Worse,Holden said that Berhalter told him that MB is "the starter". And he sounded pleased, instead of pissed, like every USMNT fan with eyeballs.
I am thankful that Grand Cayman High School didn't have a game tonight and we could use their field. I'm not even calling it a stadium. When you play on that kind of surface, you really need to cross the ball in the air more, and play your crosses and corners firmly. I think we did that once all game, the corner Boyd took. If I never see Lovitz and Roldan play the 90 minutes again, I will be a happy man. Mission accomplished, I guess.
I am extremely not here to defend Berhalter, but we have 7 months until we play another competitive game. If Bradley is the starter, now, that suggests to me that the preferred midfield with all players healthy is Adams and McKennie playing in front of a deep-lying playmaker. Tactically, that might work pretty well. The gap between competitive games also means that Bradley has plenty of time to play himself out of a starting role, and for someone like Yueill to play himself into it.
I don't know where I heard this, but one time it was mentioned that the Cuban stadiums don't have lights, and CONCACAF was requiring night games.
We are considering to play all our home games v Mexico there. That's the only place where we will have more fans and Mexicans can stuff their technical superiority up their asses on that beautiful field.
So the US is about even with Cuba according to the second half? That was not good. Not sure Roldan would start for Cuba. Gregg sucks. Yes the pitch was crappy, but if it's that big an equalizer then all the US has to do against Mexico and CR in the Hex is play home qualifiers at the local high school. At least the team hoofed it when appropriate more often. More reason the US should play more matches on broken turf like that. Hard to find anything to look forward to this cycle.
It's hard to take too much from this game. Poor opponent, though it's a baby step that we beat them convincingly, with a weaker squad, on the "road." Lovitz, and a bit sadly, Roldan, really can't play for us. So much of the issue of trying to play at all this game had to do with the pitch, but as much had to do with hamstringing the team with Lovitz on the left -- he didn't do anything positive offensively until very later -- and Roldan and whatever we were trying to do on the right. Roldan wasn't playing the 10 -- he was situation more in the "McKennie" role ... but with Yedlin crashing up constantly, he played more of a connector role than Weston was asked on the left. He was similarly impaired. It didn't help that I'm not sure that Arriola and Yedlin had any idea what to do with each other. Well planned and well-practiced, they could create an overload with Roldan. But this didn't mesh -- and it's not shocking. Yedlin hasn't integrated well. He needs more time. And Arriola is trying to integrate with someone not named Pulisic I wish Sargent had shown a bit more in movement and runs. It's not his game, but Berhalter threw down the "hunger for goals" gauntlet, and while he got two (and the first was some hustle)... you can still see that he's not the "make a ton of runs and occupy the CBs" type of striker. I was hoping he'd show a bit more so that he could take more time as he's more skilled than Zardes. I don't know that there's much more to say. Everyone get healthy.
Nope. I'm not giving Berhalter the benefit of the doubt. When the hell has that ever worked out? Oh, Lovitz is nowhere near the XI, even though he gets callups? Guess who gets subbed in against Mexico, starts competitive games, and is clearly the 2nd LB? It's Daniel freaking Lovitz. Roldan is nowhere near the team, and it's "stupid" to complain about his inclusion on the roster? Who played 90 minutes tonight as a ghost? Roldan. He's Boyd minus the production and plus a ton of hype, which basically makes him as effective on the field as I am. You might rightly say that his hype has died down after 3-4 years, 20 caps, and crap performances. You'd be right. And yet still he not only gets caps, but starts. Morales is called up, what more do you want? Perhaps something more than a cameo for our Bundesliga midfielder. Maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to handle Cuba. Of course, since he didn't get a start, or really much more than a cameo, when his name is inevitably brought up again in March, the Berhalter apologists will point to a lack of NT experience. Isn't it nice when a plan comes together? Bradley looks like a dog turd for us whenever he's put under a modicum of pressure, yet remains Berhalter's unquestioned "starter", he has never been supplanted in a decade, and you think "Bradley has plenty of time to play himself out of a starting role"? In 7 months? Says who? Sure as hell isn't what Berhalter is saying. The last 2 years have been arguably the worst period of USMNT play in the last 20 years. Much of that has been under the purview, and because of, MB. And yet, he still starts when healthy. I do not trust this coach whatsoever. And I trust his talent selection even less. Berhalter says Mike is the starter despite all the evidence and suggestion that he shouldn't be, and you think "in theory that sounds good"? Ok I guess, whatever floats your boat.
We will not qualify with Jay's Brother as manager. Get ready for another round of Landon Donovan supporting Mexico commercials
1) Be less of a dick. 2) Yeah, it's better than playing Tyler Adams as a hybrid RB/CDM from a conceptual point of view. We're grading on a curve here. If you want to get THAT mad about every Berhalter personnel decision for the next 7 years, be my guest, but it's a waste of your energy.
Believe it or not, I actually would much prefer to write long posts about positive things. I vastly prefer this board when things are going well, compared to when things suck (as they do currently). But there's an ever-increasing laundry list of things to be pissed about, and I need somewhere to vent, nobody else I know irl gives a crap about soccer.
1. That's fair. I've removed the snark from this one, which is hard for me to do. 2. It's not a strawman. It's perhaps not immediately clear why it's relevant to your post, but I did not respond to your post as a pretense for raging about Berhalter. That's easy enough to do without quoting anyone. In my opinion, you refused to take Berhalter's comments at face value, and instead invented a scenario where he doesn't do what he says he's going to do. My post detailed some of the many times where people created similar scenarios during the discussion about the latest roster release. The subsequent reality of Berhalter's actions made them look absurd in hindsight. I believe your optimism regarding Bradley's future on the team, as well as his ability to play the 'regista' (even with Adams/WM starting alongside, which is far from given), is equally misplaced.
The pitch has a way of slowing down when certain players are taken off or others are put on. Take Dest off and the pitch slows down. Put Cannon on and we're in slo mo; the same goes for Bradley at this point so I'm surprised Egg says Bradley is his starter. By next year Bradley may have lost another 10% and Yueil may be 10% better. That would be my expectation. Saying Bradley "is" our #1 doesn't mean anything because we don't have any games in the present. We have Jan camp, March window and June NatLeague play off before Hex in September and U23's may or may not have OLympics. Running out Bradley at this point seems like a bad strategy to me. For gosh sakes play anybody else in Jan camp, March window so we know what else we have. We must not be in scrambling mode when September comes and Adams is unavailable.
This is terrible. If we keep winning, we'll never get rid of Berhalter. We're so unlucky we may even qualify for Qatar.
Honestly? Fulham could use a RB. They have S Sessegnon who has played well but is a touch inconsistent/gets knocks. Other than that they have Cyrus Christie who definitely is not the answer if they get promoted and Dennis Odoi is much more of their utility guy on the backline. Given their links to America, it wouldn't be the craziest idea that they have some interest. Hell, when was the last time Fulham DIDN'T have an American at the club. Right now I count 4: Ream Fossey de la Torre Las
That was one of the worst soccer games I’ve ever seen... HS included. Glad we won. Glad Sargent and Morris got on the score sheet. Glad Long and Cannon qualify WP. I cannot stand Roldan and Lovitz.
do any posts matter? I think MLS is roughly comparable to Championship and want cannon to push to a higher, rather than comparable, level so we can see how his game elevates. That would be good for the USMNT.
This is all good, but the piece nobody will talk about is Morales. A Bundesliga starter can't beat out Jackson yeuill? What did he get, 50 mop up minutes total? Hate going conspiracy theory, but us soccer really has brought me there. This was done specifically, as you said, so IF he is still starting in the BL next camp, the storyline can be he wasn't good/didn't earn minutes last camp. He won't be called in, and once again Bradley can continue his March to the caps record. Throwing away a Bundesliga starter to maintain an inferior team. Unbelievable. 15 or so caps away, which keeps him in the starting 11 through some (most?) of the Hex. Just remember who said it first.
Does anyone have the historical record of exactly when the USMNT forum became the official meeting place of manic depressives seriously off their meds?
Other than these two, both of which I like, there is Pomykal. Probably more. There is no reason to keep using a clearly over the hill player to the detriment of the team. I am torn between his unwillingness to retire from national team games and the pig headedness of the coach that keeps calling him in. Future NT'ers are losing time for a very bad reason, whatever it is.