Building the team
First thing’s first, and that’s building a strong defense. I value speed in my wingers while I value height and jumping in my center backs. I don’t care either way if my players play in the MLS or in foreign leagues, so let’s take a look at my keepers.
The game defaults to Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, and William Yarbrough. With Tim Howard on the wrong side of 35, I’m forcing him into an early retirement and looking towards other options. Bill Hamid of DC United is in the midst of a strong season where his team will take home the 4th best defense in the league while Sean Johnson remains the integral part of Chicago’s defense keeping up (9) clean sheets to this point. I keep Yarbrough as a building-block for the future and add the two MLS stars to my line-up at the start of a new era.
On the left, I bring in Fabian Johnson who can also fill in at left wing if need-be and Edgar Castillo as his backup, both with astounding speed and decent crossing. John Brooks (hands-down best defender available) and Omar Gonzalez form my midfield tandem, each sporting (17) jumping reach. I bring Matt Beasler in as a veteran presence in case Omar Gonzalez doesn’t work out. Matt Miazga fills out my 4-man rotation at centerback as more of a long-term project as he’s only (20) years old. On the right I bring in the insanely fast DeAndre Yedlin and pair him with the fast-but-not-Flash Andrew Farrell who makes up for his lack of speed with decent crossing.
When I look at my center-midfield I see that I need to fill some gaps between my back-line and front-line, so I reach out to the best natural player I have to do that—Captain Michael Bradley. Sacha Kljestan of New York City comes in to finish off my two-man midfield, with Alfredo Morales and Danny Williams coming in as their backups.
Attacking mid was another easy decision with Clint Dempsey taking up the role and newbie Darlington Nagbe coming in to back up the veteran. Jozy Altidore reprises his role as the key striker of the team with Bobby Wood coming in from Germany to help out in clean-up. Pulisic is a lock for the left wing, while Gyasi Zardes and Kelyn Rowe bring about the right wing. Swiss army knife Julian Greene comes in to round out my squad.
Line-Up: Bill Hamid, Fabian Johnson, DeAndre Yedlin, John Brooks, Omar Gonzalez, Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan, Clint Dempsey, Christian Pulisic, Gyasi Zardes, Jozy Altridore
Bubble Players: Julian Greene, Sean Johnson, Bobby Wood, Alfredo Morales, Darlington Nagbee
