If it's at the same time as the nations league do we actually have a shot at getting any of our Euro based youngsters released for olympic qualifying? I know the Euro teams usually never release our guys for qualifying which has really hurt us in the past. 100% agree though, olympics are much more important then the stupid concacaf nations league.
Getting experience to qualify for Olympics makes sense for young guys. I was more about bringing them on board to train than handing them the jobs outright. Im fine keeping Boyd & Arriola since they can still improve.
While I agree you can't just hand the young guys the starting spots, IDK if basing that off PT is the right call. You'd take starters in the MLS over a sub from Germany, Spain, English club teams? Would certainly help if we'd actually at least keep them part of the 23 and get them some minutes in our games.
Or alternatively, do we want our young guys deciding to play in the MLS knowing they'll start sooner for the NT, but probably won't progress as much. It's a tricky situation.
It’s not exactly black and white. Based on what you wrote you’d have taken a group of bench players like Emerson Hyndman over MLS Tyler Adams. Now not even a year later Adams is in the Bundesliga and Hyndman is in MLS.
There's a big difference between being a starter, consistent sub, a rare sub and not playing at all. No matter what league you're playing in you want to get playing time. You also need to look at how they're actually playing when they do get on the field. Are they actually playing well? Or are they playing like Jozy at Sunderland? If you don't get playing time though that is universally thought of as terrible for development and current form. It's great when our young guys go over to Europe but if they don't ever get to play they'll just end up in the long line of overhyped US prospects. It's why Weah needed to get out of PSG, he was never going to consistently play there.
The Tyler Adams and soon to be Paxton Pomykal route is perfectly fine. Majority of kids don’t have an EU passport, so they can’t sign there until they’re 18 y/o. But if a kid goes the MLS route, need to move to Europe by 20-21 y/o at the latest.
Yes I think both could have gotten minutes at Celtic and also think both are better players then Weah right now. Weah's ceiling is way higher then both but he's not better then those two at 19. I think last season was pretty much a wasted year for him with how little he played. If he gets consistent playing time at Lille he could quickly jump those two on the wing depth chart. If he sits on the bench for another year though then he might get passed up by other players in our pool.
Last year Weah had 6 goals in 665 minutes, Boyd 7 goals in 1825. Maybe the Turkish league is just that much better.
Boyd had 6 goals in only 14 games after being loaned to Ankaragucu to finish the season. A somewhat important note on his season long stats. And yeah the Turkish league is a lot better then the Scottish league.
Have they announced dates for the U23 CONCACAF Qualifying tournament? Is there an overlap with the Nations League?
They haven’t officially announced it yet, but all signs are pointing around the October int’l FIFA dates (10/7-10/15) and will be played in Costa Rica. Unlikely that Euro clubs will release players and MLS playoffs start Oct 19.
Hasn't Pulisic mostly been a sub for Dortmund? He had a good run where he was starting consistently for a bit, but by the logic being used here he wouldn't have been called in for the NT bc he wasn't getting consistent starting minutes. If they're a sub at a decent club in Europe, I think that makes them a better option than most players that are starting in the MLS.
that’s not what people are saying. he was always getting regular time even if he wasn’t starting every game. the worry is about a guy that just never plays.
Dear journal. Day 2, coworker had tacos for lunch. I cursed 3g for his stupid subs on Sunday night again.
I believe part of problem was he was behind Jadon Sancho who had 12 goals & 14 assist for Dortmund. He's an uber stud and is going to be big time.
Tyler Adams was dominating MLS last year and Hyndman was a bench player at Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership, which is basically an MLS equivalent. Not even close to being a bench player in Germany, Spain, or the EPL which is what was said.
This was pretty much Colombia's A-squad, with James and all. Arriola could not do half of those things Weah did in that video. (And I like Arriola and think he's fine as a sub)
I just looked at the current FIFA rankings and only 66 points separates spots 5-9. how do you draw your automatic qualification line right through the middle of that?
Haiti makes the gold cup semis and will still have their backs against the wall due to the current rankings. So stupid. At least when we got eliminated and humiliated in Honduras two cycles running, I could rest on that we didn’t deserve to advance.
This is the last world cup cycle of 32 teams as well. Not sure why they would change anything now. What a bunch of idiots
obviously that's just names on a page and the tactics could be many different things, but I don't think the rest of the squad is good enough for me to stick Pulisic on a wing. he needs to have a free role in the middle whether it's in the midfield or behind the striker. also can Cannon even play on the left? if he can, cool.
I'd flip Adams and McKennie but other than that that's pretty much my ideal lineup. (I also assume it wouldn't be a standard 4-3-3 and that's just the graphic)
I think his current role in the midfield hurt us against Mexico. We had Bradley mainly sitting back and Pulisic mainly forward so Weston had to cover a lot of ground by himself. If you put Adams in for Bradley it would certainly help but someone like Pomykal would be much more natural in that midfield spot then Pulisic. A midfielder who's more used to winning balls back, tracking back and distributing the ball. Pulisic would still have the freedom to roam from the wing. They could even switch him from side to side throughout the game as a way of preventing teams from keying on him. Our goal this cycle should be to find someone good enough to start at the 10 midfield spot so Pulisic can play his natural wing position. I think that would make us a better team.
my fear is teams being able to bottle Pulisic up and deny him time on the ball much easier on the wing. I do get your issue though with Mexico. I though the Roldan sub really helped solve that issue because he was able to play on right but also tuck into the midfield. also, Adams would offer much more versatility and coverage than Bradley.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play on the left but Lima can play in the left just fine. He does it every week at SJ.
It's basically an NCAA tournament model isn't it? Ranked teams get in while others in the ASun have to basically win their conference tournament. With a group stage of just those teams...does it give them more games to attempt to get points? I'm honestly not sure if this is better or worse for smaller nations. FIFA rankings as a decided feels like the joke part though.
it’s the same but there’s only one conference for the small teams. they get one shot. it has to be worse.
I think it gives the smaller nations more games, which is a good thing, but a tougher road to actually qualify, which isn’t great. I’ve seen some say on Twitter that this is basically CONCACAF’s compromise with the big nations for implementing the Nations League. More Nations League games for USA, Mexico, CR, Jamaica, etc means less qualifying matches.
LB is the bigger concern. Ream had no intentions of being part of the attack, so all Mexico had to do was keep the ball away from Cannon's side and it stifled our attack.