Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #311: World Cup lineup talk and lots of other Q&A

Episode Date: August 19, 2022

Greg and Belz try to answer a bunch of questions from patrons of the podcast. Who actually starts at the World Cup? Gio Reyna as a false 9, minutes vs injury risk, how many goals Sargent needs to score to get on the plane and many other questions asked, and answered.0:30 intro, etc.2:15 does the 2nd straight crash-out from the U-20 Women's World Cup in the group signal the beginning of the end of American dominance in women's soccer?8:00 beginning of USMNT (obviously mostly World Cup-related) questionssupport Scuffed on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. Hello, today we are going to take a bunch of questions from patrons of the podcast. It's been a while since we've done that, and we have a lot of good ones to work through. Greg, how you doing? Bells, I feel like I'm doing good. I feel like there's good energy around the questions we're getting. I feel like some of that energy is almost just like carrying over from what has been for me, like a really exciting fall club season opening.

It sure has. It sure has been exciting. It feels, I mean, I'm probably just imagining it, but it feels like the entire universe is pointing towards the World Cup in November. From the, like, the U.S. side, I feel like this fall has been almost like delivering on some excitement that we had expected in maybe some previous fall season openings that didn't quite deliver as well. Also, you mean the leads trio, that kind of thing? Yeah, that's basically what it is. I mean, there have been a lot of high profile moves over the last two or three years now of, of, you know, kids going to Europe. And so there's been a lot of excitement and all this like that preseason hype.

And then a lot of it kind of came crashing down quickly for a lot of players. And I know that we're still very early into this season. But the levels are already higher. Like the number of players at the high levels is higher. And there's been some good payoffs, even just the fact that like the players that we want to are playing and not just, you know, instantly relegated to the bench or never, never showing up. Most of them. Most of them.

That's making up for the ones who are kind of taking a while to get up and running. But yeah, so far, this just feels like even, even last year, which I thought was another step up. This has been an even higher step for the player pool and what they're doing. It also helps to coincide with, again, this sort of revolutionary attacking improvement from American players domestically. Yeah. Well, before we get into the questions, let's talk about some catch up on some news. The USU20 women crashed out of the World Cup earlier this week. They lost 3-1 to Japan. We recap that game and the other two group games. Thank you, Tara, for helping with that very much. Yeah, that was fantastic.

Is this the end? So a question we didn't really get into in our Japan recap, which I think people wanted us to, was, is this the end of America? Hegemony on the women's side. American dominance? My answer is very, very, like, emphatically no. I don't think it is. I want to be clear. I'm not like guaranteeing that we're going to continue to just win every World Cup that the women play in.

Come on. But no, so I had that, I had that, like, thought in the last cycle where the U20, you 20 women were really bad in the 2019 cycle. the U-17 women really bad in the 2019 cycle. This was going on while the men's side was floundering. And I was really just like, man, U.S. soccer just does not have it together. Once this current group, again, going back to the 2019 senior women's team, once this current group ages out, we are in trouble. And that was kind of the thought I had.

And then a bunch of players from those failed youth teams from last cycle are already like outstanding professional soccer players. and already very clearly taking over roles with the senior women's national team. And so, no, I don't. I just feel like it's more, it says more just about our capability of organizing U.S. women's youth teams into competitive size. Because I didn't think we were particularly competitive in this tournament. I thought we looked pretty bad, pretty poorly organized, not a lot of good ideas. You couldn't really tell what we were trying to do most of the time. And that was, that was very similar to last cycle,

to the 2019 cycle of youth teams. So I guess I'm just saying, no, like the evidence so far is that we can look that bad in the youth tournaments. And we, the best players will still come out of that relatively quickly and probably perform at a high level in the NWSL. And then eventually a few of them will filter up into the national team. I still feel fine about it. Yeah. I think, I mean, Tara mentioned this on Monday or Tuesday that Sophia Smith, Ashley Sanchez, And Naomi Germa were on that, that 2018 team.

And, you know, Sophia Smith's probably our most effective attacker right now on the women's national team. Yeah. And what they're all, they're all 20, 22 years old. So Trinity Robbins, 20. I think Trinity might have been on the U-17 team in that cycle. She could have been on the U20 team in this cycle, actually. Okay. So there you go.

So, so, yeah, I mean, we've got, we've got Macario in as like one of the most dangerous attackers in the world. and she's 22, you know, we've got, we've got several World Cups of attacking talent already pretty, pretty stocked up. So I guess I'm saying the health of the senior women's national team for me is not something that I'm hitting a panic button over any time soon. Does the contrast between the sort of college pathway in the U.S. and the, and the pro sort of club pathway that is quickly developing in other parts of the world, does that contrast concern you at all? Because, you know, people say we have this, we have this Title IX advantage because we really, you know, we supported women's sports here in America long before a lot of other countries did.

And that's why our women's soccer team is so dominant. Does I'm, you know, simple question, does the difference in pathway worry you for the future? I guess I would say a little bit if the path, if there aren't like little little micro adjustments in the, in the women's side on. on the U.S. side domestically compared to what I think is going to be a, continue to be a big expansion of women's opportunity in development overseas. Because it is, it's a lot of a different game in college. Like the entire game can become unrecognizable if teams choose to play that way. And they can do it really effective.

So, you know, it's like the college game can be Red Bull on steroids with the way you can substitute. and, you know, just dig into all of the 35 players you keep on your roster and, you know, because you play a game every three days. Yeah. So you're literally just changing lines for two straight months. And that's your season. And then it's over. And then you have training restrictions on when you can and can't train in the off season.

You know, so those things are very much, you know, wouldn't even be considered best practices in the actual professional elite soccer development world. So, yeah, there are some of those lingering. concerns. I don't know if right now it's just simply a numbers game and just the sheer number, the quantity of players we have, receiving good instruction from a young age, you know, all the way up through 18 and 19. And then a lot of them are playing less college soccer. The trend is, you know, going pro after one or two years. And WSL is kind of moving to, to make that a little bit easier so they don't lose players to European clubs straight out of college. They want to make sure they get those players into the league.

So I guess that's sort of a very long way of saying, you know, in the abstract, the college development path is probably not as optimal as what more like a European academy would be. But there are other advantages we have in the U.S. that make up for it for now and that I assume we will continue to sort of shift our way towards the best way of developing players as the European teams are still trying to play catch up. Awesome. So everybody cheer up. It's going to be fine. All right. All these questions are about the U.S. men's national team. So let's get into them. If you want to be somebody who can ask a question for our podcast, join the Patreon. The link is in the show notes.

Chris Salerno in New Orleans asks. Everyone seems to be obsessing about our best 11 and whether that includes Musa, Raina, Wea, and or Adams. I think Aronson is also in that discussion. He didn't say that, but that's another. one. Instead, could you give us a projected three-game set of World Cup lineups factoring fatigue and opponent into the equation? Please and thanks. I'll start, I guess. Yeah, I want to hear yours. I want to hear yours. So if everyone's healthy, I'm going to do it like this. Against Wales, Matt Turner and goal, Dest, Zimmerman, Richards, and Jedi across the back line, Adams and McKinney in a double pivot, Raina as the 10, kind of, and then way out, way up, way, Ferreira and Pulisic across the front line.

Now, Rain over Musa is the only tough call here for me, but this is likely, Wales is likely to be our deepest lying opponent, and I want Raina there to help unlock that. Bring Musa on for McKenny or Adams to save their legs in the second half, and Aronson on for Pulisic for the same reason. Dest is going to need to get a little break here in the second half, if possible. And, you know, there's other people who can eat. minutes for other people. But that's my, that's my 11 for Wales. It's going to be different against

England. Bels, are you ready for the whales, all of the whales fans who listen to our podcast to jump all over you for already talking about just saving legs in the second half? Once we've got our once we've got a three goal read. Yeah. That's when we will very, you know, very comfortably take off our best players. No, I mean, I'm, this is definitely an optimistic approach to to things. Because I think I, you know, I have some insight into. what your answer is going to be, and I think your answer is closer to the actual truth, but let me finish my, let me finish my rotations. All your whales line up that we're going to stroll through in that game.

Once that, with that comfortably in our mind, let's hear what you're changing for England. So against England, I want the MMA midfield, Adams-Mousen McKinney, because we're going to need, we're going to need all that energy and dynamism and quality. Same goalkeeper, Turner. I'm replacing Sergenio Dest with Shaq Moore, but I'm doing that with some trepidation because I don't know. I don't feel great about our fullbacks on the right side

in general defensively. But I think Moore is my guy. And then Zimmerman, Richards, and Jedi, those three are not, I'm not rotating them at all, I don't think. And that also is optimistic because, you know, If Richards, if Richard doesn't get, you know, but like one or two starts until the World Cup, might be a little bit concerning to start him every game at the World Cup.

But right now I'm sort of being optimistic saying he will get some time. Does the Dest situation affect this at all too? Like, is this baking in Desk's club uncertainty? I'm assuming Dest will find a way to get minutes somewhere between now and then. Yeah. Okay. I mean, if he doesn't, that's a disaster. All right, so we've got your back seven, who your front three against England.

I'm going to start Aronson on the right wing for Wea just to give him a little rest, and then Ferreira and Pulisic. And because I just don't see Pulisic sitting for this game. We'll need Aronson's energy, just like we'll need the MMA's energy. I'm going to let you finish all this, but I'm just going to say that the fact that you're leaving Raina, Waya, and Dest on the bench of a World Cup match. is probably enough to get you certified. I don't know. I'm just, you know, I'm trying my best here. No, no, no, keep going, didn't you?

And then in the third game against Iran, we got Turner and goal, basically the same back seven as against England except Dest starts over more, and then Wea Ferreira and Raina across the front line. Give Pulisic a little rest. So I've been led to believe they'll play an open game against us by Aria Alaverdi, the Gold Bazan podcast host. Listen to that interview if you'd like.

It happened earlier this week. So let's go. Do you think they're going to do it? Do you think they're going to come out and play? I sort of hope they do. I mean, I definitely hope they do. I don't 100% buy it. No.

Do you? I don't, but I also know that like, you know, you know, The game state for this game will already be affected before the actual kickoff with what the point situations are in the group. And so there could be a lot of things that can really affect how either team comes out and plays in this game that we aren't aware of yet. Yeah. Well, you know, you coming at me about not starting Raina Dest or who was the other one I didn't start way. Yeah, you have Tim way on the bench as well. I just think Erinson's going to go out there and harass England a lot more than Raina Wood.

But anyway, what's your answer? That's what people really want. Mine's super boring. I feel like you've gotten very intricate. I'm not going to say you're getting cute with it because, again, I think all of the players you're putting in these games are very good players. But my plan A is, at the moment, is just zero rotation. We just start every game with the Dest Zimmerman, Richard's Jedi back line.

We start every game with MMA in midfield because I think MMA are by far at the moment our best floor of a shape in our formation to give us the maximum balance to not be easy to play through no holes to just walk right into while still not being like zeros

on the attacking side. So I think barring some really interesting developments in the September window Like if Raina gets a run out at center mid and just looks, everything just is working on all cylinders, sure, that can change the equation. But as of now, I feel like MMA has to be the starting group. And then in game, we can adjust as the game dictates. And then I think Pulisick and Raina start every game. So we have a little bit of extra rest, and it's just, it's the World Cup.

You got to run your best group. So for me, that's Pulisick and Raina on the wings. and then I think it's probably Ferreira up top. And then that only changes if, you know, it's clear that he just can't do the job and then you drop. And that could be the same for anybody. And, you know, as we're playing these games, we are going to be adding a lot of information

about how players can handle World Cup games. And so if we're learning that some of these guys just aren't up for it, all right, fair enough. Off they go. And who's the next man or how do we reshape to give ourselves a best chance? The break between each game is longer than the break that we had in the three game windows during World Cup qualifying. So that's a good point. No flight.

No flights between games. So there's not big like travel days where you have to have a full day for travel. So right after you play your game, you can get right into your recovery. Like you said, we're going to blow by whales. So that game will be a recovery will start in the 65th minute. No, no, I just, I think that, again, if for some reason Christian Pulitzer has exerted way more energy than he usually does against Wales, that could change things. You know, if your tests are showing that he just doesn't have the oxygen levels to go again against England, sure, change it up. There are worse things than putting in, like, a harasser in Aronson on the field or a, would I consider just like a better cage match player in Tim Wea against England?

Either of those would be, I'd be like, okay, this will be cool to watch. So we're, we've got, we've got a lot of good options. I just feel like plan A for me going into it would be like, no, we, this is our best group. This is who starts unless, you know, additional information requires a change. Okay. Does it hurt you at all to, for way to be on the bench? A lot.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't really have a way around it. Poolisic is capable of doing things, uh, that very few other American players have ever been capable of doing. And I think you have to roll with that. And I think it's, if he's struggling the way he's struggled in some of the World Cup qualifying games, I think it's a lot easier to be like, okay, Tim Wea, you go on. Even if you're not pulling Pulisic off, like there are a lot of ways you could, you know,

add attacking by having Wea go in for one of the three center mids and leaving all of those good attackers on, still hoping that Pulisic pulls some of that magic out of his hat, but still having like, okay, but we also can put Tim Wea on there because he's also very good. In my defense on my, what I'm sure will be controversial England lineup, you know, you could bring Wea and Raina on as second half subs. And boy, that'd be a wonderful thing to be able to do. Oh, for sure. And that's totally a thing that you could, you know, essentially try to kill off the first 45 minutes. We also, you know, we're talking about this as though Gio Raina has played a soccer game longer than, you know, he, what is he has got 300 minutes in the last 8?

months. Yeah. We'll talk about that more, actually. There's a question about that. So Alec in Connecticut asks, and I know you're going to love this question, Greg, discuss ceiling, correct expectation, and floor for 2022 World Cup outcomes. I've seen a lot of varying opinions. Greg, go ahead.

I'll start with the floor, and I'll leave, I'll let you jump in on the ceilings and the expectations. The floor is pretty low, like what could actually happen, because we, we've seen this team play some slogs of soccer games. So that would be the floor for me. It would be three group stage games where we never really get things moving and we just look totally bereft of danger and also look vulnerable in defense, which we haven't looked too vulnerable in defense most of the time, but we kind of did in our Friendly's

last window. So if we look vulnerable in defense and can't get anything going offensively, that's my floor. Not surprisingly. Right. Which, and I mean, in terms of results, I mean, we could lose it for, we could lose all three group games. I mean, that's very, very possible. Do I think that's probably going to happen? No, but could.

I don't know. What's the ceiling? It's there is no. We could win the World Cup. It's possible. Right? I mean. Yeah, we have a bunch of math nerds in the Discord and they've all got modeled.

and I don't think any of the models say 0%, like 0% likely. There's some probability between 0 and 1 of us winning the World Cup. What's the correct expectation? That's the tough one, right? Yeah. So I want you to give me yours for this one too. The correct expectation is we should get out of the group and at least make it to the round of 16. I think that's fair.

Yeah. There are always going to be outlier cases where we can play very well in all three games and still finish with three points or two points and not make it out of the group. But I think the most likely outcome, if we actually look good and play semi-coherent attacking soccer and are still organized defensively,

I think the most likely outcome is that we can get ourselves out of the group. Yeah, and I think just to add something to what you said about the floor, I think the floor that we'll set is we'll come out, and we'll compete. You know, I mean, one, one thing that you have to give Burrhalter credit for is that the team seems to be bought in to the project. And, you know, if you listen to that Iran interview, that team is not bought into the project right now, at least.

I mean, the buy-in may come here shortly, but Iran's team's not bought into the project. There's, like, a lot of national teams with much more complicated situations than we're going through. At least we're kind of like on the same page. We're going to go out there. We're going to give it. a good try, you know. Yeah. And maybe I did a little bit of a cop out giving like the hypothetical

floor. Like I think our floor is, it's kind of like what you're saying. We're going to, we're going to be bought in. And I think our defensive organization will be good. So I think our floor is going to be that we will be defensively organized. I think possession wise, attack wise, we have the means of getting goals in transition. I think we have the pieces that can build up to create goals. So I think I think we're getting out of the group. Okay. All right. Bob and Montana, you all know who that is.

With limited game and camp time to build more rhythm and try out late emerging options, how should Burrhalter allocate bandwidth to new players? Very little, I think. Allocate bandwidth to new strikers and fullbacks, perhaps, but most of it should be spent on the top 15 or so players and getting them clicking. Yeah, I have almost no time for. new players at this point. Like Vosquez is about the only one and that's because, you know, getting it forward,

plan A is going to require two players. There's no way plan A is to just play the same striker for 90 minutes of every game. So we're going to use at least two. And so then it's a matter of figuring out if we can improve on plan A, which is an important thing to do. You can do it. At those other positions, fullback, even the fourth eight that we've talked about at length for the past several years, I mean, neither of those guys are, none of those players or

positions is plan A. The Jedi and Dest are plan A for the tournament. The center mids, we have three of them. So we have plan A, Musa and McKinney. We have plan B is Luca. We have plan C of changing our shape and running Brennan-Arensen or G. L. Rana in there. Like if Eric Williamson's going to come in and be the fourth eight, okay, fair enough. I'll take it or leave it. But we don't need to even run him out in September to figure that out. Like if we feel like we need to bring him, just bring him in November. I don't care. But I don't think there's any need to have. have like a real thorough tryout at this point because I don't think there's much that we could learn in a super short amount of time about that player.

Right. Does that make sense? Like you can't put Eric Williamson in one friendly and be like, oh, he's been the answer the whole time. Like even if he looks good, it's still a risk at this point to bring in any of those players. Yeah. I think I understand. The only, you know, I guess I'm just pretty sure we're going to see Luca Deletore in about

the 60th minute. the whales game when we're up three zero. I guess that's what I've got. Right. And that's great. And so, you know, the most important use for September then is getting these players to build

chemistry and sort of figuring out what the best configurations of the best players are. Well, do you have a sense of like what the range of possibilities are there in terms of configuration? Or would that take too long to get into? Well, it'll kind of blend into this next question. So you want to just go ahead with the next question? Yeah, okay.

That's a configuration question. Nick in DC, also known as Coach Beard on the Discord, how does the Adams Musa double pivot from last window adjust your expectations and preferences and or preferences of the 235 or 325 possession shape and who goes where if desk is healthy? I'll let you go on this one. So this is the big configuration question, right? And so this becomes, I really think that Dest is the big question mark here.

Because what we ran in the last window with the double pivot kept the right back at home. And I really don't think that anybody thinks it's the best use of Serginio Dest to stay in a back three and just get the ball back there and make a simple pass to Musa or Adams or whoever the double pivoted out. So that seems like a waste. So that's something we got to tinker with to figure out if we can get Raina or Aronson into the midfield for certain looks, even if it's just, you know, it's 60 minutes and still have Sergenio dust on the field. What does that look like? So, so I think that's the big question. I think we can. I don't think there's any reason that after 60 minutes, we couldn't bring in Timuea or Musa or McKenney or even Adams and drop Raina into that midfield three. and really go to town with an extra attacker in Gio Raina. I mean, essentially, Gio Raina becomes the extra attacker. As Wes takes Raina, or Wea takes Raina spot. Sergenio Death stays up in the attack,

and now one of our midfielers behind them is Gio Raina. Well, I guess you'd have Wea working in the half space then, and then Desk to the right of him? Yep. And so Raina essentially is free. I mean, he's free in the same way West and McKinney is now, right, in our build, where sometimes he'll be fly. lying out on the sideline.

Sometimes he'll be slashing through the middle. Sometimes he's arriving late. But he gets the ball plenty. And so G.Rena is going to get the ball plenty in that three if he's in there. And he can do a lot of impressive things with the soccer ball. So it's just going to be like, all right, you get to cooking and you've got Wea and Dest over here. And you've got Pulisic and Jedi on the other side of the field. And somewhere up ahead of you, there's a striker.

So what do we have in us? I like that. The default 235 though with Dest with Dest on the high line up on the right wing would have basically the MMA midfield as the band of three, right? Correct, yeah. That's how I see it happening still. Okay. I mean, that's what we've been building out of for almost all qualifying, right? All right.

Let's get to the number nine section of questions because there were a lot about those. David in Indianapolis, aka the leads of the Midwest, says, The World Cup will be upon us within a matter of months, but you may not be aware that the U.S. men's national team roster remains somewhat unsettled at the position of center forward. How many goals do the following players in the USM&T player pool at this position need to score to end up on the roster in November? Ricardo Pepeppy, Josh Sargent, Jordan Pefock,

Haji Wright, and Matthew Hoppe. He says, I know that this question is very reductive, but for the sake of argument, please humor me and answer with us. number for each. So I'll do the humoring and you do the, um, you do the actual answer. I'll do the arguing. Okay. Uh, I'm going to take it as how many goals do you have to score before about November 10,

which let's say is three, three months. It's slightly less than three months. Uh, peppy has to score two. Look, write these numbers on my gravestone. Pepey has to score two. Peevok has to score four. Sergeant has to score seven. He already has one.

Pfeck already has one. Wright has to score seven. He already has one. And Hoppe has to score 20. Hopi's not going to the World Cup. That's the reality. You're not giving Pfeck his Pocall goal. We're just doing the league and maybe European League.

Okay. Let's count the Poccal goal, but he still needs to score three more. So make it five. Okay. All right. That's fair. That's fair. It was a fourth division team in the Pocall.

Okay, he'll get another Pocall game coming up soon, too, I think. So here's my question for you is, like, what happened? I mean, in this hypothetical, you know, what the other guys are doing? Does it just not exist? Because what if PEPI scores his two and Pfox scores four and Sergeant score seven? What happens then, smart guy? Well, I'm building off what you said a few weeks ago, smart guy, in that, you know, different players are competing for different spots here.

Wasn't that your point? You essentially have a Ferreira and a Ferreira replacement, and then you have everybody else fighting for one spot. So for me, Sergeant and Pepey would be fighting to be the Ferreira replacement, and then Pfefok, Wright, and Vasquez would be fighting to be that third change of pace striker. You like you're just forgetting Giazzi Zardez in that third striker discussion. I am. I am forgetting him. I'm going to open up the telephone lines here and just say I do think there's a path to the roster for Giazzi Tardas still into that third spot. People are going to love that.

All right. So, I mean, it's hard to put that kind of a number on it like because, again, the variance in goal scoring. But I think I think PFoc getting four is about right. That's a goal roughly every other game for the next couple of months. Is that about right? Mm-hmm. So yeah, give me that. And I think he's got a good handle on that third striker spot.

Pepe's the really tricky one, right? Because I don't know where he stands with Burrhalter now. And, you know, if he just gets a couple of sub appearances between now and November and scores a goal in each of them or a couple of them, is that going to do it for you? Is that better than if he only gets two and he's actually starting games? At a certain point, you just have to pick somebody, you know, and go with it. it. Pepe's perfectly capable of playing striker for the men's national team. He's done it a lot of times. I don't know if Hodgiy Right and Josh Sargent are, you know? I know Pepey's done it.

So even if he scores, even if he scores his two goals in 10-minute sub-appearances, I think he has enough familiarity, enough history with this team that he'll be there. And And, you know, if he barely plays and doesn't score any goals between now and November, I think it's going to be tough for Barraltar to bring him. I think it would be tough to bring him into September camp, to be honest, like if he's just not playing and we have these other players that are that are just, I mean, they're on a tear. Like, we have guys who are on a tear.

Even Pfock, you know, with his two goals in his first three or four appearances, like he's on his way to being on a tear. And I do think it's going to be tough to bring in, peppy, who has, if he's not playing at all and hasn't scored, in, you know, a year or so. And it's not like he's, you know, he's an outlier with his underlying numbers where he just has been unlucky. Like, his underlying numbers are not great.

No. Even for the minute he's played. I don't know, man. Like, I don't see, I don't see how he still stays in the picture. I just know he was good. You know, he was good for the U.S. I know there's some level of debate about this, but I thought he was pretty good against Mexico at the Azteca in March.

I thought he was good against Mexico. against Mexico in Cincinnati. Both good performances from the U.S. with him as leading the line. Hajie Wright scored a bullet header over the weekend for Antalya Spore, like a really nice diving header. But, I don't know, he touched the ball

seven times that game, you know? Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. Like, I realize even just saying it out loud, like it would be incredibly harsh, it feels like, to leave Pepe off of a roster. just because of what he's going through. But I just think I could see it.

I could see it happening. Yeah. You can make an argument. You almost can't see it. Can't see it. And it's only because it's not like we had two other staples in. And so Pepe would be getting left off for like, you know, a tryout. Like if you leave Pepe off, you're basically leaving them off for two tryouts because I don't

think you can call any of the other guys like however good they're doing with their club right now. You can't call any of the other ones like Staples. Like they would definitely be auditioning. And so I just don't think you could have Ferreira plus two auditionees and that's it. I think it'll have to be Ferreira Pepe and then two other strikers. Hopefully that's what we. I mean, Sergeant, Sergeant scored a nice-headed goal over, was it Monday, I think, for North City. He also had a chance to open up and take a shot first time with his right foot and took

like just a profoundly negative touch to set up his left foot and then almost tripped over the ball and then scuffed it off of a I mean he was in on goal my friends and and it resulted in a goal for Norwich but not not not thanks to anything sergeant did really so I don't know man it's you could argue almost got him behind he got him behind once and got taken down and got got it's true player sent off he never he never he never he never he never he never went right at Dwayne Holmes. I was surprised. I think there was a certain level of respect you could tell he had for Dwayne

Holmes and he never really even challenged him. I know you were asking in the Discord, how's Dwayne Holmes doing? And I said he doesn't look up for it. And then like five minutes later, he does a couple guys and then plays somebody in behind. He still got a little bit of that sauce. All due respect to Dwayne,

Huddersfield did not look like a very good soccer team in that game. But just we're not talking about. Okay, but I derailed us. I derailed our champion our striker talk. I think, yeah, like I tried to say earlier, I think Pepe and Sargent are battling for that second spot.

I'm not even sure sergeants even in the battle. He might not even be in the battle at all. He will be soon. I mean, if he has three more games where he plays exactly the way he played in that game yesterday, like he's definitely in the discussion. And he's just because of discussion is so, so easy to get into.

Right. And then I like PFOC for the, for that for that third spot just seems like a scrappier uh poacher than the rest of them i know a lot people are a lot people love what brandon vosquez is doing and i'm not going to be mad if he ends up on the world cup roster i still think the test for voskis is going to be whether he we can bring him in and still play the style and then he could end up taking pepip spot and we still have that fafok uh late game hoof the ball up to him and see what he can do.

So the September friendlies are basically we're bringing in Vasquez to see if he can do the Ferrara. I think that could be the test. And then the real question is going to be if PFAC does go ice cold at Union, is that when Giazzi Zardaz makes his triumphant return?

Come on, man. I'm not doing a bit. I feel like that's a very real possibility. If PFAC goes ice cold, if PFAC's still scoring every other game, I think he's in. I don't know exactly how Burr Alta rates him, but it seems like it'd be hard to leave that level of production out

playing at that competitive level. But if he's not, and it's down to Pfok or Haji Wright or Giazzi Zarda, it's like, I'll tell you where I'm putting my money. Right. Okay. Yeah, I mean, you're probably right about that. Let's move to the next question.

Anything else on that one? No, I'm going to leave in there. I'm ready for the hands. After math would take. Yeah, so there's more, so there's more to come on the nine questions. Jack T. in Cincinnati asks with, Hey, Sus, looking like our best number nine option,

what are your thoughts on a Gio Raina False Nine? This is also the, you know, sort of perpetual question from frigging dingus, as he may be the best player in the pool at linking play through dribbling and passing. I'll say, I like the idea. I just don't think it's going to happen. And part of the reason is Geo has no reps at the position

for club or country. Yeah, I think you're right. And it's one of those where I'm kind of hoping we see it for a bit, even if we never really do it. And by that, I just mean in one of these windows, or in one of these September friendlies, you know, if it's Ferreira, Pulisick, and Raina in the game at the same time, if Raina, did I say it that the right way?

I think so. All right. If Raina just finds himself up at the top of the field, and Ferreira just hugs or sits in the half space for a bit, And we just sort of try to cook for a little bit with rain up there. But I don't expect us to dedicate any real time to it just because it is so late in the game. And that's not, that's certainly not all on Burhalter. You know, one of the reasons I think people really like this idea of geo playing up there is because it puts Tim Way on the field as well.

Yeah. And, you know, Tim Wea didn't emerge as the player he is for the national team until the second qualifying window when Geo was already out for the rest of qualifying. So we never really had this issue to try to solve for in the time that players were actually healthy to try to do it. I think another reason people like it is because it gets Brennan Aronson closer to being on the field too. And you just totally erased him with your comment. I might have. But I mean, if you're just trying to get one of them on, I feel like most people are trying to get away. Am I wrong?

Is it not just a Tim way, I think? Because if you're just, if you're trying to get Aronson on, but he's not starting and he's coming on in the 60th, He does that anyway. You bring on both wingers for both wingers. Yeah, I think, I mean, at least in our little universe, it's Wea, of course, but I think the curly-headed boy from New Jersey has a lot of admirers, at least on Twitter. He's off to a great start doing his thing. He's fantastic.

Greenstone in Undisclosed asks, why not McKinney as the nine? He's an aerial monster, likes to combine tons of energy to lead the line, and pressing has a nose for goals, and his athleticism would give him. of centerbacks fits also allows Arons and Arena to start as an eight, thus keeping Wea and Pulisic on the wings. I mean, Domenico Tedesco likes it.

Now, I think it's intriguing, honestly, for the reasons mentioned, but again, it'd be a reps problem, and I'm with you, Greg, that, like, we need that, we need him in the midfield a lot, a lot of minutes in the midfield from McKinney. Yeah, we're still just kind of saying a prayer to every possible deity at this point.

Like what, maybe this could work. Maybe this could work in the abstract. Like it could work. But there's definitely like opportunity cost to trying these kinds of things. Again, who knows if everything we have been working on and, you know, building towards goes absolutely nowhere in the in the World Cup. Then you could see, you could definitely see something like this happening in the last 10 minutes of a soccer game

where we desperately need a goal or two goals. There's like, F it. McKinney go up there. Like you and Zimmerman are our target nine's now. And we're just hoping the ball up to you. Pierlo kind of ran McKinney up in that space in possession. A little bit, yeah. It's true.

It's not just Tedesco. He wasn't false nine him, for sure. Yeah, more of a target guy. What's, so can you say again, before we leave the question of the number nine, can you say again what's the best opportunity cost decision for call-ups in September for number nines? Are you saying... Go ahead. For me, it's to bring in four, and it's to run.

Ferreira as like the system starter and see if we have an improvement over Pepey. Or, I mean, please, please, please have somebody who's an improvement over Ferreira, too, if, like, that's what Vasquez is. And then I assume you still bring in Pepey, and then you're probably only bringing in one player, Pfeck for that sort of third striker role or slot. Okay. It doesn't seem like Hajarite's going to be back in a camp, not at this point. I don't think so.

And I'm not trying to say he shouldn't be. I mean, I just don't think that between Haji and Pfok, I think you go with Pfok. Yeah. Fok gets into really good spots against good teams.

Tim Kato and Dallas asks, what's the single most important skill or attribute that makes players good? I have a working theory that it's ball security slash retention. Basically, I wonder if ball security represents a combination of functional athleticism, skill, and decision-making that creates the space and timing needed to be elite at this sport. Eunice and Gio are my primary case studies at the moment.

Tim, you are speaking of my language. I do think ball security is probably the key. It's the key floor setting skill, but it also, like, as you alluded to, raises one ceiling magnificently, and I do think it's kind of the essence of the sport. Yeah, because that awareness that he calls it decision-making, like, somebody could have the best first touch in the world, but if you don't know where to take that touch and you're always taking a very good cushioning touch, but directly into a pressuring defender, it doesn't matter.

What I'd say, you're just a street performer at that point. So it very much is about, like, the awareness of all the pieces around you to know where that touch has to go. And then when you get into like ball security plus progression, progression, that's what makes Unison Geo, Unis and Geo, is that they have that ball security. And then once they've done it, they're now eliminating, eliminating players to advance the ball forward or just driving forward and putting defenses on their heels. And that's the thing that makes them elite for me.

It's not just the ball security. Like you can go back to the Sebastian Legit days, like that shocker he had against Panama away. I don't think he had, he might have like one turnover. 90 minutes. He didn't lose the ball. Like, Kellan Acosta was the guy giving the ball away constantly. It was very much about, like, having that idea of progressing the ball once you have it under control, or even better, controlling it progressively, you know, and skipping a step.

That's what's setting these guys apart. And it's why Luca De La Torre came in and made such a, was such a contrast because he very much was a player who progressed the ball as he controlled it. And we're just like, oh, yes, please, more of this. Yeah. And I think the like Gio and Eunice, unlike Sebastian Leget, their, their ball security really shines in difficult situations. You know, like, like how did he get out of there with the ball? I rarely feel myself saying that about Legit, even when I, even when back when I was saying

Legit should be on the national team and should be, you know, maybe the first guy off the bench in the midfield, which I'm not saying anymore. But I did say that for a while. even then it's not like he was you know sort of doing a Houdini act to come away with the ball or or even you see where you see that elite athleticism to you know to win the cage match or whatever

that Gio and Eunice both have right right even then Lajette was never Darlington Nagby where he would want it in that in those tiny spaces or you know you can give the ball to nagby even when he's not open and that's what you can do with Musa and Gio yeah and they just they leverage their way through it and then often then oftentimes leverage themselves to the attacking side of the defender and off we go.

Right. Okay. Stephen in Milwaukee, how do you weigh the benefits of getting game minutes versus the risk of getting an injury before November? In other words, aside from just enjoying watching them play soccer, how much does it really matter that locks, that's roster locks like Pulisic, Dest and Wea aren't getting match time?

Glad you asked, I weigh health over game minutes. I think more than most at this point, especially with Pulisic. Him just being a sub for Chelsea doesn't bother me much at all. And I realize balance has to be struck, but I'm much more in favor of a healthy Christian Pulisic than one who went on a tear in October and missed the World Cup. Because he's pretty injury-prone. He has been injury-prone. One exception, I guess, for me is Raina because he really really,

I really would like to see him round into full match fitness. So he needs some games. He needs to start some games and go 90 before November. But other than him, no, I want way out of play too, and we need to play as well. I guess it's like Christian Bullisick is the main one I don't care about. The other ones need to play. I just choose to forfeit any pretense of intellectual integrity here and just whatever happens. I'm like, oh, this is a good outcome.

So if Poul of Six benched, I'm like, perfect, he won't get hurt. And if pool of six in the 11, I'm like, oh, this is perfect. This is exactly what I want. So Pulisic can score some goals. Rack up some XG. Yeah, that's a good way to look at it. It's, it makes for contentment, I suppose, doesn't it? That's what I'm after every weekend.

Devin in State College, Pennsylvania. He says, home of Jeffrey Field, named for Bill Jeffrey. I don't know what that is about. Could Stefan getting more playing time realistically play him off of the World Cup roster, particularly since he'll have an apples-to-apples comparison with Horvath, who I suspect will have fewer howlers, or will Greg Berhalter bring Stefan anyways? Thanks.

I think Berlter's going to bring him anyways. Well, I've been predicting for a while that Stefan's going to suffer. for a very minor injury a few days before the rosters are announced. And I don't know if that would have happened if he just stayed at Man City because I think that was a good place for him to hide out a little bit. And so, you know, I still don't put him as a lock on the playbill. And some people, you know, I don't know whether they think he should be a lock or just like, come on, he's going to bring Stefan.

But I think this will force the issue. I think him playing in actual games will force the issue. He hasn't played in actual games for a long time. for a lot of us who sort of held that he was at no point was he a dominant goalkeeper you know it was it was impossible to really show that because he wasn't taking the field so now he is if he just can't hide from it then i think that he won't be on the plane so i think him going and playing could put himself in a spot where he's not he's not in guitar anymore Okay, so Greg says yes

The answer is yes I don't know man It'd be that what a Do you think Greg Burrhalter can do that to Zach Steffen Like on an emotional level Not even take him I mean yeah I think he can

I think I do think that Berhalter would Provide an out And I really do think that we maybe have seen that happen A couple of times In the Burrhalter era already and that players get injury outs when they would have been not picked anyway. And I absolutely think that that's a possibility here going into November for Stefan. All right.

Matt Schiller in Boston, as a U.S. Men's National Team fan, name your top five scariest opposition concaf players, guys that when they were on the field against the U.S., you got nervous. Here are mine. Paolo Wonchope, Quatimo Blanco, Number three, Carlo Costley. Number four, either Dos Santos brother and number five, Rafa Marquez. Greg, you go first.

So those are Matt's five, not mine. Greg, you go first. All right. Well, when you talk about the scariest, like scary for me are the games we're playing where you know they're going to be ugly slogs. You're counting on them for points, and you just don't want those points to be stolen from you. And so for me, it's not really the Mexico players who, you know, might have been, than the best at taking points away from us.

But they weren't points I was ever counting on. So it was like, for me, Mexico was like a measuring stick game. Scary was like Blas Perez for Panama. Right? Where we're going into Panama and we know that Panama aren't necessarily going to like put together anything impressive. But Blas Perez can still just come out of nowhere, take a goal and we leave Panama with nothing.

Seltso Borgas for Costa Rica, who isn't even a striker, but just seemed to always come up with like goals against us and big moments. Like those, I think those two guys and they, I feel like they were around forever. So you, you sort of like get to know them. They'd come around and like hurt you and then disappear. You wouldn't hear about them too much outside of that. And then he'd come back and like hurt you again a year later. Those are those are my scary guys. Those are my nightmares. Yeah. Johan Vanegas. I remember when he was at when he was at Minnesota. He was so bad for Minnesota United. And then he put on that red shirt and he would just be terrifying. Yeah, my intense fandom is more

recent so I'll say Carlos Vela you know he is so dangerous obviously and and did play for Mexico in the last World Cup cycle Albert Elise from Honduras always a difficult

Ace Ache Hector Herrera also at Mexico not but you know more in the past than now I'm not so scared of him at the moment and then of course novice and I always get nervous when I hear the name Alvin Jones. Man, it's kind of a shame, isn't it, that we're not going to have qualifying next cycle

because like an Elise is just not going to have the chance to be that nightmare for us. Yeah, because he got hurt. Didn't he get hurt at the beginning of this? Well. Yeah, we didn't play for them in the game that we played at Honduras. And then he didn't travel to the one in Minnesota because they were already eliminated. before that game was played. Yeah, support to him for not traveling for that game.

Pablo and Mexico City says, that we're kind of moving into the future a little bit. I know this question is too early, but given the importance of 2026, should U.S. soccer and Burhalter push for as many eligible USM&T starters to participate in the 2024 Olympics as possible, having an extra tournament together can only be helpful, right? Now, as many of you know, we have qualified for the 2024 Olympics.

Our U-20s did that this past summer. The women also qualified for the 2024 Olympics. So, yes, I think all the eligible players should participate. If their clubs will release them. If their clubs will release them is kind of a big if, though. The eligible players would include Raina, Musa, Tillman, I mean age eligible Musa Tillman

Slanina Joe Scali Ricardo Pepi and so that's a pretty solid I think starting point for a roster but let's cross that bridge when we come to it

yeah a big part of building that bridge is going to be knowing if any other bridges exist in that summer so like if we're going to Copa America in 2024 if we get invited

or you know weasel our way into that tournament that could be a a real variable to consider when he says when when Pablo says having an extra turning together can only be helpful right i mostly agree with that so it'd be like the copal would be a tournament for the entire senior team and so do you benefit more by letting rena and musa go to the Olympic village in paris or do you benefit more by having them in with group uh getting that experience in south america it's a tough one and which which experience do the kids actually prefer uh i mean kind of a no wrong answer situation yeah it's a does feel like a no wrong answer situation because the you know from a growing the game perspective the argument is often given that the Olympics matter more to us than it should to other than it probably does to a lot of other soccer countries that's me categorizing us with soccer countries which I'm sure not sure is accurate so I mean there's a lot of ways to slice it um but you know if there's

no Copa copa America my answer is yes the age eligible players should participate it'd be a blast That would be a very exciting tournament. It will be exciting regardless. But yeah, if you're telling me, Giorina and Mousa and Pepe are all going to be in Paris for the Olympic team, like I'm going to be pretty excited about that. All right. I think that's it. Anything else from you? No, that's good.

Good questions, everyone. Thanks for the questions. Yeah, we appreciate it. And thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.