I would agree that I can think of at least twp players that I would consider over each of them. The key word, of course is "I".
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...hat-gregg-berhalter-explains-gold-cup-preview Skip to 7:45 for Gregg's analysis on how the U.S. will play without Adams. He describes the formation as a 3-2-2-3 when the RB joins in at CM. Weird.
some of this calls for basic, does this seem like it would work, logical-practical common sense. leveraged by several games of in practice looking like rubbish. i find a lot of the formational//x and o talk to be a quasi onanistic excuse to sell their book study of soccer. i think you don't need any book study to see how the tactics work. i think it helps on stuff like this to have played or to just watch how the games go. turning it into an abstract exercise only gives GB a fighting chance of talking you into it, or playing for time. it's kind of like the games last year where saief got grief for being told to run from one spot on offense to another on defense. in my experience this right back thing pulls our best DM out of position, and then doesn't firm up the back since he doesn't actually play.....right back. so we take what would be our best defender and push him higher where he can be countered on, and undermine the security of that flank. you would look like less of an idiot if you actually put Adams at RB but said stay back. and even less if you played him in position. what's worse, you will now have some schmuck trying to play two positions at once and exposed on that right. so your frankenstein's monster of an idea is now not very bright and any team watching the tape should know to go up our wings and in particular that right side. this is not just a selection undermanning itself by selection and injury, but not helping itself one bit with tactics.
curious what is going on with our training or fitness and strength coaching where players fall like flies. or is this the acceptable excuse out of camp playing the odds the coach gets canned soon enough where one can get right back on the field in the fall based on their pre-tournament tape. i also think with mihailovic as the injury replacement, it becomes clear we have lost the plot on how to compose a roster that can do anything in this tournament. this is 2011 bad and bradley got more ammo after group round. are you seriously telling me weah/ Sargent/ green/ wood etc. aren't better than Mihailovic? and i realize only one is on the 40 man and that itself is a problem. and i am sure the response is but those are forwards. zardes is a mid, regardless of current pretenses otherwise. you push him back and call a forward. as it stands i see 2 mids who can create. where are the goals coming from? the coach is so blinkered and lost that he basically can't have injuries without turning the team into Camp Cupcake again. compound that with the tactical myopia and i will be interested if we advance from group or how long we last. we will beat Guyana without Creavalle and anything else will be hard earned.
Mihailovic? Really? One of the worst players on the field his last game, yet gets called up. Wow. Ditto Trapp, but starts as captain next game? WTF? Is Egg trying to get fired?
Yep. And who chose that preliminary roster? Oh yeah, thanks. Maybe Corey Baird can get called up too. Perfect for a team where Trapp is the captain.
I have made this argument before but met with outrage. The MLS folks were really upset that I claimed the four biggest "events" to improve the USMNT were 1) The NASL/Cosmos, 2) 1994 WC, 3) Fox Soccer Channel (easy access to top level club soccer) and 4) CP breaking through at BVB as a teenager. The arguments against this were extremely poor and not well thought out. MLS has been a weight on the USMNT. It contributed to the "lost generation" and we are deeply hurt by a an MLS filled roster being led by an MLS quality coach. There was plenty if interest in our players back in the 90s and organic growth of the A-League would have been far better for our talent pool up to this point. I am hopeful that the league will finally embrace being a selling league, but trust Garber to do anything for the actual game in this country.
Thanks for taking the time to compile these statistics. It was very insightful, and frankly, I thought things were a bit different, but the facts don't lie.
Berhalter had 3 wins and 1 draw before the losses to Jamaica and Venezuela. You have to count all of his results, not just the bad ones. Let's see what the Gold Cup has in store for us.
Mikey has played as poorly for Toronto as he does for the national side. Unless success is counted as having surpassed Pete Vagenas as "The King of Pass Back"
Martino is a good fit with Mexico. Tata is a disciple of Bielsa and his "continuous movement" but is not considered a Bielsista proper, since he emphasizes defense as much as attack. Mexico is a team capable of the quick combos, the switch of tempo, and the ball control needed to implement such a system, plus they've always been rather lackadaisical in defense, so Tata can work with them to improve that part of their game. Martino wouldn't be such a good fit with us, since our pool lacks players with the ball control & shot-passing accuracy to follow his style. Still, taking him, we'd have kept him away from Mexico. That combo, Tata+MX, is going to give everybody headaches in the quals. Until the fans turn on him, and demand his head, after something silly. It's going to happen.
Well, Garber couldn't be bothered about the actual sport outside of large markets. He's taking a commission on every franchise sold - regardless if they do anything for the actual sport or not.
I am officially referring to Berhalter as "Gerg" going forward. If you are going to set up in that nonsense, why tip your hand ahead of time?? The only thing that formation would have going for it is a "surprise" factor since no one ever sees it.
Unless Berhalter has a magic chemistry/momentum card up his sleeve I think it's pretty obvious what the Gold Cup is gonna look like for us.
We are facing the 175th, 92nd, and 75th ranked teams in the world. We are ranked 30th. I know that there is a huge PR effort by USSF to lower expectations but come on, this should be 7 points and win the group at a bare minimum. As a point of comparison the last A team GC we played in 2015: 2015A: USA 27th, Panama 54th, Honduras 75, Haiti 76 2017B: USA 35, Panama 52, Martinique NA, Nicaragua 105 2019A: USA 30, Panama 75, T&T 92, Guyana 175