Each of the bolded are pretty questionable. You might want to wait until Pulisic has a good performance against a team better than Panama to decide he's more intelligent, creative and a better finisher than Donovan, for instance (he sure didn't prove that versus Costa Rica). Round here people start vomiting blood if you dare play Pulisic anywhere but the middle, whereas Donovan killed on either wing and at striker / 10. It's going to be fun seeing Pulisic surpass LD in these areas, but he sure hasn't yet.
The point about playing Pulisic in the middle is true. In the prime of his career, Donovan would be moved around constantly to cover US weaknesses, and he was always the best US player on the field even if, for example, he was paired with a garbage fullback.
I think we were all over them before they knew what hit em, much less had an opportunity to sort it out. Committing 5 attackers early was key. And I would offer that Arena's letter to the fans helped create an electric atmosphere that also contributed to the Panamanian's chaos. We knew exactly what we were doing and Panama couldn't deal with it. “In all my years with the national team, this is probably the most prepared I think the team has been, in terms of the work that the coaching staff put in,” said Jozy Altidore, who scored two goals and set up a third. “It’s a huge, huge A+ to them. “From Sunday, since the guys landed, they were showing video, pulling guys aside, making sure we were prepared for this game. They made us understand how important the game was to them. Kudos to Bruce and his team for preparing everybody.”
I guess it's a bit like watching a young Tiger Woods. You knew he was the greatest golfer you had ever seen, regardless of what the future would bring... This conversation would be a bit brighter if some would remember that while, like Donovan, we all hope Christian surpasses his achievements - it hasn't happened yet.
That's a very cautionary comparison. Tiger would have been the greatest ever but now can't stay healthy. Pulisic needs to stay healthy for a long period or me end up the best American ever for a short time. His club career seems destined to top any American ever but national team career will take a while to pass others. Health is key. Fingers crossed. Oh, and how about the other young guys turn out good to spread the hacking around some.
Oh I know he was a liability, but he came through when it mattered the most. I just think he deserves some credit for that. Also, didn't he play a GC that completely destroyed his reputation? It was this match that people really got in a tizzy about. http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/03/17/14/03/us-men-fall-4-2-in-2011-gold-cup-final
It's not like we scored undefended goals. Tactics aside, our attackers made great plays against their defenders, and we punished them. Pulisic burned their central defense and goalie on his first goal. Tactics would not have changed that. Then he burned their right side on the second in an isolation situation. Altidore made a great fake towards the near post and left his marker wondering what happened when he pulled far post. Those were not down to Panama's tactics. They were superior players beating inferior players and making it count when it mattered most. Wood beat like 4 defenders to earn his penalty. Don't know how Panama could claim they were tactically set up to fail there, either. They had the defenders there, they just got beat by the better, more aggressive player. I don't know why we can't just be happy that our attackers had a good day, we have to qualify it by claiming they got tactically lucky?
I can't understand those claiming Panama was set up wrong, had bad tactics, they gave us the game. What a load of BS. Give credits where credits are due. Our players were much better, they were more prepared, they were hungrier, and they dominated. At least for the night. Yes, I have critique Arena and some players, but collectively they did their jobs really well this night and they deserved the win, handedly.
He was always a liability but he was BB's guy. Come to think of it, I don't think we had anyone besides him to play LB as a backup once Bocanegra was moved to LCB. The reason he came through during the 2010 WC is that when he did play he was never tested.
In my opinion, they were going to defend and try their luck in the counter. That plan went out the window once Pulisic broke through so early in the game.
Just arriving, so yeah, I got our U.S.A. U-17 World Cup games and our guys vs. Panama WCQ match mixed up! What did I miss??? NO SHIT! THE BRUCE GOES AMERICAN 4-4-2 diamond with CP at the QB and we train wreck dem canaleros! MY MAN! VAMO' U.S.A.!!!
You may be right about that. But we did have a couple of decent chances even before CP's goal, even with Panama's defense pack in the penalty area. E.g., Wood would probably score that side-foot shot 2 out of 3 times.
I think Pulisic did okay against Costa Rica and even though it wasn't his day, he did play a role in most of our dangerous situations. If you want to compare the two we probably ought to have thread for that, but per numbers of caps Puli is slightly ahead of LD in G and A. The revisionist tendency is to forget the frustrating side of LD. It isn't like he was so transformational that he made us into a world power or anything. He did put us on the map and made us a dangerous team. Many of us have waited a very long time the one who shall come. The guy to take us to the next level. CP has a legitimate shot of being that guy. He has already demonstrated an ability to play at the highest levels to those who watch him at his club. He is not a superstar every single time on the pitch, but a poor performance from him is still a starter at a top half of the table in a top four league. The biggest edge I give LD is his tactical understanding of the game. His saving JK's bacon at the GC by talking him into a tactical adjustment was a thing of beauty and showed real class on the part of LD. I think Pulisic will close that gap some as he grows. I am not sure how to rate guile. I think if he stays healthy he could easily work his way into the BDO conversation. He basically went from our youth set-up to a top club, and within a year was so dominant he got an invite to train with the 1st team. He immediately became a part of the first team rotation and he was only played with the youth to keep him sharp. A year and a half later he is BL team of week and man of the week. He has over a dozen records to his name between BVB club, BL and CL. No American ever has done what he has done. We don't even know his ceiling yet. We do know that for the time being, as goes Pulisic so goes the USMNT. For a host of reasons this cycle the USMNT needs him to be at least as good as the GOAT.
I guess, yeah, being able to do both things would be best, but that's not Pulisic, who, at least for now, is a dribbler who challenges defenders, not a player who uses empty space, i.e. Donovan.
Yes, I played soccer, I was starting GK for a nationally ranked high school team back in the day and I can tell you that our coach would've lit our asses up if we ever gave a half assed effort in an important game, something the U.S. has done a lot during this qualifying cycle and that's a big reason its been such a struggle.
On second viewing Besler had a lot of great moments. His step and quick outlet to Wood started the play on Jozy's first and he made a bunch of similar plays.
Love it! We've been crappy and underprepared and unmotivated. But THIS time we worked hard. Love us! roar. Entitled babies.
Also, any talk of Villafana or Nagbe having bad games was prewritten. At least with Nagbe there was one mishit pass to point to in the first half, no further observations needed.
I don;t know what the ********k is going on with the media. This is the biggest ********ingggg game we've had outside of the actual freaking world cup, yet it's one of the least reviewed games in my data set. WTF Anyway... Pulisic - 8.8 Altidore - 8.3 Wood - 7.9 Yedlin - 7.3 Arriola - 6.9 McCarty - 6.5 Bradley - 6.3 Howard - 6.1 Besler - 6.1 Villafana - 5.9 Nagbe - 5.9 Gonazles - 5.8 Bedoya - 5.5 Dempsey - 5.3