Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America

We talk about Sarachan's performance of late, what the point of these friendlies is, try to dispense with the word "meaningless," talk a bit more about what we learned against Paraguay, and discuss Marky Delgado and George Bello at some length. Highlights: Marky Delgado vs Club America: https://twitter.com/zlebmada/status/981403421017296897 George Bello vs the Charlotte Independence: https://twitter.com/zlebmada/status/980867225065328641

Not much happened in the attacking third, but there was reason for encouragement. Got good performances from Tyler Adams, Matt Miazga, Darlington Nagbe and Jorge Villafana, a solid showing by the midfield trio and a lot of good energy. Also Tim Weah played, we got our first good look at Kenny Saief, and what happened to Bobby Wood? We sat down after the game and broke it all down. 1:00 lineup 10:45 defense and center mids 30:00 wingers, striker and everything else

We tend to the matter at hand, the friendly against Paraguay on Tuesday -- break down the roster and each give a starting XI. Then we jump into MLS, chat about the upcoming Concacaf Champions League semifinals, and spend a good deal of time talking about encouraging performances from teenagers in MLS. Three sections: 1:00 Paraguay roster breakdown, quibbles, caveats 16:55 We each pick a starting XI for the Paraguay friendly 40:05 Greg continues to bring up Ryan Adams, CCL, teenagers in MLS Links

We lay out the cases for optimism (Belz) and realism (Velasquez) on Andrew Carleton's future. We get into the MLS and CCL excitement a bit. Greg wants Gregg Berhalter called up to the USMNT. We talk at length about the March friendly roster. Three sections: 1:30 -- Belz lays out the case for boundless Carleton optimism, and Velasquez throws cold water all over Belz 15:20 -- rundown of opening weekend in MLS, and the young Americans on display 30:05 -- who we don't want in the roster for the match

We talk about Bruce Arena's three biggest mistakes in World Cup qualifying, and go on a walkabout on the hiring of a new USMNT general manager and what a "braver," as Hugo Perez put it, type of American soccer might look like. 1:00 the logic of playing your kids when they're already playing for big clubs 14:30 Arena's benching of Geoff Cameron 20:40 the perils of challenging yourself in Europe for USMNT players 25:00 general manager hiring ramble 31:20 the USMNT's subpar play in general in