Pre-match: International Friendly: USA vs Brazil; September 2018

To be fair, GCam played RB for his club before his legs gave out. He played there in the WC too...

 

Funny thing is (outside of player selection) this group could have formed an actual semblance of a structured side if just shifted (and obviously coached) a little.

Altidore Zardes
Bedoya Jones Bradley Yedlin
Cameron
Ream Alvarado Orozco
Guzan​

 

Under Pulis a very defensive coach. He was def solid there but better suited for CB.

 

Not just Pulis. Under Mark Hughes as well. As long as we're on the subject, GCam's best attribute was his versatility. He played a lot of RB, played some CB, and had some great games at CDM. For the US, the RB behind him is probably Evans. Cherundolo was on his way out by then.

GCam played there for his club. He played there for us (this was pre-Yedlin, who was an impact sub and surprise inclusion to the squad) as well. It's not a weird inclusion. It is weird to have Ream at LB. It's basically a line of giant CB's, even if GCam is a serviceable RB due to his athleticism/physicality.

 

Under Mark he was moved around more based on tactics. Pulis was just a RB unless injury forced a move. But yea his ability to be a jack of all trades was huge.

There were some debates on RB but Chandler and Fabian were also in the discussion around then. And yea it was a weird lineup with little reason to it. JK loved to through up some random lineups.

 

Cameron did not play RB at WC2014.

 

Neymar has a knock. He won't be there.

 

He already scored a couple goals as well.

 

You're right, he was CB. I just remember his deflection leading to the Nani goal...

 

Have we talked about the ticket prices for this one? I will be in NJ for this one, $78 for an AO member.

I’m pissed, AO is pissed. Pointless friendly.

US Soccer should be kissing our as*es. But honestly, I think they undedstand that we have an exciting young nucleus and that CONCACAF teams such as Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama are trending down significantly. Just my 2c.

$78. Can you believe that? I think I payed €35 in France.

 

I think that players like Cameron who yoyo'd back and forth as right and center back were unlucky that at their prime only four back sets were in vogue. With a lot of teams using three back sets he would be perfect in the right center back spot or even the central sweeper spot. That does make it tougher on national team coaches to pick a squad if they want to be versatile and roll out three and four back sets. Those players who can do both might have a leg up on those who are a bit better in one but can't play both.

 

That sucks. I think it just goes to show again that, inexplicably, the USSF sees missing the WC as a minor blip that doesn't fundamentally change how they should operate. Youth development is basically fine; the structure of the USSF is basically fine; having Sarachan as an interim coach for a year is basically fine; charging exorbitant prices for friendlies is still fine.

I don't really know many other serious USMNT fans in real life, so it's hard to judge how fans really feel about things, but it seems like they're not reading the situation correctly. My guess is that most hardcore fans want to see more change and more acknowledgement of the colossal nature of this failure, and casual fans just aren't thinking about the US team, since they're not in the WC. Why would either of those groups pay $78 for another friendly with an interim coach and an opponent unlikely to bring their A-team? If I were Flynn/Cordeiro, I'd at least give the AO members a chance to buy like $15 tickets as a thank you for sticking things out.

 

USSF only cares about money, not growing the sport here. Look at our so-called President who formerly worked at Goldman Sachs. That should tell you all you need to know about the federation's priorities.

Money, money, and money. That's all.

 

From AO

"We know many of you are concerned about the price of the tickets for these upcoming matches. As we are, too. We are constantly working with US Soccer to fight for more affordable ticket prices for all our members and fans as a whole. We want to hear why accessible pricing is important to you and why US Soccer should listen.

Tag us on Twitter with your story and the hashtag #TicketAccess4All.

You can also send your story to mailto:info@theamericanoutlaws.com or upload a video testimonial here and we will send them to US Soccer. Help AO let USSF know why increased accessibility to matches is important to you."

 

Here's what USSF does with tweets:

rm -rf

[/sarcasm]

 

So, will Neymar stop rolling by the time this game starts?

 

I thought Geico should switch from the guy sliding on his knees to Neymar rolling around for their next commercial. I did see a great meme on twitter that showed a player rolling around the world then universe.

 

Two tickets in the upper deck will cost $416.

They are trying to make up for the revenue lost that night in Couva by gouging Brazil fans. USMNT fans will not be there at these prices. Disgrace.

 

Gross.

The US is barely watcheable, let alone a US team led by a caretaker manager in a Friendly that's going to get murdered by a Brazilian team at half speed in September...

 

Any chance Neymar plays in this game or any A players for Brazil?

 

US ticket prices are almost always determined by the "box office attraction of the opponent.

I don't know if you were watching, but this young USMNT just drew with the World Cup Champs. They're not going to get "murdered" by Brazil.

I don't know what motivation Brazil has to play this game. I wouldn't be surprised if this squad of highly motivated and energized young Americans win this game.

 

I watched the US scrape a draw via a fortunate near-post shot. As a USA fan, it was almost unwatchable as we couldn't string two passes together.

You're putting way too much stock into a fortunate draw against France.

 

Complaining about the ticket price is a bit silly for this one. It’s Brazil in one of the most expensive cities in the world. You want to see the team for $40 then I’m sure there’ll be a game against El Salvador in somewhere like Birmingham at some point. This is a cash grab. This entire slate of games is a cash grab. There’s nothing to play for this year except money so let them at least get that right.

 

That's $416 when much of the Euro contingent should not be there either.

No way Pulisic/McKennie/Sargent/Weah types should be concerning themselves with USSF money grabs with UCL days away and Sargent/Weah focusing on breaking into the 1st team.

 

Yeah, this is likely to be mostly an MLS(/LigaMX) squad. I can maybe see a few guys like Yedlin or Brooks who don't have European ball to worry about and who are fairly secure in their club spots making the trip, but that's about it. Guessing we'll see something like this:

GK - Steffen, Bono, Gonzalez
D - Yedlin, Cannon, Villafana, Farfan, Brooks, Miazga, Zimmerman, Glad, Parker
M - Roldan, Delgado, Nagbe, Trapp, Acosta, Adams, Corona, Rubin, Rowe
F - Arriola, Zardes, Altidore, Dwyer, Picault


I do think Howard, Beasley, and Dempsey deserve sendoff games--either or both of these friendlies would be a pretty good opportunity for that, if any of those guys are ready to step away from the international game.