Agreed, it should be local players with a scattering of veteran international stars.
Soccer Topics: No goalies in the USA
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Last: 1 hr ago by OneKeg
Interesting march today in the Italian Serie A. AC Milan v Venezia, featuring 2 potential USMNT midfielders, both in their early 20s. No, not Pulisic for Milan, who I think is still recovering from injury.
Musah for AC Milan, who seems to be reviving his career, and Busio, who captains Venezia.
And of course there's the MLS RBNY v Philadelphia Union match tomorrow with high-ceiling young US players all over the pitch… Sullivan, Pierre, Mehmeti (and Hall, Westfield).
Musah for AC Milan, who seems to be reviving his career, and Busio, who captains Venezia.
And of course there's the MLS RBNY v Philadelphia Union match tomorrow with high-ceiling young US players all over the pitch… Sullivan, Pierre, Mehmeti (and Hall, Westfield).
Cal88 said:
Agreed, it should be local players with a scattering of veteran international stars.
100%. This is how to build a sustainable and entertaining league that also benefits the USMNT, which benefits the MLS in return.
Crystal Palace down 0-1 to Man City at half. Saw the last 10 minutes of the half and Richards shouldered what should have been a good header on goal. Not sure if he was responsible for the Haaland goal. Gozo is on the bench, this could be his debut.
On the highlights Richards was flat out terrible. He is one level above the players we need to replace. For now Ream, Dest, and Adams are the guys.
At least Gozo is in - came in at 68 mins. Palace down 3-1.
Looks like Musah is having another solid game for AC Milan.
Freeman also not playing for Villarreal today. Hope he gets solid La Liga minutes this year. Edited to add: oops they subbed Freeman in at 62'.
Looks like Musah is having another solid game for AC Milan.
Freeman also not playing for Villarreal today. Hope he gets solid La Liga minutes this year. Edited to add: oops they subbed Freeman in at 62'.
OneKeg said:
At least Gozo is in - came in at 68 mins. Palace down 3-1.
Looks like Musah is having another solid game for AC Milan.
Freeman also not playing for Villarreal today. Hope he gets solid La Liga minutes this year. Edited to add: oops they subbed Freeman in at 62'.
Richards ... I fear for his mental health. There is a term "howler" for a bad game, but it was beyond that. He was slow and dropped too much and was partly or fully responsible for all the goals. Easy for me to say from my couch, Man City was super on.
Gozo was okay. Got some touches on the ball. Only with one real blunder in 25 minutes. Looks like he belonged athletically. Played left wing, which is fine, he is flexible on position. He needs to gain some weight in his lower body, he is a narrow guy, got clobbered twice. Defensively, he looked totally lost. This derailed the careers of Pulisic and Reyna. American players adapt more easily offensively than defensively. I am not going to worry until the end of the season about this. That he was brought in so early shows the club is serious about him.
2-time European champions PSG held to draws in their first two games, will be 4pts behind the leaders by Sunday...
sluggo said:OneKeg said:
At least Gozo is in - came in at 68 mins. Palace down 3-1.
Looks like Musah is having another solid game for AC Milan.
Freeman also not playing for Villarreal today. Hope he gets solid La Liga minutes this year. Edited to add: oops they subbed Freeman in at 62'.
Richards ... I fear for his mental health. There is a term "howler" for a bad game, but it was beyond that. He was slow and dropped too much and was partly or fully responsible for all the goals. Easy for me to say from my couch, Man City was super on.
Gozo was okay. Got some touches on the ball. Only with one real blunder in 25 minutes. Looks like he belonged athletically. Played left wing, which is fine, he is flexible on position. He needs to gain some weight in his lower body, he is a narrow guy, got clobbered twice. Defensively, he looked totally lost. This derailed the careers of Pulisic and Reyna. American players adapt more easily offensively than defensively. I am not going to worry until the end of the season about this. That he was brought in so early shows the club is serious about him.
Kind of makes me wonder about the USMNT players in the Premier League. My perception is that of the top 5 European Leagues, the EFL Premier League and France's Ligue 1 are particularly physical/athletic on average, whereas La Liga has more finesse/possession-oriented teams on average. Not that Premier League and Ligue 1 teams can't be great with finesse and possession too (like PSG which can do it all) or that La Liga/Bundesliga/Serie A teams are never physical, but I've gotten the feeling those are the general stylistic differences on aggregate.
So I wonder about guys like Zavier Gozo going to the Premier League where he might not be ready for the physical style of play on both offense and defense, even though his athleticism is fine there. I have a similar worry with Gio Reyna at Ligue 1 Strasbourg. Physicality is not the strong suit for either Gozo or Reyna. I wish some, let's say Bundesliga or Serie A team had signed both players instead. Might have been for less immediate money, but possibly a better outcome. Dunno.
OneKeg said:sluggo said:OneKeg said:
At least Gozo is in - came in at 68 mins. Palace down 3-1.
Looks like Musah is having another solid game for AC Milan.
Freeman also not playing for Villarreal today. Hope he gets solid La Liga minutes this year. Edited to add: oops they subbed Freeman in at 62'.
Richards ... I fear for his mental health. There is a term "howler" for a bad game, but it was beyond that. He was slow and dropped too much and was partly or fully responsible for all the goals. Easy for me to say from my couch, Man City was super on.
Gozo was okay. Got some touches on the ball. Only with one real blunder in 25 minutes. Looks like he belonged athletically. Played left wing, which is fine, he is flexible on position. He needs to gain some weight in his lower body, he is a narrow guy, got clobbered twice. Defensively, he looked totally lost. This derailed the careers of Pulisic and Reyna. American players adapt more easily offensively than defensively. I am not going to worry until the end of the season about this. That he was brought in so early shows the club is serious about him.
Kind of makes me wonder about the USMNT players in the Premier League. My perception is that of the top 5 European Leagues, the EFL Premier League and France's Ligue 1 are particularly physical/athletic on average, whereas La Liga has more finesse/possession-oriented teams on average. Not that Premier League and Ligue 1 teams can't be great with finesse and possession too (like PSG which can do it all) or that La Liga/Bundesliga/Serie A teams are never physical, but I've gotten the feeling those are the general stylistic differences on aggregate.
So I wonder about guys like Zavier Gozo going to the Premier League where he might not be ready for the physical style of play on both offense and defense, even though his athleticism is fine there. I have a similar worry with Gio Reyna at Ligue 1 Strasbourg. Physicality is not the strong suit for either Gozo or Reyna. I wish some, let's say Bundesliga or Serie A team had signed both players instead. Might have been for less immediate money, but possibly a better outcome. Dunno.
I agree, Gozo seems built for Spain or Italy. But if he wants to be great for the USMNT, he will have to be able to handle the physicality. He is so young, no harm in giving it a try if it does not hurt his confidence. It took Pulisic a year or two to adjust to the Premier League, and I had my doubts, but he did thrive before his injuries got the better of him. Reyna can play anywhere, he just needs a coach to appreciate what he brings. He would be best at a top team, lower level teams have defensive problems, and that is not his strength.
Here is a thread on bigsoccer of Gio that will go throughout the season: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/gio-reyna-strasburg-fc-pbp-gameday-thread.2140088/
Looks like he had a great game. I will have to watch him next week. He played 76 minutes. I KNOW he can play, he just needs another chance.
Looks like he had a great game. I will have to watch him next week. He played 76 minutes. I KNOW he can play, he just needs another chance.
Yeah, seems like a good day for Gio Reyna. Will have to watch the highlights later if I can. Probably more of a college football day for me, though, and I know I'm going to watch the RBNY - Philadelphia Union highlights. Would love to hear your thoughts after you watch that one.
"My guy," as you refer to him, George Campbell, captain and center back for West Brom played the whole match but presumably did not have the greatest match (losing 3-1) against Middlesbrough and their trio of mediocre US players. Actually, Boro looks like they are about to sign a fourth US player, another midfielder Rokas Pukstas, a young player (just turned 22), who had been tearing it up in a bad (Croatian) league, but he's not on the team yet. Will be interesting to watch him.
Looks like Mathis Albert made the bench again for Dortmund in their 2-0 win over Hamburg.
Malik Tillman's Bayer Leverkusen lost 3-2 to recently promoted Elversburg in the Bundesliga. Any thoughts on 20yo US winger Cole Campbell, who just recently joined Elversburg? He scored in this match and surely has to be on the radar for at least the Olympic team in 2028 if he's playing a bunch and scoring in the Bundesliga at that age, right?
Oh and of course, Tyler Adams came in as a sub for Bournemouth with his team up 1-0 on Everton and of course Everton then equalized late, with the match ending in a 1-1 draw.
"My guy," as you refer to him, George Campbell, captain and center back for West Brom played the whole match but presumably did not have the greatest match (losing 3-1) against Middlesbrough and their trio of mediocre US players. Actually, Boro looks like they are about to sign a fourth US player, another midfielder Rokas Pukstas, a young player (just turned 22), who had been tearing it up in a bad (Croatian) league, but he's not on the team yet. Will be interesting to watch him.
Looks like Mathis Albert made the bench again for Dortmund in their 2-0 win over Hamburg.
Malik Tillman's Bayer Leverkusen lost 3-2 to recently promoted Elversburg in the Bundesliga. Any thoughts on 20yo US winger Cole Campbell, who just recently joined Elversburg? He scored in this match and surely has to be on the radar for at least the Olympic team in 2028 if he's playing a bunch and scoring in the Bundesliga at that age, right?
Oh and of course, Tyler Adams came in as a sub for Bournemouth with his team up 1-0 on Everton and of course Everton then equalized late, with the match ending in a 1-1 draw.
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