Longtime Arena deputy Dave Sarachan (closest to Arena) remains in charge of the senior national team, ten months after the failure in Trinidad and Tobago.
I wanted to wait until the US roster for the late summer friendlies was released to write part two of my “State of the Union” US Soccer series. That’s because part two is about the player pool, and the promise of the summer friendlies against Bolivia, Ireland and France that infused some needed optimism around the US Men’s National Team as it readies itself for the beginning of a new World Cup cycle.
In truth, I don’t think the sting and sadness of last autumn’s World Cup qualifying failure will subside for US Soccer or its faithful fans anytime soon, and in many ways, that’s a good thing. Failure can be a predicate for success, memory a masterful motivator. In other ways, it may not subside anytime soon because of policy paralysis, at least as it relates to the US Soccer response to many of the structural problems that engendered last cycle’s wholesale failure to begin with. Part I of my “State of the Union” series focuses on US Soccer’s slow start out of the gate addressing those structural issues, and we’re no closer to knowing US Soccer’s agenda to tackle these challenges nearly a month after it was written.
Off the Field Recap
I promise to get back to roster analysis, but before we do, a brief recap of where we’re at off the field is appropriate.
US Soccer still hasn’t hired a coach, meaning Dave Sarachan is advancing on around a year as “interim” head coach, despite being a vital cog of the failed coaching staff that oversaw the most colossal failure in the history of US Soccer. GM Earnie Stewart has been on the job for a month and we’re still confused as to what his actual role entails. Clint Dempsey retired, an inevitability of course but also a time to reflect on how his unique story is a compelling reminder of the flaws and gaps in the US development structure.
And then, of course, there was that bizarre, troubling trip to Washington by Carlos Cordeiro a week ago, ending with the newly elected US Soccer President endorsing President Trump’s strongman war on the media by suggesting, with hearty on camera, chuckles, he issue the press a “red card.”
On the field, some positives
Notwithstanding the continued paralysis and failed leadership off the field, there have been some very positive signs for US Soccer on the pitch.
In particular, in eleven months as interim manager, Dave Sarachan has developed a wonderful rapport with his young charges, going 2-1-3 in a series of challenging friendlies against the likes of European champion Portugal and eventual World Champion France and giving 18 American players their senior team debuts in the process. The US drew France in Lyon in the final tune-up for the World Cup champs, and they managed the draw with the youngest lineup a US senior team had played since 1990, an impressive accomplishment even allowing for the fact the US defended throughout and did very little in the way of getting forward.
The US still have nine months until their next competition, the 2019 Gold Cup, and Sarachan’s job, for as long as Earnie Stewart asks him to keep it, is to continue to establish the foundation the US will use for the new World Cup cycle, which begins Friday night in New Jersey against Brazil.
At a minimum, Sarachan has, as Rob Usry wrote at SB Nation, earned the right to be the favorite for the US U23 job, which includes, in 2020, the vital challenge of qualifying US Soccer for its first Olympic Games since Beijing 2008.
What about Pulisic?
Sarachan will take on Brazil and Mexico this time around without the services of the Americans lone star, Borussia Dortmund youngster Christian Pulisic. The 19-year-old was clearly the best American player in the failed Hexagonal but has played sparingly with the US since the failure to qualify, both due to club obligations and a lack of any compelling reason to join the team for friendlies and camps that serve little purpose beyond being evaluation laboratories for the upcoming cycle.
Pulisic’s role in the next cycle is rightfully assumed, and he has little to prove with the United States and plenty to prove at Dortmund, where he is playing and proving himself under yet another new manager.
Ives Galarcep wrote this past weekend that Pulisic’s stretch of absences may be getting a little “worrisome”, and while I don’t think the question at all ridiculous to discuss, I do disagree and think worry is a bit premature. The reality is there is little for Pulisic to gain in these matches, and plenty for him to lose, whether from an injury or the lost chance to train and maintain his position at Dortmund. If he needs to use minor injuries to miss out, it’s nothing to worry about, so long as he’s ready to answer the bell as the calendar draws nearer to the Gold Cup next summer.
Talented Schalke youngster Weston McKennie leads the US midfield into the September friendlies.
What about this roster?
Even in Pulisic’s absence, Sarachan has, for the first time, hinted at what he views as the American “A” team at the onset of this cycle.
He’s also gone on record suggesting he thinks this is a team that is capable of playing lovely, attacking soccer, an idea that both Jurgen Klinsmann and Hugo Perez famously suggested should be a “style of play” goal for the federation generally.
The US are a long way from that, in my view, but Sarachan is correct that discussing style of play as an expectation is an important part of building a new national team culture.
It’s one thing to discuss it, another to do it on the field, and certainly the US haven’t been the most inventive or creative side yet under Sarachan’s watchful eye.
What they have done is defended well, built cohesion and chemistry that was sorely lacking by the time the US reached Trinidad last October, and earned credible results against the likes of Portugal, Paraguay and France as a result. They’ve also “played their kids”, of course, in European stadiums and against high-level competition, the latter of which they will see again in the next set of games against Brazil and rival Mexico.
That’s not worth sneezing at, and it is certainly to Sarachan’s credit. It’s also a theme that continues with the latest US roster.
“For these matches against Brazil and Mexico, the theme remains the same in that we are using the opportunity against these high-powered opponents to continue building on the foundation that we’ve laid,” Sarachan said in a press release. “We felt it was right to continue allowing this group to get valuable experience for the big picture that includes competitive matches in the future with the Gold Cup, Olympic qualifying and World Cup qualifying.”
With that overview, a deeper look at the group called up for the September friendlies.
Here’s the roster:
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 (Fotuna Sittard/NED; 2/0), Bobby Wood (Hannover 96/GER; 39/12), Gyasi Zardes (37/6; Columbus Crew SC)
Developing options beyond Bobby Wood at forward, and getting him the ball, will be immense challenges for the Yanks against Brazil and Mexico
A few thoughts
Who will create?
One of the most important things US need to figure out between now and the Gold Cup is who are your chance creators outside of Pulisic? Who are the players you can rely on to link-up to the forwards and as a corollary, who are the forwards you can depend on to finish the chances you generate?
This roster lacks a true number ten, but then again, Pulisic’s inclusion doesn’t solve that problem.
What this roster does have is as solid a group of number eights and sixes as the US have fielded in some time, including the resurgent Kellyn Acosta, Tyler Adams, Wil Trapp, Cristian Roldan, Schalke’s Weston McKennie and Sebastian Lletget. Any of Acosta, McKennie, Adams and Lletget are capable of playing line-busting passes, with McKennie and Adams a cut above the other two.
Trapp, who remarkably only has six caps, is an indispensable leader on a young team searching for voices that command respect in the dressing room. I have questions about his ceiling as a high-level international and think some time in a place like the Championship, where he’d have to deal with a different set of training demands and external pressures, would do him good, but he’s likely to play an important role for the US in the coming cycle.
The call-up is especially encouraging for Acosta, who has been excellent since exiting Dallas for Colorado. The Rapids aren’t usually a club where you resuscitate a career of find your developmental feet, but it’s working for Acosta and this camp is a just reward.
The roster also has a host of talented wingers including DC United workhorse Paul Arriola, an in-form Julian Green, Lletget (who is probably in camp more for a slot out wide) and Timothy Weah, though I am going to address him in the next group.
Who will score?
Forward is a spot on the US depth chart that can look bleak in the short-term and encouraging long-term all at once.
Chalk this group up to the “bleak” short-term, unless you include Weah in your assessment of the American forward group for this camp, which I think you should.
Weah is a better pure finisher already than any of the names on the forward list save Wood and unlike his Hawaiian teammate, he isn’t wholly reliant on service to score goals.
With service, Wood is the best forward in the American pool, and one of three Americans to reliably score for the United States last World Cup cycle, along with Pulisic and Dempsey. Wood’s club situation at Hannover 96- and the fact he latched on there after his former club was relegated- is a testament to his quality, but the long view remains that the US need to develop a goal-scoring forward they can trust beyond Wood and the conspicuously absent Jozy Altidore.
Make no mistake: excluding Altidore, who is only 28, out of spite or a qualification failure “grudge” does a disservice to the national team moving forward. He’s the best target player the US have, and with Dempsey gone, the most proven goal-scorer too. He offers a decade of experience and when healthy, he impacts winning, as Toronto’s resurgence since his return from injury aptly demonstrates.
It’s understandable that he isn’t in this camp, but only because Weah is, and giving friendly minutes to players like Weah has more value than playing Altidore in low-stakes friendlies.
What wouldn’t be understandable is excluding him from the Gold Cup roster.
As for the remaining two forwards, Gyasi Zardes has been magnificent in MLS this season, has mostly been a productive international player and merited this call-up.
Andrija Novakovich is scoring goals in Holland, but so does everyone, and while I have no issue with his inclusion in this type of camp, his long-term ability to impact winning is less assured. He isn’t fast and doesn’t move very well off the ball, and while he can score a fantastic goal on occasion, I don’t know if he’ll be get himself in position to do so in high-level international games often enough for that to matter (a Wood strength).
In a perfect world, Josh Sargent keeps scoring in Werder Bremen II and reserve games and Aron Jóhannsson, a much better technical player, returns strong for Bremen’s senior team and has a nice year that warrants a November or springtime call.
Everton’s Antonee Robinson, currently on loan to Wigan, is among the first-choice defenders in this camp.
Defense taking shape
As noted above, the US have defended at a high rate under Sarachan, looking compact, fast to close when there is space and communicating well.
John Brooks, who told TYAC that last year was “extremely difficult, both emotionally and physically,” has returned and is playing outstanding soccer early in the year for Wolfsburg. His on-field absence was sorely felt last autumn, and his presence will be valuable in the dressing room as well.
DeAndre Yedlin has had a reasonably good start to his Premier League campaign at Newcastle, but what’s important is that he’s starting games and has his Rafa Benitez’s trust. He’s a much more complete player than he ever was in MLS and last week, became the first American player in four years to score a goal in the Premier League.
Matt Miazga moved to Nantes in Ligue 1 and won a starting job nearly immediately, an outstanding sign. This camp gives him a chance to work with Brooks and cultivate that combination.
Antonee Robinson, on loan at Wigan Athletic from Everton, has been a revelation for the Latics and his blistering pace gives the US two menacing, in-position fullbacks with European credentials, something they’ve lacked since the retirement of Steve Cherundolo.
With Hull City’s Eric Lichaj also in camp, there’s a good chance the US have their top-choice back line on deck ahead of likely starter Zack Steffen in goal.
Aaron Long, the only debutant in a US camp, has earned every bit of this call as well.
Who’s Absent other than Pulisic?
A handful of names but no significant surprises.
Reggie Cannon should probably be in this team instead of Shaq Moore, but so long as Moore rotates out and Cannon joins in come October or November, it’s not worth getting worked up about.
Kenny Saief can’t find a game at Anderlecht, so his omission is understandable. There have been a few Twitter shouts for Romain Gall, but US Soccer is past the time when playing well in the Allsvenskan merits a national team callup.
Tim Ream is hurt, and no one wants him back worse than Fulham. When healthy, the US have an invaluable depth piece they’ll get back too.
Erik Palmer-Brown is a guy who improves rapidly in Football Manager or on FIFA, but not one who has done so in practice. The Manchester City man is on loan at NAC Breda, where he can’t make the starting 11. Emmanuel Sabbi is a player I’d rate over Novakovich, but he is coming of an injury at Hobro IK and right now, club time is more important to his development.
Bottom Line
It’s two challenging opponents and for the first time under Sarachan, the US have a level of consistency in personnel in a camp and in all likelihood, their top choices in defense, save Tim Ream, all present and accounted for. The debate over what happens with Michael Bradley will drag into next year and color the Gold Cup deliberations, I’d imagine, and TYAC’s position has been made clear. But should Bradley be gone, this roster is also reasonably close to the top choice US midfield, sans the versatile Pulisic, who could be played centrally as a 10 or where he’s best-suited, as a high winger with liberty to roam inside.
Mexico will never take a performance against the United States lightly, so the game in Nashville will be a nice test for this group. It’s harder to know what they’ll get from the Brazil game, but Tite’s Selecao have brought a quality group of players to the United States, including Casemiro, Coutinho, Richarlison, Neymar and Willian, so at a minimum, the game will be a formidable test for the new look American backline.
Neil W. Blackmon co-founded The Yanks Are Coming. Follow him on Twitter @nwblackmon.