***Official USMNT-WCQ Octagonal Thread***

187,603 Views | 3020 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by cruzdoggie
deadbq03
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1) Plan in advance on taking a B team to Panama.
2) Tell A-teamers who have a yellow to go ahead and pick another one up late against Jamaica, so they all serve their bans against Panama.
3) Play CR like you need to and not worry about yellows.
jeffk
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October window roster drops at 11 am ET tomorrow.
jeffk
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Ghost of Andrew Eaton
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jeffk said:




It's absurd people are even questioning this. Of course he should be on the list.
jeffk
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I don't disagree, but I think there were still a lot of unknowns regarding how serious his infraction was and how long his "time out" would last.
jeffk
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GOALKEEPERS
Sean Johnson (New York City FC), Zack Steffen (Manchester City), Matt Turner (New England Revolution)
DEFENDERS
George Bello (Atlanta United), John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona), Mark McKenzie (Genk), Shaq Moore (Tenerife), Tim Ream (Fulham), Chris Richards (Hoffenheim), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United), DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray)
MIDFIELDERS
Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Gianluca Busio (Venezia), Luca de la Torre (Heracles), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)
FORWARDS
Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg), Paul Arriola (D.C. United), Matthew Hoppe (Mallorca), Ricardo Pepi (FC Dallas), Tim Weah (Lille), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew)
jeffk
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No Pulisic and Reyna
Rudyjax
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jeffk said:

No Pulisic and Reyna


Expected. No way they're going to risk their club status and it gives an extra week.
jeffk
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Reyna was expected, CP was more of a surprise.

Pretty huge changes from roster to roster. Not sure if that's a great thing or not, but I guess we'll see.
TamuKid
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I still don't get bringing 5 CBs.
I like that he's bringing 5 fullbacks. Wish Scally was one of 'em.

Like seeing LDLT and Hoppe. Like that Gyasi is in it.

Overall, great looking roster given the limitations of no Puli, No Reyna.
oh no
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Excited to see some that weren't in September!!!
Weah, Hoppe, Shaq, Musah
jeffk
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This is important:

Rudyjax
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jeffk said:

I don't disagree, but I think there were still a lot of unknowns regarding how serious his infraction was and how long his "time out" would last.


****ing whiny Donovan making it a bigger deal than it was. That being said, if it was Pulsics sister then him not being there might've played a part.
oh no
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TamuKid said:

I still don't get bringing 5 CBs.
I like that he's bringing 5 fullbacks.
4 CBs with Ream being a guy that can play 5 or 3 ?
Rudyjax
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jeffk said:

This is important:




I wonder if this had anything to do with Sargent not getting called in if has he been passed?
oh no
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Only Steffen, Ream, and Antonee are UK based in this squad.

so Dest or Bello will play LB vs Panama.
H.E. Pennypacker
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I like the roster ok. Some quibbles (Roldan, Bello, McKenzie, Ream), but ok mostly, given specific circumstances.

Amazing that we can be missing players from Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, and a Premier League Striker and still feel ok about the roster overall.
PatAg
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Kevin the 3-legged dog said:

jeffk said:

This is important:




I wonder if this had anything to do with Sargent not getting called in if has he been passed?
Probably a combination of that, and him just not really showing that well for club or country lately. I don't think he has been playing poorly either, he just hasn't progressed that much in the last year.
I still have a lot of faith in his abilities, and expect him to make that progress. It's just hard to improve as a 9 when your previous club rarely played you there, and your current club isn't either.
oh no
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re: Sargent, what #9 CFs are in this squad besides Zardes and Pepi? assuming Hoppe and Weah are typically more on the wing.. arriola and aaronson are wingers.

surprised no Pefok, Giaannochi, etc. edit forgot Dike as well.
PatAg
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I think he has a lot of good lineups he can trot out, but there are some very big questions about what Gregg will do and what tactics he will employ.
Not to be too obvious, but it is very important we pick up all the points this round..and given the quality of teams we are facing Id like to see us play well too.

Has anyone heard what changes Jamaica has to their player pool? I remember hearing they had a lot of Premier league dual nationals they werent able to call in for the first WCQ window.
PatAg
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oh no said:

re: Sargent, what #9 CFs are in this squad besides Zardes and Pepi? assuming Hoppe and Weah are typically more on the wing.. arriola and aaronson are wingers.
Hoppe is seen as a 9 that 'can' play wing. In theory, we were playing him out of position in the Gold Cup.
jeffk
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Jamaica has games in Canada and at home. Jamaica is just on the "amber" list, so hopefully they'll have their entire group of UK-based players available.... which is bad news for us.
H.E. Pennypacker
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PatAg said:

oh no said:

re: Sargent, what #9 CFs are in this squad besides Zardes and Pepi? assuming Hoppe and Weah are typically more on the wing.. arriola and aaronson are wingers.
Hoppe is seen as a 9 that 'can' play wing. In theory, we were playing him out of position in the Gold Cup.


Agreed. I'm very curious to see Hoppe get some minutes at the 9 with this roster. He's taller, seemingly more athletic and attack minded than Sargent from what I've seen.
TamuKid
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jeffk said:

Jamaica has games in Canada and at home. Jamaica is just on the "amber" list, so hopefully they'll have their entire group of UK-based players available.... which is bad news for us.
They'll be without Leon Bailey though. Which is good news for us. He's probably their most dangerous player when fit and in form. He picked up an injury while scoring for Villa last week.
Rudyjax
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H.E. Pennypacker said:

PatAg said:

oh no said:

re: Sargent, what #9 CFs are in this squad besides Zardes and Pepi? assuming Hoppe and Weah are typically more on the wing.. arriola and aaronson are wingers.
Hoppe is seen as a 9 that 'can' play wing. In theory, we were playing him out of position in the Gold Cup.


Agreed. I'm very curious to see Hoppe get some minutes at the 9 with this roster. He's taller, seemingly more athletic and attack minded than Sargent from what I've seen.


Plus he don't take *****
oh no
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H.E. Pennypacker said:

PatAg said:

oh no said:

re: Sargent, what #9 CFs are in this squad besides Zardes and Pepi? assuming Hoppe and Weah are typically more on the wing.. arriola and aaronson are wingers.
Hoppe is seen as a 9 that 'can' play wing. In theory, we were playing him out of position in the Gold Cup.


Agreed. I'm very curious to see Hoppe get some minutes at the 9 with this roster. He's taller, seemingly more athletic and attack minded than Sargent from what I've seen.
I don't know if he's more athletic or more attack-minded than Sargent, maybe same-same, but I loved the fight in him when we saw him in the GC games.
jeffk
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We will absolutely need some ****housery specialists vs Panama and Jamaica and the Ticos.

Edit - I can't read schedules for crap this morning.
TamuKid
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This is a pretty salty first XI; when you consider we're without Reyna and Puli.



oh no
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love it... Chris Richards hasn't yet played very much at all for the senior team. Probably John Brooks there at 5. Or McKenzie?
TamuKid
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oh no said:

love it... Chris Richards hasn't yet played very much at all for the senior team. Probably John Brooks there at 5. Or McKenzie?
Agreed, I'd expect Brooks to get the nod... but he's been pretty poor for both the USMNT and Wolfsburg recently. Meanwhile, Richards continues to be in great form for Hoffenheim. I just really want to see him get worked into the USMNT roster this window.
oh no
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I do want to see Richards - he's the future at that position. ...and agree on Brooks - his lack of recovery speed always scares me. ...this isn't the time for trials or training and development - Greggg needs to really trust Richards if he's ready. I'm a little surprised Miazga has fallen out of favor - or maybe he's been injured or not playing for club? While guys like Ream and Brooks seem too slow to me, and guys like Miles Robinson, Mark McKenzie, and Chris Richards are the future, Miazga is still one of our top CBs available in the pool & would be a good transitional player for these qualifiers and leading into the WC.


edit: article from one day ago:

Chelsea defender Matt Miazga impresses as Alaves shock Atletico Madrid
akm91
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oh no said:

re: Sargent, what #9 CFs are in this squad besides Zardes and Pepi? assuming Hoppe and Weah are typically more on the wing.. arriola and aaronson are wingers.

surprised no Pefok, Giaannochi, etc. edit forgot Dike as well.
Both Hoppe and Weah can fill in as #9 so they can take up some minutes. Pepi will most likely get the majority of the minutes anyway.

Roldan can fill in as a winger in a pinch so there is enough depth as well.

Super excited to see Musah, McKennie and Adams as the starting mids.


Berhalter is most likely looking to have Pulisic and Reyna for the November window as that has the match vs. Mexico. This window, on paper, is not as difficult as September so I'm assuming he's letting those two heal up and get into their teams as soon as possible to be fit and sharp for November.

We should have enough firepower to get 9 points this window, even without Pulisic and Reyna.
"And liberals, being liberals, will double down on failure." - dedgod
Rudyjax
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Quote:


We should have enough firepower to get 9 points this window, even without Pulisic and Reyna.


we had the firepower last window to get 9 as well. But they didn't do it.

I blame myself for drinking the wrong beer.
JJxvi
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9 points from the last window would have been amazing regardless of firepower. 7 would have been really nice.

9 points I guess is achievable this time, but Mexico essentially played a very similar slate in their first window and got 7. 7 would good again for the US and likely put us solidly in 2nd.
fig96
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oh no said:

Only Steffen, Ream, and Antonee are UK based in this squad.

so Dest or Bello will play LB vs Panama.
I mean, I could play left back vs Panama…
 
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