Nations League A, Camp 2, Canada/Cuba, Nov. 15/19

I hope you have a good time at the game.

 

Some say Nations League is irrelevant and lame.....and it is. But it gives us chance to cap tie people, will be beneficial the next decade.

Without it we would have gone from July ‘19 to Oct ‘20 without an official game.

 

Dest guarantees a win. I’m with him.

 

At club level, they play in systems that are different to whatever Gregg is trying to do with the National Team.

 

Jamaica has managed to climb to #3 in the region even though they're playing in the League B. The Ticos have lost points by only tying to Haiti and Curaçao, two teams seriously underrated by the rankings.

With El Salvador likely to win big their last two games (both at home), Canada really needs to make the final or else they're going to be out of the Hex by the end of the year.

It's a shame they didn't get another game in this window. Dumb by their federation. China was free on the 19th, for example. And Canada could beat them, and it'd be a nice number of points, considering the Chinese are, right now, ranked above El Salvador and right the same as Canada (#69).

 

Bradley requires a lot of support. The difference at TFC is that Delgado knows how to be Mikey's bodyguard/caddy. I would prefer to move beyond Mike.

 

Duh!

 

good call.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...ael-bradley-most-important-priority-offseason

 

We have too many right backs, and I think only Yedlin is excessively right-sided. Arriola at left back sounds like a "sneak on another attacker against a weak team" move - when he's best as a fresh legs sub against a tired defense.

 

If you can't be on your own on the field, you don't deserve to be on the field.

 

I was referring to his conspiracy theory about me. That wasn't a commentary regarding angry advocacy for change fueled by his beef with USSF, who apparently pissed in his cheerios.

 

this has to be sarcastic

 

still waiting for substance from you. I'm guessing you're busily compiling the chorus of posts that you claimed have been dying for Berhalter's style of play.

 

i am bored with arguments players don't fit the system. the system looks like crap and gets crap results. what i remember on delgado is that gorgeous throughball to adams that turned into the PK. if we are opposed to such things on system principle we need our head examined. "berhalter thinks....": ought to be seen on almost perjorative terms at this point.

you wouldn't even have to pull my rock-flipping experiments to make this team better. you just revive people who came in and looked good in 2018 but disappeared this year. or some of the holmes/pomykal types who get 10 minutes this year. or some of the U20s he's sitting on.

 

34% chance of rain at game time, and higher chances during the day. Take something dry. Enjoy.

[Speaking of which they had better figure a slick field into the game plan.....]

I do criticize but I also go flip on the tube and naively hope we win every game once it starts.

 

re The 25 Minutes of Progress, if people don't get that being competitive with Mexico for that long before losing at home is basically a come-down to pre-1990 levels (just like losing to Canada), they don't know their history. dos a cero aside, home losses to mexico in qualifiers since 1990 have actually been pretty rare. we are normalizing lowered expectations, after beating mexico just last year.

it is CR we cannot get points from away.

talking about how you dominated for 1/3 of a game you lost is how losers talk. i mean, i shouldn't knock it for the sincerely ambitious, but as a self examination tool where one also considers and works upon the portion where they got run over. but we're using it as an accountability shield to avoid examining in public precisely those areas. playing with mexico for 25 minutes is the opposite of "we're fine."

 

re defending the coach to the nth degree, sorry, but if you are not like "change the system" or "change the players" at this point, you are not paying attention. he calls the same people over and over. the team, independent of result, looks like a mess, over and over. the recent results are in the toilet. we can barely beat a regional team the level we will face in qualifying. defending that status quo is some mix of crazed or stupid. i could hear "he's going to adjust" -- wouldn't buy it, but it would acknowledge what i see. but his response to canada is a fairly consistent xerox. based on how we have looked and what results we have gotten, on what planet are you expecting improvement? it is what it is at this point.

this period, to me, is telling of the sycophant. i could get snobs but proper snobs at this point should be defending their ideas from the practitioner, and proposing better tactics and personnel than he has, for his own system. but if you're like, no changes needed, just give it time, no, sorry, you have just drunk kool aid.

 

Especially since the coach hated those 25 minutes so much. He saw it as regression and failure. He then made the team embarrass themselves in the next game POTB against an 8 man press as punishment.

The whole concept of, "changing the perception of how Europeans view American soccer" is crazy. Maybe if we had been to the 2018 WC, then started this project with some goodwill behind the program. Who was even clamoring for this? Why is this even important?

The fans want one thing: qualify for the 2022WC. That should be the first and only goal. I don't remember the GM search being for, "someone to transform the USMNT to something that Europeans will respect". It was to get a "soccer person to make soccer decisions so we don't fail to qualify again. At Stewart's original press conference, he never said anything about Changing World Perception.

Where did this nonsense start? If this was so important, why didn't Earnie leave the Union earlier to start such a long term project? Why didn't Gregg leave the Crew and get 4 more months and 6 more games to work on this?

They don't even sell this "process" as being important for qualification. Is this a response to the game at home against CR? Then say so, explain what went wrong in that game and what they are trying to change. Otherwise, it is just a tangential project that has no immediate need that risks qualification.

 

No No No.

We EXPECT to qualify for EVERY WORLD CUP by finishing first or second in the Hex. We want to compete in our WC group. Whether we make it to the knockout often depends upon the draw.

Let's not lower the standards here.

 

Isn't Mexico part of North America?

“We’re the giants of North America and we gotta dominate the whole [game tomorrow].” –@WMckennie pic.twitter.com/5HZf0bpwWN

— Nico Cantor (@Nicocantor1) November 14, 2019

 

He meant to say we are the Lions of North America.

 

They no longer teach geography in American schools...

 

You misunderstand. There's long been a question of how tall Weston is. Now we know.

 

Sorry, the standard was lowered on 10/10/17.

But what difference is it if Gregg and Earnie are working towards a completely different goal? Or are you saying we can only be top two in the Hex if we can learn Gregg's system and play his style of defense with the bulk of his roster available for Camp Cupcake?

 

Thus, "Giants", not "Giant". The plural means there is more than one giant.

Maybe they stopped teaching English in Canada and the USA. Plurals are not a complicated thing.