#Paxton Pomykal

[don-lichterman]

USA adds Pomykal to friendly squad, Arriola, Roldan out

Midfielder Cristian Roldan and forward Paul Arriola were dropped from the United States roster for Wednesday night’s exhibition against Mexico because of injuries and midfielder Paxton Pomykal was added. Arriola has tightness in his right hamstring and will remain with Dallas and Roldan has entered concussion return to play protocol after being diagnosed last week while with Seattle, the U.S.…

[usynt]

[addc10]

SERGINO FUCKING DEST

PAXTON FUCKING POMYKAL

CHRISTIAN FUCKING PULISIC AS A FUCKING FORWARD

JOSH GODDAMN SARGENT

LESGOOOOO BITCHES!!!

[totalsoccershow]

Your guide to the USMNT January camp newbies

We take a closer look at the fresh faces in the USMNT January camp. Get to know Julian Araujo, Chase Gasper, Justen Glad, Mark McKenzie, Sam Vines, Brenden Aaronson, Christian Cappis, Bryant Kayo, Paxton Pomykal, Jesus Ferreira, and Ulysses Llanez

We also answer some listener question about Jan camp and ruminate on the recent U20 hirings of Laura Harvey and Anthony Hudson

Today's show is sponsored by HelloFresh. Go to http://hellofresh.com/tss10 and use code tss10 for 10 free meals

Today's show is also sponsored by Ruffneck Scarves. Use code "TOTALSOCCERSHOW" at http://ruffneckscarves.com for 20% off.

PLAY

[journalonline24]

Alvarado, Pomykal, Gonzalez among top CONCACAF-based U-21s

Alvarado, Pomykal, Gonzalez among top CONCACAF-based U-21s

Having picked his top 36 players age 21 or under earlier this year, former scout and sporting director Tor-Kristian Karlsen turns his attention to the CONCACAF region, identifying and breaking down the skill sets of 15 players, who are from the region and play club soccer in North and Central America.

Tor explains his methodology, before revealing the list. Players included must have been age…

[phoenixshirtstore]

Paxton Pomykal One Of Our Own Dallas Shirt

[addc10]

[junker-town]

Building a better USMNT together: Season 1 sets the stage for a pivotal 2020

Our better USMNT is taking shape, slowly but surely.

Welcome back to “Building a better USMNT together”, a series where I play Football Manager 20 to build the USMNT of our dreams with your help. If you’re new, start from the beginning here.

This week, I decided to blast through an entire season. The reason is Sports Interactive’s January data update, which reflects that many MLS players have signed new contracts since the game’s 2019 release. For that reason, there aren’t a lot of good free agents or newly expiring contracts, so I was largely stuck with what I had. I did get my hands on one outstanding American player, though, and he should be a core member of FC Dallas for a decade.

I expect the next episode to focus on FC Dallas’ first proper offseason. Between MLS and USMNT play, I figure we’re going to take 2020 a lot more slowly, and have three or four episodes over that year. But for now, SPEEDRUN!

Pomykal vs. Servania

The only players I picked up for Dallas to start the year were some veteran backups. Our starting tactic looked like this, with Paxton Pomykal edging out fellow young American Brandon Servania for a starting role.

In real life, Pomykal has significantly out-performed Servania and appears to be on a better career track. But in the game, my assistants rate Servania’s potential higher, and he has developed rapidly. His attributes went up loads from just a few U.S. Open Cup starts and sub appearances in league play. I was willing to make a switch if Pomykal struggled.

But he didn’t. Pax scored goals like this.

And provided through ball assists like this.

Pomykal finished the season with three goals and five assists, which aren’t outrageous numbers, but he was a consistently solid performer. He completed 90 percent of his passes across all games and was one of my top players with a 7.22 average rating. I had no reason to drop him, and I think he’s going to retain a key role going forward.

Welcome James Sands and Terry Boyle

Targeted Allocation Money doesn’t work as well in FM as it does in real life, and since I’m trying to focus on young Americans instead of top international talent, I don’t really need it anyway. I offered it out for a bunch of MLS players I wanted to sign and most teams told me to get lost, but New York City FC was willing to negotiate for James Sands.

He’s exactly what I want in a defensive midfielder. He’s big, quick, and a solid passer for a purely defensive player. He can play the half back role well, which is what I like using most when I want to play a defensive midfielder. And honestly, I wanted him in part because I also rate him highly in real life.

We’ve also picked up a player from our academy. 16-year-old central defender Terry Boyle already has the attributes of decent MLS backups, so I’m hopeful that he develops into a good starter in the future.

He’s a big dude, and he’s got a great name for a Texan. Terry Boyle sounds like a jobber from World Class Championship Wrestling.

We won the U.S. Open Cup!

Spoiler alert: We were just OK in the league, and didn’t win either of the big trophies. But we did win Open Cup in pretty wacky fashion, despite starting backups in every single match.

We pulled off a late comeback in the quarterfinals, with Franco Jara coming off the bench to score an 87th-minute winner.

Ricardo Pepi — our ultra-talented 16-year-old striker with crummy work rate — did almost nothing all season despite getting a lot of playing time off the bench. His one moment of glory was a huge one, though: He scored the winner against Los Angeles FC in the semifinal.

The hero in the final was another otherwise disappointing player who did nothing all year. Fafa Picault was terrible in the MLS matches he started and wouldn’t stop whining about his lack of playing time. I offered him out for free just to get rid of him, and no one would take him. But in extra time of the U.S. Open Cup final, he hit an absolute banger.

So, that’s a tool in the bag. As far as the league, there wasn’t much to report. We were solid, but never anywhere near the Supporters’ Shield race. I ran into a horrible bug that some of you might be familiar with: the Disabled List problem.

My starting central defender and captain Matt Hedges picked up a minor injury and I was asked if I wanted to put him on the DL, which I did not want to do. The game did it for me anyway, and because he was still on the DL at the roster freeze date, I couldn’t use him in the playoffs even though he was healthy.

As a result, we got smacked in the postseason by the San Jose Earthquakes, who topped the Western Conference table all season thanks to Carlos Fierro finally living up to his potential.

But NYCFC completed the Shield-Cup double in the end, beating the Quakes in the MLS Cup Final. I guess they didn’t need James Sands.

Two newgen dual nationals locked down

As far as the USMNT, there’s very little to report because our first five games were meaningless, even as friendlies go. When you start a game in January 2019, players in leagues that play an August-May schedule just do nothing until their 2019-20 season starts, so my players (and my opponents) had no match fitness. That meant that the results weren’t reflective of our quality nor tactics.

Once the meaningful games got going, we were adequate, but not amazing.

Interestingly, though, I did discover two really promising dual national newgen players who were called up to the Under-20s. I decided to play both of them in the final nations league group stage match against Cuba to make sure they were cap-tied to us.

Manuel Zúñiga is a Colombian-American midfielder from Pennsylvania who came up at Christian Pulisic’s club, PA Classics. His vision needs work, but he looks excellent otherwise. We can’t sign him directly, so I’m hoping he lands with a good team abroad very soon.

Hernán Ayala is an Argentinian-American defender from Virginia who came up with Richmond Kickers, and he looks like a future star. He has already signed for Zwickau in Germany, and if he can continue to play in 3. Liga it could be a great place for his development. Zwickau is predicted to get relegated, however, which is alarming. If they do down, we might have to go on a rescue mission.

Next week, we’ll go through our big offseason with FC Dallas, and it’s a doozy. We’ve accepted big offers for some of our foreign players and spent that cash on young Americans right away. Staple players like Pomykal, Hedges and right back Reggie Cannon remain, but they’re the only starters who kept their jobs.

Previous: Episode 2 / Episode 1

[gadgetsrevv]

Morris’ 8/10 performance earns U.S. late draw vs. Uruguay

Jordan Morris capitalized on a fortunate deflection to offset Brian Rodriguez’s opening goal and give the United States a 1-1 draw against Uruguay.

A different lineup against a different opponent featuring a much more forgiving style looked to favor the U.S. men’s national team against Uruguay. The result was different too, as Jordan Morris‘ 79th-minute tally allowed the U.S. to secure a 1-1 draw in St. Louis.

LAFC’s Brian Rodriguez scored the game’s opening goal, finishing off a 50th-minute counterattack with a wicked strike past Brad Guzan. The U.S. didn’t look capable of climbing back into the match, but in the 79th minute an attempted clearance from Jose Maria Gimenez caromed off Nick Lima and found Morris at the far post to chest home.

Positives

The U.S. looked much more fluid on the ball than it did against Mexico, linking passes and creating some decent opportunities in the first half. It must be said, however, that Uruguay’s style of settling into a mid to low block suited the U.S. much better than Mexico’s high-pressing from four days earlier. Jackson Yueill was basically allowed to operate as he wished and connected plenty of passes. Defensively, the U.S. was solid for the most part, although it did show some weakness in certain situations — more on that in a bit. Of course, it helped that neither Luis Suarez nor Edinson Cavani were available.

The U.S. deserves credit for sticking to its task as well. Morris’ goal was lucky, no doubt, but it will provide a bit of confidence ahead of the CONCACAF Nations League matches next month.

Negatives

Defensively, the U.S. looked vulnerable in transition even before Rodriguez’s goal, allowing Uruguay to cut through with relative ease. The goal was simply a case of Uruguay eventually making the home side pay.

In attack, the U.S. needs to be more ruthless with the chances it creates. Granted Fernando Muslera delivered some sharp saves, but the Americans need to do much better in this area. The U.S. also struggled to break down Uruguay as the match wore on, at least until a flurry of subs entered the match.

– U.S. depth chart: Where they’re strong and weak ahead of 2022 – The U.S. is a long way off — and it showed vs. Mexico

Manager rating out of 10

7 — Given the way that the U.S. controlled matters in the first half, there was little to quibble about in terms of Gregg Berhalter’s initial approach, especially given that the U.S. was shorn of seven starters that began the match last Friday against Mexico. The attack began to peter out for the U.S. as it struggled to create chances in the second half, but credit Berhalter for making some substitutions that tilted the match back toward the home side. Lima, in particular, provided a spark with some telling crosses.

Player ratings (1-10; 10=best. Players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK Brad Guzan, 5 — Did well to claim a loose ball at the feet of Jonathan Rodriguez early, but his fumble in the 23rd minute nearly gifted Matias Vecino a goal. Not much he could do about Rodriguez’s strike given the power put behind it.

DF Sergino Dest, 6 — Created some problems for Uruguay by pushing high up the field and then tucking inside. Forced a fingertip save from Muslera in the 39th minute. Did get beaten by Rodriguez on one foray in the second half, but more good than bad. The question now is will he accept a call-up for the CONCACAF Nations League that will cap-tie him to the U.S.?

DF Tim Ream, 8 — Impeccable distribution from Ream, who came to Guzan’s rescue to block Vecino’s aforementioned shot. Overall, an impressive homecoming from the St. Louis native.

DF Aaron Long, 4 — Was a bit careless with his distribution at times and got absolutely eaten alive by Rodriguez for Uruguay’s goal. Yes, Rodriguez’s strike was quality, but Long needed to do much better.

DF Reggie Cannon, 6 — Provided more of a stay-at-home presence than Dest, but held up well defensively. Had a perfect night (23 completed passes from 23 attempts) on the ball.

Jordan Morris’ late goal secured the U.S. a friendly draw against Uruguay.

MF Cristian Roldan, 5 — Nearly put the U.S. in front with an 11th-minute header, only to be denied by Muslera. Labored a bit in the second half and was outmuscled in the sequence leading up to Uruguay’s goal. Needed to win the ball or commit a foul and he did neither.

MF Jackson Yueill, 7 — Did plenty to link defense to attack by hitting diagonal balls into the attacking third, usually to Morris. Wasn’t really tested defensively but did his job. Only complaint is that some of his set-piece deliveries left a bit to be desired.

MF Sebastian Lletget, 6 — Created a solid chance for Roldan in the first half, and was plenty involved in the U.S. attack during the first half. Faded a bit as the game went on in terms of his influence, although he was sharp on the ball.

FW Tyler Boyd, 4 — He’ll be having nightmares about his miss in the 22nd minute, when he somehow contrived to put his shot over the bar when on the doorstep. He barely got on the ball in the first half, although some of that was due to the U.S. team’s success on the left flank. His game picked up after halftime, but a subpar performance overall.

FW Josh Sargent, 6 — Provided some slick holdup play after dropping deeper into midfield, and should have won a penalty only for the referee to ignore a handball late in the first half by Gimenez. Didn’t get much in the way of service in the second half.

FW Jordan Morris, 8 — A near constant threat on the left wing, and should have had an assist on the opportunity he created for Boyd. Sure, his goal had an element of luck to it, but he’ll take it, and it was just reward for his hard work.

Substitutes

DF Miles Robinson, 6 — Was called into action immediately, and made some vital interventions.

FW Corey Baird, 5 — Took up some good positions, but he needed to do better to pick out Gyasi Zardes on one crossing attempt.

FW Gyasi Zardes, N/R — Threatened with a few runs, and did get one shot off, but not that impactful.

DF Nick Lima, N/R — Made an immediate impact with some telling crosses, and helped keep the play alive in the run-up to Morris’ goal.

MF Paxton Pomykal, N/R — Had one driving run in the 88th minute that put the Uruguay defense under pressure.

DF Daniel Lovitz, N/R — Settled in at left back, although he mostly stayed home given Lima’s forays forward.

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[addc10]

I’m screaming

[junker-town]

Building a better USMNT together: Picking the right tactics for the right team

We’re using ‘Football Manager 20’ to develop the United States’ young stars. But who should make the team, and how should we use them?

I’m using Football Manager 20 to build the best United States Men’s National Team I can, controlling both the USMNT and FC Dallas. Last week, we did a lot of dual national recruiting, took a look at our best young prospects, and set up the initial framework of our team.

At the end of the introduction, I asked y’all what you want to see and how I should set up our team, something I’m going to do regularly throughout this series. I got a lot of great responses, so let’s run through them. First, my former colleague and noted FC Dallas fan Tim Cato.

Where’s Paxton Pomykal?

this is extremely good quarantine content. but where is our baby boy paxton

— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) March 19, 2020

We’re certainly going to try our best to make Paxton Pomykal a key player for Dallas and a regular for the USMNT, but I am going to need to be equal parts good and lucky to do so. He’s good enough to be a decent MLS contributor, but he’s far from a superstar. I think the game underrates his dribbling and work rate.

Here’s how USMNT assistant Josh Wolff rates Pomykal relative to our other options. He’ doesn’t have mega high potential, and he’s currently worse than Keaton Parks and Cristian Roldan, two players he’s competing with.

His potential isn’t set in stone, though; it’s just Wolff’s opinion based on current information. If we get our training schedules right and he plays well in MLS, he’ll improve. But Pax will likely be passed by Gianluca Busio and a couple of other high potential players in the U-20 pool. Perhaps even by his own club teammates, Brandon Servania and Thomas Roberts.

Where’s Giovanni Reyna?

4-1-4-1 is fine, and so is attacking but where is Gio Reyna? The American that’s lighting up the Bundesliga with Dortmund?

— the only worthy ronan (@ronan_b13) March 19, 2020

I somehow failed to notice that Giovanni Reyna, arguably the best Under-20 prospect the USMNT has in real life, wasn’t in the pool I showed in episode one. I found him, tried to recruit him to the USMNT, and got this message.

Reyna looks really good, so I’m concerned we’ll lose him to England. NYCFC has his MLS rights, so we can’t loan him in and trick the system that way. We need to hope that his career stalls out for a bit, or that NYCFC signs him on loan. If he starts playing regularly for Dortmund, or on loan for a 2. Bundesliga team, I think he’ll get called up by England and we’ll be screwed.

Tactical suggestions

play strikerless. i know it sounds crazy, but trust me. 3 central attacking midfielders. force Pulisic to play out of position but maybe use him as a trequartista.

— Rose (@StUziRoRo) March 20, 2020

I’ve seen some content creators do this and it looks great. I’ve done it in previous editions of FM when it was meta. But a) I want Josh Sargent to be a key player for my team, and b) I’d rather play realistic tactics than cheese the match engine.

I'd suggest a second striker, a big guy. Josh alone next to two 6'3+ defenders is not fortunate. Maybe 5 3 2, with high stamina wingers, allow josh to drift to the sides and play counter attack.

— vielosofALI (@rgndsnali) March 20, 2020

I like this idea with almost all of the USMNT’s personnel, but the problem is that Christian Pulisic doesn’t fit into the system. He’s not good enough defensively to play the winger/wingback role, and he’s not good enough in the center to start there, either. I have to play him in an advanced wide role, and I’m not benching him, so we’re stuck with 4-3-3 variants.

From SB Nation editorial manager Pete Volk: With tactics, I like the idea of trying out a hard counter-attack style, basically doing a successful version of the direct style previous real USMNT managers have tried? Might be a way of highlighting the athleticism of the squad and hiding some of the technical flaws? But maybe the solution is having one of each, dependent on the opponent (especially since quality of national teams vary so much).

Vs. Attacking teams, use counter-attacking Tactic + No pressing. Vs. Defensive teams, use Attacking Tactic + hard pressing. Vs. Counter-attacking teams, use possession tactic. Every team is different so it’s good to have 3 tactics. This is what’s called being a Tactical manager.

— Tigers G (@TigersG2) March 21, 2020

I really like these suggestions! I’ve decided to take what Pete and Tigers said into serious consideration and come up with three different tactics with enough consistent themes that our players should be able to switch among them depending on the opposition.

Here’s our control possession tactic:

Our counter-attacking tactic:

And our gegenpressing tactic:

I anticipate the control possession tactic being our “base” system for most matches, especially in CONCACAF. We’ll be slightly better than a lot of the teams we face, which means our opponents will likely be sitting back but trying to counter-attack. But the gegenpress tactic will come in handy against teams that are physically overmatched, and hopefully the counter tactic will help us steal results against top teams.

Arriola vs. Morris

From SB Nation soccer team site manager Jeremiah Oshan: I’d love to know how Jordan Morris got left off the squad. He’s a little on the older side, I suppose, but at 25 still has a couple World Cups in him and is coming off a season in which he was arguably the best attacking player (aside from Pulisic) in the USMNT pool.

I think that Paul Arriola is slightly overrated in the game, and Jordan Morris is slightly underrated. Here’s the direct comparison.

Pulisic and Tim Weah are our starting wingers, and Jonathan Amon is a big talent with game-changing speed who I want on the bench. The last winger spot is for a defensive substitution, and Arriola does that job much better than Morris.

Advanced ‘crootin

From SB Nation commenter aanvil: Target Brazilians (and Argentinians). Use your DP slots to sign 18-year-old studs with no caps, then do whatever it takes to hold onto them for five years until they gain eligibility for the U.S.A.

I like this idea, and I think it’s something that will come up naturally if I play this save for a decade-plus. Some of the best players I find to sign for FC Dallas will just naturally be youngsters who aren’t good enough to play for Brazil or Argentina, and I assume other MLS teams will sign players from countries with excellent national teams who will pick up American citizenship in an attempt to play for me.

I’m not going to enact ‘crootin like this as a policy just because I want to see what we can do with players from MLS academies and the draft, but I’ll definitely take opportunities to add naturalized players to the USMNT as they come up.

Next week, we’ll get into the MLS season and talk about the development of some of FC Dallas’ prospects whose futures are very much up in the air. We’ll also play our first match with the USMNT, against Colombia.

[gadgetsrevv]

USMNT depth chart: where they’re strong and where they should worry ahead of World Cup 2022

It has been eight months and 13 matches since Gregg Berhalter took over as head coach of the United States men’s national team. He arrived with a mandate to remake a floundering program in his image, a project that’s very much still a work in progress. The manager spent his time handing starts to new players, evaluating the veterans and attempting to find a lineup that gets the most out of the available talent.

As World Cup qualifying approaches next year and the Nations Cup begins in October, it’s time to take a look at where the players stand.

(Note: Each player appears once, even if he could fit into multiple spots.)

Goalkeeper

1. Zack Steffen, Fortuna Dusseldorf (loan) 2. Brad Guzan, Atlanta United FC 3. Sean Johnson, NYCFC

It’s Steffen and then everyone else in the player pool. The Manchester City goalkeeper, on loan at Fortuna Düsseldorf, continues to improve his shot-stopping ability and positioning and is off to a strong start in the Bundesliga. He struggles with distribution, however, and needs to get better in this regard if Berhalter’s build from the back system is going to work.

– U.S. show they’re way behind Mexico – O’Hanlon: Is Dest the USMNT’s next big thing? – Dyer: How a Nobel Prize winner helped Reggie Cannon break through for USMNT

Guzan, Johnson, Ethan Horvath, Jesse Gonzalez and others are capable, if not spectacular, backups.

Left-back

1. Daniel Lovitz, Montreal Impact 2. Tim Ream, Fulham 3. Sergino Dest, Ajax

This position is a perpetual weak spot for the Americans. Lovitz is fine, Ream is better but accident prone, and Dest is just 18. The latter, who was solid and also a teenager against Mexico in his first start, could rocket up this list with a good couple of months for the Dutch giants in the Eredivisie and the Champions League.

Other potential options include Antonee Robinson, oft-injured Greg Garza, U-20 star Chris Gloster and even Fabian Johnson. (Remember when FabJo was the U.S.’s best player at four or five positions?)

The good news: Berhalter has a lot of options. The bad: None of those fully solves his problem.

Left-side center-back

1. John Brooks, VfL Wolfsburg 2. Matt Miazga, Reading FC (loan) 3. Chris Richards, FC Bayern Munich II

Right-side center-back

1. Aaron Long, New York Red Bulls 2. Walker Zimmerman, LAFC 3. Miles Robinson, Atlanta United FC

Can John Brooks stay healthy? If he does, one of the two center-back jobs is his for the next half-decade at least. But the Wolfsburg center-back can’t maintain fitness. For that matter, Miazga is on the shelf with a serious injury. In the immediate moment, Long and Zimmerman are the starters.

Richards, a standout in the U-20 World Cup, is raw but has line-breaking potential. Omar Gonzalez, Tim Parker, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Erik Palmer-Brown, Justen Glad, Miles Robinson, Austin Trusty and a handful of others could figure into the mix as well.

Right-back

1. DeAndre Yedlin, Newcastle United 2. Reggie Cannon, FC Dallas 3. Nick Lima, San Jose Earthquakes

Yedlin gets the nod due to his experience, though Cannon has had the strongest 12 months of pretty much any player in the U.S. national team picture. In another six months or a year, we might see Cannon lock down the right-back role with Yedlin pushing further up the field, but we’re not there quite yet.

Lima presents a serviceable option in a panic, though it’s not likely to come to that, and Shaq Moore’s a wild card who could push for more chances.

Defensive midfielder

1. Tyler Adams, RB Leipzig 2. Michael Bradley, Toronto FC 3. Wil Trapp, Columbus Crew SC

Has any player in the history of U.S. Soccer moved up the ranks for club and country as quickly as Adams? In two years, he has gone from “who is this kid?” to a Champions League starter. Still just 20, the RB Leipzig midfielder could be the American engine for a decade.

Bradley is still Bradley, the smartest player on the field even if he has slowed down a half-step. Trapp’s the best leader on the team, a guy who could make a roster for that ability alone. Alfredo Morales and Russell Canouse could play roles here too.

Attacking midfielder

1. Weston McKennie, Schalke 04 2. Duane Holmes, Derby County 3. Paxton Pomykal, FC Dallas

Attacking midfielder

1. Sebastian Lletget, LA Galaxy 2. Darlington Nagbe, Atlanta United FC 3. Cristian Roldan, Seattle Sounders FC

Berhalter could go a lot of ways with this group, including installing Pulisic back in midfield, but the McKennie/Lletget combination is the most potent if — and this is a big if — they can stay healthy and learn to play together. Holmes showed excellent promise in limited time, and Pomykal could start pressing sooner rather than later.

Nagbe remains an enigma, notably turning down a recent call-up, and Roldan is fine. Jackson Yueill and Djordje Mihailovic are two younger players who should continue to get shots if they continue to grow as players.

Pulisic is the undisputed leader of this new-look U.S. men’s team, but the depth around him looks worryingly thin at key positions.

Left wing

1. Christian Pulisic, Chelsea 2. Paul Arriola, D.C. United 3. Tim Weah, Lille

While Pulisic can be considered the best American player at multiple positions, he’s best served out on the wing, where he can get the ball in space and attack defenders. (At least that’s the idea.) Arriola is a much more limited player who nonetheless finds ways to produce in the U.S. coach’s system. (Odds are Berhalter starts him on the right wing.)

Weah, 19, has enough imagination for the entire group but needs to improve his decision-making and impactfulness across an entire match (and get healthy).

Right wing

1. Jordan Morris, Seattle Sounders FC 2. Tyler Boyd, Besiktas 3. Jonathan Lewis, Colorado Rapids

Boyd burst onto the scene at the Gold Cup, demonstrating flair and a cannon for a shot. Yet he hasn’t quite grasped Berhalter’s system, holding the ball for too long. Former wonderboy Morris transformed his game from pacey forward to robust winger, bringing a nuanced understanding to his physical gifts. Lewis might never be more than a spark plug for club or country, but he’s a fun prospect.

Striker

1. Josh Sargent, Werder Bremen 2. Jozy Altidore, Toronto FC 3. Gyasi Zardes, Columbus Crew SC

If Berhalter faced a must-win game, he might choose to start Altidore, who’s very much a known quantity at this point. But Sargent should be the call in upcoming games, as a player with a much higher ceiling whose continued improvement could help transform the U.S. squad. As for Zardes, sure for now, but his days are numbered.

One question for the near future: Can red-hot Minnesota United forward Mason Toye force his way into the conversation, or will he come crashing back down to earth?

//due to VPPA compliance we can not send keywords through URLs implicitly in the US var countryValue = $.cookie("country"); if(!!countryValue && countryValue !== "us") {

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$.ajax({ url: '//pixel.mathtag.com/event/js?mt_id=694557&mt_adid=137010&v1=&v2=&v3=&s1=&s2=&s3=', dataType: 'script', cache: true }); } (function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=116656161708917";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, "script", "facebook-jssdk")); Source link

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