Eight USMNT Storylines to Watch

The European season is just beginning and the MLS season is…in the stretch run? Not sure how to describe the period we are in before all the teams make the playoffs, but we persevere.

In these uncertain times…just kidding. Anyone who is still starting sentences like that should be tarred and feathered. 😂 For real though, this is a screenshot of the US Soccer schedule for the USMNT:

There has been word of a domestic based roster for a window in October and a European roster for November, but with the break scheduled from October 5th-14th and no news, it’s starting to look bleak.

Despite all of that though, there are still several compelling storylines for devoted USMNT fans to follow until whenever the next games will be. Let’s take a look at a few.

McKennie joins a Blue Blood

I’ll lead off with a couple of the most obvious ones. McKennie has made a surprise move to Juve and looks set to get a fair number of minutes. He’s supposedly replacing Blaise Matuidi (no pressure, Wes) as the all-action, ball-winning midfielder in the middle for the Old Lady. This is the best team I’ve ever seen an American be a part of and I’m actually excited to watch Serie A for the first time in 10 years or so. (I used to catch games on the old Fox Soccer Channel back in the early 2000s. Us old timers still remember you FSC. R.I.P.)

Pulisic and Roman’s Millions

Chelsea has spent a little this summer. By my count Chelsea could have as many six new regular starters within a couple weeks. Pulisic played so well down the stretch last season that his spot isn’t in jeopardy, but it will be very interesting to watch how well CP gels with his high priced, new teammates. If things go according to plan Chelsea is going to be a fun team to watch this year.

Uncertain Starting Spots

There are several spots up for grabs on the USMNT. Here are the sure starters by my reckoning:

• Christian Pulisic (LW)
• Weston McKennie (#8)
• Tyler Adams (#8 or #6)
• Sergino Dest (RB)
• Zack Steffen (GK)
• Jon Brooks (LCB)

That’s only six spots. The other five are pretty wide open. You can almost certainly put Gio Reyna into the list above, but we haven’t seen him with the team yet so I thought I’d hold off. Also, where’s he going to play? What players break through, stay healthy, play well in new positions, etc. is going to change the makeup of the team quite a lot in the next few months. How much will Berhalter change the system to accommodate them?

Tyler Adams as Nagelmann’s “Quarterback?”

It was a DFB Pokal game against FC Nürnberg, who currently compete in the 2. Bundesliga, but the quotes afterward were mighty interesting. This is what he said:

“We wanted to open up some new spaces in our build-up play. Tyler played like a quarterback. It gives us new opportunities for the future.”

I’m a charter member of the Tyler should be the #6 for the USMNT because of how defensively superior he is to the other options. (He passes the ball just fine too, btw) If Nagelsmann starts playing him as a controlling #6 that drops between the center backs then this competition is over. He’s it.

I’ll be watching his developing positional deployment with RB Leipzig with interest.

Actual Competition Developing

Striker

Let’s imagine you are Jozy Altidore two years ago. You stroll into the locker room at the Home Depot Center (or whatever it’s called now), take a look at the other strikers you are up against for playing time, and then you go take a nap. Sure of your primacy in the striker pool.

I might be getting ahead of myself, but now Josh Sargent is starting his third year in the Bundesliga, Tim Weah is getting time at striker with Lille, Nicholas Gioacchini has scored a goal already for Caen, Jeremy Ebobisse is playing well for Portland, and Gyasi Zardes is still knocking in goals for Columbus. It’s not exactly Firmino, Jesus, Richarlison, but it’s better.

Winger

Pulisic is starting on the left. On the right though, it’s someone from the Morris, Reyna, Llanez, Weah group. I don’t mean any disrespect, but that is going to be a little harder to break into than the Arriola, Boyd, Lewis crew we brought to the Gold Cup. There are more than likely young guys that will push into that group as well.

Midfield

The midfield is going to be a dogfight to get into. If you go with the assumed Adams-McKennie partnership in front of a controlling #6 to be named later…any player that wants to get into the team has to knock out a Leipzig or Juventus player. (I know they’ll probably never be healthy together. Just let me dream, man.) Not an easy task.

Fullbacks

There’s still not many options at left back, but having one (Robinson) is an improvement over faking it, right? At right back, Dest is the nailed on starter, but there are two competent backups behind him. I remember hoping Steve Cherundolo could get healthy for one last run in the lead up to the 2014 World Cup. Fabian Johnson ended up being good there for the tournament, but he would have been our best player at both fullback positions and both wings in that tournament. Having three actual right backs feels like a real step forward.

Center back and Keeper

Still paper thin here. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Breakthroughs Everywhere 🤞

Here is a list of players that could very well play minutes for a first team in Europe this season: Richards, Llanez, Weah, Harper, Konrad, Ledezma, Otasowie (loan?), Gioacchini, Taitague, Johnny Soccer (Brazil not Europe, I know). And I’m probably forgetting someone.

Those guys are not all at the same level and they are not all equally likely to play, but I’d put money on 1-3 of them making it. If you start adding one or two players like this to the pool every season the pool gets deeper and more competitive rather quickly.

Long Shot Dual Nats

There are quite a few players that are very unlikely to play for the US, but until they don’t we can keep watching them. You’ve got slick handling center back Phillipe Sandler (hurt atm) on loan with Anderlecht from Man City, uber prospect Yunus Musah starting with Valencia at 17, Efra Alvarez looking nice with the Galaxy, Bryan Okoh RB Salzburg, Folarin Balogun with Arsenal, Malick Sanogo with Union Berlin, and several others that I’m sure I should have included.

Probably none of those guys will end up playing for the United States, but if even one of them does that’s another step up in competition for some position.

MLS Playing the Kids

After years of promising and hoping it’s finally happening this year. You can’t log onto Twitter these days without running into a comp of some young American balling out. As I type this right now, Tanner Tessman supposedly just had the best game of his career. That comp up yet Watke_? It used to be that you just had to tune in to watch the occasional NYRB or FC Dallas game, but now just about every team in MLS has a young guy worth keeping an eye on. It’s made MLS much more interesting/enjoyable to watch this year.

If that’s not enough reasons to keep your fandom going for another couple months then I don’t know what to tell you. There’s going to be an unreasonable amount of soccer to watch and we are going to get through this together. (I mean that in the happiest way possible🤓)

If you enjoyed this and would like to be informed of future articles type your email address in the box and you’ll be notified of each new post. Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter @blharreld 🤓