Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - Quick reaction to the USWNT's Gold Cup roster

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

Greg and Belz convene briefly after the Kilgore press conference on Wednesday. Morgan omitted, what are knock-on effects for selection? Does anything matter until Hayes takes over?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. We have recently added patron-only content that’s available every Friday. Patrons also 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/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. Hey, everybody, we got a women's gold cup roster earlier today from Twyla Kilgore, interim manager. She who collaborates with Emma Hayes. Greg, how you doing? I'm doing good. There's nothing better than like the inkblot national team rosters where you aren't quite sure if this is what it says about where people stand or like the full competition that we're really prepping for. Even though this is a gold cup, there's a trophy. It's not the Olympics.

It's not the World Cup. So there's always so much interpretation and wiggle room for what it all means in capital letters. It does skew younger, Alex Morgan, not in this camp, right? Yeah. And I feel like that is the big thing, right? I mean, Alex Morgan is an icon, and she has not officially retired the way that Rupino and Ertz did multiple times. And so, like, this might mean something. This might really be capital letters here.

Or again, or it might just be, you get a try out. We know who Alex Morgan is. And if people don't look dangerous, then Alex comes right back. Yeah. Lots of talk about the environment, getting people into the environment, our environment, their environment, that environment, this environment. The women play a to be determined concaf team on February 20th. So I'm describing the group stage of the Gold Cup on February 20th, which is 13 days from today. Then Argentina on February 23 and then Mexico on February 26.

All three games of the group will be at Dignity Health Sports Park in the Metro Los Angeles area. And it's all happening, as you alluded to with an eye to the Olympics, the soccer parts of which will happen between July 24 and and August 10, so late July, early August. In Paris, where a few of the women who are on this group have enjoyed some success in 2019. That's right. Yeah. Also the setting for Aristocats and the Phantom of the Opera. Let's do the roster.

Goalkeepers are Jane Campbell, Casey Murphy, and Alyssa Neyer. Any surprise here, Greg? I mean, so there was a question about whether Neyer would be back. Again, we weren't super high on Neyre going into the World Cup. She had precious little to do during the World Cup. She ends up being part of, again, one of the most iconic moments of the World Cup in which we were eliminated on the width of a hair on the penalty shootout. And now we didn't know. We didn't know how she was going to fit into the new regime.

And we still don't know. Like she could be a prime candidate to be a no nonsense third goalkeeper for an entire cycle, right? Like even if she's not the best shot stopper we have anymore. And maybe she wasn't last cycle either. She could, I mean, she seems very like all business, like a totally fine player to have in the mix to help get a job done. Yeah. But that's, that might not be what it is. It might be that she remains the number one and holds it, uh, in,

definitely. It's, again, it's however you want to read it at the time. But what are you thinking? You thinking this is a, she's just going to be a veteran holdover? Do you think it's, it's her job until it isn't? I don't know. Yeah. We talked about a little on the money review, but I just feel like I get further and further from understanding what a goalkeeper does and who's good at it and who's not every, every day get a little further away from that. But I guess, you know, Aubrey Kingsbury, maybe a little bit of an omission here. I don't know. I was hoping, I was kind of hoping we'd see some of the kids. And by the kids, I mean, yeah, the ones who have just not gotten looks, even if they're in their mid to late 20s.

But, you know, we're going with some players who've been in these camps before. And then even for these three, again, it'll be interesting to see once we get, even for the group stage, we won't know if it's just kind of, of tinkering or if it's what Twyla thinks is the best lineup and if that coincides with what Emma believes is the best lineup. So we have so much, so much interpretational wiggle room here. But once we get to the knockouts, at least we'll have, I think, there's a sense of who Twyla thinks is her most likely winner. Well, yeah, Twyla spoke via Zoom call with reporters about two hours ago now and was given several opportunities to sort of explain the collaboration that she's doing

with Emma or, you know, sort of illuminate the process in some way. And she just cheerfully, steadfastly declined to give any color around that. So it's, we don't know. You know, we don't know what's going on, exactly, which is fine. It's not that big of a deal. Not that big of a deal. And again, like, perfectly understandable and potentially necessary. because of Emma's current situation where she has another employer who might have placed some demands on their time or restrictions on what she can do with her time when it comes to moonlighting with another organization.

And so if Twyla doesn't want to be in a position where she is lying, she will dance around it. If there is collaboration going on, that maybe is beyond what Chelsea would prefer. there's just no reason to sort of introduce that those challenges to Emma's current working relationship where Chelsea are on their way to or at least in line for a domestic title and have some Champions League football to play coming up yeah no need to tell Todd Bully about the all-nighters they're doing going over the roster we're real though you know like yeah make keep Emma's life as comfortable as possible yeah and it's also possible there just isn't any collaboration or very little.

So that's, man, man to just have that transparency, Bells. Right. Well, I mean, it's an exciting group of players that we got.

Let me, let me go through the rest of it. The defenders are Alana Cook, Abby Dahl Kemper, Crystal Dunn, Tierna Davidson, Emily Fox, Naomi Germa,

Casey Kruger, and Jenna Nysewanger. And I would, would say of those of those eight probably three maybe four are locks

for the Olympics right I mean Germa Fox and Dunn probably locks so I'm gonna I'm gonna jump in already and say we got inkblot stuff going here because I don't know where I don't know where Crystal Dunn stands right

she's one of the one of the veterans that was given last camp off who's been brought back But I don't know if it's brought back to Tester against Nyswonger. I don't know if it's brought back as like a contingency in case Midge purse takes over the right side and Fox then becomes the left back and then Dunn becomes either superfluous or utility player elsewhere in the lineup. Or again, if Midge doesn't do that right back job, then Fox is the right back and then we need an extra left back. So there is just, there are so many moving pieces to positions, position assignments, and then just status like depth chart status,

where players actually stand relative to each other even within those positions. So I'm like Germa's a lock. Emily Fox is a lock. And after that, I genuinely don't know who I would call a lock. Yeah. Purse is on the roster as a forward. So, but again, we don't know that that means all that much. she might be very much in the plans as a right back.

I did get to ask about Corbyn Albert. I didn't ask about purse. I wish I had. Midfielders are Corbin Albert, Sam Coffey, Lindsay Horan, Rose LaVelle, Olivia Moultry, and Emily Sonnet. So kind of a mix of the old and the new here. Yeah, who are you excited to see here? Is there anything that you're like jazzed about?

I used to be more jazzed about Corbyn Albert than I am now. But I'm interested to see her. Same with Moultrie. I want to see Sam Coffey develop a real laser-focused understanding with the centerbacks and become like a solid defending number six. Because we know she can distribute, she can move the ball around. I don't know if elegant is the right word, but she's progressing with the ball.

But can she defend? I guess that's maybe the main thing I'm looking at. Yeah, it's interesting for me in the sense that a lot of the things that I would have been most interested in aren't really available to look at. And that's, or, you know, it doesn't seem like they will be. And that's Jayden Shaw being, because Jayden Shaw is listed as a forward, then it doesn't seem like we're going to, like go for our most creative personnel grouping where you throw like shaw and lavelle in the

midfield together and just assume you're going to dominate everything uh and obviously we don't cat macario is not back yet we knew she wouldn't be um but it seems like she might be only two weeks away for chel so uh that'd be another one where i will be very interested to see how she fits in once she comes back to health uh but yeah as it stands it seems like it's going to be lavel haran and then some other midfielder. And do we think it'll probably just be sonnet as our three? I'd be disappointed in that. But yeah, I think that's likely.

I mean, it could be safe. It could be coffee, Lavelle, and Iran. And, you know, I wouldn't be shocked by that. Would you? No, I wouldn't. And I feel like that's sort of the hope here, right? Again, there's so much that we will discover as we watch this team. And like my hope is that we discover some things during this tournament.

My hope is that even if the inertia or the incumbency right now would be like Sonnet, Horan Lavelle, do other players get a chance to take over one of those spots? Do somebody get a chance to outplay Sonnet? Do they actually do it? Do the coaches believe that they did it and then change the depth chart accordingly? And then that is totally possible that that could happen over the course of the Gold Cup. I mean, Sonnet had to do it over the course of a world. World Cup to even get into that spot.

So, like, I certainly believe that nothing is set in stone for this interim coach who's leading into Emma's tenure. Yeah, I think, I mean, it'd be cool to see Maltry start, but I can't see it happening. And so I guess the best we can hope with her is some cameos, at least until things maybe develop into a new direction like you're talking about. The forwards are me official Nitch purse Who I'm kind of hoping

End up playing right back for this team And then Trinity Rodman Jaden Shaw Sophia Smith and Lynn Williams No surprises here I don't think Except for Alex Morgan's omission Ashley Hatches as well

I mean she's been around for a long time Yeah she had a ridiculous season last year I mean very productive season in the league for Ashley Hatch. So certainly wouldn't be out of place for her production. But I am, again, I still don't know exactly how to interpret this, but it sure seems like Fish and Sophia are the strikers, right? I hope so.

Which gets at least a step closer to Sophia Smith nailed on striker for the U.S. Women's National team. Mal Swanson, not here, obviously for injuries. She's on her way back, though. And then the other little bit of news was Alyssa Thompson, I mean, in the attacking group for not being here, sort of described as having an injury and not quite in training. Doesn't say whether she would have been here if she were healthy. I think it was the strong implication was she would.

Okay. But I mean, this is absolutely, I mean, this is, we continue to have an absurd number of really exciting attacking. player. So if you want to put a list of Thompson in this group, uh, by all means I would be excited about that too. But like you'd be taking off somebody who I would be very happy to have starting in a women's gold cup match in the knockouts.

Right. I mean, would it, would it be Lynn Williams? Is that what we think? Or do you think it would be like midge either drops off or she doesn't drop off the roster, surely she'd just go to the defensive line?

I'd drop Williams, uh, if it was me making the decisions to bring in Thompson. just because I don't think Williams plays, likes to play the way that I think we probably need to play at some point. But, yeah, I'd drop Williams. I don't know if Twilight would do that, though. Like you said, Swanson, not on the roster, but she will be at the camp as a training player.

So that's kind of cool. And then, you know, I know you're saying that Macario may be, back in two weeks. That's the news out of Chelsea, probably. I mean, she's always two weeks away. Yeah. Twyla gave an answer on her. She said, and I'll read it in full here. I believe cats in a really good space mentally. She's progressing well physically. She's looking forward to the point in time when it's most appropriate for her to come back into our environment. She's well supported where she's at in terms of where she's at in the day today i will leave that to chelsea in her current club environment to reveal those things as they see fit as they're closer to it but we're very excited about

moving forward with cat when the time's right so uh pretty not non-committal on all things macario i would say so non-committal but also again just saving some of that maybe good news for chelsea to deliver and within like an hour of that press conference uh chelsea posts a photo of cat macario going through the pre-match warm-ups, like, in a kit for their match today. So she's not listed to be in the team today, but she sure does seem like she's legitimately close and not like word is she's close, but you still haven't seen a single image of her doing anything. I think the word was she is training with Chelsea, but she just might not be like mentally

ready to accept like the full speed match intensity. So we again, I feel like we are close. And even though it's not going to be for this gold cup, she could be playing club soccer by the end of the gold cup. Incredible news, incredibly positive news, I should say. Any other omissions here? I mean, Savannah Demello didn't get the nod here. That's kind of interesting.

She's there training as well. She's on as a training player. And so is Alyssa Thompson, Giselle, the younger Thompson. Yeah, that's right. So you got these training bodies. And again, I think that's, I think this is a perfectly good use of the camp. And if DeMello, even if she's not on the roster, like if she's just showing that she is better than some of the other than if she's better than Corbyn, Albert.

You know, side by side in training. And then she has to be the one who has to stay back in the hotel when the team bus leaves. Like, she'd know, right? They'd sort of all know what's coming after this turn. tournament and it's going to be up to the new players, Maltry and Corbin and coffee to like prove something. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, lots to prove.

Lots to prove in that midfield, I think. Sister Mary Alice Vignola, also not in the camp. I have to catch myself that that we've added a title to her name. Because it just sounds, sounds right. Sounds really good. doesn't it? So she had gotten some looks. She's not there.

I guess she was kind of competing with Kruger, right, for some of those minutes. And Nicewanger. More Nicewanger, I suppose. Can you think of any other omissions that are notable? No, no one who's really shown that they're outside, like well above what what what's here right there's there just aren't any of those players right now who are very clear upgrades on on players who are in camp yeah what are you looking for from

these games uh so i'm looking for the like our shape in possession uh i feel like we're going to be spending most of our time in possession uh throughout this tournament group stage and knockouts um so i'm looking for the shape i'm looking for the rotations uh i'm looking for the roles of the strikers, especially for me, because again, I feel like this could be the transition to full-on Sophia Smith Stryker, but then how does it change if it's me official in there? So tons of stuff that I just want to pour over

with a microscope as it's happening, but very little that we can sort of do ahead of time other than just really be excited about those six attacking names. I do. I share your desire to see Jaden Shaw in midfield. I don't. It doesn't seem like we're going to get that necessarily, but looking for her to cook.

Yeah. And again, even if she's not in the midfield, I feel like she's the kind of player who's going to go wherever she thinks she should go. I don't think at any point she will be like tethered to the sideline if she goes on as a winger. So, yeah, I skipped over that. The thing I'm excited to see is also going to be very much.

much, Jaden Shaw's role, where she lines up, how often she lines up, because I don't, I don't know if she's considered like a starter nailed on. But let's see if she can be.

And then, yeah, let's just see how much cooking she's allowed to do and how much she can actually accomplish. Yeah. She needs an understanding with Sophia to develop. So I'll be looking for that too. I think that's it.

Maybe this is our shortest podcast episode ever. But we just got to get to the games in two weeks, and we'll be recapping them. Well, Bells, throw your 11 out there unless you're a coward. Oh, yeah, not a coward. Let's say Jane Campbell, to switch it up at goalkeeper. Germa and Davidson as the centerbacks. give me a this is

this is going to be pure fantasy here then give me purse at right back Fox at left back and then I mean if you listen the one

it was a Wednesday you know my lineup already but then I'll go coffee Haran and Shaw and then Rodman well

right without Swanson here it gets a little yeah so I'll go Rodman on one wing Smith on the other wing and Fishwlett Stryker

I know we're not big fans of Smith on the wing but yeah I can't believe you're doing this you know what you know what I was thinking of like the full roster so I had Swanson on one of the wings I'm going to switch it up I'm going to say coffee LaValle Haran

there you go now we're Shaw Smith Rodman There it is So that matches Yeah that matches my six Because I do think I think you let her if you give

Heran Lavelle and Shaw Creepin into that midfield to like Combine with Then it's gonna really change how much ground She's asked to cover She can really just kind of flow where she wants Do her cute stuff sit deep and distribute When she wants

Arrive late She likes to do And you have Lavelle and Shaw As sort of the busy bodies Running all over the place. So, uh, I would, I would love that. I would love to see midge attacking the edge on the right side and Fox doing her thing on the left. And of course, uh, Sophia. Sophia is a striker. Yeah. Let's do that. Let's do it like that. What, what's your back line? Uh, so I got German

and Cook. I like Cook and games we're going to dominate possession. I just think she's got a real easy, uh, swing of the leg to move that ball around. Real, real aesthetically pleasing. Uh, and like I said, midge and fox. I don't really care who the keeper is. I lean Murphy, but, you know, pick one. We shouldn't have too much trouble. I wouldn't think in that first game. I mean, we shouldn't have much trouble in the group at all, really. Yeah. Top two, advance automatically.

Third still has a chance ending. So it's not going to be a stressful group stage, I don't think. Okay. check out our YouTube channel and check out our Patreon I'll put links to all that stuff in the show notes Thanks Greg Thanks everybody for listening

We'll see ya