The roster for the October Nation’s League matches is out and the reaction has been predictable…much like the roster itself. I’m going to break this down from two perspectives…
Perspective #1 – Relax, Berhalter Knows What He’s Doing
Let’s defend Gregg for a minute. The average age of the roster is 26. It’s a fairly young group. Take a look at the starting lineup that we are likely to see against Canada:
The average age of that starting lineup is even a little bit younger (25.5). These guys have all spent multiple camps learning the system and will not have to start from square one in a camp where the players will have 2 days before a competitive game.
If everyone were healthy the roster would be even younger and more Euro-centric. Tyler Adams, John Brooks, Tim Weah, and Sergino Dest (if he’s still in the pool 😢) are all young and first choice players (Weah may be arguable).
Another selling point is that Josh Sargent has been included this time. Assuming Sargent starts against Cuba and gets some minutes against Canada then Zardes’ inclusion doesn’t matter. Do we really care that a guy gets called in because he works hard, is a good dude, but doesn’t play?
On top of all that, GGG did call in Brenden Aaronson. He may not be the exact young player that everyone was hoping for (that was probably Ledezma), but he’s 18 and has played very well for the Philadelphia Union this year. If you can’t get excited about him then you just hate MLS or something.
If you sit down, quit reading the Twitter outrage for a second, and think – the only player that really got “snubbed” was Duane Holmes (and maybe Alvarado – I’m kinda confused that he hasn’t gotten a sniff yet. I’ve watched a little Liga MX and it’s unarguably a better league than MLS). I think he should be there, but I don’t coach the national team. The other guys that we all want to see (Ledezma, Mendez, Llanez, Richards) are all really young and haven’t played a minute of soccer with the first teams of their respective clubs.
So on to the other perspective…
Perspective #2 – Berhalter is a Bad/the Wrong Coach
I’m not going to lie. When I first saw the roster there was some dismay followed quickly by anger. The USMNT is really the only sports team left in my life that can cause me pain. Michigan football was the other for a while, but that callous is pretty built up now. Apathy makes great armor.
Seeing Trapp, Zardes, Lovitz, and Roldan on the team is extremely frustrating. Looking at it through that lens – Berhalter looks conservative to a fault or a straight up poor evaluator of talent. If you can watch Duane Holmes play for Derby County, compare that to what we’ve seen from Rodan with the USMNT, and conclude that Roldan is better…I’m not sure what to say.
What is the point of having guys in the team that we’ve seen and have repeatedly proven are not good enough? Wouldn’t it make more sense to call in talented, young guys who are playing first team soccer even if it’s in the Eerste Divisie? It’s not the first team at Ajax or PSV, but Mendez/Ledezma are still playing against grown men playing for promotion to the first division.
Why have this apparent rule of playing for the first team before “earning” your call up? Chris Richards may very well be better than Walker Zimmerman right now. Richards may never be good enough to break through and start for Bayern’s first team though. If that “rule” stays in place Richards may get loaned to Paderborn, start, and then suddenly get called up. Does that make any sense? Did he suddenly become a much better player? Of course not. It seems like some common sense should be applied in that it is much easier to break into the lineup of an MLS team than some of these really high level European teams. *throws things*
Now What?
Now we pray that the team looks good over the next two games and Gregg’s system really takes root. Additionally, we pray that some of these young guys break into their first teams and force Berhalter’s hand. @OverrunMidfield put together a really nice Twitter thread of who all those guys are. Check it out if you’re interested. Enjoy the battering of Cuba and the defections sure to follow shortly after.
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