Call ups for this month

http://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states/story/3798117/christian-pulisic-weston-mckennie-tyler-adams-called-up-to-us-squad-for-march-friendlies

Omar Gonzales??????

I'm assuming Tim Ream and Lovitz are duking it out to play LB.

Weah and Sargeant playing with the U23s to qualify for the Olympics!????

Come on, they are senior team players and key pieces for years to come!

There are several younger players missing with more talent than Omar, Zardes, Bradely, etc.

What's wrong with letting them play with the u23s to qualify the US for the Olympics? If they can get PT there versus an older player who isn't u23 eligible then I don't see the harm. It isn't like it's an insult or something. IMO

Don't have problems with Weah and Sargent (both 19) playing with the U-23's. Heck they're not even getting consistent minutes right now at their club. No way they should be getting called into senior camp at this moment.

I will admit that my post was very uninformed...after reading more about the Olympics and the U-23 team that I was wrong.

I did not think they were a big deal and that they would have been better suited playing and forming chemistry with the senior team.

I very nearly had the same initial reaction. I blame it on the Chronic Wondosis that we're still trying to recover from. We've got too many years of watching old MLS guys get playing time over young overseas players.

It's interesting that they could've easily pulled the same card with Adams, but he's in the senior squad.

deadbq03 said:

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I very nearly had the same initial reaction. I blame it on the Chronic Wondosis that we're still trying to recover from. We've got too many years of watching old MLS guys get playing time over young overseas players.

It's interesting that they could've easily pulled the same card with Adams, but he's in the senior squad.

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Adams is much further along than Sargent or Weah and is getting lots of playing time. 9 games, 6 starts, 2 subs, and 1 unused sub (1st game). That's playing consistently and contributing. He also had an assist recently.

Sargent has 11 games, 2 goals, 8 subs, 1 start, and 2 unused subs.

Weah has 14 games, 2 goals, 9 subs, 2 starts, and 3 unused subs.

Adams was used in every game but his first and started 2/3 of the games he's been involved in, so I think he's making more inroads.

I'm perfectly fine with the decision to put Weah and Sargent with the U23s as we need to see some success with that group. We haven't been to the olympics since 2008? That's a long damn time and is unacceptable. I also believe in watching Adams vs the other two, Adams is further along in his development so his inclusion with the senior squad makes sense.

One of the big reasons our senior team has struggled the last regime is the inability for us to field quality youth teams in tournaments like the Olympics.

I agree there's a difference with Adams and he's clearly playing at a higher level than Weah/Sargent right now... however, I still think his case is one where under previous regimes, he might've been left out. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Either way, I saw his inclusion as a good sign that young overseas talent isn't getting unfairly overlooked in favor of domestic veteran players.

Sidebar noob question: Do some leagues/clubs have minimum minutes or some other standard for differentiating caps from appearances? I noticed on Weah's page on the Celtic website that he's listed as having 2 starts, 9 sub appearances, but only 8 caps. I had always thought caps = apps...?

I always used it as appearances in (distinct) games. Of course in college you can start and sub, but wasn't aware of even friendlies that modified the sub rule for USMNT.

Obligatory Wikipedia link:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap_(sport)

Edit: I'm a moron. Of course they're talking about international appearances. It's perhaps a bit confusing because Weah currently has 8 Scottish league appearances and 8 international appearances. I'd like to think that if those numbers were wildly different that I'd have figured it out sooner... but probably not since I somehow thought the term might universally apply at any level of play, not just international.

I don't see a thread for USA v Chile yet. Who all is going? A few of us went to USA v Argentina during Copa America and had a great time tailgating and then marching in with American Outlaws.

I'm trying to decide how early to get to the tailgate party (starts at 4pm) and whether to bring stuff for rum and Cokes again.

I'll be there +9

I know of a few people from the office going as well.

Don't think we are going to AO tailgate but we will be at Truck Yard around 5

Weston mckennie our for the season

Will be there, but will barely make kick off.

ChipFTAC01 said:

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Weston mckennie our for the season

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Yikes. And playing in a friendly.

Rudyjax said:

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ChipFTAC01 said:

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Weston mckennie our for the season

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Yikes. And playing in a friendly.

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Making challenges like he did on the regular, dude is going to be hurt a lot

PatAg said:

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Rudyjax said:

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ChipFTAC01 said:

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Weston mckennie our for the season

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Yikes. And playing in a friendly.

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Making challenges like he did on the regular, dude is going to be hurt a lot

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he'll be the Brian Cushing of the USMNT. great player with talent but doesn't know how to protect himself from injury in the way he plays

With a violent case of Roid Rage?

Pahdz said:

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PatAg said:

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Rudyjax said:

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ChipFTAC01 said:

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Weston mckennie our for the season

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Yikes. And playing in a friendly.

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Making challenges like he did on the regular, dude is going to be hurt a lot

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he'll be the Brian Cushing of the USMNT. great player with talent but doesn't know how to protect himself from injury in the way he plays

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I sat there and wondered who the hell Brian Cushing was from the USMNT until Chip posted.

As a non Texans fan, I know who he is but barely a blip on the radar.

ChipFTAC01 said:

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With a violent case of Roid Rage?

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minus that

Cushing just played so wreckless that he put himself in positions where it was easy for him to get hurt. We've all played sports, you know what I mean. Going in for crazy challenges, up for a wild rebound, not knowing how to take on blocks in football, etc

Pahdz said:

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ChipFTAC01 said:

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With a violent case of Roid Rage?

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minus that

Cushing just played so wreckless that he put himself in positions where it was easy for him to get hurt. We've all played sports, you know what I mean. Going in for crazy challenges, up for a wild rebound, not knowing how to take on blocks in football, etc

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Hopefully he can learn when to go in, as he is still very young. It's a fine line, because his intensity is part of what makes him so great at breaking up plays.

I may find my way there. Here in town for work this week and found myself without dinner plans. Y'all post where you're gonna be and I'll try to drink some beer with ya

The AO Night Before party is now at Lucky's Pub next to the stadium.

The AO Tailgate starts at 4pm tomorrow and is at 2400 Preston, a couple blocks from the stadium. I'll be at that one, probably near the start. I expect to be wearing my Gold Cup jersey and Astros hat.

We drew Cuba and Canada for the CONCACAF Nations League. I'll be floored if we don't get out of that group...

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2019/03/28/02/05/20190327-news-mnt-concacaf-nations-league-2019-2020-draw

OregonAggie said:

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We drew Cuba and Canada for the CONCACAF Nations League. I'll be floored if we don't get out of that group...

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2019/03/28/02/05/20190327-news-mnt-concacaf-nations-league-2019-2020-draw

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Wow. That's fortunate!

So this is the Gold cup with no World Cup ramifications?

Correct.

This is NOT the Gold Cup, which has a separate draw coming up on April 10.

The CONCACAF Nations League, like its equivalent in UEFA, replaces the meaningless friendlies during international breaks with competitive matches. The USMNT is in League A, essentially CONCACAF's first division. In their group, the USMNT will play 4 matches (2 home and 2 away) against Canada and Cuba. The group winner advances to the semifinals of the Nations League championship tournament in March 2020. The last place team in the group is relegated to League B. (There is promotion/relegation between each of the three leagues.)

Does the Gold Cup have WC implications? I thought it just mattered for the Confederations Cup.

I was curious about this whole thing so I had to look it up. Best I can tell, once teams qualify for the group stage of the Nations League (and Hex teams automatically qualify), this tournament only matters for the CONCAF Ranking Index. As far as I can tell, that Index only matters for Gold Cup qualification/seeding.

Prior to the group stage, Nations League qualification is also qualification for non-hex into the Gold Cup.

This whole thing seems like a good deal for the minnows and a bad deal for hex teams, but maybe I'm wrong.

con: it means we'll be playing fewer friendlies against UEFA and CONMEBOL. with Euro Nations League, we were gonna see UEFA less anyways.

pro: since the matches will be official, they in theory will help rankings more than friendlies. also, by playing Cuba and Canada, etc more often, I think it allows Berhalter to bring more guys into the team and integrate his vision.

by staying in League A, we still have the options to play friendlies since we'll either only play one match per window -or- possibly have an entire window open.
the teams in League B (4 per group) won't be playing any friendlies during official international dates.

I read somewhere, like a year ago or so, that as every federation starts their nations league, that eventually we'll have like a Champions league to replace Confed Cup.

That's a good point about the euro league thing most likely removing the uefa teams from friendlies anyways.