Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #575: Nations League roster reaction with Velasquez

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Who's in, who's out, whether Poch sees Yunus as a midfielder, why Brendo is missing, what the coach expects from Gio, and Greg and Belz give preferred lineups versus Panama and the second opponent. First match kicks off in a week.MORE DETAIL ON THE ROME TRIP IN MAY: https://earthlydelights.notion.site/Italia-25-with-Scuffed-1a3f3f1e0145804793e8e83e982168fdThere are still a few slots available: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfp2O1bIr5KNSymt3ayP3ctERCooDo3ADM5Kf_kSHpmr6ITMg/viewform 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. Hey, everybody, we have a roster for Nations League, and we're going to talk about it, and we're going to listen to some highlights from Pachitino's press conference yesterday. Greg, so good to see you. How are you doing? I'm doing great bells. Very exciting times. Pachatino has some new toys to play with that he hasn't had access to in a while, so this roster, even though we kind of know who the core players probably are, It still felt a little bit like a little Christmas gift.

I mean, every roster is a Christmas gift. Yeah, first timers in Apache camp include Gio Raina, Tyler Adams, and Cameron Carter Vickers. Not a lot revealed by the coach in his 28-minute press conference yesterday. He's just not a signaller of his intentions or even real thoughts in these things. I think that's pretty clear. I was actually struck by Alex Abnose's question, which we'll get to later about the centerbacks, because it got a little bit of a reaction out of Potch, you know? And I think maybe that should be the goal of the press corps from now on. Just even ask like a ridiculous question just to get something out of him, you know, some kind of reaction.

An exasperated sigh is the ultimate. Right. I mean, let's start there. Let's start with that. Just to note, the two guys who aren't in this camp that we're still waiting for Potsch to get his first camp with, since we talked about some of the first timers, Bolligan and Dest. So that's going to be the real big deal when he can get everybody. As we all know, that happens, where everybody will be healthy and available for a camp eventually. Yeah, Baligan, I mean, they were both named checked by Potch in this call.

And as you may know, Dest is back on the field for PSV, but not soon enough to make it into the preliminary roster. So he couldn't make the 60-man roster, so he couldn't make the 23. And Baligan hasn't gotten on the field yet. And as we discussed on Monday, even when he does get back on the field, he's going to be either partnered with or sitting on the bench behind Mikabirath, who is lighting the world on fire. They're signing from the winter. at Monaco, that is. Should we, should we go ahead straight to the roster? Why don't you read the roster since you're the, since you have such specific ideas about how it should be, how it should be organized, which are good, which are good.

Not alphabetically. U.S. soccer. Come on. Like, organize it by depth chart. All right. Goalkeepers. We've got Matt Turner, three of them, Matt Turner, Zach Steffen, Patrick Schulte, or three. What we're going to kind of do here is we're going to kind of compare it to

Potchino's November Nation's League roster for the two match series against Jamaica. Seems like the right idea to me. He brought four for that camp. He brought 25 players to that camp knowing we could only dress 23. He actually did dress all four keepers for both matches, kind of surprisingly. But Diego Cochin was the other goalkeeper in that one. the Barcelona B youth prospect.

So he's not in this camp. It looks like we're going to roll with our three. I mean, nothing like a quartet of dressed goalkeepers, you know? Or Aidan Morris just could. No, I think Aidan Morris in that camp had been diagnosed with a thigh strain

or some kind of injury. Timway I was suspended for a match. It all worked out. Everyone kind of got to dress for a game, play a little bit other than Morris. Anyway. So Young Diego is the odd man. man out playing in the Segunda in Spain.

I don't think that's a big surprise. Yeah, and I don't think there's too much really going on with the goalkeeper pool right now, other than just the fun of Pocitino liking the vibe of Zach Steffen. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I guess that is the thing that's going on because, you know, Horvath is starting a little bit now. But I don't know. We've seen this story play out before, I feel like.

I mean, I'm confident. I'm just going to say this now and not jinx anything. I'm confident that we're just not going to get howlers. Whether it's Stefan, I just, I don't think Stefan is going to be a howler guy. Even if, even if his stats over his career have not, you know, depicted him as a good or, you know, barely average shot stopper. I know, I know people are saying this year he is, but you want to be very careful with goalkeepers talking about three games. Right. Like 17 shots or something like that. But I think, again, I'm just like, you just cross your fingers that they'll be fine.

Any of these guys will step in and be fine. And any of them on their day can win you a match. Goalkeepers can play out of their minds sometimes. Yeah. Okay. That's the goalkeepers. What do we have at centerback? Center back we brought five.

We brought Chris Richards, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, and Austin trustee, who are all carryover. from that November series. The switch is Cameron Carter Vickers in, Miles Robinson out. Robinson did not play in the Jamaica game, so he had the same number of minutes in that Jamaica series as he had in the Copa America, which was zero in both of those events. It very much seems like he's kind of been on the fringe, probably remains on the fringe.

He played a bunch in January camp, but so Pachitino's gotten to see. a lot of him at this point, I mean, relative to the rest of the pool. Yep, yep, he's definitely had his chance to be assessed by the new man in charge. Okay. CCV hasn't, so I'm excited. I don't know what we're going to roll out here. Tim Riem has started every match for Pachitino so far.

McKenzie has partnered with him other than the time McKenzie was a scratch for a pregame injury. He was announced in the lineup and then was replaced ahead of Mexico in Mexico. Well, maybe that's, this is a great time to play the Abnos, question and the answer, I think, because it's directly about this. What I have it? The defense and centerback specifically, you have a number of different options there, five players that can play centerback and Cameron Carter Vickers in camp with you for the first time.

You went with McKenzie and Ream as a pairing in the previous Nations League games. Do you anticipate sticking with that or what are you looking for from that particular position? You know what you will? I am a coach that we analyze. everything and we are aware about all the performance. But the problem is that also I am a coach that I need to touch the player, I need to feel the player. And also, we are going to wait until we are right to the camps and to this.

Of course, the Mark and team they were playing and are a little bit in advantage to the another. that is going to be first train station, second train station, and then decide the players that are going to be in the starting 11. They have an advantage, Ream and McKenzie, because they've played together. But Pocch needs to touch and feel the players in camp. And that is a consistent theme throughout the conference call.

I mean, if you take one thing away from it, is that he wants to feel the players in their presence, you know, feel their presence, connect with them, touch them. I mean, we're talking about figurative touching and feeling, of course. I'm glad you clarified. Yeah, absolutely. The player will get to, I'm sure, and talk about this a lot.

Like, probably the whole reason he's theirs is Diego Luna because, like, you can make an impression on Pashtino. Yeah. So, so it is really exciting. You know, we'll talk about the snubs and the French players because we're, we live in those weeds. But so much of the fascination for me for this window is, is so much on how he's going to, how he sort of sees the starting 11, uh,

into kind of, uh, I don't, I don't want to say they're that different of matches. I mean, you, you, you,

you, you assume the level of Mexico is much higher, but, uh, well, it could be Canada, right. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah.

Yeah. Whichever, whichever, whichever, whichever, we, which we will play the second game, even if we,

even if we, even if we lose, yeah. So, uh, game one, game two could be, uh,

not that far off. So, just to see sort of what he sees as his as the personnel groupings that he favors at the moment or wants to see in action like that's where for me that's where all the real juice is here yeah and I think like specifically with the centerbacks if if being in someone's presence and sort of assessing the cut of their jib on a personal level is is so important to potch it does seem to me like Chris Richards probably measures up pretty well in that in that metric if you will has to be right yeah he's he maybe has the

I don't know he's he's one of the top jibsters on the roster so so I think it'll be interesting to see who starts at centerback um and I'm curious what you would prefer I mean as Waki said a couple weeks ago he doesn't care what who's on the roster he's like caring about the weather you know and I I do kind of, I feel that a little bit, but what is your, what is your preference? Well, you know, I don't want to spoil the lineups we're going to give later. Okay, all right. But very much, I'm with Waki out on the Chris Richards partner.

Like on my, you know, on my spreadsheets, I don't, I don't, what I don't feel strongly about is like, okay, Chris Richards here, centerback next to him. Okay. So you prefer, so you don't want it to be the same as the Jamaica game. No, just because I think Chris Richards is our best centerback. And I think everyone else is trying to be his partner. I mean, that could be wrong. He could go out there and have some shockers, as we've seen him do in previous games.

But he kind of pulled it together for the Copa America, and I'd say, in the Brazil friendly head of that. And again, just week to week, he's performing at a high level. Yeah. So I don't think, I feel like, even if Pach is saying these things, I feel like he probably has front runners in his mind, before he, you know, Yeah, definitely.

He plays hands upon. So I feel like. Before laying on of hands. I think, I think it's going to be, I'm just curious to see. I will feel, I will be shocked if it's not Richard starting. A little shock. But no one else will shock me. And if they're lined up beside him.

Yeah. Could be CCV. Could be anybody, I guess. I mean, I'd take that back. I would be surprised if it was trusty because trusty's been in Paschitino's camps and he started McKinsey and Ream for all of them. So he's had hands on all those guys, and it's been McKenzie and Ream. So I would expect Richards and one of Mackenzie or Ream. So in that, in that context, yeah, the interesting question is, is it Ream? Is he going to stick with Ream,

the, you know, pretty old guy at this point? Or is he going to sort of, I guess you could argue, invest in the future and say, let's go with the McKenzie Richards pairing, see how it looks now. maybe we go back to Reem for the final or the you know the third place game whatever it is. Yeah. It's going to be the final. Come on. With all these, with all these, I don't feel particular urgency for that. I mean, again, the pool is so close to like set at the key places that if he goes Ream,

even if he kind of knows that that's not what he's going to end up with a year from now. Like, it doesn't have to be McKenzie and Richards getting the minutes now. Even if that's kind of what he sees as being the case, like you can transition into that over the course of a couple of windows, knowing you've got Gold Cup this summer and... That's true. Just being like, okay, Riem is still the guy. He's an elder statesman here.

We will let him sort of play that string out and make McKenzie sort of take it from it. Well, speaking of elder statesman, I think it was Ron Blum who said that we only have five windows after this one. So, I mean, time is a little short for putting things into motion. But I do agree. The pool is mostly set. My no key banks enthusiasm is, it's still, there's a flame there still, but it does seem, you know, a little premature at this point. Let's move to fullback, if you're okay with that.

Yeah. Fullbacks, we've got Jedi Robinson, we've got Joseph Bartholome, Scali, and we've got those two were carryovers from November, and they were the only two brought in November. We've got Marlon Fosse joining them as a backup, or I'm sorry, just as a third fullback. I don't know if he's the backup. But he is.

He's the backup, yeah. And potentially, like, even among this group, he could be the third or fourth right back choice. Right. But notable that Potch has decided to include a backup fullback by trade. Yeah. I think there was some sense that he prioritized the laying on of hands previously,

which is why he picked Fossi, because Fossi was there in the November window, right? No, he was there, Fossi was there in the October window, I believe. Oh, okay. Then he was, he didn't play, or he played one game and then I think went home injured. Okay, okay. All right, so, you know, that's a bit of a snub for all of us who are big fans of Richel Desma.

I mean, it kind of is because, you know, Paschino's new to the pool. I'm not saying he's not doing his homework, but like a guy playing in a Champions League knockout round of 16, that, I mean, that's a decent shortcut if you're not wanting to, if you just want to be like, oh, yeah, him. Let's not overthink it. Let's just get this guy in as the backup to, you know,

for when Sir Gino Desk comes back. He's literally backing up Sergenio Dest at PSV. Right, right. Yeah, he may be, I mean, he was in Champions League at the time the 60-man preliminary roster was settled on. So, yeah, I don't know what, I'm not sure exactly what's going on there. And I know you guys covered it, but based on Richie's comments, it wasn't like we didn't take him because he was waffling it between the U.S. and Mexico. It very much sounded like he was really disappointed not to be included for the U.S.

Yeah. So, so, you know, just taking that in, it seems like it was a soccer decision from Putsch to not not have. have them included, which again, I'm not, I'm not bothered about. This is, this is really like we're into the weather here. Yeah, I mean, Richie, Richie's, if he were in the camp, he'd be eating minutes probably towards the end of a game. He's not starting over Scali or one of the other non-fullback, full-back options. Center mid, let's do that. Okay, real quick, I got to correct myself because bossy didn't get to play for Pachino. He was in that camp, but got sent home injured. That was what happened. He had played in the interim camp back in September. Okay. But he, but he was in the

October camp, got his, I'll quit making this joke anymore, but it got hands laid on him and then had to go home. Yeah, which is like the opposite of, I feel like, what the figurative laid upon hands is supposed to do. It's not supposed to send you home. Yeah. It's supposed to heal you. Yeah. I'm not sure. I'm not sure how the metaphor might not work. Let's take a break and get along with the midfielders. We'll be back. We're back. Central midfields.

Carryovers from November. Weston McKinney, Eunice Musa, Johnny Cardoso, technically, though Cardoso had to leave like 20 minutes into the first Jamaica match with an injury and then didn't play for the second night. Tanner Testament. Those are the four carryovers. Newly back into the group, Tyler Adams, as we mentioned. Oh, also I'm calling Eunice Mousa midfielder because labels are made up and poached that as much.

Yeah, should I play that clip? Because it's going to bring great comfort to our colleague Vince. It was asked by Donald Wine why he was listed as a forward. So here's the clip. I want to ask you about Eunice Moussa being listed as a forward on this roster. Of course, we normally see him in the midfield,

but I know he's played at the 10 quite a bit for Milan this season. Is that how you plan to utilize him in this camp? you kind of one of our appreciation I think it's not important in the way that we present the roster. Labels don't matter. Also for me, it's a midfielder.

It's not an offensive player. But sometimes I can play number 10 can play number seven, can play you know, win back can play fullback can play holding midfielder. Musa is a player that can play in different position. But that was a

a little bit technique, maybe, but don't follow in the way that the presentation was because I think maybe it was a mistake, but we consider him like a midfielder also. No, only you, me too. Not only you, me too. So I love that. I love that from Pasha. We have long on this pod, long been pleading with people to basically ignore the sort of traditional designations of player positions.

I mean, going with, especially like the Gio-Rena. situation where you have people constantly saying Geo Rain is not a winger. Geo Rain is like even, even Paj saying he's also a wingback. Wingback doesn't even necessarily mean the same thing for everyone. Like at this, at this granular level that we look at this team and follow this team, you literally can just pick each player and say,

here was their role in this match. Here's where they were asked to rotate on offense and possession in the first stage of buildup. And here in the second stage of buildup. And one winger will do it differently than the, winger on the other side and one winger will do it differently than the person who replaces that exact player later in the game. And so it really is just like, is the role he's being asked to do?

Does it make sense for that player, for their strengths and weaknesses? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, formation brain is highly, speaking from personal experience, is very difficult to overcome. It's hard to think about it any other way. But yeah. I mean, that's why people, that's why people of your analysis, Greg, because you're talking about the specifics of what people do in a game.

Well, here we go. And we're excited to see what the specifics are going to be of this group in particular. I mean, I don't know. This, this to me is like the group that is where all the entry lies. Because the players who are new, Tyler Adams, Giorina, and of course, Diego Luna, who's immediately like a cult hero based on his January camp heroics. I mean, he was already a cult hero for working at Dutch bros while he was a pro soccer player, but, and for other reasons. Absolutely. His vibe.

So super excited about all that and where they're all going to fit in. But Adams and Raina back from injury, Dago Luna, first camp with, or I'm sorry, he was in the cupcake camp with Pachitino and now gets his second call up. And we talked about it after January camp. And I think we both really wanted this to happen. Again, just based on the moment, like being a fan of a team, you can just let yourself enjoy some of those moments and sort of like enjoy the lore of the program and having your face busted demanding that you stay in refusing to come out yeah and then just getting an assist immediately

in a dime yeah yeah which is exactly the skill set you're hoping to see from that player um i don't i mean he might who knows he might not play in another camp again like he might totally fade into obscurity in in classic ulliana's style but like that was cool and it's cool that he's And Potch, you know, Potch was asked about him why he was called in. And he said, not very much, which is kind of one of the themes of the press conference. But he did say something about building his confidence. He didn't say anything about the size of his balls, which is a big part of the lore from the incident we were just talking about, which is after the game.

At the studio table, field side, he was asked to describe. Luna's performance and he said he has big balls, you know. And so that's, I mean, that's a crucial part of the lore. And as far as I know, balls is not a swear word. No, it's allowed, especially from an Argentinian. So super exciting. Again, no idea how, I genuinely have no idea what shaped the midfield is going to take or even which players will be in the 11 for either match.

And so this is for me is where all of the fun is. the players who will not be featuring who were in the November camp would be Gene Lucubuccio, Aidan Morris, Malik Tillman, who's obviously injured. And then probably the big snub of the roster if there is a big snub

and it's Brendan Aronson. Yeah, I mean, is it a snub? It's a snub in the sense of he's been called up a lot. He's been a fixture on the team. But I think that's the only sense in which it's a snub, really. I mean, I had, so I'd been, you know, I listed in the playbill, like who we think the locks on the roster.

Yeah. Who's, you know, close with varying icons. Yeah. And Brennan had not been a lock for me for a long time. Like he's like, I don't know, he's, he's not a core player anymore. And there are other players who are, who are knocking on the door. But then a lot of the other players who were knocking on the door had become throughout the season unavailable. And so I thought for sure, given those absences of a Haji Wright, a Kevin.

Kevin Paredes, Malik Tillman, like so many guys unavailable for injury. I was like, well, then sure, you're for sure just going to go to Brenda. So I'd upgraded him to a lock for this and just immediately put in the mud by Pashtino. Did you get a lot of phone calls about that? Tons. It was a lot. They were all Philadelphia area codes and they just, I don't know, it's tough out there. You'll work through it.

You'll work through it. Content creator. So, yes, that was a big surprise. Again, based on who's available who wasn't, especially as Brendan had been like a utility player, he can do a serviceable job at multiple positions. But I'm not, I'm certainly not losing sleep over Brenda here. Yeah. No, I'm not either. But I mean, it was kind of the big question of the press conferences right off the bat from Stephen Gough of the Washington Post.

Democracy dies in darkness. Jeff Bezos. wanted to know, you know, where's Brenda? And here's what Pocch said about it. Aronson, I think Brendan, we know very well. But we decide to bring another player in his place. I think we have players in that position, like a Gio Reina, and then Pulisic, Western McKenny, Diego Luna.

I think too many players for only one position, the possibility was, you know, to provide the balance. When you have the possibility only 23 players to call in a competition, that is only two games in a very short space of time, I think we need a balance, a good balance. It's compulsory to have three keepers, and of course after 20 players in different position. Yes, we talk about him, but we can talk about many other players that were they were in the release that we, you know, disappointed because we cannot call all. There it is. I mean, it's a lot of words there, but it just seems like basically he's at least temporarily out of the project. Yeah, and Brenda is going to be, I mean, so he's out of the project for now.

And again, plenty of guys here who are getting looks could disappoint or overwhelm, which could be. move Brenda a little back up higher. With the Gold Cup, we're going to be missing a lot of players for the club World Cup commitment. So that's going to kind of open the door where core guys are out. More fringe guys are going to get looks. But yeah, I mean, if Brenda never quite gets a look again, like it would be a twist. He's gotten more than his fair share of looks.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And again, I think we've tended to rate him steadily here. I feel like there's been a lot of swings on the Brenda rating scale from his days at Philadelphia to his days at Salzburg through the first week and a half with leads. Yeah.

And then I feel like we've always been like, I mean, he's an okay guy to throw in as a utility sub given where our pool is, but it's never, I don't think we've ever felt like he is the future. Yeah. Well, if you get a healthy Malik Tillman back, Then that adds that that's another obstacle.

I think Tillman is very far clear of Aronson, at least in what he's capable of doing. And so then, I mean, I guess a utility winger in the future at some point. But I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't get another cap, or at least another meaningful cap. I'd be a little shocked. But again, he only played 20 minutes in the Jamaica in the other series. And he came in in the second. I mean, they said he had flu-like symptoms in the first match. So he didn't dress.

20 minutes in the second match, he came in after it was already four to two, and we were up 5-2 on aggregate. So no real meaningful minutes for him there. So, again, I guess in that sense, it can't really be a huge shock. But it's a little baby shock for a little brother. Yeah, I mean, scored a huge goal against Canada and a World Cup qualifier in Nashville. I mean, I had a, I scored a goal, what in? At Honduras.

At Honduras a big goal. I think it was the third out of four, right, in that game. And, yeah. So he's not there, and I don't think, you know, Potch didn't give any special reason for it. Doug McIntyre asked why we called up Gio, given he's played such a, I mean, hasn't played so much for Dortmund this year. I think he's cited 600 minutes, which is probably right. Potch said basically he won't be available in June because of the Club World Cup so they want to get him into camp while they can even if he isn't playing that much but

quote he's a good player end quote and we want to feel him connect with him and create a relationship probably more on that later I've long been I mean as you as you know I've long been unbothered by calling up our best players I rarely I rarely get bothered by that yeah yeah but do you are not playing very much is not a concern for me in the same way that Matt Turner not playing very much is also not a concern. I mean, I'd prefer if they were, but I would call up G.R.A. And I'm happy that Pachitino's a guy who called up Motko for the cupcake when he was literally unattached. Yeah. And played him quite a bit, too. Yeah.

Worth saying. There was one reporter there asking the questions that really matter, which is what are we going to do about talented? Did Gio only running half speed for Dortmund? You brought Sprint Watch into the public domain, and I couldn't be happier about that. Let's listen to Pach agree with me and then say basically the same thing he said to McIntyre earlier in the call. So Gio ran a very talented player, maybe the most talented player on the roster. He kind of looked off into the distance when I said that. He didn't quite agree with that. He came in and made the difference last Nation's League was the best player in the tournament.

But he's not making much impact for his close. club. And I don't know if you watch the Dortmund games, it's almost like he's running half speed. And I wonder what, you don't have to agree or disagree with that, but I wonder, what's your message to him when he comes in? What are you looking for from him? How do you see him as a player also? Like you say, I agree with you. I think his talent is there and it's good to feel and how to help. I think everyone recognizes his talent. And he's, he's, he's a talent. And of course, he's improving, but he needs to improve. And of course, he can do better.

We need to push him, but at the same time, we need to understand how he think, what he like, how he don't like. I think it's important to create this relationship for the future is if he are going to have the possibility again to join us. I think we want to win this competition, and I think he can help. That is why he's with us. But in the same time, I think he can do better.

We are going to try to create this relationship, to try to discover it and how to help. So much about relationship, discovery, and I don't want to come across like I'm just, you know, mocking that right off the bat. I think it's actually probably really important. And I'm kind of, it kind of makes me happy that Potch talks about it so much. Yeah, I'm fully aboard the man. management side and and having that be a big part of how the program operates. And again, he's, he's a, I think he is a clever guy, Pachitino. So, you know, the way he can respond to your question and say he agrees, maybe he's agreeing

with the half speed part or maybe he's agreeing with Gio being the most talented player in the pool. Right. It could be, it could be either or both. Yeah. Yeah. So again, like, I, I, I, I, it would not surprise me to all of Giorina's, not in the starting 11.

Just based on the personnel available to us, we can put out a very good team that will win comfortably against Panama, knock on wood, without Gio Raina. So I think that'll be really telling in how Pach sees the type of player Gio is at the moment and the type of game he wants to try to play. Yeah.

Because I will say, there is no one else that will do certain things that Gio Raina can do. And I'm with apologies to Diego Luna. he's not there yet no and i yeah i think that's that's the key thing is he's an he's an unlock he's a lock picker to use an old cliche and um i mean i think pulisic is has some lock picking capability as well and so does weston mckenny and so does timwaya but for someone to do be in the middle of the field and just do some be somewhat relied upon to just do something brilliant to create a chance.

I think he, I think Rana's kind of clear of the field there. It is a problem though. I mean, we talked about this on the Monday review, how, I don't know if it's,

if lackadaisical is the right word, or if it's a physical, um, shortcoming, but he is not playing full speed. He doesn't look like he's, I mean, and I love a languid player.

We've, you and me, we've been talking about a languidity for nearly a decade now. You know, we love that stuff. But, um, this is beyond that,

I think. and I don't know where that comes down and how that's solved. Yeah, in a sense, it's just like it's better if the players are playing for their clubs. Giorina would be better if he covered more ground to arrive at places earlier to be languid when the ball gets to him. Right, right. Yeah. That would be, that would be an improvement. So we are just going to find out if, like, I'm so.

curious if I'm so curious what his fitness tracker says like is what is what is a heart rate monitor is telling Dortmund and the US when he's in camp like is he actually even trying to get to his top speed or again is it this physical mental barrier of you go full speed and that's how the hamstring goes so you just go with the absolute minimum required speed and then also subtract a few kilometers per hour from that yeah what's the thing that that you used to measure a earthquake? A seismograph. Maybe they have a little seismograph on his hamstring, you know?

I mean, my wild speculation is that his mental red line right now is probably below what the physios are telling him he can do. But, I mean, it's total. I'm just making stuff up. And again, you can't, he is the kind of player from like the classic Freddie of Dudes, where he is good enough. at the lock picking to build around him and make other people do extra work for the U.S. in this kind of a setting. Yeah, all of my criticism aside, I would still probably start him.

What else? I guess we do, we got to talk about the strikers, right? Or anything else on the midfield? No, just that that's the big, that's the big one to watch. See how it's going to shake, see what Potch wants to do, and then how it actually looks when they take the field, what his vision is. What about forwards? Who do we have?

Forwards for as much turnover as there was from November is like the least interesting grouping because so many of them are sort of, I feel like lame ducks here. But we'll give them the discussion that they all deserve for being on this roster. The only returners from November are Tim Way and Christian Fulsek because we're putting Eunice Musa in the midfield category. And they are lame ducks. How exactly? No, I'm just kidding. I mean, yeah, those are. seat fillers, Timway and Christian

Pulitzer. The new players coming in, Josh Sargent, who was injured, so he's back from injury. He's exciting. I mean, we're all excited for that. And then you've got Pat Ajimong and Brian White as sort of the new seat fillers taking over for

Brendan Vosquez and then the injured, Ricardo Pappy and Follar and Bolligan. Vasquez just not called up after he'd been in a few camps for Pachino. Again, Vosquez, Cal and Zendahas all, we're in the November camp, none in this camp. So suddenly the theory that Posh does rate League of Mekkes, tons of holes in it now.

I don't know where we go from there. I don't know. What theory will, what theory will we have next? He does rate, maybe MLS maybe a little more than people would prefer. Maybe. Or maybe not. It could just be like January echoes where it's like, all right, this guy, you know, felt good about this guy.

Zendejas's like a little surprising again just because of the injuries and depth issues we're dealing with and then Brenda doesn't make it and it's still not Zendajas claiming a spot because he was a little bit of like a spark in Mexico friendly I mean a lot of a spark let's be honest yeah and he's been a hell of a spark for club america and um you know we're kind of short on wingers so yeah I don't know sergeant is exciting I think that's the, see him get to play with a pretty much full strength attack is something I've been hoping for for a long time. Basically ever since his one chance to do it at the 2022 World Cup. So I think Vince said on Twitter the other day, Josh is about to go off. And, you know, from Vince's keyboard to God's ears, I hope it's true.

Yeah, that'd be a nice, a nice development on the process. Parabala for Sargent to just do it. Like, you know, the work rate and everything was great in Qatar. But he still wasn't, I mean, he didn't light up Qatar. He did a lot of things well, put in a good shift. Yeah. Certainly enough where I'm not like, shouldn't be Josh Sargent for this camp or even like, if everyone were available, I would still want Josh Sargent in this camp.

The question would be where he falls in the depth chart. And so this is sort of a chance, unobstructed to be like, someone's going to have to take this spot from me to basically i mean he had he needs if he wants it to be like that he needs to score goals you know i mean i know that's not the that's not the that's not the scuffed way of thinking about it but it is kind of uh probably most people's way i mean that that might be what put pat and brian on the roster ahead of vaskas I guess, yeah, yeah. Do you worry about sergeants?

We talked about this on the Monday review a little bit, but he plays in the championship. He scored eight goals in his eight games since he returned to the starting lineup for Norwich. But do you worry that the level is just, I mean, it's low enough that it doesn't even seem like it's on a level with Conca Calf sometimes, at least high-level Concafalf.

where the windows are just a little bigger and trying to figure out why has he never looked as good for the U.S. as he looks for Norwich. I mean, part of it is because he gets like really wide open chances at Norwich, you know? Which he doesn't usually, he doesn't almost never get, almost never gets for the U.S.

I mean, I think a lot of it, honestly, and you can only sort of keep apologizing for so long, but I think a lot of it has been really bad timing for the guy in it from a stats standpoint. A lot of his early caps were in the Burhalter, Michael Bradley, like, Will Trap era. I'm sick. Like, like, legitimately. Like, he never, like, he never got the chance. His last, like, match sort of before the World Cup that was meaningful was the first qualifying window where he got.

shifted out to Winger for the first half against Honduras in that, you know, tragic 3-4-3 that we were running. And then like the very next window, I mean, because obviously Pepe started up top in that game. And then Pepe was just like, I'm staying. And then in the very next window, Musa came back, like Tim Wea came back. And so Sergeant just missed being able to play with like the grownups

that we started to put out on the field. which is a little bit of bad luck. But again, he never, he never did anything that forced anyone's hand to be like, no, I'm one of the grown-ups. And when we get other grown-ups,

I will be one of the players who makes us better. Yeah. And then when he finally gets his look, it's in the World Cup, in like the games that are always the cageiest games you're going to play, uh, where, you know,

everything is a scrap and a battle. And, um, we were playing teams that are, very adept at scrapping and battling. So it was a, he was, he's never been put in like a situation where he's just going to score Gimmie goals over and over again, the way plenty of American strikers have done. Yeah, he never got one, a game against Giana or something like that, you know.

Okay. Yeah, it's crazy that, that tragic 343 was the, you know, the scenario that ended John Brooks's national team career. It was the night John Anthony Brooks died. And it's incredible. Tim Ream kind of went that way too for a year and change.

Casper Hulter in a darker light, doesn't it? That he scapegoated those fellows. I'm just kidding. Okay, let's do lineups, starting lineups, and then we can get out of here. Who do you want to start

against Panama, Greg? I'm going to start Matt Turner. Same. I'm going to start Chris Richard and Mark McKenzie. Same. And I think I'll go with McKenzie on the left

and Richards on the right. Same. You got, okay, I was going to say, I don't know if you flip them. They can both play either, which is nice. Right, but I think Kenzie's a little better at the left side than Richards. I am a little concerned

that they both play in a back three. It's such a different assignment, you know, than playing in a back with, in a two, to center back formation, but it'll be fine. Yeah, they're going to do it. They're going to do it. Fullbacks, I'm going with the same ones everyone has, which is Jedi Robinson and Timwaya.

I was going to say that too. I thought maybe we'd have a different right back here. No, I mean, I'm basically throwing out the lineup I wanted to see in the Copa. I think I would rather have the better attacking play on the field. I think that's probably unlikely for this window. feel like he'll roll Scali out there. But I think we have a better collection of talent to put on the field with Timway. 100%.

Yeah. If there's a match to do it, it's the one against Panama, I would think. But you're right. It's probably not going to happen. We don't know. Like, again, like we said, Plach has never had Tyler Adams and Gio Raina to play with. He's barely had Johnny Cardoso. So to put all those guys in one camp at once healthy.

could change, I mean, could just change it. He could be like, finally, I get to, get to really fill out a lineup the way I want. Yeah. And again, that's still without having Sergenio Dest. I mean, he's been watching. He's been watching. I said in my question to him,

I don't know if you've been watching. And I've learned later he's been watching, you know, from authoritative sources. He's been watching. So he knows Way is playing very well. And I don't think that's an exaggeration, playing very well at right back for Juventus. It would not be shocking if he acquiesced to that possibility.

So if you put Waya there, then I kind of just have a cloud of attackers because Pachitino's, you know, obviously had Eunice Mous up in that right space defensively and even like playing more on very much hugging the right side in possession. So I'm not really like worried about which players, which, but like, kind of a midfield then of Adams, McKinney and Gio Raina? Yeah. Does that bet? You got Gio starting to?

We love Gio here. Yeah, no, I have Adams, McKinney, and Raina, and then, yeah, Musa in that right. Musa on the field, and it could be half space, yeah. Yeah. Because, yeah, I have exactly the same thing as you, if that's what you have. Because, I mean, you think about... Well, you don't know if my last two are yet. Well, let's go ahead.

Let's go ahead and talk about him. before. Cool, second sergeant. Yeah, that's what it is. Okay. Hey, we didn't plan this. But that I love just thinking about

Waya, McKenny, Musa and Raina working together on that right side. And, you know, it's going to be, it's probably going to be way of projecting into the attack from deep from that right back position.

Because, I mean, it's definitely not going to be Raina. He's going to be drifting around in the, in the middle of the pitch. Yeah. And so obviously there's a bunch of different variables here.

One, you know, Tim Way would not play right back the way Joe Scali probably had been in the Jamaica games for Pachitino. There's a question of Jedi and whether he be a false six again. If he steps into the central midfield again as part of the pivot or if we kind of delegate that to McKinney and Musa or Adams and Musa or whoever. I mean, Adams McKinney. So again, this is where all the juice is. And even if Scali, the starter, it's going to be, there's still tons of juice left to see how the rest of the lineup plays and what it even looks like. So this isn't the only wrinkle. I feel like with Burhalter for Copa, it was like if way a play is it right back the way we kind of wanted them to against Panama.

You kind of knew where all the other pieces would fit. Here, it's just, I have no idea. I just want to, again, I just want to see that cloud. because the one thing we have seen from Pachitino is a lot of like interchange, very free-flowing, and then to see whether or not that free-flowing nests will leave us exposed once the free-flowing move comes to an abrupt halt with a turnover, or whether people kind of have a sense of al-fast they need to recover Giorina. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the cloud idea I like because Cardoso can be there and for, I mean, for any of those,

midfield positions really, without too much of a drop-off. He's playing so well for Rayal-Betis. He's just, I just, as I've said in the past, you just think about those two players, Raina and Cardoso's CVs and what you've seen them be capable of doing on the field. And just to me, it's like clear that Raina is going to give you more in a game specifically against Panama than Cardoso. Would you change it up for?

the final against Canada? Blind, I would not. I would absolutely not. But obviously you'd take the Panama performances into consideration. If it's just, if it's a mess, if there's just people stepping on each other's toes in a way that you don't think you can fix. Yes, we have plenty of other iterations ready to go. Yeah. But I would run it back.

I feel like, again, I actually think Panama and Mexico, at this point, the way Panama have been playing, like they kind of present the same way. like they think they're going to play you straight up. I don't think they're going to just retreat into a block and sit and try to defend us. I think they're going to try to play soccer the same way Mexico feel like they always should do against the U.S. I guess that's not even true. They have sat back a little bit or at least played more direct in the last nation's league. Yeah. Yeah.

Didn't really work that well, but I mean for them. So I think that's it, right? Next, so the game is a week from today, Thursday, March 20th, in Los Angeles. I forget what time it is, but you can figure that out. Just a programming note, you're not going to be able to recap the first Nations League game with me. That'll be me and Vince, and then you and I will recap the final the day after it, I believe. The second game, yes. Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Hey, thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.