OT: We may win the World Cup in 2026
- Thread starter brad1218
- Start date
I would put Weah over Reyna (based purely on performances with the USMNT) every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Weah has been more consistent at unbalancing opposing Ds and creating scoring chances than pretty much anyone else that played in the recent qualifiers and WC.
Agreed on Weah has shown a danger factor that others do not, and Robinson could be another starting DB. Still, it shows that there is talent in the pipeline and we will see who develops the most over the next few years.
Add Weah in place of Reyna and Robinson in place of Ream and that’s a great lineup.
I was thinking the same about Robinson. Assuming he's all healed up, which he appeared to be in a recent game, he's a fantastic back.
Looking forward to seeing how the team progresses.
I'd bet good money Mckennie will not start for us next WC. Ream probably too old then. Dest is too much of a liability defensively. I'm hoping Tillman or some of the other young guys take a step forward.
We simply cannot be dependent on Ream as a CB option going fwd. He's a fine player, but if we are building to the WC, he's not going to be there.
Deadspin | Weston McKennie is not having a good time
Deadspin | Weston McKennie is not having a good time
deadspin.com
"As previously written in these halls a couple times, McKennie is a very weird player. He’s a midfielder who can’t really pass, dribble, or tackle. He just…scores goals, but that skill is so valuable a team can’t really live without it. But he needs so much around him to really flourish, which Leeds have exactly none of with Adams out. Unless the new USMNT manager is Marsch (and it probably will be), a new national team manager might consider whether they need a midfielder in the starting lineup who can pass, seeing as how Adams and Yunus Musah don’t really either."
Little rough but yeah. It's funny how things have changed just since this post originally appeared. Dest was at Barcelona, Mckennie at Juventus, Weah a teenager at PSG, Pulisic brought in to replace Hazard at Chelsea, Adams playing Champions League with RB Leipzig, Steffen at Man City, Reyna hype at Dortmund. Aaronson then gets some hype un Austria. Now you look and Puli is destined for a step down - maybe Italy. Dest can't find a coach who will play him. 3 Americans at Leeds who'll likely get relegated. Steffen actually had a decent year but in the championship. Reyna causes all that drama and now comes off the bench as much as he starts. But by the same token I'm sure some players will develop positively and might really surprise by the time the next cup comes around.Deadspin | Weston McKennie is not having a good time
Deadspin | Weston McKennie is not having a good time
"As previously written in these halls a couple times, McKennie is a very weird player. He’s a midfielder who can’t really pass, dribble, or tackle. He just…scores goals, but that skill is so valuable a team can’t really live without it. But he needs so much around him to really flourish, which Leeds have exactly none of with Adams out. Unless the new USMNT manager is Marsch (and it probably will be), a new national team manager might consider whether they need a midfielder in the starting lineup who can pass, seeing as how Adams and Yunus Musah don’t really either."
I dunno what to tell you... but Italy has 2 CL semifinalists. 3 of the final 8. Chelsea is a complete mess. Going to Italy would be failing upwards for Pulisic.
Dest needs to be converted to wide midfield or played as a wing back and not a fullback.
Aaronson and adams will be fine.
Mckennie...I dunno. He might be a candidate to be sold in the summer to pare back some spend if they drop.
Reyna will be fine if he can stay healthy. And that's a bigger concern than whether he is a rotational starter or an undroppable. Bvb has a lot of young talent.
And…
The younger academy Americans in the pipeline are even better. Aaronson the younger is gonna be a star.
The younger academy Americans in the pipeline are even better. Aaronson the younger is gonna be a star.
It's a step down. I agree Chelsea is a mess but that's like saying if a free agent leaves the American League central champ to sign with the Yanks the off season after they win 75 games that's "a step down". There's an elite of European football and Chelsea are in that group. Inter is having a great year and I really hope they win it all but you look at that lineup - there are a lot of EPL cast-offs.
I don't think Aaronson is a big time player. He's just not good enough. Great effort always though.
Agree with the rest of what you said. Especially Dest - he is very gifted offensively. Can't defend.
Dest is a bit of a conundrum. I don't think he's been bad as a back, I actually think he's been really good at times.
But he was spending so much time making long overlapping runs into the attacking third, spending a lot of time up there engaged in the attacking play, then making long recovering runs back to defend, that he'd frequently wind up defending while severely winded which isn't ideal from a focus and decision-making standpoint. He was running as much as my prior run-on sentence.
Yet he turned out to be one of the few players having success in breaking down the defense off the dribble.
In qualifiers, Dest's tactical approach (surely promoted by GB) relied on Robinson's presence in the center in the back. When Robinson couldn't play in the WC, Dest was that much more hurried on his recovery runs - that much more winded. GB was damned if he kept him back more (we couldn't create scoring chances) and damned if let him run (we created scoring chances, but an exhausted Dest made some critical errors on D).
I don't think Dest has midfielder skills, his value in the attack was his creativity on the ball, not creating for others so much. So I don't see a change there being possible, but who knows.
If the team can figure out how to be more reliably dangerous in the final third without Dest, then he could focus on just defending the wing and that'd be okay. But that would eliminate some of what makes Dest so valuable on the field, right?
If the team can use a wing midfielder as a defender when Dest is up in the final third, that could work. And when Robinson is playing, I think it probably works very well.
Anyway, a conundrum. But I would look for ways to keep Dest in at wing D and part of the attack - unless the team can create ample scoring chances without him, and find a similarly fast, good defender who is taller.
But he was spending so much time making long overlapping runs into the attacking third, spending a lot of time up there engaged in the attacking play, then making long recovering runs back to defend, that he'd frequently wind up defending while severely winded which isn't ideal from a focus and decision-making standpoint. He was running as much as my prior run-on sentence.
Yet he turned out to be one of the few players having success in breaking down the defense off the dribble.
In qualifiers, Dest's tactical approach (surely promoted by GB) relied on Robinson's presence in the center in the back. When Robinson couldn't play in the WC, Dest was that much more hurried on his recovery runs - that much more winded. GB was damned if he kept him back more (we couldn't create scoring chances) and damned if let him run (we created scoring chances, but an exhausted Dest made some critical errors on D).
I don't think Dest has midfielder skills, his value in the attack was his creativity on the ball, not creating for others so much. So I don't see a change there being possible, but who knows.
If the team can figure out how to be more reliably dangerous in the final third without Dest, then he could focus on just defending the wing and that'd be okay. But that would eliminate some of what makes Dest so valuable on the field, right?
If the team can use a wing midfielder as a defender when Dest is up in the final third, that could work. And when Robinson is playing, I think it probably works very well.
Anyway, a conundrum. But I would look for ways to keep Dest in at wing D and part of the attack - unless the team can create ample scoring chances without him, and find a similarly fast, good defender who is taller.
Thanks mild. Honestly a lot is extrapolation as none of us can watch all club matches, all international matches and then actually focus on one player during that time. I'm reading the tea leaves on how first Barca and now Milan coaches flat out won't play him and/or actually have worked to get rid of him. And the 2nd goal against the Dutch in the WC due to lack of concentration - it's hard for me to unsee that. https://www.foxsports.com/watch/play-611046d13001519
IIRC, that moment on that goal was preceded by a lengthy visit to the attacking third for Dest, which was one of many he'd made in that game. He'd just hustled back and was almost certainly very winded and tired - and that's when those sorts of mental lapses, those slight delays in reaction time, tend to occur.
Having said that, I am not aware of what's been taking place with US players outside the USMNT games. So, as you say, that could well mean that such lapses are occurring too frequently in club play and in situations where there is no valid excuse such as there was in that US-Netherlands game. And he's relatively short for a defender on top teams.
In the context us USMNT play, he's been one of more impactful players (mostly positive although that Dutch goal was unarguably a negative impact). And he brings speed which was the Achilles heal of USMNT defending for decades.
But if such lapses are not just a result of over-using him, then yeah, gotta find someone else with equal speed and hopefully more height.
He's been asked to play in a more traditional back 4. He can succeed in a 343 or 352 as wing back or a back 4 like Liverpool and Manchester city run, where city used cancelo and Liverpool uses TAA as a free attacking mf and the other 3 rotate over. Having him play in a system where both fullbacks have the freedom to bomb forward is going to be tough to defend in.
What a clusterf***. US Soccer is going to royally screw up 2026.
Yeah, but it‘s still odd and a bit troubling. This was clearly not expected and giving a national team to a coach with so little experience for two tournaments is hard to view as anything other than problematic.
Yes, and that's part of what's troubling to me.
We will probably never know exactly what's going on. But whatever it is, I don't think we can accuse the USMNT of being run smoothly right now.
Matt Crocker, the guy who is responsible for the hiring, has been in his job for barely over a month. This is the most important decision he has to make. Give him time.
I think the overall timing of events since the world cup is what's problematic. In part due to the ridiculous interference by the Reyna family. I'm not pointing fingers at Crocker, or anybody specifically.
McBride was known, publicly, to be out back in late January. Four full months later, everything seems to be happening too slowly. Having the new coach in place for the tournaments is valuable time with the team. Now that's not happening (apparently).
I understand that. There should have been a deadline for a new HC to be in place for the Gold Cup. It's a good first tourney for a new HC to have got his feet wet and to start putting system into play. USMNT leadership has failed here. WC ended about 5 months ago so even getting Crocker hired this late can be seen as problematic. This is a huge cycle and everyone knew WC would be in US in 2026.
Meh. It's all about 2026. That's how these decisions will be evaluated. The 2025 competitions will be meaningful preparation. 2023 will be a soon-forgotten afterthought.
Here is my worthless prediction. The coach for 2026 will be the guy hired after the guy who follows this guy.
Crocker is not full time until August. His timeline was a new manager by the end of the summer.
I don't really understand why we'd do that. To me, it's another red flag w/respect to executive leadership with the USMNT.
Thought this belonged here. MLS Academy club triumphs in Europe!
www.newyorkredbulls.com
Red Bulls U13 Team Beats Some of Europe's Best, Emerges as Bassevelde Cup Champions | New York Red Bulls
After a week in Belgium, the New York Red Bulls academy can put their name up alongside the likes of FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Celtic, and other European powers as Bassevelde Cup champions. The Bassevelde U13 Cup Tournament is an annual meeting of some of the top academy teams from
Reyna looks fitter than I’ve seen him. And is playing with great energy and pace tonight.
Geeze.. took me awhile to find the game on paramount+.. if I only had learned Spanish... also nice to see a 4K stream on my TV,, hmm.. maybe not 4K.. yeah.. not. OMG.. point blank miss
Great run by Pulisic, but how the hell did he not put that home? And why is the US-Mexico not the final for something like this?
