USMNT January camp/friendlies

I still don't get the purpose of the January camp. Be that as it may, here are the MLS players that will play Panama on Sunday and Costa Rica Feb. 2nd. Kellyn Acosta was the most notable of the last four cuts. The rest of the roster? Outside of Michael Bradley and Gyasi Zardes (and even he's questionable), you'd need post office or milk carton pictures to ID most of them.
One tidbit I noticed. Zardes posted a photo on one of his social media accounts training in a warmup jacket with sponsor: Volkswagen. Then it struck me. Our national team has a foreign car maker as a kit sponsor, while the, arguably, most well known foreign club on the planet features Chevrolet on their jerseys. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes. https://www.stltoday.com/sports/aco...ource=infinity-scroll-summary-siderail-latest

 

The only purpose I can ascertain is a widening of the player pool for the next camp. Maybe in the 2 friendlies a player will stand out and become the story, but how Acosta got cut from that ‘milk carton’ group is the storyline. Did he not show up in shape? Is Bethalter trying to light a fire under his arse? Is there an unreported or minor injury?

 

Berhalter answered my question about Acosta, wasn’t happy with his fitness level (he said it in a nice way).

Forgot to DVR it, but a positive start for the new staff.

 

It was a January camp game against a poor Panama side so I’m not taking much out of the individual performances; however, it was obvious that Berhalter implemented a game plan and he put people in place to succeed. The first 30 minutes were pretty tentative but after that it seemed like things started coming together.

A couple of player comments:

Bradley: For the first time in a long time it looked like he wasn’t asked to do to much and what he did he did very well.

Djordje M: Made a few ill advised passes early but also made some intelligent runs off the ball and his corner kicks were as good as I’ve seen in some time. Put the ball on frame and was rewarded with a goal. Overall it was a nice debut.

Ramirez: In his short sub appearance he made several nice receptions/ layoffs and put himself in a good position to score off Lewis’ cut-back. I’d like to see more.

Lima: Want to see again. Really good performance but I’m tempering my comments based on the competition.

 

As for Lima, he's one of the Quakes few bright spots. His performance doesn't surprise as he's shown flashes of "specialness" in the past, but I agree with Mr. White, that let's see that in the Gold Cup and go from there.

 

Acosta is a player I have expected to break through so if Berhalter cut him because he didn’t come in fit I respect Berhalter for sending the right message. Come ready to compete!

 

A promising performance indeed with a number of notable debuts. However, it was quite obvious that Panama was also fielding a weaker side. The most frustrating thing (to me) regarding the January camp is that these MLS players are getting an advantage over foreign based players. We all have positive things to say regarding Djordje Mihailovic, Corey Baird, Nick Lima, and Jonathan Lewis, and it's all deserved. I wonder though if we would even be talking about some of these players if the likes of Lynden Gooch, Emerson Hyndman, Luca de la Torre, or Haji Wright were involved.

 

A side note not wholly specific to the current camp, but certainly because of the camp and last night's match. I've passed up on a few opportunities to attend a US match, and the biggest reason each time was the cost.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/01/us-soccer-attendance-problem-berhalter

 

Same, Astro. Been a long, long time since I've seen our nation play. Add in price with the bro culture that grew around the national side during the late aughts/early-to-mid teens and ehhhh.

Thanks for posting that article. The price point for USMNT games, be them competitive or friendlies, has been completely bonkers for about a decade now, so not surprised this game was going for $50, and played at a freaking NFL stadium.

I remember a friendly 3-4 years ago at RFK (a total toilet) against Peru (when they were not that good) was going for $70+. Granted it was not the US youth side, but still thought it was ridiculous for what is essentially a glorified scrimmage.

Funny anecdote that is apples to oranges but awhile ago, before Belgium became BELGIUM but were still quite good with a ton of promise, their FA had to give away tickets to their national side. For competitive qualifiers!

 

Since this conversation is heading for a full derailment, I'll go ahead and add that I think one of the problems for US Soccer is that the federation is so nomadic. There is not a dedicated training center nor a national stadium. I understand that the US is huge, unlike England for example where nearly every citizen can reach Wembley with relative ease, but even Mexico has Estadio Azteca.

 

Another decent win by the US over Costa Rica gives Berhalter his second win. The biggest thing to take from both matches is whether anyone played their way into a March friendly call-up. My 23 man March roster (not what I expect from Berhalter):

GK: Steffan, Johnson and Guzan
RB: Yedlin and Lima
CB: Brooks, Miazga, CCV and Ream
LB: Garza (if healthy) and Antonee Robinson
DM: Adams and Bradley
AM: McKinney, Nagbe and Lletget
Wings: Pulisic, Weah, Arriola and Jonathan Lewis
Forward: Jozy, Wood and Sargent

Most likely misses
LB - Because I have no idea who is even in Berhalter’s LB pool.

CCV - Berhalter seems to want ball playing center backs and I'm not sure CCV will fit the system. One of Zimmerman or Long is not a bad bet. Possibly both if Berhalter doesn't rate Ream.

Jonathan Lewis - I like him for instant offense off the bench but Arriola and Lletget provide the same. Shipp or Roldan instead of Lewis is highly likely.

Single biggest question
The key to Berhalter's call-ups will probably hinge on how he thinks he can best utilize Tyler Adams. I believe Adams will be in the starting XI somewhere the only question is where. Adams and McKinnie both seem best suited to play the Roldan role from the recent friendlies but are they both too defensive to play side-by-side like Mihailovic and Roldan? Adams seems very well suited to play the RB role Lima played but do you want to remove his work rate from the midfield? Can Adams play the deep-lying, ball-distributing, defensive midfield role in place of Bradley? Does Berhalter have other tactics up his sleeve? I have no idea but I bet Berhalter has already spent a lot of nights thinking about it.

Who would you call-in?

 

@BarryWhite Hard to dispute anything from your outstanding post. I would be okay w/Bradley being invited from a leadership stand point, but it’s Tyler Adams’ time to start. Now Jozy is another issue, if he never dons the jersey again I’m fine, but it’s pretty freakin sad he’s still merits consideration. The one player I’d call up is Ethan Horvath. starting at Club Brugge (2nd Place in Belgium), move him in ahead of Guzan.

 

Ironically Joe, I originally had Horvath in place of Guzan so I completely understand.

 

Not sure where else to post this, but following up on the conversation about high ticket prices: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/27/usmnt-ticket-prices-soccer-usa-chile