USMNT

Reaction to USMNT October Friendlies

Jack Venezia Soccer, USMNT , , , ,

It was a loss and a draw to South American competition in what could be Sarachan’s last camp as USMNT coach. Here are my notes from both games. Disclaimer: Since Sarachan isn’t going to be in charge for much longer, I don’t examine his tactics here.

Notes After Colombia Game:

Starting XI (4-2-3-1):

Steffen

Yedlin – Miazga – Brooks – Robinson

Bradley – Acosta

Weah – Green – Saief

Wood

Subs: Picault for Saief (58′), Delgado for Weah (68′), Sweat for Robinson (76′), Sargent for Wood (83′), Novakovich for Green (84′)

Notes:


  • Game in a nutshell:     We were outclassed for most of the game but were at 2-2 through 70 minutes. Then we changed our formation (Delgado came on we shifted to more of a 3-5-2 with Bradley as a center back and Delgado centrally next to Acosta) and Bradley’s age started to show. Colombia won the final 20 minutes 2-0. There is no question Colombia is a better team, so there’s no shame in losing to them. The last 20 minutes of any friendly are wonky because there are like a dozen subs coming on.
  • Weah’s stock has risen the most. He was burning Colombia at times and was tracking back to defend as well. Not to mention his absolutely gorgeous assist on Bobby Wood’s goal. For me he has joined Pulisic, Adams, and McKennie in that “Written in pen on the starting lineup” category. Credit to @mattluppy for having him there before these games. I still haven’t seen him play as a striker and I still want to see that, but for now I have no problem playing him on the wing. Also exciting that he mentioned going on loan starting in January to find regular minutes.
  • bobby_wood_1860_2011_2
    Bobby Wood came up with a goal against Colombia. (Wikimedia Commons)

    Wood’s stock has risen. His goal confirmed my previous opinion that Wood is a good player when he has service. If we have Pulisic on one wing and Weah on the other, then I think he’ll get a good amount of such service. If we had a must-win game tomorrow, he’s probably my starter

  • Sargent’s stock has risen. He only got 5 minutes but he totally roasted one of Colombia’s center backs in that time. Long term, as soon as he is getting regular minutes for Werder Bremen, or somewhere else on loan, he should probably start over Bobby Wood
  • Acosta’s stock has risen… as a No. 8. I thought he might be in competition with Green for the attacking midfield spot but he played pretty well as a box-to-box midfielder in this game. Right now I see him as McKennie’s No 1. backup beating out the likes of Roldan, and Delgado. Speaking of which …
  • Marky Delgado wasn’t flashy but he was clean. Shout out to @zlebmada for creating a Twitter thread of all of Delgado’s touches. He only had one bad touch and the rest were productive progressions which often lead to chances. I’d like to see him start a whole game against good competition. At the same time, box-to-box midfielder is out deepest position so I don’t know that he’ll get that chance
  • Michael Bradley was admittedly good for 70 minutes. He was culpable on both of Colombia’s late goals, more so on the last one. In a must-win game he is a good replacement for Adams if injured or a nice sub to bring on late to close out games. However, someone like Russell Canouse of DC United might be able to do the same thing and he’s 8 years younger than Bradley. Plus we don’t have any must-win games soon, so why not get Canouse the experience now? I’ll stop my rant there before it carries on into an additional article.
  • Green and Saief were disappointing. Both had nice moments here and there but also had poor moments here and there. Saief didn’t really defend. Shout out to @away_goals for creating a gif-thread on Twitter of Saief’s defensive woes. Green was slow to recognize some opportunities. I don’t think either should be starters, but in Green’s case there might not be a better option.
  • Robinson is the best option at LB for now, but we should give others players a chance at that position. Not sure who those other players are at this point. Maybe Villafana, maybe Vincent? Bello is 16 and has started getting minutes in Atlanta. Perhaps in January we can call him in.
  • Yedlin is the best option at RB for now, but similar to Robinson at left back, we should give other players chances. Yedlin is better than Robinson, but there are better options behind Yedlin (Cannon, Moore).
  • Brooks and Miazga were not great on the night, I wonder if that’s because of a new pair in front of them or if they had an off night. Either way it shows that there is always room for improvement.
  • Steffen was fine, even though there were a lot of goals, I do not think he was particularly culpable on any of them.
  • Picault, Sweat, and Novakovich did not impress in their substitution appearances. I wouldn’t mind if Picault and Sweat never get called-in again, but Novakovich wasn’t given a ton of time and he’s younger, so I hope he keeps coming back.
  • Disappointed we didn’t get to see Amon, glad he got to play on Tuesday.

On to the Peru game!

Starting XI (4-1-4-1):

Guzan

Cannon – Carters-Vickers – Long – Sweat

Trapp

Weah – Delgado – Acosta – Amon

Sargent

Subs: Green on for Amon (54′), Wood on for Sargent (68′), Bradley on for Acosta (77′), Yedlin on for Cannon (82′)

Notes:

  • The game in a nutshell: Peru’s starting XI had 300+ collective national team appearances. The US starting XI had >100 collective national team appearances. With that in mind, a 1-1 draw is a good result. Our front three of Amon, Sargent and Weah were fun to watch when our midfield was able to get them the ball. Again the US conceded late, when substitutions were being made left and right. I felt much better after this game than the Colombia game.
  • I like that Sarachan used the first friendly to throw out his ‘best XI’ and used his second friendly for experimentation. Hopefully the next coach does something similar. There are still a lot of players who could push their way into the conversation before 2022.
  • Formation became a 4-4-2 when Green came on for Amon. Green was up top with Sargent. Delgado was push out wide right.
  • Guzan getting the start was expected because Steffen left camp with an injury. I have no problems with it, but I wonder if Steffen would have played both games without the injury. It is worth mentioning that Guzan played well on the night and had no fault on the goal. I think its a coin flip between him and Steffen for the starting spot.
  • Aaron Long was fantastic. He did not make any incredible stops/saves because he did not need to. He did a lot of the small things right, e.g. pushing attackers wide so their shot was at a harder angle. Probably my third choice center back on our depth chart now. No blame on the goal.
  • Cameron Carters-Vickers was okay. He committed a bad foul just outside the box in the 60th minute, and the goal conceded by the US was due to a miscommunication between him and Yedlin, but still mostly Yedlin’s fault. I think I’d like to see other center backs audition for his spot.
  • Ben Sweat should never wear a USMNT jersey again. Despite having a better second half, he never looked great. A lot of his mistakes were glazed over with good defending by Aaron Long. There are other options at left back we should call-up instead including, but not limited to, Brandon Vincent.
  • The ball wasn’t on Cannon’s side of the field that much as Peru recognized that Sweat was a player they could exploit. With what we saw, Cannon seemed like he needed to adjust to the level of play defensively and seemed slightly out of sync with his teammates offensively. He didn’t usurp Yedlin’s starting spot (yet). However, since this was his first cap and he’s 20 yrs old, I want to see him get called-up in the future.
  • Yedlin’s only significant play was when he didn’t track the Peruvian runner that scored. That’s enough said.
  • Sargent showed some youth, but his stock definitely rose. He started the game with a bad turnover, but he had two filthy passes in the first half and a well-worked goal off of a restart in the second half. I repeat, I can’t wait for him to get professional minutes regularly.
  • Amon’s stock rose, and he absolutely blew past Saief on the depth chart. This was one of my questions going into this camp: which of these two would lay claim to that left wing spot. Amon’s combination with Sargent and Weah definitely won him the spot. I’m disappointed he left the game as early as he did.
  • Weah maintained a high level of play. I think he was limited by the formation to some degree, as he was not as electric as he was against Colombia. He still had a few moments with Sargent and Amon in the first half which were encouraging.
  • Acosta and Delgado delivered what we’ve come to expect. Acosta played well in both directions starting some attacks, and making some hard tackles. Delgado was clean on the ball as usual. Both of them are high on the depth chart behind Weston McKennie.
  • Trapp was soft. He allowed Peru to get past him with little resistance too often. Similar to Sweat, I think Aaron Long cleaned up a lot of those flaws. This team missed Tyler Adams.
  • Green and Wood were more of the same in their substitution appearances. Green had a few good flashes here and there, but was overall slow to recognize opportunities. It was his turnover in the U.S. half which led to the goal. Wood was workman like and relatively clean. Nothing spectacular.
  • Bradley came on late essentially as a “closer” to secure a result. Even though a goal was conceded it was not his fault. I would not mind him playing this role over the next year or so for the USMNT.

With these friendlies wrapped up, here is my ideal starting XI going forward (4-3-3):

Steffen

Yedlin – Brooks – Miazga – Robinson

Adams – Acosta – McKennie

Pulisic – Wood – Weah

Bench: Guzan, Long, Cannon/Moore, Bradley, Delgado, Amon, Sargent

This formation doesn’t have a true “Number 10”. The only player I’ve liked in that spot is Pulisic. He played there in last years World Cup Qualifiers. Part of me really wants to play a 4-2-3-1 with that ‘3’ line being “Weah – Pulisic – Amon” and either Wood or Sargent up top. I hesitate to do so since Pulisic plays wide for Dortmund and you should always try to play your best player in their best position. Perhaps Amon or Weah can play that central role? Youth options like Andrew Carlton (of Atlanta United) and Luca de la Torre (of Fulham), have yet to crack their club’s first team. Although neither has Sargent, but those two have to get call-ups before I put them in my ideal XI.

Steffen edges out Guzan because he’s younger. If Brooks or Miazga gets into a funk I feel more than comfortable starting Aaron Long. We need a fullback sub and neither Moore nor Cannon have put themselves above the other. I like Bradley as a “closer”, someone to bring on late to hold onto a result. I don’t want to see him start unless someone is injured. Delgado has been clean and mistake free in his USMNT appearances. Amon and Sargent are electric super-subs and could arguably be starting.

Oh, and by the way my XI up there consists of 4 Bundesliga starters (2 of which play Champions League), 1 Ligue 1 starter, 1 Premiere League starter, an 18 yr old kid on PSG, a 20 yr old Championship starter, one of the best defensive midfielders in MLS (at 19!), one of the best goalkeepers in MLS (at 23!), and one of the best box-to-box midfielders in MLS (at 23). The future is bright!

Now we wait to see what November holds! Hopefully it’s a new head coach and a healthy squad!

Gregg Berhalter should be the Next USMNT Head Coach

Jack Venezia MLS, Soccer, USMNT , , , ,

Last week, I revisited my thoughts on the USMNT crashing out of World Cup Qualifying. Now it’s time to assess the recovery and answer the question on everyone’s lips: who should be the next USMNT coach? Word on the street is that we may know as soon as November 1st.

In order to answer this question I’ll give a quick recap of what the interim coach Dave Sarachan has done and I’ll list the qualities I would like the next USMNT coach to have. I have someone in mind, so I’ll make my pitch for one coach in particular.

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Whoever the next coach is for the USMNT will have a young star to work with in Christian Pulisic. (Wikimedia Commons)

Dave Sarachan was announced as the interim head coach for the USMNT within days of the team’s loss to Trinidad & Tobago. So far, Sarachan has lead the team in half a dozen friendlies with a mixed bag of results. Generally, he has done a good job of calling in youth who will play a large role in years to come, namely, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Matt Miazga, and Timothy Weah. They have earned multiple caps over the last year and each will certainly be part of the team’s core going forward. It’s unfortunate Christian Pulisic has yet to join them, but I am excited to see him in the upcoming friendlies against Columbia and Peru. Sarachan has built a solid foundation of players for this team going forward.

Something that is often overlooked is what he has done for the mentality of this team. These young players are hungry when they are playing, despite these games meaning next to nothing. It’s something which has been sorely missed on the team over the last few years. I credit Sarachan here even if he has passively allowed the players to set the tone. The truth is past head coaches haven’t fostered the same environment where players want to fight for all 90 minutes.

That being said, Sarachan’s tenure hasn’t been all roses. Tactically, he suffers from some of the same ills that plagued Bruce Arena’s team. That is, his tactics are outdated, and his 4-1-4-1 formation probably won’t maximize our best XI’s talent. For an interim head coach, that’s fine. None of this should make the USMNT worse for the wear by the time competitive games come around. By that point, the permanent head coach will establish their system. Fingers crossed it’s a good one.

What do we want this new head coach to do? Here’s what I would like to see:

  1. Man-Manager/Motivator – Someone who can make any game feel like the World Cup Final. I think a few of our core players (at least Pulisic, Adams, Miazga, and Yedlin) are fairly self-motivated. They won’t need much of a push. Letting those players set an example and rewarding them appropriately will go a long way. The inverse is also true. If a player has a toxic attitude, they should be punished/benched. Similar to Sarachan, perhaps all this coach needs to do is let the players motivate each other.
  2. Tactician – Someone who can create a team identity. Personally, I’d like to see the USMNT play some attractive, possession-based soccer, but I’d be happy if we were a bunker-and-counter team or a pressing team, or any other style so long as we had an identity.
  3. Pragmatist – On the other hand, I think the head coach needs to be practical. If the next head coach wants us to be a pressing team, we can’t run a high press every game, all game. Depending on our opponent, line-up, conditions, etc. it may be more beneficial to play a different style for that one game. 
  4. Scout – Someone who will find talented Americans in all leagues and consider them for national team camps. You could also include winning over dual-nationals under this category. Recently the US lost a great potential player in Jonathan Gonzalez to Mexico because he got called into their camp first. That trend can’t continue. 
  5. Developer of Youth – Someone who knows when to bring in a young player, when to stick with a young player, and when to let go of an older player. The USMNT has sorely missed this over the last decade.
gregg_berhalter
Berhalter made 44 appearances on the US National team. (Wikimedia Commons)

If we can find a head coach who does all of the above, then we will be in a good position to achieve all of our future goals. With that said, I think Gregg Berhalter checks all of these boxes better than any other candidate. For those unaware, Berhalter is a former center back who currently coaches the Columbus Crew in MLS.  Let me walk you through my thought process:

  1. Man-Manager/Motivator – Berhalter falls under the man-manager heading more than the motivator. The best example is Kei Kamara. In 2015, Kei Kamara lead the league in goals for Berhalter’s Columbus Crew. They lost the MLS Cup to Portland and proceeded to collapse the following year. It was no secret that Kamara was a toxic presence in the locker room when the results weren’t going their way. Soon enough Kei Kamara gets traded to New England. A vocal, bad attitude can ruin a locker room. Despite Kamara being the top goal-scorer, Berhalter wasn’t afraid to move on from him. And like I said before, with vocal guys like Adams, McKennie, and Pulisic in the locker room, a coach may be able to pass these duties onto those guys. 
  2. Tactician – Berhalter’s teams regularly play some of the prettiest soccer in MLS. It’s possession-based, it’s methodical, and Berhalter has been able to plug and play different players into his system. Look at Gyassi Zardes. The LA Galaxy were playing him at right back at the end of last season because he wasn’t scoring goals. He gets traded to Columbus and he has 16 goals on the season. Ola Kamara scored a similar amount after being plucked out of a Scandinavian League, and before him it was Kei Kamara. Plug. And. Play. In the words of Will Trapp, Berhalter is great at “making guys on the field understand the clarity of the picture.” I have no doubts of Berhalter’s tactical know-how.
  3. Pragmatist – In 2015, the New York Red Bulls won their 2nd Supporter’s Shield in 3 years. They were playing a high-press style which was quite new and few teams knew how to counter it. The Red Bulls were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Final by none other than Berhalter’s Columbus Crew. One would expect New York’s high press to rip apart Columbus’ possession-based style. Instead, Columbus sat back, let New York have the ball, and killed them on the counter (a strategy which is effective against New York to this day). Point being: Berhalter wasn’t afraid to deviate from his tactical norm in order to get a result. That’s pragmatic coaching and something the US needs. He did something similar against Atlanta United in the 2017 playoffs, holding Atlanta scoreless and winning on penalties. 
  4. Scout – Not only is Berhalter Columbus’ head coach, but he is also the sporting director, meaning he makes the decisions when it comes to signing, trading and releasing players. With that role, he has brought in players like Artur, Ola Kamara and Milton Valenzuela to Columbus. Artur has become the perfect partner for Will Trapp and Valenzuela is arguably the best left back in the league. Berhalter has also done this on a low-budget team in Columbus. It’s not like he has the money to buy the best players; he had to find the right guy and get him for the right price. It hasn’t been all good for Berhalter in that regard. Pedro Santos is one of Columbus highest paid players and he has one goal over the course of the last year as a winger. Everyone whiffs on a signing from time to time. Despite Pedro Santos’ poor play, I still think Berhalter has more good than bad in this category.  
  5. Developer of Youth – This one is tougher as Columbus doesn’t exactly have the most prolific academy. Only Will Trapp and Alex Crognale are current Crew academy products on the roster and Crognale has been loaned out for the year. This is not the fault of Berhalter, as I doubt the Crew’s ownership has devoted that much money to their academy. That being said, Trapp is a commensurate professional. Say what you want about his play on the field, no one has a bad thing to say about him off the field. Additionally, half of developing youth is letting go of veteran players. Berhalter has shown a tendency to do just that as exemplified with Kei Kamara, and Tony Tchani. Tchani was Trapp’s partner in that 2015 season before he was traded and Artur filled the same role.

All of the above is why I have been on the Berhalter train for the past couple of months. Don’t get me wrong, there are other candidates I would be content with, such as Oscar Pareja, Jesse Marsch, or Tata Martino. But Pareja’s teams play more defensively than I’d like, and both Marsch and Tata seem to over-think big games and get the tactics wrong (For Marsh, look at the Red Bulls CONCACAF Champions League exit to Chivas, and for Tata look at Atlanta’s loss to Columbus last year in the playoffs and their recent loss to the Red Bulls). No candidate is perfect, I could just as easily point to Berhalter’s inexperience with developing youth as a weakness. I would rather take that unknown with Berhalter than known flaws with other coaches. 

And with that, I will see you next week where I will dissect the recent USMNT roster, examining my likes/dislikes, and project a starting XI! 

Evaluating the USMNT a Year Later

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

One year ago I wrote about the US Men’s National Team’s (USMNT) World Cup Qualifying cycle. At the time it was as much an emotional exercise as it was an intellectual one. Here I am revisiting the piece and seeing how my opinions have changed. Additions from this year are in italics. So, here goes nothing!

The USMNT 2018 World Cup Qualifying Cycle: A Post-Mortem

In theater, after the actors have taken their final bow, the members of the cast and crew will sometimes come together and discuss what went well and what did not. This process, is called a “post-mortem”; once the show is done and dusted, it must be laid to rest.

In this article, I hope to do the same for the USMNT 2018 WCQ cycle. Honestly, I am writing this in the hopes that I can help other people understand how we got here and what comes next. Additionally, I believe that I writing this will be therapeutic for me on some level. Without further ado…

THE PAST: Who can we blame?
After something unexpected like this, everyone wants to start pointing fingers. However, no single person can be blamed for this lost World Cup cycle. Here are a few people who played a major role.

Jurgen Klinsmann
Klinsmann has the second-highest winning percentage of any U.S. manager, trailing only Bruce Arean. (Wikimedia Commons)

Jurgen Klinsmann– Klinsmann was the head coach at the start of this 2018 WCQ cycle before he was fired for losing the first two games of qualifying. One game was home to Mexico, while the other was away to Costa Rica; neither of those games are easy games but losing both of them was unacceptable. Plus, there were plenty of problems on this team before those two losses.

I personally disliked many of Klinsmann’s quirks, but let me focus on things which affected this qualifying cycle. He believed in creating competition at every position. In an attempt to produce that ideal, he gave many different players minutes at crucial positions. What this caused was an overall lack of consistency, and lack of chemistry. Before the 2016 Copa America, John Brooks and Geoff Cameron had barely played together as a center-back pairing with Michael Bradley in front of them as a defensive midfielder. That was a foundational piece of the team at that tournament. Years of this little consistency gave Bruce Arena less to work with when he took over at the beginning of 2017.

There were also a number of players who Jurgen inexplicably would not call up to the national team. Jorge Villafana, Dax McCarty, Benny Feilhaber, and Sacha Kljestan (to name a few) could each have had another 20+ caps under their belts throughout this cycle if they were called up when they should have been. Meanwhile the likes of Julian Greene, Michael Orozco, and Mix Diskerud consistently received call-ups and panned out into next to nothing. When Arena took over, he brought in a few of these shunned players but they had to quickly acclimate to team.

Both of the above issues, lack of consistency and exclusion of useful players, may not seem super important but I firmly believe that both of them eroded the maximum potential of the core players on this USMNT.

399px-brucearena_20060410
Bruce Arena managed the U.S. at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, but missed qualification in 2018. (Wikimedia Commons)

Bruce Arena– He was brought in to steady the ship and ensure that the US would qualify for the World Cup. He failed. To be fair, as mentioned above, Arena was handed some tough cards to play with; two games played and both were losses. He had to get the results of ten games in eight games. As difficult asthe job was, it was not impossible.
Up until September, we looked good. We were undefeated and it looked like we would be fine. The loss to Costa Rica in September was tough to swallow but not damning. The US could survive that. We could not survive a loss to Trinidad & Tobago (T&T). Playing a line-up on short rest, in poor conditions, in a practically must-win game turned out to be pretty costly. Oddly, this was uncharacteristic of Arena. He rotated his squad between the home and away games of every other international break so far. I think he owns a lot of the blame for the loss to T&T and that loss is ultimately what eliminated the US. At the very least, in post-game interviews he owned that responsibility. I think people have been putting more blame on Arena than anyone else. That’s probably fair, but he’s not the only one to be blamed.

Sunil Gulati (I honestly forgot about this guy)- Gulati is the president of US Soccer Federation (USSF) and appointed both Jurgen and Bruce. First, it is strange for a national team head coach to last more than one World Cup cycle. Despite that, Sunil Gulati re-signed Klinsmann before the 2014 World Cup draw of pools even occurred. Then to keep him on after losing the 2015 Gold Cup in the semi-finals to Jamaica, and missing out on the 2017 Confederations Cup only to fire him after losing two WCQ matches really put the US in a pickle. Had Klinsmann been fired earlier, or not re-signed in the first place, the national team could have sailed a straighter course.

Then, picking Bruce Arena as a stop-gap seemed like the most logical choice at the time. And it probably was the best choice given the tough scenario. But Sunil Gulati put himself in that difficult position by waiting so long to fire Klinsmann. You reap what you sow.

The Players– As important as the above is, the team’s fate was decided on the field. And to be honest, it looked like the US were playing a preseason friendly for most of the final game that solidified their elimination. They knew what was at stake, and yet there was a decided lack of urgency to the team from the start. Despite this being the most talented and skilled USMNT ever, Alexi Lalas was right when he said that the US players were missing the grit of the old national teams. I still standby this sentiment.

Others– I will not entertain any arguments that US players playing in MLS is to blame for this. Even if it does own some level of blame in an indirect way it is negligible compared to what is stated above. In fact, besides Mexico, every other team in CONCACAF have a substantial number of national team players playing in MLS. If anything, MLS made the US’s qualifying more difficult because it has boosted programs like Panama and Honduras, not because it has deteriorated the play of American players.

800px-pulisic170727-2
Christian Pulisic is the face of the youth movement giving hope to fans of U.S. men’s soccer. (Wikimedia Commons)

Conversely, I understand the desire to use the US academy system as a scapegoat. However, players “in their prime” are the players who should have carried this team to the World Cup. Those are players ages 23 – 28ish. Those players did not show up as much as we needed them to and so we had to rely on the old-guard (Dempsey and Howard). But those “in their prime” players were in US academies approximately 10 years ago. If you believe that the US academy system has not changed since Matt Besler, Omar Gonzalez, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore came out of it you are sorely mistaken. The youngsters like Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Erik Palmer-Brown, Andrew Carleton, etc. are of a different breed of USMNT player. I am not saying that the US academy system is perfect, but it is improving and will continue to improve as time goes on.

Lastly, I will admit that I am not old enough to know this, but it feels like there are more young talented players coming out of the US than ever before. The key then, is continuing to develop those players once they join the senior team and mold them into a cohesive unit. That will be the job of the next head coach. Speaking of which …

THE PRESENT: What are the immediate next steps for US Soccer?

Changes- I would not be surprised if Bruce Arena resigns before this article is even posted online (He did). Sunil Gulati will almost certainly be out of a job as well but I do not know whether that will be of his own accord, or how quickly that will occur. USSF will definitely need to find replacements for them, but that process needs to be well thought-out, which may take some time. Plus, as much as it may not feel like it, USSF has some time, especially for the head coach position. Many head coaches looking to coach a national team may not be available until after the World Cup next summer.

USSF President– Carlos Cordeiro won the USSF election in Febuary. My prior speculation on this isn’t really interesting now. Jury is still out on whether Cordeiro was the right choice.

Head Coach- For the head coaching job, that will depend a lot on who is available and what the new USSF President wants. I think they will be looking for someone 1. Who is familiar with the US system/MLS 2. With national team coaching experience 3. Who has a record of developing youth. As of right now, Tata Martino of Atlanta United checks all of those boxes. Other candidates who check some of them are Peter Vermes of Sporting Kansas City, and Oscar Pareja of FC Dallas. Still, all of those names are within MLS. It is very possible that USSF look far and wide for the next head coach. A dark horse candidate that no one is talking about because he is relatively unproven is Patrick Viera (formerly) of NYCFC. He has done a very good job of getting the most out of his youth (see: Jack Harrison recently playing for the English U-21s)

For now, Dave Sarachan is the interim Head Coach. He’s done fine for an interim head coach. Since the end of the spring I’ve been rooting for Gregg Berhalter to win the position. I plan on writing a whole different column about that next week. Stay tuned.

THE FUTURE: What does the USMNT have to do to get back on track?

Owning CONCACAF- I think Matt Doyle phrased it well on “Club & Country: After the Whistle” when he said that the US needs to “start beating up on CONCACAF teams again”. The US need to be the best team on this continent before we can do anything major on the world stage. Don Garber, MLS Commissioner, has expressed similar sentiments about MLS. MLS needs to be the best league in CONCACAF before it can be compared to other leagues around the world. This is a natural progression for the league to take, and I agree with the Armchair Analyst himself that it is a progression for the US as well. (If you’re interested in soccer in the US, then Matt Doyle is a must-read)

Integrating Youth- In addition to re-becoming the shark which eats CONCACAF minnows, the US have to get better at incorporating youth into the national team. This is a separate process from developing youth in our academies. I am referring to making the leap from our youth teams to our full senior national team. For example, Matt Miazga is 22 (now 23) years old and starting in the Dutch League. Yet the most action he has seen for the senior team was one Gold Cup appearance this summer and some other cameos. At this point, he should be somewhat integrated into our center back rotation. I think Bobby Wood also integrated slowly onto this team. At this point he is in the rotation at striker but it feels like it came a year or two too late.

Dave Sarachan has laid a great foundation for this in recent friendlies. The rise of Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, et al. bodes well for the USMNT.

Clint_Dempsey
Clint Dempsey retired from international soccer in 2018, finishing his career third in caps and tied first in scoring. (Wikimedia Commons)

Saying Goodbye- Part of our problem with integrating youth is that we struggle to move on from older players. This problem will likely evaporate for a year or two as our oldest players retire (Thanks Clint Dempsey!).

With that, we have to say goodbye to some USMNT legends once and for all. Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, and DeMarcus Beasley will never play a competitive match again for the USMNT. These guys won’t see more than one or two more caps as celebrations of their careers (Clint didn’t even get that).

Additionally, say goodbye to the roles of players aged 27-30 on this team. Michael Bradley will be on the cusp of 35 by the time the 2022 World Cup rolls around. The young end of this cohort include Jozy Altidore and Darlington Nagbe who will be 31 in 2022, but also include Gonzalez and Besler who will both be 34 by then. I do not expect the US to abandon these players completely. However, when do we let go of players of this age group? I have a feeling the 2019 Gold Cup may be the last hurrah for many of them.

Seeing how well Miazga and Brooks paired together in recent friendlies, I do not see a reason to call any older center-backs. I still think Jozy and Nagbe could be useful for this team, especially over the next two years. After that I really hope some youth beat them out for their positions. After recent reports of Bradley’s ‘alpha dog’ mentality, I honestly think his presence will only be a hindrance.

Looking Forward- And with that I will leave everyone with some hope that it will get better from here. Christian Pulisic, the wonder-boy himself, the most talented player is US history, is only 20 years old. He played in that elimination game and you can bet he will never forget it. The most expensive player is US history (who was injured for the last few qualifiers), John Brooks, is 25 years old. The US U-20 team made it to the quarterfinals of the U-20 World Cup this summer without Pulisic and Shalke midfielder Weston McKennie and other notable absences. Their only loss was to the team that ended up getting second place. 19 year old Tyler Adams scored his first USMNT goal against Mexico. The future is bright.

After another year, I have some idea on who should be key players going forward. At this point, I would definitely put Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Brooks, Miazga, Yedlin, and Steffen on the field for a must win game. The other four starting positions are still up for grabs, which is fine for now. Our next competitive game is in the summer of 2019 and it’s the Gold Cup. Don’t get me wrong, I want to win the Gold Cup, but if we’re still working out a kink or two I won’t cry about it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before we worry about that we should worry about who the head coach is going to be. Come back next week to hear my thoughts on the head coach search!

US 40-man roster for Copa America analyzed

Chris McGlynn Soccer, USMNT , ,

By Jack Venezia

Jurgen Klinsmann
Klinsmann has won the second most matches as manager of the US in team history behind only Bruce Arena. (Wikimedia Commons)

On Sunday night US Men’s National Team Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann named 40 players to his provisional roster for the Copa America this summer. Copa America will be hosted in the United States. High level international teams such as Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina will be playing in Copa America along with the US. This summer will be the halfway point between the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, making this Copa America competition a benchmark for the USMNT’s progress (or lack thereof).

Here is the roster:

GOALKEEPERS (5): David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Ethan Horvath (Molde), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (15): Kellyn Acosta (FC Dallas), Ventura Alvarado (Club America), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Monterrey), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Omar Gonzalez (Pachuca), Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest), Matt Miazga (Chelsea FC), Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana), Tim Ream (Fulham), DeAndre Yedlin (Sunderland)

MIDFIELDERS (12): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (FC Nantes), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Jermaine Jones (Colorado Rapids), Perry Kitchen (Heart of Midlothian), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), Darlington Nagbe (Portland Timbers), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Danny Williams (Reading FC), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City)

FORWARDS (8): Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders FC), Ethan Finlay (Columbus Crew), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund),Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Bobby Wood (Union Berlin), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)

Keepers
This is the exact group I expected to be selected. There was some doubt as to whether Will Yarabrough would steal a spot from the aging Nick Rimando, but that does not seem to be the case. As for the final roster, Howard and Guzan are locks, after that is anyone’s guess.

Defense
All of the selections at centerback make sense; we shall see who makes the final roster though. I am excited for the futures of Birnbaum and Miazga. At the leftback position, I take issue with bringing on Timmy Chandler and not Brek Shea. Chandler has never been consistent for the national team and Brek Shea has been killing it for Orlando since returning from injury. Plus, Brek Shea has been called up by Jurgen multiple times in the past which makes this even more baffling. Lastly, Eric Lichaj comes out of nowhere to join this roster. He has not been called up in quite some time.

Midfield
All of the regulars are here, which bodes well for the team’s chances in the tournament, i.e. no one crucial is injured or in an awful run of form. It is nice to see Perry Kitchen called up as many have been saying he should be the defensive midfield heir to Kyle Beckerman’s throne. He likely won this spot over Will Trapp, who has not been playing well with Columbus in MLS. Also interesting to see Nagbe listed among this group since these all seem to be central midfielders. Hopefully this means we will see Nagbe play in his preferred role rather than being pushed out to the wing as he has been in the past.

 

Clint_Dempsey
Dempsey has a chance to pass DeMarcus Beasly for fifth-most caps wearing a US uniform. (Wikimedia Commons)

Forwards
It looks like Jurgen has listed the wingers (Finlay, Pulisic, and others at times) with the forwards, which leads me to believe the US will play a 4-3-3. Pulisic’s inclusion is exciting as he has been getting minutes and goals for German powerhouse Borussia Dortmund as a teenager. Jordan Morris and Bobby Wood have also been hot scorers recently. The real question is, who plays the center forward position of that 4-3-3, Jozy or Clint? Dempsey has been playing on the wing occasionally for Seattle, but with varying amounts of success.

It is worth noting that training camp starts on May 16 for the USMNT. US Soccer must submit the final 23-player roster no later than May 20. On May 22, 25 and 28 the 23-man roster will play three warm up games against Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Bolivia, respectively. Copa America opens on June 3 with the US playing Columbia.

The pressure is on for Klinsmann to find some success in this tournament. After failing to win the Gold Cup last summer and a poor run in World Cup Qualifying. This is going to be a much tougher test, but the US should come away with a couple positive results.