Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football
Who's for sure in the mix for 2018?
I'd say your list is pretty much spot on. Guzan will be there out of inertia if nothing else, which doesn't speak highly on where he is right now. He's had a fairly decent Copa but his club prospects are up in the air right now and I'd be shocked if he didn't come back to MLS soon. Not that that's a bad thing or a disqualifier but the USMNT has had a great track record over the years of having world-class GKs playing in the best leagues in the world (Keller, Friedel, Howard) for 20 years and that isn't easy to have to deal with.
Cameron and Brooks are now pretty much the confirmed go-to guys at center back. Chandler would have been on the team if he'd been healthy and him with Yedlin gives the US a decent choice at right back. Yedlin needs to grow up but he will and this garbage fart of a tournament from him will probably help (marking Lionel Messi is a great training opportunity if nothing else). Fabian has far too much utility in too many places to not be on this team.
I don't believe there are currently any sure things in the midfield, with Bradley being closest simply because he's the captain, but he has to have a lot fewer outings like he did against Colombia and Argentina - two good teams to be sure, but falling apart against good teams isn't encouraging - in order to confirm that. Bedoya's not too far behind either, even though he's not flashy he's certainly a workhorse that this team needs at the position.
Wood and Altidore are in. No question. Altidore staying healthy would be a great thing. Want to see more from them both.
Jones and Dempsey would be sure things the way they've been playing if not for their age. I didn't expect them to play any role in qualifying, let alone Russia, so anything we can squeeze from them is a bonus. Not quite advocating the old dog method of taking them behind the garage and putting one in the top of their head, but any diminishing of form at this point has to be a disqualifier. And I expect both of them will probably get there before Russia, unfortunately. But as they are now, they're invaluable, so keep riding that train while it's still in motion.
Right now, we need to see a steady diet of Ethan Horvath (who is close to locking down the "next generation" slot in the GK corps, of which there needs to be at least one and probably two), Steve Birnbaum, Matt Miazga, Ventura Alvarado, Christian Pulisic, Darlington Nagbe, Perry Kitchen, Emerson Hyndman, Mix Diskerud, Luis Gil, Julian Green, Jordan Morris, Jerome Kiesewetter, Paul Arriola, Josh Perez, Juan Agudelo, and Gyasi Zardes for the next year and a half. All of these guys are currently age 25 or younger, and it's guys like this that are going to form the heart of the World Cup team and the 2022 qualifying cycle - so it's important to separate the wheat from the chaff in this segment. (Leaving out Wood, Yedlin, and Brooks because they've more or less already secured their spots.) Add Terrence Boyd to the list if he ever gets healthy.
Spot starts from Gedion Zelalem and Cameron Carter-Vickers would be good to see too, but they're more building toward 2022 in general, not this cycle. Both are super exciting though. Perhaps Ben Lederman late in the cycle if he hasn't pulled a Freddy Adu yet.
By the way... what the hell happened with Shane O'Neill? And what's the status with Diego Fagundez? I know he's played a few U-20 games for Uruguay but he's not cap-tied until he plays with the senior team, right? I know he was ranting about the national anthem F-up so maybe he's going to play for Uruguay after all.
At this point I think Aron Johannsson might be Icelandic Giuseppe Rossi. Probably should have picked his home country for a number of reasons.
26 and up, certainly no problem seeing more Gonzalez, Besler, Zusi, Shea. Eric Lichaj can come too. Ready to move on from Jonathan Spector.
And please... no more Wondo. I was rooting for him to exorcise the demons last night, and he's a beast in MLS but he's just not translating to the USMNT the way one would think a guy who's done what he's done in San Jose should. At some point you just have to shrug and move on. I didn't hate the play but at his age what has been and what will be are not going to change.
