A few quick thoughts on the USMNT roster

The USMNT roster for the October international window is here. Let’s just do bullet points:

• As expected, Cristian Roldan has proved himself in Poch’s eyes. This will drive a certain segment of the fanbase crazy, of course, but Roldan was just on the field for 120 of the 135 best minutes the team has played under the new head coach, and I don’t think any sane manager is going to look past that.

• I’m happy to see another d-mid, James Sands, has played his way back into the picture with a strong start to the season with St. Pauli. He makes a lot of sense as a reserve in either a 23 or 26-man roster because of his ability to play high-level minutes at d-mid, but also in the middle of a back three or a stay-at-home right back (which would give a different look than guys like Alex Freeman and Sergino Dest).

I think that last part is especially telling given that Freeman is the only actual right back on the roster.

• Two other d-mids (though guys who are cut from very different cloths in how they play the game) are also returning, in Tanner Tessmann and Aidan Morris. Tessman’s been very good for Olympic Lyon to start the season and scored a motherfucking rocket last week in the Europa League, while Morris has been one of the very best players in the Championship.

• My assumption is that the absence of Tyler Adams is directly related to the presence of Roldan, Sands, Tessmann and Morris. If Poch needs to give those guys auditions – and he clearly does – then he needs to make sure there are minutes to be had.

So give Tyler the week off. You know what he brings and how he fits, and there’s enough of the other regulars in this squad to make it a fair representation of how the above guys will fit with the full team.

This strikes me as good load management from the coach.

• Back to Dest: he misses this camp via injury. So does his club teammate Ricardo Pepi. So does Johnny Cardoso, Jack McGlynn, Tristan Blackmon and and maybe Brian White1, too.

• Gio Reyna: also injured, also not on the roster. But as we all know, that might be because of off-field things. Tellingly, Reyna’s club teammate Joe Scally – reportedly part of the March shenanigans that got them both on the wrong side of Poch – is not here despite being fit as a fiddle.

• It’s good to see Jedi and Wes back.

• It’s another round of auditions for center backs behind the starting duo of Chris Richards and Tim Ream. I would greatly like for one of Miles Robinson, Mark McKenzie or Cameron Carter-Vickers to distinguish themselves.

In fact, if you asked me for one specific wish from this camp, it’s that Robinson proves he should not only be a part of every squad going forward, but should be in legitimate contention for a starting role.

• Poch did a good job of calling in the exact three forwards I think most of us wanted to see in Folarin Balogun, Haji Wright and Big Pat Agyemang. Zero complaints there.2

• Yunus Musah is the only absence that caused me to raise an eyebrow.3 I don’t know exactly what that’s about, but he had a very Musah performance the other day – long, mazy dribbles; bad turnovers; questionable defensive reads; incredible recoveries.

Maybe it’s just too much chaos for Poch? I don’t know. But I do know that if it were up to me, he’d be on every roster. Hopefully he plays his way back into the picture.

GOALKEEPERS (4): Chris Brady (Chicago Fire; 0/0), Matt Freese (New York City FC; 9/0), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; 3/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 52/0)

DEFENDERS (8): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew; 12/1), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic/SCO; 19/0), Alex Freeman (Orlando City; 9/0), Mark McKenzie (FC Toulouse/FRA; 22/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 77/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 33/3), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 50/4), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 34/3)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 53/9), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; 14/3), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 60/11), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough/ENG; 9/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 39/0), James Sands (FC St. Pauli/GER; 11/0), Tanner Tessmann (Olympique Lyon/FRA; 8/0), Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen/GER; 25/3)

FORWARDS (6): Patrick Agyemang (Derby County/ENG; 12/5), Folarin Balogun (AS Monaco/FRA; 19/6), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 80/32), Tim Weah (Marseille/FRA; 45/7), Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 17/5), Alex Zendejas (Club América/MEX; 13/2)