Yeah, Miles is a rough watch. Didn't realize Pierre that young, so room to improve, his best may still be half a decade away.
OT: All things US Soccer / Int’l Soccer Thread
- Thread starter RUChet
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He’s fearless and doesn’t lack for confidence at all. After that goal, he proceeded to taunt the crowd - never seen a 16 year old with the stones to pick a fight with half a stadium.
I like the bravado of the play backs it up
the desire to fight for every moment is needed to beat some better teams
Totally agree. I think a couple of weeks ago he tried to fight an opponent (a grown man). He could be a really special player for us.
I’m most excited to see us with a world class coach (hopefully) for 4 years mold this young spent plus some key vets into a better team -We clearly have young talent
will be interesting to see who makes our Copa 28 team vs the Olympic team. If we host Copa, it will need to do so before the Olympics in mid July.
imagine our Olympic team with all these kids playing for the senior team plus 3 overage guys which could be Reyna, Berhalter, and Richards for example.
Then several of them could be on our Copa team as I think we only have about 12 sure bet vets that will be on the Copa roster:
Balogun, Pepi, Pulisic, Tillman. McKennie, Reyna, Berhalter, Adams, Jedi, Richards, Dest, Freeman
I think if healthy those 12 are 100% on the Copa roster.
All other roster spots up for grabs
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I know it's not a popular opinion, but I really think we should be sending the young guys to the Olympics, and primarily go 23+ at the Copa America. Olympics are a great opportunity for us to a) win something, and b) continue to rally the country around soccer.
As an aside...I'll sleep much better once Julian Hall is cap tied.
Agree on Hall, but how he’s started and the bond with these guys, hard to see him
Not playing for us. I say call him up and get him into the next nations league game.
I don’t know if guys can be on both rosters (Olympics and Copa) as they are played one after the other but different coaches
imagine how good our u23 team could be…
Hall, Sullivan, Albert, Gozo. Raines, Miller, Pierre, Westfield, Kochen, etc
I do think guys need to play so I don’t want any of the young guys at Copa and not play if they also don’t play in Olympics
I doubt we’d see anyone on both rosters…even if the timing worked (which it might not), that doesn’t give any time to rest in the offseason.
Liking the arrogance of Sullivan - that F the world mentality was special in ‘02 - now he and this class of youngsters needs to back it up.
His steal was good but his composure to get it in the goal is elite. Many guys would overhit. This kid has confidence, poise and aggressiveness. Love it
And different coaches so that’s a factor
I think Poch will look at it like this:
- Guys that will play (start or meaningful sub minutes) will be in Copa regardless of age- he wants to win it or at least get to semis
- U23 that would ride the Copa bench will be in Olympics
-Over 23 guys that would ride the bench will be a candidate for 1 of the 3 overage Olympic spots
The steal was good, but it was a terrible job by the goalie, it was gifted. Excellent finish though, was worried he'd overhit it even upon strike. He showed some flashes, liked his work elsewhere on D at times too, which is good to see from a kid that age.
And he hung around
He tracks back unlike Dempsey who just hunted for goals
This kid has been very good already and he just turned 17
but it’s not that. It’s that several teenagers liked really good for us and I don’t ever recall that
I trust in Poch to developer. He’s a world class coach and has coached at the highest levels
Don't have to sell me on Poch, I was a Tottenham fan the day he was hired. Hated to see him go, hated to see him at Chelsea even more.
Dempsey was an attacker, pure and simple. His clubs set up to allow him to do that. Don't see teams accept that much now, but it happens.
Hall looks like he could be something, makes runs we don't typically get up top. Ellis has flashed a little. Didn't realize the goalie the other night was only 20. Looked a little on the smaller side though.
Yea, noticed that too. Definitely need someone with more length. That said, he had a really nice save and seems good with the ball at his feet. Maybe he will grow 6 more inches lol
Kochen is 6-2. Brady and Freese are 6-3 so mehhh.
Dempsey played like Messi and Haaland from the World Cup. Roaming around waiting for scoring oppty.
But still the right move for all 3 of those guys as 1 goal is a lot more important than 10 interventions.
he will grow into his frame. he had a great save. looked confident throughout. reality is we likely don't have a Friedel, Keller, Howard or even a Guzan on our roster as far as we know
USA will play Haiti home-and-home in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals next month.
EDIT: At least I think they do. As the second seed, USA plays the "best" second place finisher in the group stage. The two second place finishers were Haiti and Jamaica. Haiti had more points, so I assume they are best. But Jamaica is ahead of them in the FIFA rankings, so maybe they are best. Anyway, it will be either Haiti or Jamaica.
EDIT: At least I think they do. As the second seed, USA plays the "best" second place finisher in the group stage. The two second place finishers were Haiti and Jamaica. Haiti had more points, so I assume they are best. But Jamaica is ahead of them in the FIFA rankings, so maybe they are best. Anyway, it will be either Haiti or Jamaica.
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Confirmed it will be US vs. Haiti in the Nations League quarterfinals. First leg is November 14, somewhere. (No games are played in Haiti.) Second leg is November 17 in Cincinnati.
Final friendly of this window is tonight vs Canada.
Final friendly of this window is tonight vs Canada.
Yeah, 6'2 is a stretch. Richards is 6'2 and seemed he had a couple inches on the kid. I guess it could have been hair, but he wasn't a big kid.
Richards has a lot of hair.
If Kochen can jump higher than Freese/Brady that matters
ultimately you play the best guy and don’t worry about height
Will say it again - like this crop of kids.
US looks more athletic on the field.
US looks more athletic on the field.
Not just athletic. These kids are skilled!
And Reyna had a very good 4 game run -
He’s good as a defensive central MF but also good as a coordinator of the attack more up front. Versatile player
Didn't watch the second half of last night yet, but good to see the younger kids deal with the physicality Canada tried to bring. Ellis flashing again w the goal. Love the growth seen in both Freeman and Reyna, who I have thought was our most talented (or second behind Weston) player for years. Think I've seen enough of Brooklyn Raines for awhile, I'm assuming he's young enough to play his way back at some point. Also surprised at how Musa has taken a step back. Thought Trusty was better at CB than FB.
Trusty is def not a FB unless we play a 3 man back line vs. 4. I think Poch is desperate to figure out the defense other than Richards and Freeman who to me are 100% locked as starters
Jedi has to fend off younger guys as I think he’ll be well into his 30’s at next WC
I’m not sold on Dest either as he’s not a good nor committed defender.
The Belgians obviously figured out at the WC that the winning strategy was to attack Dest and make him defend. I still don’t understand why Australia with those two speedy forwards sat back against the US.
I have seen the same thing happen to Robinson in the PL but he is so damn fast he is able to recover much of the time even when beaten early.
Agree. And Jedi is aging so that speed may
Not even be there at Copa. Poch must develop other FB options. I don’t want Dest to start. Maybe off bench.
If we put the wonderkids on the Olympic team to go for gold then these guys are a must to start IMO assuming they are in form and heslthy
Balogun, Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie, Adams, Freeman, Richards
5 spots up for grabs
Now if the kids are in the mix for Copa then it’s a different story depending on how fast they develop
The thing w Dest is he can be the teams best attacking guy at times. Good player wo a solid position.
Interesting interview in The Athletic (paywall) with Steve Cherundulo, coach of the Olympic team. A few highlights:
1) Cherundulo has been told that his mission is to win a medal. When asked if the medal needed to be of a specific color, he responded "We're American. I think we only play for one."
2) In the last cycle, the best young players went to the senior team, and the Olympic team got who was left. This time it will be different. Cherundulo has already been in discussions with Pochettino and others "to make sure that the rosters are balanced". What exactly this will mean, we shall see. A complicating factor is that clubs are not required to release players to Olympic teams.
3) We may get an inkling soon. Cherundulo will have his first camp in November, probably in Europe. It will only include players who will be Olympic eligible in 2028. In other words, right now it is effectively a U-21 team. They will schedule matches against other U-21's and possibly some senior teams.
There are only 12 teams in the Olympics, including only three European teams. This is a wonderful opportunity for US Soccer.
1) Cherundulo has been told that his mission is to win a medal. When asked if the medal needed to be of a specific color, he responded "We're American. I think we only play for one."
2) In the last cycle, the best young players went to the senior team, and the Olympic team got who was left. This time it will be different. Cherundulo has already been in discussions with Pochettino and others "to make sure that the rosters are balanced". What exactly this will mean, we shall see. A complicating factor is that clubs are not required to release players to Olympic teams.
3) We may get an inkling soon. Cherundulo will have his first camp in November, probably in Europe. It will only include players who will be Olympic eligible in 2028. In other words, right now it is effectively a U-21 team. They will schedule matches against other U-21's and possibly some senior teams.
There are only 12 teams in the Olympics, including only three European teams. This is a wonderful opportunity for US Soccer.
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