I agree, but I'm not quick to judge guys in these friendlies where people are basically introducing themselves to each other before the whistle.I was not impressed, but I'm not giving up on him either.
I'm disappointed too. But, on the flipside, if you throw a bunch of young guys who've never played together out there, it's hard to judge. There's too much instability and uncertainty.
He was the only veteran available who could reasonably fill the role of “Came up with a knock and sat it out.”
If Dave Sarachan gave us nothing else (I think he has a pretty thankless gig and he’s doing it honestly) he’s at least given us tactical consistency. Haven’t had that since the empty bucket days.
Tks, It didn't occur to me and it wasn't on Deportes so I had given up. They are now playing anthem of Eire on UDN (Univision Deportes). Who is the distinguished gentleman shaking hands on the red carpet? Looks like a good crowd and a beautiful sunshiny day. Edit: they just said it was President of Ireland. I wonder if our President will show up when we host.
All I heard for years was that our players were always fit and it was unnecessary to focus on fitness. I've recently heard that usmnt players didnt have their legs for t&t with 3 days rest and now 3 games in 20 days is too much? I'd think an extra 90 would be great experience for Robonson as he looks to play at a higher level next season. It also seems that playing today would help him be more prepared for France next week.
Good thing we have your incisive analysis and circular logic to inform all of us morons[emoji849] Or you could watch the game and see what was glaringly obvious: we were no threat and Germany took this opportunity to conserve energy, rotate out players, and play the long game We lost our Jozy and were toothless. They new this and played accordingly. Cycle ball and play keep away which we could do nothing about. Hence possession stats.
I didn’t realize they were hurt. Unfortunately it’s not just these friendlies that I’m using to form my opinion. This isn’t the first time he’s been capped. It seems like he has an international career but hasn’t really done anything since the second game of the U20 World Cup 3 years ago. I get that we are thin on the wings and it seems like any decent player we put there gets hurt. But I’d rather start playing good players out of position and just try to keep possession than to keep playing mediocre players out there.
It's 3 games in 13 days, with the first two 5 days apart plus a cross-Atlantic flight. Not a grueling schedule, but not cake either. Perhaps Sarachan, regardless of whether you and I and everyone else is sure that he won't be named permanent head coach, wanted to see what Villafana has to offer against decent non-Concacaf competition. Perhaps he also wanted to ensure that, barring freak injury in training, Robinson would be available to start against the best competition in this 3-game window.
Ha. Decent team. Hehe. The US was impotent against a very average side. It's not losing shite. It's reminding the fan boys that looking ok against Bolivia means zero and the team has a long climb ahead.
Yeah but it’s growing pains. But everyone wants to say “I’m right” so badly that the “play the kids” crowd was loud and excited after the Bolivia match, and now it’s the “we suck” or “play prime aged guys” who will be saying “I told you so.” Reality is we are going to lose some friendlies. Especially when we are playing all these tough teams
The "aged guys" lost us a ticket to Russia. Keep playing the kids, let them learn and let them grow. They will be prime when Qatar arrives.
I only have 4 comments. 1) We suck. 2) Other than Puli, I don't think there's anyone that wasn't there who makes us appreciably better. 3) I don't think Yedlin is a lock anymore. It's as if he's had the offensive part of his game coached out of him, or something. When is the last time he made an offensive contribution for the national team. He sure didn't against Trinidad. 4) the tactic we were employing early in the match of winning the ball with high pressure and then passing it back to our defense to lose the ball because we were all stretched out from high pressure is about the most stupid thing I've ever seen. It's going to be a long road to Qatar, or where ever the 2022 World Cup is played. I've lost track of how many slots hack-a-calf gets for 2022, but if it's the 3.5, we're going to struggle to qualify.
1. I don’t think judging us by our friendlies makes much sense. That’s like us losing 4-0 to Netherlands in the 2017 Nike Friendlies and then saying we won’t beat them in the 2019 U17 World Cup because we lost that friendly. In reality, we may not even have 6 or 7 of the same players in a meaningful game. 2. You may be right about Puli, but we played 7 players 21 or younger. Some of those guys will keep getting better. Others will be replaced by better players. It’s a friendly where we were trying shit. Some of it was okay, some wasn’t. 3. Unfortunately, I agree. I’m not really sure I believe someone like Lichaj is the answer, though. 4. That’s the Tab Ramos way. It’s the exact reason why I want him to have nothing to do with the senior squad. Sarachan seems to have adopted that strategy. Unfortunately, we don’t have a 10 who can press. Hell, at this point, we don’t really have a 10 at all. We are going to have growing pains. The kids are getting valuable experience playing quality opponents. Even if Ireland was down and had a rough go against France, they are still capable and talented and were playing at home. North and South American teams don’t do well in Europe. It’s not a secret. The important thing is we evaluate each player and learn who to move on from and who to keep playing. For those who keep playing, we have to put up with their learning curve.
1. We did, but how much of that is coaching/tactics? I'd say quite a bit. 2. Robinson, Saief, Sargent, EPB, and Steffen. And that's just in this squad. We don't have a lot of International tape on these guys, so I could be totally wrong, but I don't think I am. Certainly, they could've replaced many of the guys who played poorly today (Yedlin, Rubin, CCV, and Hamid). 3. I don't think making an assumption about Yedlin based on a single poor game makes any sense. He's had dozens of caps in which he's played much better. 4. Can't disagree here. We had huge gaps in between the lines. Hence why I'm not going to freak out too much about losing to Ireland, particularly with the specter of a French beatdown on the horizon. Also, I will refer back to coaching/tactics.
Not based on a single game. When is the last time he made any offensive contribution for the NT? That's not a rhetorical question. I'd really like to know.