Maybe in the next Gold Cup we can play all the U23 guys. This Gold Cup is apparently to just get the bad taste of losing out of our mouths. Hopefully we can keep on winning like we did last night because to me that tastes great no matter how you spin it on a plate.
Tim Ream and Michael Bradley are 31. Besides them, who out of yesterday's starters would be too old for the 2022 qualifying campaign? Jozy is 29, Trapp is 26, Lovitz is 27. I don't understand why Gonzo keeps getting selected. He must have compromising photos.
Maybe because of their ages when the next cycle rolls around and they offer nothing in the way of play now? I get that 31 is not extremely old or anything but if they cant offer anything in their prime years what makes someone think they can in their more waning years.
I can relate to you. I wanted to replenish the talent as soon as possible. Out with the old and in with the new. That said, the manager sees that the veterans have attributes he wants to use right now. Whether or not they keep their roles as the cycle goes on remains to be seen.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that, sure, guys like Sarge could easily have been on this squad, but also, nah, missing out of 15 minutes in a few Gold Cup games will not resonate a whole lot over the next 3 years. What should happen is USSF should adopt my long-argued plan that they should hold more friendlies in Europe for Europe based players so they aren't so disruptive and we get more of them - but that's just because I like to watch US footie. (And I think it's good to play UEFA teams away as much as possible.)
They've actually play quite a few already. They played 4 each in 2014, 2015 and 2018. The other years (2016-17) had congested schedules with Gold Cup, Copa America, and Qualifying.
I think there is a requirement to have either a minimum number of posts or be a member for a certain time before you can rep. A mod can verify.
I completely understand your stance but what can not be undervalued is the time in camp working with the players and getting comfortable on the pitch with them. How many times last night did we see guys making errant passes in the first half misreading what the player's run was going to be. Im not harping but one time Pulisic was behind Arriola and looked as if he had no intentions of a making a run at the top of the box as he was dug in and wide open for a couple seconds. The defender had left to go cover the run that never happened and Arriola mis read it and sent the ball forward while Pulisic just sat there looking at him and saying pass it to my feet, im right here at the top corner of the box wide open....
Those type of things happen to veterans and young players who have not played together much. I am getting frustrated by Arriola as much as anyone here though. If he does not improve I say just start Boyd on his side and Morris on the other. That said, he can shut me up and start playing better too.
You'd have to find teams that want to play you. With the Nation's League the number of friendly slots has dropped significantly. I'm all for Camp Cupcake being held in Portugal or North Africa, where you'll find a lot of the big European teams during their winter breaks.
Yeah, but between teams getting bounced out of Europe/WC but still wanting to train and teams who make Euro/WC and want to train - I bet you'd have a reasonable chance of getting opponents. Whether you could make it financially viable is another question, but these days you could put together a pretty good squad of players without hardly anyone having to cross the Atlantic.
I think Arriola has been ok, but his finishing has just been truly awful - and some of his choices in the box. He's like 9/10th good, but the last 10th is closest to the goal. He starts burying some chances, he looks exponentially better.
Yep. That's 12 in what 65-70 months? Not nothing but European teams away are our biggest challenge (in that we are most likely to face a European team in the WC, simply due to numbers, and that they tend to be challenging.) It would be great to play SA and Asian teams away too, but logistically putting together a very viable European-based camp without flying guys across the ocean (or equator) is most easily done in Europe. Anyway, I no idea if it's financially viable or could be worked out with schedules etc. but it always seemed, if you wanted to get the more marginal bang for you buck in increased international competition, a Euro-based camp/friendly system would get you maximum experience/challenge for least disruption.
The expectation that a team dominates for 90 minutes, scores at will, never gives up an opportunity is unrealistic. The idea that bombarding a team for most of the game and then breaking through is not impressive is just kind of silly. I'm not saying this was a perfect performance -- it wasn't. I'm also not saying T&T is good; they aren't. But even the best teams in the world don't outshoot their opponents 50-0 and score a goal every three minutes. No one ever has 90% possession. I agree that a 6-0 win over T&T does not mean this team is suddenly better than Mexico or ready to play with the World's Best... but what is the expectation here? 10-0 versus Trinidad with all scores coming in a regular cadence?
People have to lower their expectations if they are expecting a team like this with many guys who have never played with another & still learning new tactics are going to go out there and dominate from minute one. Trinidad & Tobago was playing for their lives out there. They did not want to be eliminated this early.
Um... is that rully the metric? Ok, bruh. So, by my quick, and probably slightly off count, since 2010 Brazil has played: 2010: Euro opponent in Europe 2011: 3 Euro opponents in Europe, 1 CAF opponent in Europe 2012: 3 Euro opponents in Europe, 1 Asian opponent in Europe, 1 CAF in Europe 2013: 4 Euro opponents in Europe 2014: 2 Euro Opponents in Europe 2015: 1 Euro Opponents in Europe, 1 Comembol opponent in Europe 2016: Brazil had only 3 friendlies in the US as they had WC qualies. 2017: 2 Euro teams in Europe 2018: 7 Euro teams in Europe, 2 concacaf, 1 comembol, 1 CAF in Europe (all 15 Brazil games in 2018 were played outside of SA.) 2019: 1 Euro team in Europe, 1 Comembol team in Europe. And, in that same time period they played something like: 13 games in NA 4 games in Asia 2 games in Middle East 2 in Australia 1 in Africa And that does not count the games against highly ranked Comembol opponents or Euro friendlies in Brazil But it is all also beside the point. These kind of "oh yeah" responses are so silly. I think I've made it perfectly clear that this is not some scathing indictment of US soccer, but is a place, if finances and scheduling could permit - and I have no idea, as I mentioned, if they could - that we could increase the number of games we play against better opponents away for least disruption. I'm not calling for anyone's head or it, or ranting, or even being particularly aggressive - and the counter is not "it's a bad idea because" or "sure, fine idea but logistics are unworkable" or "we have bigger issues than this, silly man." The answer is "oh yeah, did Ecuador do it?" Sure, that's the way these decisions should be made..."
It was perfectly struck. Always nice to see a nice hook with the right foot from the left side. And for sure there'd be gushing if a 19 year old did it. Why is that wrong? I wish I had confidence that Zardes could pull that one off without 5 yards of free space and plenty of time. But it was purdy.
Although it’s an extremely poor example I wouldn’t play my children in a Gold Cup to get them ready for the World Cup. These things happen for a reason. There is a method to the madness. Sometimes it’s more mad. Sometimes less.
The best part of the second goal was the simple move Zardes made just before receiving the ball. He was initially facing the touch line with a clear passing lane but somehow Ariola and him read each other and he turned to face goal where he received the pass. This allowed him to make the touch and set up the shot. Not spectacular, but smart and effective.