US Men's National Team

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

18 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

After Yunus, the biggest name on the dual nats board is Folarin Balogun.  He is in the Arsenal system and got a late sub appearance today in Europa League and scored on his first touch

https://twitter.com/noob_fcb/status/1332045570257670146?s=20

 

Normally I would have said he is an extreme long shot to choose the US, but with the progress made on Yunus, who knows.....

https://twitter.com/ChuckMe92Soccer/status/1332050706497495041?s=20

[El Floppo 27,940]

1 minute ago, NewlyRetired said:

https://twitter.com/ChuckMe92Soccer/status/1332050706497495041?s=20

Wanted to give that one a ❤️ along with the thinking.

[encaitar 1,878]

7 minutes ago, El Floppo said:

Wanted to give that one a ❤️ along with the thinking.

I got your back.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

I don't know what is in the water but I hope every one keeps drinking

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scuffed soccer

@scuffedpod

Hearing Efra Alvarez, the promising #LAGalaxy attacker who has represented Mexican youth national teams since he was 15, will be in December USMNT camp

[encaitar 1,878]

3 hours ago, NewlyRetired said:

I don't know what is in the water but I hope every one keeps drinking

========

scuffed soccer

@scuffedpod

Hearing Efra Alvarez, the promising #LAGalaxy attacker who has represented Mexican youth national teams since he was 15, will be in December USMNT camp

If this is GGG's influence, then I'll take back everything bad I've ever said or thought about him.  I still don't think he's a great gameday coach, but if he can land us all these top dual nats, then his time in charge will have been worth it.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

My favorite porn category is hot Yank on Yank action.

Today Brooks and Sargent go at it to get the weekend started.

[El Floppo 27,940]

10 hours ago, encaitar said:

If this is GGG's influence, then I'll take back everything bad I've ever said or thought about him.  I still don't think he's a great gameday coach, but if he can land us all these top dual nats, then his time in charge will have been worth it.

I'll be happy with just trying to land the dual US/Mex nats that we seemed previously on target to be losing without a fight.

[El Floppo 27,940]

13 hours ago, NewlyRetired said:

I don't know what is in the water but I hope every one keeps drinking

========

scuffed soccer

@scuffedpod

Hearing Efra Alvarez, the promising #LAGalaxy attacker who has represented Mexican youth national teams since he was 15, will be in December USMNT camp

Araujo called up too.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

Just now, El Floppo said:

I'll be happy with just trying to land the dual US/Mex nats that we seemed previously on target to be losing without a fight.

He is doing exactly what we hoped/demanded be done and that is take the 5 minutes when available and talk to these kids.

I don't know how much influence McBride has had but since he has joined, things appear to have turned around on the communication end.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

2 minutes ago, El Floppo said:

Araujo called up too.

is there a list?

[El Floppo 27,940]

Just now, NewlyRetired said:

is there a list?

Just saw an article on espn about those two getting called up from "sources"

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

Oh this is a nice rumor.  Chelsea are starting talks with David Alaba.  Alaba has been playing a lot of minutes at CB for Bayern and him leaving could open some CB minutes up for Richards.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

Lampard seems to be cautioning not to expect Pulisic to start, which is no suprise

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

Lampard has previously said Chelsea are "still searching" to identify the best training programme to guard against Pulisic suffering ongoing fitness issues which also restricted his game-time at Borussia Dortmund prior to joining for £58 million last summer.

"Christian Pulisic is back into contention and fitness," Lampard told a news conference on Friday. "He's fit, ready to start is a question mark. It is hard to gauge match fitness.

"In training, times as they are with COVID, it is very hard to recreate match play in training because the rest of the players are preparing for games every three days and we didn't have any academy games that we could mix bubbles.

"So, every player, not just Christian, coming back from fitness, it is more difficult to get them ready to start games so we will see."

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

Read the whole article to see the amount of dirty work Sargent is doing.  I will just clip this one small part below indicating why he is getting so many minutes even with out scoring

Josh Sargent: maturing into Werder Bremen's main man

Those are questions best answered by his coach, Florian Kohfeldt.

"I stand by the comment I made before the season started: I haven't thought about playing a starting line-up without Josh Sargent in it for a second," said the 38-year-old at the end of October.

"He can't ease off, not even a millimetre. It's unpleasant to play against us and it's difficult to find space. That's had a lot to do with Josh over the past few weeks. He's in great shape, he can go for the full 90 minutes."

Edited November 27, 2020 by NewlyRetired

[Charlie Steiner 3,246]

37 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

Read the whole article to see the amount of dirty work Sargent is doing.  I will just clip this one small part below indicating why he is getting so many minutes even with out scoring

Josh Sargent: maturing into Werder Bremen's main man

Those are questions best answered by his coach, Florian Kohfeldt.

"I stand by the comment I made before the season started: I haven't thought about playing a starting line-up without Josh Sargent in it for a second," said the 38-year-old at the end of October.

"He can't ease off, not even a millimetre. It's unpleasant to play against us and it's difficult to find space. That's had a lot to do with Josh over the past few weeks. He's in great shape, he can go for the full 90 minutes."

Three things I saw in the video:

1. On his first shot, it was more a case of bad luck as it hit Neuer's leg, which seemed to be in an uncomfortable position to begin with, and he didn't respond until after the ball hit him.

2. He seemed to have decent speed on his turn and run to the goal for his assist. Maybe he's not so plodding any more.

3. On Bayern's equalizer, he was step late getting to the cross that led to the goal.  Don't know why from that clip, so it's not necessarily a knock on him but it doesn't look great, either.

 

Overall, I like what I saw in this video, especially since it was against a top-tier side, and definitely looks faster than the last time I saw him.

I've been in the camp that sees him as having great technique but having a lower physical ceiling than other strikers we're hoping to see break through soon, so hopefully his improved footspeed isn't just an illusion. Even if it is, I think with talented wingers making runs and/or creating, he still can get in the right places at the right time and should still be a regular call-up at least.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

25 minutes ago, Charlie Steiner said:

I've been in the camp that sees him as having great technique but having a lower physical ceiling than other strikers we're hoping to see break through soon, so hopefully his improved footspeed isn't just an illusion. Even if it is, I think with talented wingers making runs and/or creating, he still can get in the right places at the right time and should still be a regular call-up at least.

I think McBride is a pretty good comp for Sargent.  McBride was not a prolific goal scorer but always did every thing else well enough to get himself minutes and help his team.

Sargent is obviously light years ahead of where McBride was at the same age (as McBride was still in college) but that doesn't always mean Sargent is going to end up a better player.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

On 11/11/2020 at 7:08 PM, NewlyRetired said:

This was an interesting article

https://www.espn.com/soccer/mexico-mex/story/4232568/usmnt-has-brighter-future-than-mexicosays-pumas-saucedo

OneGoal

@OneGoalUS

Hearing that Sebastian Saucedo (23) was invited to join the USMNT December camp. The winger had to decline the invite as PUMAS remains in Liga MX play offs.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

names are dropping like flies this morning.  Some one in US Soccer is happily leaking names like crazy

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

charlie kennan

@charlie_kennan

‘03 Kevin Paredes (Dominican-American who was also on the preliminary roster for the #USMNT’s November Europe based camp) & ‘02 George Bello will be with the #USMNT in December

[Charlie Steiner 3,246]

11 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

I think McBride is a pretty good comp for Sargent.  McBride was not a prolific goal scorer but always did every thing else well enough to get himself minutes and help his team.

Sargent is obviously light years ahead of where McBride was at the same age (as McBride was still in college) but that doesn't always mean Sargent is going to end up a better player.

I bolded the part I care about most, particularly because the increased level of talent popping up now.

I've only followed the USMNT since about '08 or so, so I really only know a small number of names; I've heard of McBride but haven't seen any highlights. Because we're the USA, our players have always had to rely on hard work and grit to compete, and now that we're closing the talent gap, I fear we're losing those other qualities, or maybe they skipped a generation.  It just seems like every US team until this new group relied heavily on tactics over individual skill and played with a sense of fear of making a mistake instead of playing all-out.  McKinnie was the first one I saw play aggressive and work at bossing the MF; what I took from that was what he lacked in experience and finer skills he made up for with hard work and grit, which is why I want him to take over as the leader of this current group.

The other trait it seems we're closing the gap on is speed of thought; at least that's what I thought I was seeing in the match against Panama. Believe it or not, I think that was one of the early traits I saw with Sargent, and why he's been able to play above his perceived physical limitations. At worst, he's a placeholder for the next 10 years until a bona fide must-start striker arrives.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

That's what I get for posting about Sargent today.

He hurt his ankle in warm ups and has been pulled from the lineup

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

[Dyer] Per source, hearing that Celtic most recently made a bid for the Union's Mark McKenzie in October at $3 million that could bump to $4 million with incentives. #DOOP turned the deal down

[El Floppo 27,940]

1 hour ago, Charlie Steiner said:

I bolded the part I care about most, particularly because the increased level of talent popping up now.

I've only followed the USMNT since about '08 or so, so I really only know a small number of names; I've heard of McBride but haven't seen any highlights. Because we're the USA, our players have always had to rely on hard work and grit to compete, and now that we're closing the talent gap, I fear we're losing those other qualities, or maybe they skipped a generation.  It just seems like every US team until this new group relied heavily on tactics over individual skill and played with a sense of fear of making a mistake instead of playing all-out.  McKinnie was the first one I saw play aggressive and work at bossing the MF; what I took from that was what he lacked in experience and finer skills he made up for with hard work and grit, which is why I want him to take over as the leader of this current group.

The other trait it seems we're closing the gap on is speed of thought; at least that's what I thought I was seeing in the match against Panama. Believe it or not, I think that was one of the early traits I saw with Sargent, and why he's been able to play above his perceived physical limitations. At worst, he's a placeholder for the next 10 years until a bona fide must-start striker arrives.

McBride has a bar named after him in craven cottage for a reason...and not just because he was a hard worker. The guy came out of college with legit skills and more, a nose and guts for scoring and helping score goals. His instincts and soccer sense were phenomenal. And while he wasn't going to win every foot race, he was excellent in the air and excellent using his body to win the ball.

I think sargent is better technically, and has a slightly better tactical sense, already at a younger age. He's shown the goal scoring instinct and ability at the youth level, but can't compare yet with mcbride in that regard in the pros, and he's definitely off of his ability and positioning in the air ...a skill I hope he improves upon.

I don't yet see sargent as thriving in a lone striker role without those abilities coming to the fore, but he's obviously offerening a lot of intangibles with his work and smarts off the ball.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

1 minute ago, El Floppo said:

I don't yet see sargent as thriving in a lone striker role without those abilities coming to the fore, but he's obviously offerening a lot of intangibles with his work and smarts off the ball.

This is an interesting point.  McBride played most of his career in a dual striker setup but these days that is hard to find any more.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

some online are saying the Sargent injury was minor and this may be just precautionary.  

[El Floppo 27,940]

8 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

This is an interesting point.  McBride played most of his career in a dual striker setup but these days that is hard to find any more.

I guess my point was more that mcbride was able to allow for hold up play in a way sargent hasn't yet shown. 

I think he's learning more about how to play the striker role on the collective back foot playing for WB...a useful skill when the US is up against better competition. From what I've seen of WB, the US MF that played in Europe is a lot better, and can bring the forward into a more active role...something I think suits sargent's skill set more.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

Brooks goal in the high scoring 3-2 halftime score line

https://streamja.com/y3oyg

[Moe. 1,988]

I’m stating the obvious here but the ability to run your ### off all match is often overlooked when people start talking about physical traits. Similar to foot speed I don’t think it’s something you can just choose to do - it’s an innate skill or talent. I think Sargent fits so well with the rest of our group but we shall see. 

[Rustoleum 1,439]

2 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

Brooks goal in the high scoring 3-2 halftime score line

https://streamja.com/y3oyg

Brooks just leveled it. With an OG....

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

Grrrrrrr

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

BarçaTimes

@BarcaTimes

 Sergiño Dest has muscle discomfort and is doubtful against Osasuna on Sunday. Koeman thinks of Mingueza to replace Dest on the right side

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

3 minutes ago, Rustoleum said:

Brooks just leveled it. With an OG....

oof

https://streamja.com/vV2PG

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

Brooks involved in the go ahead goal (4-3) with a nice line breaking pass

https://streamja.com/l2pj4

[gianmarco 28,015]

56 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

Grrrrrrr

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

BarçaTimes

@BarcaTimes

 Sergiño Dest has muscle discomfort and is doubtful against Osasuna on Sunday. Koeman thinks of Mingueza to replace Dest on the right side

Why can't we have nice things?

[Charlie Steiner 3,246]

1 hour ago, Moe. said:

I’m stating the obvious here but the ability to run your ### off all match is often overlooked when people start talking about physical traits. Similar to foot speed I don’t think it’s something you can just choose to do - it’s an innate skill or talent. I think Sargent fits so well with the rest of our group but we shall see. 

This clip of Sargent's 1st goal for the Nats isn't about his running ability, but I decided to post it anyway.  I was looking for the highlight of him feeding a breaking Jonathan Amon in one of the post wet and bumpy friendlies but couldn't find it. I didn't see this until now, but my first thought was that's the most Zlatanish thing I've seen any US player ever do.  Can we start a GoFundMe campaign to get Sarge the same karate instruction Zlatan has and make him a true ginger ninja?

[encaitar 1,878]

1 hour ago, Moe. said:

I’m stating the obvious here but the ability to run your ### off all match is often overlooked when people start talking about physical traits. Similar to foot speed I don’t think it’s something you can just choose to do - it’s an innate skill or talent. I think Sargent fits so well with the rest of our group but we shall see. 

It's not as obvious as you think.  Most England fans seem to dislike Mason Mount, but his best quality is exactly that.  He runs full out for 90 minutes.  His pressing is insane.  It's unlike anyone I've ever seen, yet because he doesn't dribble through the defense or flick crazy passes behind the defense all the time, he's criticized for being a nailed on starter for both England and Chelsea.

Yet, ask either Southgate or Lampard and they'll tell you that Mason is one of the most important players on their squad.  And it's precisely for the fact that his motor just doesn't quit.

Sargent seems to be built along the same lines(although playing a different position).  Constantly working and consistently doing the right things and seems to have his manager's trust in the same way at Bremen.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

1 hour ago, gianmarco said:

Why can't we have nice things?

It is like a karmic balance is always in place where we are not allowed to have our players healthy at the same time.   We finally get Pulisic back but have to lose Dest and Sargent in the trade

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

if it wasn't for the own goal, I bet from a statistical standpoint, this was one of, if not the best, games in Brook's career.

The ! In these stats are no joke.  This is extremely rare to see from an CB.

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

Brian Sciaretta

@BrianSciaretta

John Brooks:

raw #'s for Wolfsburg in a 5-3 win vs Werder

90 mins

107 touches

1 goal

1 own goal

87/97 passing (89%)

12/16 long balls(!)

8 duels won (0 lost)(!)

5 aerials won (0 lost)(!)

2 tackles (2 attempts)

1 clearance

2 interceptions

0 fouls 

Brooks should sleep well tonight

Edited November 27, 2020 by NewlyRetired

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

I can't wait for the Nations League next summer.  Mexico moved into the top 10 (#9) in the world this month.

Since Tata took over, Mexico's record is an amazing 19-2-1

One of the draws they ended up winning on pk's.

The only loss is to Argentina.

[BassNBrew 10,571]

3 hours ago, Moe. said:

I’m stating the obvious here but the ability to run your ### off all match is often overlooked when people start talking about physical traits. Similar to foot speed I don’t think it’s something you can just choose to do - it’s an innate skill or talent. I think Sargent fits so well with the rest of our group but we shall see. 

Seems like it would be the easiest thing to chose to do if you put in the fitness work.  Maybe the insanely stupidly long soccer season makes that difficult.

[BassNBrew 10,571]

9 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

I can't wait for the Nations League next summer.  Mexico moved into the top 10 (#9) in the world this month.

Since Tata took over, Mexico's record is an amazing 19-2-1

One of the draws they ended up winning on pk's.

The only loss is to Argentina.

How is that even possible?  have we even played 4 games in that time?

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

3 hours ago, BassNBrew said:

How is that even possible?  have we even played 4 games in that time?

Tata took over beginning of 2019 and his first game was in March of 2019.  We have played 19 games in that time frame, so three less games.

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

3 hours ago, BassNBrew said:

Seems like it would be the easiest thing to chose to do if you put in the fitness work.  Maybe the insanely stupidly long soccer season makes that difficult.

It seems like it would be easy but it really is not when you consider how few players do this (at the extreme level).

[El Floppo 27,940]

16 minutes ago, NewlyRetired said:

It seems like it would be easy but it really is not when you consider how few players do this (at the extreme level).

There's a selflessness to it that runs psychologically counter to the typically selfish (by necessity) goal scorer.

That recent doc about Barcas run under Pep included some commentary by Henry who talked about it taking a while for him to get used to what was expected of him...to make run after run after run that would more often than not get unrewarded. And that was still on the offensive side of things. And for Barca. 

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

2 minutes ago, El Floppo said:

There's a selflessness to it that runs psychologically counter to the typically selfish (by necessity) goal scorer.

That recent doc about Barcas run under Pep included some commentary by Henry who talked about it taking a while for him to get used to what was expected of him...to make run after run after run that would more often than not get unrewarded. And that was still on the offensive side of things. And for Barca. 

This is a good point. 

And while the modern game has all but eliminated the complete luxury players of a decades ago, there are still a ton of highly talented offensive players who conserve as much energy as possible with out being useless, and that usually comes when they don't have the ball.

[Sammy3469 10,246]

4 hours ago, BassNBrew said:

Seems like it would be the easiest thing to chose to do if you put in the fitness work.  Maybe the insanely stupidly long soccer season makes that difficult.

Theoretically, but I know you bike...there’s a reason there are sprinters and endurance racers, etc.  The Sagan’s and Cancellera’s of the world are exceedingly rare.  There’s definitely some inate ability to recover from sprinting quick enough to last 90 minutes or in the Paris-Roubaix.

[gianmarco 28,015]

Adams with the start for RBL. Musah starting.  Gio on the bench. Richards didn't even make the bench

Edited November 28, 2020 by gianmarco

[BassNBrew 10,571]

12 hours ago, NewlyRetired said:

Tata took over beginning of 2019 and his first game was in March of 2019.  We have played 19 games in that time frame, so three less games.

Amazing the volume of games played in non covid times

[BassNBrew 10,571]

11 hours ago, Sammy3469 said:

Theoretically, but I know you bike...there’s a reason there are sprinters and endurance racers, etc.  The Sagan’s and Cancellera’s of the world are exceedingly rare.  There’s definitely some inate ability to recover from sprinting quick enough to last 90 minutes or in the Paris-Roubaix.

Isn’t a lot of the body size and how skinny you can get?

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

Reyna in as sub and has a quick assist.

[BassNBrew 10,571]

12 hours ago, NewlyRetired said:

It seems like it would be easy but it really is not when you consider how few players do this (at the extreme level).

 

12 hours ago, NewlyRetired said:

This is a good point. 

And while the modern game has all but eliminated the complete luxury players of a decades ago, there are still a ton of highly talented offensive players who conserve as much energy as possible with out being useless, and that usually comes when they don't have the ball.

Interesting. Conservation has its place depending on game volume and the bench depth. The soccer season doesn’t lend its to periodiztion

[NewlyRetired 16,492]

On 11/21/2020 at 11:57 AM, NewlyRetired said:

8th Update:

Combined G/A/Pk's drawn:

Sargent: 4

Reyna: 7

Pulisic: 2

9th Update:

Combined G/A/Pk's drawn:

Sargent: 4

Reyna: 8

Pulisic: 2

Edited November 28, 2020 by NewlyRetired