Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #492: Double roster pod -- Copa for MNT, June friendlies for WNT

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

Greg and Belz discuss the major questions facing Berhalter as the UMSNT prepares for a wonderful slate of games in June and early July, and then talk about the major questions facing Emma Hayes ahead of two early June friendlies and the Olympics later this summer.———Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private feed for the Monday Review, which is, among other things, a run-down of club action for national team players every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and our full catalog of historic recaps, plus right of first refusal on our next Scuffed trip to Europe: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed OTHER LINKSScuffed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAoundrEkZUgZ13IE5XIqrg We’ve streamlined and revamped the merch we’re selling. Check it out: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Scuffed on Discord: https://discord.gg/X6tfzkM8XU 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. In the time-honored scuff tradition of better late than never, here we are to talk about the rosters that came out this week. First on Monday, Burhalter announced a 27-man roster ahead of Copa America and held a press conference. And then on Tuesday, Emma Hayes announced her roster for two friendlies the first week of June. Coming right up, isn't it, against South Korea, which will be her first games on the touchline. coach of the women's national team. Heady times. Greg, how are you? Doing great, man.

These are really exciting times. So, again, Copa America. This is awesome. All of the major pieces are going to be in this camp with the exception of Sergenio Dest, of course. And then Emma Hayes. Like, this is huge. So it's so fun, again, to go into something

with like a total blank slate because Emma Hayes is not an ideological, like an ideologue in her style of coaching. and we really don't know how she sees the player pool. I mean, even with the, there is no established staff anyway, you know, with all due respect to Twyla. And so, like, it's such a blank slate of who could fall where on the depth chart, like what positions we're even going to employ. Like, it's going to be really fun to see what it looks like in Colorado,

South Korea in Colorado. Those games are in Commerce City, Colorado, just outside of Denver, and then St. Paul, on June 1 and June 4. Lovely time of year in both places. And just to touch on that again, it's such a contrast, right? With the U.S., there are some questions, but at this point, it's such like the core team. You know who it is. You roughly know how Berlter will play in any given game. You kind of know the style we're going to be using.

and it's just so different. The women's team are such like still putting the puzzle pieces together in spots like five through 20. Right. Yeah, that's very exciting. And we will, so we're going to do the men for, we'll just take it in chronological order. We'll do the men first, then the women. But yeah, that is exciting because there's been so frustrating to watch the kind of, I don't know, the inertia of the women's national team. over the last two years,

and hopefully that will come to an abrupt close. Things will start moving. Overnight fixes is what we swear by. But to the men, why don't I read the roster, and then we'll get into some details. I have some clips from the press conference on Monday. Goalkeepers are Matt Turner, Ethan Horvath, Sean Johnson, and then defenders, you know, the fullbacks would be Anthony Robinson,

Joe Scali, Christopher Lund, and Shaq Moore. And, you know, the... Tenry Faye! Yeah, a lot of gnashing of teeth about that one. We can get into that. Obviously, the big omission is Serge, who is out for basically the calendar year, right? Do we still not know what his injury is?

A.C.L, I'm pretty sure. He confirmed very simple. Cinematically. Fullback's Chris Richards. We had a great Monday review where we had a guest from the five-year plan podcast, a Crystal Palace podcast. They just love him in South London right now. They're riding high.

Six wins and seven games at the end of the season, just blowing people out. And they love Richards. So Richards is coming in with a full head of steam. Tim Ream, not a full head of steam, but he's, you know, he is who he is. Cameron Carter Vickers, Miles Robinson, who plays for FC Cincinnati. I got that wrong on the Monday review. And Mark McKenzie coming from Belgium and gink. So that rounds out the centerbacks.

And then the midfielders, you have them broken down by kind of six, eight, and ten, right? Yeah, they're about, I think. I think that's roughly a fair description here. Why don't you read them in their categories? So we've got Tyler Adams, who's made it back into the matches for Bournemouth. right at the tail end of the season after, I mean, at this point, the never-ending battle with injuries. We got Johnny Cardoso, who is coming in after seamlessly integrating into Rayal Batis towards it for the second half of the La Liga season.

So again, pretty excited to see both of these guys in uniform for us. It's sort of the more two-way midfield street. We've got Weston McKinney, Eunice Musa, Luca de la Torre. Delo. I kind of lost his spot a little bit there at the end of the season for Delta Vigo, but then he did, didn't he get in in the last week or two? Yeah, he was hurt for a while, and then it just didn't get back into the same role he had. I think they had a manager change to go along with that in season.

And they were right on the line right up until the last two weeks. As is their Galithian custom. Yeah. And then in the attacking spots, we've got Gio Ray, and I'm Leek Tillman. And then I'm putting Timmy Tillman here, but who knows? A lot of excitement about Timmy Tillman's inclusion on the Monday review from Vincent. I was stoked because I'm stoked, but I also feel cheated because Vince is so excited about Timmy Tillman, then I don't get to be the excited guy, and I've been really excited about Timmy Tillman.

You've been usurped. Yeah, totally usurped. And again, like, Vince deserves it. I mean, he was making comps. I think that's where he cut his teeth on comp production was Timmy Tillman. He's still nice. So I do feel usurped, but also like I'm excited for Tillman in the way I'd be excited about like a Keaton Parks last cycle. Or I would have been excited about Tim Zillman last cycle.

He's not nearly as exciting this cycle. And again, even last cycle, the excitement was just like maybe he can do a little something for a couple of minutes if we really need it. Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't play at all. But, you know, good for him. Good for him in the Tillman family at large. And then wingers, Christian Pulisic, coming off probably his best season as a professional at A.C. Milan. Tim Wea, Haji Wright, and Brendan Aronson.

Hadji Wright, listed as a winger because Berthalter said he's going to be a winger in this camp, which I just, that was just music to my ears. And then the strikers, Fuller and Balligan, Ricardo Pepe and Josh Sargent, Sergeant dealing with a nagging injury as well, so we'll see. how much of a factor he plays in this camp and this summer in general as it goes on. There's going to be maybe some slight shake up here or there. It's a 27-man roster. The final COPA roster is going to be 26.

So somebody's going to get cut. And Burhalter was careful to say this isn't, you know, there may be some people coming in, some people going out. I doubt it. It's probably just going to be one cut, right? I mean, it seems that way. I feel like what it depends on is like if there's an injury

where that injury is and whether there might be some knock-on effect there. I'll just specifically say and most of this is me just clinging to hope still because the one guy who I think is not a snub but that I really, really wish was here. There's no one else when I'm like, oh, I really wish that player is here.

But it is Jordan Pfock. Like I wasn't kidding when I said, I'm really going to be the one guy I'm sweating on inclusion-wise is Jordan Pfeck. So my thought is, if Sergeant is hurt and can't go in, that we might bring in Pfok and then still cut another guy from the roster. Or then the other thing would be if Pepe is if they decide to not keep him at Copa and ship him to Paris, just have him to do that, whether Pfok could come in as the third real striker. And we, again, cut another player or some of those.

There's plenty of extra weight on the roster that we can cut. it's 26 and we just don't have 26 players that we would play in competitive situation. Yeah. But the reason I'm so, like, feel strongly about PFOC is because I still think we need a player for hoffing it into the box, end of game, chasing a goal situations. We, that we saw that's what we did against Jamaica when it was definitely panic mode time. And we didn't have the, I think Pfok is a better option to have in that moment than either Sergeant or Pepey or. or Haji or Bolligan. So in my mind, it's like, that's who we would choose

if we could choose from anyone. Pfeck is the guy to put up there. Right. That makes sense to me, Greg. I'm not, I don't dismiss that at all. And Pepe could play, could conceivably do both camps, right? I mean, he could

be here for Copa America and then not, maybe not play that much, and then go right over to Paris. I mean, his spot at PSV, is not really in question, you know? Yeah, his spot, his role, and it's also not like, obviously at the moment, at least, it's not essential.

Right. Luke, like, if he's, if he comes in and needs a slight break before he jumps back in full speed, like, they'll probably be fine. Yeah. And if he doesn't, I mean, the other thing is he'll probably come in fit and it's not he has to learn a new system or anything else. So, yeah, Pepe could definitely do both. And we got our ringer in there with Ernie, our inside.

man to pull those strings, crease those wheels. The reason Peppy makes so much sense for the Olympics is because he's age eligible. You know, you don't have to burn an overage spot on him, and he's a good, you know, proven national team striker. Yep. And that's going to, that Olympics team is going to be a lot of guys who aren't proven, you know, who are young and raw and making their way early in their careers. So let's go to the first clip from Burrhalter. He name-checked a few guys who he said could be in this camp, but are going to the Olympics instead so that they can get more playing time,

which is something that makes perfect sense. Here we go. We were looking at players that could have potentially been on this roster, but would have garnered more playing time with the Olympic group, and we decided that's the best possible option, you know, for us to really give a broader player pool international experience in good competition this summer. So that was very much part of the discussion.

and a number of players have fallen to that category. Kevin Parades being one of them, Aidan Morris, another one. You know, Brian Reynolds, potentially another one. So just making those decisions to really impact the entire player pool. Yeah, Paredes, Morris, and Reynolds, all guys sort of on the, you know, is it fair to say they're knocking on the door of the national team?

I mean, they're just, they're right there. Yeah, they're knocking on at least the first door that leads you to like a foyer. Yeah, to the foyer where they would, you know, have to try to check in and, you know, like, yeah, they're knocking it on the door to be on their fringe. But the fringe is, it's super attainable. You know, it's something we talk about, like, Brendan Aronson got left off the last roster and then came in as an injury replacement.

And he's probably pretty solidly on this one. And so it's like, if you can just jump Brendan Aronson, you're probably, you probably get in the team. Yeah. Nobody's really done it yet, you know, not even Brendan's little brother, Paxton, who will also probably be on the Olympic team. I mean, he will be on the Olympic team. So I watched a little bit of, you know, caught up a little bit on Reynolds this morning. He's still, I don't know.

It's like he has so many tools to be an outstanding fullback. You know, he's technical. He's fast. He loves to get forward. But the defending side of it is still a little bit, like his heart's not in it or something. Well, and again, it's a nice, this is going to be funny because there will be some parallels to what people thought of Sergenio.

But like when you were watching Sergenio, even with young Alex, young Iax, it was like, I don't, there wouldn't have been this level of reservation. And I know part of that was just the heady days of 2019 when we didn't have other good players. But again, right now, for right back, with Sergino being injured, we're looking at like Joe Scali

and there are questions around him and then just this void. And even then it's not like, oh, Brian Reynolds would be amazing to have here. Whereas back in 2019, there was like real excitement about like, get this guy in a game for us. Yeah.

With Dest. Yeah, I think, well, I've always thought the complaints about Desd's defending have been overstated. but he's like he's so integral to the way we play I think it's I don't think rounds would be it's not like a like for like replacing it's a different kind of getting forward what Reynolds does but but even even before we knew what Dest was going to be for us like when you watch him play at a low level a low level of competition he still would just like

jump off the you'd jump off the screen he'd do stuff you're just like oh my goodness yeah and that's you know when you're watching Brian Reynolds you're not really doing doing that. You're like, okay, that maybe could be something. That's true. He whips in a good cross. Yeah. He wants to get up and combine, and I don't know. They gave up

two goals over the weekend. Westallow did. And in both cases, there wasn't really Brian's fault, but he was way upfield, you know, getting forward. And then something happens and then it's a goal going the other way. So, anyway,

I bring up Reynolds because we got Shack Moore on the roster and some people would say, well, why not bring in Brian Reynolds instead of Shack Moore? Shack Moore was so bad at the World Cup. And, like,

I guess I could see Reynolds over more here for this camp, but I guess Burhler trusts more and more. And also, he wasn't as bad as everybody says at the World Cup, right? Like, he was, he was, he did some ugly stuff in that Iran game, but

eh you know it was yeah if we we have as we have as all his world cup actions comped in the in the discord and it's a very it's just a generally bland showing like there was nothing calamitous uh like some giveaways in the attacking third uh but it's nothing i think the stress of the moment and knowing that shackmore was the guy in that moment while you're watching in real time i do think that affected how a lot of people remember the game uh because he is you know he is not a super great player and if anyone's going to blow the game it's very likely that it could be shack more and you know that as you're watching it so i think that might have uh colored how people remember what he actually did in the world cup he ended up just being like a a perfectly bland time wester which is what we were trying to do for most of the minutes he was playing in the world cup right yeah the give one giveaway in the attack he missed the chance to visit across against england and took extra step yeah he missed the chance at was it the england game or they wrong game when Brendan kind of clipped it over to him he could have taken it first time yeah ron

where he didn't attack a didn't attack a ball in flight where maybe he could have just put his head through it run straight through it and yeah sealed everything i mean clint emcee would have just eaten the ball you know so yeah the the amount of so yeah the shack more one is the thing everyone has seized on to froth about uh because you have to froth about something right like uh that's the big thing about the burrhalter era is i feel like he's he's gotten people to where they've gotten accustomed to a certain magnitude of frustration in the first cycle. And now I feel like people have to maintain that level of anger and frustration, even if the actual things that people are mad about have basically disappeared.

And so Shaq Moore, on a 27-man roster, becomes that player. And it's not because he definitely won't play. Like, I'm not saying he definitely won't play. Shaq Moore could definitely play. He played in the World Cup. And again, he basically did the job that we would, expect a Shackmore level player to do in the World Cup. What I think is funny about the frothing is you're seeing all this.

You made a comment about the 18th through 26 players of a roster announcement at this point don't really matter that much to you or you know you're not that interested in them. Yeah, I'd like to clarify that, but please make the point. Well, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but like I feel mostly the same as you. It's not because those players don't matter. They do matter and they will play. Some of them will play. And the quality of the end of the bench will, could easily have a lot to say

how far you go into a tournament. For me, they don't matter as much in the sense that, like, the players we are picking from from those spots are nearly indistinguishable. So the fact that Shaq Moore is here, and people are frothing about it, and then in their follow-up to the froth, they say, it should have been Brooks Lennon, or it should have been Reggie Cannon or DeAndre Yedlin or Marlon Fossi. I'm just like, so hold on, hold on, hold on.

So we're frothing here because we are certain that Shaq Moore is a massive, massive, there's a massive disparity between Shaq Moore and Marlon Fawsey. Right. For the double contingency insurance option right back. Yeah. Yeah, my, I want to clarify that too, because I, if anybody hate listening to the podcast, I agree with you. I find that the 18 to 26 is not that distinguishable.

It does matter, of course. It matters, it's going to matter when one of them comes on to play against Vinny Jr. in the quarterfinals, you know, hopefully or whatever. But I'm a narrative guy and I'm like sort of thinking about the arc of the national team, the long-term arc of the national team. And these are the gains you get from calling up one guy over another for spot 20 are so marginal. You know, it's not, it doesn't make a, it doesn't really make a difference in the long-term story of the national team. If we, if we don't have enough good players to fill out a 23-man roster with, like, legit international soccer players. And we don't. And we won't probably for a long time.

So that's, I guess that's where I'm, that's where I stand on it. I'm not sure that I even clarified anything, but like, again, yeah, Shaq Moore could play. And if Jack Moore is in the game, out of the players we've called here, he is the most likely player to blow the game for us. Like, you know, he might not. He might, we might get away with it. Again, the parallel for me, we get away, we got away with Johnny Bornstein for four games in South Africa in 2010. He was the weakest player on that roster, definitely the weakest starter. And he didn't really have any massive screw-ups.

Like, sometimes he can get away with it and that player just, you know, goes unnoticed. Yeah. screw something up, but like if you're telling me it's ridiculous that Marlon Fosse isn't on this roster instead. Like, I don't know what to make of that. Yeah, agreed.

I didn't really want I didn't really want Shacken the roster to begin with, but yeah, I'll deal with it. We had our whole right back episode, right? And I think my like for like backup to Scali would have been either DeWan Jones, who's hurt,

and just got back and played, I think, 30 minutes over the weekend. Or D'Andre Edlin, because of the Mountain Boy connection with Tim Wea. But Yedlin's kind of a – like, compared to all these guys, Yedlin's, like, kind of a mess on the soccer ball. So I'm fine with taking someone who's at least competent. I prefer Shack to Yedlin. You can do a defensive job. Plus, I got my Tenerife love for him when I was watching his – in Tenerifee games

to keep track of him when he was in the Segunda. Yeah, we've been there. We've been here. Let's play the clip about replacing Surge because it's kind of the most important thing and I'll give my answer. It's not Shaq Moore. We have to figure out the right-back situation.

And there's a couple different options we can look at. We have like-for-like with Joe Scali and Shaq Moore. We have a winger that can play there with Timothy Wea, who's played that for his club. We have center midfielers who can play there with Weston and Eunice. And then we have centerbacks that we're looking at. Can they play there? So we just wanted the ability in this training camp to have options, to have flexibility.

Some of it may revolve around, you know, a back three. But the first objective is to see how we're going to fill that right back position because we know that we're going to be missing Sergenia. Yeah. So for me, it's, I've been pretty clear. I'm team either Tim or Wes as the right back. I'm the same. And I mean, from the evidence we have, Burrhalter is the same, right?

He went with Scali first against Jamaica because that makes sense. Like, he's the right back and he plays in the Bundesliga. And that's the other thing about all this is Scali could have put all of this to bed if he would have just done better. If he would just do better for the national team, then we wouldn't be doing all these full pods on replacing Sergenio Dest. But Scali wasn't great. and Burrhalter's next choice was Weston McKinney. So Burrhalter obviously felt like that's a viable solution. It's not just playing a video game discussion.

And he used Weston McKinney there. So I really don't think, for me, I think that is where, I think that's how Burrhalter is going to want to solve it, is by using a player who gets his best players on the field, which would probably be a McKinney or way of filling in there. Yeah. And then the thing is you, if you move one of the, those guys to write back, then

you get to start Haji Wright on one of the wings or Moussa. Or Mousa in the midfield. Yeah. So it just seems really obvious to me now. And I think in the past made a distinction between, okay, maybe against

Bolivia or Panama, we start Joe Scali. Nope. Nope. We're not, not, I'm out on that. I've changed my mind. No Scali, no more in the starting 11. at all is my is my call to Greg Burhalter please it in my view is like it's actually against the best teams that you got to not get cute with a non right back right back so but what I'm happy about is that we should have a little a little bit of wiggle room in the group stage like

knock on all kinds of wood uh because Bolivia and Panama are worse than us right so we we can explore just a little bit and and not go crazy but then take that information that we get from the group stage. And these two friendlies, too. That matters a lot, too, to hopefully that's where we'd go full on experience. I'll be furious frothing if Joe Scali or Shackmore start in the friendlies. Yeah. Because that is exactly the time to test if Tim Wea can do this without getting rinsed.

Right. Well, he can do it without getting rinsed. I mean, we watched it. We were in Italy. We saw him play against Raphaeliao. You know, he went one-on-one. I mean, he got some help from the inside. but he was up against Rauffeliao the whole game at right back.

He did great. He did great defensively. Even created some danger the other way. Anyway, out with like for like, in with best players on the field. I think that's what we'll see. And then let me just play the Hajie clip real quick before we move on to the women because it was nice to hear this. After Hajie, I thought, was kind of bad at Stryker for the national team in the Dallas.

final against Mexico. Well, I think it's how we look at, you know, their designated positions. Right now, currently we see Haji more fulfilling the winger role. And, you know, specifically it's related to how he moves and how he is able to get chances. They generally come from wider positions. And with us lacking some depth in those positions, we think it's a great option to move him into that position. I agree.

He's been listening, Bells. He's been listening to our podcast. It seems like it. We were trying to sneak five strikers into the March, into the March into the Nation's League window because it's like, yeah, Haji plays left wing, sergeant can play right wing, and then you can still get Pfok on there. You don't have to cut any of those four, and you can still get Pfok.

But yes, it totally makes sense because after Poole's sick and way, our next best winger option is to slot Gioraine out there and add another center mid. So, of course, Haji can take an empty winger slot on the roster. Listening to the press conference was a little surreal because it was like, oh, yeah, I think we've said that. I think Greg said that. Vince has been running the Tim Tillman megaphone for three years now. Yeah. So, yeah, that's it.

I mean, that's it for me. Center back. I'll just throw in the centerback bit because it is still a hat, I think. and we still are waiting for, you know, CCV to, like, have some chances to play. He hasn't been able to play very much since World Cup for us. So I'm excited for that. And then the other bit, you know, people want to see Austin trustee.

I still am good with, like, a Walker Zimmerman. But I'm assuming we're sending two overage centerbacks to the Olympics. And same kind of thing with the underage guys. If you weren't one of the first three centerbacks, and in my mind, the first three might be Ream Richards and CCV. If you weren't one of those guys, fourth and fifth centerbacks, I would send to Paris and then and then bring in the other guys for hat like give yourself a chance to watch them play. I know it's a youth tournament or whatever, but let's see trustee play in Paris and see if he can, you know, lead the like anchor a line against younger competition and get some reps because I don't think he would get many reps at COPA.

No. So I like, I like assuming that it's trustee and walkers are centerbacks in Paris. I like the, I like that we might get to see trustee in an in uniform. Okay. Yeah, you don't want to see McKenzie go to the Olympics? No, so I actually, my, my, my, Copa wish list had McKenzie in the Copa as the fourth. I didn't even have five because I didn't know if we were, but it was McKenzie as a fourth as a wasted roster slot so we could send trustee to the, to Paris. Okay.

So FC Cincinnati's Miles Robinson. and you would drop him from the roster if you only have four centerbacks? It'd be, I'd be okay dropping him. I'm okay bringing him again, but I'd be okay dropping him. Okay. The schedule is June 8th, June 12th, Columbia, Brazil, and then June 23, Bolivia and Dallas, June 27, Panama, Atlanta, and then July 1st, Uruguay and Kansas City. we've already ordered the barbecue for that tailgate.

The Bilal has, so. For Kansas City. Many thanks to him, yeah. Yeah. And we're definitely going to do some pickup in Atlanta at one of the soccer pitches under a Marda station. So I've figured that out. But it's going to be a great summer. And let me just ask you, before we move on to the women's national team,

to consider subscribing to scuffed on Patreon. The link is in the show notes and get the Monday review. And, you know, some other stuff we're cooking up. So think about that. Emma Hayes did not hold a press conference, but the roster for these June friendlies is out. And of course the Olympics are coming up at the end of July. We play Zambia on July 25th,

and we got some send-off games before that. So here's who Hayes called up. Unless you want to give any opening thoughts, I'll just read the roster. Just a reminder every time, it is cutthroat for these roster slots because it is 18 players, two goalkeepers, 16 outfield players. You don't have a backup at every position.

Your backups have to be able to deputize in multiple spots. Right. This is a 23-woman roster, and that is cheating because there's going to have to be five-people cut before the Olympics. 23 plus three training bodies, right? Yeah, right. So there's 26 players here. We'll get into that.

Goalkeepers are Casey Murphy, Jane Campbell, and Aubrey. Brie Kingsbury. Alyssa Nehert, and that's why she's not in, even though she is the, you know, maybe the presumptive, presumptive number one, right? Right. Well, she scores penalties and shootouts. She takes her own penalties. You got to bring her.

She gets 20 bonus points for that. And then fullbacks, Emily Fox, Casey Kruger, and Jenna Nyswanger. I would imagine Fox and Nicewanger are the starters in a game that matters right now. Casey Kruger You know She has versatility She can play centerback She can play fullback

Either fullback Yeah right Either side So I'm not gonna I'm not gonna I'm not just gonna let you Editorialize for free on that either I don't know

If Nice Wongers are starting Fullback or not Well under the yeah I mean Especially with Dunn listed as a forward I think NiceWonger What she got Two or three starts at she believes

I'm just saying I'm just saying. Blank slate, baby. Blank slate. Centerback's Naomi Germa, Tierna Davidson, Emily Sonnet, and Sam Stob,

notable that Sonnet is listed as a centerback? As a defender, yeah. That actually is some editorializing for me, I just realized, because I think they just listed defenders, right? So. So she could be a fullback.

Yeah. She could play midfield. I mean, but she's been playing centerback for like five games in a row now. for club. So either that's maybe Emma's in somebody's ear already saying, hey, get her ready for some centerback grabs.

Because, you know, you just listed the four, presumably the four centerbacks here. We're missing Dahl Camper who's hurt, and Germa and Davidson are both just back from injury. So it's going to be, it's really like nervous times on the centerback depth chart. Yeah. Probably a minute's restriction of some kind for Germa and Davidson. for me, I'm going to editorialize again. For me, they're the two best centerbacks. I mean, Germa's definitely maybe the first name on the team sheet.

But in the midfielder's would be Lindsay Horan, Rose Lavelle, Sam Coffey, Corby, Corby, Corby, Lillianniz is back, and Hal Herschfeld getting her first call up. I should also say Sam Stobb, this is her first call-up too. So interesting that Lily is back again. That's pretty cool. She came to the She Believes Cup, but she didn't play. Rose Lavelle was not in the She Believes Cup roster, but she's back now. You know, hopefully she can fire up that old creation machine and get back to her old self.

Yeah, she's been pretty mediocre for the national. Yeah, she's been mediocre to bad. And like you kind of just forget, like even going back to the World Cup, where she, you know, played against in the first game where it was kind of a laffer. But then from the Netherlands on, she got in and she was not good. And you were kind of just like, well, she didn't play for like two months going into the World Cup. She didn't even play in the send-off games. So I think the hope was always like, okay, she's just playing through some rust and it will kick on at some point. And then she got two yellow cards in the two group stage games and got some.

and got suspended for the Sweden game. So we never got to see her in the knockouts anyway. And she wasn't really good in the group stage games. And she just never had the chance to turn it on. And then she missed a bunch of time after winning or after playing in the NWSL final, came back for the women's gold. And wasn't very good in the women's gold cup. That's when maybe she was at her worst at the women's gold cup.

So she played in the friendlies against China in the fall. But like she just hasn't been very good for the national team actually. So she doesn't seem like a player who can just, like, not play for a long time and then just jump in and kick on. So it's, we, she's been looking okay. I think she's looked a little better in NWSL. I got some pushback on that on the WOSO episode, but I thought she, I thought she looked bright the last couple times out. Yeah, I'm the same. So it's going to be like she's got a, she's got to, I feel like she has to show us something,

because there are players who are showing some things at the same level of competition as Roselle. And like, it sounds crazy to say that about Roselle. her World Cup women's national team history. But like she does. She's got to put some stuff together on the field to show us, I think. Yeah. So Hersh felt kind of more of a six slash eight. Yeah, that's how I feel like.

It's like kind of the coffee backup audition. And again, this is looking at through the perspective of maybe the she believes midfield that we just saw do pretty well. But we don't know that that's what Emma's going to do. We don't know it could be a completely different configuration. She could go old school 4-4-2. Who knows? Right. But I was just going to say, I feel like that's what Herschel would be kind of checking in on.

If she could be like a coffee buddy. Yep. Or a coffee backup, I'm sorry, to be her aunt's buddy. A coffee buddy. Yeah, let's talk about the midfield configuration in a little more detail after we finished the roster. So the forwards, I mean, basically the winger. Mallory Swanson, Jaden Shaw, Trinity Rodman, and Crystal Dunn. Interesting that Dunn is listed as a forward, not a defender.

Also, kind of interesting that Shaw is listed as a forward. Probably doesn't mean anything really, because I feel like the best midfield is, well, we'll get into, like I said, we'll get into that in a second. And then strikers are Sophia Smith, Kat Macario, and Alex Morgan also coming off a bit of an injury. So that if you're keeping track at home, that's, and Shaw also coming up. off an injury. So Tirna, Naomi, Rose, Jaden, and Alex, all dealing with some kind of injury or recent injury or recent return to play, so likely on some kind of touch and go, minute restriction.

And that's, Bells, that's actually how you get to, from the 23 she called to 18. We've got five players who are crocked, so it's 18 here. Yeah, I guess that's, I guess that's right, yeah. So to the, let's talk about the midfield, because I thought coffee, Horan, and Shaw as a trio was the answer, capital T, capital A. And at least for what we have, from what we have right now.

And I don't know, I guess it remains to be seen how Emma Hayes sees it, but I thought it really worked. I thought it worked. I thought it was very good and like I think I said in that episode, if that's,

if they set this floor where if that's the level of play we get in Paris, like I would be happy with that midfield level of play in Paris. I would expect us to get a little better. but I also don't know for sure that that's the best configuration. It's kind of like I feel like it's the first one game we really tried to play soccer.

So the question is kind of chicken and egg, is it because of that midfield? And so it's like, oh, my gosh, now that we have this midfield, now we can play soccer? Or was it like, oh, now we tried to play soccer. And with this first midfield edition that we tried to play soccer with, we did. What would have been the impetus to start playing soccer for that game, if not the? of midfield configuration. Kilgore, a Kilgore change of heart?

Like, like, I don't know. You know, I went in on them for the Brazil final in the level of midfield play or the total lack of midfield play. And again, I wasn't even blaming the midfielers.

Team wide in that Brazil final for the Gold Cup. Atrocious. We were, it was so bad. Like, just the soccer was so bad. So it could be a response to being like, hey, we need to

swing the pendulum the other way completely. with the players we have, and especially if we're going to get anything close to the ideal Lindsay Horan style of play. But we did it with this group of midfielder's in the Shebelief. So I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I'm just, I guess I'm really curious to see if there are other players who can jump in and kind of give us that.

Remember the second half of Canada, and she believes it was Sonnet and Horan as a midfield pair. And we looked good. We had a couple of real good carve-ups. cups through the midfield. That's true. That's true. With Sonnet as her aunt's buddy. Yeah, I prefer coffee over Sonnet.

I definitely do too. Pretty intensely. But a couple other notes. A couple of their notes on the roster. Young PSG centerback Eva Gaetino dropped. And let's see. Which that one's kind of, I don't know if it's a surprise, but if ever there were a roster to bring in more

centerbacks that are fully healthy. This was it. I know we were getting stob, which I'm happy about, just seeing any new centerback blood. But it is kind of surprising that she couldn't make it in. I think she's been not entirely convincing, even though she gets a lot of minutes, you know? Is that fair to say?

I think it's fair to say. Anyway, a few other things. So Olivia Moultrie also dropped from this roster, but she will be in camp as a training player and she is joined by two others both from the Washington Spirit. The Washington Spirit with an incredibly strong presence in this roster.

But Croy Bethune and so Croy Bithoon and Kate Wisner. Croy Bithoon is the, if you haven't been tracking, she is the red-hot Washington Spirit number 10. She's tied with Sophia Smith for the league lead and assists right now with six, and they've all been gorgeous, or at least nice.

They're not as noisy. I think she's still kind of over the skis a little bit on the ghost stats, but like you're watching, you're like, okay, that was, that's, that's what you make the assist category for. Right, right. Well, the one, she's just a tricky, clever, unselfish player. If you haven't seen the one over the weekend, She carries the ball for 50 yards and then slips it between two defenders for her teammate,

Saar, to chip the keeper. And you should check it out. Just a lovely, lovely play. The thing I love about it is she checks her shoulder in the center circle as she's driving with the ball because she has exactly in mind what she does in the end the whole time. And she draws the attention of three defenders, slips it in. It's beautiful stuff. So she'll be a training player.

So will this defender, Kate Wisner, and Olivia Moultrie, so they'll all three get a chance to impress Hayes, make their case for the future? I think it's huge that Croy is there, because I really feel like she's the kind of player whose style of play can jump out enough in a training session that she can get in. Like, I don't know that Moultrie is going to train her way onto the final Olympic group, but like I feel like Croy Bathune could. Okay. Well, she's kind of like She's kind of like What we want Rose Lavelle to be right now That's exactly how I'd put it

So she's got to She's also left footed too She's got to beat out She essentially has to beat out like Rosalvel inertia unless Rosalvel Shows up and puts on an absolute show Right But either of those are tough to beat out

If Roosevelt shows up and puts on a show That's it I don't know how you get Bethune Under the roster I guess I mean maybe Roselle just has to show up and put on a public access community theater

performance it's all he needs to do to supersede well again if Bethune's crazy right if she looks if she's just embarrassing these other ridiculous players it's not necessarily just

Rosalvel that's dropped like there are other players that Bassoon could leap over you know and that's where it gets kind of like okay do you say out loud that like she could jump over Cat Macario Right. But it's got to be... I didn't say it out loud. I asked if you can say it out loud.

Well, the thing is, Bithoon, if she's competing for a midfield spot, I think there is opportunity to skip over people. If for some reason she ends up competing for a winger spot, then it's much more difficult. And that reminds me with the midfield configuration, that's why it's so important. for me to have Shaw in the midfield. Not just because it looked like it worked that one time, but just from a pragmatic point of view, if you play Shaw in the midfield, then you can play two of,

or you can play three of the following four players in the starting lineup, and that would be Swanson, Rodman, Smith, and Macario. If you play Shaw on the wing, then two of them are on the bench. If you play Shaw on the wing and you start Alex Morgan, then three of them are on the bench.

So, you know, I think that's a not insignificant reason to want Shaden Shaw to play in the midfield. Yeah. No, I'm totally with you. I want Shaw to be the nominal midfielder so you can get Mal and Trin on that lineup. I mean, it's crazy, right? We're talking about Lynn Williams not making the squad. So, yeah, the winger. NWSL score.

Yeah, the winger position to striker position is stacked. And that's even if you don't bring an Alex Morgan at all. And I don't know what kind of inertia she's carrying with her. I mean, she's carrying a lot because she's in this camp despite not playing soccer right now. That speaks to sort of the status she has to be able to do that. And, you know, she's earned quite a bit of status. But I don't know if that stat – again, I doubt with Emma Hayes that status is like a lock into Paris. Yeah, it'll be so fascinating to see what that lineup is on June 1st.

that is in 10 days, basically. Yeah, and I would love to see, I want to say, I would love to see Lily Johannes get a few minutes in that, basically in the Haran role, you know, of that midfield. That's the other thing. We keep talking about, okay, well, if coffee, like Sonnet is maybe a coffee possible backup, but we never really talk about the Haran backups

because it just seems like they don't exist. Because they don't. I mean, Vince said this in the Discord yesterday, but our number eight depth chart is just terrible. Like, who is there? I guess Corbyn Albert, but she's been totally unconvincing, I think.

I mean, for the national team, I went back and watched all of her play, and she has some strengths. She runs forever. She does not stop running. Runs forever. That's great. That's not, I don't think,

unless we're murder ball, that's not like enough to sort of cement a spot. It's a nice thing, have that you can rely on if you if that's what you choose to do but like she still needs to show that she can she can be like a real possession player and we have had almost none of that 15 or so good minutes against Argentina where she was doing some good possession stuff uh but otherwise man it is it is it is all frenetic uh murder ball highlights for corbin albert putting the past to the wrong foot with the wrong weight like constantly both for club and country and i was at initially

you know, kind of like, hey, we got to give her a chance. We got to get a look at this player. I feel like we've gotten a little bit of a look and, I don't know. You're right. It's not enough to run all the time. Yeah. And those passes that come to mind when you say that are almost all like moments of transition. Some of them she creates very well, again, with her just doggedness.

She's a little terrier running around there. But what's worse is she doesn't do enough passing. Like she just doesn't get on the ball enough. And that was the big contrast watching somebody like a way more boring name like Emily Sonnet. But when Emily Sonet came in and it was either next to coffee or next to Heron, like she is just always available. She's directing things and she gets on the ball and can help even if it's boring circulation stuff, which it almost always is from her. Well, the problem with Sonnet is sometimes not boring enough. It's a little too exciting in our defensive third.

But it's like just finding somebody. and if that's the bar to clear, again, somebody should be able to clear it, I think. But that's what we kind of need for the, for the Haran buddy. To fill in Haran's shoes, even close to the level she does, I don't think exists right now. I think that's a cycle away, and we're just crossing our fingers. Well, yeah. I mean, Lily's only 16 and, you know, we can't get ahead of ourselves, but she has the, she's that type. Yeah, post-Olympics, I should say.

I don't think we're just going to, like, get a Di Bernardo in. And Di Bernardo is the other name. I was like, maybe she could, she has some forward passing ability. She's playing more as an attacking mid now. But she played last season before her concussion where she missed like four, three months. She was playing like a real, like, real center mid, not just like float around and play. Actually, Sanchez would be, it would be like maybe the other name. She's cooking.

Yeah, I suppose. Yeah, she is. Further down the line, Riley Jackson at the North Carolina Courage, she kind of is in that mold in that sort of all-action mold a little bit, maybe a little bit more of a six, but pretty all-action. And then a six who's not in this roster, but you're going to be hearing about more and more, and you've heard a lot about her on the, well, so Wednesday episodes,

is Claire Hutton at Kansas City. She's having a great season, only 18 years old. and basically anchoring the best team in the league right now. And for most of those, it's just too tight for the Olympics, too tight of a turnaround. And that's not just because Emma Hayes took seven months to get into the position. Like these players are making their case this season in NWSL. Like last weekend. Yeah.

Yeah. So I don't think it's a big, I mean, it'd be tempting to be like, oh, if we had had them in earlier. But we wouldn't have done that earlier, like even if, even if Hayes was in office. So, you know, for the Olympics, it could just be like light so many candles for Emily Horan's knees and I'm sorry, Lindsay Horan's knees. And then it really is just going to be like the other thing that Emma Hayes can do is find alternate ways to attack effectively that aren't just like Iran ball progression. Because those exist for sure for our team. We've seen us do things. Right.

Okay. This is great. You know, a lot of soccer coming up. We'll be covering it. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you.