2019 Gold Cup

The USMNT has released its provisional 40 man Gold Cup roster and details regarding the preparation camp and friendlies.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...bined-preparation-camp-roster-to-begin-summer

There are a fair amount of new faces on the provisional roster (17 players with 5 or less caps) and even more invited to the preparation camp. Berhalter is marketing this as a combined camp for the U23 and senior squads so everyone can be introduced to the culture and style of play that he's instilling. We'll see if his style and such stick with the U23 team during their own June camp and into the future. I also wonder if Berhalter is going to stick with this RB -> CM trick that he's been deploying Adams into.

I'm excited for a number of the new(ish) players - Fossey*, de la Torre*, Hyndman*, Holmes, Amon, Miles Robinson. I really hope Fossey can stay healthy. He was doing so well last summer in Fulham's preseason.

The US play Jamaica on June 5 and Venezuela on June 9 before opening the Gold Cup against Guyana June 18.

* being a Fulham homer

 

Final 23.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2019/06/berhalter-names-2019-gold-cup-roster

 

Aside from frustrating the hell out of me, I'm not sure Berhalter accomplished anything last night in the Gold Cup tune-up match against Jamaica. Household duties made me miss most of the first half and had me partially distracted for much of the second half, but even still I could tell that the match was horrible and the US play even worse. The team looked and played as though they all met an hour before the match. No two players seemed to be on the same page. As usual, the US couldn't use their possession advantage to formulate sustained attacks with a disconnect between the defense and the midfield and the midfield and the attack.

I can only hope for a massive improvement on Sunday.

 

Tortured myself w/first half. Evan, 45 minutes of my life I’ll never get back is about the nicest thing I can say.

My biggest question is why the Hell did Berhalter call in Josh Sargent instead of letting him play the U20 WC?? Berhalter blamed Sebastian Lleget’s hamstring injury (thus needing another MF) for Sargent being left off the final 23, but bottom line the kid got screwed, and I wouldn’t blame him if I he’d tell Berhalter to F Off the next time he calls.

 

I've stopped trying to even pretend that I know what coaches think.

It is a bit ludicrous to me to say that an injury at another position was the reason Sargent was left off. You have a 23 man roster, so there are a minimum of 9 guys that don't see the pitch on matchday and you have a total of 6 matches if you reach the final. You can't use all those extra midfielders anyway, so roll the dice and give Sargent the experience and confidence (even if he never sees any game minutes).

 

Getting ripped to shreds by Venezuela at half 0-3. Tuesday can’t get here fast enough, when the players putting on the US jersey have some competency, compared with this lot.

 

I can usually find positives but I’m really struggling outside of Jozy looking better than Zardes.

 

That was awful.

 

I ended up missing the match, but apparently I didn't miss anything.

I'm not sure why you say wrong captain HD, but I saw the following regarding Arriola's performance: "Energetic and good defensively but not sharp enough with the ball." I'm starting to feel like that statement pretty much sums up all the MLS players on the US squad.

 

I'm becoming a believer in the "Zardes and Trapp are playing because of Berhalter's loyalty from Crew" crew.

 

Tyler Adams has been released from the roster due to injury. This is not good for the US, though I'm not sure Berhalter would have played him in the middle (where he should be IMO).

Reggie Cannon has been brought in as his replacement.

 

What’s the old saying? ‘If you don’t having nothing nice to say....’

Crickets....

Oh Tyler Boyd looked good!

 

A random thought about the roster.... Djordje Mihailovic is not one of the top 23 initially named to the squad, yet he is one of the 14 that saw the pitch last night? This really tells me that Berhalter is so ingrained in his system and style that he's more concerned about picking players that fit his system than building a system around his best players. Is this the way to go? Perhaps, but I'm still not convinced that it is better to fit the system than to bring in Josh Sargent or other prospects.

The proof is in the pudding @dtowndough. A quote from Berhalter:

"Again, Gyasi is a tremendous worker, a guy who you know exactly what you're going to get from in the game. I'm really proud of him and how he performed."​

I personally rated Zardes as one of the worst players last night and spent most of the match wishing for Altidore's health or a Jordan Morris sub.

 

Off to see Jamaica v El Salvador and Honduras v curaçao. Damn it’s hot today here in Houston!

Sporting a Guyana jersey that my brother got me while he was there a month or so ago. Daughter repping the Whites.

 

The full effect....

 

Here we go...