Dest had two bad plays against Ukraine (one the direct aerial ball that he misplayed, and the other a 1v1 situation vs. one of the top players in the tournament). Outside of those two occasions, he was good and was a major factor in the team golazo that Servania finished. Everyone was good against Nigeria, including Dest. I'm not sure how the narrative can be that Dest was horrible for the first two games.
I didn't say horrible. I said he struggled and was one of the worst performing players on the team in those matches. It's revisionist history from memories fading over time and him back-ending a solid tourney overall obscuring his initial issues. If you don't believe me, here are some outside opinions in media that back me up, and which should jog memories. Post Ukraine: The Negatives Sergiño Dest’s quality in the attack has been well documented, but his struggles on the other end put the rest of the US backline in danger on too many occasions. I expressed my concern at the level of defending on this roster prior to the World Cup and my fears unfortunately were realized. https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/2...kraine-u-20-world-cup-2019-recap-and-reaction Post Nigeria: The biggest concern right now, however, is Sergino Dest who has struggled so far in this tournament. Defensively, he needs to be better. But that might also be affecting his offensive game has he hasn’t been as threatening as he could be with his runs forward. If Dest doesn’t show improvement before the knockouts (should the U.S. team qualify), Ramos might feel compelled to go with the young Julian Araujo who is more known for his defensive attributes – while also still being a threat in the attack. http://americansoccernow.com/articl...-s-u-20-team-s-2-0-world-cup-win-over-nigeria so that's that
I didn't think Dest was that good at the U-20 WC either. He was at fault for that goal against Ukraine mentioned above, and the France game that so many credit him for playing well in, I thought was more of an inconsistent performance. He had some good moments, but he also played a big part in a goal with his unwillingness to take an angle to clearing a ball that would've saved a goal.
Who, Don? If you're referring to me, I made the much more compelling case for my view. You'd have to say "lol, are you serious" to Brian too. The irrational reaction would just be a product of telling you what you didn't want to hear or not aligning w/ your boggy memory, then sticking to your guns anyway.
lol you posted someones story who agreed with you and acted like it was the end of the story as if you couldnt have posted someone elses story who didnt agree with you
lol Don, who I responded to said Dest clearly had a stronger tourney than someone like the consistent Gloster and doesn't see how there could be a narrative Sergino was bad in those first two games. I saw reference to it in the media in literally the first two reports I found, one after the Nigeria game from Big Soccer's own @bshredder so not even some random writer. So lol again at you sir!
It's Ukraine's first goal that stands out, because that fit the pre-existing narrative - that Dest was good on offense but poor on defense. One must admire, "I expressed my concern at the level of defending on this roster prior to the World Cup and my fears unfortunately were realized," for its tone of self-congratulation ('I was right') that fits so well here, as it would on virtually any BS thread. I will agree Dest defended poorly on that goal.
That was an egregious mistake on the Ukraine goal and there were more than one breakdown. They happened in both matches. And it also seemed to adversely impact his offense, as was alluded to. What's your excuse to dismiss Brian's analysis after the 2nd match that he had a poor tourney to that point and Tab could be considering trying someone else if he doesn't turn it around?
That goal against France was hardly Dest's fault. After the attacker waltzed past Gloster, his shot hit the post. Expecting Dest to get to the ricochet before the attacker who was always moving toward the ball is harsh. I would say that a couple of big mistakes (in an otherwise good game) in the first game colored people's opinion of him more negatively than the actual balance of his play equaled out to rather than the opposite stance that his play was poor but glossed over by good later games. That criticism of him in the Nigeria recap doesn't mention anything specific and seems to carry residual impressions from the Ukraine mistakes.
Without dest we would've had a much harder time not resorting to bunker and counter versus some teams.
So you do understand how there could be a narrative was bad those first two games? You're speculating it's confirmation bias from everybody thinking he was lackluster the 2nd match as well. You could ask Brian. He posts here pretty regularly. The most positive I can find is from Seltzer who rated him 4th worst in the lineup w/ a mediocre 6 and said the Nigeria match was better for him. The rest are negative or not worthy of a mention either way. I think that's pretty much what you'd see if you dug up reviews here. But then he played well the 3 last games, so all is forgiven/forgotten. Fine, but it doesn't change history and the whole tourney should be discussed not just back end when evaluating his performance. You are the average of your play, not the best, nor most recent.
I think Araujo was a better option defensively. Once Dest can improve defensively, he'll be a great wingback.
A rating of 6 for a game in which he supposedly struggled badly and was the worst of his tournament, and then "better" rating the next game does not support the idea that Dest struggled badly in those first two games. The entire team was virtually perfect for 60 minutes against Nigeria. Dest had a very good World Cup outside of two poor plays against Ukraine. EDIT: For the record, I never said that Dest had a better tournament than Gloster. I think they were both very good. I don't know where you got that from.
You keep on resorting to straw men, moving goal posts, and circling back to the extremist/revisionist opinion perception of his early issues centered around 2 plays in 1 game. It's very frustrating. Clear you'll just argue what you need to in order to control perception. So it's just not worth it. You deflected well enough.
Yeah, because all of the criticism of his tournament really boils down to two poor defensive plays in that one game! He had an excellent tournament -- outside of those two plays. If there were more egregious things that I've missed, I'd be happy to hear about them. That goal in the France game was nowhere close to being on him, in my opinion.
Feature on Jonathan Lewis: “As a kid he wasn’t so special on the field,” Jerbi said. “Technically, he was all over the place. But what made him stand out is if we had practice from 6 p.m. to 7:30, he’d get there at 5 and stay until 9, shooting and dribbling by himself. Also, he always wanted the ball during games. In fact, when he was between 12 and 14, I had so many parents complain that Jon wouldn’t release the ball. He loved to dribble, take guys on and beat them, and I wasn’t going to take that away from him.” https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mls/article236011413.html
Yep. FT | Solid victory for the U-23 #USMNT over fellow @Concacaf Olympic Qualifying Championship participant El Salvador. Six different players score for the USA on the night. 🇺🇸 6-1 🇸🇻— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) October 16, 2019
https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...-in-olympic-qualifying-warm-up-match-in-miami I can't understand why these games are not televised anywhere. This team is chalk filled with possible USMNT players of the future and have a real chance to make waves in the Olympics next summer for the 1st time since 2008. Probably because it was a friendly... but I hope the official qualifying games coming up can be viewed somewhere. At this point, I would rather watch this team than the USMNT. Such a sad state of affairs. Highlights: Ledezma --> Goal and 2 assists, Lewis --> Goal and an assist, Toye scores within the 1st five minutes after being subbed in. Finally, too bad that Uly is hurt right now... 6 goals in his 1st 4 matches for U19 Wolfsburg and then an injury he has yet to return from. Adding him to that roster would make the attack so friggin deadly.