What I didn't like was the tactical decision from Berhalter to have the CBs pass back to Steffen all the time. Sure, Steffen is pretty good with the ball at his feet for a GK, but (not having seen any of the games in person) I am left wondering what is going on in the rest of the field that makes it seem like the CBs have no other outlet. I would hope that an injection of Adams, with Mckennie in the mix as well, and two legit outside backs (no offense to Ream--he had a shockingly decent tournament for all of his known flaws) would make the CBs look that much better on the ball.
Great observation, and I think you're right. Although there was that one game, a couple days after Charlie Davies almost died (Costa Rica qualifier Oct 2009 in DC)... Jozy was a 90 guy that day. He was in a different gear. Spinal Tap: "It goes up to 11."
I think there's a good reason why his better games with Schalke were when he was NOT playing a typical CM. Also, as I noted before, Egg put two guys (Bradley + McKennie) to hold central midfield against three Mexican volantes: Guardado, Alvarez, Jona. The right call was to use 3 guys in central midfield, and have Pulisic taking one of the three forward positions, or if shifted to a 4-3-1-2, make of Pulisic the 1.
We were better than Mexico when Jozy was energetic. As soon as he started to flag -- which was about 40 minutes in, we weren't anymore. So much focus is being made on the midfield, but Jozy's link up play alleviated that for a while. Finding a 90 minutes striker who can do that is vital. Because with Jozy's injuries, right now the pool is pretty dire in that respect. Most of the options do not have that in their toolbox. We really need Josh to pan out and be healthy.
Yes, the ratings are absurd. I dont disagree much with the description except the "tone" of each is consistent with the ratings. Also, Bradley is just at fault on the goal. He did nothing to prevent "his man" from having his impact on the play.
There are literally people who watch the Chernobyl series and say "See? That's the problem with Socialism!"
The women's team is a dominant force that controls games and does not get attacked too much. The game vs France was a huge test for Dunn vs the French winger, that was a very fun battle to watch.
Some want to blame McKennie for the goal. Others have suggested Bradley was just as much to and that the CBs could have done better. I will add Roldan to the discussion. Why does he step up to the forward line instead staying with the midfielders?
To stop his man on the switch, obviously. His teammates are pressing their men. Bradley lets his man get in behind him, as usual. McKennie fails to understand how important it is to track his man after he loses his duel with LA Gal Johnny Twosaints who brushes him aside like a fly. Lets get a real midfield. LIke I said in a different post, Earnie could hire Tab to join the USMNT as a midfield coach. He knows the u20 guys like Pomykal, Ledezma, Durkin, Mendez, Servania, Cerillo. He knows Trapp, Delgado, Arriola, Hyndman, Miazga, from the 2015 U20's and Adams, Sargent, from the 2017 U20s (plus lb's Herrera and D.Acosta). Make sense?
Of course, Tab also was insistent on playing the 20-year old version of Michael Bradley, Chris Durkin. So would he make different choices?
Because that was what Morris was doing? This is the strange thing, Gregg inserts Roldan for Morris to add numbers to midfield. But does he tell Roldan that? Roldan clearly just plays the wing role that Morris had been playing. Was Roldan told to do something different and didn't do it? I wonder if McKennie thought Arriola had JDS and he was recovering to a more central position. Makes more sense than he just didn't track him. Arriola thinks McKennie has him. Kind of thing that happens when you scramble.
Arriola also runs with JDS. It is possible that McKennie thinks Arriola has him (they are both running with him initially) and, since he is so close to Bradley, probably understands the entire middle of the field is open. Possibly. The clip is not long enough to see why Arriola stops tracking too.
We saw the same kind of defensive problems at the U20 WC with Durkin as we see with Trapp and Bradley. It is like a disease at USSF haha. Both coaches have not moved away from it and had their tournaments die with it.
He was? Sounds to me like Tab was the guy with the foresight to take FCDallas' bench player Servania over their starter Cerillo (whom he added late) then played Servania and showed everybody how good Servania really was. At least that is what it says here (Bshredder) http://www.americansoccernow.com/ar...layoffs-and-olympics-following-u-20-world-cup n the very first game of the World Cup, Servania scored the U.S. team’s only goal in a 2-1 loss to eventual champions Ukraine. In the third game against Qatar, Servania drew a penalty which teammate Alex Mendez failed to convert. Then in the round of 16, Servania went the distance in defensive midfield in a stunning 3-2 win over France – the pretournament favorites. It was in that game where Servania's defensive play sprung the break for the team's opening goal scored by Sebastian Soto. As a matter of fact, after Tab's revelatory move, FCDallas was able to sell Gruezo to Europe and play Servania and Cerillo regularly. Did he play Durkin? Yes he did. And now we can all sit around making conclusions and strut our febrile imaginations because Tab made the hard choices. Good for him.
I mean, after playing a Servania-Pomykal-Ledezma midfield that beat France, he went back to a Durkin-anchored midfield and lost. I don't mind Tab at all, though I don't get the lionization. My point was more that if they think Tab is going to bench Bradley, they might be mistaken. Since he didn't bench the U20 version of Bradley when he was getting outplayed by his teammates.
My guess is that Tab would not take the assignment if told that he had to deal with Bradley. Tab has established a pretty good reputation and he's not going to throw it away on petty corruptions. We understand now why he didn't want the"temporary USMNT manager" job that was offered him. The fix was in.