sluggo said:

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I don't know who your kind of player is. I like players who are either very quick like Gozo or players who are smart and highly skilled like Ellis. Habroune is the latter. Bombino is such a replacement level player. Frankie Westfield is just okay, but he is Sullivan's buddy and has a great attitude and crosses better than most American outside backs, although he still does not cross well enough. I think he should be their outside back to be named later.

CBS Sports Network might be the only channel I don't have. Although maybe I get it through Paramount Plus. I guess I sometimes struggle with obscure Fox soccer channels and one Spanish network (TUDN?). Life is too short to miss games one wants badly to see.

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Thanks for the replies!

To answer your implicit question, sluggo, I don't know that I have a "type" of player that I like. I am a partisan when it comes to sports. I want all the players that will help the team(s) I am a partisan for win. Often, players who are tremendous athletes and/or have dazzling skills are the ones who help you win the most. But sometimes, some other players of different types help too, or help with other teams at a lower level that I also want to win.

I don't always watch the very best players and teams. My favorite American football team by far is Cal. A team that has been mired in mediocrity (at best) for over a decade and a half, playing in a conference that is not the best conference, among a set of conferences where even the best one does not represent the best there is in football. Yet Cal players and prospects that can help Cal are the ones I care about.

The best there is in football is the NFL - and I barely watch it. Sure, I'll watch a game or two a year with friends and some highlights. The Montana/Young 49ers at their peak were great, as were the Brady Patriots at their peak, and the 85 Chicago Bears defense. But I did not come close to watching every one of these teams' games (and I don't regret missing them) because I am not a partisan of any of these teams (or of any NFL team). I do tend to follow some ex-Cal players in the NFL (like say, Cam Jordan) even while not really caring how their team does.

So with soccer, I am a USMNT partisan, and recently (as you can tell), I decided to start following it closely, which I had not before. So a lot of these questions and discussions are really information-gathering on my part so I can understand the full pipeline of what the USMNT has and might have going forward.

And I care about all kinds of players and prospects:
- The ones that might help the USMNT win right now (ones like Balogun, Freeman, and yes, maybe Sullivan)
- The ones that might help the USMNT win in 2030 and beyond (ones like Pierre, Mehmeti, Ellis, Gozo, Albert)
- The ones that might help the USMNT U-23 + 3 over-age players win in the 2028 Olympics (including perhaps a couple of the above, but also speedy but only moderately-skilled Peyton Miller, and average Frankie Westfield, and replacement-level Luca Bombino, and sort of ok Julian Hall, and skilled but slow Nico Tsakiris, and disappointing that he's the best young goalie we have Diego Kochen)... and of course some of these players might end up contributing as rotational/sub players for the senior USMNT later on.
- Even the ones that might help the USMNT U-20 team win in the U-20 World Cup next summer, including some of the ones mentioned above.

It's nice to have spectacularly athletic or skilled players, and I do appreciate the beauty in, say, a couple of Sullivan's recent goals or in the goals Barca scores this season in La Liga. Often spectacular athleticism or skill helps you win, but it's the WINNING that I really care about. The other things are mostly means to an end. Any player that might possibly be one that could now or eventually build towards one of the US teams (at almost any level) winning more is of interest to me.

So I apologize, because I think this attitude of mine is leading me to ask you about a bunch of players who you might not care about that much, mainly because I'm trying to pick your brain and learn about them!

Go Bears and go USMNT (all levels)! USWNT too, though currently I don't follow them closely (which used to be how I treated the USMNT until recently).

I hear you. You are all about the Ws. I do want to win the World Cup, it is has been a 36 year journey since I first saw the USMNT in the 1990 WC. But on a day-to-day basis, I want to be entertained by good soccer played in an interesting style.

I am happy to share whatever I know. I am falling behind, I don't know much, almost nothing, of players younger than 2009. The 2009 class is so special I have focused on them and older players.

All good. Maybe it's because neither I, nor my son, were star players, but we both played/play on good teams in mostly defensive positions. I started my junior and senior years on varsity (in high school) and we won the league both years, but I only scored two goals, one each season, and both fell in my lap, not due to any skill on my part. My son also doesn't score, and does not have good ball skills (my fault, should have started him with a ball earlier), but his school's team is good (D2 North Coast champs last year, 5 wins, 0 losses, 1 draw so far this season, 1-0 in league, looking to be in D1 North Coast tourney at season's end). So I appreciate all the decent but not great players it takes to form the backbone of most teams (not that you don't).

I also think watching so much Cal football and basketball over the decades has made me this way. Give me some fricken wins already, and give them to me in bunches. Style points? That's nice, especially if it helps my team win, but not my primary concern.

Speaking of decent but not great players, Johnny Cardoso started and has played most of the match (85 mins). I just watched him a few minutes ago with a great assist to put Atletico Madrid up 4-0 in La Liga. I think he's better at the "6" holding midfield position than Tyler Adams when both are healthy.

And yes, I can watch La Liga, including Barca! I am an idiot. I don't have ESPN+ but I DO have access to ESPN Deportes. At least on my phone where I am watching Atletico vs Osasuna right now and will watch Barca in an hour off and on when work allows.

Also recording AC Milan's Europa league match today at noon on CBS Sports Network to watch Yunus Musah and Christian Pulisic (actually the former more than the latter). And then of course Orlando later tonight to watch Justin Ellis. Good soccer day!

No excuses needed. We all approach sports (and life) in our own ways. I don't just like soccer like I like other sports, I am obsessed by it. Maybe because I play (poorly), maybe because I coached, reffed, managed and co-run my adult league. But I think it is something more. As I said, the way it hits me when Barca plays is the way Mozart and Van Gogh hit me, like it is one of man's greatest achievements. Winning and losing is the necessary narrative, but I see it as art. If the US could play at the highest levels, it would be one of the best things that happened in my life. Or Cal winning a National Championship in football, though for different reasons. Not like having children or anything, but way up there. With that in mind, just like mediocre musicians playing Mozart, flawed players playing soccer, even if it does a job, will never interest me. Sorry Frankie Westfield. Go back to fifth grade and learn to dribble.

Yes, I understand how you feel, even though I don't quite share the same outlook. Though I do appreciate the beauty of sports, including soccer (I did watch Barca today, or at least sixty minutes of it).

Your comparison of beautiful soccer to classical music reminds me of when I played cello growing up through high school, playing for an independent youth orchestra, in my high school orchestra, and with a private tutor. I was pretty decent for a high school kid, but never great. Probably the best I ever played was a solo performance of Bach's Cello Suite in G-Major, which ironically, I gave in Cal's Morrison Hall one year before I ever attended Cal (I grew up in Berkeley - my parents were professors... my father still is semi-retired there).

Afterwards, there was the usual kind-hearted and gratifying gushing from my relatives and friends, and I was duly proud. No major hiccups, and I mostly hit the areas of subtlety and growth and crescendo I was aiming for. But later that night, after listening to a recording of my performance, I listened to the same Bach piece performed by Pablo Casals. And I knew what my cello tutor also knew, that I was just so... blindingly... decent. The gulf between me and Casals was as vast as the gulf between the Sun and Alpha Centauri.

These days, when I visit my parents with my son at the old house in the Berkeley Hills, they still point to my old cello and ask me to play Bach's Cello Suite in G-Major and I decline, in part because I am way, way out of practice and because I don't feel like printing out the sheet music which I've lost (back then, I didn't need it), and my middle-aged fingers are weak and slow. But in part because... well, they and I have both heard the piece performed by Casals, and by Yo Yo Ma. So instead, I play them a few bars of the cello theme from the Game of Thrones TV show and call it a day.

I played electric guitar back then too in a band, and could lay down some decent riffs and solos, but the same gulf of course existed between me and Eddie Van Halen or Jimi Hendrix.

At playing cello, I never was or will be in the same solar system as Casals and Ma. Hell, I was and never will be as good at playing cello as, say... Frankie Westfield is at playing soccer. And the gap between my soccer play back then and Westfield's play is, if anything, even greater.

So I guess there are two ways to look at it. I choose to celebrate the Frankie Westfields of the world, especially if they can help some level of the USMNT win (probably U-23 team in the 2028 Olympics), even if he is nowhere near as transcendent as his stellar teammate Cavan Sullivan, or even more so, the attacking players on Barca who I watched today (Barca's defense looked closer to Westfield's level, actually, certainly not elite).

Because there are millions of kids and young adults like I was who try, but will never be as good at classical music or soccer or whatever as even Frankie Westfield is at soccer, let alone the elite players. So here's to you, Frankie Westfield! And all the players who might help the USMNT at any level. It's all beautiful to me.

(And also, just win baby! Cal and USMNT).

Kintsugi
the traditional Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the cracks with a natural lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.

Instead of hiding cracks or throwing a broken item away, kintsugi highlights the damage, treating the breaks as a proud part of the object's unique history.




Wabi Sabi

The roster was named for the next four friendlies and it reads like OneKeg's preview. We got the big 6 (my name for Gozo, Ellis, Mehmeti, Pierre, Mathis and, of course, Sullivan), our best young prospects. We got Kochen, our young goalie prospect. We got Julian Hall. We got Cole Campbell, though I don't think he brings anything to the table. We got the good but not that good Frankie Westfield. We got Yunus Musah back into the fold. We even got his guy, George Campbell.

One player not talked about is Brooklyn Raines. He plays holding midfielder. He doees not bring much danger offensively, but what makes him kind of interesting is that he is a very good athlete. He is a nice additiion. Missing are Shaun Tskakiris and Taha Habroune, two young skilled but less athletic midfielders. And guys like Pulisic and Balogun. But Poch has given the fans what they wanted. Let's see what we got.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49965164/usmnt-cavan-sullivan-christian-pulisic-mauricio-pochettino

sluggo said:

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The roster was named for the next four friendlies and it reads like OneKeg's preview. We got the big 6 (my name for Gozo, Ellis, Mehmeti, Pierre, Mathis and, of course, Sullivan), our best young prospects. We got Kochen, our young goalie prospect. We got Julian Hall. We got Cole Campbell, though I don't think he brings anything to the table. We got the good but not that good Frankie Westfield. We got Yunus Musah back into the fold. We even got his guy, George Campbell.

One player not talked about is Brooklyn Raines. He plays holding midfielder. He doees not bring much danger offensively, but what makes him kind of interesting is that he is a very good athlete. He is a nice additiion. Missing are Shaun Tskakiris and Taha Habroune, two young skilled but less athletic midfielders. And guys like Pulisic and Balogun. But Poch has given the fans what they wanted. Let's see what we got.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49965164/usmnt-cavan-sullivan-christian-pulisic-mauricio-pochettino

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Yes, good to see all the young lads, the big six as sluggo calls them, with Sullivan as the glamour pick among them, plus several others.

Poch also really stuck to his words of not inviting guys coming off injuries since Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie (who is still injured, though he might play today), Folarin Balogun and Johnny Cardoso did not make the roster, even though I expect all four on the roster for the November break when the US plays non-friendly games (CONCACAF Nation's League).

Thankfully, Father Tim(e) Ream, Christian Roldan and Zendejas are not on the roster and probably should never be again. The same should have been true for Miles Robinson but somehow he is in?! I mean, just as a baseline, Mark Mackenzie is a below-average center back but better and younger than Miles Robinson, so that's just a flat out miss, to say nothing of using the opportunity to try out a young center back like Justin Che. There is a rumor that Che was in the original version of the roster, but just got injured and MRobinson replaced him, but if so, it should have been Mackenzie like I said. At least Neil Pierre made it in at center back, as did my guy George Campbell.

I think sluggo and I both would have gone with someone else besides Sebastian Berhalter - (Nico Tsakiris? Tanner Tessmann?) but whatever, Berhalter is meh and not a glaring problem like Miles Robinson.

Some other guys that were left off don't bother me (because they are mediocre players), but surprise me since they are healthy and playing for their clubs and have been known/baseline USMNT floor-level guys: Brenden Aaronson, Aidan Morris, Tim Weah, Joe Scally, and the aforementioned Mark Mackenzie.

I WILL note that I was 4 for 4 in my goalie picks!

Good to hear your description of Brooklyn Raines, sluggo. I actually thought about including him in my picks instead of Tsakiris. I figure both, along with young star Adri Mehmeti, are likely our holding midfielders for the 2028 Olympic team. Looks like, for better or worse, I was right in my borderline young guy picks of Peyton Miller (not really borderline - he should be in there), Julian Hall, Cole Campbell.

And here's to you, Frankie Westfield, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

OneKeg said:

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sluggo said:

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The roster was named for the next four friendlies and it reads like OneKeg's preview. We got the big 6 (my name for Gozo, Ellis, Mehmeti, Pierre, Mathis and, of course, Sullivan), our best young prospects. We got Kochen, our young goalie prospect. We got Julian Hall. We got Cole Campbell, though I don't think he brings anything to the table. We got the good but not that good Frankie Westfield. We got Yunus Musah back into the fold. We even got his guy, George Campbell.

One player not talked about is Brooklyn Raines. He plays holding midfielder. He doees not bring much danger offensively, but what makes him kind of interesting is that he is a very good athlete. He is a nice additiion. Missing are Shaun Tskakiris and Taha Habroune, two young skilled but less athletic midfielders. And guys like Pulisic and Balogun. But Poch has given the fans what they wanted. Let's see what we got.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49965164/usmnt-cavan-sullivan-christian-pulisic-mauricio-pochettino

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Yes, good to see all the young lads, the big six as sluggo calls them, with Sullivan as the glamour pick among them, plus several others.

Poch also really stuck to his words of not inviting guys coming off injuries since Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie (who is still injured, though he might play today), Folarin Balogun and Johnny Cardoso did not make the roster, even though I expect all four on the roster for the November break when the US plays non-friendly games (CONCACAF Nation's League).

Thankfully, Father Tim(e) Ream, Christian Roldan and Zendejas are not on the roster and probably should never be again. The same should have been true for Miles Robinson but somehow he is in?! I mean, just as a baseline, Mark Mackenzie is a below-average center back but better and younger than Miles Robinson, so that's just a flat out miss, to say nothing of using the opportunity to try out a young center back like Justin Che. There is a rumor that Che was in the original version of the roster, but just got injured and MRobinson replaced him, but if so, it should have been Mackenzie like I said. At least Neil Pierre made it in at center back, as did my guy George Campbell.

I think sluggo and I both would have gone with someone else besides Sebastian Berhalter - (Nico Tsakiris? Tanner Tessmann?) but whatever, Berhalter is meh and not a glaring problem like Miles Robinson.

Some other guys that were left off don't bother me (because they are mediocre players), but surprise me since they are healthy and playing for their clubs and have been known/baseline USMNT floor-level guys: Brenden Aaronson, Aidan Morris, Tim Weah, Joe Scally, and the aforementioned Mark Mackenzie.

I WILL note that I was 4 for 4 in my goalie picks!

Good to hear your description of Brooklyn Raines, sluggo. I actually thought about including him in my picks instead of Tsakiris. I figure both, along with young star Adri Mehmeti, are likely our holding midfielders for the 2028 Olympic team. Looks like, for better or worse, I was right in my borderline young guy picks of Peyton Miller (not really borderline - he should be in there), Julian Hall, Cole Campbell.

And here's to you, Frankie Westfield, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

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I did research (breaking my rule) because I was curious why McKenzie has not been playing for the Union. It turns out he is in limbo as he will join the Union in January (when the MLS has two seasons to align with every league but Mexico, but that is another conversation). So I think that is a good reason not to choose him. M. Robinson was good a few years back, but he got injured and has not been the same.

I am not a big fan of Berhalter, but he was Poch's first sub, so I understand. He is a decent baseline: every player on the roster should be better than he is.

There is buzz for Che but I don't think he is very good. While he is still youngish, he has played for youth national teams and not been good. But the whole back line needs more guys, whether outside or center backs. Experiments are good, we have almost four years.

Ok, I definitely have no desire to go to bat for Mark Mackenzie, who is only good in comparison with Miles Robinson, but this statement puzzled me:

Quote:

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I did research (breaking my rule) because I was curious why McKenzie has not been playing for the Union. It turns out he is in limbo as he will join the Union in January (when the MLS has two seasons to align with every league but Mexico, but that is another conversation). So I think that is a good reason not to choose him.

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Mark Mackenzie has been playing. Not for the Philadelphia Union, but for his current team, Toulouse in Ligue 1. Mackenzie played all 90 minutes in Toulouse's 2-2 draw at Lorient this past Saturday. Why is Mackenzie's playing in Ligue 1 but not yet in the MLS a good reason not to choose him?

OneKeg said:

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Ok, I definitely have no desire to go to bat for Mark Mackenzie, who is only good in comparison with Miles Robinson, but this statement puzzled me:

Quote:

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I did research (breaking my rule) because I was curious why McKenzie has not been playing for the Union. It turns out he is in limbo as he will join the Union in January (when the MLS has two seasons to align with every league but Mexico, but that is another conversation). So I think that is a good reason not to choose him.

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Mark Mackenzie has been playing. Not for the Philadelphia Union, but for his current team, Toulouse in Ligue 1. Mackenzie played all 90 minutes in Toulouse's 2-2 draw at Lorient this past Saturday. Why is Mackenzie's playing in Ligue 1 but not yet in the MLS a good reason not to choose him?

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You gave me too much credit. I did not think of him still playing in France, but you have shown he is. I did get the spelling of his name correct.

In other news, McKennie had an assist and Freeman started today in the Europa League. I don't watch the Europa League because sometimes I have to go outside.

OneKeg said:

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Yes, I understand how you feel, even though I don't quite share the same outlook. Though I do appreciate the beauty of sports, including soccer (I did watch Barca today, or at least sixty minutes of it).

Your comparison of beautiful soccer to classical music reminds me of when I played cello growing up through high school, playing for an independent youth orchestra, in my high school orchestra, and with a private tutor. I was pretty decent for a high school kid, but never great. Probably the best I ever played was a solo performance of Bach's Cello Suite in G-Major, which ironically, I gave in Cal's Morrison Hall one year before I ever attended Cal (I grew up in Berkeley - my parents were professors... my father still is semi-retired there).

Afterwards, there was the usual kind-hearted and gratifying gushing from my relatives and friends, and I was duly proud. No major hiccups, and I mostly hit the areas of subtlety and growth and crescendo I was aiming for. But later that night, after listening to a recording of my performance, I listened to the same Bach piece performed by Pablo Casals. And I knew what my cello tutor also knew, that I was just so... blindingly... decent. The gulf between me and Casals was as vast as the gulf between the Sun and Alpha Centauri.

These days, when I visit my parents with my son at the old house in the Berkeley Hills, they still point to my old cello and ask me to play Bach's Cello Suite in G-Major and I decline, in part because I am way, way out of practice and because I don't feel like printing out the sheet music which I've lost (back then, I didn't need it), and my middle-aged fingers are weak and slow. But in part because... well, they and I have both heard the piece performed by Casals, and by Yo Yo Ma. So instead, I play them a few bars of the cello theme from the Game of Thrones TV show and call it a day.

I played electric guitar back then too in a band, and could lay down some decent riffs and solos, but the same gulf of course existed between me and Eddie Van Halen or Jimi Hendrix.

At playing cello, I never was or will be in the same solar system as Casals and Ma. Hell, I was and never will be as good at playing cello as, say... Frankie Westfield is at playing soccer. And the gap between my soccer play back then and Westfield's play is, if anything, even greater.

So I guess there are two ways to look at it. I choose to celebrate the Frankie Westfields of the world, especially if they can help some level of the USMNT win (probably U-23 team in the 2028 Olympics), even if he is nowhere near as transcendent as his stellar teammate Cavan Sullivan, or even more so, the attacking players on Barca who I watched today (Barca's defense looked closer to Westfield's level, actually, certainly not elite).

Because there are millions of kids and young adults like I was who try, but will never be as good at classical music or soccer or whatever as even Frankie Westfield is at soccer, let alone the elite players. So here's to you, Frankie Westfield! And all the players who might help the USMNT at any level. It's all beautiful to me.

(And also, just win baby! Cal and USMNT).

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I am glad you understand where I am coming from. American football is so confusing it is all about the Ws. But I think soccer (and basketball and tennis, for instance) can be played at a level that artistic merit is important. To me, Cal football (and basketball) is about tradition and memories and colors and the view from the stadium. I will take the ugly win over Syracuse any day of the week and twice on Saturdays.

In soccer you never know when the spectacular will happen, which is why highlights won't do. Two recent examples. In the recent Barca win over the Washington Generals (technically Racing Santander), Pedri received a ball on his stronger right foot in the box and under pressure. A mistake could lead to a quick Generals goal. With confidence bordering on arrogance, he did a half turn away from the defender and kicked the ball 30 yards perfectly with his left to an outlet on the opposite side. Pure genius. The second was in the City-Crystal Palace game. Gozo was in late. He was chasing the ball. The ball went to defender Khusanov, maybe the least skilled player on City. Before giving the ball off, and for no reason other than he could, he nutmegged Gozo (dribbled between his legs), just to show the world that there are levels.

It may not surprise you that Amadeus is at the top of my movie lists. There are geniuses and for most of us the best thing we can do is admire their work. The evil Salieri tried to destroy the genius Mozart. I can see why, but that made his defeat even worse.

Tottenham is kryptonite to two Big 6 EPL clubs.

They've done a good job staying near the relegation zone, right where they finished last year.

I don't think they've scored a single goal in conference play this year.

DaddyLegend said:

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I don't think they've scored a single goal in conference play this year.

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My closest soccer friend is a Tottenham fan having spent a little time near there as a child. As I am an Arsenal fan, for many reasons including enjoying the book Fever Pitch, we now talk about our children and politics instead of soccer. And Barca.

Quote:

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You gave me too much credit. I did not think of him still playing in France, but you have shown he is. I did get the spelling of his name correct.

In other news, McKennie had an assist and Freeman started today in the Europa League. I don't watch the Europa League because sometimes I have to go outside.

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Ha, my bad. Mark Mckenzie is indeed how you spell the name of the US center back for Toulouse. Shows you how meagerly invested I am in standing up for him!

But since we're correcting each other, while Weston McKennie's sweet assist for Juventus was in the Europa league, Freeman started and played the whole match today in Villareal's 3-1 La Liga victory at Malaga, NOT the Europa league. I watched some of the match - Freeman seemed to play well. Goal was not his fault.

And yes, believe it or not, I do go outside plenty. I live in the Presidio in SF - living inside a national park would make it a crime not to spend at least an hour or two outside every day.

Quote:

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Gozo was in late. He was chasing the ball. The ball went to defender Khusanov, maybe the least skilled player on City. Before giving the ball off, and for no reason other than he could, he nutmegged Gozo (dribbled between his legs), just to show the world that there are levels.

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Things look bad for Gozo. For him not to get any minutes in a frickin Europa league group stage 4-0 victory for Crystal Palace today seems to indicate that Palace may be regretting their signing. I thought Europa league would be where Gozo would get significant minutes. At least he and Mathis Albert, who is similarly not playing for Dortmund despite several players above him in the depth chart getting injured or suspended, will get a chance to play (I hope) in at least one of the US friendlies coming up.

At least Chris Richards scored Crystal Palace's second goal.

Quote:

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It may not surprise you that Amadeus is at the top of my movie lists. There are geniuses and for most of us the best thing we can do is admire their work. The evil Salieri tried to destroy the genius Mozart. I can see why, but that made his defeat even worse.

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I admit, my tongue-in-cheek advocacy for Frankie Westfield to at least make the 2028 U-23 Olympic team (wasn't sure about the senior USMNT) would take a hit if he tried to "destroy" Cavan Sullivan!

sluggo said:

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DaddyLegend said:

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I don't think they've scored a single goal in conference play this year.

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My closest soccer friend is a Tottenham fan having spent a little time near there as a child. As I am an Arsenal fan, for many reasons including enjoying the book Fever Pitch, we now talk about our children and politics instead of soccer. And Barca.

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My freshman year Unit 2 roommate's last name is Totten and he was a Tottenham fan his entire life. He lived in L.A. and moved to Idaho. I ended up watching a game live at Tottenham Stadium before he did.

How bad is this?

Noahkai Banks has picked Germany over the USMNT.

He's filed for a one-time switch. It hasn't yet been confirmed by FIFA, but if/when approved, he'll play for Germany's U-21s this month, and will no longer be eligible to represent the U.S.

w/ @SebSB: https://t.co/P2xtk3PNpM

— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) September 18, 2026

Banks choosing Germany over the USMNT has been coming for months now. He gone. The USMNT would love to have had him if he did want to join, since center back is thin on quality, but I don't think anyone has been counting on Banks since he turned down an invite to this summer's World Cup roster. You'll notice that Banks was not in my prediction of the roster a couple days ago, though he is arguably better than at least a couple of the center back picks at the bottom of both my list and Poch's eventual list that came out yesterday.

Shows the importance of hanging on to dual nats who ARE open to playing for us, like some of the youngsters just picked for the upcoming Sept-Oct camp roster: Adri Mehmeti (Albania), Neil Pierre (also a center back, Haiti), Justin Ellis (Uruguay), Julian Hall (Poland). And of course so many of the players already on the World Cup team were dual nats to start with too: Folarin Balogun, Malik Tillman, Chris Richards etc.

OneKeg said:

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Banks choosing Germany over the USMNT has been coming for months now. He gone. The USMNT would love to have had him if he did want to join, since center back is thin on quality, but I don't think anyone has been counting on Banks since he turned down an invite to this summer's World Cup roster. You'll notice that Banks was not in my prediction of the roster a couple days ago, though he is arguably better than at least a couple of the center back picks at the bottom of both my list and Poch's eventual list that came out yesterday.

Shows the importance of hanging on to dual nats who ARE open to playing for us, like some of the youngsters just picked for the upcoming Sept-Oct camp roster: Adri Mehmeti (Albania), Neil Pierre (also a center back, Haiti), Justin Ellis (Uruguay), Julian Hall (Poland). And of course so many of the players already on the World Cup team were dual nats to start with too: Folarin Balogun, Malik Tillman, Chris Richards etc.

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Appreciate the insight, thank you

I know OK has a response, but I will stick to him as a player. Banks is 6'4'' and good in the air. What makes him special is that he is a good dribbler and passer. His height and skill make him an ideal modern center back. I also think he is left footed, though I have not seen him in a long time so I am not sure, and many coaches including Poch like one left-footed and one right-footed center back, and the best we have are all right-footed (Trusty is out best left-footed IMO). There are some questions as to whether he can actually defend and whether he is agile enough, and his growth as a player has supposedly tailed off a bit. On the other hand, center backs often take until their mid 20s to peak.

So it is bad, but kind of expected. I think Freeman in the long run is a center back and a good one. And Pierre will be a superstar if he can stay healthy. By 2030 they should be the best center back tandem the US has ever had. Still it would be nice to have a trio. I don't see anyone else yet with the Banks/Freeman/Pierre upside.

sluggo said:

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I know OK has a response, but I will stick to him as a player. Banks is 6'4'' and good in the air. What makes him special is that he is a good dribbler and passer. His height and skill make him an ideal modern center back. I also think he is left footed, though I have not seen him in a long time so I am not sure, and many coaches including Poch like one left-footed and one right-footed center back, and the best we have are all right-footed (Trusty is out best left-footed IMO). There are some questions as to whether he can actually defend and whether he is agile enough, and his growth as a player has supposedly tailed off a bit. On the other hand, center backs often take until their mid 20s to peak.

So it is bad, but kind of expected. I think Freeman in the long run is a center back and a good one. And Pierre will be a superstar if he can stay healthy. By 2030 they should be the best center back tandem the US has ever had. Still it would be nice to have a trio. I don't see anyone else yet with the Banks/Freeman/Pierre upside.

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Appreciate your view on it

In my list of young prospect dual nats who seem to be choosing the US and are in the Sept/Oct camp roster that just came out, I should have mentioned the most obvious counterexample to Banks:

17yo Offensive Midfielder/Winger Mathis Albert of Borussia Dortmund in the German Bundesliga who is in theory eligible to play for Germany or France. Now Albert is not getting much time at Dortmund while Banks starts for Augsburg, but Albert is younger. Another thing I'll say about both Banks and Albert is that their potential path to being a national team starter is much clearer if playing for the US than it is for Germany.

Banks has a German mother, has played youth football in Germany and is currently playing in the Bundesliga, starting for Bavarian upstart club Augsburg, which is off to a good early season (3rd place right now), so it was going to be hard to pry him away from the Mannschaft.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/sep/18/noahkai-banks-germany-usmnt

Cal88 said:

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Banks has a German mother, has played youth football in Germany and is currently playing in the Bundesliga, starting for Bavarian upstart club Augsburg, which is off to a good early season (3rd place right now), so it was going to be hard to pry him away from the Mannschaft.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/sep/18/noahkai-banks-germany-usmnt

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By hard, I think you mean impossible, based on the latest news and the rules. Until now it was just hard.

Apparently he was 100% raised in Germany with a German mother and his biological former serviceman father in the US, and the German federation has also recruited him. Probably speaks German as his native language.

Quote:

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Banks, 19, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to an American father and German mother, but in an interview with ESPN in February, Banks' mother Nadine Kinkel said the family moved back to Germany when Noahkai was 7 weeks old. While Banks traveled regularly to the U.S. to visit his father Sedrick, he has lived in Germany most of his life, and rose through the ranks of FC Augsburg starting at age 9. Banks has so far made 35 appearances in all competitions for Augsburg, scoring one goal.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49974049/noahkai-banks-germany-usa-augsburg

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Aye, it sounds like Banks was never going to play for the USMNT. Especially since he is currently explicitly turning down a spot in the senior USMNT camp for a U-21 spot in Germany's camp after having already chosen not to play for the USMNT in a World Cup hosted by the US. Admittedly, other players with as thin a tie to the US as Banks have by contrast chosen the USMNT (Folarin Balogun, for example). So of course it just depends on the player.

My point about impossibility was unrelated to any of that - as soon as Banks' requested one-time transfer is approved by FIFA (and why would it not be?), it is literally against the rules for Banks to ever play for any other nation than Germany going forward even if he wanted to (which he doesn't). Banks would be permanently tied to Germany by FIFA rules every bit as much as most national team veterans become by rule permanently "cap-tied" to their nation - i.e. it is not a free agent situation.

Speaking of Balogun, good news is that he's no longer benched with an injury. He came in during the second half of Monaco's Ligue 1 match against Lens (2nd place last year) with the score 1-1 and Monaco won 2-1 due to an own goal by Lens.

In other news, Adri Mehmeti and Julian Hall both started and played 84 minutes in Red Bull NY's 1-0 victory over NYCFC in NYCFC's rinky-dink bandbox soccer pitch (Yankee Stadium?). Hall broke his multi-month goal-drought by poaching a bad back pass by NYCFC.

sluggo said:

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This is for Big C if he is still reading this thread. My little things to love the game. Thing #1 in enjoying the game was the half turn. Lesson #2 is the Barcelona counter press. Let's start with a regular press. That is like in basketball where you try to win the ball back before the other team can starts its offense. It starts when the other team has a dead ball like a goal kick or a throw in.

A counter press is a press when the other team has a live ball, say when they have stolen the ball. When the other team has the ball every other team in the world moves back to some extent to defend. Barcelona does not. They use all their energy to win the ball back within three seconds. They attack like a swarm of bees. They may even move their defenders up to draw the other team offside. Overall, it is devastating. The USMNT actually showed some good counter pressing in the World Cup in the first four games, which is not something they did before.

This Barcelona team must be watched by any true fan of soccer. They are unlike anything that has come before.
They have the best two holding midfielders in the world in Rodri and Pedri. And even if neither played, they still have the best midfield in the world. And the best wingers. And arguably the best goalie. It is only their back line that is questionable. And their madman coach, who is too aggressive by a half.

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Thanks, I am for sure still reading this thread! I took a couple of weeks off from this forum (mostly) because I was consumed with California Football but this thread is instrumental in increasing my appreciation of soccer. I'm enjoying the conversation between the sickos; it can only help my enthusiasm for the sport.

My daughter's club knocked off their rival club 2-0 last Sunday! She is on defense this season for the first time because her team doesn't seem to have many willing defenders. When I met the coach last month, he called her "my little lioness".

Big C said:

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sluggo said:

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"a little lioness".

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y'all -> Go Family

Nice work, Big C (or rather, nice work little lioness C). As a dad of a defensive player, I share your pride in your child's defensive tenacity! See what I did there? Pride of lio... sorry, never mind...

In USMNT prospect news:

Cavan Sullivan and Philadelphia Union come roaring back from an early 3-0 early road deficit at Sporting Kansas City with 4 goals in a ten minute span in the second half and a 4-3 win.



Sullivan had a great goal of course, filling vacated space deftly to tuck a square pass into the corner. More impressive might be a run where he got the hockey assist - splitting three defenders and leaving them in his dust, then squaring it to Frankie Westfield who sent a nice shot into the corner. Only Westfield's shot barely grazed off a Philly forward, so Westfield got the assist instead of the goal and Sullivan got no official stat.

Center Back Neil Pierre didn't have the greatest match, with a giveaway leading to one of KC's goals. His own teammate screened him off from getting to a defensive header on a cross that allowed KC to score another. Pierre did have the header "assist" on Philly's final goal, heading it into a dangerous spot where a KC defender put in an own goal.

In another match, left wing/back Peyton Miller scored twice for New England in their 4-2 home win over Orlando. As usual, Miller's on-ball skills and dribbling were NOT the highlight, which makes him more of an outside back candidate than wing where he is playing for his club. Both goals came from Miller's raw speed, running ahead into space on a counter-attack and scoring.



Unfortunately, Miller also had a Orlando shot ricochet off his arm as he went to block it, resulting in an Orlando penalty and goal. Midfielder Brooklyn Raines also had a nice run and pass for a hockey assist of his own. For Orlando, midfielder/forward Justin Ellis had what should have been an assist on a nice through pass threaded through a tight defense in the box, but the Orlando forward fumbled it away, and it went to another forward who scored, so Ellis got the hockey assist, which isn't in the stats. Griezmann did not play, so Ellis did not have his usual partner in crime on the pitch.

In obscure international news, to highlight the title of this thread, the best young US prospect at goalie, Diego Kochen, starting for Lyngby in the lowly Danish league, had unfortunate looking stats in Lyngby's latest league match. Made only two saves on six shots on goal in a 4-0 loss. No idea if the goals were his fault. Two of the goals were after Lyngby went down a man with a red card.

Winger Mathis Albert did not even make the bench for Dortmund today in their 1-0 Bundesliga win over Stuttgart. Maybe he's down with the U-21s or already took off for the USMNT camp.