OT: USMNT World Cup roster is set.

If it were me, I'd take out Morris add Pefok and make Sargent strictly a winger.

Haji is the one that absolutely blows my mind. Pefok was one that I think we were all crossing our fingers for (even over Jordan Morris personally), but Pepi not making it? Yeesh. I know he's BFF with Pulisic, maybe that's the play?

naked pics, or something, probably.....

Strong winger that can finish in the box, but that's about it. He'd have been my second drop from the guys that made the squad, Wright first.

This seems like a participation trophy/reward for years of playing in shitty Gold Cup games  for him. Can't imagine the circumstance where he sees the field.

I don't think it's hard to understand at all. He's effort guy.

You understood why undersized Zack Novak played a ton, right?  Jordan Kovacs? Ben Mason?

I see Morris because I'm guessing he adds to the team culture and adds toughness. He seems like he's always played like he knows he's the least talented guy on the field (which he usually is) and so he has to work twice as hard as everyone else (which he usually does).

I could see how that has value on a 26 man roster. If you get in a game when you're up 1-0 and you need a guy who's going to run his ass off, no matter how much it hurts, put his body on the line, a guy who's going to defend and be strong enough to release and run it into the corner to kill time...that's Jordan Morris. 

As a situational sub, I get it.

I don’t follow soccer so I’d love to see honest opinions on this possibly-snarky question. 

1) Lackluster USMNT play.

2) World Cup in late November.

Hopefully we've got a presently 16-17 yr old Pulisic 2.0 lurking out there as well. Not necessarily in the same position group, but impact-wise wherever said player lines up

This is a valid take, and one that people need to hear. Fox sports won't say anything about it, but people need to know.

Having said that, I will have a very hard time not watching.

Some Qatar and FIFA officials should be in jail.

No neg from me. I saw ESPN's E60: Qatar's World Cup. There's a repeat on ESPN2 Th night @ 11 PM, or check Watch ESPN. Jeremy Schaap made a follow-up visit to one 8 yrs ago. Qatar's made marginal improvements to the horrible working conditions back then, but it seemed like a lot of their claims don't match reality. A lot of bodies of young men, healthy when they left home, sent back with cause of death listed as "cardiac arrest or stroke." And not counted as work-related deaths, as only a few actually died at a workplace.

I think I'll watch the USMNT, but not any of the other games.

I'm a casual follower of the USMNT under Berhalter because it's just too frustrating to watch his tactical approach and what I see as underutilizing the most gifted and skilled group of players ever on a USMNT team - albeit extremely young, but also with a shocking amount of European experience for their age. (Sorry for those of you who follow the team closely because I suspect you are all tired of hearing tactical complaints.)

BUT...our most talented players lie in our midfield and attack, even though we don't have a legit #9. It just seems that the best formation would be a 4-2-3-1 with the 1 (Pulisic) acting as a false 9 so he can drop back, run at defenders, and play combinations with Reyna. If the team needs hold up play later in the game, adjust the formation to put in a forward who can do so. 

The first choice back 4 is likely going to be the same each game, but they're clearly the team's weak link. Probably even more so with Berhalter's insistence of playing out of the back. As a casual observer, it seems every time I watch, the defense struggles mightily to play out of the back against pressing teams and they're able to double team Adams easily.

Adams- McKennie in the pivot. McKennie's great at late runs in to the box, but he's got be a box-to-box guy and track back on defense. 

Aaronson -Reyna- Weah 

Pulisic (False 9)

Musah's got to be first option off the bench unless there's a need to replace a position he can't play. 

Is there a reason why Berhalter seems to avoid the 4-2-3-1 and not play to the players strengths?

On a random note, as a long time AS Roma supporter, I've thought more than once, "Spaletti's 4-2-3-1 with Totti as a false 9 (during his first coaching stint there) would be a better tactical approach for this USMNT." (A healthy Reyna actually might be a better false 9 than Pulisic) The high pressing 4-2-3-1 that Pep used at Barca with Messi as a false #9 won't work for us because we just don't have that talent (does anyone?).

Anyway, in a tournament anything can happen, but I'm not confident the team advances out of the group despite Wales not being an "elite" team. Wales seems to play hard, together, and have a player in Bale who can win games out of nowhere. Not to mention, Wales knows this is their one WC shot to advance out of the group. They'll be hungrier than a younger US team, who in the back of their mind, is probably already thinking about 2026.

Think Roldan is there as a 26th guy because everyone in the locker room likes him, he makes training fun, and Berhalter's decided that team chemistry is important after seeing the team look miserable on the field in their last games.

That said, they can't play the way he wants to play with the CBs that are available. That was plainly apparent against Japan. Will be interesting to see if and how he adjusts. I think Aaronson being listed as a MF may indicate he's planning to play more of a 4-2-3-1, with McKinney or Aaronson playing more advanced and Musah pulled back to play alongside Adams, and then Pulisic and Weah/Reyna as on the flanks against Wales. (I think he likely reverts to 4-3-3 against England because the US won't have the ball as much.)