The Summer of, "What If?": Reimagining 2021 for the USMNT
As the Tokyo Olympics and Olympic soccer gets underway and the USWNT begins their quest for another Olympic medal, US fans have been reminded of the fact that the USMNT did not qualify. As a result, US fans have collectively missed out on seeing young domestic players wear the crest, earn valuable minutes, work together as a team and compete in a meaningful tournament. It’s left a lot of people, myself included, wondering, “what if?” What if the US men’s team was able to beat Honduras in the semi-final game, earning a spot in Tokyo? For one, the US would have had a lot more available roster spots, which would have required a much larger pool of eligible young players this summer. This could have taken players away from their clubs, which can be difficult for players that are in the off-season and need rest, or in season and competing in important matches. I decided to explore what the 22-person USMNT Olympic roster and the 23-person USMNT gold cup roster would look like, had the men’s team qualified for the Olympics.
First, I gave myself a few ground rules while constructing my rosters. Following FIFA’s Olympic roster rules, I picked 22 players who were born on or after January 1st, 1997, as well as any three players who were born before that date for the Olympic roster. For the Gold Cup roster, I selected from the 60-person provisional roster before diving into the rest of the player pool. Additionally, I excluded players that weren’t available, whether due to injury, being with their clubs overseas, or not wanting to become cap-tied to the USMNT. As a result, you won’t see guys like Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Julian Araujo, or Luca de la Torre in either roster. The final rule I gave myself was I would not select more than 3 player from a single club’s roster for both the Olympic roster and the Gold Cup roster combined. I’ll be honest - the Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas gave me some trouble with this rule.
Let’s look at my 22-person Olympic roster that I selected, which includes the formation and the starting XI.
Theoretical USMNT Tokyo Olympics Starting XI
Bench:
GK - JT Marcinkowski: San Jose Earthquakes
LB - Kevin Paredes: D.C. United
CB - Justin Che: FC Dallas
CB - Justen Glad: Real Salt Lake
RB - Kyle Duncan: New York Red Bulls
DM - Moses Nyeman: D.C. United
CM - Keaton Parks: NYCFC
WNG - Benji Michel: Orlando City SC
ST/WNG - Nicholas Gioacchini: Caen
ST - Jeremy Ebobisse: Portland Timbers
ST - Mason Toye: CF Montreal
Overage players:
Tim Ream
Chase Gasper
Memo Rodriguez
Honestly, I think this group would be pretty solid defensively. With veterans like Chase Gasper, Tim Ream, and Aaron Herrera, the backline is pretty experienced. Some of you might not like the fact that I added Tim Ream to this roster, but I say let Ream fight for a trophy and provide veteran leadership to this young core of players. With Justin Che and Justen Glad on the bench, the USMNT would have viable bench options to replace Ream, if needed. Having a cool and confident James Sands next to Ream (or whoever else) would also be pretty comforting to me. After an impressive start to a 2021 season for the Philadelphia Union, I selected Leon Flach as the defensive midfielder above that back four. I selected Frankie Amaya and Hassani Dotson to start in the midfield with – I feel they are the perfect center midfielders to fit into Head Coach Gregg “GGG” Berhalter’s system. Amaya and Dotson are creative too, which I feel would be needed with this group overall. As bench options for the midfield, I selected Keaton Parks and Moses Nyeman, though my starting winger options could also fill-in in the midfield. I selected Memo Rodriguez and Paxton Pomykal as wingers in this setup, as I feel they are confident and creative attacking forces that could feed my striker selection, Ricardo Pepi. If you’re not crazy about these attacking options, you can look towards my bench, which features Benji Michel, Nicholas Gioacchini, Jeremy Ebobisse, and Mason Toye. I feel that this theoretical starting XI, combined with the bench, would be very versatile and able to counter some of the strongest opposition in the Olympic tournament.
With only Sands and Gioaachini making my Olympic roster, my theoretical Gold Cup roster is pretty consistent with the actual roster. However, I did make some changes.
Theoretical USMNT 2021 Gold Cup Starting XI
Bench:
GK - Sean Johnson: NYCFC
GK - Bill Hamid: D.C. United
LB - George Bello: Atlanta United
CB - Tim Parker: Houston Dynamo
CB - Henry Kessler: New England Revolution
RB - Shaq Moore: CD Tenerife
DM - Jackson Yueill: San Jose Earthquakes
CM - Cristian Roldan: Seattle Sounders
CM - Gianluca Busio: Sporting Kansas City
WNG - Jonathan Lewis: Colorado Rapids
ST/WNG - Matthew Hoppe: FC Schalke
ST - Gyasi Zardes: Columbus Crew SC
If I maintain my pre-Gold Cup mindset, the defense of Matt Turner, Sam Vines, Miles Robinson, Walker Zimmerman, and Reggie Cannon would seem solid, so I have selected them as starters in this roster. With options like Shaq Moore, George Bello, Henry Kessler, and Tim Parker (who may never get another call-up but totally deserves it) on the bench, I think there are plenty of options in defense. I did make a change to the goalkeepers, dropping Brad Guzan in favor of Bill Hamid (another under-rated player). My starting three midfielder selections are Kellyn Acosta, Eryk Williamson, and Sebastian Lletget. Whether Acosta or Williamson start at D-Mid doesn’t matter to me, since both can play that position well. With Christian Roldan, Gianluca Busio, and (unfortunately) Jackson Yueill on the bench, there are also decent backup options in the midfield and across the board for this roster. My forward selections differ from GGG: I selected some wingers. I went with Cade Cowell on the left wing and Chris Mueller out on the right. Coming off the bench, I went with Jonathan Lewis (yep, I know) and had the idea that either Roldan or Lletget could backup the right wing, if necessary. I needed some striker options too, so I selected Daryl Dike as my starter, Gyasi Zardes as my veteran backup, and Matthew Hoppe as well. The only major differences between this theoretical lineup and the actual one is in the attack, but I like my picks, given the circumstances. Gregg - call me up next time.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
