akm91 said:

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We are the 2nd best in the group. African teams always give us problems because of their physicality and speed. The U-17 group should be technical enough to mitigate those disadvantages.

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That's good. I know the Dutch are miles ahead of us in youth development.

Pahdz said:

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This is also a big plus for the minnows to get more competitive matches. Should raise the level of play for the entire region.

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That was always my biggest problem with the old system. I know we have more minnows than most, but it was still a little bizarre to me that you could be done with the WCQ cycle in one (or maybe two?) matches.

Pahdz said:

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This is also a big plus for the minnows to get more competitive matches. Should raise the level of play for the entire region.

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They get more competitive matches and I like that aspect of it.

They could have instituted group play for the minnows without the rest of the changes, or at least without the funky dual qualification system they came up with.

There were already 6 rounds and a possible 6 matches in the old Rounds 1, 2, and 3. Just turn those 6 matches into group play.

TXAggie2011 said:

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Pahdz said:

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This is also a big plus for the minnows to get more competitive matches. Should raise the level of play for the entire region.

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They get more competitive matches and I like that aspect of it.

They could have instituted group play for the minnows without the rest of the changes, or at least without the funky dual qualification system they came up with.

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That's true. If they know they want multiple levels to this thing, they could always just... start earlier.

Well, I added an edit above to say "There were already 6 rounds and a possible 6 matches in the old Rounds 1, 2, and 3. Just turn those 6 matches into group play."

They probably could have just changed the format of the 6 match days they were already playing.

Really have a hard time disagreeing with him. (Read the whole thing. )

Eh...I thought Fabian didn't really want to play anymore internationally due to injuries. Some guys he named I agree with, but judging others based on their salaries is dumb.

Yeah, CB missed with some of his roster selections this go round, but that thread has a pretty low hit percentage too. Johnson retire from international play. Nagbe? Blew off Weah? Danny Williams I get.

Yeah I know PatAg is our resident Nagbe lover but I guess I don't know the game enough to appreciate what he does because he's never shown much at the international level to me.

Williams I absolutely want to get more looks but just don't know why. You wonder if some of these guys secretly don't want to play.

I think he's spot on. Could also add Alfredo Morales.

I Am Mine said:

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Really have a hard time disagreeing with him. (Read the whole thing. )

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Fabian Johnson - He decided to retire from the national team himself and injuries were quoted as the reason. Berhalter met with him in March so I'm assuming he gauged his interest and was told no...they played together at 1860 Munich for 3 years so I'm assuming Gregg knows exactly where he stands...

Nagbe/Williams/Hyndman/Bedoya - Are any of these players difference makers? Nagbe has never had a good game in a US jersey. Williams had an injury filled year with a relegated club and now has no club...Bedoya? Meh. Hyndman being called an EPL player is laughable. How many times has he actually played with Bournemouth? He's been loaned out a ton and hasn't settled with his EPL club. Not an EPL player yet. He definitely has potential though but at 23 years old, you'd think we almost know what he is by now.

Weah/Saief/Green - Julian Green? No. Weah? All the potential in the world but I'd take Paulie Nips and Boyd over him. I'm not a Lewis or Morris fan but Weah hasn't convinced me that he's a USMNT 1st teamer yet...hell Morris and Lewis haven't either for the record. I honestly haven't seen enough of Saief.

Wood/Novakovich/Sargent - Nova has never looked good to me. Sargent is a weird situation but I'll also say that he has a ton of potential. At this point he's just that. Wood? He has better hold up play than Zardes and I would've taken him instead of Zardes for the Gold Cup, so I'll agree with him there. Wood is a little frustrating to watch though at times.

Pahdz said:

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Yeah I know PatAg is our resident Nagbe lover but I guess I don't know the game enough to appreciate what he does because he's never shown much at the international level to me.

Williams I absolutely want to get more looks but just don't know why. You wonder if some of these guys secretly don't want to play.

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Nah, I wanted to see him play for a long time, but once he did he just never really had that killer instinct in the attacking third. I think he has the talent, but he definitely didnt show it at the international level

Maybe I was defending him from people being overly critical and you remember that, not sure. He would dominate at club level though.

It's my first time reading that dude. It's really weird seeing a spoof account spend so much effort on serious discussions.

That said, I can't disagree with the players he calls out.

Really the only personnel move I'd strongly criticize happened before the Gold Cup. It still boggles my mind that when GB had a healthy Yedlin and Adams he decided to play Adams at RB, Yedlin as an AMR and his boy Trapp in the middle. The whole scheme really seemed like artificial shuffling to try and get his guy a spot but still get Adams on the field.

Pahdz said:

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Yeah I know PatAg is our resident Nagbe lover but I guess I don't know the game enough to appreciate what he does because he's never shown much at the international level to me.

Williams I absolutely want to get more looks but just don't know why. You wonder if some of these guys secretly don't want to play.

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Williams has had the bad luck of Klinsmann being the USMNT coach and run of injuries at inopportune times.

Let's hope McKennie plays only 1 or 2 positions under Wagner this upcoming season.

PatAg said:

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That thread is made by someone who kind of follows the national team, but not nearly well enough to be posting as an authority.

I think the only one we all have consensus on is, not bringing Sargent is stupid. Talking about bringing Weah, but he was already in the U-20 world cup so he wasnt going to be in the Gold Cup. A lot of the guys he named as being "a step up" just seemed like more of the same level of talent he is complaining about being in the Gold Cup to me.

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Yeah, I think we can all agree there were some questionable choices on this roster, and at forward in particular there were a lot of at least potentially better options, but I don't think anyone with any in-depth knowledge of this team would argue that we can match up with Mexico spot for spot. And even so we were the better side for a half in the Gold Cup final.

Now will we be able to in 2 or so years, when it counts? That's a very different question.

fig96 said:

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PatAg said:

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That thread is made by someone who kind of follows the national team, but not nearly well enough to be posting as an authority.

I think the only one we all have consensus on is, not bringing Sargent is stupid. Talking about bringing Weah, but he was already in the U-20 world cup so he wasnt going to be in the Gold Cup. A lot of the guys he named as being "a step up" just seemed like more of the same level of talent he is complaining about being in the Gold Cup to me.

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Yeah, I think we can all agree there were some questionable choices on this roster, and at forward in particular there were a lot of at least potentially better options, but I don't think anyone with any in-depth knowledge of this team would argue that we can match up with Mexico spot for spot. And even so we were the better side for a half in the Gold Cup final.

Now will we be able to in 2 or so years, when it counts? That's a very different question.

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Yup. To answer your last question, I think we're going to be in a very different spot in 2 years. Pulisic/Adams/McKennie will have more time in very competitive leagues, Sargent will hopefully have broken through, Our U20 players will hopefully develop, Brooks/Yedlin are hopefully healthy, etc...

If all of these things happen then we're gonna have a good team for 2022. I'm really curious and positive about the recent U20 team. So many of those kids looked really good in the WC and if 1/2 of them develop, we're gonna be in a damn good spot.

We may not still have the international star players that maybe Mexico produces in a couple of years, but will will have the quality depth on the squad to make substitutions and not see significant drop off in on field performance
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Call him up now.

Dude - I didn't know that was Claudio's son.

Claudio was fantastic.

Man I wish I could share your optimism about U20s.

While I would certainly concede that success at that level is better than failure, I remain unconvinced that it translates to success with the senior squad. We looked good in 2015 but outside of Steffin and Nips, I'm not sure there's anyone who deserves playing time in the senior squad. And if I'm honest, as much as I like Nips (and I truly do), I hope we find better.

So I suppose I'm a pessimist here, but I don't bank on our U-20 success for the next WC cycle.

I think for the first time ever, every member of the U-20's WC team is playing professionally and not just in MLS.

We have players playing in these clubs' systems:
Bayern
Hannover
Freiburg
Ajax
PSV Eindhoven
Barcelona
Wolfsburg
Lille

Not saying all of them will pan out but they are in competitive programs and that bodes well for the future.

I think Pomykal will be moving to Europe in the not so distant future.

Thinking I'm going to keep watching BD.

I love their atmosphere.

akm91 said:

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I think for the first time ever, every member of the U-20's WC team is playing professionally and not just in MLS.

We have players playing in these clubs' systems:
Bayern
Hannover
Freiburg
Ajax
PSV Eindhoven
Barcelona
Wolfsburg
Lille

Not saying all of them will pan out but they are in competitive programs and that bodes well for the future.

I think Pomykal will be moving to Europe in the not so distant future.

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To build a successful senior team, you really only need 2-3 guys from each age group to be really really good.

Your senior team should be the all star team of every age group from 20-30ish

If we have a Pulisic , McKennie and Adams from every age, we're going to compete for the World Cup.

If the USSF can get out of our players way, I think we can compete to win the 26 WC.

The U17 and U20 teams each had several guys that I'd they continue to develop could be the next great Americans.

As frustrated as I was with the Gold Cup, I feel good about the direction of the development of young players in the US.

Tyler Boyd signed 4 yr deal with Besiktas. Hopefully with his club situation somewhat settled, he'll get the playing time needed to stay in contention for regular call ups.

Quote:

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United States men's national team midfielder Tyler Boyd has signed a four-year deal with Turkish club Besiktas, the club announced on Monday.

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Boyd inks 4 year deal

jeffk said:

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wonder what kind of roster each team brings

Probably C/B team for El Tri and MLS team for US. European leagues just started. Not sure if the Mexican league has started or not.

I'm going to apologize right out of the gate for this stupid question, but can someone point me to the best resource to see where the key & upcoming USMNT players play club ball?

I really haven't watched men's professional soccer in 4-5 years and I was out of the country during the Gold Cup so I feel really behind in terms of the core of our current USMNT. I've read through this thread & stickied the Young Americans thread but aside from googling each member of the current roster, I'm not sure where to start.