US Men's National Team (2 Viewers)

[El Floppo]

Those Academy teams are not super cheap. MLS Next is hellspensive. At least in my area.

They are very expensive but to be clear, these are not the MLS academies I am referring to. The MLS academies are almost all free.

MLS Next is a large network of club teams (I think like 600 teams nation wide).

I was more involved than I want to let on here, but even the MLS ones cost.

well, sheet man- don't bogart that academy info! spill! I am always happy to learn new stuff to change my thoughts.

I'll DM when I have time later.

for everybody's benefit, post here if you could! unless there's a reason to keep this secret?

 

[El Floppo]

• I want to be impressed by Scally, but he never seems as good to me as what others are saying

Scally is a very interesting player because he is so much of a tweener for me.

Not big but not small
Not fast but not slow
Not led footed but not technically strong

I am not sure what he does really well and I am not sure what he sucks at.

But to your point, he does not really pop when he is on the field for the US. He does not have the wide attacking instinct GGG usually wants out of his wide backs. Jedi has very little foot skills but his willingness to get up and down that wing does present some problems for the opponent.

What was most concerning was he had almost no connection to Weah most of the game, whether by tactics or by not being used to playing together.

Only quibble I would have is that Scally is pretty big for a fullback as he's 6' tall. In a lot of ways, he a modern Churundolo. But in the modern game, there has been some thought he's better suited as a wide centerback in a back 3.

But it's important to keep in mind he's still 20 years old and is in his 3rd season starting in the Bundesliga - under 3 different coaches which suggests it's no fluke/favoritism. Dolo went to Hannover at 19 but played 4 seasons in the Bundes2 before they were promoted. His first Bundesliga season was at 23. I don't know if Scally will have Dolo's USMNT career but I think he'll surpass his club career which very few US players can say.

if we can get anything close to Dolo (one of my top 3 favorite US players), I'm all in.

Dolo was SO consistent in all aspects of his game. teutonic, in a way. super high floor.

I've seen flashes from Scally that shows he might have more on the offensive side- and even though his passing was pretty poor last night, I thought his man defending was solid. he's used to going against these guy in league play and seems to always elevate to play his best against the best teams in the bundie.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Scally has a little Chris Klein in him in terms of size and movement and what not. Obviously a better player, but he just reminds me of him build-wise and style-wise some.

 

[Orange&Blue]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

 

[PIK95]

Those Academy teams are not super cheap. MLS Next is hellspensive. At least in my area.

They are very expensive but to be clear, these are not the MLS academies I am referring to. The MLS academies are almost all free.

MLS Next is a large network of club teams (I think like 600 teams nation wide).

I was more involved than I want to let on here, but even the MLS ones cost.

well, sheet man- don't bogart that academy info! spill! I am always happy to learn new stuff to change my thoughts.

I'll DM when I have time later.

for everybody's benefit, post here if you could! unless there's a reason to keep this secret?

It's not a secret, but there is definitely things I don't want to discuss publicly. Mostly because of friends still in the middle of everything. I spent many years seeing things behind the curtain, I don't think it would be fair to publicly set fire to people's careers. I think that makes sense. I do feel ok saying generally that pay to play is still a huge problem in regards to improving our "National Team" player pool. I also think it's obvious to say that professional organizations goals are almost at odds with what the national team (and other organizations) is trying to accomplish, especially long term.

 

[El Floppo]

I also think it's obvious to say that professional organizations goals are almost at odds with what the national team (and other organizations) is trying to accomplish, especially long term.

not to me it isn't... can you explain?

 

[El Floppo]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

I was at my daughter's tennis clinic tonight watching money go down the drain. I feel your pain there.... and try tennis if you want to really set fire to your income.

 

[El Floppo]

Scally has a little Chris Klein in him in terms of size and movement and what not. Obviously a better player, but he just reminds me of him build-wise and style-wise some.

waiting on the John Doyle name drop...

 

[PIK95]

I also think it's obvious to say that professional organizations goals are almost at odds with what the national team (and other organizations) is trying to accomplish, especially long term.

not to me it isn't... can you explain?

The main goal of any professional organization is to find that one guy that can be a star on their top team. NOTHING else matters. "Development" is a word that gets used by many people to make it easier to get people's cash. They are only there to find that one kid who is crazy fast and athletic and grab him asap. So many incredibly talented and dedicated kids get used, in the name of finding that one guy. Style of play, team building, chemistry, and even skills don't even matter to them. The worst part is families totally buy into the system, thinking they are helping to improve our player pool at a minimum. It's a ruse. So many bad coaches will use words like development to get families to buy in and pay their rents.

 

[encaitar]

Didn't get a chance to watch live, but just finished the replay. Wow. Defensively we were awful. Overrun even. Offensively? Pulisic was very good. Untouchable at times in the first half. Weah looked solid again in his role... Gio showed his talent. Everyone else.... Oof.

It's hard to figure out how much we should take from a game like this. When I look at Germany's front line.... Musiala, Wirtz, and Sane..... Good god. That's a frontline dreams are made of. If nations were like clubs we could sell our entire front line and still not afford any one of those 3. It's not hard to see why they had so many good chances. Give them a better 9 and they'd have put 6 past us in that game.

Their midfield was WAY too much for Musah and McKennie. I also think it was a mistake to setup with essentially only 2 mids against that team. GGG has to put the team in a better situation tactically IMO. Gundogan is SO criminally underrated in football. He's constantly getting in passing lanes and is truly one of the best at picking out line breaking passes. He bossed the midfield.

Pulisic looked like he belonged playing alongside the world class talent Germany had out there. Still haven't seen an angle down the line on his offsides goal, but it looked like Hummels was close to holding him on. The PK? The only angle we have doesn't look too convincing, but in his interviews afterwards CP is adamant that it was a penalty. I know players are always their own advocates, but I don't think he'd mention it if it were a dive. That goal?! Beautiful. One of the better goals in his career. After he scored it looked like Germany changed their focus and closed him down quick whenever he had the ball after that. Without much help it pretty much shut down our attack.

Speaking of the two questionable decisions.... VAR should be used even in friendlies. I'd think games like this where the decisions don't REALLY matter would be great training exercises for new VAR refs. No idea why this isn't done.

As for my takeaway? Germany is 10 times more talented than us. That was made pretty clear. Pulisic was the only US player that I felt could find game time in that squad based on today's game. I know they are ranked lower than us in FIFA rankings, but that's because they had terrible coaching this last cycle(and hadn't added Musiala and Wirtz yet). Now they have probably the best national coach in the world(based on club resume anyways) and it shows. They not only set up well, but they also changed tactics quickly and effectively once they saw that CP was giving them so much trouble. Then, in the 2nd, it was clear they had the US tactics figured out and shut us down completely. It was a pretty good coaching debut IMO.

I felt we played with them for 30 minutes. I thought one could even argue we were slightly better in those first 30 minutes. 15 years ago I'd have been happy to see the US play with a team like Germany for a third of the game and come away with a great goal. Now I'm just disappointed that we DIDN'T play with them for the other 2/3rds of game. I'm not sure if that means we're a better team than we showed today or if my expectations are at an unrealistic level.

 

[BassNBrew]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

Couldn't afford it or just smart?

No non-soccer vacations for 15 years and pushing retirement from 67 to 70-72 made it "affordable".

 

[CletiusMaximus]

I think the pay to play issues have been thoroughly hashed over the past decade or so, and while the MLS academies are perhaps a step in the right direction, the same problems persist. No kid is ever going to be in position to get an invite to an academy without having parents who have paid (tens of) thousands for youth clubs, coaching and travel starting at a young age. Its just something we have to accept - that lots of great potential will fall through the cracks.

I have a friend who lives in a small town in Bavaria (20k) where there are many youth soccer clubs who all play each other in regional leagues, hardly travelling more than 20 miles or so away their entire season. The best kids from those clubs are pulled twice a week where they train together with a higher level coach. This is mandated by the DFB. Those coaches are in contact with regional associations and they work to get the best kids selected for regional teams, and so forth up the ladder essentially at no cost to the families. So kids with talent have a good chance of being recognized and developed regardless of their background or family means from a young age. It’s part geography but mostly just being smarter and more serious about finding and developing talent.

In contrast, my daughter just made a volleyball team that costs $3,500 in fees and they play tournaments literally coast to coast. She's 12 and not very good, but happens to be extremely tall for her age. It is incredibly stupid, and ultimately just a money-grab from stupid parents like me. We have at least 20-30 girls youth volleyball clubs in our area and should be fine just playing against teams right here in our backyard but for some reason allow ourselves to be convinced we have to travel to cities just like ours to play teams just like ours a thousand miles away.

 

[The Z Machine]

We have at least 20-30 girls youth volleyball clubs in our area and should be fine just playing against teams right here in our backyard but for some reason allow ourselves to be convinced we have to travel to cities just like ours to play teams just like ours a thousand miles away.

That's ridiculous and does a disservice to everyone involved.

 

[SwampDawg]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

That is true of pretty much all youth sports except football and that is because football is primarily a school played sport and not played year round due to the violence. Basketball AAU travel is not cheap. The big difference is you have the sneaker companies pumping tons of money into it and a bunch of backhanded payments that they can pull the best of the best and play them for free. But one of my sons good friends (kid is not NBA good but will likely play D2 or D3 college) plays on an AAU team, cost isn't much different then my sons ECNL soccer team other then we travel a little more for showcases. Have other friends whose son plays at a power 5 D1 baseball program, they traveled even more then we do for soccer for travel baseball when he was in high school and before. Now the one big difference is you still can be discovered in basketball and baseball playing only for your school team, it's not likely but if you throw 90+ mph college scouts will hear and come watch you, maybe you get some college offers and there get some better coaching and can get drafted. Same for the kid who is 6'8" and can jump out of the gym in basketball. High School soccer in the US is so bad that if the next Messi is playing only school soccer no one is going to know.

The other thing when comparing the US to Europe and trying to use that model is the shear size. England has 20 premier league teams, 24 Championship side teams and 24 League One teams all of which I assume have youth academies that they fund looking for future players (and probably some of the clubs below them do as well). That is 68 professional clubs with free to play academies covering and area of say NY, NJ and PA that have 3 MLS teams and 1 USL Championship team covering the same sized area. Even if the US academies take in 3 times the number of players as an English teams academy they are going to miss a ton of kids.

Another big difference is that in the US the goal for many is still to use a sport to get to college where as in Europe it is to turn pro. Most parents wouldn't spend the money with very little hope of going pro and kids playing just for the love of playing would just be in local youth leagues were you are paying for uniforms and ref fees and that is it.

 

[BassNBrew]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

That is true of pretty much all youth sports except football and that is because football is primarily a school played sport and not played year round due to the violence. Basketball AAU travel is not cheap. The big difference is you have the sneaker companies pumping tons of money into it and a bunch of backhanded payments that they can pull the best of the best and play them for free. But one of my sons good friends (kid is not NBA good but will likely play D2 or D3 college) plays on an AAU team, cost isn't much different then my sons ECNL soccer team other then we travel a little more for showcases. Have other friends whose son plays at a power 5 D1 baseball program, they traveled even more then we do for soccer for travel baseball when he was in high school and before. Now the one big difference is you still can be discovered in basketball and baseball playing only for your school team, it's not likely but if you throw 90+ mph college scouts will hear and come watch you, maybe you get some college offers and there get some better coaching and can get drafted. Same for the kid who is 6'8" and can jump out of the gym in basketball. High School soccer in the US is so bad that if the next Messi is playing only school soccer no one is going to know.

The other thing when comparing the US to Europe and trying to use that model is the shear size. England has 20 premier league teams, 24 Championship side teams and 24 League One teams all of which I assume have youth academies that they fund looking for future players (and probably some of the clubs below them do as well). That is 68 professional clubs with free to play academies covering and area of say NY, NJ and PA that have 3 MLS teams and 1 USL Championship team covering the same sized area. Even if the US academies take in 3 times the number of players as an English teams academy they are going to miss a ton of kids.

Another big difference is that in the US the goal for many is still to use a sport to get to college where as in Europe it is to turn pro. Most parents wouldn't spend the money with very little hope of going pro and kids playing just for the love of playing would just be in local youth leagues were you are paying for uniforms and ref fees and that is it.

NCAA only allows 9.9 scholarships per team (14 for women, yeah title 9). UNC currently have 36 kids on their soccer roster, 9 from overseas who probably get the bulk of the money. 9.9 is the max, some college teams only allot 2 per year. LaCrosse allows 12.6, basketball 13, baseball 11.7, hockey 18. Soccer is probably the worst route to paid or partially paid college.

 

[PIK95]

Nobody really cares about the NBA, MLB, or NFL National Teams, If they really even exist. Winning the World Cup is every countries goal in soccer obviously. And not every country plays baseball and football. Many do play basketball, but the World Championships are not very meaningful to Americans imo.

If you told a football kids mom and dad that the goal was to beat Germany in the World Cup final they would laugh in your face. Most people playing at a certain age of soccer know and are excited to help their country reach that goal. That's how it is around here anyway.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

That is true of pretty much all youth sports except football and that is because football is primarily a school played sport and not played year round due to the violence. Basketball AAU travel is not cheap. The big difference is you have the sneaker companies pumping tons of money into it and a bunch of backhanded payments that they can pull the best of the best and play them for free. But one of my sons good friends (kid is not NBA good but will likely play D2 or D3 college) plays on an AAU team, cost isn't much different then my sons ECNL soccer team other then we travel a little more for showcases. Have other friends whose son plays at a power 5 D1 baseball program, they traveled even more then we do for soccer for travel baseball when he was in high school and before. Now the one big difference is you still can be discovered in basketball and baseball playing only for your school team, it's not likely but if you throw 90+ mph college scouts will hear and come watch you, maybe you get some college offers and there get some better coaching and can get drafted. Same for the kid who is 6'8" and can jump out of the gym in basketball. High School soccer in the US is so bad that if the next Messi is playing only school soccer no one is going to know.

The other thing when comparing the US to Europe and trying to use that model is the shear size. England has 20 premier league teams, 24 Championship side teams and 24 League One teams all of which I assume have youth academies that they fund looking for future players (and probably some of the clubs below them do as well). That is 68 professional clubs with free to play academies covering and area of say NY, NJ and PA that have 3 MLS teams and 1 USL Championship team covering the same sized area. Even if the US academies take in 3 times the number of players as an English teams academy they are going to miss a ton of kids.

Another big difference is that in the US the goal for many is still to use a sport to get to college where as in Europe it is to turn pro. Most parents wouldn't spend the money with very little hope of going pro and kids playing just for the love of playing would just be in local youth leagues were you are paying for uniforms and ref fees and that is it.

The expense of education in our country as opposed to everywhere else in the world plays a huge role in this problem. I knew a guy some years ago who came up through the FC Dallas system and played for the US youth teams at every level all over the world. When he was a senior in high school he had an offer to trial at Liverpool and was welcome to continue at Dallas, but he also had a scholarship offer to play soccer at Duke. It was not a hard decision for him and his family and he came from a family of means. If anyone could afford to take a year or two off to pursue a dream he was the guy. But the value of the scholarship was too much to ignore. He's now a lawyer.

 

[NewlyRetired]

Nobody really cares about the NBA, MLB, or NFL National Teams, If they really even exist. .

It may have just been a one off but the most recent World Baseball Classic performed extremely well both at the gate and on US tv as well as doing well world wide.

From Record-Breaking Television, Attendance And Merchandise Sales, 2023 World Baseball Classic Was A Home Run

The 2023 World Baseball Classic was a rousing success on a host of levels including attendance, television viewership, and more. Here's a look inside the staggering numbers.

www.forbes.com

Also, Basketball and hockey at the Olympics do extremely well and are very popular on US tv as well as world wide. Basketball now has enough international talent that they should be able to figure out a true World Cup for themselves, but they have yet to put it together successfully. There is no way baseball should be beating basketball in a stand alone world championship in popularity but that is where we are now.

American Football does not really belong in the equation because it ranks so far behind almost every other team sport in terms of countries that play the sport.

 

[SwampDawg]

I have a friend who lives in a small town in Bavaria (20k) where there are many youth soccer clubs who all play each other in regional leagues, hardly travelling more than 20 miles or so away their entire season. The best kids from those clubs are pulled twice a week where they train together with a higher level coach. This is mandated by the DFB. Those coaches are in contact with regional associations and they work to get the best kids selected for regional teams, and so forth up the ladder essentially at no cost to the families. So kids with talent have a good chance of being recognized and developed regardless of their background or family means from a young age. It’s part geography but mostly just being smarter and more serious about finding and developing talent.

Here is the thing, the coaching those kids get even at their local club is probably way better then the local clubs like that in the US can offer because they are normally dads coaching and in 80% or more of the cases they probably never played soccer here. This is why you get the kick and chase style that dominates the local youth leagues. For example we have a local youth "travel" league that covers a couple counties. Most of the clubs involved are local clubs based off school district, sort of what you said above everyone is within 30 miles or so. But almost all the teams a re dad coached and the Union academy coaches aren't coming out to scout those games. No way they could just based on the sheer area they would have to cover. Now they have started to have some clubs become "affiliates" and they will send trainers out maybe twice a year to clinics for a club and maybe they'll see a kid that they wouldn't have otherwise that way. That is something new atleast for our local club that didn't exist when my son played for them through U13.

 

[NewlyRetired]

This is a good article on how tough it is going to be to replace Adams against the top tier teams

===========================

The USMNT's struggle to play well without Tyler Adams is a problem

Tyler Adams brings a unique blend of physicality and defensive nous to the USMNT midfield. Without him, the Americans' engine room is misfiring.

www.espn.com

 

[PIK95]

Nobody really cares about the NBA, MLB, or NFL National Teams, If they really even exist. .

It may have just been a one off but the most recent World Baseball Classic performed extremely well both at the gate and on US tv as well as doing well world wide.

From Record-Breaking Television, Attendance And Merchandise Sales, 2023 World Baseball Classic Was A Home Run

The 2023 World Baseball Classic was a rousing success on a host of levels including attendance, television viewership, and more. Here's a look inside the staggering numbers.

www.forbes.com

Also, Basketball and hockey at the Olympics do extremely well and are very popular on US tv as well as world wide. Basketball now has enough international talent that they should be able to figure out a true World Cup for themselves, but they have yet to put it together successfully. There is no way baseball should be beating basketball in a stand alone world championship in popularity but that is where we are now.

American Football does not really belong in the equation because it ranks so far behind almost every other team sport in terms of countries that play the sport.

I meant, how many young kids are saying "It's my dream to play in the Basketball (FIBA?) World Championships!"
I have heard so many kids over the years say that they wanted to play in the World Cup.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

This is a good article on how tough it is going to be to replace Adams against the top tier teams

It will be tough, but I'm at the point where I'd like to see the next true #6 in line than keep playing guys out of position. Unfortunately, I have no idea at all who that is today.

 

[El Floppo]

This is a good article on how tough it is going to be to replace Adams against the top tier teams

It will be tough, but I'm at the point where I'd like to see the next true #6 in line than keep playing guys out of position. Unfortunately, I have no idea at all who that is today.

article references the German mahooley or whatever, as well as Johnny, Tessman and somebody else...

but I agree- A: we can't assume Tyler will play another minute for the US. B: let's get our guys playing where they belong... not try to force them into situations that hurt them and the team. again- I thought Musah and Swag had enough chemistry and soccer smarts to be able to cover that role playing together- and I'm sure it could work against lesser teams... but then we'd have both of them not doing what they're best at.

 

[NewlyRetired]

This is a good article on how tough it is going to be to replace Adams against the top tier teams

It will be tough, but I'm at the point where I'd like to see the next true #6 in line than keep playing guys out of position. Unfortunately, I have no idea at all who that is today.

article references the German mahooley or whatever, as well as Johnny, Tessman and somebody else...

but I agree- A: we can't assume Tyler will play another minute for the US. B: let's get our guys playing where they belong... not try to force them into situations that hurt them and the team. again- I thought Musah and Swag had enough chemistry and soccer smarts to be able to cover that role playing together- and I'm sure it could work against lesser teams... but then we'd have both of them not doing what they're best at.

Since I have seen all our other choices, I would be interested in seeing if Maloney could get some minutes tomorrow night.

A bigger problem GGG may need to solve is that Tyler may be the only American alive right now that can play the 6 by himself against very good teams. And even then it might be marginal at times. Gio is the answer to this question because a front line of Pulisic, Weah, Balogun and a fully fit and in form Gio at the 10 should allow us to play two natural 6's more often when needed.

If the rumors of Koleosho are true that may open up another choice in that maybe if he is as good as he seems at times in the EPL, he could take over one of the wing spots from Pulisic, and move Pulisic to the middle in front of the two 6's.

 

[NewlyRetired]

Mitrovic (US Olympic coach) says they have been in a lot of contact with Noel Buck over the last 2 years.

https://twitter.com/TWDTV1/status/1714057400796238059

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Gio is the answer to this question because a front line of Pulisic, Weah, Balogun and a fully fit and in form Gio at the 10 should allow us to play two natural 6's more often when needed.

Endorsed! If we're going to play Reyna in a front four, I'd love to see Adams + Musah or Adams + APTBNL behind them. But not McKennie or LDLT.

(but would you really take McKennie out for Reyna?)

 

[The Z Machine]

but would you really take McKennie out for Reyna?

Depends on who we're playing. Wes seems to pick up cards and Giobis always hurt so it's not like both are available all the time

 

[NewlyRetired]

but would you really take McKennie out for Reyna?

Depends on who we're playing. Wes seems to pick up cards and Giobis always hurt so it's not like both are available all the time

It does sadly seem to be our lot with this generation that the team is rarely healthy at the same time so the need to decide "should I play X over Y" is mitigated.

Also, having these type of questions, IMO, is a good thing. All top playing countries have to face really hard decisions. It would be lovely to get to a spot some day where our quality in depth is high enough that an obvious 11 to nine out of ten fans is not easy to make.

 

[NewlyRetired]

I thought this was announced last week but I guess it is now officially official. Tough spot to join with QPR in a relegation spot right now.

==========================

LONDON (AP) — United States international Reggie Cannon has joined English second-tier team Queen’s Park Rangers on a four-year contract, the club said Tuesday.

Cannon was allowed to sign outside of the transfer window because he was a free agent after leaving Portuguese club Boavista in June.

“I have always wanted to play in England, this is an incredible opportunity to show what I can do,” the 25-year-old defender said. “I have always wanted to attack overseas football because I think that is where the best players are, and that is how you find your better game and develop, so I really think this will help me achieve the best that I can be as a footballer.”

 

[NewlyRetired]

Damn we need a WC 2026 thread but any ways, ESPN is reporting SoFi Stadium has been removed as a host stadium for WC 2026. No word yet on what stadium will replace it.

 

[SwampDawg]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

That is true of pretty much all youth sports except football and that is because football is primarily a school played sport and not played year round due to the violence. Basketball AAU travel is not cheap. The big difference is you have the sneaker companies pumping tons of money into it and a bunch of backhanded payments that they can pull the best of the best and play them for free. But one of my sons good friends (kid is not NBA good but will likely play D2 or D3 college) plays on an AAU team, cost isn't much different then my sons ECNL soccer team other then we travel a little more for showcases. Have other friends whose son plays at a power 5 D1 baseball program, they traveled even more then we do for soccer for travel baseball when he was in high school and before. Now the one big difference is you still can be discovered in basketball and baseball playing only for your school team, it's not likely but if you throw 90+ mph college scouts will hear and come watch you, maybe you get some college offers and there get some better coaching and can get drafted. Same for the kid who is 6'8" and can jump out of the gym in basketball. High School soccer in the US is so bad that if the next Messi is playing only school soccer no one is going to know.

The other thing when comparing the US to Europe and trying to use that model is the shear size. England has 20 premier league teams, 24 Championship side teams and 24 League One teams all of which I assume have youth academies that they fund looking for future players (and probably some of the clubs below them do as well). That is 68 professional clubs with free to play academies covering and area of say NY, NJ and PA that have 3 MLS teams and 1 USL Championship team covering the same sized area. Even if the US academies take in 3 times the number of players as an English teams academy they are going to miss a ton of kids.

Another big difference is that in the US the goal for many is still to use a sport to get to college where as in Europe it is to turn pro. Most parents wouldn't spend the money with very little hope of going pro and kids playing just for the love of playing would just be in local youth leagues were you are paying for uniforms and ref fees and that is it.

NCAA only allows 9.9 scholarships per team (14 for women, yeah title 9). UNC currently have 36 kids on their soccer roster, 9 from overseas who probably get the bulk of the money. 9.9 is the max, some college teams only allot 2 per year. LaCrosse allows 12.6, basketball 13, baseball 11.7, hockey 18. Soccer is probably the worst route to paid or partially paid college.

I didn't say it was a good route but 9.9 scholarships per team x all the D1 and D2 programs (plus D3 programs can "find" money other ways if they want a kid) is still a lot better odds then playing professionally. As for the overseas players the reason so many schools have them isn't they are that much better but because they get scholarships under different programs and don't cost the school there athletic scholarships. So a coach say has a 30 man roster, go get 12 overseas kids that are equal but not any better then US kids, now take those 9 scholarships and you only need to divide them over 18 players and you can offer more to get the best players even though 12 American kids just as good as the overseas players get passed over. You honestly can't blame the coaches who are coaching for their job.

 

[Sammy3469]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

That is true of pretty much all youth sports except football and that is because football is primarily a school played sport and not played year round due to the violence. Basketball AAU travel is not cheap. The big difference is you have the sneaker companies pumping tons of money into it and a bunch of backhanded payments that they can pull the best of the best and play them for free. But one of my sons good friends (kid is not NBA good but will likely play D2 or D3 college) plays on an AAU team, cost isn't much different then my sons ECNL soccer team other then we travel a little more for showcases. Have other friends whose son plays at a power 5 D1 baseball program, they traveled even more then we do for soccer for travel baseball when he was in high school and before. Now the one big difference is you still can be discovered in basketball and baseball playing only for your school team, it's not likely but if you throw 90+ mph college scouts will hear and come watch you, maybe you get some college offers and there get some better coaching and can get drafted. Same for the kid who is 6'8" and can jump out of the gym in basketball. High School soccer in the US is so bad that if the next Messi is playing only school soccer no one is going to know.

The other thing when comparing the US to Europe and trying to use that model is the shear size. England has 20 premier league teams, 24 Championship side teams and 24 League One teams all of which I assume have youth academies that they fund looking for future players (and probably some of the clubs below them do as well). That is 68 professional clubs with free to play academies covering and area of say NY, NJ and PA that have 3 MLS teams and 1 USL Championship team covering the same sized area. Even if the US academies take in 3 times the number of players as an English teams academy they are going to miss a ton of kids.

Another big difference is that in the US the goal for many is still to use a sport to get to college where as in Europe it is to turn pro. Most parents wouldn't spend the money with very little hope of going pro and kids playing just for the love of playing would just be in local youth leagues were you are paying for uniforms and ref fees and that is it.

NCAA only allows 9.9 scholarships per team (14 for women, yeah title 9). UNC currently have 36 kids on their soccer roster, 9 from overseas who probably get the bulk of the money. 9.9 is the max, some college teams only allot 2 per year. LaCrosse allows 12.6, basketball 13, baseball 11.7, hockey 18. Soccer is probably the worst route to paid or partially paid college.

I didn't say it was a good route but 9.9 scholarships per team x all the D1 and D2 programs (plus D3 programs can "find" money other ways if they want a kid) is still a lot better odds then playing professionally. As for the overseas players the reason so many schools have them isn't they are that much better but because they get scholarships under different programs and don't cost the school there athletic scholarships. So a coach say has a 30 man roster, go get 12 overseas kids that are equal but not any better then US kids, now take those 9 scholarships and you only need to divide them over 18 players and you can offer more to get the best players even though 12 American kids just as good as the overseas players get passed over. You honestly can't blame the coaches who are coaching for their job.

For a lot of parent paying to play, it’s not just about the schollie at this point, but more just having a better (less of a crapshoot) to get into to a good school. College admissions has gotten even crazier since COVID and athletics is one of the last methods of injecting some type of normalcy to the process.

 

[BassNBrew]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

That is true of pretty much all youth sports except football and that is because football is primarily a school played sport and not played year round due to the violence. Basketball AAU travel is not cheap. The big difference is you have the sneaker companies pumping tons of money into it and a bunch of backhanded payments that they can pull the best of the best and play them for free. But one of my sons good friends (kid is not NBA good but will likely play D2 or D3 college) plays on an AAU team, cost isn't much different then my sons ECNL soccer team other then we travel a little more for showcases. Have other friends whose son plays at a power 5 D1 baseball program, they traveled even more then we do for soccer for travel baseball when he was in high school and before. Now the one big difference is you still can be discovered in basketball and baseball playing only for your school team, it's not likely but if you throw 90+ mph college scouts will hear and come watch you, maybe you get some college offers and there get some better coaching and can get drafted. Same for the kid who is 6'8" and can jump out of the gym in basketball. High School soccer in the US is so bad that if the next Messi is playing only school soccer no one is going to know.

The other thing when comparing the US to Europe and trying to use that model is the shear size. England has 20 premier league teams, 24 Championship side teams and 24 League One teams all of which I assume have youth academies that they fund looking for future players (and probably some of the clubs below them do as well). That is 68 professional clubs with free to play academies covering and area of say NY, NJ and PA that have 3 MLS teams and 1 USL Championship team covering the same sized area. Even if the US academies take in 3 times the number of players as an English teams academy they are going to miss a ton of kids.

Another big difference is that in the US the goal for many is still to use a sport to get to college where as in Europe it is to turn pro. Most parents wouldn't spend the money with very little hope of going pro and kids playing just for the love of playing would just be in local youth leagues were you are paying for uniforms and ref fees and that is it.

NCAA only allows 9.9 scholarships per team (14 for women, yeah title 9). UNC currently have 36 kids on their soccer roster, 9 from overseas who probably get the bulk of the money. 9.9 is the max, some college teams only allot 2 per year. LaCrosse allows 12.6, basketball 13, baseball 11.7, hockey 18. Soccer is probably the worst route to paid or partially paid college.

I didn't say it was a good route but 9.9 scholarships per team x all the D1 and D2 programs (plus D3 programs can "find" money other ways if they want a kid) is still a lot better odds then playing professionally. As for the overseas players the reason so many schools have them isn't they are that much better but because they get scholarships under different programs and don't cost the school there athletic scholarships. So a coach say has a 30 man roster, go get 12 overseas kids that are equal but not any better then US kids, now take those 9 scholarships and you only need to divide them over 18 players and you can offer more to get the best players even though 12 American kids just as good as the overseas players get passed over. You honestly can't blame the coaches who are coaching for their job.

For a lot of parent paying to play, it’s not just about the schollie at this point, but more just having a better (less of a crapshoot) to get into to a good school. College admissions has gotten even crazier since COVID and athletics is one of the last methods of injecting some type of normalcy to the process.

Everything I read says enrollment is down.

Ultimately if a top school is the goal, if you put half the soccer time and expense into tutoring, learning, studying, and charity you would see better admission results. That said, playing soccer is more fun than reading or helping the needy.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

Enrollment is down, but it's not down across the board. The "competitive" schools (50% or lower admission rates) that I'm aware of are seeing record applications each year since covid. A big chunk of the current crop of students seems to rate school prestige very highly, so the top end schools get crazier every year while the lower end schools scramble to find enough bodies.

On pay to play, I've seen a little bit of the girls volleyball scene through colleagues, and yeeeesh.

 

[Sammy3469]

This is what a pay to play country looks against straight class. We need to do better as usual.

While this was once a BIG issue, it no longer is the case.

Many of our players like Musah, Balogun, Dest, Jedi, CCV, Lund, Johnny etc etc all were developed abroad. Some like Gio and Pulisic left very early to go to Europe. And the rest all mostly come from the academy system which is free to play for all MLS sides and I believe most of the USL sides as well.

There may be a very rare player like Turner who does not focus on soccer early that breaks through later but going forward, the vast vast majority of US Nats will either be dual nats or academy players who moved up and went pro.

I meant its all the rich kids in youth we push up (as a country), because they can pay for it.

like who?

Six to twelve year old to begin with. It's worse than ever.

that sucks.

worse than ever... I kinda doubt, given what andy's mentioned regarding academies and the guys we're seeing on the national team.

when he and I were coming up, definitely. no kids of color anywhere- all middle class suburban kids. and even the city kids were mostly kids with money and means... even if a kid with ethnic background. district, state, regional and national youth teams... all middle class, primarily white. watching our youth setup for the last bunch of years- that's changed in a big way with loads more hispanic and black kids. maybe they're all middle class who can pay for it? I dunno.

we had to take our kid out of soccer as it was just too expensive.

league fees and travel costs (gas/food/hotels) was just insane. he wasn't going to be great or anything, but we make 140k and couldn't afford it.

That is true of pretty much all youth sports except football and that is because football is primarily a school played sport and not played year round due to the violence. Basketball AAU travel is not cheap. The big difference is you have the sneaker companies pumping tons of money into it and a bunch of backhanded payments that they can pull the best of the best and play them for free. But one of my sons good friends (kid is not NBA good but will likely play D2 or D3 college) plays on an AAU team, cost isn't much different then my sons ECNL soccer team other then we travel a little more for showcases. Have other friends whose son plays at a power 5 D1 baseball program, they traveled even more then we do for soccer for travel baseball when he was in high school and before. Now the one big difference is you still can be discovered in basketball and baseball playing only for your school team, it's not likely but if you throw 90+ mph college scouts will hear and come watch you, maybe you get some college offers and there get some better coaching and can get drafted. Same for the kid who is 6'8" and can jump out of the gym in basketball. High School soccer in the US is so bad that if the next Messi is playing only school soccer no one is going to know.

The other thing when comparing the US to Europe and trying to use that model is the shear size. England has 20 premier league teams, 24 Championship side teams and 24 League One teams all of which I assume have youth academies that they fund looking for future players (and probably some of the clubs below them do as well). That is 68 professional clubs with free to play academies covering and area of say NY, NJ and PA that have 3 MLS teams and 1 USL Championship team covering the same sized area. Even if the US academies take in 3 times the number of players as an English teams academy they are going to miss a ton of kids.

Another big difference is that in the US the goal for many is still to use a sport to get to college where as in Europe it is to turn pro. Most parents wouldn't spend the money with very little hope of going pro and kids playing just for the love of playing would just be in local youth leagues were you are paying for uniforms and ref fees and that is it.

NCAA only allows 9.9 scholarships per team (14 for women, yeah title 9). UNC currently have 36 kids on their soccer roster, 9 from overseas who probably get the bulk of the money. 9.9 is the max, some college teams only allot 2 per year. LaCrosse allows 12.6, basketball 13, baseball 11.7, hockey 18. Soccer is probably the worst route to paid or partially paid college.

I didn't say it was a good route but 9.9 scholarships per team x all the D1 and D2 programs (plus D3 programs can "find" money other ways if they want a kid) is still a lot better odds then playing professionally. As for the overseas players the reason so many schools have them isn't they are that much better but because they get scholarships under different programs and don't cost the school there athletic scholarships. So a coach say has a 30 man roster, go get 12 overseas kids that are equal but not any better then US kids, now take those 9 scholarships and you only need to divide them over 18 players and you can offer more to get the best players even though 12 American kids just as good as the overseas players get passed over. You honestly can't blame the coaches who are coaching for their job.

For a lot of parent paying to play, it’s not just about the schollie at this point, but more just having a better (less of a crapshoot) to get into to a good school. College admissions has gotten even crazier since COVID and athletics is one of the last methods of injecting some type of normalcy to the process.

Everything I read says enrollment is down.

Ultimately if a top school is the goal, if you put half the soccer time and expense into tutoring, learning, studying, and charity you would see better admission results. That said, playing soccer is more fun than reading or helping the needy.

The issue isn’t getting accepted somewhere, it’s getting accepted where you want. Unlike us old folks (I applied to 5 schools and got into all of them), kids these days apply to 30+ and get into 2-3. The entire process is busted and sports (whatever they are) are seen as one avenue to at least increase your chances of getting into your preferred school (it’s definitely not a guarantee). For instance, my kid definitely isn’t playing Div 1 or even Div 3 hockey, but will probably be good enough for competitive club on the west coast. All the UCs are looking for kids like that to play in a UC system schools where kids with straight As are either having to go to Merced or community college for a year since there aren’t enough spots. That’s worth something, probably not what I’m spending, but we’re having fun.

Both the school and sports systems are so screwed up right now, it’s not even funny.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

Getting my thoughts out on the Germany game before tonight, having watched it in full live and read everybody else's thoughts on here:

I think people are overly discounting the first half. Sure, Germany had some opportunities, but so did the US. I was very pleased 40 minutes in.

We need to send a fruit basket to Milan for fixing Pulisic. I thought he looked really good. On the penalty, I don't think it was a dive but it would have been a bit of a soft call. It looked like he could have stayed on his feet if he wanted, which in hindsight would have been the right play given that there wasn't enough contact there for the ref to give the penalty. The concerning thing is that as flop said, it seemed like after the goal Germany decided they were going to take CP out of the game, and they did. We seem to have enough firepower that against lesser teams just focusing on CP won't cut it, but this game has me worried that against good teams we don't yet have a way to create that's not through Pulisic.

The fact that Germany's half time adjustments blew the US out of the water is obviously concerning, but the big negative for me from the game is that it has me really starting to worry about the back line. They were shaky in the first half too when the US looked better. Was Adams really covering that much up? Will Dest ever be up for it defensively in games where the US is on the back foot? If Ream is dropping off, do we have even one CB that we're really comfortable with? The backline for '26 feels like it's Jedi and then a bunch of ???

 

[NewlyRetired]

Certain first ballot Hall of Famer, Michael Bradley announced he will retire at the end of the season.

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

Certain first ballot Hall of Famer, Michael Bradley announced he will retire at the end of the season.

Crazy he never got a final cap testimonial friendly like Donovan, Deuce, or Howard. I get that he was scapegoated by a certain segment of the awful USMNT fanbase, but he was THE guy in midfield for a decade.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

he was THE guy in midfield for a decade

Only because his dad was the coach.

 

[encaitar]

he was THE guy in midfield for a decade

Only because his dad was the coach.

I'm hoping you're being facetious here. Michael Bradley was starting for Roma at the height of his career. He has 151 caps with the US... 128 of which are without his dad as coach. He had 17 goals and 16 assists in those games... for reference, Tyler Adams playing the same position as Bradley has 1 goal and 0 assists.

Bradley has a shout as probably the best midfielder in USMNT history, even despite his shocking decline which seems to be the only part of his career that some people remember.

 

[NewlyRetired]

he was THE guy in midfield for a decade

Only because his dad was the coach.

I'm hoping you're being facetious here. Michael Bradley was starting for Roma at the height of his career. He has 151 caps with the US... 128 of which are without his dad as coach. He had 17 goals and 16 assists in those games... for reference, Tyler Adams playing the same position as Bradley has 1 goal and 0 assists.

Bradley has a shout as probably the best midfielder in USMNT history, even despite his shocking decline which seems to be the only part of his career that some people remember.

He is mocking the sadly ignorant portion of our fan base who regularly say things this dumb. I recommend you stay off twitter today as the horrendous takes are in full bloom about Bradley.

 

[NewlyRetired]

Steven Goff
https://twitter.com/SoccerInsider
@SoccerInsider


USMNT lineup: Turner; Dest, Richards, Robinson, Lund; Cardoso, Musah, Reyna; Weah, Balogun, Pulisic.

 

[NewlyRetired]

Steven Goff
https://twitter.com/SoccerInsider
@SoccerInsider


USMNT lineup: Turner; Dest, Richards, Robinson, Lund; Cardoso, Musah, Reyna; Weah, Balogun, Pulisic.

interesting changes

A true LB which puts Dest on the right

A true 6 which puts Weston on the bench

Miles in for Ream (I thought this was going to be for Richards but maybe when watching the film they saw more issues with Ream.) The last time Richards and Miles played together they were very solid, albeit against a much weaker opponent.

 

[NewlyRetired]

With Adams ongoing injuries, Johnny could make a major statement for himself or we continue the search...

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

A true LB which puts Dest on the right

A true 6 which puts Weston on the bench

Halfway there! I'd like to see Scally at RB opposite Jedi though.

Really hate having to put a lesser player (Cardoso) in for a better one (Wes). Hopefully Reyna shows out in that role.

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

Possible that Wes gets the second 45 minutes for Gio as the "10?"

 

[NewlyRetired]

Possible that Wes gets the second 45 minutes for Gio as the "10?"

I think that is a strong possibility.

If things are going REALLY well, perhaps they might go with a single 6 and return Musah and Weston to dual 8's in the second half. I am not sure where Weston's best spot is for the US, but I strongly think Musah at the 8 is when he plays the best for the US.

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

Just housed a Manhattan for old time's sake.

 

[NewlyRetired]

It still looks like name quality of opponent drives the attendance for these friendly games. The US team by themselves can not draw fans consistently (at least at these high prices for a friendly)

 

[CletiusMaximus]

Just housed a Manhattan for old time's sake.

Assamoah Gyan and Kevin Prince Boateng in my nightmares.