and Keita, I have some players used to playing in a high press. Maybe I should run with that”.

Difficult Decisions. There were some teams where I had to pick between two or three solid players of a similar level. In these cases, it depended on what positions I needed and whether I thought they would fit my “high pressing” scheme. This includes Colombia, Ivory Coast, Sweden, Scotland, Chile. Luis Diaz, Andy Robertson, and Emil Forsberg were all selected over their countrymen because each of them play on club teams that like to press. Instead of Diaz, I could have chosen Colombia’s ‘keeper Ospina. Picking Forsberg eliminated Lindeloff from Sweden as a right-back. Picking Robertson eliminated Tierney and McTominay from Scotland as a left-back and central midfielder, respectively.

Wealth of Riches. There were a few teams where I could pick almost any player from their Starting XI to fit into this roster. The obvious team being Italy who won the 2020 European Championship, and then somehow flopped in World Cup qualification for a second cycle in a row. It is perhaps because of Italy’s quality that I chose their goalkeeper, Donnarumma, as my sole Italian. A ‘keeper can often have the most influence on a game relative to any individual field player. Plus, Italy’s defensive record is a large part of what won them that 2020 Euro’s tournament. Austria also provided me with plenty of options but again my high press theme made Laimer an easy choice as he is a teammate with Haidara and Forsberg at Leipzig. Although, it wasn’t easy to leave off Alaba after he and Real Madrid won the Champions League this season.

Filling in the Gaps. Lastly I had to assess where I was missing players in my roster. This is where positional needs pushed some players ahead of others on their national team. For example, I was in need of right-backs and found Celik from Turkey. On the other hand, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Turkey’s captain, might be a “higher profile” player in the eyes of many. Then again, Çalhanoğlu doesn’t seem to fit my high press scheme, so he would likely start on my bench. Am I going to bring Çalhanoğlu as a sub and then dig deeper at the right-back spot? For me, it made more sense to bring Celik. This is also the point where I found some fun standouts who usually wouldn’t be included in these “Rest of World” teams. This included Albanian defender Hysaj, Elif Elmas of North Macedonia, and Masuaku of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Honorable Mentions. These are the players who stood out on their national teams but missed the cut for me: Omar Alderete (Paraguay, Valencia), Amir Rrahmani (Kosovo, Napoli), Yangel Herrera (Venezuela, Espanyol), Edin Džeko (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Inter Milan), Eldor Shomurodov (Uzbekistan, Roma), Amir Murillo (Panama, Anderlecht), Alberth Elis (Honduras, Bordeaux), Michail Antonio (Jamaica, West Ham), Lukáš Hrádecký (Finland, Bayer Leverkusen), and Mu’nas Dabbur (Israel, 1899 Hoffenheim), Chris Wood (New Zealand, Newcastle United).

Lastly, how well would this team would do at the World Cup? 19 out of 26 of these players will be playing Champions League next year with 4 more playing in Champions League Qualifying, Europa League, or Conference League. This compares relatively well to teams which are considered favorites to win the competition, such as France, Brazil, England, and Germany. Of course, this team would have much less chemistry, so they would likely not play as cohesively as the favorites. At the same time, no one can scout them since they never played together before this. I think the disadvantages of being an All-Star-style team outweigh any advantages. Therefore, I would not call them favorites, but I think you could call them contenders. I would expect them to at least make it out of their group, likely win their Round of 16 game, and put in a good fight in the quarter-finals.

That’s all I have, let me know if you have a different “Rest of World” roster of your own! Hit me up at @BeardedJack on Twitter.

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

USMNT vs. Guyana Review

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

The USMNT won 4-0 late on Tuesday night against Gold Cup debutantes Guyana. While the US men won, the performance was short of dominant. Against a Guyana squad which consists of players who just barely meet the minimum requirement to be called “professionals”, the US could have played better. To define Guyana’s talent level more exactly, a majority of their players play in the 4th or 5th divisions in England, or the 2nd or lower divisions in the US. While the USMNT won, most would have hoped for a more convincing win.

With that said, here were my thoughts from the night, player by player, from best to worst performances:

  • Tyler Boyd was the Man of the Match, scoring his first and second goal ever for the US. He was consistently threatening making runs in behind the defense, and whipping in dangerous crosses. Additionally, he had a few field shifting long balls to Arriola on the other side that changed the angle of attack. Those are the types of passes that Head Coach Gregg Berhalter loves.
  • McKennie showed the grit and fight that this team has been missing of late. He tracked back to defend, he muscled guys off the ball, and he wasn’t afraid to commit a foul or two. The US desperately needed that. McKennie was also a huge threat in the final third, which I haven’t seen from him in past national team performances. Again, with the caveat that this team is the worst team at this tournament.
  • Lima was a terror up and down the right side of the field for the US. There were very few attacks coming down his flank and he added substantially to the attack as an overlapping fullback. He’s making a good argument that he should be the full-time starting right back even when DeAndre Yedlin is healthy.
  • Arriola continued to work hard down the left wing, getting into dangerous spaces. He’s been vocal about wanting to score more, as he missed a few sitters in recent friendlies. He put one away tonight, but probably wished he could redo one or two other opportunities.
  • Steffen contributed more with his feet than his hands, as the US built out of the back. He didn’t have any shaky moments like he did in the last two friendlies. He only needed to make one save on the night and he did so handily.
  • Bradley was solid *enough* defensively, and pinged a few of those Pirlo-esque long balls which he has become known for. I emphasize “enough” because it looked like Bradley was just barely able to snuff out the attacks from this Guyana team. Won’t be as easy as this tournament progresses.
  • Pulisic looked dangerous but lacked the final product for most of the game. He had a few progressions in the final third that were quite impressive, as one would expect from the $70 million man. However, none of these moves ended in a goal or an assist. And it’s not just that he wasn’t in the boxscore, it felt like he wasn’t all that close. His best chance was a point-blank shot that went straight at the ‘keeper. Maybe I’m being tough on him, but as the most talented player on the field, the bar is higher for Pulisic.
  • Long and Zimmerman both had decent outings, taking care of business defensively, and keeping the ball moving in possession. Zimmerman had one or two errant passes, but he was also asked to make tougher passes as Guyana started cutting off the simple pass to Bradley. I don’t believe Long had a single misplaced pass on the night, but as the middle centerback in what was essentially a back 3, he was just shuttling the ball between Zimmerman and Ream for most of the night.
  • Ream was asked to play similarly to Zimmerman trying a few passes centerbacks usually don’t try. Similarly, a few of them didn’t come off, which led to dangerous counters the other way. Ream also had a few defensive lapses that were less than ideal.
  • Zardes had a very Zardes performance. He made good runs, his positioning was great, he had some good hold-up play here and there, but his first-touch failed him at times, and he struggled to find the back of the net except for twice: one goal called back for offside and another that was an unintentional rebound off of his face.
  • For both Ream and Zardes, they gave performances we are used to. Not horrible, but definitely not ideal. Like a solid 4/10. Zardes is the backup, so I’m more okay with that. Finger’s crossed Jozy is fit for the rest of the tournament. With Ream … maybe Daniel Lovitz is less error prone? Yikes …
  • The substitutions (Roldan, Mihailovic, and Trapp), all had a mixed 20-30 mins. I think each one had a moment they made me go “Hey, this looks better than what we saw in those friendlies last week”, but then also had a moment that made me go “Yeahhh, but these guys are coming off the bench for a reason”. Might be a real problem that the US doesn’t have many dangerous options off the bench. Also might be a problem that we used 2 subs to limit the minutes high injury risk players, and then the third because a guy got injured.

One last note on the style of play and Berhalter. This game looked more like a Berhalter team than the previous two friendly losses. It shows that the team had a full week of practice together. They probably only have a day or two of practice sessions before the next game Saturday. How well this team gels, and executes Berhalter’s game plan are perhaps the most important “process goals” of the coming month.

The boys are up against the dreaded Trinidad & Tobago next, on Saturday. T&T lost to Panama earlier on Tuesday 2-0. If Panama take care of business against Guyana earlier on Saturday, T&T will be playing to stay alive in the tournament. USA will be playing for some redemption after their last loss to T&T knocked them out of World Cup Qualifying.