2016 USMNT Soccer
TommyL
Super Moderator
Finally have some time today to post some thoughts on the US Men's team. Just finished the January camp and two friendlies, and a big year on deck with World Cup Qualifiers, the Copa America, and the March Olympic playoff for the U-23s (and hopefully the Olympics to follow in August for that bunch).
Interesting time for us right now, as we seem to be very much at a crossroads as we transition some of the older guys out and figure out which younger guys we want to mix into the equation. Lots of excitement with Christian Pulisic getting some minutes in the Bundisliga, Matt Miazga making the move to Chelsea (still not sure how it will work out short term for him since I'm worried minutes will be hard to come by until he finds a loan next season). Jordan Morris finally turning pro (and I like the Seattle move, as I thinks minutes are more important right now than a bigger Euro club). Kiesewetter showed very well in the two friendlies I thought. I really like a lot of the guys in the pipeline in that 17-24 age range right now, but it might mean that 2022 is a better cycle for us than 2018.
I usually like trying to give a favorite 11, or what I'd project for 2018, but I've never had less of a clue as to where we're heading. Someone like Dempsey may still be our top goal scorer in 2 years, or he might not make the squad. Jones should be too old (and certainly isn't a CB), but could he still hang around? I'd think that Miazga-Brooks give us a nice CB pairing, but could someone like Gonzo still be getting minutes in Russia (or even Besler). And it seems like Jurgen likes Michael Orazco a lot more than I do. Where does Cameron fit in? or Fabian Johnson? Or Yedlin? All 3 are guys that can play in multiple places. Is Timmy Chandler still in the mix come 2018? Just so many questions for me, both right now (who is out best 11 for the March qualifiers) and come 2018. It's a good problem to have since the pool has more depth than it's ever had, but we're also lacking some of those top end guys right now (especially creative top end guys) that we need to really make the jump this cycle.
Enough rambling. Anyone have thoughts on what they saw in the two friendlies? (well, anyone other than Goats, since I'm sure he'll reply)
Interesting time for us right now, as we seem to be very much at a crossroads as we transition some of the older guys out and figure out which younger guys we want to mix into the equation. Lots of excitement with Christian Pulisic getting some minutes in the Bundisliga, Matt Miazga making the move to Chelsea (still not sure how it will work out short term for him since I'm worried minutes will be hard to come by until he finds a loan next season). Jordan Morris finally turning pro (and I like the Seattle move, as I thinks minutes are more important right now than a bigger Euro club). Kiesewetter showed very well in the two friendlies I thought. I really like a lot of the guys in the pipeline in that 17-24 age range right now, but it might mean that 2022 is a better cycle for us than 2018.
I usually like trying to give a favorite 11, or what I'd project for 2018, but I've never had less of a clue as to where we're heading. Someone like Dempsey may still be our top goal scorer in 2 years, or he might not make the squad. Jones should be too old (and certainly isn't a CB), but could he still hang around? I'd think that Miazga-Brooks give us a nice CB pairing, but could someone like Gonzo still be getting minutes in Russia (or even Besler). And it seems like Jurgen likes Michael Orazco a lot more than I do. Where does Cameron fit in? or Fabian Johnson? Or Yedlin? All 3 are guys that can play in multiple places. Is Timmy Chandler still in the mix come 2018? Just so many questions for me, both right now (who is out best 11 for the March qualifiers) and come 2018. It's a good problem to have since the pool has more depth than it's ever had, but we're also lacking some of those top end guys right now (especially creative top end guys) that we need to really make the jump this cycle.
Enough rambling. Anyone have thoughts on what they saw in the two friendlies? (well, anyone other than Goats, since I'm sure he'll reply)
Comments
Sounds like you don't want my opinion; that's cool. Enjoy talking to yourself. :laugh:
It would take a lot of effort to put together a top 11 for next week let alone 2018. That said, I'm also optimistic about the future and like the same young guys you do. I'm even somewhat optimistic about the present/near future. If you combine the MLS guys who looked good in the friendlies with the international guys (several of whom have been playing well recently) we have a pretty decent pool from which to choose. My biggest concern is JK sticking with guys I'm personally ready to move on from and never see again (Jones, Mix, Evans, Orozco, etc.).
I started to try to put together position-by-position thoughts but it was taking way too long. There are just too many guys for me to do it off the top of my head. Jozy is starting up top, Bradley is starting in some version of CM, Cameron is starting for me somewhere (probably CB) as is Fabian, and I'm sticking with Howard/Guzan through 2018 (I think I still prefer Howard but GK is way down my list of concerns). After that, there are guys at every position I currently prefer over others, but I'd probably forget a couple and it's hard for me to compare MLS guys who happened to look good in these past two friendlies (Nguyen, Nagbe, etc.) to guys I read have been doing well overseas (Bedoya, Wood, etc.) to U-23 guys... you get the idea.
If the U-23's fail to qualify, I'll be disappointed, but I think the loss to Honduras is where the blame should likely lie moreso than losing the playoff to Colombia if they do. I was impressed by their play down there (far more on the defensive end of course) and it was a shame to give up a pretty lame PK but Colombia definitely seems to be the better team.
Not much to say about the full MNT that hasn't already been said/written. At this point I'm just waiting to see the lineup and hoping for the best (i.e. not what I wrote above in early February).
As you can imagine, my feelings have not changed. I'm with the masses that want Yedlin back at RB and Cameron taking over at CB for Orozco. Not really sure what to do with the rest of the lineup to be honest. Apparently Bedoya may be hurt, Jozy doesn't appear recovered, and other than Zusi (who would probably fall into my list of guys we need to move on from), most of our midfielders seem more suited to play centrally than out wide. I guess I'd go with Dempsey/Wood up top again (watch Wondo start), obviously Bradley although I'm inclined to play him in the back of the diamond and utilize someone like Nagbe/Bedoya/Nguyen further up and the others out wide (throw Zardes into the mix). This means I should probably expect to see Bradley in front of Beckerman with Zusi and Zardes out wide, assuming Bedoya can't go.
At least I can be optimistic about Orlando City.
Since no one's reading this, I'll give myself props for nailing the above (although it's being listed as a 4-3-3 with Zardes up top).
Birnbaum in for Gonzo is a little surprising.