Post-match: United States v Jamaica Gold Cup Final 7/26

did dempsey get credited with an assist and an all around baller play award for that touch and settle for Morris?

 

Whatever your opinions of these guys and Gold Cup are...there's a lot of US soccer records and history in this photo. Appreciate what they've done for the team throughout the years.

 

well...let's see...i think most of this was surprisingly in line with what i already thought about players. i expected more from acosta especially. it seemed the usmnt always kicked into a higher gear as soon as he left the pitch...i still think he is a great prospect ...but just expected better. arriola also underwhelmed me....i think he is another great prospect but his decision making and effectiveness in the final third was bafflingly invisible......agudelo was another player i'm high on who didnt really wow people...i think he played the way he was aksed to and did that well in his only start....he needs to be surrounded by creators not be the creator himself....it's gotta be frustrating for a player like that who knows he will be judged on production but needs to be set up by teammates (who cant do that) to produce....i think that's why bruce kept him on the roster despite not scoring...cuz bruce gets it with agudelo. his play was uneven but i see a lot of good in his game that others dont seem to...still, i expected more of him, if i'm honest...especially in his last outing. lichaj surprised me with just how good he is offensivley....i think he is actually better than yedlin or zusi in terms of attacking....he completed so many long balls it was remarkable. and the goal was nice obviously. i didnt expect a full-time rb to be so much better at attacking than a converted mid like zusi. on the other hand, i was shocked by lichaj's breakdowns defensively....i think he has the speed and epxerience to overcome that and dont think he has been given enough time to say whether or not that is who he is or just do to unfamiliarity. hedges on the other hand, is just, unfortunately, too slow. im not a fan of the big lumbering cb who isnt amaizing with the ball types...so i personally never saw him as a viable option...and after the jamaica friendly where he didnt do anything but got praised i was skeptical.villafana is another player who i have been high on but realized that he isnt the best defender against very physical teams...i still like him but didnt realize that before. he did play much better than i thought offensively and i think people are overlooking him there - except against very physical teams - like jamaica - i thought he was rather poor aganst them...so i think villafana makes the world cup based on which teams the us draws...if it is ghana, germany etc....i might think twice.....dywer underhwelmed me a little honestly...yeah the goals were nice and he was starved for service and played 100% but....i didnt realize from mls that he isnt that fast and is pretty wasteful in possession and with creating chances internationally. i expected him to be more dominant and efficient. rowe did better than i thought....i am a fan of nguyen and think he deserves it way more than kelyn but he showed well...that surprised me.

but overall, how i rate players depends on how they do vs the very best in real games...so all of the evaluating from this tourney is tempered by the low level opponnets the us faced (in relation to world cup level play).....a lot of data was collected but it is all suspicious data i.e. the world cup in my mind. i wish costa rica and mexico had been full strength and the us had played them so some of these opinons could be more valid....overall, i would say not much changed from pre- to post tourney for me....all things considered.

 

Si, senor! https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2017-07-26-us-mens-national-team-vs-jamaica/boxscore

I watched it again and I believe it probably was an assist. I wish someone would ask Clint Dempsey if he knew he was directing the ball to Morris or if it was a purely instinctive reaction. In either case, it's an assist!

 

Ironic that while many argue that overreliance on MLS has retarded the USMNT's growth....Jamaica has benefitted by having much of its team play there which has raised their standard of play. Great to see the Jamaican program moving forward and upward.

 

Judging by fan reaction I have read on social media, my opinion on Paul Arriola and Jorge Villafana goes against the grain. I though they both were excellent and improved as the tournament progressed.

Arriola is a bulldog. He is quick and has good technical skills to go with a feisty attitude. I thought he was equally good on defense and offense, which was helpful to Zusi (who is only a serviceable right back). He did very well for his age and experience level, IMHO.

Villafana is a remarkable player, considering how far he has come to reach this stage. I believe it speaks to his intelligence as well as talent. He figured out how to best compliment Darlington Nagbe and together they dominated the left side of the pitch in this tournament. He showed good speed and fitness in covering the pitch end to end.

 

This tournament raised questions about Kellyn Acosta. Is he ready for this level?

I thought he appeared nervous this tournament. Maybe, he was too naïve when he got his first starts to be scared. Now, he's feeling more pressure. Bruce Arena is showing faith in him, but he puts pressure on himself. Just my theory.

 

Acosta's physical limitations were exposed in this tournament.

 

So you basically want to play 3 v 11 from here on out? lol

 

I don't think it was physical limitations. I think they were mostly mental, speed of the game issues. He didn't have superb physical attributes to compensate maybe... but I dont think Acosta is really limited physically.

 

To be fair, the US has traditionally been a better team than Jamaica and has had several players playing at levels above MLS so those two things are not mutually exclusive. MLS has been a huge boon for CONCACAF as a whole - it may have hurt the relative standing of the USMNT by giving much better opportunities to players from smaller nations.

 

Acosta got muscled by Martinique and Panama. Having a partner in Bradley who can do the work of two helped Acosta to play more of his 'read and react' game. But partnered with other CMs, he struggled under the expanded responsibilities.

 

He did get out muscled some but by a large I thought his struggles were more reacting late, mistiming some runs, mis judging his opponents speed and awareness, and playing hot potato with the ball too much.

 

Exactly. He wasn't able to adapt. MB brought him back to the type of comfort zone he has at Dallas.

 

I didn't notice Acosta being outmuscled. I notice him mis-hitting a lot of passes. He was very active against Jamaica and did a fair amount of work. But, his errors were costly.

Certainly, he played much better with Michael Bradley and Darlington Nagbe. Nagbe plays like a holding midfielder whether he is on the wing or in the middle.

 

Agreed that he didn't elevate his game. Some of his weaknesses (speed of thought, decision making, physical aggressiveness) were highlighted. Hopefully, the coaching staff spoke to him about these as things to work on.

 

Hopefully they spoke to him about these things, and then about how they should give other players a real try now who may not display these deficiencies with reasonable experience and are better with their clubs, not told him they were going to keep playing him through the struggles out of confirmation bias, sunk cost, and being grandfathered in.

Roldan's and Williams' turn. Williams should be an option in qualifiers, Roldan in a back-up role there (Lletget started off two camp cupcake friendlies, one off the bench), and the top box-to-box role priority in all the friendlies we play for a while, before January, during, and after. If we gain 6 points in the next camp that should open up experimental opportunities in qualifiers like we had under Bradley and could have under Klinsmann.

 

He's very young to start in such a key position for the US. Bruce is quite bullish on him, which I understand because our options are razor thin there.

 

Dude, what?

 

I'm with you. I though Arriola's speed and ability to separate was obvious. I though he combined well and made good runs. If he had finished two of his chances, he'd be one of the talks of the Cup. If he continues to not finish... that's another story. For now I think he looked good.

And I watched Villafana with Portland very closely. I never saw him put a foot wrong. His sense of positioning was excellent. He is very solid, even if he needs CB coverage once in a while

 

I think he's the third best CB distributor at the moment. GCam/Brooks are better, and really they're all pretty close in terms of skill. Brooks usually is the one to distribute out of the back when partnered with Cameron, but Geoff as a DMid and RB has shown he can pass the ball pretty well. IIRC, Besler had a nice assist vs. Chile.

EDIT: Yup. At 13 seconds in.

 

I wonder if Bruce is trying to get Arriola a job. He's been linked with a few clubs after this Gold Cup. I think he's got a lot of potential, but he needs to break through at TJ and find a place where he can get regular starts. At this point, he just needs the pro reps so the game starts slowing down for him.

 

They're not. We have depth, and Roldan is arguably the best American MLS player this year regardless of position, and among the top few going back to when he's been starting, while only being 22 himself.

At first I thought you were talking about Arriola with your description, because that would more apply to him. Our options at wing/attacking wing are razor thin, as many talk about accurately here. But Arriola did have a good final two games, after a slow start in this tourney, possibly because he was unfit and rusty coming out of preseason. As the Total Soccer Show boys both pointed out, upon review he had a very good final game due to his ball-winning, pressure, combo play, and width provided. He was just a hair off on the final ball/step, which can be sharpened over time. His moves being poor are really the issue with him. But he provides width, so you just could kind of deal with it with all his other strengths. He did start most games this last season for Tijuana, so I don't think that's the problem anymore. His club situation is fine. He just needs to find more ingenuity somewhere in his mind.

 

He's traveling the same journey as with the u20's. The MLS combine mentality takes over when selecting players and Acosta goes to the top of the priority list then he starts sinking with every minute he plays on the team he is selected for.

We already knew this from the U20's just as we knew stuff about Hyndman, Zelalem, Rubin, CCV, MIazga, Arriola, Thompson, Spencer, BJIV, Delgado.

Hopefully US Soccer has learned its lesson.

 

He is 5'10", broad shouldered, and only 150lbs. That's pretty light in the britches for a central mid.

In terms of contemporaries and predecessors: John O'brien was 5'8", 160lb. Mastroeni was 5'10, 170. Nagbe is 5'9", 165lbs. Jones is 6', 180lb. Reyna was 5'9" 160. Beckerman is 5'10", 165lbs. Roldan is 5'8" 165lb.

All of these players are or were 'built lower to the ground'.

The player Acosta most resembles in terms of physique is Ricardo Clark(5'10", 150lb), whose light weight and higher center of gravity caused problems when the brawnier sides came to play.