USMNT roster: Poch Is Running a Knife-Fight, and the Kids Are Winning
A youth-heavy roster for the Haiti games mixes teenagers, MLS products, and returning vets under real job pressure. That's smart, and here's what to watch at every position.
You saw the US men’s national team roster that was announced yesterday, I’m sure, for the Haiti games coming up over the next couple of weeks. In case you need a refresher on those games: they are the quarterfinals of this current version of the Concacaf Nations League, which means they’re games of the official, cap-tying sort. So it’s likely that the dual-national panic over Julian Hall (which was never really a thing) will be done by the time this window is closed.
And the fact that Hall is here, as well as a bunch of the other still-can’t-buy-a-beer cohort, is the big story of this camp, because this is indeed an official camp for official games, and yet it looks very much like an experimental roster stuffed not only with kids, but a couple of mid-career vets getting welcomed back to the fucking show.
All of this is by way of saying that I really like what Mauricio Pochettino is doing here, which is two things:
1. He’s integrating new pieces within a controlled environment. You don’t learn anything about new or young (or both) players if you’re throwing eight of them onto the field at once. The way to learn about them is to play them in positions that make sense next to veterans who know their jobs, so that the level stays high and the game doesn't fall apart.
This subsequently makes it easier for new players to adapt and, potentially, excel. Which is exactly what Hall, Justin Ellis, Cavan Sullivan and Mathis Albert all did at the most recent camp.
It's just good talent integration, which is a very big and important part of good coaching.
2. He's sending a message that everybody's still in a knife-fight for their jobs. Tim Weah's captaining Marseille? Gone. Yunus Musah's a starter for AC Milan? Not here. Ricardo Pepi's back on the board for PSV? Hasn't shown that for the US. Joe Scally. Brenden Aaronson. Tanner Tessmann. Aidan Morris, Max Arfsten, Álex Zendejas, Zavier Gozo... got to perform at the club level, and then play like your life depends upon it for your country when you get the chance. If you don't, well, I hope you've got a VPN and an HBO sub.
