USA wins 4-0 behind goals from Arriola, Zardes, and Boyd (x2). McKennie was substituted due to injury.
I really like Boyd. His passing is excellent. He's dynamic and wants to press the game on the front-foot. He's just plain exciting. Imagine if we had a highly rated winger to play on the opposite flank. Perhaps someone who just signed for Chelsea? Puli------Altidore--------Boyd That's what I want. Edit: I might have scored one tonight if you swap me for Zardes. Comically awful.
Change in tactics was good. Boyd was good. Lima and Zimmerman getting turned by Guyana was concerning. We still look suspect if a better presses us.
All I can say is that is absolutely great to finally have a striker who truly has a nose for the goal!
The US just made a bunch of Semi-Pro and 4th and 5th tier English league players look pretty good. Despite the scoreline, this was not close to good enough. Honestly, at this point, I truly believe Gregg is the problem. He is too clever by half. No one seems comfortable, and if Guyana had someone up top that could shoot the ball, I think this game would have been rather ugly.
that was satisfactory. zardes is beyond awful- if any of you give him credit for anything more than being physically solid tonight youre just an idiot.
Boyd has jumped in and made an immediate impact. Certainly a lot of concerns although the result was never in doubt. Didn't care much for the CB's.
Hard to take much from this, because Guyana is so bad, but... Stock up: Arriola's first touch, Boyd, Jozy in absentia Stock down: Arriola's finishing, Ream, Zimmerman/Long, Bradley, Trapp, Zardes, Pulisic as a 10 Bradley and Trapp both looked off the pace against a team of borderline professionals, Ream turned the ball over way too often, Zardes should have scored 4 goals on purpose rather than the 1 he scored by accident, and the CBs looked half-asleep whenever they were called into action. Pulisic failed to influence the game from central midfield against the 177th-ranked team in the world because he isn't a #10. Boyd was dynamic, but should have scored more, ditto Arriola. This Berhalter system is so stifling. Maybe it takes off with more time, but I just don't see how that's going to happen, either on a theoretical or practical level.
Boyd is a good player who is going to help us this cycle, assuming he stays healthy. We lost way too many one-on-one duels versus a team of Guyana's caliber, at least until they got tired. Zardes being more dangerous with his face than the rest of his body tells all you need to know about him as a player. Other than that, I got nothing.
I would say that the performance was minimally acceptable. I thought they did better in the 2nd half playing through the press. Instead of forcing it to Bradley/Trapp every time, other players were checking back and getting on the ball, or they were playing over the top to Boyd and Arriola. Brooks (if he's ever healthy) will help a lot in this area too. I've heard it said that passing is one of Ream's strengths. I confess that I don't really see it. And he also had one of his signature moments where he fell asleep defensively and almost allowed a goal. Boyd is Arriola+. Not necessarily a world beater, but an improvement on what we had. I didn't see the Jamaica game, so I'm just going on the general consensus that Mihailovic was horrible there. With that context I thought he was decent tonight. Strange that Altidore didn't get any minutes. If he's not at all fit, it's going to be a rough (and short) tournament. Steffen didn't force the short passes out of the back tonight. When it wasn't on, he wasn't afraid just to give it a ride.
I like Boyd but I think many fans are getting carried away. Vs Guyana he had a good game. I want to see how he does against better full backs. I thought he was ok vs Venezuela and good vs a weak Guyana. TnT should be a good game to get a better evaluation on him.
Even zardes is better than that zardes. But the goal was uber-zardes, so maybe it evens out? This team is likely to lose in the quarterfinals. CBs were bad. Disappointed. I think arriola was committed. He and Boyd were the only ones that didn't treat it like a friendly. Just based on that I can forgive a bunch.
Really don't want to see Zardes (stone first touch) and Ream (slow as hell) to represent USMNT, but no obvious options for this roster. Sad. Also, I feel GGG loves Zardes.
I think the player pool is so poor right now that we should go back to scouring the world for dual nationals.
If McKennie actually is hurt, my inkling is that Berhalter would go with a Bradley-Trapp duo in a must-win match. That's something that will make the internet jump with joy. For now, he'll pair Roldan with one of the two.
Score was fine, though I would have liked a goal or 2 more. Zardes was bad, the guy could have had a hat trick with finishing that was just bad instead of awful. Get well soon Jozy. Boyd was awesome, despite the 2 sitters he missed, he's a great addition to the wings which we sorely needed. Arriola was a nice surprise too, he was making fantastic runs and the finish on the goal was gorgeous. He was the best player on the field in the first half IMO, though he did have a fairly standard Arriola performance in the 2nd. Bradley, Mckennie, and Pulisic were meh. Both Bradley and Mckennie had fantastic passes that lead to goals, and Pulisic had a fantastic opening 20 minutes. The attack largely remained static when they had the ball though, and Weston particularly seemed to struggle with Guyana's physicality. I really hope he's okay though. The backline actually left me with a lot of concerns. They struggled to play the ball out of the back, made some poor decisions when pressured, and got beat at times when they really shouldn't have. I'm curious to see if Miazga gets his starting spot back. Lima can deliver some nice crosses though. Steffen made a nice save the one time he had to. Our next 2 games should tell us a lot more. I would keep a similar starting XI swapping Jozy for Zardes (if Jozy can go) and I would give Miazga another chance.
I want to give Arriola his due; he was energetic and made some good runs in addition to a tidy finish. Can he repeat that, though, against higher-caliber defenses? Really need him to be more accurate with his crosses. I am frightened by our center backs. I miss John Brooks, but he’s only one dude. We absolutely need more from this position.
Boyd Mckennie and Pulisic are on a whole different level than the rest of the team. Although, Arriola looked good tonight too. Has anyone seen Boyd play at club level? I’m surprised he was loaned out, looks like he belongs in a top European league like the bundesliga. Bradley’s passing was great, but he’s just too damn slow, looks like an old man. How is Zardes still allowed to represent the USMNT? This just angered me more given that Sargent was passed up.
Bright spots: Arriola and Boyd both That Pulisic was not happy he came off Concerns: Zardes is officially an orange traffic cone Bradley had some good touches and passes but he is now too darn slow Defense untested Trap still sucks McKennie’s injury Overall our pace and intensity are too slow and I put that on our crappy coach