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Yueill is our #2 six: Positional Play Scholar

Published

5 years ago

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Jackson Yueill is better than we think he is.  My rating of Jackson Yueill during the Olympics. 

How I would rate him after the Switzerland game and I’m probably not rating him high enough.

 

 

Positional Discipline

This is a big one. The 6 in the modern game is rarely a destroyer. They contain attacks. Even in a pressing scheme when they step forward during the press, the goal is less to win the ball and more to minimize the counter.

Yuiell failed on this. I talked about it in my last post.

Yueill stepped up to press the cm, which was correct.  The CM bobbled the pass and my take is Yueill’s instincts drilled into him with the Quakes kicked in. Instead of quickly getting back to his spot, he hesitated and considered trying to win the ball.  The result was a Swiss player drifting into the 6 zone and getting a 2v1 on Brooks. 

The job of the 6 is to contain.    

Even when the 6 presses, they are there to contain the attack. The reason I’ve questioned Adams fit for the 6 in the past is that he’s so good at ball winning. The 6 is not there to win the ball. They are there to contain the attack so 2v1’s on Brooks don’t happen.

Yueill is mostly good at this but had one key moment of failure in the last game. The good news is that he wasn’t beat 1v1 (which is what many feared). He simply had a concentration slip and didn’t get back to his zone. This allowed them to pass around him.

High Game IQ

He has a high game IQ. He manipulates defense very well. You can see it in the clip above and any game I’ve seen him play. One simple example:

An opponent was tracking Yueill and pressing Dest. The easiest pass was to Brooks but Brooks was close to Yueill and would have been under pressure pretty quickly. Yueill simply drove forward into space and took the defender with him, opening up an easy switch to Cannon on the right. It was a simple thing but is the type of thing Yueill does regularly. If he can’t get the easy pass, he makes the right read and move to make passes easier for his teammates. He knows where they want the ball to go and he helps it get there. He does this a lot in the build up too which is hugely helpful for a team that struggles there (more to come on that later).

He also does this when teams try to take the 6 out of the game with man marking. He moves the defender to open up line breaking passing lanes for his teammates.

So Yuiell has the high game IQ. He has pretty good positional discipline. I don’t watch a lot of the Quakes but have seen and read their focus on intense 1v1 defending. Below is a good article on Yueill developing defensively.

https://theathletic.com/2581184/2021/05/11/jackson-yueill-earthquakes-usmnt/

Yueill’s challenge may be transitioning from a club that asks lots of defensive intensity and 1v1 play vs playing the 6 which has to be more zonally focused. His club instincts may let him down.

Defense and Athleticism

Strengths

Defense and athleticism are the areas where people think he is limited. Until this game, for me it was simply unproven. Adams is a really good 6 defensively not because he’s a great tackler. That’s not their primary role. It’s because he’s crazy athletic, very hard to get passed and has really good recovery speed. Not all 6’s are Adams. You don’t have to be those things to be a good 6 or be good defensively.

Tuchel plays Jorginho. Kante roams ahead of him and Jorginho is the deeper player. He’s athletic enough, reads the game well enough to be where needs to be. Can Yueill be that? It’s been a large unknown until the Swiss. Watch the clip above and show me one example of him getting beat 1v1. You can’t because it didn’t exist. What you see a lot of are interceptions, challenges around players to deny them the ball and him consistently cleaning up the play, winning the second ball and starting the attack. It’s the first game I’ve seen him play that said to me he can be a reliable back up to Adams even against good teams.

Watch the clip.

Reading the game faster and repeatedly stepping in front to win the ball
Cutting off passing lanes with anticipation. Nothing went through the middle all game.
Weakness

Yueill does not have the recovery speed of Adams. He won’t have the range that Adams has in cleaning up plays and helping with the press. He also does not have the pure athleticism that allows him to jockey and contain just about any player 1v1.

He doesn’t need to. He needs to do exactly what he did against the Swiss. He needs to read the game well, balance the press with positional discipline and be smart with and without the ball. This was the fist data point saying he can do that.

Some of those weaknesses can be offset tactically. For example, in the mid block press when Dest pressed forward it was the 8’s job to cover the wing. If Adams is there, it could be Adams job or Brooks with Adams covering for Brooks. Other adjustments could include better drilling on when Yueill should go forward vs fall back. He doesn’t have the recovery speed, he may require limitations on when he can get forward such as having an 8 able to back him up. Or it could be they need to better adjust their tactics to his range, so that if the opponent breaks the press and Yueill can’t leave a +1 behind him when he goes forward, the team immediately falls back to a mid block.

A third option is moving to 3 in the back where he is paired with someone like Mckennie or Musah- similar to Jorginho being paired with Kante.

The point being there are lots of options.

Press Resistance and Technical Quality

The USMNT does not have many press resistant midfielders. The only player in the pool that really fits that characteristic is Nagbe who has no interest in returning to the National Team. The US is getting this quality collectively from their movement. and technical quality. There are limitations to this that I hope to get to in a future article but against a very good team, Yueill was an asset in the build up and not a liability. His movements were very good to read the space and anticipate the pass before the pass.

With a press resistant 6, the US can use this build out shape and play through the 6. The 6 can make 1 player miss and acres of space to drive or pick out a pass. Without that the US has to rely on other methods.

In the build up, the US is using positional play to build out of the back.  To heavily press, the opponent has to go 1v1 over most of the field.  With the opponent’s gk not part of that 1v1 set up, that leaves an advantage somewhere.  The US want to use movement and positional play to find the find the weak spot.  The CM’s, wingers, and 9 are pistoning and the 6 is moving laterally and diagonally. 

It can work.  If we had a press resistant 6- a Nagbe, Kovacic or Busquets, – it adds an easier option to get out of the back.  The US doesn’t have that. Musah is the closest. Yueill does an excellent job though of making the lateral and diagonal runs.  The passes to diagonal runs were not going to come from Horvath as he was not that confident in slotting a narrow pass.  Steffen has and will hit those runs. 

So though neither he nor Adams is as press resistant as we would like, both can work well.   Adams is more agile than Yueill but this is mostly from the read and movement.  Yueill isn’t that large of a drop off. 

Yueill making a well timed run to get in behind the press and progress possession. He did the excellently all game

Deep playmaking ability

Deep play making (DLP) ability is the other point of contention with US fans. Do we really need it? I don’t know about need but we do really want it. Watch the clip again. DLP is what breaks down the defense in transition and in possession. It’s not just a tool of possession. It’s the long diagonal to the free man on the open side. It’s the quick release for the counter. It’s the big switch. Defensively, teams want to load one side and make the team small. Offenses want to make the field large as possible. DLP’s make this possible.

Yueill switching it to Cannon at the backdoor. This was money in the last tournament from Bradley. Yueil and Cannon barely missed this one but it’s definitely in his bag.

I say it again- watch the clip. From hitting Cannon on the opposite side to slipping in Dest so he could get 1v1 on the keeper, this is a big part of the US offense. Yuiel’s passing range is greater than Adams. Both can hit the line breaking pass. Several times in the clip above it was Yueill’s pass that gave Reyna, Mckennie, Dest or Sargent great attacking opportunities. I don’t care which phase you’re wanting the US to score from, you want that ability.

There is a reason that in the Championship final, Tuchel paired Kante and Jorginho. That DLP ability is key. You can get it from other places on the field. Mckennie had some really good switches. Brooks had some good ones. Mount’s pass to Havertz in the final was one. Do it doesn’t have to come from a lone 6 but you want that ability on the field and you want it in deeper positions. If you want Mckennie pressing, it still needs to come from somewhere deeper and the more you have that ability then the more you can keep the field big for the offense.

Why do we doubt Yueill?

If he can do these things why are we so worried? Why do fans (including yours truly) still think the 6 depth is so thin? I think there are two reasons.

First we spent 2019 with Trapp and Bradley in that role. The words “traffic cone” were frequently used. Is Yueill another Trapp? Will he simply be too slow or too limited athletically to play this role at a high level. Before the Swiss game, I would have said yes. However, watching him play against Switzerland there was not one moment when I thought he was at an athletic disadvantage. He didn’t get beat 1v1. He was not a traffic cone. He also did not simply sit back in a low block and let the others do all the challenges. He frequently stepped up, made the challenge, cut off passes and played really excellent D. I don’t think he was dribbled around one time. I can’t think of one time the Swiss had an attack through the middle. The clip shows him time and again reading the game faster than his opponent, winning the second ball, and getting physical.

The other thing against Yueill is he is 24 year old player with no known European interest. He’s a straight up MLS player that seems to excel there with little interest or known prospects in Europe. For fans who focus on Europe, this is a red flag. We see Busio’s, Johnny’s, even Long as prospects who haven’t yet made it to Europe. There has been interest in all of them. We see Adams, Mckennie etc as the gold standard for talent, progressing at the highest levels. If they are not playing or if there isn’t interest in Europe for the player, we wonder (or think we know) what’s missing.

I can’t answer that. I can’t say if that’s the correct view or not. I can agree that evaluating MLS talent vs Eureopean talent is challenging. The truth is we don’t’ have another European 6 besides Adams.

What we can do is evaluate Yueill’s performance against the interntaional competition he faces. It’s one data point, but it was an excellent data point for all his weakneses.

Ironically, Yueill was great at the things fans doubt him for and made a couple of huge errors in the things he’s known for. That’s a mixed overall grade for Yueill against the Swiss but great news for the USMNT depth chart at the 6. We have a back up the 6 to Adams.

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USMNT

Voices of USMNT on the World Stage

Published

2 days ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

Thomas Deschaine (@uskeeper on X and us_keeper on Instagram)

Over the decades, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team has been accompanied by a wide range of voices behind the microphone, delivering some of the most memorable calls in World Cup history.

Along the way, several standout broadcast duos have helped shape the viewing experience and left a lasting mark on the USMNT landscape.

Here’s a look back at the voices that have defined US World Cup broadcasts since 1990.

1990 FIFA World Cup – Italy 

Network: ESPN

Play-by-play: Bob Ley

Color: Paul Gardner

Coverage of the USMNT at the 1990 World Cup was limited, particularly in the early rounds, but Bob Ley emerged as one of the defining voices of soccer on U.S. television during that era. His presence helped introduce a new generation of American fans to the international game, providing context and credibility at a time when the global stage still felt unfamiliar to much of the US audience.

1994 FIFA World Cup – United States of America

1998 FIFA World Cup – France

2002 FIFA World Cup – Japan / South Korea

Networks: ABC / ESPN

Play-by-play: JP Dellacamera

Color: Ty Keough

This play-by-play and color commentary duo called three World Cups for the USMNT, becoming the defining voice of the team during my peak viewing years. Ty Keough the former USMNT midfielder from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

JP Dellacamera stands out as one of, if not the, best play-by-play announcers and remains one of my favorites. While others on this list delivered memorable moments, they didn’t quite match that same level of longevity.

2006 FIFA World Cup – Germany 

Networks: ABC / ESPN

Play-by-play: Dave O’Brien

Color: Marcelo Balboa

New England native Dave O’Brien, widely known today for calling major sports across his career, had just one World Cup as the primary play-by-play voice for the USMNT. His run calling USMNT matches, primarily in the mid-2000s on ESPN, was relatively brief but still memorable. While he isn’t as closely associated with the USMNT as some other broadcasters, he was behind the mic for several standout moments during that era.

2010 FIFA World Cup – South Korea

Network: ESPN

Play-by-play: Ian Darke

Color: John Harkes

Ian Darke brought a global voice to American audiences as the lead play-by-play announcer for the USMNT during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Already well known around the world, he made the tournament easy to connect with for U.S. fans and delivered one of the most iconic calls in American soccer history.

Darke’s iconic call of the USMNT game winning goal by Landon Donovan in must win final group stage match against Algeria to advance to the knockout stage of the 2010 World Cup gives me chills every time I see it.

2014 FIFA World Cup – Brazil 

Networks: ESPN / ABC

Play-by-play: Ian Darke

Color: Taylor Twellman

This duo might be my favorite to date. Ian Darke brought a clear, global voice to USMNT viewers during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, making the tournament easy to follow for US fans while elevating the biggest moments with calm, sharp, and memorable calls.

Alongside him, Taylor Twellman emerged as one of the most recognizable and influential voices of the modern era, primarily as a lead analyst on ESPN. His passionate, unfiltered style stood out, most notably with his unforgettable “What are we doing?!” reaction following the USMNT’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, a moment that’s still talked about today.

2022 FIFA World Cup – Qatar

Network: FOX Sports

Play-by-play: John Strong

Color: Stu Holden

If the USMNT had qualified for the 2018 World Cup, this broadcast team would have called their matches, marking what would have been a third straight World Cup cycle with the same primary commentary crew. It’s also likely he’ll be paired again with Stu Holden for USMNT matches at the 2026 World Cup.

John Strong has served as a lead play-by-play voice for U.S. soccer on FOX Sports since 2018, bringing a modern, high-energy style to the booth. Since taking on major international assignments, he’s become one of the defining voices for USMNT audiences in top competitions, known for his clear, sharp calls and a big-game tone that fits the moment.

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The Expanding Impact of MLS on the World Cup

Published

1 week ago

on

May 4, 2026

By

The growth and success of Major League Soccer has led to more players from around the world representing MLS at the World Cup, with this summer’s tournament expected to feature the highest total yet.

1998 was the first World Cup played after the launch of Major League Soccer. Here’s a breakdown of MLS-based players on World Cup rosters by year:

1998 – 18 (T-8th)
Tied with Liga MX for 8th most. This would the first and only time the USMNT World Cup roster  

2002 – 11 (18th)
All 11 were from the USMNT

2006 – 15 (14th)
11 of the 15 were #USMNT players.

2010 – 6 (25th)
The lowest total to date. Only 6 MLS players, with 4 on the USMNT. This coincided with the peak of US players based in Europe.

2014 – 21 (10th)
Less than half were USMNT players, though the US still led the way the 10 most notably DeAndre Yedlin (20) getting the call.

2018 – 18 (11th)
This number likely would’ve been significantly higher had the USMNT qualified, potentially pushing MLS into the top 7–8 leagues.

2022 – 36 (6th)
The highest total yet, just behind Ligue 1 for 5th. Also worth noting, rosters expanded from 23 to 26 players for this tournament and the first time that the USA didn’t have the most players 

Overall, the trend shows steady growth in MLS representation, both domestically and internationally.

MLS Pipeline Continues for the USMNT

It’s rare for a World Cup–qualified nation not to have a strong share of its players featured across tournament rosters. Canada was a recent exception in 2022, though their ties to MLS remain significant with multiple clubs in the league.

With roster selection less than a month away, it’s reasonable to expect that roughly a third of the #USMNT squad will come from MLS. Below is a positional breakdown of the MLS players Mauricio Pochettino has called in during his tenure as USMNT manager.

Goalkeepers

The USMNT is set to start an MLS-based goalkeeper at a World Cup for the first time, with all of the top options currently playing in MLS.

Chris Brady is one of the goalkeepers I’m most excited to watch in the coming cycles. He’s been performing at a high level in Major League Soccer and looks like a strong candidate to fill the long-term role as the USMNT’s primary starter over the next few cycles.

Chris Brady
Roman Celentano
Matt Freese
Patrick Schulte
Matt Turner

Defenders

Veteran center-backs Tim Ream and Miles Robinson seem likely to be selected with Blackmon a possibility depending on the health of the remaining pool. Arfsten seems to be almost a lock due to his ability to attack and create scoring chances with his crosses from the wing.

Max Arfsten
Tristan Blackmon
Tim Ream
Miles Robinson

Midfielders

The USMNT has strong depth in midfield, and Mauricio Pochettino’s recent roster selections suggest he’ll likely round out the squad with some of the players listed below.

One of the biggest gaps in this USMNT roster is the true dynamic, creative spark in the attacking third. Diego Luna stands out in that role, capable of unsettling defenses, breaking lines, and changing the rhythm of a match. He’s exactly the type of player who could thrive in a super-sub role, coming on against tired legs and making an impact at this summer’s World Cup.

Sebastian Berhalter
Diego Luna
Jack McGlynn
Cristian Roldan
Timothy Tillman

Forwards

Striker may be the toughest position for the MLS group to crack the #USMNT World Cup roster, but Brian White is making a strong case, scoring eight goals in his first nine MLS matches at the time of writing.

Brian White is a highly productive, “old-school” style striker for the USMNT, known for his elite positioning, relentless work rate, and ability to finish in a variety of ways. That combination makes him a strong option as a striker off the bench, where he could be especially dangerous against tired defenses at this summer’s World Cup.

Paxten Aaronson
Josh Sargent
Brian White

MLS Representation in the USMNT Player Pool

Since 1998, the last time the majority of a USMNT World Cup roster was composed primarily of MLS-based players, it has become increasingly clear that a meaningful portion of the squad still comes from MLS. Consistently, roughly 30–40% of the roster has been drawn from the domestic league, reflecting a long-standing and relatively stable trend in player selection over time which I don’t seen changing anytime soon.

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USMNT

The More Things Change, The More They Remain the Same

Published

3 weeks ago

on

April 20, 2026

By

Thomas Deschaine (@uskeeper on X and us_keeper on Instagram)

In light of the recent resignation of Matt Crocker, I revisited something I wrote nearly a decade ago, an early attempt to capture what I called the “Dark Decades of US Soccer.” At the time, the piece was overly long and packed with detail—probably more than today’s audience would stick with.

But buried in that work were meaningful patterns, clear, recurring behaviors that shaped how the federation operated more than 60 years ago. What stood out most, looking back now, is how familiar some of those patterns still feel today.

So, I went back, stripped the piece down, and pulled out the most relevant sections, those that highlight the parallels between past and present. The goal isn’t to draw conclusions for you, but to put those similarities side by side and let you decide: how much has really changed?

World Cup Momentum to the First American Soccer Boom

Soccer star Pele in action during World Cup competition.

Photo of Pele at the 1966 World Cup
Photograph: AP Photo

After the success and popularity of the 1966 World Cup which saw over one million viewers of the tournament many America investors saw the vision and believed that there was the market for soccer in the United States and Canada. 

The investors moved very quickly and in 1967 there were two American professional leagues making their debuts the USSFA-sanctioned United Soccer Association (USA) and the independent National Professional Soccer League (NPSL).  

These leagues would only last one year and be merged at the request of FIFA into the North American Soccer League (NASL) kicking off in 1968 and relying on mainly on foreign talent. The American investors believed building the interest in soccer in the US would have a direct impact on the growth and performance of the US Men’s National team which and of course more money for the investors and federation.

First Attempt at Modernizing the USMNT

Phil Woosnam, in 1977 as the commissioner of the NASL.
Photograph: AP Photo

Off the back of the success of the inaugural NASL season, the U.S. Soccer Federation appointed Phil Woosnam, fresh off leading the Atlanta Chiefs to a championship and earning Coach of the Year honors, to take charge of the U.S. Men’s National Team.

Woosnam immediately shifted the structure of the program. Instead of a player pool selected by committee, he pushed decision-making toward the coaching staff, allowing selections to be based on performance and fit rather than geography or internal bias. The move was not universally welcomed, and it reportedly created friction with members of the federation’s leadership.

With professional players now more fully available, Woosnam’s approach helped assemble what was widely considered the strongest possible squad at the time. He also introduced organized training camps ahead of friendlies and World Cup qualifiers, an uncommon practice in that era, but one that clearly improved cohesion and preparation. Those changes contributed to the U.S. advancing further in World Cup qualifying than it had in previous cycles.

By early 1969, the USMNT appeared to be building real momentum toward a potential place in the 1970 World Cup. However, tensions between Woosnam and the federation began to escalate. Frustrated with compensation issues and growing interference from the USSF in team operations, Woosnam stepped away from the national team in the spring of 1969. become commissioner of the NASL.

Following his departure, assistant coach Gordon Jago took over as manager. His tenure began under difficult circumstances, with not being able to set up pre-qualifying friendlies, an important part of the progress made under Woosnam along with interference from USSF board members as it related to roster selection which created instability and morale issues on the field. The USMNT struggled in qualifying and ultimately fell short, losing both matches to Haiti, a team they had previously been competitive with in a series of friendlies in 1968.

The Crocker Era: Coaching Chaos and Course Corrections

Photo of Cindy Parlow Cone, Gregg Berhalter, Matt Crocker and JT Batson
Photograph: AP Photo/Lucas Peliter

It’s been roughly three years since the Matt Crocker era began at U.S. Soccer, when he stepped in as Sporting Director, replacing Earnie Stewart.

One of Crocker’s first major responsibilities was hiring the next U.S. Men’s National Team manager. In the previous cycle, the federation had reportedly operated with a narrow set of internal criteria, preferences widely believed to favor English-speaking and American candidates, which significantly limited the coaching pool and shaped the direction of the search.

Roughly two months later, during the Concacaf Nations League semifinal window, it was announced that Gregg Berhalter would be reappointed as USMNT head coach. The decision caught many around the program and in the media off guard, raising questions about how the process had ultimately unfolded.

More recently, in an interview with GiveMeSport, Jesse Marsch stated he was effectively told he was set to become the next USMNT head coach in the late spring of 2023, only for that opportunity to be withdrawn at the last moment, a shift that reportedly had ripple effects on a potential move to Leicester City that was nearing completion.

The abrupt reversal and eventual rehiring of Berhalter has been widely attributed to a mix of factors, including rumored influence from within the player pool, with U.S. Soccer ultimately reversing course. Roughly a year later, after a disappointing Copa América campaign on home soil, Berhalter was dismissed.

Crocker’s second opportunity to reset the program took a different direction. He first secured the high-profile appointment of Emma Hayes, one of the most accomplished managers in women’s football, to lead the USWNT. That move was followed by the hiring of Mauricio Pochettino for the USMNT, a tenure that has delivered mixed early results and will ultimately be judged through the lens of the 2026 World Cup on home soil but truly disappointed that Crocker wouldn’t see through what he helped build, and you have to ask yourself why?

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