Malik Tillman Has Mauricio Pochettino In Awe Of His Game At The Gold Cup, The Type Of Player America Needs For The World Cup Next Year

[Source] - "Malik, it's difficult to define him because what a player, no?" he said. "What a player that is showing this, all his talent and capacity. Because this type of player, the talent that he has shown with every single game and then with the capacity without ball, the work ethic in the way that he really is aggressive, he recovered a lot of balls. He's always trying to help the deep press, chasing back, playing in different positions.

This right here is what America needs. We need a guy who can do a little bit of everything, show up, be a face of the sport all while playing at a high level at both club and country. He's the breakout star of the Gold Cup where he should solidify a starting spot at the World Cup next year - assuming health and all that. He's that good. He has Pochettino in awe of his game and rightfully so. 3 goals in 3 games, controlling the game. Him and Chris Richards have been the two faces of this team at the Gold Cup. 

I don't care if the 3 games were Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago and Saudi Arabia. Those are 3 games we had to win, especially with this version of our team and the slide going into it. Now comes knockout stage, starting with Costa Rica. But this is about Tillman, it's all starting to click for him at the national level. He's been good at PSV the last couple of years, getting 16 goals this past year. He's a different look at a spot where we need someone to show up. Right now it's about winning the Gold Cup, figuring out who is on the short list of spots for next year's World Cup. 

Not to mention watching Tillman helps when this also happened: 

It's weird not having a staple, damn good goalie. That was always a spot the US had confidence in all the way back to Tony Meola, Brad Guzan, Tim Howard, Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel, you name it we had that guy you could count on. At least we have Malik Tillman. Him and Chris Richards (along with Sebastian Berhalther's free kick) has made the Gold Cup worth watching so far. Now let's go win the damn thing.