The Scuffed Podcast | USMNT, Yanks Abroad, MLS, soccer in America

We roll through the American soccer news of the week -- MLS Decision Day, U20 World Cup qualifying, Sargentwatch and USWNT and USMNT rosters -- very quickly so we can get to an interview with Richie Ledezma, the 18-year-old phenom linked with PSV Eindhoven.

The 4-3-2-1 seems to work better than the 4-1-4-1, but nobody’s claimed the central advanced midfield role. We run through the candidates, and the future candidates, for the job. Then we discuss the U.S. U20 roster for the Concacaf Championship, and then, best of all, Atlanta United 2 Coach Scott Donnelly joins to talk about coaching in USL, George Bello, Andrew Carleton, and USL as a place for young players to develop.

The USA drew Peru in Hartford on Tuesday, but the big story was the US lineup. We got a starting front three of Jonathan Amon, Josh Sargent and Tim Weah. Reggie Cannon got his debut at right back. Aaron Long got his debut at centerback. Ben Sweat got a debut at left back. Brad Guzan returned from the wilderness. What did we learn? A lot! Listen up.

The laboratory was humming Thursday night in Tampa when the USA lost 4-2 to Colombia, with Saief, Bradley, Green and Weah experiments underway, among others. What did we learn? How did the midfield look in McKennie's and Adams' absences? How good is Kenny Saief? Those and many other questions asked and answered in today's episode.

Let’s start with the bad news. Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic will be absent for the upcoming friendlies against Colombia and Peru, but there are still a bunch of interesting players involved in the camp (Weah, Sargent, Novakovich, Amon, Cannon, Saief). We get into all that and discuss the lineup.

Sarachan released the 24-man roster for the friendlies with Colombia and Peru on Oct. 11 and 16. The big question is who will play in which capacity in the midfield, and we talked about that for a while, among other things.

U20 World Cup qualifying is now just over a month away. Special guest Joey Anthone (@USAprospects) and I do a bare-bones run through the roster options for Tab Ramos. We also discuss the format of the U20 Men's Concacaf Championship, the roster rules and the changes that Ramos might make mid-tournament.

Greg and I wrap up the last USMNT camp and what we learned -- it's quite a bit more positive than our reactions to the games themselves. Then we’ve got an interview with Marc Nicholls, director of player development and academy director for the Seattle Sounders, and we come back with Short Corners at the end.

We won the game. It was not pretty. But Greg thinks we learned a lot. I just wish we’d learned how to get Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie to simultaneously thrive in the midfield, which we did not.

Sarachan surprised us with a 2-centerback formation and some shuttling specialists on the wings, and the U.S. lost 2-0 to Brazil in a limpid but not disastrous friendly on Friday night.

Dave Sarachan's roster, omissions, our starting XIs for Brazil, and a solid (IMO) discussion of Pulisic's absence.

We’re back in our comfort zone and we’ve got a roster episode. The men’s national team faces Brazil on Sept. 7 and Mexico on Sept. 11. We break down the options and in the process conduct a routine checkup on the U.S. player pool. Then we review the first matchday of the Bundesliga season and Belz spotlights the recent USL appearances of Joshua Atencio for Sounders 2.

Games kick off Sept. 1 for the U19 regular season of the U.S. Development Academy. It is the ocean from which the youth player pool is largely drawn. Joey Anthone (@USAprospects) joins to detail his preseason top 10 teams and key up-and-coming players across the nation. We cover some big themes at the top and then dive in. Bext XIs, preseason “awards” and answers to listener questions ensue.

A cold dose of hype kryptonite: worst case scenarios this season for the key Americans playing in Europe.

Chris Richards joins for a conversation from Bavaria, where the 18-yr-old is on loan at Bayern Munich, getting ready for his first regular season U19 game this weekend. Then Greg and Belz run down the European-based player pool ahead of the regular seasons in the big leagues, and then we take a few Short Corners.