***Official USMNT Thread***

[harimad]

The reason he "lost" the players, is because he was going against what some of them were promised by Gulati and the brass with US Soccer, that if you come back to MLS, you will be on the front page of every promo and guaranteed a spot. JK, who was horrible with tactics (but so is Didier Deschamps) I admit, but he was willing to push boundaries and say, hey if XYZ player is better, he is going to play, and US Soccer didn't like that, because it didn't fit into their balance sheet.

If that's the truth, it makes me even angrier about Sunil than I was before. I always thought corruption was a FIFA thing, not a USMNT thing.

 

[Gunnerclone]

If that's the truth, it makes me even angrier about Sunil than I was before. I always thought corruption was a FIFA thing, not a USMNT thing.

I mean I wouldn’t go as far as to compare the two situations. The US Fed is more of a favoritism situation than a corruption situation.

 

[thatguy]

If that's the truth, it makes me even angrier about Sunil than I was before. I always thought corruption was a FIFA thing, not a USMNT thing.

bro, corruption is life thing. There are always other forces at work. The lineup we played in that T and T game was a direct shot at the JK management and it failed. Tim Ream and Geoff Cameron on the bench in a must tie. Bradley holding down as the single DM in a game on a sh*t pitch, when it has been proven over and over, he can't run like he used to, on top of the fact he was actually really good in games where he had a partner. Tim Howard in goal. GTFO with that.

Two good things that came out of not qualifying...1) Lots of our young guys got to play when other guys were off training and playing with various National Teams and 2) a new sense of pride and the chance to build something for the young guys, who are taking that and running with it.

 

[BLRNerd]

I mean I wouldn’t go as far as to compare the two situations. The US Fed is more of a favoritism situation than a corruption situation.

It's still corruption because you're not impartial though.

However, I honestly don't get why so many never MLSers flock to Wynalda/Silva/etc. It's very obvious that Wynalda and Silva's relationship could be very similar to the current SUM relationship and are willing to sell out to let Silva do whatever he wants through Wynalda (Pro/Rel, Silva's media company likely controlling TV rights, free academies. Solidarity Payments). What if Silva doesn't sell Miami FC to someone else, isn't that a coinflict of interest? How would MLS and USL react? How would both the USMNT and USWNT react? What if the most powerful players like Weah, Pulisic, Morgan,Rapinoe react negatively?

What if the NASL vs USSF/MLS lawsuit basically DQes us from qualifying for 2022?

If the issue is favoritism shouldn't they be impartial?

 

[OnlyCyclones]

Talking with some people in the soccer world over that deadspin article last night, and @Gunnerclone is 100% correct in that all these young guys in Europe are a product of Klinsmann. JK's kid who is American as American gets, is playing in the BL and has a chance at legit playing time. There are allot more too, those are just the top level guys.

Arena and Gulati were hell bent on making the MLS the "feeder" program for the USMNT, to the point where they were going to shun the guys in Europe, or try and put out the idea that only "True Americans" play hard for the NT. Which is total BS. They brought back Altadore and Bradley and convinced Besler to stay in MLS because they would always be promised a spot on the NT, and all of their games struggled.

The Jordan Morris and Kelyn Acosta's and Andrew Carletons of the world are getting passed up on the National Team scale because they stayed home. This is where I remind everyone that Jordan Morris didn't go to Germany to play for Werder because him and his girlfriend just got a new puppy. Now he is an after thought on the team, and is even losing favor with the Seattle F-ing Sounders instead of running past fullbacks in the BL.

College Soccer is the reason that the US struggles on a National Scale, but our National Team prioritizing the MLS dollars over actual development is a close second. Anyway, Its fun to watch our guys in Europe playing against some of the best in the World, but because of total and complete moronic management from the top , we had a lost World Cup Summer, but a new generation of players are now motivated to make the US a global power in Soccer, and that mostly means doing it overseas.

The reason he "lost" the players, is because he was going against what some of them were promised by Gulati and the brass with US Soccer, that if you come back to MLS, you will be on the front page of every promo and guaranteed a spot. JK, who was horrible with tactics (but so is Didier Deschamps) I admit, but he was willing to push boundaries and say, hey if XYZ player is better, he is going to play, and US Soccer didn't like that, because it didn't fit into their balance sheet.

I think I'm pretty balanced with how my takes align with the USMNT. I'm just saying that everything about U.S. Soccer's inner workings is hearsay, regardless of who it most aligns with. There's a lot of vitriol out there after failing to qualify and everyone has an axe to grind. Saying that Gulati promised players roles in return for going to MLS, or that Arena wanted to make the USMNT an MLS All-Star team--I think--is ignoring Occam's razor. American DP's came back to MLS for the money. Bruce Arena played them because he knew them, and in a crunch you go with what you know worked before. I'll also say that cherry-picking individual youth prospects is a fool's errand. JK's kid is a third string goalkeeper playing with Berlin's U-23's, and Carleton's only 18 and playing attacking mid for the best team in MLS. Not everyone breaks through at 18, Carleton's doing well to get some minutes for Atlanta. He's in very capable hands playing for Tata Martino. You really can't say who will have the better career at this point.

The last thing I'll say while playing devil's advocate for MLS is that the cream of their academy crops are now going to Europe in record numbers. Klinnsman's influence as technical director plays a big roll in that, both in technical and cultural influence, but MLS has been ramping their youth game for awhile now despite the fact that they receive no compensation for players who go abroad before signing a contract (which players have no incentive to do), and that many players still choose elite colleges instead of going pro right away. They deserve some credit for the youth movement as well, even if it's not showing much in their on-field product. Still, guys like Tyler Adams, Gianluca Busio (only 16!), and Jaylin Lindsey all show promise and are MLS academy products playing in MLS. Quality of play is still increasing year by year, and DP's are getting younger and better across the league.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems like a lot fans want to use youngsters going overseas as some sort of F-U to MLS. Going to a new culture grows players up, and Europe gives them more exposure to springboard their careers. Going to play in the Bundesliga is an obvious upgrade to MLS, everyone agrees. The Bundesliga is the best developmental league in the world. That's not really a knock on MLS, and in fact it's a compliment to their academies' advancements in the past 10 years that so many American (and Canadian, Mr. Alphonso Davies) youths are getting these opportunities. Maybe in a few years I'll start getting excited to watch MLS games lol.

 

[thatguy]

I think I'm pretty balanced with how my takes align with the USMNT. I'm just saying that everything about U.S. Soccer's inner workings is hearsay, regardless of who it most aligns with. There's a lot of vitriol out there after failing to qualify and everyone has an axe to grind. Saying that Gulati promised players roles in return for going to MLS, or that Arena wanted to make the USMNT an MLS All-Star team--I think--is ignoring Occam's razor. American DP's came back to MLS for the money. Bruce Arena played them because he knew them, and in a crunch you go with what you know worked before. I'll also say that cherry-picking individual youth prospects is a fool's errand. JK's kid is a third string goalkeeper playing with Berlin's U-23's, and Carleton's only 18 and playing attacking mid for the best team in MLS. Not everyone breaks through at 18, Carleton's doing well to get some minutes for Atlanta. He's in very capable hands playing for Tata Martino. You really can't say who will have the better career at this point.

The last thing I'll say while playing devil's advocate for MLS is that the cream of their academy crops are now going to Europe in record numbers. Klinnsman's influence as technical director plays a big roll in that, both in technical and cultural influence, but MLS has been ramping their youth game for awhile now despite the fact that they receive no compensation for players who go abroad before signing a contract (which players have no incentive to do), and that many players still choose elite colleges instead of going pro right away. They deserve some credit for the youth movement as well, even if it's not showing much in their on-field product. Still, guys like Tyler Adams, Gianluca Busio (only 16!), and Jaylin Lindsey all show promise and are MLS academy products playing in MLS. Quality of play is still increasing year by year, and DP's are getting younger and better across the league.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems like a lot fans want to use youngsters going overseas as some sort of F-U to MLS. Going to a new culture grows players up, and Europe gives them more exposure to springboard their careers. Going to play in the Bundesliga is an obvious upgrade to MLS, everyone agrees. The Bundesliga is the best developmental league in the world. That's not really a knock on MLS, and in fact it's a compliment to their academies' advancements in the past 10 years that so many American (and Canadian, Mr. Alphonso Davies) youths are getting these opportunities. Maybe in a few years I'll start getting excited to watch MLS games lol.

Look, yes, MLS has grown leaps and bounds. But they are still not good at developing players and when they do, they don't play them. I work with US Soccer and MLS on things, and I know for a fact that they are run as a single entity. One looks out for the other. Arena was brought in as a yes man, because that is what he has always been, and it backfired horribly. I know for a fact, that American DP's came back because they were promised spots on the USMNT. I know for a fact that certain guys were blacklisted or not played because they didn't come back when they had a chance, (Williams, Danny and Ream, Tim for examples). I think MLS is fine for rotation guys and depth so we can win Gold Cups and roster spots 12-23 with MLS guys, but our top level guys need to go to Europe and need to do it at a young age and the USMNT brass should be pushing that agenda, not retarding it and trying to openly prevent it.

 

[CycloneWanderer]

Yeah, whoever said MLS teams develop talent may be right within the lower levels but not at the top. They don't give many young US players significant minutes in their first teams. They would rather play older players that pull crowds. At that point top players are better off going to Europe and practicing with the best and, counter-intuitively, getting more opportunities to shine at a younger age with major clubs.

 

[3GenClone]

 

[thatguy]

Such a Dempsey way to go out. Love the pic, reminds everyone that these were once just another wide eyed kid. Guy was tough as nails, never was a bad teammate, played through injury, showed well on foreign soil and by all accounts loved being a member of the USMNT. Cheers!

Did see a report yesterday from Jimmy Conors that Michael Bradley refused to help integrate younger guys into the National Team, wouldn't talk with guys on the field, and just tried to Alpha Male everything his way. Said he shouldn't be allowed on the new National Team or anywhere close to it. Not surprised that Arena's biggest fan is the guy that let Bradley do whatever he wanted.

 

[BLRNerd]

Pulisic is missing BVB's game this weekend because jerks won't stop fouling him.

EDIT: Might miss the friendlies too.

Honestly, if that Bradley story is true, that's messed up. (I feel like it should've leaked out eariler if true, especially given that we failed)

 

[BLRNerd]

The Rosters for the upcoming friendlies

GOALKEEPERS (3): Alex Bono (Toronto FC/CAN; 1/0), Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge/BEL; 2/0), Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew SC; 3/0)

DEFENDERS (9): John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 33/3), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Swansea City/WAL; 4/0), Eric Lichaj (Hull City/ENG; 15/1), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Matt Miazga (Nantes/FRA; 7/1), Shaq Moore (Reus Deportiu/ESP; 2/0), Tim Parker (New York Red Bulls; 2/0), Antonee Robinson (Wigan Athletic/ENG; 2/0), DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United/ENG; 52/0)

MIDFIELDERS (9): Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 17/1), Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls; 5/0), Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 16/2), Julian Green (Greuther Fürth/GER; 10/4), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 3/1), Weston McKennie (Schalke/GER; 4/1), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC; 3/0), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 6/0), Tim Weah (Paris Saint-Germain; 3/1)

FORWARDS (3): Andrija Novakovich (Fortuna Sittard/NED; 2/0), Bobby Wood (Hannover 96/GER; 39/12), Gyasi Zardes (37/6; Columbus Crew SC)

 

[Gunnerclone]

After seeing Zack Steffen in person twice now I’m pretty convinced he’s the next great American GK. Can’t wait until he gets to Europe.

 

[BLRNerd]

No Pulisic because of Muscular Issues, No Sargent because he's trying to break into Werder Bremen's A Team, He's doing great for their B team so far 7 Goals in 9 games, including an assist, earning a penalty, and coverting it in the last game for them

 

[shagcarpetjesus]

As BLRNerd said, it’s nice to have another teenager in Germany making a good impression.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/united-s...-in-seven-matches-for-werder-bremen-u23-squad

 

[shagcarpetjesus]

US vs. Brazil here in a couple minutes on FS1.

B. Wood
Green-McKennie-Adams-Arriola
Trapp
Robinson-Brooks-Miazga-Yedlin
Steffen

 

[Gunnerclone]

As BLRNerd said, it’s nice to have another teenager in Germany making a good impression.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/united-s...-in-seven-matches-for-werder-bremen-u23-squad

Hope he hurries up I’m so ******* sick seeing of Bobby Wood and Joey Altodore playing striker for us.

 

[BLRNerd]

I feel like with our luck that the NASL lawsuit stops us from qualifying for 2022 just before we actually qualify for it.

 

[BLRNerd]

I've seen Idol covers that are more creative than moves by either team in this game

(Also it's Mexico vs US color me surprised that no one else has posted)

 

[tim_redd]

Starting to heat up...

 

[BLRNerd]

ADAMS GOAL!

It's been getting really chippy in the past few minutes