Post-match: International Friendly: USA vs Jamaica; June 5th 2019

calling the second half much better is only relative to the first of course. in the absolute it was dire too. greggg isn’t going to have this job for long if he stays in love with the underwhelming trio of roldan, arriola, and trapp. none are good enough for concacaf let alone a world cup

 

Questionable player decisions, pet projects gone on far too long, an incoherent system, players out of position, it's almost as if we never fired Klinsmann.

I could find room to excuse this meaningless experimental/audition friendly if there were the slightest hint of rhyme or reason to it, but try as I might I find none at all. I don't really see a single positive. I could enumerate a bunch of specific negatives, but instead of picking over the numerous pointless issues, I'm simply going to play guitar and hope that come Sunday, with our real team in a coherent shape, this malaise is behind us.

P.S. This is exactly how most CONCACAF teams are going to play us: sitting back deep, waiting for us to gift them the ball in the final third and then break forward with pace. Berhalter's insistence upon patient build up plays right into this strategy. His insistence on a player like Mihailovic to create space, and a player like Trapp (or Bradley) to cover the space behind against a fast Jamaican side is just... ugh, ugh, ugh.

With a poor performance in the Gold Cup, it is reasonable for knives to come out early. We need not waste an entire cycle on a coaching hire.

 

Very sad display. I don't want to feel this mad again. Half the team in the first half should never see the field again for this team. We used a game which should have been a tune up for a tournament we want to win as a try out for some players the coach was no sure about. Great. Meanwhile we made no progress with the players who will make the field, maybe not as a starter but will see some time. This is bad all around. I hope Sunday brings back that good feeling I want to have about my national team. The U20's have raised the bar as far as viewing joy goes. So, grown ups, get it together.

 

With those jerseys, if you didn't know better, you might've thought it was North Korea getting bossed by Brazil out there.

 

If the USA continues to do what it did tonight, Guyana may very well beat us.

 

Whelp. Time to see which players from tonight are in camp tomorrow.

 

The booing made me happy.

 

I like Steffen, Holmes, Miazga and Sargent. I can't really blame Sargent for what might be the worst midfield in US history.

 

The fact that you still care enough to get mad is commendable. It’s hard to care anymore tbh

 

Most troubling for me was the news that Steffen is our #1 goalie lock. He had terrible game tonight in all aspects - beaten on JAM's goal, poor distribution, two ********ups in a row (left 18 yard zone and could only watch ball sailing over the goal, gifted possession to JAM in front of his goal 1 minute after), overall he looked too tense and lacked confidence.

 

Game could be useful if Berhalter can accept that a number of players he put out there can't hack it on the international level. Trapp, Omar, Ream, Djordje to name four. Arguably Roldan and Arriola, who are borderline at best.

 

Mihailovic was probably the worst out of everyone.

Robinson is a close 2nd.

The number of times they gave away the ball..tsk tsk. Both of these guys are far better than this though even though I wouldn’t consider them as part of the A team even when they’re on their game.

 

Here it is: US soccer media are in favour of introducing Berhalter's 'creative' and 'complicated' formation and tactic, acting as if he is a true tactical magician. However, behind this fancy shell he is just a below average coach on international stage. Based on his coaching experience in Sweden / MLS / USMNT, I'm not convinced at all.

p.s. I've already saved the snapshot of this memorable starting line up where Djordje Mihailovic, Christian Roldan and Josh Sargent partnered as front three, which is one of the weirdest formation I've ever seen for USMNT.

 

Our midfield is so bad

 

We were outplayed and outhustled.

I remember a great play by Duane Holmes later in the game that showed great effort and hustle that showed the contrast between how we had been playing vs how we should be playing.

Just too many poor passes, poor effort, poor first touch. The sad part is even though this is not our A team, most of these guys are going to get significant minutes in the Gold Cup and going forward.

There was very little positive out of this. Maybe a play here and there, this is a team we should be controlling. Even if we lose 1-0, we should be controlling this game. The first 10 minutes we controlled the game, then after that Jamaica took over.

 

Sad, sad performance. The team looked like it was sleep walking. I didn't realize Trapp was out there until the 2nd half.

 

Quite frankly, I believe Berhalter should resign.

 

First time ever I fist-pumped a goal against our team. It was justice.

That's how bad it was.

The Good: We now know to never call again Mihailovic, Ream & Robinson. We have known that about Gonzo for a long time, though, to no avail. Holmes looked decent.

The Bad: Sargent was disappointing, even for a kid. No idea what Egg sees in Arriola. Gyau is done.

The Ugly: We've always been hard to watch. Now, we're getting to the level where watching us play leaves one feeling empty inside, considering options involving the toaster and a tub full of water.

 

I thought Jackson Yueill would have had more bite and Lima would shown what he did back in the Costa Rica friendly. Really disappointing.

 

Well, perhaps the players on the field can take this first-hand experience of being on the field with actual professional players and use it as inspiration.

We honestly looked like a middling college team. Poor coordination throughout and Jamaica generally had the run of play.

 

Was thinking about making the 5+ hour drive up to Cleveland for a weekend to watch the Gold Cup match. Not anymore

 

We attack like the anonymous henchmen in the Wild Wild West TV show. There’d be 4 guys attacking James West, and he’d be kicking their ass. Then one would sneak up behind him and whomp him with a chair, and he’d be stunned for a moment. In that moment, the henchmen had the chance to rush him and take him down. But they’d back off...oooh, he’s super dangerous now, he’s almost concussed, let’s not take any crazy chances here. Then he’d recover and resume kicking their asses.

Whenever we did something positive with the ball, we’d slow down. As if we thought it was unsporting to attack Jamaica when we had created some confusion in their defense. I HATE HATE HATE that ultra deliberate style. I am not a worshipper of possession. I’m a worshiper of attacking.

2/3 of that automatically goes away when the A team arrives.

I’ve never even a fan of Trapp, but he was unusually bad. I do like Arriola as a pest/energy guy, but his passing was childish. He’ll see better days.

Mihailovic was stunningly awful. I haven’t been impressed by his play in MLS, but I don’t follow the Fire. I watch the MLS in 15 recaps. But Sweet Jesus, that was amazing. As in, if I didn’t know better, I’d suspect he got paid off. Yikes.

To me, an underrated failure is the movement off the ball. They acted like they had no idea how to get open or create triangles.

bullseye

 

We should've hired Tata Martino. Im sorry but an American will never succeed in National Team.