USMNT 2020

[Napoleon 8706]

19 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

Jay Berhalter, who has had a huge influence on shaping American soccer over the last two decades, is leaving U.S. Soccer.

Berhalter, the older brother of U.S. men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter, advised U.S. Soccer senior staff he plans on stepping down from his position as chief commercial and strategy officer at the federation at the end of February.

On Tuesday, SI.com's Grant Wahl reported that Berhalter was not a candidate for the U.S. Soccer CEO position vacant since longtime CEO Dan Flynn stepped down last September. It was first reported in the Washington Post in October 2018 that Flynn planned to step down but a search firm had first been retained to work on the CEO succession in November 2017.

It once appeared Berhalter, Flynn's pick for the job, would be the new CEO, but U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro said he halted the CEO job search in May because he was not satisfied with the short list of candidates. A new search firm came on board in September. An updated list of finalists for the CEO position -- interviewed for the first time in December  -- included men and women, and one person from outside the United States.

In June 2019, the federation was rocked by the publication of scathing postings by a small group of current and former federation employees about a "toxic" work environment at U.S. Soccer. The New York Times categorized reviewers as having "open disdain for Flynn and Berhalter." In December, Cordeiro dismissed the notion that the federation's working environment was "toxic" but he did say the Glassdoor reviews were a wake-up call.

Cordeiro's characterization of the reviews came after a presentation to U.S. Soccer's board of directors on Dec. 6 during which a good portion of the three-hour session was spent addressing workplace issues. It followed an engagement survey on workplace conditions -- a direct result of the Glassdoor reviews -- conducted by the Leadership Research Institute and "some pretty telling stories came out of this," said Cordeiro.

Berhalter, who has always played a very hands-on role in U.S. Soccer affairs, became a lightning rod as the uncertainty surrounding the CEO succession drew on. The publication of the Glassdoor reviews followed rumors at U.S. Soccer House that Berhalter would be named to the CEO position.

U.S. Soccer has been mired in litigation related to a host of issues, notably gender discrimination claims filed by members of the U.S. women's national team about how they have been compensated and the support they received during the tenure of Flynn and Berhalter.

Berhalter, 48, was on the committee that selected Earnie Stewart as the first U.S. men's national team general manager, and that drew considerable scrutiny when Stewart, now U.S. Soccer's sporting director, selected Gregg Berhalter to the fill the men's national team coaching position vacant for more than 13 months after the USA was eliminated from the 2018 World Cup and Bruce Arena stepped down.

Cosmos Country. The Berhalters are a product of the soccer boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing up in the shadows of the Cosmos in Tenafly, New Jersey.

''We watched the Cosmos at Giants Stadium and Italian League highlights on Sunday morning on RAI,'' Jay Berhalter told Soccer America in a 2006 interview, ''and my brother and I played every day in any weather. New Jersey was an incredible place to experience the game and learn about many different styles of play because you had so many different backgrounds on the field at one time -- players who were from South America, Central America, Europe, Africa all had different ideas about the game, but ultimately had to play as a team. If you look at the players who have come from our area, it's pretty remarkable.''

Jay Berhalter played for the Union Lancers, one of the most successful youth teams ever assembled in the country, and later attended Notre Dame. He learned his soccer from legendary coach Manfred Schellscheidt and Schellscheidt's assistant, Bob Bradley, but said he ''had a rather disappointing career at Notre Dame.'' (Gregg, on the other hand, was selected to two World Cup teams and spent 15 seasons in European pro soccer and three more  in MLS with the LA Galaxy.)

Berhalter started out his career in soccer management as a volunteer with the 1994 World Cup organizing committee.

''I started as a volunteer and several months later was hired in transportation,'' he said. ''Because the business infrastructure in the sport was just starting to develop at the time, many of us got the opportunity to experience multiple aspects of the event and learn about overall event management in a very hands-on manner. Each day was really a chance to learn and to apply that towards managing a process to help the event succeed.''

After the launch of MLS, Berhalter joined the MetroStars, where he worked under Charlie Stillitano, the general manager, until moving to the U.S. Soccer Foundation in 1998. He joined U.S. Soccer in 2000 as chief operating officer when Flynn left the Foundation to become U.S. Soccer's CEO and general secretary.

Except for a five-year break when he worked at Kentaro Group, a now-defunct Swiss-headquartered company that handled media rights for many soccer federations -- including global rights for U.S. Soccer -- and also organized all friendly matches of the Brazil national team, Berhalter has worked at U.S. Soccer for the last two decades, holding such titles as chief operating officer and deputy executive director.

(Another longtime U.S. Soccer executive, Brian Remedi, holds the interim title of chief administrative officer, serving as the top-ranked executive since Flynn's departure in September.)

Berhalter's most recent title was chief commercial and strategy officer. While he worked on the business side, he had decades of experience with the workings on the soccer side, which contributed to his out-sized influence at the federation. Berhalter spearheaded the creation of the Boys’ Development Academy, which launched in 2007, and has overseen the federation's management of the NWSL, which launched in 2013.

No one with the possible exception of former U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati can rattle off the names of players that came through the U.S. national team programs, from youth to senior teams, for the last 35 years like Berhalter.

"Jay has a unique skill set," Gulati told Soccer America on Thursday, "that has been tremendously critical to U.S. Soccer on a number of initiatives and events, including the 2003 Women's World Cup and 2016 Copa America Centenario, which were organized in a very short time frame."

Berhalter played a key role as chief operating officer of the organizing committee when U.S. Soccer organized the 2003 Women's World Cup after China was forced to withdraw as host because of the SARS scare. The 2003 tournament didn't enjoy the critical acclaim that the 1999 Women's World Cup did -- for one thing, it didn't have the same happy ending -- but Berhalter and other staffers earned considerable respect for pulling it off with a lead time of less than four months.

The organization of another major tournament fell into the hands of U.S. Soccer in 2015 when the Copa Centenario, scheduled to be played in 2016, was thrown into chaos following the arrests of multiple Concacaf and Conmebol soccer leaders and marketing agents, who conspired to take millions of dollars in bribes as part of a widespread criminal enterprise involving international soccer events.

Berhalter served as CEO of the 2016 Copa Centenario. U.S. Soccer earned a $75 million windfall from the organization of the tournament. Its net assets doubled in a span of three years, from $83 million in 2015 to almost $167 million in 2018, in large part because of distributions from the tournament Berhalter organized. Those assets are now being spent down as U.S. Soccer is projecting deficits as high as $30 million a year over the next three years as its spending has grown to more than $140 million a year from less than $35 million in 2005.

“Having been involved in the sport since the 1994 World Cup and the start of Major League Soccer, working towards the mission of making soccer the preeminent sport in the U.S. has been a fantastic opportunity throughout my career,” said Berhalter in a prepared statement. “I am fortunate to have worked with so many passionate teammates and proud of what we have been able to accomplish together at all levels of the game. My decision to leave U.S. Soccer was not an easy one to make, but it’s the right one for my family and me at this time. Looking to the future, it is exciting to imagine the opportunities that lie ahead.”

Berhalter has certainly been a controversial figure at U.S. Soccer but above all his institutional knowledge will certainly be missed at a critical juncture for the federation that still remains with a CEO.

I was full on WHAT THE FUCK?!?

When we could have had Tata Martinez and let him go to México and felt that we couldn't fire Berhalter fast enough, but also felt that we were doomed.

Then drove down to Austin this week and listened to the PRE Costa Rica podcast and the POST CR match podcast from "Total Soccer Show" (both recorded before the news dropped that Jay Berhalter was stepping down) and I wasn't as down on Gregg as I had been.

In the podcast they discussed that there was a total synergy between the USMNT the US U-23 Olympic coach/squad and the U-20 coach/squad. For the first time there was a style of play that was uniform. They also were asking "What do you think would Gregg consider 'a success' from the match?"

They mentioned that with a friendly like this, they didn't really care about winning, thought it would be nice.
-They wanted to see young players play.
-They wanted to see who understood the system and where they should go with the ball without thinking.
-Which tactics would be employed...

In the POST match podcast, they two hosts seemed to be pretty pleased with what they saw. They were pleasantly surprised with the number of minutes that younger players received, they were happy that Jesus F arrived in the nick of time and played smart balls to teammates. They like most of what they saw in Uly, but saw significant room for improvement, but basically didn't have much critical to say about Gregg.

I'm wondering how short Gregg's leash is at this time. I know that I definitely want synergy in the US Soccer system. Don't know if Gregg's style is the right one, but to not have synergy is just nuts.

[Napoleon 8706]

From ESPN...

State of the USMNT: Assessing the U.S. on talent identification, player development and tactical evolution

It's been more than two years since the U.S. men's national team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. It's been little more than a year since Gregg Berhalter took charge of the national team for the first time. The Americans' first crack at redemption will come this fall, when they begin qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.

Post Game wrap-up: http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=4045638

So with the failures of the 2018 cycle in the past and the hope of the 2022 cycle still on the horizon, where does the U.S. stand? Jeff Carlisle and Noah Davis answer that question by chronicling the state of the U.S. men's national team in four key areas as the Americans prepare to start on the path toward Qatar.

 

Is the player pool improving?

A thought experiment: How would the U.S. starting lineup fare against past editions? While there's no way to know for sure, using EA Sports' FIFA ratings can offer a bit of insight. Without further ado:

Today's starting XI: Zack Steffen (77); DeAndre Yedlin (76), John Brooks (79), Aaron Long (75), Tim Ream (72); Tyler Adams (76), Weston McKennie (81); Jordan Morris (78), Sebastian Lletget (71), Christian Pulisic (82); Jozy Altidore (76). Average rating: 77.

Starting XI vs. Ghana (June 16, 2014): Tim Howard (84); Fabian Johnson (73), Geoff Cameron (74), Matt Besler (69), DaMarcus Beasley(69); Alejandro Bedoya (72), Kyle Beckerman (74), Michael Bradley (81), Jermaine Jones (77); Jozy Altidore (77), Clint Dempsey (87). Average rating: 77.

Starting XI vs. England (June 12, 2010): Tim Howard (87); Steve Cherundolo (72), Jay DeMerit (73), Oguchi Onyewu (74), Carlos Bocanegra (74); Clint Dempsey (75), Michael Bradley (77), Ricardo Clark(70), Landon Donovan (85); Jozy Altidore (75), Robbie Findley (no rating). Average rating: 76.

That tells a story of consistency, although not one of outright improvement. Dig a little deeper and the story becomes more complicated. Christian Pulisic is the best American ever, full stop, end of discussion. If anything, he is perhaps underrated. According to AJ Swoboda at soccer consultancy 21st Club, the Chelsea winger's 2019 season was the only year during which he rated as a Champions League-level impact player. Furthermore, he's alone in that regard, at least in terms of American outfield players. (Tim Howard's 2012-13 campaign is the only other one approaching that elite level.)

More concerning, 21st Club's World Super League and player contribution models show the performance levels of American player might actually be dropping off.

Over the past half decade, the red, white and blue have boasted at least four players who produced Europa League-level quality:

• 2015: Tim Howard, Fabian Johnson, Geoff Cameron, John Brooks

• 2016: Johnson, Brooks, Christian Pulisic, Timothy Chandler

• 2017: Brooks, Pulisic, Chandler, DeAndre Yedlin

• 2018: Brooks, Pulisic, Chandler, Yedlin

In 2019, however, the number dropped to just two (Yedlin and Brooks), although of course Pulisic disappeared from this group because he moved up rather than down. And while the count of American players starts to pick up at the next level of quality, akin to the second divisions of England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, the story of decreasing numbers remains the same. "U.S. has held steady with an average of 34 players at this band of talent from 2015 through 2018, but the 2019 calendar year saw this number drop to 24," Swoboda said.

Add this all up and it's cause for concern, although there's cause for hope in the younger generations. The current camp features a wide range of players who are 22 and under, including Reggie Cannon, Julian Araujo, Mark McKenzie, Jackson Yueill, Brenden Aaronson, Brandon Servania, Jesus Ferreira and Ulysses Llanez. Add that to already established or hopeful players such as Sergino Dest, Miles Robinson, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Paxton Pomykal, Weston McKennie, Djordje Mihailovic, Tyler Adams, Josh Sargent, Jonathan Amon and Tim Weah and a pretty picture starts to paint itself. Plus, the most recent U20 team featured emerging talents Chris Gloster, Chris Richards, Alex Mendez and Richard Ledezma, and 17-year-old Giovanni Reyna is just breaking through at Borussia Dortmund.

In the end, the U.S. doesn't need all of those players to reach their potential, but it does need a handful to do so, more than have made it in the past. The American program has more potential game-changing players than it ever has before. Right now, however, it remains to be seen whether anything will come of it or Berhalter will have to make do with a 77 average.

Talent identification

Tab Ramos knows well that a successful manager is a product of his or her support system, even as he took the U.S. U20 national team to the quarterfinals of the FIFA U20 World Cup three times in a row.

"I'd like to fool myself into believing that the only reason we got results is because I'm a great coach," he told ESPN via telephone. "But the bottom line is that great players get results, so the identification is really the most important part of U.S. Soccer."

Yet Ramos is concerned over the direction the federation has taken. The USSF's talent identification program has undergone a restructuring in recent years. During much of Ramos' tenure, there were 12 technical advisers spread out across the country covering club development, youth national team responsibilities and scouting. The scouting piece has now been broken off so that, under Tony Lepore, the USSF's director of boys talent ID, there are three full-time talent ID managers, one each in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. There are plans to add a fourth.

Underneath the talent ID advisers are around 90 "per diem" scouts who are given individual assignments that include watching a specific player or players or attending showcases and scouting events. Then there are the informal networks that include coaches and staff from MLS and amateur academies, as well as coaches in the Olympic Development Program and id2, the talent identification program used by US Club Soccer. There are comparable numbers on the girls' side. Lepore estimates that the per diem scouts receive a total of about 3,000 assignments per year.

Can Berhalter adjust his tactics?

From the beginning, Berhalter has had a plan. This was part of what piqued U.S. Soccer's interest, and one of the main reasons he got the job in the first place. The powers that be in Soccer House Chicago wanted the exact opposite of the "go out and play" Jurgen Klinsmann years. Berhalter's hiring was, in that sense, the right call, a way to reestablish coherence in a program that was rudderless and lost after the epic failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

During Berhalter's initial phase, the focus was on playing a specific way. "That was a big part of what the first year was about: introduction of new ideas and how Gregg and U.S. Soccer wants to play," said Josh Wolff, who worked as an assistant to Berhalter at the Columbus Crew and with the U.S. before taking a head-coaching job at Austin FC. "Understanding that you're introducing a lot of new players and young players."

That resulted in some, shall we say, interesting performances. Most notable was the 3-0 loss to Mexico when American center-backs Walker Zimmerman, Miles Robinson and Aaron Long, and goalkeeper Zack Steffen, continued to play out of the back despite being overwhelmed and overmatched. The next match against a half-speed Uruguay was slightly better, all part of the learning process, yet the U.S. was too rigid and too inflexible too often in 2019.

A November match with Canada saw the Americans play differently in a 4-1 win. They played long when they needed to, resorting to that under pressure and keeping the quick passing out of the back for the appropriate time. It was, perhaps, a signal of progress and understanding. "[Berhalter] becomes very clear as to what's working and what's not working," Wolff said. "Now is about what direction do we need to go in to educate players and what will put us in the best position to go out and execute on game days?"

While American fans worried that Berhalter wouldn't adjust, the coach quietly showed flexibility. Look no further than his recent comments about Adams -- "We see him primarily as a central midfielder. We always have seen him as central midfielder." -- despite a promise last March that the New York Red Bulls product was a right-back. If 2020 and beyond is going to be a success, Berhalter will need to be more than willing to show he'll alter his plans.

-- Noah Davis

Is the development academy doing its job?

The past 10 years have witnessed some significant changes in U.S. player development. The advent of the USSF Development Academy (DA) in 2007 has raised standards in terms of coaching and practice-to-play ratio. There is now more of an emphasis on developing players via a 10-month program as opposed to focusing on the next result. Facilities have improved as well, especially with MLS investing millions of dollars in youth development.

"It's clear that the DA completely changed the landscape," Lepore said. "It's about the standards that they raised right away."

"I just see a lot of improvement," said FC Dallas manager Luchi Gonzalez, who has also worked in the club's academy. "I believe our youth club teams are representing their club, our league and the U.S. to a high level. You see improvement of our academies to compete with the Real Madrids, with the Monacos, with the River Plates, the Flamengos, even in South America and compete very well. And not just competing in the scoreline but competing in terms of concepts."

Some problems seem intractable. Pay to play remains a burning issue, even as the USSF awarded more than $1 million in DA scholarships for the 2019-20 season. Then there's pay to play's close cousin, finding transportation to play, which can also shut players with two working parents out of opportunities. Having more cost-free academies has certainly helped.

"My strong opinion is that MLS will save U.S. Soccer," Rothenberg said. "MLS and those free academies are opportunities where merit wins out because whether you're talking to the Fire or the Galaxy or Atlanta United, those guys want to develop the best talent regardless of race, regardless of whether or not they can pay."

The DA itself sparks plenty of debate. Stewart has said he wants "the best playing with the best against the best" and it's taken the form of a national league split up into regions. At the U18 and U19 level, the USSF DA has taken to seeding teams in separate divisions, which conspicuously looks set up to accommodate MLS academies -- which sources said had threatened to leave the DA due to substandard competition -- at the expense of their non-MLS brethren. There is near universal agreement among coaches that a season of 25-30 games isn't enough.

The talent ID program begins with identifying 13-year-olds and in some cases 12-year-olds for the U14 national team. It's an age where the number of variables is vast, so Lepore says the pool of U14 players is "much bigger" than the pool of U20 players. The ultimate question is whether this is enough personnel in a nation of more than 300 million people spread across 3.8 million square miles.

"I think up until three years ago, we were heading in the right direction in terms of putting people in place to have them on the ground all over the country, people that you can trust, people that know what we're looking for," Ramos said. "And then they started to have all these cutbacks."

Lepore admitted that the network used to be bigger but said the USSF is intent on focusing on quality. "I would say that this 90 [per diem scouts] helps us cover ground in all the right places, and then we're always replacing or adding where we need to," he said.

The extent to which these scouts are diving into minority communities remains a hot topic. A USSF spokesperson said that two of the three talent ID managers speak Spanish. Of the 90 per diem scouts, the USSF says around 20 are either Spanish speakers or of Latino origin. When asked how many were African American, the USSF said it didn't have such data available.

That ability to connect with minority communities is vital, especially given the impact dual nationals can have on a national team program. Lepore estimates that there are 100 dual nationals in the U.S. pipeline born between 2001 and 2005. The decisions by Dest and Ferreira to represent the U.S. internationally are positives. But the episode involving former U20 international Jonathan Gonzalez, who ultimately decided to represent Mexico, still rankles, the implication being that the USSF didn't do enough to make him feel included.

"These kids have not been unidentified," said Brad Rothenberg, the co-founder of Alianza de Futbol, which holds scouting events in minority communities throughout the U.S. "U.S. Soccer simply doesn't have the resources in the marketplace, in the Latino community, to give these kids a feeling of inclusion."

The Dest and Ferreira cases hint that the USSF has learned its lesson in that it was more aggressive, left nothing to chance and identified prospects early.

"We can't promise anything when it comes to a men's national team, and that's not something I'm going to do because that's a short-lived story that might backfire on you," said USSF sporting director Earnie Stewart. "The most important part to me is that we can look each other in the eye after the fact and say that we've done everything about it."

-- Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle)

Can Berhalter adjust his tactics?

From the beginning, Berhalter has had a plan. This was part of what piqued U.S. Soccer's interest, and one of the main reasons he got the job in the first place. The powers that be in Soccer House Chicago wanted the exact opposite of the "go out and play" Jurgen Klinsmann years. Berhalter's hiring was, in that sense, the right call, a way to reestablish coherence in a program that was rudderless and lost after the epic failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

During Berhalter's initial phase, the focus was on playing a specific way. "That was a big part of what the first year was about: introduction of new ideas and how Gregg and U.S. Soccer wants to play," said Josh Wolff, who worked as an assistant to Berhalter at the Columbus Crew and with the U.S. before taking a head-coaching job at Austin FC. "Understanding that you're introducing a lot of new players and young players."

That resulted in some, shall we say, interesting performances. Most notable was the 3-0 loss to Mexico when American center-backs Walker Zimmerman, Miles Robinson and Aaron Long, and goalkeeper Zack Steffen, continued to play out of the back despite being overwhelmed and overmatched. The next match against a half-speed Uruguay was slightly better, all part of the learning process, yet the U.S. was too rigid and too inflexible too often in 2019.

A November match with Canada saw the Americans play differently in a 4-1 win. They played long when they needed to, resorting to that under pressure and keeping the quick passing out of the back for the appropriate time. It was, perhaps, a signal of progress and understanding. "[Berhalter] becomes very clear as to what's working and what's not working," Wolff said. "Now is about what direction do we need to go in to educate players and what will put us in the best position to go out and execute on game days?"

While American fans worried that Berhalter wouldn't adjust, the coach quietly showed flexibility. Look no further than his recent comments about Adams -- "We see him primarily as a central midfielder. We always have seen him as central midfielder." -- despite a promise last March that the New York Red Bulls product was a right-back. If 2020 and beyond is going to be a success, Berhalter will need to be more than willing to show he'll alter his plans.

-- Noah Davis

Is the development academy doing its job?

The past 10 years have witnessed some significant changes in U.S. player development. The advent of the USSF Development Academy (DA) in 2007 has raised standards in terms of coaching and practice-to-play ratio. There is now more of an emphasis on developing players via a 10-month program as opposed to focusing on the next result. Facilities have improved as well, especially with MLS investing millions of dollars in youth development.

"It's clear that the DA completely changed the landscape," Lepore said. "It's about the standards that they raised right away."

"I just see a lot of improvement," said FC Dallas manager Luchi Gonzalez, who has also worked in the club's academy. "I believe our youth club teams are representing their club, our league and the U.S. to a high level. You see improvement of our academies to compete with the Real Madrids, with the Monacos, with the River Plates, the Flamengos, even in South America and compete very well. And not just competing in the scoreline but competing in terms of concepts."

Some problems seem intractable. Pay to play remains a burning issue, even as the USSF awarded more than $1 million in DA scholarships for the 2019-20 season. Then there's pay to play's close cousin, finding transportation to play, which can also shut players with two working parents out of opportunities. Having more cost-free academies has certainly helped.

"My strong opinion is that MLS will save U.S. Soccer," Rothenberg said. "MLS and those free academies are opportunities where merit wins out because whether you're talking to the Fire or the Galaxy or Atlanta United, those guys want to develop the best talent regardless of race, regardless of whether or not they can pay."

The DA itself sparks plenty of debate. Stewart has said he wants "the best playing with the best against the best" and it's taken the form of a national league split up into regions. At the U18 and U19 level, the USSF DA has taken to seeding teams in separate divisions, which conspicuously looks set up to accommodate MLS academies -- which sources said had threatened to leave the DA due to substandard competition -- at the expense of their non-MLS brethren. There is near universal agreement among coaches that a season of 25-30 games isn't enough.

"I think the DA is absolutely the best league that will happen in this country," said Bernie James, the director of Crossfire Premier, a club based in Redmond, Washington. "But I think the people leading it are misguided. There's not enough games, and now our U19 team's closest game is 800 miles away because somehow they put us in a lower tier even though we beat everyone in the upper tier."

The travel costs are an issue as well. Gonzalez called the logistics and cost -- about $200,000 per year for two teams -- "insane" and suggested that DA clubs, especially for the lower age groups, might be better off looking for competition in their own backyards.

There is also the question of whether the efforts of the DA are actually leading to more first-team opportunities, at least in MLS. The relative ease with which green cards are procured, thus allowing players previously classified as internationals to become domestic, creates even more pressure.

"I look at our roster in general, there's very few Americans. Very few," said Ramos, who was appointed Houston Dynamo manager in October. "And not just young Americans but of any age. Obviously, the rules are you try to put together the best team you can. The green card rule in the league almost forces clubs to choose foreign players."

The DA is here for the foreseeable future, but it could use some tweaking.

-- Jeff Carlisle

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4046848/state-of-the-usmnt-assessing-the-us-on-talent-identification-player-development-and-tactical-evolution

[Ted Lange 16144]

 

[Napoleon 8706]

Nice pass...

Did Haaland happen to be born Stateside while a parent was working for an American company?

🙏🏻

[shnsajax 3592]

Nice pass...
Did Haaland happen to be born Stateside while a parent was working for an American company?

Nope

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/30/erling-braut-haland-norway-under-20-world-cup

[Schulz2.0 29019]

3 hours ago, Napoleon said:

Nice pass...

Did Haaland happen to be born Stateside while a parent was working for an American company?

🙏🏻

Haaland, Reyna, and Sancho were all born in England (Leeds, Sunderland, London).

[shnsajax 3592]

1 hour ago, Schulz2.0 said:

Haaland, Reyna, and Sancho were all born in England (Leeds, Sunderland, London).

I didn't realize Leeds. Was fun times when they were fighting for a CL spot in the late 90's early 2000's. 

[Goo Punch 4275]

 

 

[drt 640]

[Knoxtnhorn 6066]

Kind of cool watching Reyna go against Sargent for about 15 mins today.  Other than seeing highlights, I haven't had a chance to watch Reyna play.  He's def for real.  Holy cow he's good in tight spaces.  Three or four times (in about 20 mins of play) he was given he ball with 2-3 defenders around him and he was able to easily control the ball and get out of pressure.  

[Napoleon 8706]

29 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Kind of cool watching Reyna go against Sargent for about 15 mins today.  Other than seeing highlights, I haven't had a chance to watch Reyna play.  He's def for real.  Holy cow he's good in tight spaces.  Three or four times (in about 20 mins of play) he was given he ball with 2-3 defenders around him and he was able to easily control the ball and get out of pressure.  

How did Sargent do?

[Knoxtnhorn 6066]

Just now, Napoleon said:

How did Sargent do?

He didn't have much to do.  Came in around the 80th.  No service.  There was one kind of funny moment when he tracked back for the ball and Reyna came in with a pretty hard slide tackle.  I don't follow the Bundesliga that much, but it appears as if Werder Bremen's coach is not that smart.

[shnsajax 3592]

He didn't have much to do.  Came in around the 80th.  No service.  There was one kind of funny moment when he tracked back for the ball and Reyna came in with a pretty hard slide tackle.  I don't follow the Bundesliga that much, but it appears as if Werder Bremen's coach is not that smart.

At times Sargent is put out on an island like Jozy back in the day. They need to survive relegation and find a new coach.

Gio is close to getting some starts. He, Haaland, and Sancho starting is a pretty fucking impressive trio of teens.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/news/gio-reyna-tipped-for-borussia-dortmund-debut-vs-bremen-sancho-favre-praise-10082

[Knoxtnhorn 6066]

So I'm drinking.  My wife is having a girl's night out.  My gdamn rec league game is already cancelled tomorrow because of wet fields.  Assuming no John O'Brien-esque injuries, I'm trying to project 2022.  Going with a 4-4-2.  Please correct me when wrong.

 

Goalie:

Stefan - seems to be the only choice at goal as far as I can tell.

Defenders:

Dest - on one side of D.  Prob left. Solid player.

Brooks - in the middle.

Long? - not sure.

Yedlin - Not a fan, but who else would play RB.

Midfield:

Mckinnie - Somewhere.  Not ideal for a 4-4-2, but I'm pretty sure that won't be our preferred shape.

Pulisic - Awesome.

Reyna - Awesome.

? - No idea who the 4th midfielder is.  Could be the alcohol.

Forwards:

Weakest position IMO.  I guess Altidore will be one.  (F's sake.)

Sargent?  Weah?  

Perhaps we do more of a 4-5-1 and only have to find a holding forward?

 

[Napoleon 8706]

43 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

So I'm drinking.  My wife is having a girl's night out.  My gdamn rec league game is already cancelled tomorrow because of wet fields.  Assuming no John O'Brien-esque injuries, I'm trying to project 2022.  Going with a 4-4-2.  Please correct me when wrong.

 

Goalie:

Stefan - seems to be the only choice at goal as far as I can tell.

Defenders:

Dest - on one side of D.  Prob left. Solid player.

Brooks - in the middle.

Long? - not sure.

Yedlin - Not a fan, but who else would play RB. (1)

Midfield:

Mckinnie - Somewhere.  Not ideal for a 4-4-2, but I'm pretty sure that won't be our preferred shape.

Pulisic - Awesome.

Reyna - Awesome. (2)

? - No idea who the 4th midfielder is.  Could be the alcohol. (3)

Forwards:

Weakest position IMO.  I guess Altidore will be one.  (F's sake.)

Sargent?  Weah? (4) 

Perhaps we do more of a 4-5-1 and only have to find a holding forward? (5)

1) Reggie Cannon has been the USMNT starting RB for the last 12 to 24 months and I don't see that changing if Yedlin is injured... again.

2) I don't know if Gio Reyna is starting if everyone is healthy, because he and Pulisic might play the same position. Most fans & soccer experts might spit out their drink, but it really depends on how GGB sees it.

3) Tyler* Adams is the 4th player that you can't remember. He is probably the USA's best midfielder and if he can stay healthy, a big "if", he might be the USA's best player compared to top players in the world who play his position. Other midfielders would probably be Weston McKinnie, and maybe Pulisic, if he isn't playing a withdrawn forward. It really depends on whether we're playing a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1... which could also be seen as a 4-2-3-1. Jordan Morris (RW) and Jackson Yueill (DM) could be in the starting lineup if/when we play in Qatar. I'm not saying that I want them in there, but it could be:

 - - - - - - - - Striker - - - - - - - -

**McKinnie - Pulisic - Morris

- - - - Adams - - - Yueill - - - -

I saw this because I have been listening to some soccer podcasts trying to decipher what Gregg Berhalter might be thinking going forward. This will influence my post for #5.

4) Sargent & Weah looked really promising in 2018 & early 2019, but now look a long way from being penciled in as starters.

5) Jesus Ferreira just might be the lone striker in 2022 if Sargent can't figure his shit out. About a year and a half ago I posted that Sargent had the #9 locked down for the next decade+, but he has regressed and isn't seeing consistent playing time. The podcast I was listening to noted that J.F. is a smart guy, can hold the ball up, can play back to the goal, play through balls, can run at teams, finds good space in between the midfield line & back line and generally does a lot of things well with the possibility of real growth this year in the MLS. They could see him being a 10 Goal/10 Assist guy this season for FC Dallas and that he's a guy that Berhalter can do various things with.

So there you go.

*I originally wrote "Tony" Adams, but Knoxtnhorn graciously pointed out my error.

**McKinnie & Pulisic could flip and be Pulisic & McKinnie throughout the game or they might both have the freedom to switch at will when we're on the ball, but then on defense McKinnie would have more defensive duties no matter where they found themselves on offense. (It's all in the tactics.)

Edited February 23, 2020 by Napoleon

[Knoxtnhorn 6066]

2 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

1) Reggie Cannon has been the USMNT starting RB for the last 12 to 24 months and I don't see that changing if Yedlin is injured... again.

2) I don't know if Gio Reyna is starting if everyone is healthy, because he and Pulisic might play the same position. Most fans & soccer experts might spit out their drink, but it really depends on how GGB sees it.

3) Tony Adams is the 4th player that you can't remember. He is probably the USA's best midfielder and if he can stay healthy, a big "if", he might be the USA's best player compared to top players in the world who play his position. Other midfielders would probably be Weston McKinnie, and maybe Pulisic, if he isn't playing a withdrawn forward. It really depends on whether we're playing a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1... which could also be seen as a 4-2-3-1. Jordan Morris (RW) and Jackson Yueill (DM) could be in the starting lineup if/when we play in Qatar. I'm not saying that I want them in there, but it could be:

 - - - - - - - - Striker - - - - - - - -

McKinnie - Pulisic - Morris

- - - - Adams - - - Yueill - - - -

I saw this because I have been listening to some soccer podcasts trying to decipher what Gregg Berhalter might be thinking going forward. This will influence my post for #5.

4) Sargent & Weah looked really promising in 2018 & early 2019, but now look a long way from being penciled in as starters.

5) Jesus Ferreira just might be the lone striker in 2022 if Sargent can't figure his shit out. About a year and a half ago I posted that Sargent had the #9 locked down for the next decade+, but he has regressed and isn't seeing consistent playing time. The podcast I was listening to noted that J.F. is a smart guy, can hold the ball up, can play back to the goal, play through balls, can run at teams, finds good space in between the midfield line & back line and generally does a lot of things well with the possibility of real growth this year in the MLS. They could see him being a 10 Goal/10 Assist guy this season for FC Dallas and that he's a guy that Berhalter can do various things with.

So there you go.

Tyler, not Tony Adams, yes?  That's who I was forgetting.  I still don't trust Berhalter.

 

 

 

[Napoleon 8706]

1 minute ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Tyler, not Tony Adams, yes?  That's who I was forgetting.  I still don't trust Berhalter.

YES!!!

You are correct sir, yes!!

(I will change it and not that you corrected my error.)


There is nothing that Berhalter has ever done that would lead anyone to trust him.

[Captain Ron 12931]

Bump. Because we got some news. But since the women made it happen, I will post a link to their thread that explains how the USWNT forced out US Soccer President Carlos Cordeiro:

 

 

[Napoleon 8706]

16 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

Bump. Because we got some news. But since the women made it happen, I will post a link to their thread that explains how the USWNT forced out US Soccer President Carlos Cordeiro:

 

Could they force out Michael Bradley while they’re at it?

[Captain Ron 12931]

 

[alincoln 2385]

DA was an unsustainable clown show that was about to be rendered irrelevant by an MLS academies league on the boys side and was losing the battle against the ECNL on the girls side.

The USSF's focus on the boys side should be to assist all USL teams in establishing free academies.  The financial resources simply aren't currently available to support a USL academy system but that is really the only way for US to develop more elite players.

The past is the future for the girls with the ECNL regaining its position on the top rung.  It will be interesting to see if it can continue to produce world class level players or whether the Euro model will finally overtake the US.  I expect that corona is going to gut financial support in Europe for women's football and will further delay the decline of the USWNT.

No pyramid inversion any time soon.

[Captain Ron 12931]

Totally agree, more of the same shit

 

[gsoda3 3283]

On 4/16/2020 at 8:08 AM, alincoln said:

The USSF's focus on the boys side should be to assist all USL teams in establishing free academies.  The financial resources simply aren't currently available to support a USL academy system but that is really the only way for US to develop more elite players.

 

why USL and not throw more resources into MLS academies?  are you saying we need more coverage and the USL teams can provide that?  

[Schulz2.0 29019]

8 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

why USL and not throw more resources into MLS academies?  are you saying we need more coverage and the USL teams can provide that?  

England, Germany, France, Spain, and other European countries all have multiple tiers of clubs abd almost all have their own youth setups. Those countries have much smaller populations and area to cover. Having 50-60 academies still leaves a large amount of youth prospects without opportunities.

[alincoln 2385]

Yeah.  MLS already has free academies for their elite team in each age group from U-13 up.  We also need that setup at each USL team to provide a geographically comprehensive free option for elite players.  Part of the problem at the MLS academy level is the travel required to get to elite competition.

[Goo Punch 4275]

 

 

[Napoleon 8706]

3 hours ago, Goo Punch said:

The next goal should be finding a permanent position and excelling in it.

A great parallel goal would be for his team to do very well and allow him to play in the Champions League.
 

I was horrible at setting goals growing up, but I'm fairly decent at helping others set goals for themselves.

[Coach pop a bitch 5496]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/borussia-dortmund/story/4090347/inside-giovanni-reynas-life-at-dortmund-son-of-captain-america-on-wild-goals-hanging-with-haaland-and-shrinking-his-laundry

[Braff Zacklin 13666]

Super bad luck for the younger Reyna this morning. Not only was he scratched due to injury, but his replacement made the most of the opportunity.

https://sports.yahoo.com/gio-reyna-makes-his-first-start-for-borussia-dortmund-as-the-bundesliga-returns-130935244.html

[TheBryMan81 2515]

Why so many American players are finding a place in German Football

https://theathletic.com/1827680/2020/05/24/american-players-germany-pulisic-reyna?source=user-shared-article

Spoiler

Ahead of the Bundesliga becoming the first major league to return from the COVID-19 shutdown last weekend, The Athletic’s Felipe Cardenas highlighted just how many American players are currently in the German top flight. But why is that the case? 

 

The paths of the seven Americans involved in Bundesliga action a week ago are varied. Three — John Brooks, Timothy Chandler and Alfredo Morales — were born and raised in Germany. The other four — Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Giovanni Reyna (who missed his first Bundesliga start after suffering an injury in the warm-up but returned off the bench yesterday against Brooks’ Wolfsburg) and Josh Sargent — were primarily brought up in the U.S. and did most of their development in the American youth system. Adams, who moved from the New York Red Bulls to RB Leipzig in January 2019, was the only member of that group who played in MLS; the other three began their professional careers in Germany. 

 

Although Christian Pulisic, who began his career with Borussia Dortmund before making his big-money move to Chelsea last summer, is the highest-profile example of an American spending formative time in Germany, the trend goes back decades to the likes of Eric Wynalda, Claudio Reyna and Landon Donovan, just to name a few. 

 

“We’ve seen it over the past 20 years,” said former U.S. right-back Steve Cherundolo, who signed with Hannover after leaving the University of Portland in 1999. He played for the German club for 15 years and coached there for several more before shifting into his current role as an ambassador for the Bundesliga. “I think it’s only getting better and bigger, and it really does seem to be a wonderful fit.” 

 

The German path is more common these days, particularly for young prospects who are joining academies there. Six members of the U.S.’s 2019 Under-20 World Cup team, including Wolfsburg winger Ulysses Llanez, who now has one senior U.S. cap, were contracted to German clubs during the tournament. Four more German-based players were called up to the first U.S. team of the 2021 under-20 cycle last September.

 

Llanez, USMNT

Llanez celebrates scoring on his U.S. debut against Costa Rica (Photo: Michael Janosz/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

A confluence of factors both on and off the field have made Germany a popular destination for top young Americans. One of the most important of those happens to be the least sexy: immigration laws.

 

England, given its strong, popular league and shared language with the U.S., would probably be a more natural landing spot for Americans, if not for its strict work-permit requirements. But Germany has more lax immigration restrictions for athletes than many other European nations. In fact, no work permit is required for an athlete to gain residency. They only need to be 16 years old, earn a living wage and be confirmed as a competent athlete by their sport’s German governing body. Even FIFA has tougher restrictions — outside of a few exceptions, the game’s international federation bars youth players from moving out of their own country until they turn 18. (Pulisic and Reyna, who both obtained European passports through a grandparent, were able to take advantage of one of those exceptions, which states that players with European citizenship can move to a club in a different European country at age 16.) 

 

“Obviously, it starts with the work-permit issue,” said former U.S. defender/midfielder Cory Gibbs, who began his pro career with Hamburg club St Pauli in 2001 and, in his current role as an agent with Wasserman, helped McKennie and 20-year-old Bayern Munich defender Chris Richards engineer their moves to Germany. “It just makes it so much easier for Americans to get over there and prove themselves.” 

 

It also helps massively that German clubs haven’t paid acquisition fees for most of their American players. Pulisic signed with Dortmund for free in January 2015. Four years later, the club sold him for $73 million. Dortmund could turn that trick again with Reyna, who left New York City FC without signing a pro deal and joined for no fee in October 2018. McKennie’s journey from the FC Dallas academy to Schalke was the same, though Dallas did manage to get a $1.25 million transfer fee out of Bayern for Richards, who they signed to a pro deal less than a year before selling him. 

 

Part of the reason American teams haven’t received any money for players who leave their academies for Germany or other countries is the fact that MLS and U.S. Soccer have not allowed them to pursue training compensation or solidarity payments. U.S. Soccer claimed it became neutral on the topic in 2015, and MLS changed its stance on that last April, when it announced it would comply with FIFA’s system and allow its teams to go after training compensation and solidarity payments.

 

“That’s been a big problem for MLS teams, but it’s also one of the reasons why American players are so attractive, because basically they are free,” said Philadelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner, a German national who brought U.S. forward Bobby Wood to 1860 Munich over a decade ago, and even served as Wood’s legal guardian for a time before he later went on to work at Bundesliga club Hoffenheim. “There is an academy payment in place now, but I don’t know if there have been any cases where the German clubs have had to pay training fees.”

 

The friendly immigration laws and the lack of transfer fees make it easier for Americans to get into Germany, but it’s not what allows them to make a career in the Bundesliga. And while talent is, of course, the most important factor for any player looking to stick in the German first division, Americans are helped by their tendency to have a relatively simple time adapting to life on and off the field in the country.  

 

Off the field, players can get by using English without too much issue while they learn to speak German. They also have a somewhat easy time dealing with German coaches, who often share similar sensibilities with their American counterparts. 

 

“When it comes to Germany, football is very structured,” said Gibbs. “Very, very structured. Every player knows where they need to be, the coach has a specific game plan and they follow that game plan. They don’t turn away from that. And I think Americans follow that type of mentality as well.”

 

The prevailing style in Germany — a fast-paced, transition-heavy game that suits athletic players — also works well for youngsters. The fact that under-21 players get a higher percentage of overall minutes in the Bundesliga than they do in the Premier League, Italy’s Serie A or Spain’s La Liga is another big factor in creating the symbiotic relationship between top American prospects and German clubs. 

 

“I think whenever we’re talking about players and we evaluate them in scouting or just in general conversation, we’ll break it up into four general areas: mentality, physicality, the technical side and the tactical side,” said Cherundolo. “And I think that most American players are very well developed in three of those areas — physical stature, technical ability and the mentality side of the game. 

 

“The tactical side, that’s where the Europeans — and I can mostly speak for the Germans — maybe they’re a little further along at 16 years old than Americans are. That would be the only point where I would have a bit of pause, but those other three boxes definitely get checked off. And a lot of German clubs believe they can teach the player the tactical side of the game, which is why they love Americans and why they usually always fit, because most are able to learn the necessary tactical pieces.”

 

The recent emergence of young Americans in the Bundesliga, beginning with Pulisic and continuing with McKennie and Adams, has created a positive feedback loop on both sides of the Atlantic. The old European biases against American players that Cherundolo and Gibbs had to fight against at the start of their careers have largely evaporated. Meanwhile, in the U.S., prospects are seeing more and more young players have an easier time getting high-level opportunities in Germany than in the other big-five leagues.

 

Bring it all together, and it’s easy to imagine a steady stream of future American prospects continuing to head to Germany. 

 

“I remember we used to have to beg clubs to take a look at these players. Now it’s a situation where these clubs are reaching out saying, ‘Find us the next Weston, find us the next Pulisic, find us the next Tyler Adams’,” said Gibbs. “It’s not easy, but it’s opened up a lot more for the demand for Americans going over abroad, for sure. The mental block is gone.”

 

“Most of the academy boys are looking much more to the English Premier League in comparison to Bundesliga, but they learn now out of the positive examples that it’s probably a better platform to join a Bundesliga club and maybe go to the Premier League later on,” added Tanner. “The most important thing when you are establishing yourself is that you play, and the chances of that in the Bundesliga is really high. That’s quite attractive.” 

 

(Main photo: Werder Bremen’s Josh Sargent. Credit: TF-Images/Getty Images)

 

[Knoxtnhorn 6066]

Quote

John Brooks, Timothy Chandler and Alfredo Morales — were born and raised in Germany. The other four — Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Giovanni Reyna (who missed his first Bundesliga start after suffering an injury in the warm-up but returned off the bench yesterday against Brooks’ Wolfsburg) and Josh Sargent 

All 7 of these players have had games on tv this week (FS1 and FS2).  

Brooks played extremely well against Bayern.

Sargent - bench

Adams - on as a sub; wasn't paying much attention so I don't know how he did.

Reyna - came on as a sub yesterday.  Nothing bad, nothing good.

Chandler - on as a sub.  Did okay.

McKennie - Played ok but his team sucked.

Morales - Played today.  I don't recall seeing much from him.

I know.  Great analysis.  I guess it's better that they're mostly playing.  Did Fabian Johnson get loaned out or get injured.  Why wasn't he on this list?

[shnsajax 3592]

Ulysses Llanez called up to Wolfsburg 1st team for tomorrow’s game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[shnsajax 3592]

Chris Richards just made the field as a sub for Bayern. Pretty damn impressive for the 20 year old.

[shnsajax 3592]

Also reports of Dest going to Bayern as well. Next year we could see a backline of at Bayern featuring 2 Americans and 1 Canadian at some point with a shit ton of speed at both left and right back. 

[Braff Zacklin 13666]

Reyna notched his first Bundesliga start and assist today in Borussia's Dortmund's 2-0 win over RB Leipzig.

https://youtu.be/oNjDVTqzoYE?t=99

YouTube won't allow embedding of this specific video, so you'll have to click the link to enjoy.

 

[Zepol87 9197]

Replay of the 2010 Algeria game. Man this match so fucking intense. Damn I thought we were destined for great things lol

[kingkoopa6 8378]

Dempsey goal should have counted 

[kingkoopa6 8378]

Also remember seeing some hot ass Algerian women in the stands 

[ATLLonghorn 857]

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[Captain Ron 12931]

Clear double red for me. The Miz lucky to not get the only red all things considered with the first "swing". 

[Braff Zacklin 13666]

Pulisic dominated yesterday's match versus Man City. Netted the opener and was a tad unlucky to not have two more.

 

[Firemans4Horn 18128]

On 6/22/2020 at 7:45 PM, Zepol87 said:

Replay of the 2010 Algeria game. Man this match so fucking intense. Damn I thought we were destined for great things lol

I was there with my dad and brother. Night I’ll never forget. 

[shnsajax 3592]

So Konrad de la Fuente's release clause on his new contract a Barca is valued at $56.2 million and if he makes the jump to the first team it will double. While I want to be high on this kid, I haven't been anywhere near this high.

[Ted Lange 16144]

 

[Napoleon 8706]

I would like to start off by noting that: I don't think that MICHAEL BRADLEY should ever wear the national team jersey again. EVER!

I have felt that way since before T&T, but I have felt that there is no excuse to bring him in ever again after the T&T debacle.

Next, apparently Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams will never be employed in the #6 position for some reason. I'm not entirely sure why, but Berhalter just doesn't like to put either of them there, which leads me to...

Sporting Kansas City's Gianluca Busio earns rave reviews after impressing in "Pirlo role"

In Sporting Kansas City's 2-1 win over Minnesota United on Friday, the team's homegrown talent got a chance to shine, as Peter Vermes opted to start midfielder Gianluca Busio and defender Jaylin Lindsey while midfielders Cameron Duke and Felipe Hernandez came off the bench. Of the group, it was Busio whose star shined brightest in the center of the park, adding to his case as a rising talent in MLS.

"I thought actually [he] was excellent today," Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes said after the match. "He gave us something a little different in the game. His work ethic, his ability to win balls. He got out of a lot of stuff."

In his second MLS start of 2020, Busio was instrumental as the team moved forward and boasted a 91% passing accuracy, all from a new position. The 18-year-old normally plays further up the field, but was instead a deep-lying midfielder. Vermes compared his role to the one Andrea Pirlo played during his playing career, and was particularly complimentary because Busio did not have a lot of training in the role.

"He stayed connected to the group without a lot of training in that spot," Vermes added. "He did a really good job adjusting to the position well."

His performance in a deeper role was also noticed by the opposition, with Minnesota defender Chase Gasper complimenting the job Busio did.

"He’s not just technical and good with the ball at his feet, but he played great defensively and put in the work and put in a really good shift in one of the most important positions on the field for a really good SKC side," Gasper said. "He’s a great young talent, American prospect and as an American you’re rooting for guys like that to keep pushing themselves, keep improving and raise the level of American soccer and I think he’s doing that."

[click link for full report]

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/08/21/sporting-kansas-citys-gianluca-busio-earns-rave-reviews-after-impressing-pirlo-role

I have been a fan, and hopeful, for Gianluca Busio for 2 or 3 years. He hasn't been rushed along like starlets of the past, but rather has had to earn his playing time in fits and spurts since making his debut about 3 seasons ago at the age of 15 & change. I would love to have someone controlling the ball and passing out of the back who is NOT named "Michael Bradley". With the number of passes directly to the opposition that MB makes on the US side of the midfield line and the number of opponents' goals that are scored with MB in the screen, but not on the man, I am continually shocked that a few accurate long crossing balls per game are enough to make him an automatic starter for the USMNT when he is healthy. It's mind bottling.

Anyway, this would be a nice development if Busio could find a niche and continue to learn and perform in that role. We seem to have an abundance of ATMs at the moment and I don't think that Busio is exceedingly fast (he's definitely small, at about 5'5" to 5'6" real height... don't know what his list is), so it would be a departure from the US's normal 5'10" to 6'2" standard over the last decade or two.

 

 

[shadow_operative 15932]

 

 

[Zepol87 9197]

No offical word yet but Reggie Cannon is rumored to be gone to Boavista in Portugal. Not sure what happened to the France rumors but he left this morning.

[Schulz2.0 29019]

43 minutes ago, Zepol87 said:

No offical word yet but Reggie Cannon is rumored to be gone to Boavista in Portugal. Not sure what happened to the France rumors but he left this morning.

[shadow_operative 15932]

 

 

[Braff Zacklin 13666]

Great news ... as long as he finds his way to the field on game day.