Scuffed

This week, Gregg Berhalter announced and explained his 24-man roster for friendlies later this month against Ecuador and Chile. First big chance for him to have the full squad at his disposal and he left off Sargent and Weah, called Baird and Lewis back up. We get into all that, and also clipped a bunch of Berhalter quotes from the press conference. 0:30 Roster reaction 27:20 How we might lineup Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

Quick rundown of the youngsters in MLS on opening weekend, an abridged discussion of the March friendlies roster (due next week), and then Phill Grooms of the USL Show joins to discuss young Americans in USL. 0:30 MLS rundown and an abridged take on the March friendly rosters (child-rearing cut it a little short) 16:00 March friendlies roster discussion 27:40 intro Phill Grooms on USL youngsters 33:40 North Texas SC 44:00 LA Galaxy II 53:00 Tacoma Defiance 1:01:00 Real Monarchs 1:10:10 Others (Reno, ATL2, San Antonio, RBNY2, Richmond, Charlotte, NCFC, Swope Park, St. Louis, Bethlehem Steel) Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

The 2019 MLS season kicks off this weekend, so here’s a thorough look at which young Americans to watch in the league. Matt Doyle of MLSsoccer.com joins the pod to help invent some categories and work through a list of 50+ names. Everyone from Chris Durkin to Derrick Jones, Sebastian Saucedo to Omir Fernandez. (the categories are definitely not precise) 0:30 Great Expectations 24:30 Hopes and Dreams 1:07:45 Reclamation Projects, the Zero Expectations crew, etc. Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

19-year-old (almost 20-yr-old) centerback Mark McKenzie joins the pod for a conversation about centerbacking, his breakout 2018 for the Philadelphia Union, January Camp, and the U20s' dominant showing in World Cup qualifying in November. Then Greg and Belz run through the player pool news, Fabian Johnson's revival (?), the USWNT She Believes roster, etc. , etc. 0:30 Mark McKenzie interview 42:10 Short Corners: Weston McKennie versatile, capable, but maybe injured Tyler Adams and his passing Christian Pulisic injured in 0-3 loss to Tottenham Josh Sargent quiet (oh wait he started a game after we recorded) Timo Weah fiery Alex Mendez, Richie Ledezma and Paxton Pomykal Midweek CCL discussion Fabian Johnson revived USWNT She Believes roster NWSL TV deal U17 qualifying and U20 World Cup draws Black Soccer in North America roundtable, in which McKenzie participated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jOnn1EpmEo Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the p

Belz goes under the knife for his garbage predictions about Miazga and Weah, and then the hosts discuss three key questions about the USMNT after January Camp. Will we see the inverted fullback system with a dedicated holding mid and dual 8/10s in March? Who will Berhalter play in the central midfield? What's going to happen with DeAndre Yedlin? Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

Ted Kroeten is the founder of Joy of the People, a non-profit in the Twin Cities focused on free play as a way to develop more instinctive, resourceful soccer players (and people). A former player, long-time coach and current soccer parent, Kroeten now believes that up to at least the age of 14, the best way for kids to improve is by playing for fun with their friends, with minimal coaching and supervision. It's an interesting idea, one that a lot of people don't accept, and I tried to ask Ted as many good questions about it as I could. Roughly 3,000 children participated in some kind of free play soccer at Joy of the People last year. Two players who grew up in the program trialed at Werder Bremen in the fall. https://twitter.com/JOYofthePEOPLE https://www.joyofthepeople.org/ Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live cal

The USA beat Costa Rica 2-0 on Saturday in San Jose, California, with a couple of goals in the last 10 minutes. This was a Costa Rica side that was a bit stouter than the Panamanian opponent a week ago, and another convincing Concacaf friendly win for Berhalter. 0:30 Daryl Grove's GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/team-daryl-grove 1:30 the lineup vs Costa Rica and what it means 17:00 timeline of big chances and goals, player-by-player chats (the defense, the so-so guys, and the ones who tried hard) 55:55 the stock-up performers from January Camp (Lletget, Arriola and sort of Lewis and Ramirez) 1:02:00 overall takeaway, first-choice XIs, quick European check-in Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

Yes it was a Panama B team, but the U.S. is likely to face several similar sides at the Gold Cup in June, and the win on Sunday was a coherent, competent, even dominant, performance. Compared to USA-Bosnia in 2018, and January camps in previous years, this was a large step in the right direction. Plenty to discuss: Surprises in the lineup, and a new (and largely unknown) lineup hierarchy. The 3-2-4-1 attacking shape (or 3-4-3 or 3-2-2-2, whatever you want to call it). Individual performances, especially Bradley, Mihailovic, Lima and Zardes. And oh yeah, Tyler Adams's first Bundesliga start in a dominant win for RB Leipzig. Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

We run down the action in Europe over the weekend, mostly in the Bundesliga. Greg explains what worried him about the USWNT’s 3-1 loss to France. Then we talk about the upcoming Panama friendly, who the 6 is going to be, and we give our (half-hearted) starting XIs. Mostly we're just curious about the game. Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

LA Galaxy's academy is one of the top talent centers in American soccer, and U19 head coach Brian Kleiban is in the middle of it. He's now got former players all over the U.S. boys' youth national teams, he's been to two straight Development Academy finals, and he joined the pod for a wide-ranging conversation on everything from the time he spied on Bielsa in the early 2000s, to the MLS draft, the U20 World Cup, the Development Academy, and his long-term ambitions as a coach. 0:30 Kleiban's background, his background as a coach, the Galaxy academy, sneaking in to watch Bielsa trainings, and the way American soccer is changing how it values small, technical players 23:00 how he got connected with Mendez, Llanez and Alvarez, candid assessments of several players (Mendez, Llanez, Alvarez, Araujo, Kobe, Dunbar), the arrival of Dennis te Kloese, and what it means to the LA Galaxy academy to have LAFC active and aggressive in the same market 50:30 US national team discussion: the U20s, Berhalter's hiring, whether

Ajax and U.S. U20 right back Sergino Dest joins the podcast from the Netherlands for nice little chat. And then Greg and Belz gin up predictions mostly to honor this coming weekend's return of the Bundesliga. 0:30 Sergiño Dest, the 18-year-old attacking fullback who's a standout for one of the world's best academies and a U.S. youth international, talked about the upcoming U20 World Cup, where he needs to improve (in surprising detail), his ambitions, and going up against Diego Lainez. 28:45 spring predictions on Sargent, Pulisic, the USMNT centerback loan army, Soto and Mendez, other players attaining “Weston McKennie status,” Tim Weah, another Tyler Adams coming out of MLS, and finally Concacaf Champions League. Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made

We talk about the Pulisic move to Chelsea and lots of other moves, run down what we’re looking for from January camp, and then (don’t miss it!) interview Martín Vásquez, the dean of the Real Salt Lake academy, which has been a factory of talent for the U.S. U20 team in recent years. Lots of detail in the show notes so make like a honey badger and take what you want. 0:30 Pulisic to Chelsea, Richards to Bayern, Weah to Celtic, Adams at Leipzig, Holmes at Derby County, etc., etc. 26:00 Belz rant on why Ledezma and Mendez should be getting occasional check-ins from Berhalter or Stewart 32:20 January Camp: what Greg will watch for in these friendlies, the battle for the No. 6 spot, players to watch (Long, Cannon, Steffen and a bunch of wildcards) 54:10 three players to watch in the U20 camp (Durkin, Taitague and Cappis) Martín Vásquez interview 1:00:10 His work at the RSL academy 1:16:15 Specific players from RSL: Ledezma, Soto, Ochoa, Arriaga, Pena 1:39:35 Vásquez on the development academy and US soccer deve

Brian Clarhaut (pronounced Clair-heart) is the 32-year-old manager of Nyköpings BIS (pronounced New-shoppings BISS) in the Swedish third division. He’s taken the road less traveled. Grew up in New Jersey, played college soccer, was an assistant at a few colleges in the Northeast, and then got an assistant coaching job in Sweden and was named head coach at the club mid-season in 2017. He gave a wide-ranging interview explaining his coaching path, his work in Nyköping, his views on the U.S. men’s national team and his coaching philosophy, among other things. I broke the interview into three parts: 0:30 Clarhaut’s background, how he ended up coaching in Nyköping, how he landed the head coaching job, what third division soccer in Sweden is like, and how the last couple seasons have gone. 38:00 The state of American soccer, the Berhalter appointment, differences between MLS and European playing style, and American players he rates. 56:50 Coaching soccer in general, including UEFA licensing courses, his role model

Joey Anthone (@USAProspects), Matt Hartman (@MattSHartman) join for a draft of uncapped U-21 Americans with assembling hypothetical teams for the 2026 World Cup in mind. The three of us each pick a 20-player roster, and briefly discuss who came out best. Here were the rules: Only U.S.-eligible players born in 1997 or later are allowed. Anyone already capped with the senior men’s national team is disqualified. That excludes, for instance, Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Sargent, Weah, even though they are age-eligible. We’re picking specifically with the goal of assembling the best possible team in 2026. We each need to come up with a 20-man roster, including two goalkeepers. That's a total of 60 players. Dual nationals are allowed, so long as they’ve accepted a youth national team call-up at some point and are not cap-tied by another nation. We'll roll out info on Twitter (@zlebmada) and a poll to decide the winner over the next few days, but here are the major timestamps: 0:30 Rules 1:50 Rounds 1-10 38:10 Round

In August, we recorded a catalog of worst case scenarios for USMNT players abroad in the first half of the European season. This week we check in on those (a disconcerting number came true), and then discuss Richie Ledezma’s pending move to PSV, the Champions League draw, and Dave Sarachan’s new job. 0:30 Worst case scenarios, revisited. In chronological order: Pulisic, McKennie, Weah, Adams, Acosta, Yedlin/Brooks/Amon/Saief, Wood, Sargent, Miazga/CCV/EPB/Moore/Richards, Robinson, Parks, Sabbi/Novakovich/Gall/Holmes/Gooch/Green/Hines-Ike/Hyndman, youngsters abroad, MLS youngsters. 51:15 Short Corners: Ledezma to PSV, Emerson Hyndman’s resurgence, Soto to train with the Hannover first team, Champions League and Europa League draws, coaching hire news. Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full

A lot happened over the past couple weeks in American soccer. We take it on piece by piece. Check the show notes. 0:30 Gregg Berhalter 18:30 January Camp 28:45 MLS Cup, Atlanta 33:50 Andrew Carleton's misdeeds 36:45 quick lookahead to the spring calendar 38:45 Josh Sargent debut and GOAL 45:30 Revierderby 51:40 Yedlin 55:00 Encouraging Young Yanks update (Adams, Dest, Richards, and the "20 Pulisics") Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

Andrew Erickson, the former Crew SC beat reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, joins the pod to talk about covering newly announced USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, and then Belz and Matt Hartman discuss what we learned about the U17s in the Nike Friendlies. 0:30 Andrew Erickson interview 26:45 the U17s at the Nike Friendlies: all the players discussed to some extent, special emphasis on midfield and centerback struggles, Gio Reyna, off-ball stasis, Ricardo Pepi and how the end of the residency program (ultimately a positive development) may be affecting team cohesion in the near-term Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

U.S. men's U20 coach and youth technical director Tab Ramos joins to talk about the Concacaf Championship and a few other things. Then Greg and Belz talk briefly about the Italy friendly, evaluate the first team minutes requirement floated by some after the game, and break down the satisfying, trophy-winning 2-0 win over Mexico in Bradenton from the U20s. 0:30 Tab Ramos interview 26:10 the USMNT limps toward the end of 2018 49:00 U20 Concacaf Championship, and the most interesting U.S. players Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed

Belz, Joey Anthone and Matt Hartman take a deep dive into the pool of players born in 2002 or later and therefore eligible for the U17 World Cup next year. We talk about how this age group stacks up against past cycles, discuss more than 50 individual players and try to answer a bunch of very good Twitter questions. This is a long one. Listen at 1.5 speed. Use the show notes. If you get bored with the discussion of one position, skip to the next. We start with the top prospects, generally, and move our way down at each spot on the field. 0:30 Is this U17 cycle as good as the last one? 8:45 Goalkeepers: Damian Las, Chituru Odunze, Gavin Krenecki, Seth Wilson, Aaron Cervantes, Vicente Reyes 19:00 Centerbacks: Mason Judge, Axel Alejandre, Michael Barragan, Antino Lopez, Casey Walls, Owen Guske, Kenneth Nielsen, Ethan Bayer 32:50 Fullbacks: George Bello, Joe Scally, Kobe Hernandez, Mauricio Cuevas, Adam Armour, John Michael Tolkin, Jacob Greene, Anton Sorenson, Amir Daley 48:25 Holding and box-to-box midfielders

It was a pretty bad performance from the Americans at Wembley, but hiring a coach should help. an abysmal opening 13 minutes why this happened (a bad job by Sarachan and not the players' faults) a roster rundown and a few other things bright spots Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private ad-free feed for all episodes that go out on the public feed, plus the Monday Review every week with Watke and Vince. Patrons also get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed