The best player on the team doesn't always take the penalties. This has been recently discussed because of Man U and their penalty drama - but there's a widespread misconception that the top star of the team or the captain is automatically the penalty-taker. Plenty of squads have a star who doesn't take penalties. I knew as soon as that happened last night that people would turn this into a moronic talking point. Stu Holden (who, by the way, I have completely lost respect for over the past two years as a commentator) got the ball rolling in the broadcast. And then our idiot soccer media would magnify it: "DURRR Pulisic doesn't have the GRIT/LEADERSHIP/PASSION/DESIRE/TUFFNESSSSSS, he's a GLORYBOY who doesn't care about the shirt, CUT PULISIC FROM DA TEAM", etc. etc. etc. Bottom-line - whether or not someone takes a penalty doesn't indicate anything regarding their ability or mentality. Especially not when you're in garbage time in a friendly that you've clearly lost. What Pulisic was doing was giving Sargent the chance to notch a goal - give the kid a happy memory in this obviously sh**ty situation. If Pulisic was "AFRAID" or "LACKING CHARACTER" or whatever dumb label our soccer media decides to go with, then he would've hung back and let others volunteer. Instead, he grabbed the ball, preempted anyone else from taking it, and handed it to Sargent to make sure Josh was the one to take it. Will this result in hurt feelings in the locker room, from senior players not liking the young Pulisic taking it away from them and giving it to the even younger Sargent, who then missed? Only if our coaching staff is full of morons who allow that kind of petty jealousy to fester and grow. (so possibly)
If they haven’t already. I suspect it won’t be long now. I imagine the pool was pretty demoralized to start coming off the 2018 cycle and then the Sarachan era (who I now look back at with fondness.). We needed a strong competent leader and we didn’t get that. They see all the issues we do. Not long now
The worst part of this is that GB knows this, he’s just so stubborn and inflexible. Will Crapp couldn’t even get off the bench in the Gold Cup semis/Final for an obviously gassed McKennie/Bradley because everyone knew he wasn’t up to this level. What must the other players think that in “friendlies” GB continues to try to build the team around him?
Exciting? Juergen was the man who regularly deployed multiple defensive midfielders in wide positions expecting them to "express themselves." There was nothing exciting about Juergen's tenure. He was the most defensive coach we've had in modern times and as challenged as GGG's tenure has been he's still a better coach than Juergen.
It could be both coaching, and players unable to work together. The only way to know is if Berhalter was replaced and wiser player selection including only MLS players like Lletget was introduced. Klinsmann was a horrible coach but he was right about American players needing seasoning abroad. Foreign national teams represent countries that have no other major sport, which isn't the case in the U.S. Social media has ruined protest and demonstrations. That's why no one is out in the streets demanding a new "president", or new USMNT coach. If Tata managed beautifully in Atlanta, his lack of fluency wouldn't have impeded his ability to lead the USMNT.
The Netherlands are a wealthy country and have had a stable system. No juntas. No communism. No sovereign debt default. Uruguay have 15 Copa Americas and 2 World Cups. What the Netherlands have done is impressive but is not unique, nor special, and has little to do with the current circumstances of the US National Team.
Has Egg had one impressive result since he's been in charge? All I hear is that he's building something, it takes time, Yada Yada, but I don't see us actually performing. Was his best result the first couple games when he beat some C teams from south America? How much longer we gotta deal with this?
Hell, US Soccer could have hired that Justin guy at Atlanta United to translate for Tata for all I care. Your point stands that US Soccer clearly had standards other than "best guy for the job" when they hired Berhalter while not even bothering to interview Tata. Tata might have told the US no. He still might have ended up coaching Mexico because the communication barrier would have admittedly been easier for him. We'll never know, but I will always think Tata came to Atlanta United with the idea that he could coach the USMNT one day. He seems to be one of those coaches that likes taking challenging rebuilds or new situations and building something on his own. My point is that if I were US Soccer, I would have made him say no 2-3 times before moving on. That's how strongly I felt he was the right guy for this job with this group of players.
Fair enough. I would guess that the comments on BS reflect the general attitude of USMNT fans through. If that’s the case, Berhalter’s stupid decisions are demoralizing its fan base In the best case and losing it as a worst case.
I love your arrogance. Sadly, America has lost theirs. But, it still comes down to a coach overcomplicating things.
Also Pulisic isn't all that good at Penalties that might've been part of the reason e gave it to sargent.
Poetic justice. Tata is going to break off a piece for Greg every time. Tata has GGG’s number and that is that. Our guy should be coaching high school, and I am not being hyperbolic. High school is the level where coaches are rigid in approach to drill players in muscle memory roles, professional coaches need to read a game and make tactical changes on the fly. I was not a fan of J.K. but he was ten fold Greg’s superior and his coaching consisted of beep tests and “try stuff”. I used to live or die by ANY USMNT game, I could barely care less nowadays and, apparently, neither does Soccer House.
its just sad we have to go through another cycle with another coach who just can’t get player selections or tactics right
48k attendance in 82k capacity stadium. Wonder if tix were too expensive for MEX fans filling entire arena. Also wonder how many were US fans.
I can't help but think that this was what GB was thinking as he walked away from the game...if only MB and JA had been available...otherwise everything was fine. Guaranteed Mikey will be back for next round of games...and so it goes.
I think that's overcomplicating it. Gregggg just sucks. As in, he's horse ---- at coaching soccer, period.
Pretty sure Gregg will change nothing aside from putting a fit Adams at RB, swapping Bradley for Trapp and Jozy for Zardes. Although in the GC Gregg genuinely appeared to rate Zardes above Jozy. It killed us in failing to qualify last cycle and has repeated for the entire Gregg regime, that being playing a soft DM in Bradley or Trapp, which is causing our other CM's to be pinned back, cutting off the midfield from the attack and limiting any coordinated transition on the counter and to our front 3. Just like last cycle, Pulisic rarely sees a ball played in space in the final 3rd and rarely has options to play to. And these are mostly friendlies. Once the games mean something he'll get the shit hacked out of him. Good lord, Lozano received a ball in space going towards goal within his first 30 secs of subbing on, a pass Pulisic didn't receive the entire 90. And that again goes back to losing the option of adding a creative mid because we need more steel to cover our toilet paper DM. What compounds this nonsense even more is if we were to rate Zardes as a penciled in CF, he would fit a counter attack style. Get on the break and make sure his only touches are in the 18 where it's a strike on goal. But no, Gregg's slow, methodical buildup requires playing a CF who can drop deep and excels with the ball at his feet who you can link off. Zardes is arguably the worst CF in the entire pool for that role. Our players know that. They barely even look for him. Making matters worse, the slow methodical buildup is killed if there's no pace, diagonal runs and creativity flowing thru the center of the attack, which opens lanes and space. The slower the buildup the higher the premium on AM/wing creativity and pulling defenders to open gaps. Instead Gregg is employing a stagnant system. Hence we can barely generate a shot, never mind a SOG. The space hasn't been created. The whole point to a more counter attack style is with an unbalanced defense in transition, the gaps have been created. Go away from that and attacking what is essentially a set up defense for the full match, you need to create that thru movement and combinations. But the positioning of our mids and attack under Gregg does absolutely nothing to confront that issue. Then I can get into the premise behind Gregg's system requires a DM who can regularly find the ball, turn and transition. Yet Trapp is generally completely invisible. Entirely the wrong choice for the system. And the fullbacks aren't getting forward to stretch the defense and add width/options. I harken back to Fabian at either RB/LB years ago who would regularly link/overlap with our wingers and slice into dangerous areas with the ball. That element is non existent today. Since this whole thing sucks right now,a trip down memory lane to when Pulisic had options running off him. Pulisic to Dempsey!! pic.twitter.com/6SVlgvjQtA— The Lads (@Lads0ffThePitch) March 25, 2017
well, ask yourself whether these lineups are being picked to maximize offense or instead on some theory they are the best chasers we have i mean, look at GC, we're playing Roldan as a forward, we're subbing in backs down a goal a key thing we are missing is enough of the right sort of attackers where our offense has to be taken seriously and the other team has to adjust backwards in formation and tactics aka "sometimes the best defense is a good offense" i mean, looking at the way we were playing they handled it perfect, press forward and dare us to try and possess the ball through them, and a lot of their offense came off of just waiting for mistakes on our end under pressure that and if you have wide winger speed with enough nous and technicality to get on the outlets, they would have to respect a counter and ease the press somewhat
Can someone please explain the purpose of the Lovitz substitution? - improve the team? - reward an up-and-coming player? - send message to removed player? - replace injured/tired player?
one reason i want him out now is i can see how the narrative and future will flow. they will give him LoN to rehabilitate whatever happens this week. as with GC after the two ugly friendlies, he will seem to have "fixed" things (right up til the final). so you can see how the narrative will flip back around whether it's canada and cuba or not. and then however the knockouts of LoN go that will be spun, and soon enough it will be Hex and the spin doctors can't yak that away. it really shouldn't. even more so than sarachan he has a clear pattern of only beating teams of x level and losing to everyone above y level. sarachan would at least churn out the odd mexico win, and some gritty ties, some of which were surprising. he was given a horrific closing schedule which made him (somewhat rightfully) look bad, but he was at least tapping into something sometimes. to me when a team does something consistently then they are not more than the sum of their parts and the coach is doing a poor job. you should occasionally punch above your weight to show that some mix of talent or tactics is being leveraged that works some days. maybe you pick the right kids. maybe the matchup suits you. maybe you land on a technical flash of genius.