1132313223548624896 is not a valid tweet id I think he definitely could’ve played better and I’d like to see him start to use his quickness and technical ability to get off some shots. But he had 2 really dangerous crosses, one Mendez hit the post and one Servanias shot was blocked. He could’ve drawn a penalty and could’ve drawn another foul 25 yards from goal at 2:15 of that clip with a different ref. He also drew the foul at the edge of the box when that idiot ref played the advantage of a 1 on 3 for the winger in the corner. And he had a hand in the one goal. I thought he played decently, especially when you consider how good and disciplined Ukraine was defensively. If you are just concerned about creating goals, then yeah, he deserves some criticism. And his passing wasn’t perfect, but I think he would’ve looked better if Weah and Mendez had played better. And for how meh most of the team was, he stood out as at least being better than them in this game.
I saw one time where Pomykal one times a pass into space for Weah but he isn't used to how Pomkal plays yet. Ferrerira does and would have anticipated that pass. One good thing about all these kids playing together is gaining familiarity for years down the line.
Adams was crap with u20's (he was only 18) and today I just watched him kick Bayern's ass in the Pokal final. For the U20's, Adams had to be kicked up the pitch to let Eryck Willliamson do the defensive midfield duties. Mendez is 18 - he will be 19 in September. He's there to get his shot off. He came as close as anybody to win the game for us, with two shots off the post/bar which the keeper had no chance on. You could argue it either way: Too raw to play or too valuable a shot to leave him off. I'm happy to let Tab make the call.
Even though u17 & u20 tournaments have limited value as predictors of final player quality, I think this is a strong group, even for us, who are usually a quarter finalist in these WCs. I suspect though that we've been placed in the same group with the two strongest teams in competition, and that can complicate our making much of a run. Even as a third in this group, though, if we get the winner of the Group B, it's perfectly doable. Colombia/Senegal would be a much tougher match.
Is it me or is this team, certainly the front six, kind of shrimpy? For those who saw the game,was that a problem? Looked like it on goal 2.
Yeah there definitely is a lack of size, especially in the midfield. Zonal marking on corners is usually a bad idea but I can see how it would’ve been the favored plan over asking little guys line Mendez, Dest, Pomykal, and Konrad to man up on the Ukrainian giants. I also considered that to be one of the reasons why Tab left Ledezma and Uly on the bench. Neither of those guys is very big. It’s not a plan I would agree with, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it factored into Tab’s decision making.
don't worry everyone worlds greatest soccer mind gary kleiban rewatched the game and americans are just too dumb the team actually put forth a very good performance. If alex starts the next match and goes 90 they will again play well...if not they will have struggled(he can see the future) I know what ur thinking has he still owned up to the fact he is mendez's agent...no he hasn't.
Somebody, I don't remember who, posted some interesting stats about FCD's win percentage with Pomykal playing and with him not playing. I don't remember exactly the stats and I don't have a link but they were pretty dramatic. They seem to indicate he is contributing something towards winning games. Perhaps someone else remembers the post? (maybe 1-2 wks ago?)
I watched a "bunch of minutes" of other teams (Nigeria, France, Panama, Mali, Qatar, Saudi Arabia) and it seems obvious we have the attack but our defense is a Dutch dyke without the little Dutch boy. I say this because we shouldn't be too tough on our guys. Teams know (Ukraine, e.g. and teams like England at U17) that USA has some mean attackers who can do stuff so they set up a strong defensive formation knowing full well that when the occasion arises, our defense will not contain a well oiled counter attack. Europeans would call our approach 'naif' but I think we have made a mistake in not making a 3cb formation our default formation and specializing in a 3cb team that includes some good passing in the back, a bear in the box, and a 3cb connector type in lieu of a dmid 6. In this age group, it seems to me that a great dmid is a rarity and we may as well go with a cb in this place.
Yes, I remember and it seems to make sense to me. Dallas has missed a talisman since Diaz was sold for big money.
Konrad de la Fuente is 17 and Mendez is 18. Tim Weah turned 19 in Feb and Pomykal will be 20 in December. Dest turned 18 in November. etc. etc.
I posted those stats earlier this week. And after today, the FC Dallas results without Pomykal are even worse. Only one point from five matches.
Ukraine made an adjustment to start the second half and we couldn’t access the attacking half as easily and our combination play wasn’t good enough to consistently solve a problem coaching didn’t effectively address. Mendez was off. Look at his every touch and his passes were just a little off, close enough but not precise and we needed more. Pax did better in absolute terms and relative to his talent but faded after we failed to counter-adjust. Maybe Servania started because of set-piece defense but I would have gone Ledezma and Soto and brought Konrad off the bench. Based on how Ukraine played we needed to pin their 5 man backline and DM back with more numbers. In games where the total xG is low the less attacking team has a better chance at pulling an upset. We needed to generate 2 goals worth of chances and then whatever Mendez pulls out from nowhere is a bonus. Instead, after a good enough first half we were kept at arms length and lost because we made more telling errors.
I believe "shrimpy" refers to physical size not age. At 18, a male has, with few exceptions, reached his full height. We were again dominated physically in an international match, whether youth or men's team.
I was more talking over-all cohesion though. I don't recall any other USMNT this young try to play as much tight-space games and as many one-touches. But too many folks slide-rules were out of scale by a bit, and some decision-making was too cute. Also felt like, esp in the second half, the speed of play lacked at time - would have been effective to try to mix up a few fast counters with the deliberate build-up. Ditto the wide/deep play - not enough horizontal passing to the endline to split the packed D - and the few times it was tried, the ball was overhit. But all that said, if US youth teams can keep bringing this level of touch and desire to play a controlled style to the game and we keep getting this level of skill, it bodes well. The set-piece D is a bit concerning, but not as big an issues with the older.
gary kleiban the top scout/coaching philosopher in the world doesn't even rate pomykal says there is nothing there, just an fyi.
Some (very few*) grow in height between 18 and 20. But the difference in strength, if you've kept working at it, is not negligible. That a 6' fit 20-year old can push a 6' fit 18-year old off the ball is much more likely than the other way around. ---- * https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1clinical/cj41c021.pdf