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US Men's National Team (13 Viewers)

NewlyRetired said:
Dinsy Ejotuz said:
NewlyRetired said:
I'm not going to be shocked if Ricardo Pepi is NOT on the roster.
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Damn. Is Gregg going to nail this thing? Pepi wouldn't be on my roster either. I'd probably ride with Sargent, Ferreira and Pefok in the true CF role.
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Gonzalez may also be referring to his hint about Haji making the team.
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yup

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

Roger Gonzalez

@RGonzalezCBS

I think the strikers are going to be Jesus Ferreira, Josh Sargent and Haji Wright.
 
NewlyRetired said:
ohhh

Brenden Aaronson Kellyn Acosta Tyler Adams Luca de la Torre Weston McKennie Yunus Musah Cristian Roldan
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So the Roldan rumor was correct. I expected Tillman to be listed here but maybe he will be with the forwards?

I think Aaronson being grouped here is a nod to both Weston and Luca still being hurt.
 
I am not going to read too much into the positional groupings as I have a feeling if the midfielders are healthy, Aaronson will be a choice at the wing.
 
Happy Ream made the plane. Hope he makes the starting 11.

Shocked at Luca still making the squad despite his injury. Team must be pretty confident about his availability, considering we only took 5 other real midfielders(Aaronson is a forward in my book).

Haji had a great early season. Fell off a bit lately, but must have really impressed. He's the big target man for this squad, so hope he's ready to step up.
 
Changing Johnson in for Steffan, Wright in for Pepi, and Ream for EPB or Richards turns this squad from the youngest ever in the WC, to just the second youngest for the US ever(1990).
 
I'm not the world's biggest nips fan or anything but I have no idea what Morris has done to earn a spot over him. Dude has looked absolutely washed every time I've seen him post injury. All he ever was was speed and now that's gone.

Knew he'd take roldan. Moore over Cannon is weird but justifiable in certain scenarios.

Haji makes no sense to me either. I know pepi was bad for a long time but I'd trust him to finish a late game chance much more than Haji.

Feel bad for steffen but he has shown too much potential to lose a game with a brain fart.
 
Ream deserves this. Happy for him. Hopefully it’s not Jeff Agoos 2.0

I’m one of this board’s MLS defenders and even I think there’s too many MLS guys here. Morris makes no sense, and Roldan over Tillman is brutal unless there’s an injury at play. Hey Malik, thanks for your one-time switch guy.
 
TLEF316 said:
I'm not the world's biggest nips fan or anything but I have no idea what Morris has done to earn a spot over him. Dude has looked absolutely washed every time I've seen him post injury. All he ever was was speed and now that's gone.

Knew he'd take roldan. Moore over Cannon is weird but justifiable in certain scenarios.

Haji makes no sense to me either. I know pepi was bad for a long time but I'd trust him to finish a late game chance much more than Haji.

Feel bad for steffen but he has shown too much potential to lose a game with a brain fart.
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It was said that Nips was not able to practice with the main squad this week which likely indicates an injury. I think that is how Morris got in.

Things are going around twitter now that Pepi picked up an injury which caused the late Haji switch.

I am not a Steffen fan and that moved shocked me
 
encaitar said:
Changing Johnson in for Steffan, Wright in for Pepi, and Ream for EPB or Richards turns this squad from the youngest ever in the WC, to just the second youngest for the US ever(1990).
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yeah I was thinking lots of experience got added. Hopefully it helps.

I think they will still be one of the youngest in the field of 32 but no where as dramatic as it could have been with out some of these late changes.
 
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Instead of focusing on the guys who will never play, I am more interested in trying to figure out how the core ~18 will work out.

*Who starts at Rb if Dest can't go?

*Will Ream come all the way full circle to be a starter?

*If Weston is healthy, how do we best use Aaronson.

*I think the 270 minutes at striker are going to be split almost entirely between Jesus and Sargent.
 
Ted Lange as your Bartender said:
Ream deserves this. Happy for him. Hopefully it’s not Jeff Agoos 2.0

I’m one of this board’s MLS defenders and even I think there’s too many MLS guys here. Morris makes no sense, and Roldan over Tillman is brutal unless there’s an injury at play. Hey Malik, thanks for your one-time switch guy.
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Not like tilman was gonna make the German team. But yeah....he's such a a better player than Roldan.

Just have to accept that Greg does goofy stuff with the roster. Been doing it since he took the job. Hopefully the guy leading us a year from now doesnt
 
TLEF316 said:
Ted Lange as your Bartender said:
Ream deserves this. Happy for him. Hopefully it’s not Jeff Agoos 2.0

I’m one of this board’s MLS defenders and even I think there’s too many MLS guys here. Morris makes no sense, and Roldan over Tillman is brutal unless there’s an injury at play. Hey Malik, thanks for your one-time switch guy.
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Not like tilman was gonna make the German team. But yeah....he's such a a better player than Roldan.

Just have to accept that Greg does goofy stuff with the roster. Been doing it since he took the job. Hopefully the guy leading us a year from now doesnt
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There was definitely some odd choices but I am unsure any of the choices like Roldan, Morris etc (that were not injury related) are going to have much of an effect.

If we are playing players 22-26 in the Cup, one of two things happened. 1) We lost the first two and were eliminated before game 3, or 2) we won both games and are resting players/avoiding yellows to prepare for the second round.

In neither case will the back end players have any effect on the success of the WC.
 
NewlyRetired said:
There was definitely some odd choices but I am unsure any of the choices like Roldan, Morris etc (that were not injury related) are going to have much of an impact

In neither case will the back end players have any effect on the success of the WC.
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As usual NR I think you’re spot on.

With a roster of 23 no way Morris makes it. With the expanded roster GGG had the luxury of bringing a veteran voice that will hopefully be a guiding force without ever stepping on the field.
 
I am not that heart broken over Tillman. Unless we were missing a ton of players due to injury or yellow cards he was never going to play and its not like this was his only window. He is only 20.

He will have just turned 24 in 2026 and will be 28 in 2030. He will have his WC chances if he develops.
 
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CletiusMaximus said:
It doesn't seem like there's any great controversy here on the level of Donovan missing Brazil.
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So do we agree that Steffen was the biggest surprise exclusion?

Donovan was a bigger story but I always maintain that Klinsmann's dumb kid made that story much bigger than it should have been with his tweet that made the decision seem personal instead of tactic oriented.

I would love to hear GGG's thoughts on Steffen. I had heard many who follow the team think he was going to be the starter. To not even be the 3rd keeper is fascinating.

Could it be as simple as GGG saying he was sticking with Turner and Steffen said no thanks to a back up role? Steffen is not old for a keeper but even at 27, you always run the risk of missing your one chance.
 
ok some comments are coming out now

================
Doug McIntyre
https://twitter.com/ByDougMcIntyre
@ByDougMcIntyre

#USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter says he took Haji Wright over Jordan Pefok, that it came down to one of the other.

“With Ricardo (Pepi), we were judging him against Josh Sargent and Jesus Ferreira.” Berhalter says the fact that Sargent plays in England, where the game is more physical, influenced the final decision.
 
By the way, to stay a little positive, this continues to add to the incredible Matt Turner story. From not playing any soccer until he was 16 to starting in a WC is pretty amazing.
 
Dinsy Ejotuz said:
Apparently they're going to do all "26 Stories".

Matt Turner's is really cool. Dude was 20 years old before someone suggested he might be good enough to think about being a pro. Now he's the starting GK for a decent WC team.
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Imagine not having any coaching until you were a junior in high school? That seems unimageable these days where we are neck deep with academy level players from all over who have gotten professional level training since they were like 10.

I never knew about that amazing gaff in college.....
 
Ted Lange as your Bartender said:
Ream deserves this. Happy for him. Hopefully it’s not Jeff Agoos 2.0

I’m one of this board’s MLS defenders and even I think there’s too many MLS guys here. Morris makes no sense, and Roldan over Tillman is brutal unless there’s an injury at play. Hey Malik, thanks for your one-time switch guy.
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could not agree more
 
NewlyRetired said:
ok some comments are coming out now

================
Doug McIntyre
https://twitter.com/ByDougMcIntyre
@ByDougMcIntyre

#USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter says he took Haji Wright over Jordan Pefok, that it came down to one of the other.

“With Ricardo (Pepi), we were judging him against Josh Sargent and Jesus Ferreira.” Berhalter says the fact that Sargent plays in England, where the game is more physical, influenced the final decision.
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that's actually solid reasoning from GGG IMHO
 
I wanted to see Pefok and obviously Brooks.

Those are my two biggest gripes unless there is something health wise that I'm unaware of.

Most of the MLS guys are going to melt against this competition...not sure how many times we have to see it, frustrating.
 
Of course like all things GGG, he is not very consistent.

Jesus is the least physical of all the strikers we have (and that includes players like Zardes, Dike, Vasquez as well as the normal ones we have been tracking)
 
With Ream playing every day with Jedi to develop chemistry, we also have a similar thing on the right where Zimm and Moore are teammates and play next to each other every day. I wonder if this will give Moore a leg up on Yedlin/Scally should Dest still be hurt...
 
NewlyRetired said:
With Ream playing every day with Jedi to develop chemistry, we also have a similar thing on the right where Zimm and Moore are teammates and play next to each other every day. I wonder if this will give Moore a leg up on Yedlin/Scally should Dest still be hurt...
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I prefer Yedlin and Scally to Moore in a vacuum, so I hope not. Moore has been inconsistent at this level to put it mildly.
 
I think with everyone complaining /commenting about Steffen/Roldan/Pepi/Morris/Long/Tillman/etc, whether it be about exclusion or inclusion is great. Second guessing a coach is probably the second most universal language on the planet behind math.

That being said, I am chuckling a bit that there is still a decent number of fans complaining about Brooks. I just don't get that. Even ESPN put Brooks in a headline about players who had been snubbed.

Brooks, a fully healthy Brooks mind you, has played EXACTLY 3 minutes of professional soccer since last May. 3 minutes. No one wanted to sign him over the summer and once a team finally did at the very end of the window, they have basically never played him.
 
Not much to chew on here

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

Berhalter on Steffen: "One of the hardest calls I had to make. Part of it is his body of work over the last 1.5 years and thinking that we needed more out of Zack. It's a shame. He has the potential to come back and play in a World Cup in his career."
 
NewlyRetired said:
Not much to chew on here

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

Berhalter on Steffen: "One of the hardest calls I had to make. Part of it is his body of work over the last 1.5 years and thinking that we needed more out of Zack. It's a shame. He has the potential to come back and play in a World Cup in his career."
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That about sums it up.
 
NewlyRetired said:
*Who starts at Rb if Dest can't go?
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Probably Yedlin. But that's odd to me. I see zero reason Shaq Moore made the roster because not only is he likely not the backup, even in an emergency, there is another dude on the roster who is a natural RB in Scally. I actually would have preferred Cannon who I don't rate just because at least he does something else. But it seems that spot should have been spent on a 5th CB.

NewlyRetired said:
*Will Ream come all the way full circle to be a starter?
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Probably not. I'd love for him to but I think Zimmerman is a locked in starter and it's really hard to see them as a pairing. Maybe against England when we just bunker but it seems like you are just desperate to get countered playing a high line vs Wales or Iran with those two.

NewlyRetired said:
*If Weston is healthy, how do we best use Aaronson.
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My guess is as super sub.

NewlyRetired said:
*I think the 270 minutes at striker are going to be split almost entirely between Jesus and Sargent.
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If we're winning, I agree. But they are three different profiles. Haji is actually a different skill set and depending on how games are going, can be an option. It's strange because we never go to plan B but maybe he's just been playing possum.
 
My 26 man roster of dudes who are not going to Qatar. Left off injured guys.

GK (3) - Steffen, Slonina, Cohen
CB (5) - Brooks, Miazga, Palmer-Brown, McKenzie, Trusty
FB (4) - Cannon, Bello, Tolkin, Bye
Mids (6) - Mihaliovic, Johnny, Ledezma, Busio, Sonora, Mendez
Wings (5) - Arriola, Paredes, Booth, Tillman, Zendejas
Fwds (3) - Vasquez, Pepi, Pefok

Missing stars and depth is bad. Midfield has a lot of creativity but not much bite.
 
NewlyRetired said:
Instead of focusing on the guys who will never play, I am more interested in trying to figure out how the core ~18 will work out.

*Who starts at Rb if Dest can't go?

*Will Ream come all the way full circle to be a starter?

*If Weston is healthy, how do we best use Aaronson.

*I think the 270 minutes at striker are going to be split almost entirely between Jesus and Sargent.
Click to expand...

If you had told me two years ago I would be begging for us to start Ream in the WC in 2022 then I would have assumed I was in a car accident with brain trauma.
 
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