Jordan_pefok_-_asn_top_-_usmnt_training_-_3-21-22
Day 1: USMNT camp

Aarronson out, USMNT stock watch, U-20 notes, Ferreira's hat trick, & much more

The weekend and Day 1 of the USMNT camp brought a lot of news. ASN's Brian Sciaretta covers it all including Brenden Aaronson's injury, to Jesus Ferreira's rise in form, to Reyna's return. Plus, a look at the U.S. U-20 team, the player stock watch, Arriola & Zimmerman speaking to the media, finally the dramatic results from American coaches in Europe. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
March 21, 2022
8:05 PM

IT WAS an eventful Monday as USMNT camp opened in Houston. The news over the weekend both abroad and domestically was decidedly mixed from an American and U.S. national team perspective. So with Gregg Berhalter’s group set to play the three biggest games of his tenure inside of the next 10 days, the news has taken a increased level of importance.

Here is a look at some of the news as the week got underway

 

Aaronson withdraws from USMNT camp

 

Brenden Aaronson was added to the growing list of American players who is unable to play for the U.S. team this window.

This list is now

Weston McKennie

Sergino Dest

Matt Turner

Chris Richards

Brenden Aaronson

Of course, you have other players who are no longer injured but who have only come back from longer-term injuries inside of the past two weeks. Gio Reyna and Zack Steffen being the prominent two.

The list of injured or recently injured players is significant both in terms of the number and the quality of the players being affected. U.S. Soccer did not immediately announce whether it would replace Aaronson on the roster.

The news of Aaronson’s injury hit over the weekend when he was forced to withdraw from Salzburg starting lineup against Wolfsberger before kickoff (Salzburg ended up winning 4-1). There were some initial reports that Aaronson was going to join the team in Houston and be evaluated but later in Monday it was announced that he was ruled out.

In the end, it wouldn’t even matter if he arrived. ASN understands that there was an injury to his MCL and was not just a mild sprain as was hoped. He won’t be able to train for roughly two weeks and conservative estimates are that he won’t return to playing for another 4-6 weeks. Salzburg, in the end, refused to release him.

The injury to Aaronson was substantial because his ability to play both on the wing and in the central attacking midfield role. The gradual return of Jordan Morris helps cover on the wings, but Aaronson could have been a key player to help cover for McKennie.

Will U.S. Soccer replace him? It seems possible. There are a few options such as Sebastian Lletget, who has seen his playing time fall with the U.S. team (he hasn’t played for the U.S. team since the second game of the October window – a span of seven games), but still could easily integrate. Or Djordje Mihailovic who hasn’t been with the team in years, but who is playing red hot for Montreal the past year and a half. A more distant option would be Paxton Pomykal.

No matter what, Aaronson is a big loss to the U.S. team, especially in trying to get beyond McKennie.

 

Ferreira Player of the week

 

FC Dallas forward Jesus Ferreira was named the MLS Player of the Week on Monday. He was a no-brainer of a choice following a hat trick, and an assist for Dallas in a 4-1 win over Portland.

The U.S. team needs goal scoring and Ferreira and Jordan Pefok will enter into this camp in strong form. What is useful to Berhalter and the staff is that both Ferreira and Pefok score in different ways. They are very different types of players and they give the U.S. team different looks. Pefok is a physically strong forward who can be an imposing presence close to goal.

Ferreira, meanwhile, is a skillful player who can beat defenders with the ball, make nice runs, and can also finish in the air. The fact that he can pass well can also create opportunities for wingers.

Nico Estevez recently moved from being a U.S. assistant to the Dallas head coach. Former Dallas head coach, Luchi Gonzalez, is now a U.S. assistant. There is a similar style with the teams and Ferreira should have an easier time these days moving between the national team and his club team.

“I was not worried when Jesús would end up scoring,” Estevez said after Ferreira’s hat trick. “It was just a matter of time. He would have chances in the previous games played, and he just had to be more accurate in the final product. There were three goals that he could have scored by now based on his chances in the past few games, but he scored them today. I am happy for him especially with his work rate, his knowledge of the game, and what he offers to the team.”

Ferreira might not always start for the U.S. team, but he’s in a good position with coaches who all know each other – and coaches who know him as a player. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him start in Mexico where the U.S. team might need a forward who can move well and be dynamic in the box.

Pefok might be the guy who starts when the staff is confident there will be enough service in the box. The final forward, Ricardo Pepi, doesn’t seem to have the confidence at the moment and starting him might be seen as risky.

 

Reyna passes physicality test

 

Gio Reyna earned the start for Borussia Dortmund on Sunday and played a full 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw with FC Koln. It was a disappointing result for BVB but it was an important sign that Reyna went the full 90 minutes.

Here are a few thoughts about his performance.

Reyna’s impact was so-so. He certainly had some good moments, but it is still clear that he is not at the level he can be at when playing regularly.

Physically, he took a beating. It was a true test for him to hang in there physically, and he seemed to get by. It is also easy to see how he is susceptible to injuries when he is not at 100%.

His stamina was also lacking. While he went 90 minutes, he also struggled the last 20 minutes as his legs looked heavy.

Positionally, he played on the right side of the midfield and while he had touches in all zones, most were on the right side of the midfield.

Translating this into the big picture for the U.S. team, what this means is that Reyna is ready to play a role with the U.S. team, but it is hard to not see him being part of a rotation. His minutes will be limited.

The game in Mexico seems the most unlikely place for him to start. Azteca is one of the most physically demanding environments to play. Starting him there ensures that a sub will be needed for him in the second half. It also jeopardizes his ability start the second game against Panama in Florida.

Berhalter will have to find a way to get the most out of Reyna in limited minutes.

 

Stock watch

 

When looking at the traditional “stock watch” for national team players, the results were generally on the more negative side. Many players who were pushing for a spot on the team in recent weeks didn’t show they belonged. A few others who were going to make the team but were on the bubble in terms of starting, didn’t help their case.

Across the board, only a few really helped themselves.

 

Players on the USMNT who helped their case

 

Jesus Ferreira’s hat-trick showed that he could be a starter for the U.S. team.

Paul Arriola also scored for Dallas in the 4-1 win while also adding an assist.

Reggie Cannon was strong defensively for Boavista in their 1-0 loss to Porto

Walker Zimmerman scored a goal for Nashville and defensively wasn’t at fault for either of his team’s two goals in a 2-1 loss to RSL.

 

Ethan Horvath started and played well for Nottingham Forest in a 1-0 loss to Liverpool in the FA Cup. One of his saves was nominated for save of the round in the FA Cup.

 

Zack Steffen played for the first time since January when he went the distance for Manchester City in a 4-1 win over Southampton in the FA Cup.

 

USMNT players who had tough weekends

 

Several American players didn’t have great weekends and will arrive in Houston without positive momentum.

Sean Johnson had a rough week for NYCFC, both in their collapse to Comunicaciones (with NYCFC luckily advancing on away goals) and in the 2-0 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday.

Tim Weah was red carded for Lille and was generally ineffective in the 1-0 win over Nantes.

Erik Palmer-Brown has had a great month and wasn’t bad in Troyes’ 1-1 draw with St. Etienne on Friday, but he did concede a penalty in St. Etienne’s only goal.

Ricardo Pepi did not play for Augsburg in a 3-2 collapsing loss to Stuttgart and is still looking for his first Bundesliga goal. Now, he is struggling just to get the chances to score.

Tyler Adams did not get off the bench for Leipzig.

George Bello had some good moments but also some tough moments in Arminia Bielefeld’s 4-0 loss to Mainz. The first goal conceded came down his side of the field and he was one of the players beaten. The remaining three were penalties that were not conceded by Bello but all originated on plays on his side.

Miles Robinson hasn’t had a great start to the season for Atlanta and he was uneven in Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Montreal.

Gianluca Busio played 34 minutes as Venezia lost 2-0 to Sampdoria. Busio didn’t offer much (although the goals were conceded before he came into the game) and relegation is looking likely for Venezia.

 

Bubble players were mixed

 

Players looking to climb into the national team picture in future camps had mixed outings.

On the positive side, Cameron Carter-Vickers continues to start and win for a Celtic team that is leading Scotland right now.

In MLS, Paxton Pomykal is slowly returning to the player everyone once hoped before a wave of injuries and he continues to be sharp for FC Dallas with anther strong outing in a 4-1 win over Portland.

Djordje Mihailovic was solid again and scored a goal for Montreal in the 3-3 draw with Atlanta United.

Brandon Vazquez had a brace for Cincinnati in a 3-1 win over Inter Miami. The former U.S. youth international, now 23, who was once part of the 2015 U.S. U-17 World Cup team with Tyler Adams, Christian Pulisic, and Luca de la Torre now has four goals and an assist in four games to start the season.

On the flip side, other bubble players struggled over the weekend.

Duane Holmes and Huddersfield lost two games inside of four games. The most recent was a 3-0 loss to AFC Bournemouth. The American Holmes hasn’t been able to help the team generate any offense as of late. Huddersfield has been outscored 7-0 over its last 196 minutes in the Championship.'

Matthew Hoppe, Konrad de la Fuente, Bryan Reynolds, Cole Bassett, Tanner Tessmann, and Nicholas Gioacchini are all players who were capped in 2021 and neither were able to get off the bench over the weekend. De la Fuente actually didn’t even make the bench for Marseille. Bassett and Tessmann seem like they are in more of adjustment seasons.

Sebastian Soto was at one point a contender to be on the national team but after a failed loan to Porto B from Norwich, his current loan to Livingston FC in Scotland is only yielding limited bench minutes. Over the weekend, he played 27 minutes in a 2-0 loss to Hearts.

Also in Scotland, Chris Mueller’s minutes have been uneven for Hibernian and he played 27 minutes in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Aberdeen. It’s easy to forget that he was getting votes for MLS Best XI in 2020 for Orlando before falling off in 2021 before his move to Scotland.

Sebastian Lletget and New England gave Charlotte FC their first ever win on Saturday. Lletget struggled over his 72 minutes in the 3-1 loss.

Gyasi Zardes is yet to start this season for Columbus and came off the bench again in a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls.

Dejuan Jones had his first off-night of the season for New England in the 3-1 loss to Charlotte. The left back has quietly been pushing for a spot as the backup to Antonee Robinson over the past year.

 

Arriola and Zimmerman speak

 

Paul Arriola and Walker Zimmerman were the first two American players to address the media at camp.

Arriola touched upon a lot of topics but the most important was his experiences last cycle, where the team failed to qualify for the World Cup, compared with this one. Arriola has singled out that the mentality is quite a bit different this time and that he doesn’t sense a fear of a repeat of 2017.

“Fear is not sensed within the group,” Arriola said. “We are a group that's very confident in ourselves, in our own ability and the way. That is the national team right now. You know, we feel very confident that we will qualify. But for us, it's not even just about qualifying. It's about winning games, changing the way people see the U.S.. This game coming up against Mexico is a great opportunity for us to go out there and show that we're continuously growing collectively and getting better as a nation.”

“The mentality is incredible from the group,” he added. “It really is the culture. The brotherhood that we have is something that I've always said it's even hard to find in club settings. So what we have is special, and I know that we're not going to let that slip away from us and understand how special this this moment in this journey has been together.”

Zimmerman, meanwhile, is a very strong contender to start potentially all three of the upcoming games with perhaps even the chance to serve as captain for a game. The Nashville central defender has been a mainstay within the group since October and has been an anchor in central defense – which has generally been a position of strength for the U.S.team.

“I don't think it's nervousness,” Zimmerman said about Azteca. “I think it's again excitement. It's, you know, at this level you want to play in big games. You want to have that responsibility and recognize the importance of it and embrace it. And so I think we have that kind of DNA among a lot of our players. And so again, just excitement and ready to kind of get going.”

“There is not too much experience of playing in Azteca for a lot of guys,” Zimmerman added. “Certainly, we have a few who were there and involved last cycle, and we know it's going to be a challenge for sure. But again, just in the same way that we prepared for that game in Minnesota, from a mental standpoint, I thought we approached that the right way and this is no different. Yes, it'll be challenging. Yes, we're up for that challenge. There's no doubt in my mind that we'll go out there with a good mindset and push through the elements, continue to encourage one another as we make our way through the game and come away with a result.”

 

Matarazzo and Marsch

 

While both are not yet relevant to the national team, it is important to single out the two American head coaches inside of Europe’s top five leagues: Stuttgart’s Pellegrino Matarazzo and Leeds United’s Jesse Marsch.

Both managers have been pulling off dramatic results in the Bundesliga and Premier League relegation battles, respectively.

It’s been rather remarkable how both coaches have been inspiring emotional performances.

Matarazzo


Stuttgart actually now sits outside of the relegation zone on the basis of seven points from its last three games. Each of the games has been dramatically stunning.

March 5: Stuttgart trails Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0 in the 37th minute but scores goals in the 38th, 51st, and 83rd minutes for a 3-2 win.

March 12: Stuttgart draws Union Berlin 1-1 thanks to a stoppage time equalizer.

March 19: Stuttgart trails Augsburg 2-1 in the 78th minute but equalizes in the 79th minute and finds a winner in the 85th.

 

Marsch

 

Leeds United is now in 16th place and is seven points safe thanks to two dramatic wins just before the international break.

March 13: Winning 1-0 against Norwich in stoppage time, Leeds concede a goal in the first minute of stoppage time but find a winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

March 18: Trailing 2-0 away to 6th place Wolverhampton, Leeds rallies for goals in 63rd, 66th, and first minute of stoppage time for a 3-2 win.

 

U-20 stock watch

 

The United States U-20 team is now in Argentina preparing for games against Argentina’s U-20 team and against River Plate (a combination of youth players and first team players not called up to international duty).

That team is preparing for a summer tournament where it will attempt to qualify for both the 2023 U-20 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. It’s a massively important tournament so monitoring the progress of the players is important.

Here are a few notes on how these players performed over the weekend.

Justin Che played the final 17 minutes for Hoffenheim in a disappointing 3-0 loss to Hertha BSC. Che did not do much, good or bad, and the goals were scored before he came on. This was, however, his Bundesliga debut which was a huge personal milestone for him.

Obed Vargas returned to the starting lineup for the Seattle Sounders and went the distance in a 1-1 draw with Austin FC. He remains one of the fastest rising players in the U-20 pool, despite playing up a cycle.

Brian Gutierrez played the final 27 minutes for the Chicago Fire’s 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City and assisted on the final goal in the 82 minute as Sporting was pushing for a goal. Gutierrez is now heading to Argentina for the U-20 camp.

 

Gaga Slonina was not released by Chicago for the U-20 tournament, but he started over the weekend has conceded just one goal now in four games and should be the highest rated goalkeeper in the region heading into this summer’s U-20 tournament.

Jonathan Gomez has seen his performances for Real Sociedad B taper off a little bit as of late and he went 75 minutes for Real Sociedad B in a 3-1 loss to Mirandes. Sociedad’s reserve team is six points deep in the relegation zone in Spain’s Segunda.

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