He will be a senior next year
Anyone can thrash around and draw kick outs with these new rules. Castillo simply adds nothing on offense or defense to justify a spot. When hallock left the game, it was noticeable up the middle. Imagine if another strong set entered the game when he left, instead of a small, less effective place filler.
As far as bowen’s position-isn’t chase a natural for it? And Irving can certainly score from the 4.
Chase doesnt have a shot like Bowen. Max can somewhat fill it but Bowen had an absolute laser shot. I think you are selling Castillo short. He just needs more time and experience. He’s an incoming junior. He’s really fun to watch in the college game. Give him some time. There is no dominant center available. It’s Hallock and that’s the list. Dash doesn’t dominate and he plays poor defense which was evident by his diminished playing time at Stanford.
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I actually have hope for Bowen coming back in LA28. I believe the reason he isn’t playing right is because of his newborn. He’ll be 34 in LA and can easily get back into shape before then. We need him.
I hope you are right. A comment from him when I had the opportunity to be present at an event with him made me think otherwise, but I hope he is on the team. The cobra is needed!!!
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It really isn’t ideal to have guys taking off 2 years of international competition. We saw it from 08 to 12 and it really didn’t work then either. The best USA teams in 08 and 24 had the core team competing in Europe the entire cycle prior.
European teams that win don’t do this and we shouldn’t either.
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Agree it is not ideal. But there are certain players that you make an exception for.
Exactly. It’s their personal decision obviously but can’t say I’m not a little disappointed. Most of the USA polo community have been excited about our potential in LA since Dejan took over.
It’s a lot easier to WANT a second Ben Hallock than to find one.
Center play is my favorite-it’s the most exciting and dynamic. I don’t want a Hallock clone, I want a center who is capable of holding a side, drawing attention to open shooting lanes, strong enough to turn defenders and someone who can score-not just draw kick outs. So far, that is not a description any observer would use for what we have. I just saw an Instagram post of Irving describing the importance of a strong set-noting that the highest percentage shot is out of set-so I am not the only one thinking this.
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To get that, you’ll need to change the officiating culture in the US. So long as making a quarter turn and flailing is the most reliable path to points, we’re going to get centers who do that.
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Will Schneider? Tyler Anderson?
Big lefty Tyler Anderson will be the answer for replacing Hallock at set for USA! Surprised not to see him there with such a young fielded team especially in a position that we need to full-fill the most.
He was with the mens senior team last summer.
So happy that you suck at predicting.
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The Serbian website lays out some scenarios by which they can win this 5-8 bracket. Does the US have any scenarios by which they can still advance to Sydney ? I’m not seeing anything .
Not sure but I don’t see how Croatia wouldn’t get the 5th spot. If it’s by goal differential, USA would need to beat the Netherlands by 10 and Croatia would have to lose to Serbia tommorow.
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If, as some of our colleagues have maintained in these pages, the 2026 World Cup was a learning experience, what do we think DU has learned and what are the plans moving forward?
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There are some important questions that need answers outside of his control. First and foremost, who is done playing for the national team? I would love Bowen to come back, but it seems like he is winding down more than he is ramping up for 2028. He would only be 35 at the time of LA28. Which is on the older side, but he would be far from the oldest important player in the games.
Arguably more important, is Ben Hallock coming back? Age is much less a factor for that decision, but the Stanford MBA tells me that real life may be taking priority over athletics. The entire potential of the team hinges on his decision to play or not. I think the roster construction entirely changes if he makes the decision not to play.
The core of the team remains:
Weinberg
Irving
Daube
R. Dodd
C. Dodd
Vavic (Never really done it for me, but he seems cemented in)
If Hallock and Bowen come back, then they build the strongest team possible out of the remaining player pool. To me that includes Dylan Woodhead, Jake Earhardt, Nicolas Savelijic and a few other of the players from that age range. If Hallock and Bowen do not come back, I see it being a collection of the best of the Silver Medal u20 Worlds Team from 2025 with an eye on building for 2032 and Ryder Dodd’s theoretical Olympic peak.
Option 2 would be rather disappointing for a home Olympics that a lot of us have been very excited about since its announcement, but is also a pragmatic approach coming off a medal in 2024 and maximizing the potential of what could be the greatest player in national history when all is said and done. Hoping for a go for broke team in 2028, but we won’t truly know until World Championships in Budapest in 2027.
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