Old North State Soccer

     The foundation of any successful team is in the back, with the center backs and fullbacks. The Berhalter system has used overlapping fullbacks, as well as fullbacks the fill the midfield space and allow a central midfielder to push further up the field in possession. The center backs are expected to contribute to the buildup, but the chief impetus of progress in possession is a defensive midfielder such as Michael Bradley or the U-23 eligible Jackson Yueill. Whether that is a set in stone approach based on coaching philosophy, or based on the lack of individual on-ball ability in the player pool remains to be seen.      Also, an important note: the challenge of using numbers to evaluate soccer players, especially defenders, is how to properly rate them when they are not interacting with the ball. That said, an effective USA team at the CONCACAF level is not going to be forced into many positions where the individual defending ability of a player is of ...

  October 10, 2015, Rio Tinto Stadium: Alberth Elis’ two goals slammed the coffin lid on the USA’s Olympic qualification hopes as a tough and determined Honduras team overwhelmed a talented but unready U-23 USMNT. Almost 5 years later, the disappointment of 2015 has been mirrored by the disaster in Couva, and in the aftermath the explosion of talent that will define the next decade of the USMNT. Now, the U-23 USMNT is set to attempt to qualify for the Olympic games, breaking a streak of failure that reaches to 2013. The original tournament, planned for April 2020, has been postponed indefinitely. In the meantime, players have moved, developed, and broken in to new squads. Even though the best and brightest talents for the USA will be appearing in Champions League games and featuring in title races across Europe, the bulk of the qualifying squad will most likely domestic players. The amount of minutes played by young Americans has skyrocketed, and with that the quality and competiti...