USMNT – The World Cup Starts Now

Yeah, ok the real start date isn’t until our first match on June 12th against Paraguay but bear with me. The reality is that the WC, from a players perspective does start now. Just as Cristian Roldan, pictured above, details here.

And so it should for the fans. Why is that?

1. This camp and the two friendlies are the last time the players will be together before Mauricio Pochettino has to submit the final 26 man roster to FIFA. The last chance for players to impress upon Poch and his staff and make their case for inclusion on the roster.
2. These two friendlies are the last time for Poch and his staff to try various tactics (3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1) and lineups against top quality opponents before the show. Yes their are two tune-ups slated in the two weeks prior to the Paraguay match. But the key were there is “tune-ups.”  These two matches are to fine tune the tactics planned (which will be based on this camp) and to integrate any players that missed this current camp. This is NOT an opportunity to change directions. Its far too late by then.

So while we may call these friendlies, and yes ultimately the results don’t “matter” these are not your typical friendlies. And yes the results do matter from the perspective that building upon the momentum and progress from last fall is important. The scorelines won’t matter but the storylines will matter…a lot!

Here’s the roster that were included for this camp:

DETAILED ROSTER BY POSITION (Club/Country; Caps/Goals)

GOALKEEPERS (4): Chris Brady (Chicago Fire; 0/0), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; 3/0, Matt Freese (New York City FC; 13/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 52/0).

DEFENDERS (9): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew; 16/1), Alex Freeman (Villarreal/ESP; 13/2), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse/FRA; 25/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 79/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 35/3), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 50/4), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 38/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 22/0), Auston Trusty (Celtic/SCO; 5/0)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 9/1), Johnny Cardoso (Atletico Madrid/ESP; 22/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 62/11), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough/ENG; 13/0), Gio Reyna (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 34/9), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 43/0), Tanner Tessmann (Olympique Lyon/FRA; 12/1); Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen/GER; 26/3)

FORWARDS (6): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 56/9); Patrick Agyemang (Derby County/ENG; 12/5), Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA; 23/8), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 34/13), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 82/32), Tim Weah (Olympique Marseille/FRA; 47/7)

What is interesting with this roster was the general agreement across fandom on just who was called in and who wasn’t. In most national team callups the are wild disagreements from the media and fans alike on why so and so was included while favorite players were excluded. That just isn’t the case with this roster announcement. Sure there are some minor squabbles but by and large this roster has been pretty well accepted across the board. I think this represents a couple of key points about the state of soccer in the US.

1. First, and most importantly, the soccer world has started to firmly believe in the approach being instituted by Poch. And its clear to the soccer world that so do the players. This is paramount to a team being better than the sum of its parts. A problem the USMNT has had for a number of years.
2. Roster call ups and playing time have been earned not via some perceived hierarchy based on history. Players need to play to their highest ability, take training camps seriously, and be committed to wearing the US jersey.

All in  all the players called in are pretty much the player pool to be used for the final roster selection with some notable exceptions. Tyler Adams, Haji Wright, Sergino Dest, and Diego Luna are all missing this camp due to injuries. Had they been fit then they most certainly would have been called in. Two players that were not called in, Yunas Musah and Alex Zendejas, still have an outside shot at getting called in to the final roster pending how the rest of their seasons go and any injuries to other players over the next two months. There is one player who is not in this camp than most fans wanted to see and that is Noahkai Banks, Banks has represented the US at the U-17, U-19, and U-20 levels and has never participated in any German youth internationals. However, since only matches at the senior level cap tie a player, Banks remains eligible for both the US and Germany. Banks was called in to this camp but declined telling Pochettino he is still pondering his decision on which nation he wants to ultimately play for. While understanding that this is a hard decision to make for young players many, including former US star Landon Donavan are very happy with this decisions. In an interview Donavan laid out his thoughts. “It’s clear that the federation is telling him that the door’s still open,” he said. “This is just a classic negotiation, because they’ve left the door open for him. Now he’s like, ‘OK, then I won’t choose. I’ll take my time.’ “They should have said, ‘I need to know right now. In fact, I need to know yesterday. You’re either in or you’re out. If you’re not in, you’re out.'”  To make himself clear he added “And I’m not mad at him. He can make his decision. But now, I don’t care about you anymore. I don’t. I don’t care about Noahkai – if he does not want to play for the U.S., totally fine.” And frankly I fall pretty much in line with these comments. I thought he had a real shot to not only make the final roster but to get soem real minutes this summer. Alas that’s not to be.

But the surprise inclusion has to go to Gio Reyna. Reyna has played a whopping total 26 minutes so far this calendar year and has been on the bench for his last 4 club matches and has not seen the field. But he was called in and Poch was clear about his reasoning saying  “the possibility, even if he’s not playing too much in his club, [to show he] can be very useful for us. That is our mindset, and the way that we made the decision to bring Gio in this camp…..Gio was fantastic in November with us. I think everyone praised him in his game against Paraguay, and then the way he was involved and committed with the national team. I was really happy in all the aspects, the factors, in which he was involved.” Reyna is clearly a very talented and special player. It remains to be seen if he can continue to ride the bench for his club but then show up so well for the Nats. We sure hope so!!

So there’s a lot at stake for these next two friendlies and both Belgium (FIFA #9) and Portugal (FIFA #6) are taking these pretty seriously as well sending most of their expected rosters for the WC. And fans attending these two matches in Atlanta will get to see two world class teams filled with star players. Belgium will feature well known stars such as Kevin DeBruyne and Romelu Lukaku. Portugal will had a stocked roster including Bruno Fernandes and Rafael Leao. Unfortunately, US fans will not get to see CR7. Cristiano Ronaldo is out with an injury.

With that just what can we expect to see in these two friendlies. Here’s a shot at two starting rosters and formations we may play in these two matches. To me the most important data point to get out of these two is just who plays the defensive midfield role of Tyler Adams?

4-4-3 vs Belgium

3-5-2 vs Portugal

Why two different formations?

One of the great things about the current roster and its depth is the ability to change tactics and players to best counter the opponent and to keep players fresh during a long tournament. This is really critical for a WC for multiple reasons.

1. Other than the outlier in Qatar, world cups are played in the summer months where both temperature and humidity can be high. Even though the matches are spaced out this just takes a toll on a players ability to recover and perform at high levels the next match.
2. Other than UEFA Champions League, this is pretty much the best of the best. Yes expanding this WC to 48 teams will mean that some “weaker” teams will be included. But even then all of these teams have the ability to pull off an upset and will work their opponents hard.

We saw the downfall of trying to play a tournament with minimal roster changes or substitutions the last time around. Yes the Nats advanced but when they got to the knockout stage match against the Dutch it was clear that they were tired both physically and mentally. I think our roster this summer will be in much better shape to handle this.

The coaching staff will learn a lot during the next week on just how the team is progressing, what approach the players can best take, and what tweaks are still needed. Things may change over the next two months based upon how these friendlies go and the rest of the players’ domestic leagues end up but here is my current thinking on our final roster. Note that expanding from 23 to 26 man rosters is a BIG deal. Clearly its huge to the 3 “extra guys” that get included but its also vastly important to the coaching staff in that this gives them some flexibility to take players with a specific purpose in mind that probably wouldn’t be there otherwise. In this case here’s my 3 players who are benefitting from the roster expansion.

1. Have to start with Gio Reyna. Reyna has played so little over the last 3 years that its hard to see him making a 23 man roster. He’s probably not match fit enough to go more than 30 minutes at this point. But he is a special player and has shown time and again the ability to make that final third pass that’s a difference maker. Given the expanded roster and the schedule its probably safe to take him and train him into playing shape so that by the knockout stage (ok spoiler alert, yes the US will advance) he’s capable of at least 60 minutes.
2. Sebastian Berhalter is my second choice. Although he’s a solid all around midfielder he has limited experience against top international caliber and is perhaps not someone you want on the field for long stretches. But for all who watch soccer, you know that set piece goals are critical and even more so in the World Cup.  About 30% of goals scored in soccer are from set pieces and while the US has several capable set piece takers none of them are even close to the quality and consistency of those taken by Berhalter. He makes the squad. Now in my mind he makes it even on a 23 man squad because of this ability but most pundits had him as one of their first men out.
3. Patrick Agyeman. Big Pat is probably the guy most unlikely to make a 23 man roster that gets in here. He is not that tactically gifted. He gets dispossessed far too often when he has the ball at his feet. But this dude is a physical beast and is very hard for opposing defenses to handle. He is so strong that it often takes two defenders to handle him and that means somebody near the goal is open. And he’s a monster in the air. There may well come a time when the US needs a goal and you see Berhalter and Agyemang come on to find that magic goal.

Forwards (6)

Locks – Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic,  and Tim Weah

Bubble – Haji Wright and Patrick Agyemang, Alex Zendejas

Projected Final Additions – Wright and Agyemang

Midfielders (10)

Locks – Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Malik Tillman, Brenden Aaronson, Diego Luna, Cristian Roldan, Tanner Tessman

Bubble – Johnny Cardoso, Gio Reyna, Sebastian Berhalter, Yunas Musah, Jack McGlynn, and Aiden Morris

Projected Final Additions – Cardoso, Reyna, and Berhalter

Defenders (7)

Locks – Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Chris Richards, Mark McKenxie, Max Arfsten, and Sergino Dest

Bubble – Auston Trusty, Joe Scally, and Miles Robinson

Projected Final Additions – Total crapshoot. Whichever of the 3 above that looks the best in this camp. Gun to head I’d say Scally.

Goalkeepers (3 and this is mandatory per FIFA rules)

Locks – Matt Freese and Matt Turner

Bubble – Patrick Schulte, Drake Callender, and Roman Celentano

Projected Final Addition – Schulte

US vs Belgium March 28th at 3:30 EDT shown on TNT and streaming on Peacock

US vs Portugal March 31 at 7:00 EDT shown on TNT and streaming on Peacock

These are just can’t miss matches. We will see top competition and US players giving all they’ve got to earn that precious final call up.