re: The next time the USMNT plays will be after the World Cup

I absolutely did not hate Bradley. If you care enough you can go look at my post history ive defended him and Altidore plenty on here against first time watchers who didn’t understand what the brought in their primes. But MB is passed his prime, and it’s only going to get worse. It makes no sense to me to play him as our starting CM in these upcoming friendlies, even if he’s marginally the best option for that specific game(which I don’t concede he is), if it’s clear that he won’t be by the time the true tests come around in 2.5-3 years time

The idea of "lets play the young guys in meaningful games to prep them for the next WC" never works. Sure it's fine right now in friendlies when there are no stakes and no reason for the older, established guys to come in. But it'd be fricking stupid to go into the Gold Cup starting Josh Sargent over Jozy Altidore solely because Sargent is 10 years younger.

The process of filling out the roster from today until May 2022 is so fluid. Case and point, Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez going to South Africa in 2010. DeAndre Yedlin, John Brooks and Julian Green going to Brazil in 2014.

Those 5 players had a grand total of 0 World Cup qualifying caps prior to those tournaments.

You just never know who will be in form come World Cup time, so it'd be stupid to play young guys in meaningful games 3 years early just because we think they may have a good shot at making the squad in 2022.

No I 100% get it. We did just miss out on qualifying, in large part by holding tight to guys who had been there before even when it was clear they were passed it and couldn’t get it done.

That, IMO, describes MB on the international stage against decent to good competition. I think if the young guys are given the chance in the next year and a half they will prove/become better options by the time qualifying of any sort, but definitely the hex comes around.

We clearly just have different opinions on MB current abilities, the value those abilities have as regards the NT, where those abilities will be in about 16 months, and how far along the young guys will be. Time will tell who is right.

When the important games come I want the most impactful 11 on the field, and if that includes MB then he should play. But I don’t think it will include him so I would plays guy I think it will include in these friendlies.

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We did just miss out on qualifying, in large part by holding tight to guys who had been there before even when it was clear they were passed it and couldn’t get it done.

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Well, that's not true.

He was great in that game, and then mediocre to terrible in others. I think we should move in another direction in the friendlies leading up to the GC. Continue to try new guys and new partnerships.

My very first post on this matter said if they aren’t working, then by all means insert MB into the starting lineup for the GC

That game was also almost one year ago today. Bradley will be 3 years older the next time that comes around. He’ll be 34 or thereabouts.

And having one good game, even a great game, doesn’t mean he’s still the best option. Yaya Toure could probably dominate an EPL match against a top 6 opponent still, but does that mean he’s the best option for man city going forward?

I’m moving the goalposts bc I’m incorporating valid points made by you and the other pro MB poster. I still don’t think he should be immediately inserted into the starting lineup for late 2018 and early 2019 friendlies. We and the USMNT know what MB is. Maybe Adams and Park and Mckennie don’t develop at all and have no chemistry and MB is needed to steady this generation through the WC cycle. But I see no reason to default to that right away, especially considering that despite his Mexico performance there were still plenty of matches where he looked overmatched and athletically inferior to the detriment of the team. And I also really don’t like precedent he set combing back to the MLS in his prime, I think it really hurt his and Altidore’s game/growth. I don’t think it would hurt the USMNT to send a message that that is frowned upon

Bc he’s a rising young talent who hasn’t looked out of his depth in helping us get results against France and Portugal and we should reward good performances with more starts.

Bc he’s shown a good rapport with Weston Mckennie and these post WC friendlies are a good opportunity to build on that

Bc there isn’t as much data on him with national team as there is with Bradley and the more matches he plays the more data he will give us.

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Start Adams over him against Mexico. You can always bring Bradley in closer to GC if Mckennie/Adams doesn’t work. But Bradley was the heart of a midfield that got overrun multiple times in qualifying against Central American and island competition. He doesn’t deserve an automatic spot in the starting 11, not when there are other options that might be as good

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Bradley also got played as the sole defensive midfielder because our coaches are retarded. He doesn’t have the legs for it anymore. Easy to see why he gets overrun. In terms of defensive positioning, cutting off passing lanes, and distribution Bradley is still better than McKennie and Adams, and I’m really high on both of these guys. Obviously their athleticism is higher now, though.

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Uh no, wood or anyone else. That quitter can go screw himself.

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Our striker depth chart right now looks like this...

Jozy


Bobby





















Everybody else