Pre-game: United States vs. Mexico

Weird, it sounds like every US Soccer game the last two years.

 

Ultimately, the primary thing I'll be looking for is who hates Mexico enough. I want Adams and McKennie putting bodies on the floor. Robinson, possibly Moore chopping ankles on crosses. CCV can show us his glaring chops.
Miazga...needs to show he can stay on the pitch. He's a special case, though, we all know from his youth days he get mix it up.
While I don't care about results during this purgatory we are in I don't think I'm ok losing to Mex humbly and respectfully.
I want a good result in the heart/fight department tonight.

 

I expect us to win, even though Dave brought an unbalanced team with no cover for Lletget.

USA!

 

I guess it will Mexico v Nigeria in the next World Cup...Where are those 2011 U17 players now? Nowhere.

Mexico had the second oldest team at the 2018 World Cup, by .2 years. They only had 5 players on the roster born after the 80s. Salcedo is the only player on their team playing in a top league that won't be over 32 by the time 2022 rolls around. In fairness, Corona and Lozano will probably get there; but that is 3. The US could have 8 guys in top leagues under 26 next year.

Costa Rica is old too. It is a new cycle, Mexico will need some of those players to step up. Or they can keep raiding the USA for players I guess.

 

They may have made similar mistakes to the US in keeping long-in-the-tooth players but they do have reinforcements that are quite good (and who have performed better than we have).

My hope is that MLS will switch its focus to importing in-their-prime Mexican nationals from the major leagues rather than USMNT players. They'll probably get more of a bang for their buck that way and we'll see if what happened to MB happens to their core players.

 

Gunna repost this from another thread

 

I've been thinking more about whether Dave Sarachan should start Cameron Carter-Vickers or Tim Parker at center-back tonight (next to Matt Miazga). It's an extremely hard call. First, Carter-Vickers is faster and more athletic than Parker, and Miazga doesn't seem to be particularly fast. So, it would be nice to have at least one fast center-back to try to prevent the US from getting beaten on speed. Second, Carter-Vickers has 4 caps whereas Parker has only 2. And Carter-Vickers played well against Portugal and Paraguay, and at least adequately against Ireland and France. So, he might be more integrated into the team than Parker. Finally, as mentioned, Carter-Vickers is only 20 and is more athletic. So, in three years, Carter-Vickers might be a better player for the US than Parker.

But, by a very narrow margin, I would start Parker. I think it's important for the US to try to win tonight and play well. It will help build the confidence and identity of the program. And starting Parker might give the US a better chance of winning tonight. Since the US's match against France on June 9, Parker has played 13 regulation matches, whereas Carter-Vickers hasn't played any. So, Parker might have better timing and match-fitness. Parker also played well against Ireland and France. He was steady.

Meanwhile, on Kylian Mbappe's goal against the US, Carter-Vickers may have stumbled a bit. Here is a link to the highlights:



The sequence starts at minute 2:00.

This a very hard call. I could go either way. I lean toward Parker.

That's not true. The last time Eric Lichaj played left back for the US was in the November 2017 friendly against Portugal in Portugal. He started the match at left back. Here is a link to the way soccerway.com presents the two teams' starting line-ups:

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/20...es/portugal/united-states-of-america/2636963/

I don't remember how well Lichaj played in the match.

As I said, it's hard for me to decide whether Lichaj or Antonee Robinson should start against Mexico tonight. Robinson, who is only 21, very likely has a brighter future than Lichaj (who is 29) as a left back at the international level, which has often been a troublesome position for the US. Robinson is left-footed and generally has played left back at the club level, whereas Lichaj is right-footed and generally has played right back at the club level. Robinson is also faster and more athletic.

But, as mentioned, I think it's important for the US to try to win tonight, and Lichaj's starting may give the US a better chance of winning. He may be less inclined to make important defensive mistakes. Robinson was shaky defensively against Brazil.

However, in the US’s 2017 Gold Cup quarterfinal match against El Salvador, Lichaj, while playing right back, made a very bad mistake. In only the third minute of the match, Lichaj had a very poor back back-pass that almost led to an El Salvador goal. Here are the highlights:



The sequence involving Lichaj's back-pass starts at the very beginning.

Cynical US fan, thanks a lot for the nice words. I appreciate it.

You and I don't know that the US is going to lose tonight. We have a good team and one comparable to Mexico's, and we're playing in the US.

Moreover, I hope the US wins and plays well. As I've argued in detail in another thread, after the US's five remaining friendlies in 2018 are over, I want Sarachan to be seriously considered to be offered a new contract to continue coaching the US.

Also, I don't think the US played badly against Brazil on Friday night. We were outshot by Brazil only 12 to 11. And although we had only two shots on goal, they had only four. In addition, we led them 6 to 3 on corner kicks. Here is a link to information on the game:

https://www.ussoccer.com/matches/mnt/2018/20180907-mnt-vs-brazil#tab-1

In addition, on Brazil's second goal, they probably shouldn't have been awarded a penalty kick. Although Wil Trap may have "impeded a player with contact" when he touched Frabinho on the arm, the initial touch occurred outside the penalty area. And if the ref calls a foul there, he should call it outside the area. After all, it was only a minor touch that probably did not impede Fabinho in any way. And, by the time Fabinho got into the box, Trap may not have touched Fabinho at all. Here is a link to the play:



The sequence starts at minute :39.

However, on the play, Trap shouldn't have made any contact with Fabinho. John Brooks had good defensive position. And even if Fabinho had gotten passed Brooks, Zach Steffen could have blocked the shot. Moreover, penalty kicks sometimes are given for what Trap did. And, in the 2018-9 version of FIFA’s Laws of the Game, it is a direct free kick to "impede a player with contact." Here is a link to the most recent edition of The Laws:

https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/laws-of-the-game-2018-19.pdf?cloudid=khhloe2xoigyna8juxw3

See page 102.

In contrast, in the 2014-5 edition of The Laws, such an action is not grounds for a direct free kick. Here is a link to the 2014-5 edition:

https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fo...ng/02/36/01/11/lawsofthegameweben_neutral.pdf

See page 37.

On a different note, the last time the US played Brazil, which was in September of 2015, the US looked much worse than they did on Friday night. Brazil won the 2015 match 4-1 and was ahead 4-0 until the 90th minute. Brazil also outshot the US 15-6. Here is a link to information on the game:

https://www.ussoccer.com/matches/mnt/2015/150908-mnt-v-bra#tab-1

So, at least we made progress from the last time we played them.

However, Cynical US Fan, I agree with you that it’s important that the US show more creativity, offensive spark and verve tonight than they did against Brazil. We can’t win games by being forceless offensively.

 

They don't play soccer matches on paper. For the same reason a basketball team from Princeton can beat a basketball team from Georgetown. You figure it out.

 

Trapp played very poor defense on that play but got the penalty for his chop step which clipped Fabinho's heals which was left dragging. You could see the ref right there staring at the play.

The ref could have decided that Fabinho was already going down when Trapp clipped him.

 

As far as Parker vs CCV, Parker has played quite a bit LCB and has a serviceable left leg, He is actually pretty fast, as well. Very good on the air. We will see.

 

I'm not sure his conclusion fits the gifs he provided, but its nice of that guy to make a good case for Trapp.

 

And here's the U20's:

USA:
2011: DNQ
2013: GS
2015: QF (7th)
2017: QF (6th)

Mexico:
2011: 3rd
2013: R16
2015: GS
2017: QF (8th)

I'm shaking in my boots because of this YNT dominance...

What matters is the individuals that come from those tournaments, not the results themselves. Mexico's stars have largely come back from Europe to land in MLS, and we all know how that tends to diminish your skills. They have some good players, certainly, but I believe they have only 2 players who are young and playing regularly for Euro sides in Lozano and Tecatito, so unless there's an exodus from Mexico to Europe, we have a good opportunity to develop better prospects in the long run.

McKennie, Pulisic, Sargent in the Bundesliga. About half a dozen other Bundesliga prospects (Booth, Taitigue, Soto, etc.). A couple of people in the Eredivisie (Novakovic, Ledezma, Kik Pierie *maybe*, Hilton, etc.). Plenty of high-level prospects from those youth teams, despite mediocre performances.

 

I have been thinking more about this match and have changed my mind about the important of it for the US. In this match the US, win or lose, needs to show the effort and desire to win that has been missing since the start of the last third of qualifying.

We need to stop the trend of "we just need to not get embarrassed" and make a real strong effort to win every match.

So this match has an importance beyond what a normal friendly has. It is clear that the leadership and effort will not come from the top so the players, starters, subs that play and even subs that do not play need to rise above the lack of leadership and lead themselves by pushing from behind and show everyone that we are not the patsies that the USSF has turned them into.

 

We had terrible coaching the 2013 and 2015 cycles. Williams ruined both teams.

I think if you look at the talent that is coming off those U-17 teams, we've been much better the past two cycles. We also got decent results in 2017 because the coach wasn't awful. We lost to the winner in the QF. No one was beating that England team, but we might've been the second best team at that tournament.

The start of the improvement in US player production was about '97, so 2011 comes before that, and most of the 2013 players were also before that. The past two cycles have been great with player production. 1998 and 2000 look like maybe the two best years we've ever had with player production.

We were clearly better than Mexico at both the U-17 and U-20 levels last cycle. Mexico is the country that should be worrying about our player production. If we continue to produce players like we have in the '97-00 years, we'll be the clear cut best team in the region within 10 years.

 

Starting Trapp is dumb. Even if USSoccer has a boner for Capt. MLS Suburban Whiteboy, not evaluating alternative, sensible options is a continuation of the idiocy of the last cycle.

 

Agreed. Since Brooks is out, Yedlin or Wood should be captain. And Trapp should be on the bench. This WT90 situation is becoming a bad joke.

 

Don't think that exists anymore. At the top, the two feds seem to be on friendly terms cohosting a world cup and fleecing fans as often as possible. On the field, this



became this



I don't think we'll find much rivalry in a useless friendly when every player knows their coach will be gone soon.

 

Mexico is not Brazil, we're coming out to rock and roll.

 

Can we rock and roll? We can barely give our love a chicken that has no bones.

 

Nothing friendly about it. Meet our starting XI for #USAvMEX, pres. by @ATT.

Lineup notes » https://t.co/3CusXn168h pic.twitter.com/cxR33utGQp

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) September 11, 2018

 

Is this a 4-1-4-1 or is it going to be more a 4-4-2 diamond with Acosta as the 10 and Weah up top?

 

Lol, take a guess. It's Sarachan, this is a 4-1-4-1.

 

Sarachan loves himself some Gyasi, Trapp and 4 - 1 - 4 - 1.

 

When is the actual kickoff? Why can't US Soccer tell us an actual actual kickoff time?

 

9:10 eastern is what announcer said earlier.