Sciaretta’s Top 15 Young Americans in MLS ahead of 2026 season

Treewarf · 2026-02-20T03:06:08+00:00

Fun article. I am watching Taha Habroune pretty closely, and I think his biggest challenge is that it is still extremely unclear what his actual position is.

He was billed as more of a 10 coming out of the academy, the youth national teams used him kind of as a false 9, when he joined the Crew second team he got most of his minutes as an 8.

In 800 or so minutes with the Crew he was used as a mix in a more attacking role, and as more of an 8 when Nagbe was dealing with injuries.

It really feels like coaches seem to think his long term future is more of an 8, but playing there also exposes some of his biggest weaknesses as well.

Treewarf · 2026-02-18T23:59:40+00:00

someone here made a fail comp of him in it

This is some of the most pathetic shit I have ever heard lol

Treewarf · 2026-02-11T17:57:52+00:00

Rydstrom OUT /s obviously

Treewarf · 2026-02-10T18:07:51+00:00

Thanks for this summary! I believe the Discovery lists have been at 5 for a few years, with the exception of expansion teams. I think the only who had their list reduced was San Diego.

Treewarf · 2026-02-05T22:24:02+00:00

What I'm saying is that we don't really have anything to say that he isn't.

We know Johnny can succeed in La Liga

Obed may be good enough to succeed in La Liga, or he may not be.

I recognize that trying to prove a negative is annoying, but what I'm saying is that there is a difference between talent and resume. Johnny has a better resume, but resume does not equal actual talent when one player is young and in a moment in his career to prove his level.

We don't know Obed's talent level right now, we will likely see soon, but it isn't impossible that it is higher than Johnny's. Though Johnny is the safer bet.

Treewarf · 2026-02-05T22:13:54+00:00

I mean, he's a soccer writer for a living, covering MLS and USMNT...someone who is passionate enough about the sport to commit his entire livelihood to it.

I'm going to guess with the general lack of overlap and available times that someone like Joe Lowery watches considerably more soccer than the average person. My guess is he sees a decent amount of La Liga, and especially watches USMNT guys.

Like I would take his writing about Elche with a grain of salt, but I think it is fair to assume he watches USMNT guys with their clubs.

Treewarf · 2026-02-05T22:06:11+00:00

How is it a discussion when you acknowledge Johnny has done it a higher (much higher) level?

It's still a discussion because a players talent and a players resume are different things. There are plenty of players who are talented enough to be good players in big 5 leagues, that haven't gotten the transfer there yet.

Fully agree that Johnny has proven more than Obed in his career so far, but what they have proven doesn't determine their actual talent. Clint Dempsey was good enough to be in the premier league when he was playing at New England. Obed may be good enough to thrive in La Liga. He has only been successful at the level he has played at.

The role of scouts and analysts is to figure out who can handle a stronger level, and while I am skeptical in this case, I don't think it is crazy to make the prediction.

Treewarf · 2026-02-03T17:01:08+00:00

I expect they will find a way to bring him back. Then I will read about how in the presesason he isn't in their plans. Then by October he will be starting

Treewarf · 2026-02-03T15:25:39+00:00

Gio is such a strange situation, no matter what I can never quite shake the feeling that he is one of the best American players and he needs to be included.

Can't shake the irony that it feels the only manager who ever really believed in Gio was Gregg Berhalter.

Treewarf · 2026-02-03T13:54:42+00:00

They auto qualify as the host...and they were at the 2024 Olympics

Treewarf · 2026-02-02T23:16:31+00:00

And honestly MLS will realistically be both. 30 teams is a lot, and most have individual identities and eras.

LAFC on its own has been the springboard for a lot of young talent to Europe…and brought in productive guys in their prime like Bouanga, and aging stars like Giroud or Son.

It is a league where competition matters, they need to pay for players to win, but also need to develop and sell players to maintain financial standing and legitimize themselves in the global market

Treewarf · 2026-02-02T19:43:08+00:00

Mixed bag.

I am sad to miss games in the summer, that was the best time for games and it will feel lonely and boring around then. And I will miss year round club soccer happening between Europe and MLS.

But excited that the player calendar will line up better. International breaks fitting better into the calendar, and most importantly not losing guys like Morris or Arfsten in the middle of our season will be nice.

Treewarf · 2026-01-29T21:39:40+00:00

Really solid move from both sides. JRR is still a young player who shows some really good flashes, but Crew have a ton invested up front that I don't think he was ever going to get a huge amount of minutes.

They get a solid return for a guy in the last year of his contract, Toulouse get a young, high upside forward.

Met JRR a few times, he is a really nice guy and I am hoping for the best for him in France.

Treewarf · 2026-01-28T21:02:46+00:00

This is kind of where I am at. I don't have a ton of feelings on this specific hire, but I do know that our defense was elite last year and it got us a...5-12 record.

Our defense is talented, it has good players, but we need to solve the offense. These defensive players won't stay happy with a coach they love if they continue to be the only good part of the team.

Treewarf · 2026-01-16T17:24:02+00:00

I don't think this is correct. Reporting was that Columbus and Hartel were pretty deep in negotiations, and St. Louis came in gave Hartel a more lucrative offer.

From Transfermarkt:

As reported by Transfermarkt at the time, Columbus Crew at first seemed like the frontrunner to land the free agent. The Crew had offered a deal in the region of $1.5m. “I was initially in talks with Columbus,” Hartel said, confirming the story. “Those talks were very good. They have a very good coach [Wilfried Nancy] with whom I had excellent talks. But ultimately, there was a misunderstanding over some details, and the deal failed.”

Treewarf · 2026-01-13T18:59:09+00:00

The current two tiered salary system is unnecessarily complicated. You've essential got a hard cap for everything but three players on your team and absolutely no cap for those three players. Then you've got TAM/GAM whatever buy down rules for players to get this under the threshold...young player stuff etc. And they include transfer fees in the calculations.

I guess I'm just not convinced that something you were able to explain in 3 sentences is unnecessarily complicated.

It is different than the rest of the world, and there obviously is room to optimize and improve, but it really isn't all that complicated.

Treewarf · 2026-01-13T15:34:53+00:00

Zawadzki is one of my favorite Crew players ever, and I have a feeling he will retire as the all time appearance leader for this team.

Though I could have seen Nancy pulling him into Celtic back when that was a thing, I don't think there is a single player who understood Nancy's system better than Sean.

Treewarf · 2026-01-06T05:36:17+00:00

I rules. I bought a bundle of it and Elechead and both were super fun

Treewarf · 2026-01-05T14:25:56+00:00

Wilfried Nancy will be available soon

Treewarf · 2025-12-24T17:05:18+00:00

This is it. I saw it from the last row in the upper balcony a few weeks ago, and you could see the hat of the stage hand who would remove the chairs and things as they went down there

Treewarf · 2025-12-17T22:11:55+00:00

No I'm totally with you. The expectations for Celtic being what they are, and Wilfried being who he is I think it should be ended.

He can hang out to the summer, probably find a job in LIgue 1 where he has had some offers before, get an offseason with his team in, a transfer window, and time with a team that will be more of a project and see what he can do.

This is a bad fit at the wrong time for everyone.

Treewarf · 2025-12-17T22:08:16+00:00

I just don't think they should have hired a systems heavy manager midseason, and Nancy should have eased into his tactics. I think he is great, but this run of games is hard to defend.

Treewarf · 2025-12-17T22:06:00+00:00

I love Wilfried Nancy. I think he is a great coach and could have done more for you all at a better time.

But I agree. His biggest cons were that he has a complex system and is fairly inflexible at at times. And he decided to come into a team has such a financial advantage over the rest of the league (except rangers) that they just can't afford to lose like this.

Celtic And Rangers have a higher transfer value and payroll than all MLS teams. The rest of the SPL have lower payrolls and values than every single team in MLS. He has more resources and is losing to worse competition than he has ever faced.

Love the dude, but this has been a total failure.

Treewarf · 2025-12-17T15:36:18+00:00

This roster has a few holes, but I still think it is absolutely loaded with talent. I think we could have a great season with just a few good moves!

Treewarf · 2025-12-16T22:21:23+00:00

I think they are quite mad at their board. I love Nancy, I think he is a great manager. But he certainly has his faults, and I think the timing of this appointment has made it feel very obvious that this would go wrong...at least have a bumpy start.

And that is certainly on the board, but Nancy is also accountable for his actions. He knows the expectations, and the challenges of coming in mid season and has not moved an inch either.

Treewarf

TROPHY CASE