Agree on both counts. Ream's technical abilities with the ball aren't at the level of the rest of the team. He doesn't have the skill to work the ball out, so he just often just resorts to "kicking it upfield." He also doesn't have the agility he will need to mark wingers. And Adams appears to have the tools to play right back but not the mentality for it. In this game he spent 90% of his time in the midfield, sometimes drifting all the way over to the left side of the field. OTOH Berhalter let him do it so maybe it was semi-strategic since our opponent wasn't doing anything offensively. But in an interview Adams sounded pretty clear about being in general more interested in attacking than defending. So it would be a big task to convert him into a dependable right back.
I love that Gyasi scored! To me, he's still "Galaxy flavored." I'm sure his goal really grinds on haters' nerves. Haha. That's what makes it so good! Geneva, your thoughts on the game really echoed mine. I expected more from Pulisic and he was indeed poor. I like what I saw from Lleget. He provided a spark.
A bit of recent Pulisic info from a March 9 Yahoo article: Christian Pulisic’s goal and assist off the bench on Saturday might just have saved Borussia Dortmund’s season, with the American’s 15-minute cameo in a crucial 3-1 win over Stuttgart keeping BVB even on points — if not goal difference — with Bayern Munich atop the Bundesliga table. The 20-year-old U.S. national team star has struggled with nagging leg injuries and form for most of the season. But he was the difference-maker in a match that Dortmund, which has seen its huge lead in Germany’s top division evaporate over the last number of weeks, simply had to have. ... With the score knotted at one and just 12 minutes of the 90 remaining, BVB manager Lucien Favre summoned Pulisic. It marked just his third appearance, all as a substitute, since Feb. 13 as he continues to gain match fitness after returning from a muscle injury... https://sports.yahoo.com/watch-chri...rtmund-keep-pace-bayern-munich-172733640.html
My understanding is this was a difficult match for the US to get an attack going due to Ecuador playing very defensively, so probably not the best opportunity to evaluate Pulisic as a central-oriented 10. Still, I don't think he needs to start there. I think he needs space to kill, frankly. Lletget is not the same caliber of player but he's a better protector of the ball. I'd put Lletget in them middle with Pulisic on the right.
The commentary on Pulisic's position reminds me exactly of another certain #10... Was mostly pleased with the defense, Long was a surprise to me with his composure. He and Brooks played well together. Trapp's long balls were great, will be interesting to see if he continues to be a starter. Liked Gyasi's layoffs more than the goal. That first touch looked good for once! Lletget also composed on the ball, but the game had changed so much in terms of the US players by the time he came on it was hard to tell. Pulisic just looked tired. That to me is definitely form. Hope he gets better, and same for Weston too. That ankle injury looked horrible. But overall very much agree with @skydog about the team spirit. Loved the goal celebration, and the fact that the players actually appear to be enjoying playing as a team! Chile will be a very different test. EDIT: And props to Berhalter. I love prepared coaches, and you can't say he's not prepared!
After I watched the game a second time, I was incredibly impressed with Ecuador’s ability to mark and stay disciplined defensively. Of course, it’s easier when you have 7 defensive minded players sitting in the defensive third most of the game. Regardless, they were very aware of Pulisic and where he was going virtually at all times. At first, I thought he was disappointing. On second viewing, I was more disappointed with Arriola and McKennie, who looked off most of the night before getting hurt. As impressive as they were defensively, Ecuador were equally unimpressive offensively. I’d like to say Chile will be a bigger test, but reviews about them vs El Tri (or anyone else) have not been good recently. Losing Adams and McKennie hurts, and seeing Pulisic on the wing may be misleading if Chile isn’t as defensive minded as Ecuador, but at least we know they have some high quality offensive talent.
Don't underestimate Chile. I only watched about 30 minutes of their game vs Mex (it was lo-def, could only take so much) but during that span they created several dangerous scoring chances and often had Mex pinned into their defensive third. Just looked at the stats for the game and saw Chile outshot and outpossessed Mexico. I never saw the goals so I'm assuming Chile's defense is their weak point, given the final scoreline?
You crazy spoiled kids with your HDs and your VRs... back in my day, if you wanted USMNT info, you had to scour the sports section the next day for a 20 word write up on the result (if you were lucky). And if you wanted info about Mexico-Chile, then you had to learn Spanish and watch the fuzzy, slightly grainy Telemundo feed. And if you wanted Galaxy highlights, you had to drive your ass 2 hours to the Rose Bowl and buy tickets.
me, kid? hahaha... Check out my join date. Believe me I remember the days when I had to drive to a neighboring town to the Eurosport shipping warehouse to be able to watch USMNT games on their satellite feed. I’m just not that interested in El Tri soccer.
Julian Araujo I believe started at right back for the US U23s against the Netherlands. According to Matt Doyle he had the toughest job since he had to defend Justin Kluviert (a full Netherlands international who was sold for $20 Million to AS Roma. Apparently Araujo was awesome in that game. According to the Corner of the Galaxy podcast Barcelona had told Julian when he turned 18, they would sign him and play him their B team. I'm guessing that's why we didn't wait to sign him in July with a Homegrown deal.
Interesting. I wonder about that Barcelona B story. Few players turn down Barcelona for the Galaxy. Maybe he has some family reasons for staying. He’s kind of slipped under the radar as a US prospect tho. Getting minutes for LAG has to be improving his stock. I like how GBS used him as a wingback and went to 5 defenders to protect the lead vs Minnesota. That’s a good way to get him some experience and work him in. I don’t like how Feltscher moved to RCB and was caught ball watching and allowed Minn to score it’s second goal.
Barca can still sign him in the summer if they want, but now he at least has the opportunity to get MLS minutes and a bigger paycheck. Also this helps us because we get a transfer fee.
True - it's a known axiom that any move that puts Feltscher closer to our own goal is the wrong move.
Game really tapered off after the first 20ish minutes. Second half was honestly really boring and overall poor by quite a few players. Zardes is doing alright in that forward spot. I know Twellman was saying how if this was a must win game, Jozy starts, but I really question that. If Jozy is our #1 guy, then why hasn't he featured at all, and why does Zardes keep playing basically every single minute? I really think Zardes is Berhalter's #1 striker. This team still feels like it's in a transition phase. No one really we can rely on like we did with Clint, Howard, and Donovan to get the job done. Pulisic is getting there, but we need more. This gold cup will be interesting because I honestly have no idea what our A team is anymore. Lletget got a lot of minutes, but did very little. He was shuffled from attacking mid, to right wing, to left wing which didn't help.
Yeah, I feel like we have a much deeper, overall stronger team, but we are lacking those 2 or 3 special players that can put the team on their shoulders and carry them when things are looking bad and we need a special play or moment of magic...
Gyasi had a lot of fantastic touches in the first half. Looked like a different player during that stretch. Some bad touches in second half though. Great assist to set up great finish by Pulisic. Really unfortunate for everyone that he is having trouble staying healthy. I thought that this lineup wasn't nearly as good as the one against Ecuador. We really missed McKennie, Long and Brooks. On defense Miazga and Omar had trouble keeping up with the speed of play. And Yedlin hasn't changed - talented but inconsistent and an overall a liability in defense. His poor decision making was the biggest culprit in their goal. He made the "Ashley Cole mistake" - rushing to the middle to help out at the cost of leaving his guy wide open in the box. And Ream continues to be a weak link. He is probably technically the weakest player on the team. Thought Horvath looked good except for a few really poor distribution decisions. In the midfield I thought Roldan played well at times, Arriola was disappointing, and Bradley was Bradley - solid hard working 1 and 2 touch linking player but with the passing rhythm of a metronome. Baird had moments where he looked great and moments where he looked out of his element. Lovitz and Trapp looked good coming off the bench. Credit to Berhalter for making a smart adjustment when our midfield was getting dominated in the 2nd half. Around minute 65 he switched to a three center back alignment and played Yedlin and Lovitz as wingbacks. Midfield play was more even at that point and we started to create some semi-chances. I think this game showed that right now our A-/B+ lineup isn't good enough to beat better-than-Concacaf teams. Playing at home we managed 34% possession and only 5 shots, 1 on goal. But I think we are on the right track and Berhalter is doing a great job at developing the talent we have. I look forward to see what is to come.
⚡Showtime⚡Your U-17 #USMNT starting XI!#CU17 🇺🇸 V 🇨🇦 kicks off at 6 p.m. ET on https://t.co/hhRVQprIEt and UDN pic.twitter.com/dH5IEV1UHl— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) May 2, 2019 Kobe Hernandez gets the start. Mauricio Cuevas and Adam Saldana on the bench