We apparently have the same inept pharmacist, because I agree with you 100%. In fact, two of Soto's best qualities are his willingness to be the first defender and his hold up play. Does he win every ball that comes to his feet, chest or head? Of course not, but no forward does. France had two CBs (or three, if we count the converted LB) that were excellent at disrupting play to any target.
I would add that if there is no one behind Keita, by definition that runner would be in an offside position. If Keita were to bite on that run or just allow the pass for a better timed run, then he really wouldn't deserve to be on the field. He has to step to the ball and try to snuff out the attack.
Who did I exonerate? I put blame on 3+ people. At 0:43/0:44 of the video you can see that Keita is a few yards off Diaby... so he is doing nothing to slow the ball or prevent it from it going to Gouiri behind him. I'm not sure I would call that trying to guard the ball, and if I did, I would say he did a terrible job. Keita was unsuccessful in his attempt to prevent the shot. His decision making was poor and was part of the reason they scored. Richard's, servania, and whoever were part of the reason we got to that point. Scott could have done better. Multiple players on our team made mistakes or could have done better resulting in us giving up a goal.
He's solid at pressuring defenders, and he can make a mini 10 yard run in behind if an attacker gets close to him, but if you think he's winning even a decent % of balls in the air, when he posts up, or been getting on the end of longer balls; maybe indeed then see some -ist, be it pharmac, optometr, or psychriatr. Because that ain't his game. So you either have to find a way to play to his strengths or play him situationally. Tab found a way to do the former yesterday by applying pressure often against France. It was a gamble, but it worked out, outside of once or twice when Richards got caught too high and Keita was skinned alive. Which is why a gamble to go to Dortmund may pay off, if he doesn't re-sign w/ Hannover. They've also been starved of any decent 9's since Aubama or at least Bats left. That's why I eventually preferred Sarge land there. And they're similar styles, just Sargent has lesser weakness and probably greater strengths as well. Not that there is shame in that. Josh is still arguably the top prospect we got.
Fair enough if you see it differently. And it isn't the first time I've been told to see an optometrist or psychiatrist. In other words, I see it differently but you could be right. At least we'll both be rooting for him in a few days.
He got beat on both goals. 1. As soon as he turned his hips and switched off the goal scorer while still dropping I knew we were dead meat. Tough spot but still a mistake. 2. Gets beat to his left and almost commits a pk grabbing Diaby, who’s shot goes off the post.
Agreed. I don't see this as a golden generation, I see it as US Soccer 4.0 so to speak (1.0 being the 1930's to 1950 success, 2.0 being 1990-1998, and 3.0 being the Donovan/Bradley era). Maybe that's a bit too convoluted, but that's how I see it. W/this new situation, there will be hiccups, I definitely believe mistakes are still being made, we have clowns in charge of the Fed, we have ties between MLS and SUM that have way too much of a hand in what happens w/the national teams, and we have developmental systems finally in place, but drastically different in terms of scale, competence, and dedication (kind of like you got the Warriors and Rockets on this end over here in the NBA, cutting edge of all sorts of things, and then you've got James Dolan's Knicks, a flaming dog turd for the entire Dolan era, and Ted Leonsis/Ernie Grunfeld's Wizards, basically the Chernobyl of the NBA, decade after decade of total incompetence and anyone and everyone whose to blame stays in place, while the poor ---tards put in charge are metaphorically taken out and shot once every third or fourth year until finally this year, it was the head idiot himself who got taken out and metaphorically wacked), eventually when there is no one left to fire, you get s canned. We'll see how things go from here, but I fully expect the USMNT to be on a slow and steady, and sometime fast and bumpy upward trajectory going forward. Baseball is slowly fading out to a lesser level of fandom, Football is seeing more and more parents alarmed at the head injury issues, and we also have a rapidly increasing and increasingly culturally relevant (as its size increases) Latino population which will leave if it's imprint on our sporting interests hell or highwater, just as the passions and interests of Irish, Jewish, and Italian immigrants helped boost interest in various sports, so too will the Latino population. What's chiefly exciting for me now is that the kind of gutless, soft personality of the USMNT's circa 2011-2017 seems a direct reflection of the failures of youth development circa 2007-2013, and I can't help but wonder if, whatever his foibles, Tab's teams continual resilience and never say die attitude featured in three consecutive tournaments will leave a long term imprint on the USMNT over the next decade+, just as the debacles of that youth period left its imprint on the seniors, especially in 2017. Playing together and playing with a not dead cant quit attitude in tournament after tournament, coming up big in gut check after gut check moment (at least one or more games like that in every tournament going back across the past 3 cycles), I have hopes that some mystical aspect of that will lay down roots in the hearts and souls of these players as they graduate to the senior teams, and build a new era in the coming years.
When I look at that picture, one thing I like to imagine is the dual national status of so many players dropping away and roots for the USMNT sinking deep into the heart and soul of many players who could play for us or another country, but having shared the soccer equivalent of that Henry V soliloquy: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother..." shall be a part of the USMNT going forward. I've been worried about a few of them, but after all this? Hard to imagine walking away from an experience like this one.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think that America being the type of Power that challenges for every World Cup will probably see Mexico have at least a quarter of their team be born in the United States. Kind of similar to how you see players for Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and Italy being born in one of those country's and playing for the other based on opportunity. At some point the Mexican-American development base is going to churn out so many players that I think both teams are going to have quite a few of them. At that point I imagine both teams are much better.
In the end it was Rennicks with just the keeper to beat. I might be using the wrong language but it was definitely a good chance that was carved out.
a) All forms of media throughout history thrive on conflict and I like hearing from people I disagree with so that I can think about why they are wrong and I am right. When someone is wrong in an intellectually non-interesting way then they get sampled less and less (e.g. Bobby Warshaw vs Alexi Lalas). b)
I say without the slightest bit of irony that he looks like Bobby Firmino, pre-Klopp. That’s why I love Timo now and loved Bobby then. You just see that there’s something special about their desire to win and how they find space, combine and distribute. I think Timo is the bees knees, and I won’t be surprised if he ends up as the most important player on the full squad.
Even though I thought the episode was unnecessarily critical, I don't think you should feel the need to apologize. But I do think there is a way to be exciting and interesting without being rah-rah. Regarding Weah, I think he's such a divisive player because of where he is. One, he should be praised for his work rate, especially defensively. The number of attacking wingers who are defensive assets is small, and I think Weah is one. Two, between his athleticism and his strong tactical sense, the dude creates a ton of opportunities through off ball runs. I think people are critical of him because he's not an above average player from a skill standpoint, and that means conversion of those chances are lower. But he's creating more chances than most wingers. Just compare him to KDLF -- who has the skillset but not the speed or off ball tactical sense of Weah. Three, he's not super skilled -- he's not bad -- but he's not going to be above average in ball retention or crosses or finishing. You have to weight that against the extra chances created though. Once you factor in his complete game and allow for the fact that many wingers wouldn't get the chance Weah misses, I still think he's a strong player.
I think I am in the minority on this one. I wish we had Steffen, but the choice is between Scott, Ochoa, and Dos Santos. I think Scott has been shaky at times and could have done better on some plays, but that has been against Ukraine, Nigeria, and France. Ochoa looked shaky against Qatar. I went back after the game and watched the first 20 mins and noticed he wasnt catching balls cleanly, miffed on a back pass for a throw in well in our half and came outside of the six to have Richards head it well in front of him. Ochoa doesnt remind me of Steffen at all. I can see the swagger, but he seemed more frantic than calming. Scott was poor on his breakaway and Ochoa saved his, but dont think I could claim Ochoa is better based on just those two plays. I disagree with your description of Ochoa's save. He was definitely decisive, but he completely committed and have never seen that technique ever used. He slid at an angle on his knees and the ball went off his foot. Maybe he read where his defenders were and thought it was unlikely for the attacker to be able to dribble him, but i dont think he made himself big and was relying on the ball coming off him.
OK, after seeing both last night against the same team I'll say they are both good but really different styles. Servania is more of a Kellyn Acosta type who covers acres of ground, makes runs into the box and is decent defensively. Cerrillo is a hub type who gets into positions to get lots of passes and looks like he has a crossbow which he quickly turns and uses. Now for this game Hayes was the most defensive of the mids but wasn't a stay at home destroyer either. So for at least FCD using Servania and Cerrillo with Pomykal would make a really good midfield. Kind of surprised Tab never found a way to have them all play together at least once.