OT: We may win the World Cup in 2026
- Thread starter brad1218
- Start date
Oh thought Myles Robinson was in there. Cardoso is a semi regular.
Feels like a USA goal is coming soon. I’m enjoying their creativity in building up the attack.
Miles Robinson was in there but he is not a regular. In fact he did not make the Nations League roster in March. He is not to be confused with Anfernee (Jedi) Robinson, who may be our second best player.
But he is an experienced national team player. Yes not to be confused with Fulham’s Robinson
Saw US play Turkey in 2014 at Red Bull Arena.
Technically a friendly but atmosphere inside was electric because it was a tune up for the Brazil World Cup and fan base was at peak enthusiasm.
Maybe the best ever US goal was scored right in front of my seats behind the goal.
Technically a friendly but atmosphere inside was electric because it was a tune up for the Brazil World Cup and fan base was at peak enthusiasm.
Maybe the best ever US goal was scored right in front of my seats behind the goal.
I’m very worried about the USMNT for the WC. We literally have had one of the worst last 12 months of results/momentum leading up to a WC in recent memory.
The “golden generation” hasn’t achieved anything.
Reyna should be our best creator but he’s all but disappeared for the USMNT.
And what happened to our goalie pool? We had such a great run of Meola, Keller, Friedel, Howard…Turner is not at that level.
Biggest mistake in US Soccer coaching history is holding onto Berhalter so long it doesn’t give Poch a chance to rebuild.
The “golden generation” hasn’t achieved anything.
Reyna should be our best creator but he’s all but disappeared for the USMNT.
And what happened to our goalie pool? We had such a great run of Meola, Keller, Friedel, Howard…Turner is not at that level.
Biggest mistake in US Soccer coaching history is holding onto Berhalter so long it doesn’t give Poch a chance to rebuild.
I think you are right to be worried.
That said - there's a narrow window where I think we could be dangerous. But it's narrow.
We need:
1) Pulisic healthy at the WC and playing in top form carrying us with some support from Pepi/Balogun and Mckennie/Weah.
2) Dest healed up. He and Robinson from an offensive standpoint you can put up against most countries. But there's no guarantee he'll be in top form. And Robinson has played A LOT. At some point he's going to lose some pace. Right now he's world class though.
3) Richards plays like he plays at Palace. We pair him in CD with.... somebody. And somehow those two plus Turner block enough to let us make some sort of run.
4) In support of #3 - we need to get Cardoso playing for us like he plays in Spain and get him comfortable playing with Adams. Most teams we play if we really want to make a run will be better than us. Two CDMs will support the back four and maybe, just maybe form enough of a wall where pulisic can work some occasional magic and we win 1-0 or similar against a Belgium etc.
To me - I think against strong opponents I'd go - assuming health - 4 2 3 1. Probably Robinson Richards Carter Vickers(?) Dest Cardoso Adams. I might even go Puli at CM with Balogun up top. The wingers is a crapshoot if Puli is central. I would probably go Weah and McKenzie (left??) And just defend like crazy.
Lot of ifs.
This is certainly a disappointing showing. . Don’t know what the magic sauce is to make all these individual pieces come together.
Even the guys who came up through the U17 ranks together aren’t playing with the same chemistry I would expect. Makes me appreciate the Donovan/Beasley teams much more.
Even the guys who came up through the U17 ranks together aren’t playing with the same chemistry I would expect. Makes me appreciate the Donovan/Beasley teams much more.
So depressing that a country of 330M can even field 11 capable guys without relying on so many guys not even bought up in our system and raised outside the US such as Balugun, Cardoso, A Robinson, Dest, Carter-Vickers, Tillman - that’s at least half the probable starters.
Reyna not emerging in his career has really hurt us.
Why can’t McKennie be consistent?
Sargeant? Another season he’s scoring at will for his club but hasn’t panned out for country?
Yes we have more guys playing at top clubs in Europe and producing than ever. But this team is nowhere near as good as the US team that either won or lost to Spain 4-3 in conversation’s cup. Remember that team?
Charlie Davies was all over the place. That team could score and was exciting.
We need a complete overhaul of our yourtjnaystem to be more like the euros. Our focus on games not skill development at a young age hurts us.
Ditto for basketball and we see our advantages there going away as we already are behind the World 6-10+ talent big time.
Charlie Davies not getting into that car in Washington DC was always one of my biggest “what ifs” in sport.
I still feel like we've got a solid squad with our first 11 (well, at least with the 10 field players), but we still need to figure out who those 10 guys are, and the depth at some spots is really lacking. We'll learn little to nothing about this squad this summer with the hand that we've been dealt (or dealt ourselves, if you want to take that view).
This Gold Cup is heading for a disaster...even years when we sent our "B" team could always be expected to end in winning the group and going out to a stronger Mexico team in the final, but we're really weak right now.
I really hope that Turner goes out on loan somewhere this season to get minutes and rebuild his career if he's going to be our answer. And we NEED Antonee and Dest to be healthy heading into next summer, as I don't have a ton of faith in Scally, and absolutely no faith in anyone else. A few months ago, I would have hoped that this summer would be used for mixing in Luna with the first team, figuring out the best CB pairing out of our top options, figuring out who our Striker depth chart, figuring out if Johnny and Adams could give us enough offense working together or if we can really only play one, etc. Now, it's basically turning into a January camp where I'm hoping we can find a depth piece or a diamond in the rough out of this group. Not ideal a year out.
This Gold Cup is heading for a disaster...even years when we sent our "B" team could always be expected to end in winning the group and going out to a stronger Mexico team in the final, but we're really weak right now.
I really hope that Turner goes out on loan somewhere this season to get minutes and rebuild his career if he's going to be our answer. And we NEED Antonee and Dest to be healthy heading into next summer, as I don't have a ton of faith in Scally, and absolutely no faith in anyone else. A few months ago, I would have hoped that this summer would be used for mixing in Luna with the first team, figuring out the best CB pairing out of our top options, figuring out who our Striker depth chart, figuring out if Johnny and Adams could give us enough offense working together or if we can really only play one, etc. Now, it's basically turning into a January camp where I'm hoping we can find a depth piece or a diamond in the rough out of this group. Not ideal a year out.
Yep, I've thought it before and then I feel guilty that someone died and I'm disappointed in what it did to the USMNT. But what could have been...
After a few days, I’m feeling somewhat more positive about the Türkiye match. The US had a lot of bright moments. There were clearly some players on this B/C Team going to, uh the USA in 2026.
He is one of the best players on a league winning club and a CL level player. He pops off the screen when you watch PSV. Incorporating him into the gameplan needs to be a priority. We can't run every attack thru Pulisic. Reyna has not worked out for a variety of reasons, including health, attitude, coach drama, positional uncertainty.
USA is playing Switzerland, so this will be another tough test. I’m interested to see Tillman show more tonight.
Lack of talent in this squad...and what talent there is doesn't seem overly interested. On our way to a lost summer just a year out from a huge opportunity.
The problem is our first choice keeper is out there though and he hasn't been good. He's not good enough but we have nobody else. And McKenzie and Cardoso are also out there who are in the mix to start and they've been.... out there.
The jump down from Antonee to the guy out there now is a lot. Ditto the guy on the right.
Turner shouldn't be a #1, but really not sure where else we go at this point (unless someone really jumps out over the next year). I had hoped that Slonina would be the answer, but his career has really stalled the last two years.
And I have no idea where we go at CB. McKenzie would be in the mix to start theoretically (someone has to pair with Richards, and not sure who of McKenzie, CCV, Ream, Miles Robinson, etc). My hope is that Miles continues getting back to full health after the injury, and he grabs the job.
The good news is that our team will look much different next summer. The bad news is that the team we put on the field next summer will have spent very little time playing together over the past several years (and almost none under this coach).
Last edited:
CCV is constantly disrespected by the usmnt. I'd like to see him get more opportunities
Brutal way to go into a Gold Cup. Missing out on the WC in Russia was awful, but I think I feel worse now.
l didn’t watch and looked at our lineup. Wtf? It’s like our “c” team. Forget the World Cup, we may not even get to the semis in the awful Good Cup.
It’s a FAIrlR assent to say we seem worse off post Berhalter as a program - we just stink.
Now Poch hasn’t had many chances with our full roster and I’m not sure more than 2 guys who started yesterday even make the WC squad but we are really not looking good.
Seems like Canada got the coach we shouldn’t gotten. Who else?
It’s a FAIrlR assent to say we seem worse off post Berhalter as a program - we just stink.
Now Poch hasn’t had many chances with our full roster and I’m not sure more than 2 guys who started yesterday even make the WC squad but we are really not looking good.
Seems like Canada got the coach we shouldn’t gotten. Who else?
Are we still on target to win the world cup in 2026? Is getting smacked by both Belgium and Portugal this close to the world cup part of the process?
I guess we're still better than Italy at least, failed once again to get in.
I guess we're still better than Italy at least, failed once again to get in.
People are going to tune in and think team USA is like the hockey and baseball teams.
we are more like Puerto Rico vs team USA basketball
we are more like Puerto Rico vs team USA basketball
We are in but we're not very good right now. We hired a good coach but not too promising the way we're playing right now, although there is still some tinkering going on with tactics and lineups so maybe it will come together in time.
Individual talent is better but still not world class. What the team did have in spades in the past has very little of now- balls.
Guys are soft af. No killers on the team. That last goal scored by Portugal was the softest goal I ever seen at the international level. Friendly or not.
Guys are soft af. No killers on the team. That last goal scored by Portugal was the softest goal I ever seen at the international level. Friendly or not.
Was just reading, there will be no parking in Metlife parking lots for the 8 games and only limited parking at American Dream (500 to 1000 spaces) at $225 a pop. Everyone has to take mass transit to and from the games.
That sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen. NJ Transit says they can handle it based off a Taylor Swift concert where they shuttled 80,000 fans over 3 days. They'll now have to do that figure in just one day. Anyone see the problem?
That sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen. NJ Transit says they can handle it based off a Taylor Swift concert where they shuttled 80,000 fans over 3 days. They'll now have to do that figure in just one day. Anyone see the problem?
Last edited: