Not a ton, no. If we win and Ukraine loses, by ANY score, we are ahead of them. At that point it would be down to us vs Nigeria. There is no excuse to not put some wood to Qatar.
You realize he also wrote that the 4 lock USMNT starters are CP, McKennie, Adams, and Bradley, right?
Good performance by the US team. I don't why people are surprised that we dominated Nigeria. When you play a low soccer IQ African nation with a technical, high soccer IQ midfield like we had tonight, this the result you get Best players: Soto - great finishing, very skillful. He has potential to be Fernando Torres type of skilled forward. Pomykal - as expected, he is our creative midfield general. I dont think the US has had a true #10 since Claudio Reyna, but he might be it Mendez - kid has world class potent without a doubt. Just needs to focus and stay disciplined. The talent and tools are there. I know people dislike Kleiben but he did a great job with this one. Durkin - absolutely solid performance. He was awful against Ukraine so he redeemed himself well. Reminds me of a young, more talented Bradley Worst players: Weah - completely wasteful on so many chances. Killed so many attacks with poor decision making Dest - largely ineffective against a physical team. He also needs to learn to stop dribbling straight at another defender without making a juke move. McKenzie - WTF was he doing in that pentalty call. Typical undisciplined, low soccer IQ athlete Would like to see Llanez and Ledesma against Qatar. We can afford to play backups and still win
I suppose we just need to beat Qatar by one goal more than Nigeria hypothetically beats Ukraine. Really want to avoid France in the next round. eep!
People have to realize that McKenzie has played 12 minutes in MLS and 90 in the USL this year, and has been injured. Give him Qatar to get back into match fitness before chastising him for being low IQ. This performance is what he is today, not what he is every day.
Not racist. Just honest, opinion. Ive been watching soccer for more than 20 years. This is not something new Like how you just casually ignore the rest of my post
Seen a few comments about Durkin's "good" performance, which I must have missed. His first touch he launched a ball directly out of bounds, then "cleared" a ball directly to Nigeria's player for their best chance of the game. Funny you compare him to MB, as I agree in a different way. Doesn't really do anything, but gets praise for it.
I always forget how insanely high expectations posters here have of our youth teams until the actual tournaments start.
It was racist, and I'm one who normally pushes back on identity politics because I know how it's been weaponized in bad faith. But that was straight up prejudicial, painting w/ a broad brush, and then to boot drew a link to our supposedly struggling players out of ancestry not just culture.
Just in case you were on the fence, a red pill reference means he probably has some Buddhist symbols decorating his place.
Colombia beat Poland in the first game 2-0. Colombia plays Tahiti and Poland plays Senegal. Colombia will beat Tahiti so your point is still valid because Poland could be in 3rd with 3 points if they lose to Senegal.
Injury or not. You have to make better decisions when you're up by 2 goals. You simply cannot do that. Thats just poor. He was really lucky. I wouldnt reward a player like that with a start against Nigeria
That's a yikes of a wording @Timm. By the way, why is Keita starting, while Sands isn't even in the squad? I get McKenzie, you figure he's a starting CB if he shakes off the rust. But Keita has no such excuse. Oh boy, better take the USL-level defender who's always played backup to Richards/McKenzie and has always been a depth guy! Oh, and start him! And don't even call up the only starting MLS central defender (IDK if Trusty is eligible). Yeah!
Sorry to see that Richards' knock is the reason McKenzie came on, but it may turn out to be fortuitous, as it got him just about the amount of minutes he can handle. I just hope Richards is OK.