OT: Musah chooses USMNT
Highly sought after 18 year old mildfielder Yunas Musah chooses USMNT. Article below:
”Yunus Musah explains why he picked USMNT over England and closes door on international switch”
??????
That kid is awesome! Enormous get for us. Will be part of a golden generation in time for the '26 World Cup on home soil.
2026, something to look forward to. Should have some mature talent on the USMNT, could it possibly be our time???
How would you define "our time" victors2000, in terms of the USMNT? Realistically, getting to the quarterfinals of the World Cup would an excellent result, the semis would be incredible. Are you expecting we should win it?
I only follow soccer when World cup comes around so I don't have a feel for talent and ages, the impact of coaching etc., but I do recognize those names as talented payers who will be near peak come 2026. With the USMNT playing at home, that's in our favor. Of course, it also depends on the other teams and how good they are, but I think we'll be riding a high with it being on US soil; why not us?
USA wins another one ??
What is "soccer"?
My man/woman, no one forced you to open this thread or post a comment.
March 24th, 2021 at 11:27 PM ^
I opened it because I had no idea what usmnt stood for or whom this player was. I thought maybe it was recruiting news. Maybe not quite deserving of a Justin Feagin response but still, title could have been better.
March 24th, 2021 at 11:35 PM ^
Maybe...I think USMNT is thrown around here quite a bit, especially when they are involved in one of the tournaments. Not sure the title was all that bad
March 24th, 2021 at 11:41 PM ^
Well, it was appropriately titled OT.
USMNT = US Men's National Team
It came from slang for association football.
this joke died in the 1980s
It's an awesome pickup for the USMNT. We've got five very legit midfielders who are 22 years old or younger and will be in their primes in 2026 - Adams, McKennie, Musah, Reyna and Aaronson.
An attached article says that Pulisic and Musah are hoping to play in the Olympics in Tokyo (it's a U-23 tournament and both qualify). But they are at the mercy of their professional clubs releasing them for the tournament.
Yeah I really doubt Pulisic gets released since Olympics will be starting around preseason for European clubs. But who knows what's going to happen with Pulisic anyway; he may be trying to find a new club this summer too. Maybe Musah? He's not a big name, may be able to get a release.
Exactly, Tuchel is saying the "right" things but I know that he's not seeing the minutes that he did under Lampard and certainly not the minutes that his contract would dictate
This is big news. I still can't wrap my head around a potentially competitive US squad in future international tourneys.
I'm just excited we won't see Bradley turning the ball over at midfield anymore.
To be fair, although Michael Bradley is not close to being the player in his 30s that he was in his 20s and he's an easy target for abuse, now that there are many more younger, more dynamic midfielders available for the USMNT, the one-time "Captain America" has had some stellar moments for the USMNT during his career.
March 25th, 2021 at 11:13 AM ^
Michael Bradley sucked in his 20s too.
and he's an easy target for abuse
Yeah. That's because he sucks. Has nothing to do with his age.
March 25th, 2021 at 11:25 AM ^
He played for Roma and M'gladbach. People who suck don't play for those teams.
March 24th, 2021 at 11:43 PM ^
Well, they were usually good enough to be a dangerous team and score a few big upsets before last cycle's debacle. But yes, I don't follow soccer much but the talent now seems to be so much better than anything the US has ever had, and it's not just a golden generation type of lucky confluence. The US is going to be much better on the world stage quite soon.
U-S-A! U-S-A!! U-S-A!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
More like Yunas mUSAh, amirite?
Hopefully not another Freddy Adu. I don't watch much soccer but I remember all the hype for that kid that turned into nothing.
Much different situation. Adu started getting hype when he was like 13; waaay before anyone should be getting real hype as a professional athlete. It's like when a college program offers a kid in middle school. He played his youth career in the US when the MLS wasn't even nearly as good as it is now. And while he was jounrneyman, he was still a professional soccer player for a decade and a half and represented the US national team. Musah is young, but also 18, and he's already getting real playing time a legit club in Spain; that is already above anything Adu did in his career. Honestly, I feel bad for Adu; he never really asked for all that hype so young. It was US soccer and MLS looking for something to sell and talk about.
Yup. Musah is already good enough to start on a typical USMNT. It remains to be seen how he develops, but his floor is already pretty high.
Edit - I will be the Debbie Downer and point out that he hasn't been starting for Valencia lately. But he's 18, and if you've seen him play, his ability is pretty easy to see.
March 24th, 2021 at 11:45 PM ^
What happened to Julian Green? Not like he was hyped to be Pele, but I don't think he's gotten any run on the USMNT, has he? Seemed like it was a big get at the time to keep him from the German team.
Projecting ahead, I think it's likely that the USMNT will have more talent at their disposal in 2026 than Croatia did in 2018. That's not a knock on Croatia, they had a handful of world class players on that team, and I think almost all their starters played for top clubs. Whether they'll have a team as good as 2018 Croatia remains to be seen, but all the pieces are coming together for the US to make a deep run in the World Cup. They just need a coach, maybe a goalie, and some luck.
I think we need a world class striker before we're a darkhorse contender at the World Cup. I still don't see it in that current group of Sargent, Soto, Giaocchini, etc. People are talking about Weah moving to striker but not sure that's the answer either.
Agree. Lookout for Daryl Dike. Dude has been lighting up the English Championship (England's second top league).
Dike is turning into a good story at Barnsley. I'm kind of intrigued by Weah moving to striker for the USMNT - seems the worst case would be Zardes but better on the ball. Maybe Weah could be as good as Altidore in his prime, which is better than anything we have right now.
Yes to Weah. No way to Zardes for me.
March 24th, 2021 at 10:41 PM ^
Did you guys see how much bigger Dike is than anyone else on the field? How fast is he? If that guy has decent speed (aka faster than Olivier Giroud) GET THAT MAN A JERSEY!
Even if he rides the bench he can be a super sub for late in games when you need a goal from a set piece.
March 25th, 2021 at 12:07 PM ^
DIke is a beast for Barnsley, but I wonder if he has the pace to compete in the Premier league. He looks a tad slow to me.
March 25th, 2021 at 11:34 AM ^
I still worry about LB and Striker. And then an aged or injured Jon Brooks (or really injuries to all of our core midfielders who can't seem to stay healthy or ever play together). I think the pipeline is full of talent, but those spots need a different level of quality to compete at the WC level. We don't have a Modric or Rakitic either. I think we are on track to be more like a "nearly Belgium" golden age squad, but hopefully more pops in our talent national pipeline or the dual nationals track (which is a possibility). Exciting times though!
This feels several days old.
March 24th, 2021 at 11:40 PM ^
This reads like you are a douche bag
March 25th, 2021 at 12:33 PM ^
Ha, every time someone posts news that’s even a few hours old they get killed. So I mention that this news is several days old and you try to be a hero. Go fuck yourself.
March 25th, 2021 at 10:37 PM ^
"try to be a hero" by calling you a douche bag for being a douche bag? Interesting way to define "hero"
March 25th, 2021 at 12:37 AM ^
Build it and we will come.
Or, in other words, win something.
March 25th, 2021 at 10:35 AM ^
football? are we talking football?
March 25th, 2021 at 11:28 AM ^
Musah add so much to our midfield. I loved watching him in our friendlies. With guys like Nagbe electing not to play, different player, but we needed dynamic guy in there. Hope he continues to develop, but he is good enough to make roster and start now. Love it. Also excited about Dest's and Arronson's really positive development and slightly concerned about the Pulisic drop off/inuries. If Pulisic can break from slump and McKennie, Dest, Arronson, Adams, Richards and Dest keep progressing...we have a pretty decent squad. Still don't have that "next level" guy for WC tourney type situations, but we've always been the team, the team, the team and in recent tourneys "teams" have been winning out.