Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #268: A roster snapshot with 7 months 'til the World Cup

Episode Date: April 6, 2022

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Welcome to the scuffed podcast. I'm Adam Bells in Georgia. With me is Greg Velasquez in Iowa. We talk about U.S. men's soccer. We're going to quickly take a snapshot of where the roster stands at the end of qualifying. Who's a lock? Who's not a lock? Where the areas of concern are as we prepare for the trip to Qatar. Greg, how you doing? I'm doing great. I'm actually pretty excited to talk about who's sort of in that snapshot in 4K, who's a little fuzzier on the edges. because I think it's kind of interesting how the pictures come together over the last nine months. Yeah, you know, just like shuffling through rosters over the last several months

has yielded some new insights for me. Just like looking at who played when and I'm kind of approaching the subject as if the rosters will be 23 players. I know it's possible there will be 26, but there's nothing solid on that yet. how are you reconciling that eventuality? So I feel like it will, I'm like almost sure that it will be expanded to 26.

But I think for the purposes of this discussion, we should stick it at 23 because I think that will help narrow the focus a little bit better. Because if you go to 26, then you add a lot of, I mean, then some guys just, I think for me, who are on the fringes instantly become locks with those three extra spots. and then it makes a lot of other things a lot fuzzier. Should we, we're not going to have a lot to say, but should we talk a little bit about the draw? I know we talked about it on the Monday review, but you haven't had a chance to weigh in on the opponents. I think it's awesome. I think the draw, again, we're at the World Cup, right? This is the whole thing.

The World Cup is a party where you hope to perform some decent soccer while you're there. And so I'm super excited about the draw. I think it's incredible that, you know, between us, Iran and Wales, it's almost like a Elo dead heat for the three teams, which is a ridiculous situation to be in. Now they seed the pots, mostly because Wales, as that European playoff team got stuck in pot four. But I don't, I don't like dislike it.

Like, I think this is great. Again, I don't want to go to the World Cup and get like a super easy game. That's, for me, the whole point is like, this is a chance every four years to see how our play. players do against really good players. So I'm excited to get a nominal, like, group of, a group of plateau at least. Yeah. In the rankings, Wales are the best team in that, remaining in that trio of Ukraine, Wales,

Scotland. So they became, they sort of are the, you know, if they make it out, they would be the toughest pot four team by far. Okay, okay. I see. Just from a ranking standpoint. But, again, like, it's awesome. And so, you know, I'm seeing people talk about who's going to be underdogs and who we

be favored against. And I just don't have, I don't have any opinion about who we should or shouldn't be favored against in this, out of this 14-bought. Like, it is very much the case that we can lose any of these soccer games and we can get a result in any of these soccer games. So, yeah, for me, it's just going to be a great. I don't imagine that'll get any clearer before the actual World Cup either. It's like, could be three Ws or three L's.

Exactly. That's the other fun part of this is. I mean, we know plenty of the England players. We watched them get to a Euro final, like a year ago. But I don't know the first thing about Iran. And I'm not even embarrassed to say it. I barely know anything about Wales, right? I know they have Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey.

We played them in a friendly, but we didn't play any of their first team players because they were in the middle of Euro qualifying, Euro qualifying, I think. Yeah. It might even been World Cup qualifying. But they had two actual competitive, meaningful games on either side of our friendly. So we didn't see any of their real players. And we, you know, we were playing a bunch of like brand new faces too. Yeah.

So that friendly isn't going to like tell us anything. Sebastian legit at the nine as well. Yeah, we had the false nine. It was Moosa's first cap, Raina's first cap. Conrad de la Fuente is our other winger. So yeah. So like, just throw that game out essentially. And just the

the ignorance, my personal ignorance of Wales, Scotland, Ukraine, and Iran because of the U.S. bubble that I live in soccer-wise is just it's ridiculous so I'm super excited to have the nine months to sort of bury myself in videotape for Iran for sure and then after the playoff figure out which are those teams to really dig into we can really you know we can really burnish our soccer hipster credentials with some deep dives on Iran um because they're going to be fun to to dive in on I think they got they got a lot of nice players I put this clip on the discord earlier today

day, but the assist from Jose and Kanani to Sardar Asmoon for the opener against Lebanon, sort of the game that clinched them top of the group in World Cup qualifying ahead of South Korea. Gorgeous pass, gorgeous pass. Yeah, I feel like we all learned very quickly that they have some really good attackers, right? That didn't take on. I didn't know that ahead of time. Nope. But like at the draw plus two hours, it's like, oh, okay, these are some players.

Yeah, they got a guy scoring 14 goals. already this season for Porto. It's like, you know, if we had a striker doing that, we'd be over the moon. So should we jump into the locks? Yeah, let's jump into our snapshot of our players. Some pretty obvious. So just to be clear, this is who we think is a lock,

or who we think Burrhalter thinks is a lock? Or is there? They're indistinguishable at this point. These guys are locks. So I guess it's who Burrhalter thinks, because these guys are going to be, unless like a meteor, hits the Yucatan in the next couple of months.

Like these guys are on the roster for sure. Okay. Do you want me to do the list or you want to do the list? Well, let's run through them. Let's just go one at a time just in case any explanation is needed. And Bells is arranged them front to back, so attacking back towards the back. As I am prone to do. Christian Pulisic is a lock, assuming he is healthy enough to go. Yeah, Christian Pulisick playing on the team. There is no scenario where he gets bummer.

off of the roster. Giovanni Raina, also a lock. Tim Wea, the next man up, and this is a fun one, and this is one where there is a little bit of story. Like, Pulis and Raina pretty obvious, right? Wea wasn't necessarily going to be this obvious as recently as October, I would say. Is that fair? As recently as the third game of the window in October, where he didn't start the first match

of that window against Jamaica, Ariola got to start. He did start in the middle window against Panama, but we rotated seven players. So that was clearly a... He wasn't able to get on the ball much in that game. No. But, like, he, you know, that was his first World Cup qualifying start, but it was a ton of other, like, second team player. So it wasn't clear that Wayo was, you know, high up on the depth chart. And then that was sort of confirmed going into the third game of the window famously against Costa Rica, where Waya wasn't on the starting lineup.

Ariola had the injury scratch in warmups. And so Wea comes in and he, you know, since that game has absolutely cemented himself in the 23. Yeah, back in our, back in our annual review, Vince listed his top five plays of the year. There were all five Wea involvements. Because he did, he carried us. He carried us through the middle of qualifying. And what's been great is like, or what I think is different about Wea than, then the big omission, I think,

that people are going to find with our locks here, is that way it hasn't had to rely on, like, club form. It hasn't been the case that, like, oh, well, he's just been outstanding for his club. And so that's what has allowed him to level up for the national team. His club form has been off and on. Like, his club minutes have been off and on. He doesn't have, like, a huge role with Lille at the moment.

He didn't really have a huge one last year, whether they won the title. And obviously the year before that, he missed the whole season with injury. So this is very much just like a guy who comes into camp, regardless of what's happening with his club, and has been outstanding for the U.S. So for me, that's a difference here that tells me that he is going to be in the roster, no matter what happens with him at the club level over the next five months. He's got to be. Yeah.

And I do think he's still somewhat underappreciated by the pundit class. I don't mean, I don't know. I mean, just an indistinct, you know, a group of people that I won't name anybody. But, you know, just to sort of lay it out there, he was the primary chance creator for the U.S. And the wins against Costa Rica and Mexico at home. He scored the goal that got us a point at Jamaica. And he was, you know, he instigated the goal scoring move against El Salvador. So, you know, that's 10 points that he was significantly responsible for.

I don't, other than Pulisic, who's sort of kind of caught up with him a little bit later, in that department, nobody's even close. And with Poolstick, you know, it helps to be the designated team penalty taker. Yeah. Very obviously. Right. And to get on the end of some, a really nice Tim way across, you know. Right.

Way I can't cross to himself. He can't benefit from his own crosses. That's right. All right. So I think, but yeah, I think it's clear way as in, right? Yep. I do. I do.

All right. Those are the only three attackers we have as Locke. So I think there's going to be, I think this is where we'll have. Have, should we just talk about the sort of elephant, the missing elephant in the room, the elephant that's not in the room? Brendan, I think is who you're talking about, right? Yeah, it's Aronson. And I think he's like as close as you can be to a lock without being one.

When any of these guys were not available, Pulisick, Raina, or Wea, Aronson was the guy, right? And, and we have never had all four of these players healthy and in camp together. Pulisick-Rana-Wea and Aronson, the big four sort of on the winger front. So it's hard to know exactly how Burrhalter would rate them in that scenario. But it seems like Aronson is very clearly one of those four. The issue is if he's fourth, there's at least a chance that someone would beat him out over the next five months if we only bring four-wingers. Wouldn't you say Paul Areola is pretty close to him?

Maybe not in Burrhalter's mind, but... I think he'd be knocking on the door, and I think it's one of those things where it could be like an opportunistic takeover. Like if Brendan Aronson does make this move over the summer, right? And this is kind of the unknown. With the way it feels like this club situation doesn't matter as much for me. But Aronson is in this weird club situation scenario where his Salisburg fit is just perfect. Right.

Like what he does at Salzburg is perfect for Brendan Aronson. What they do, it's just a matchup made in heaven. And he is extremely effective for them. We haven't seen him sort of outside of that. you know, Texas Tech's like system offense and seen what he can do elsewhere. He hasn't looked nearly as effective for the national team as he does. But, you know, there could be a lot of factors there too. He's been good.

He's certainly been good enough for the national team in like a backup depth winger role, right? When Pulisick is hurt, it's awesome that we have a guy like Brendan Aronson to turn to. But it does remain to be seen if he can really hit that same. consistent performance level on the ball for me, rather than just playing against the ball really well. Can he hit a 0.05xG header from 17 yards out? No, I don't think so. But this also just becomes the issue of like,

his future's unknown, right? He could move this summer, and then we don't know how it's going to play out. If he makes a $30 million move to Leeds United, although that also seems like a great system fit for him. But the Premier League is unforgiving, right? If he goes there and isn't doing well and falls out of favor, then it becomes like up in the air about what his role could be with the national team.

For me, other people might think, no, he's in no matter what. Like, he clearly is the fourth winger. But I just, I still have at least a tiny little sliver of the door being open that he could, that situations could change and he could, he could lose out. His profile among fans is high because he came out of the gate in qualifying and scored two goals in the first window. And so everybody's like, dang, look at this guy. And I think a lot of people, I don't know, subconsciously upgraded him in their subconscious

depth charts as a result of that. And you're right, he has been good. He has been good. He clearly, like, clearly Burrhalter trusts him, believes that he takes instructions and does what he's supposed to do out there. So I, I, go ahead. I like the ariola analog in the sense that Aronson also has a high floor, and it's because of that work rate.

It's because of that work against the ball, right? No matter how he's doing on the ball, like you will never get a game where he just doesn't factor at all, because if he's not doing things on the ball, he's doing a ton of work everywhere else on the field. And that does matter, right? And that's kind of the same thing that Paul Ariola will offer. Even if he's not quite polished enough at times in the final 22 yards,

he is never going to not be a nuisance, right? He's always going to be helping to protect the defender behind him and the central midfielder's to the inside. So he's going to put in all this work, and Aronson is that way. And Aronson probably is even better at that stuff. To just always, you know, give you something. At some level, you're going to get something from Brendan Aronson.

So it's like, again, it's almost like a formality, like a technicality to call him not a lock, but I'm still just not quite ready to turn the key on him. Well, the thing is, if it's a 23-man roster, and he is a lock, then, you know, Ariola Morris and I guess Georgi Mihalovich maybe has an outside chance here of working his way in. They don't make the roster, none of those three, if it's 23-man roster, right? Well, this is where I don't want to get too much into, like, roster permutations, but I think you could definitely bring five wingers because of the fact that you can double dip a little bit.

Yeah, like Raina might be the fourth center midfielder and the, you know, starting winger. But or Aronson could also be an emergency center mid, even if we don't love him there. But, you know, like there are, there is a little bit of wiggle room there. If it's 26, it's done. He's in, you know. Okay. Well, those are the competitors. And I don't think Jordan Morris has looked really that good since coming back to the national team after his long injury layoff.

Georgie was in January camp but sent home, if I remember correctly, and he's been playing really well in Major League Soccer. For me, that seems like a lot of people to say they're not going to be there for sure at this point. Exactly. So we're kind of just leaving that spot open to the field to have at least one guy jumping. Waya is safe because we're not going to get two guys that make that kind of leap. and Wea has been ridiculous for us being able to score goals. Yeah. Okay.

Into the midfield. No, no strikers on the lock list, by the way. No, but we should talk about that real quick. So nobody's on the lock list, but it does sort of feel like Burrhalter is, he strongly favors a Pepe Ferreira striker call up? Yes, right?

You almost have to say that the fact that those were the only two guys called up way back in the November window is kind of ridiculous that that was the case. But I think it does give you a little bit of insight into where Burrhalter's head is for the striker position, that he thinks that those two can do the job without any supplemental help, like, no safety net almost. Right, right. I mean, Pfok was brought in for this camp, which seemed almost unavoidable because he's scored so many goals this season. I don't know that, I don't know what Burrhalter thinks about Pfeck now. You know, it's hard to say.

But no, I don't think. even with Berlter leaning that way, with Pepe and Ferre being maybe his guys, I don't think it'd be, like, I don't think either of them are even close to being locks. I'm like the number one Ferreira fan, but for where he is now, and even for as good as he has been on the field

for the national team in his limited time with him, it's still too small for sample size to lock him in. I think Ferreira is a lock to be the number one the next time the U.S. camp gets together. But, you know, again, barring like a total drop in, performance for Dallas. But no, there's no way he's on the flight to Qatar just yet.

Yeah. Okay. So that's the attacking positions. Let's go to the midfield. The guys that I think are locks in Burrhalter's eyes are McKinney and Musa. Let's talk about the eights first and then the sixes. Okay, there we go. Yeah, I'm the same.

Two so far. Two on the list. That's it. Lucas, again, Luca's a lock to be in the next camp. and he's a lock to be the third eight going into the next camp. And that's, right now, that's as far as I'm going with it. I'd like to go further, but I can't, but I can't. I can't because I, well, it's, it's the same as Frera for me, right?

Like, Luca has been outstanding. I don't think there's anything more I would have wanted from Luca in the two games he's started for us, but the two games he started from us are not representative enough. You know, they're the home games against, home games against two weak teams in the region. He played well against Costa Rica, too, in that second half in a losing effort, which is a little tougher of a game. But, yeah, that's right, he's done, he's done everything anybody would have wanted from him. And I'd be surprised if he's not on the plane, but. We just, we just got to see him look solid against, if he looks solid against Uruguay, that's it.

He's in. Yeah. Uruguay, the rumored friendly, I think, uh, somewhat confirmed. I'm not confirmed by U.S. soccer, but like some Uruguay outlets were reporting it. Yeah, I think ESPN in Uruguay was reporting it too. So that would be, we should mention that too. That would be El Salvador, Granada, and Uruguay in the June window, and then hopefully one other friendly as well.

Yeah, right. We saw the preferred dates, I think, for those games, June 1, June 8th, and then the Nations League games, I think, are June 11th, June 14th. Hmm. So the cadence, I bet we're going to start hearing about cadence again. The cadence would almost be like the June 1st game would be like players' last club games in Europe before then flying to camp. And there's a super tight turnaround because we're the first game of the World Cup schedule, first day. Really tight turnaround.

It's just like coming in for a World Cup qualifying window. You play a game on Sunday and then you're into camp to play again November 21. So the cadence there would be the June 1 game is like their last club game. And then the June 8th friendly and then the two nation league games would be like the World Cup group stage. Yeah, I want to, I'd love for those dates to get nailed down and the opponents and everything so that we can get five a side scheduled. No, I'm psyched for that too. I was, I know you were on club and country talking to the fellows of Nashville. And I was curious like if Nashville is going to try to get it, that new stadium.

is going to try to get a game in that June window. I'm sure they'll try, but we know, don't we, as, you know, we are Midwesterners. We both live in the middle of the country, but it is time for the coasts to get some friendlies. Well, Conca Calf schedules the Nation's League games, I'm pretty sure, right? So I'm guessing they'll try to put those in bigger stages. Yeah, yeah, that's probably true. So maybe that's where we'll get the cities, and then maybe, I mean, I don't care where the friendlies go, but. Yeah.

I'm hoping for like the 50,000 seed stadium in a big city on the coast. All right. Soldier Field. Let's do it. There we go. Right on the coast of Lake Michigan. So then, so it's McKenny Musa and then not Luca. Now on the sixes, it's Adams and Acosta, right?

They're both locks. I think so, yeah. Again, there's just, there's not enough time and there's no clear like, player who's doing something so at such a high level as a six that I think they would come in and bump Acosta. And especially given that Acosta also doubles as an eight for Burrhalter and in a tournament roster in that ridiculous pinch that you might find yourself in can play one of the fullback spots. And as we'll see soon, he may be the backup left back.

So I think, yeah, I think that's fair to call Adams and Acosta locks. And really there's no competition. I mean, there's really nobody pressing on the door behind them, except maybe you could say James Sands, perhaps, as a third six, but he's not. But that's not anywhere in here. What you just said, that's basically nobody pressing behind them. Like with as much respect, right? Like, he's not, he's not, James Sands hasn't taken that over.

No. Who else, let's just talk about quickly about who else is in competition for that number, that fourth number eight spot. If Luca is in fact the third eight, um, it's Legette, Bousio, Williamson,

Eric Williamson back on the field for Portland, uh, I suppose rolled on and Lajette are in the mix. I mean, yeah, but by recent call-ups, those two would probably be the front runner.

Well, Buzio, who's who played in that, uh, Panama game as an eight, would, would maybe then be ahead of, um, But yeah, legit rolled on.

I would throw Pomacall in there and then I still am holding that ho for some kind of Tim Tillman look. But again, you know, we've been beating the auditions drum for three years now since for four years now. Like we just got to audition people, audition people. And that would have, I think like our depth could have and should have played a bigger role in World Cup qualifying to have allowed us to qualify more comfortably given the three match. windows and demands it put on all of the other countries as well. I think that could have been a differentiator for us. It didn't really turn out to be that. Although, you know, again, our winger depth did have to step up because of the absences of

Pulisic, Raina, Wea. But, like, at this point, I've said it already, the depth just becomes so much less important going into the actual World Cup itself. You have to deal with injuries, but, like, as far as planned rotation goes, there, there doesn't have to be nearly the amount of planned rotation going into these player selection. So while we will definitely dive in and spend tons of time trying to figure out who the third and fourth eights are.

It doesn't. You're right. It doesn't matter that much. I mean, well, go ahead. I interrupted you. It is huge to get the third eight right.

Because you can't just run your eights for even, you know, you can't bank on them just going 90 minutes every game for the whole tournament. So you're going to have to bring a guy in, right? And so the fact that we have identified Luca and have seen the performances so far, that is a big deal. It is. Because we weren't getting that. Kelan Acosta hasn't given us that. You know what I mean?

Like he gives us something, but it's not that. And Legette was fading badly into the point of being, like having a shocker at Panama. So to have found Luca brought him in and integrated him, that is a big deal. And if we can get another guy like that, that's awesome. But it's just, it starts to be like gravy a little bit. So it really is just going to be like get the top 15, 16 guys really flowing together. Yeah, I was going to say I feel pretty comfortable with McKenny and Musa starting games, Luca being available to spell them and maybe start in a rotational capacity.

And then maybe having Giorina slotting in as an eight. That's enough, number eights for the World Cup. For this tournament. Yeah. Right. Again, again, you might have to deal with an interest. You know, at any point, like, you lose a guy for six months. That happens, as we're seeing.

But yes, like, if this was, if these guys were all available and this was a roster, be like, yeah, we're pretty good. And whoever you name is the fourth eight, whether it's one of the guys who's not exactly a fan favorite, or if it's some guy on the fringe who plays his way in in the summer, it will be awesome and also not particularly necessarily impactful in the overall tournament. Okay. Well, let's move on to more impactful things. Um, fullback.

I have just... Dest and Jedi, right? Yeah, I just have those two as locks. Why would I not put Yedlin there, Greg? There's not really... I mean, it's because there are a couple of right backs who could take a leap, right? I think that's the whole idea is that over the next five months, somebody could jump over the level Yedlin is now.

I think it's still really likely that, Yedlin gets in because he does bring like, I mean, he's at this point out of, there's no one else on our list who's ever been to a World Cup. So Yedlin is going to be the only guy right now who has World Cup experience for whatever that's worth. What is that worth? No idea. I feel like, I do feel like it's Yelan's job to lose. So he's, he's pretty close to a lock. Still no left back. Kevin Paredes can't get on the field for Wolfsburg and George Bello couldn't get on the field for the national team in the last window. Jedi went 2007.

Like, I would be fine with Jedi running every minute of the World Cup, but I would also really love if we had some kind of a backup plan. Yeah. That'd be great. With a lot of those other positions, again, you can kind of pool guys, right? Okay, so if we lose one winger, way a slots in for either of them. Right. Can't do that in this case.

I know Desk, Dest has played left back, but I sure do love Sergino Dest on the right and wouldn't want to blow that up if something happens to Jedi. Right. Yeah, and it's the options, I guess, are Scali, Bellow. You could bring Shaq Moore and he could play left back. I mean, we didn't do that in this past window, so. Yeah, like in retrospect, it's kind of wild that Jedi stayed in at a plus four goal margin against Panama, knowing that he was also going to go run against Costa Rica when he could have just put Bellow on the field.

He was there. He's played, Jedi's played every, he's gone 90 every game since, when was it? Probably Panama away, is my guess. Yep. He's gone, he's played every single minute since, since that game. Incredible. Insanity.

So, so yeah, so we're hoping that like a DeWan Jones or, oh yeah, DeWan Jones. I don't know. If we get to 26, I think I've said, before I want to run one of those two-way fullback, so swingback is what we're calling them. Scuff. And there are a few of them, right? Like Scali does that.

Duon Jones does it. Even like an Aaron Herrera has played right and left back plenty of times. He's the original swingback. I guess the original one, we got to go all the way back to Timmy Chandler. So Timmy and Chandler and Fabian Johnson could be brought in from the cold. All right. And then centerback. There's definitely been some.

some evolution in the depth chart there since the beginning of qualifying. Yeah, that's nuts, isn't it? What a, what a ride. I still had my old, my old document where I have Brooks in Blue as a Qatar lock. And I think I had Miles Robinson as a Qatar lock and Zimmerman's somewhere down there. Well, that can't be that old then. Yeah, when I say old, I mean, August. So Zimmerman's a lock for, I mean, Zimmerman's in. Yeah.

Got to be. I think Zimmerman and Miles are both locks at this point. I'm probably ready to give that to Miles as well. Again, he's been a little bit shaky, but I don't think there's any way he falls off of a four, I mean, at least four centerbacks in the fold. So, yeah, I'd say those are the two. I don't know that he should be a lock, that Miles should be a lock at this point. He had that sterling reputation from Gold Cup, which was well earned.

he was awesome in that tournament and he was and he scored the game winner against Mexico but yeah he's he's been like you said he's been shaky sometimes and he didn't come off looking very good after the Canada game the second goal was kind of

garbage time goal but he also didn't look good on that one and of course the opener he got bodied and lost his footing and I just felt I haven't felt quite as comfortable with him on the ball as I have even Zimmerman in the last few games that's my opinion No, I'm just thinking like

I don't think my opinion of his on-ball stuff has changed very much I'm even having a hard time dinging him too hard for the Canada I mean he was not very good in that Canada game right Like he just wasn't but also like that's where I'm like Okay but should he have been asked to do it right Like he was he was in the middle of his pre-off season You know like that's a tough spot to put a guy

And we had guys we could have run instead But we ran the guy in the off-season and he looked a little rusty and got some time challenges off wrong and was penalized heavily for them in the game. So I kind of like don't wait that as much. It doesn't disappear. Those mistakes don't disappear. But I think for the most part, he's still the same guy he has been. Yeah.

And I just wonder if we got a little ahead of ourselves in our assessment of him, we being like the royal we, everybody. it. But, and it also wasn't, I noticed it wasn't for ordained that he and Zimmerman were going to be like the centerback pairing, not even in November and January, because Richard started three games in a row before he heard his foot. He started against Jamaica. He started against El Salvador and he started against Canada.

Sometimes the partner was Miles, sometimes the partner was Zimmerman. And then he heard his foot. it could have been by the time we got to the end of the window here that it was just a three-man rotation like evenly. Right, right. No, I'm totally open to that too. And Richards, I think, is a third centerback at the moment. Yeah. I think what, so after Gold Cup, right, the tournament Miles had, I think it was correct to essentially say he's the number one centerback, like he's the guy. And then what I think has happened is with these walkers run now becoming, becoming like the new number one centerback sort of on the depth chart.

He makes it slightly less important that Miles is available because you can run Richardson Walker. I really also agree with what you were saying on the club and country podcast where Brooks and Walker, who you've never seen play together, could also be a very effective centerback partnership. Yeah. But John Brooks continues to be out in the wilderness. So yeah, all is to say, I also think that the Walker Miles' partnership that everyone's, I'm sure you've seen the stats trotted out of like they've started eight games or whatever and have this many goals against.

I think that's getting into a little bit like pitch or win territory for stats. Like just because like those, I mean those guys have played a lot of games together. It's weird to just like ignore mistakes Miles Robinson made when he was with Chris Richards on the field and be like so. Yeah. The problem there was the parent. Like if that had been Walker instead, that goal wouldn't have happened. Right. Like Richards, I think Richards has been as effective as Miles Robinson when he's played in World Cup qualifiers.

Yeah. I do too. And I think I'm sort of more sympathetic to Richards than I feel like most people are. Sympathetic is not the right word. My assessment of him is higher than, I think, maybe the average fans. But I think he's very good. And he's just got back on the field for Hoffenheim. Chances are he's going to be on the plane to Qatar, but he's not a lock.

He's not a lock. And so the reason he's not a lock is what, Bells? The reason Chris Richards is not, you can't call him a lock yet, even though it seemed like we were into a three centerback rotation there, with McKenzie being like just along for the ride on these rosters. Because sometimes even if the plan was for him to be a lock at that point, sometimes injuries derail those. things and it's just you could have some bad timing and might not get back in. I don't know. Do you feel like he's a lock? No, I'm not ready yet. And it's, again, just a, we just needed a little bit more data. Like, it could have easily been the case if he had been healthy coming back to that last window, that it would have been clear that he was a lock, right? Yeah.

But now what we've got to also take into consideration is Aaron Long's coming back and we know Burrhalter rates Aaron Long really highly. And we still have to think about the possibility of John Brooks coming back in the summer into the Nation's League and those friendlies and fitting in really well. Again, we've never seen John Brooks play with the MMA midfield. Like, if that totally eliminates a lot of the liabilities that John Brooks sort of brings with him and allows him to sort of shine in the distribution rule, like that will be the easiest name to add to the roster ever, right?

Like, oh, yep, for sure. This is like this opens up a lot of. things for us. This is no-brainer. So we just have those little wild cards outstanding still with the centerback situation. Yeah, the long, Burhalter's affinity for Long is kind of the, is, is a big factor here because he put him right back into the, you know, brought him right back into camp as soon as he was healthy and then, you know, got him back on the field pretty much as as fast as he could have. So I don't know what that means for Brooks. It does seem like McKenzie's kind of falling out of the minutes picture.

completely. He was barely in the minutes picture, right? I started two games in qualifying at the beginning. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of what I mean. He was, he dipped his toe in the minutes picture. Yeah. But he just, like I said, he'd just kind of been along for the ride for several windows now.

That's true. We should also mention Cameron Carter Vickers as a, you know, another wild card here. People are talking about it. People are saying that he deserves a shot. And, you know, he scored the goal, the game winner in the old firm against Rangers at IROC Stadium over the weekend. Pretty cool moment for him. And apparently he's been playing really well. I watched some clips.

He looks kind of like I remember. Very, very dominant in the air and physically pretty conservative in his passing. And, I mean, I don't think that should disqualify. am at this point. It's not like Miles Robinson is dropping a lot of dimes or Aaron Long. No, 100%. I totally think CCV could do a job, right? If we get to where, but I think it's just Burrhalter already feels like, you know, between Zimmerman Miles and probably Aaron Long as he comes back, I feel like for him, those are definitely three centerbacks who do a job. You know, like that's kind of like my description for them. They're reliable. You trust them to get the defensive job done.

I absolutely think CCV could be in that category. There's just, again, no incentive for Burrhalter to try out a guy who would also just do that same job unless like injuries rack up. I'd love if you got a look in the summer. I think that'd be awesome. But yeah, even though I'm, I've kind of been hoping to see CCV in a lot of camps, I also just don't think there's any real urgency to bring him in. Because I don't think he's going to change anything, right? for what we can do with possession. I don't think bringing CCV in is going to be like,

oh man, suddenly this opens all these pathways up to field with his distribution. And we are already a lockdown defensive unit where I don't see a ton of ways that CCV would improve that. Yeah. Yeah, I got to admit most of the reason I want him to get a chance is just to satisfy my desire for justice in general. It's not because we need for exactly the reason

he's just explained. It's not like we need another really, really defensively stout centerback. I love it for him, too. He's been great with Rangers. I'm sorry, with Celtic. And he was really good last year in the championship, too. He was with Bournemouth, and they were in the playoff to get to the Premier League. Like, he was in every game starter for them.

Super conservative passing last year. This year I've seen some of his games where he actually does, you know, break some lines a little bit more because he's playing for such a dominant team in the league. like, you know, the Scottish Premier League very top-heavy. There are some games where their opponent doesn't generate more than a tenth of a goal in XG. It's because of his defensive stoutness. But yeah, no, that'd be a really cool story. It was really cool when EPB, who should also mention since he was in camp and played against Mexico in the Azteca.

As a wingback. That is also really cool for him to get that look. And I don't know where he would fall. but it still seems like he's a long shot. And again, it doesn't seem like he's doing anything that demands, like, that he's going to jump anybody. Yeah. I mean, if it were me, I would sign Brooks, Robinson, Zimmerman, and Richards on the dotted line

and, you know, buy their plane tickets right now. But I would be totally content with that, right? And then just build them reps. That's just kind of what I mean about, like the tryout. season, we just don't, there aren't a ton of places we need to have tryouts and it'd just be a luxury if we had another year and a half. But as it stands, like, no, just we know who you have at centerback in that position for sure and just get them some, like as many reps as we can. Have there been any rumors about who the fourth game might be against in June?

So it was, the rumor was Argentina coming into play Mexico and the U.S., but then Argentina and Mexico were drawn into the same World Cup group. Oh, yeah. So those kinds of, you don't play friendlies against those. team. So I think that might fall through. Okay. Uruguay is going to be a great opponent. Yeah. So we played them in a friendly in 2019, but it was a super sleepy affair in St. Louis. Neither team doing a ton to really try much anything. It was one. It was Sergino Desk's

first window for the national, for the U.S. Pax and Pomacals is the only cap, I think. Yes, five minutes on the wing. But Uruguay, we're definitely just collecting a paycheck. And this will be different, right? If we play this. them in June and are friendly. Like, they'll be ready, they'll be in World Cup prep mode and it'll be, there'll be a different intensity. It's still friendly, of course. But like that, that will be a good test for what we might see from Iran, a team that

sort of will try to sit back a little bit and absorb pressure and then hit you with some outstanding attacking talent the other way. Yeah. All right. Well, Uruguay's got to be the game where we do five aside. I think that, that's the answer right there. All right. And then goalkeeper, I don't have strong.

feelings about this? I mean, who do you think is a lock? I think Matt Turner's a lock. And I, Zach Steffin should be. And it's more about what I think Burrhalter believes. But again, I'm just not sure what Zach Steffin's role would be if he is demoted from Burrhalter number one. Like, I think Turner is clearly willing to be the number two. I think he's come into camps, even though Stefan's been the de facto number one. Although even then, Like, it's been weird, hasn't it? How one of them seems to always be missing. So you don't have to, I think the only time where they've both been there is the camp that Turner lost his job after Panama.

Oh, yeah. I didn't realize that they had not been together in a camp aside from that. Is that right? Now I got to check where they, I bet they were both in the November camp. So I'm probably wrong there. Because Turner was the only one in the January camp, the January-February window. Right. Stefan was hurt in that camp and then Turner just missed the most recent one with not frostbite.

All right. Since somebody brought up frostbite. Like I think the, can I jump in on this? Yeah, please, please, please. For me, like the saga around the actual medical diagnosis is hilarious. I'm glad that Matt Turner was not actually maimed and had to have like pieces of his foot removed. But like the whole thing is like, I don't care if he actually. actually had frostbite or if he just, you know, had tendinitis inflamed by that cold weather,

if we had to send anyone away from that camp with an injury where the cause is listed as St. Paul February weather, like that's the problem, right? Like, that's the whole problem. So, yeah, it's kind of taken on a life of its own. But I don't care if, like, he missed three days for New England. It's absurd that we had to send a guy home because of how cold it was. injury due to cold weather. Yeah, definitely. And I do... One of our 11 starts.

So 9% of our starters had to be out with cold weather injury. That's too many. It's too many of our starters. It's a too high of a percentage. It needs to be less than nine. I think that's it. Right? We can't call Horvath a lock yet.

Can't call Sanina a lock. Yeah, so it is kind of... of it really is like a wide open situation where the only guy who I'm like he will definitely be there whether he's a starter or the backup I'm not sure but I think is Matt Turner did you did you figure out that they were both in that camp in November I had no but I'm I'm pretty sure they were both in that camp in November yeah it was it was Turner stephen and Johnson okay I think that's enough roster talk for one day well real quick what means what are you looking for you are is anyone going to clear anything up in club play or is it all just going to have to be in the

Nations League? Like, is there anything Georgie's going to do between now and then if he just keeps doing exactly what he's doing? Does that just get him a ticket to Nations League? Or is, you know, what can these guys do? I don't. I don't feel that strongly about the Georgie situation. I mean, again, it's sort of a desire for justice just for him to get a chance because

that seems like it's fair, given how well he's played. lately, but I don't know. Is he going to surpass the usefulness of Christian Pulisic, Tim Wea, or Gio Raina? I think not. And so he's going to, you know, he's going to be a fourth option off the bench or second option off the bench. I don't know. I'm not really looking for anything.

I just like to see him called into a camp to get a chance. The thing that I'm emotionally invested in right now is Ricardo Pepe doing better, you And I think he had a pretty solid performance over the weekend and did a nice job in the buildup to that third goal. You saw a little bit of his class with that really quick one-two with Carlos Grezo and the outside of the boot pass. And I think, I don't know, just I was not having a great morning. I watched that clip on Wy Scout, heard all the crowd noise, watch Pepe, you know, celebrate that goal fully. and it changed the complexion of my morning. So that's what's going on with me.

That's what's going on with me. I was really happy about that. And I don't know if he's, is he on the field yet for Augsburg today? I know they went up. No, he didn't start Augsberger up to 1 in the 63rd as we're recording. And he's not on the field yet. Ongsberg have like turned things around though,

wildly enough, which makes it harder for him to get on the field. It should take a little bit of pressure off him. He has been doing like okay though in the minutes he's played. So he's at about half of a goal or assist an expected value per 90. So that's about what he was doing for Dallas. I know he's got all goose eggs still, which is going to be, you know, it's going to hang over him in the narrative. But he has looked a competent forward. It's just, you know, he's fallen off in the depth chart for Augsburg, which, again, that also adds to the narrative quite a bit.

Well, you know, he got the start on the weekend and they have another game. three days later, so it makes sense he wouldn't start. So I guess we'll see if he starts this weekend. But you're right. Yeah, in the context, there's their top striker at the moment is out with COVID. Oh, okay. I don't know if that's widely known, but, I mean, it's released. It's not, I'm not breaking any HIPAA rules here.

Okay. All right. So, yeah, never mind. Hopefully he gets, hopefully he gets to play on the weekend, because I did think he played pretty well this past weekend. And you're right, Augsburg is, that, That win over Wolfsburg was a six-pointer, and if they can hold this result against minds there,

they're looking pretty good for not getting relegated. I should say if you are able, please consider supporting the podcast on Patreon. That's how we make money. We're an ad-free podcast. The two things you get for being a patron are one, access to the Discord, where you can,

there are a lot of people talking about a lot of different things. You can go in there and sniff out a conversation about anything at just about any time. time. And then the other thing you get for being a patron is the Monday reviews with Vince and Waki. Every Monday delivered into your private podcast feed. The Monday reviews are the best hour of my week. Oh, Greg, you're so kind. Dude, every week you learn something a little bit new about Wachie and his like mysterious facade. It's pretty incredible. We've come into, we've come into our own on the Monday, Monday

reviews. I think we have, we found a nice little rhythm. Anything else, Greg? No, that's a, that's a good snapshot, I think. It's going to be like, I'm excited. I wanted to do the snapshot because I want to come back, even in June or right after the gold, the Nation's League games and the friendlies and see how, how safe we were playing it with our locks right now. And if we can add anyone else to the list. I bet, I bet there are at least three players will add to that lock list coming out of those friendly. Luca and... How many...

How many was it? Did we... Did we ever count them up? Uh, one, two, three, four, five, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Twelve. Twelve locks. Yeah, I think we were conservative. I'm...

I think Stefan Richards and Aronson probably, probably right up that line. Yeah, and Luca's gonna join that group too. Yep, yep. So there's four more. Yeah. It's, that's what I'm saying. That's a really good 16. I'd be really happy with that 16 and then just fill in the cracks everywhere else.

All right. We'll have a lot of episodes over the next few weeks about this stuff. Yeah. Oh, there's going to be a lot of crack filling. All right. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.