McKennie will likely be our 10. He is developing nicely for that role at Schalke. We will need to partner him up with Roldan/ Delgado/Jogo or somebody like that, guys who don't waste chances and can create some loose balls.
McKennie will replace Pulisic in the 10 hole? Why? how does that make sense? McKennie is a b2b guy, not a 10 ahead of Pulisic.
F*** Bruce Arena and Jurgen Klinsman A bunch of guys who couldn't even get called into camp one month ago gd go toe-to-toe with Portugal in friggin' Portugal and come away with a 1-1 tie that Portugal has to be happy with. We pressed, hustled and generally went after it. Yes Portugal didn't bring their A-team, but Arena, Bradley, Altidore et al. lost to a Trinidad B-team most of whose players would love an opportunity in the USL. F*** Bradley and Altidore. The players today CARED. They ran and hustled and looked like they wanted to win or at least keep their place in the team. How could we start Jogging Jozy when Sapong was available. Or not at least bring C.J. into camp to push him. Sure McKennie is young but at least he tries. No way he walks to take a corner down 2-1 with our WC dreams going up in flames They should have one tribute match for Beasley, Dempsey and Howard. Bradley and Altidore should never wear the Red, White and Blue agains. Today's team would have beaten Trinidad 3-1 (3-0 if Hamid had started). But F*&*ing Bruce Arena had to stick with his over the hill, lazy, soft favorites. F*** them all
He did rather well playing out of position, I have no clue what you are getting at. He was our most effective offensive player. He had a full-back who wouldn't overlap and had no left foot, he's not an end line winger, at all. He was effective in possession and out of it, he's miscast out wide, as Holden noted before the game began, but he ended up putting in a decent shift.
Keepers: Horvath is hugely overrated. Not a great game by Hamid who is better than that. RB: Yedlin needs to learn to cross, looks so good until those crosses. CBs: All three played really well. By far the deepest position. RBs: Lichaj is less consistent, Villafanya is good with last second saves until he isn't. Both not NT quality. Could Adams play left back? MFs: Adams is the biggest winner, somebody will buy him pretty soon, but he is better FB than MF. Williams played regular Williams game, good enough to start for now, hopefully not for long. Acosta: very good corners and free kicks, not skilled enough while attacking, getting lost on defense. Should be behind Williams. McKennie: MVP. Might be the second best American player already, if not, will be soon. Forwards: All our forwards (not just the ones that played today) are between poor and mediocre. Those in form should be played. General: We have 5 positions with international level players: LB, CBs, and wherever CP and McKennie are playing. Still not enough.
To me, I don't think Adams is ready for the NT or a big NT role. I still would prefer to see him play with the U-20's, lets not overload the NT with players just because they are young, we need to field competitive teams in the upcoming years. I didn't think Adams was particularly bad and he was playing out of position, I just don't get the sense that he's presently as good as USSF hypes him up to be. He'll be useful, and maybe in a year or two, he might even be okay right now as a back up full-back, but I think its best to let him actually show himself at his own level. Adams has played up on so many US teams, and he always shows the same thing. He tries really hard and is a very hard worker, always looks very active, he was just a little off the speed of this game, contrary to someone like McKennie who was excellent. This is always the same problem I see with Adams when he plays for the USA, he's playing against such older players that he isn't yet ready to play against or play a big role against. Horvath needs to work out his game at the club level. This isn't a daycare. Stop with the USSF hype for this guy, let him earn NT call ups. Hamid, Guzan, Steffen for now, Gonzalez if you don't want to waste any call ups on Guzan for another year. Acosta is falling down the depth chart, IMO. His decision making is so poor. He's behind McKennie, Trapp, Roldan right now, IMO. Borderline between him and Gonzalez, who I also am not sure is ready for a NT call up. Again, I think we need to really cool it with these NT call ups. This is not a daycare, you can play a young and experimental team, and not throw players on the field because they are young. McKennie was the only one of the three youngsters who I thought looked like he really belonged for more than a very marginal role. Carter-Vickers is not ready, his inclusion was fine for this camp (as was Adams), but if we have the full roster, I think the considerations are different. Adams would only be ready due to our poor full-back depth, IMO. Even players like Acosta, Horvath, Gooch, they are not ready, IMO. I don't have a problem with phasing players out who are going to be too old and I also don't have a problem with calling in a young squad for the first few games after we don't qualify, but I'd hope we'd see more of the actual NT after the WC.
As a Portugal supporter this was great to watch, the way your team pressed our youngsters and fringe players trying to get on the radar really showed who belonged on the field and who didnt. You deserved to win, and in the process showed that you possess a future where you wont scandalously miss another World Cup and that a few Portugal players dont have the ability or mindset to play on the big stage compared to the others. The best players on the park were McKennie, Brooks, Manuel Fernandes, and Goncalo Guedes. You'll be back in 2022.
Cameron? The dude is 32 years old! He is 35 when we are starting qualification in 2020. No thanks. His time has come and gone.
Encouraging performance. Zero doubt that we had the better of the game. Somewhere in the 2-0 to 3-1 range probably would have been a fair score given the quality of chances. Thought everyone sans Horvath played pretty well. I like McKennie, Yedlin, Miazga, CCV, Brooks, Adams and Hamid as age-appropriate candidates for 2022. Nice to see some heart and effort on display after what we witnessed during qualifying. A little off topic, but one of my criticisms of Klinsmann and Arena is that they didn't use/bring enough role players for qualifying (or use our superior depth in general). Williams, Sapong, Feilhaber, McKennie and countless others should have been included and used selectively depending on opponent and/or situation. Tonight was a bit of validation that there were useful players out there that weren't selected.
Say what you will but Jurgen was more friendly to playing youth. My guess is both Miazga and McKennie would have played in the Hex under him. And he probably would have brought Williams back in after his Reading success last year and early work in the Prem. Jurgen didn't rate Nagbe all that much. So at the least Bradley would have had a different midfield partner. And that alone, Williams or McKennie instead of Nagbe could have had a real impact on our midfield. Actually I'd guess Jurgen would have gone with a Bradley/Williams/McKennie/Pulisic diamond instead of Bradley/Nagbe/Acosta. Not perfect but a massive improvement. Doesn't matter now though. Going forward the most important thing is to hire a coach who values and will stick to youth and is an outsider to the SUM/MLS/USSF monster and doesn't capitulate to their non stop marketing and agendas. No more starting a guy like Bradley every match because MLS needs its high priced Americans to be marketed around the NT, and no more picking a Morris over Sapong or Ramirez because of the marketing investment in Seattle's Messi, or not calling in Williams because "plenty in MLS play his position". Sure they do, but he's the top enforcer in our player pool. But that goes back to the marketing, our establishment has so much invested in Bradley that they couldn't risk Williams. And as we know, USSF/SUM make more money if MLS makes more money and MLS makes more money if it has NTers to market around. And that's what much of this situation is about. And today after the game Arena once again blamed the Euros, while McKennie and Williams were the top two players out there for us. It's all falling together, or apart, depending on your viewpoint.
As a former keeper who made the exact same howler, I know the feeling/embarrassment, but I guarantee her never makes that same mistake again. Look, he had a bad game, but he is still a young pup due to GK maturity happening later in the career, and longevity in the position. I think the criticism is a bit harsh considering his age.
I'm not giving up on Juan. Definitely was put in a bad spot as he's not a winger (I thought only Heaps was that dumb). But he wasn't good. "Most effective offensive player"... man your Agudelo colored glasses are really difficult for you to see through. He basically was where the ball went to die.
Sure we put a keeper on NT based on your guarantee. Unfortunately one can make a long highlight reel of his multiple howlers.
Agreed. He’s struggling a bit now but he’s obviously shown well up to this point. If I were the coach, I’d call him back in next camp and keep calling him in until he starts to play better. I wouldn’t play him, but keeping him as the third keeper will at least keep give him the chance to get his confidence back
What does that chart even mean? Stick to the game that happened instead of taking shots at others, that sounds awfully childish. He was apart of many of our best sequences, held possession better than anyone in the attacking third, released his teammates well, and was very active defensively. I've seen quite a few who agreed with my assessment. To say he was bad is laughable, IMO.
Frankly, you can't compare Adams to McKennie. It's not fair, nor is it logical. McKennie starts for the #4 team in the Bundi. Adams play for an MLS team that just bombed out of the playoff. I like Adams, I think he got potentials but if he wishes to be at the level of McKennie or better, he needs to take a hike out of MLS immediately, before he becomes another Acosat, Nagbe, or Zusi, etc.
Just to be clear though because I've seen it mistaken in here a few times. It was C.V.V. that hit the post with the header. The camera just zoomed in on the wrong player after.(Wes)
I don't think it has anything to do with the leagues they play in. McKennie's a lot better. He's more pro ready, he's also a year older, so that could be why.
So he continuously blame HIS WC failure on Euro players that he didn't call in nor play? Does this guy ever stop and listen to the crap that he says? People need to call this guy out, especially the Euro players. Glad Cameron got some balls and call out this idiot. Love to see more of that.
You tell me this isn't childish? Why can't we stick to content? Not a big deal, but yes, it did seem childish.
I think Adams earned his way into another camp. We want these guys to get to Europe but performances like this against a good European team is what get them good looks from scouts. I say keep calling him in until he proves he doesn't belong. It will only help him improve.(Much more than MLS, i might add)