Neither one of them can distribute the ball as well as Yueill does. And that is the primary job of a regista. Which is different from what a lot of people on here think is a 6. Beerholder wants a distributor there not a destroyer. Yueill is it right now and is the best I have seen at THAT role since Reyna. You may not agree with using a player like that there, but that is what 3Gs is after.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned here was Canada's ability to pass right through our midfield at the top of the box with one two's and we seemed helpless to stop it. The fact they failed on the final pass or did not convert does not silence the warning bell. Wes is a curious case, but he is like many of our Euro players that seem to perform well below their norm when with the USMNT. I believe this to be a coaching/system thing more so than a player thing. I get the long flights etc, but that has been common since we first had a Euro player. The steep drop off in performance is a relatively new development. The Wes was the worst player on the team and the "hiding" narrative is poppycock. I do think there is some issue, because he is virtually undroppable at Schalke and looks bad for the USMNT. I noticed many passes that were slow rolled to the other player (concern about said players lack of first touch control maybe??) I also noticed a lot of static waiting on the ball to get here instead of moving to the ball. What happened to moving to the ball when it is hit towards you? Hell my middle school team gets that concept pretty quick every year, and they are athletes not soccer players per se.
This is the classic example of Berhalter needing to fit tactics to his players. It’s objectively clear that Tyler Adams is a better player than Yuell. Adams’ best position is at the 6. Maybe you can find a way to get Yuell in the game as a double pivot, but any coach even considering moving Tyler Adams out of his natural position for Yuell needs his head examined.
I'd like the US to have at least two formations and philosophies depending on opponent and venue. The regista could be important for games in the US against minnows where they bunker and counter. Yueill is a big improvement over Bradley because he covers more ground and breaks up more plays which is crucial in the counter the opponent employs. Bradley is now to slow and timid requiring other players to stay deep which ruins the intent of having a regista in the first place. Against really good teams and against the better CONCACF teams on the road the team should switch from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 and have terriers at the twin holding spots. That might allow Pulisic to be the #10 knowing the terriers are behind him. The outside mids should likely be better defensively than offensive. Brehalter really has better players than he's shown if he'd just be more practical based on opponent and circumstances. Whether the first goal made his tactics appear better against Canada or he did change for a must win game he came a lot closer to getting it right in this game.
I strongly disagree with this. Literally the first thing we did off the kickoff was try to play a long ball to Arriola that was blocked, bounced to Ream, who also played a long ball. The corner kick we scored on was also won off a direct play. It seems clear that was a tactical shift from Gregg and I think the right one based on the previous game. It wasn't Gregg listening to fans on Twitter or BigSoccer, it was just a correct, pragmatic decision and I applaud him for making it. I'm most interested in seeing if he will be willing to take a more pragmatic approach that will eventually lead to a few terrible "system" guys like Lovitz being replaced. In nine months, we'll either look back at this as a turning point or an anomaly. I hope it's a turning point.
lol. isn’t your “story arc” that brave ambitious Berhalter wants a pro-active style of play where the US dictates the play? now you’re saying that after two minutes of the game where we scored off a dead ball, we switched to a definitionally reactive style (REACTING to a switch in Canada’s tactics)? Btw, a Canadian player said they kept the same tactic throughout the first half.... OMG - that’s an awesome narrative! Purely fantasy fiction - you should start a fan fic for Coach Berhalter! you are his #1 stan!
I have total confidence that we will beat Cuba, however, we should not lose sight of the fact that it is an away game and that Cuba has had a month to practice. It will not be the same team that was decimated by recent defections when we played them in October.
No one can say it is "objectively clear". They play in similar parts of the field but play the spot differently. Depends on what you want, and 3Gs wants a distributor there. So like it or not, he is the coach, LOL! Me, I think our personnel is better suited to a 3-5-2 to 3-4-3 than what we are using, but I don't get to pick. So if you are 3Gs and want a regista there instead of what you think of as a 6, well....so be it. And Yueill is the better player for that role.
Accepting that beating Canada is not any kind of real accomplishment, and that we will not be back to the starting line until we start to compete with (and sometimes beat) Mexico ... I think there are some reasons for optimism, most of which others have mentioned here in there. 1. It seems as though we have some talented young players moving through the organizations of top division European clubs. If some of those players continue to progress into featured roles (joining the ones who have already), that is a very good sign for the future of the USMNT. 2. Some of the young MLS players look good enough to fill in around the edges or backup starters. I don’t know how much to discount my impressions because of the opponent, but Morris, Lletget, Long, and Yuell all looked like they fit that description. 3. If this mix can be used properly and developed properly, it seems to me that the national team could progress quickly before WC 2022. The veteran players like Yedlin and Brooks seem, to me at least, like they ought to be an important stabilizing force in that mix. I wish there was a way for Yedlin and Dest to play at the same time, and I suspect there is. 4. From what I am reading here, it sounds like there are enough promising players in the U17 category to justify even more optimism with respect to WC2026. 5. The big caveat to all this is how this mix of players is used by the national team coach between now and these World Cup deadlines. It was nice to see a little flexibility introduced into the system against Canada, but I confess I don’t have a lot of confidence that GB will continue along that track and find a way to use this mix of players to maximize the probability of success. The refusal to call up Miazga, and the continued loyalty to players like Trapp and Bradley, just really make me skeptical.
In my opinion it was even worse game than the one we lost in Toronto, i was going to say that CAN simply did not show up for the game, but the fact is they are 69th team in the world, and it showed thru and thru, their so-called "defense" was absolutely atrocious, amateurish, and it was the team which were supposed to have "last stand" fighting for their WCQ chance, but they did not play better that Cuba. We shoulda have beaten them in double digits, but looked lazy, disorganized, very sloppy in defense, very poor individual skills. Morris and Zardes stood out like soccer giants which tells a lot about team quality McKennie was fat and slow, Morales and Boyd - i still don't know what they were doing over there, why did we call them up - do we really had to scrap the bottom of the barrel? Are we that desperate now?
I had to miss the game, but I'll always enjoy a 4 goal game we win. Morris looked good in highlights. If any kind soul wants to tell me how to watch a replay somewhere, let me know.
If you want to claim that a MLS player for a non playoff team should start over a UCL starter, I can’t stop you from thinking that. Those of us looking at reality will be over here.
We also need to see whether Adams returns the same guy. Same for Weah. Actually, I'm not sure Brooks returned the same guy after his last hamstring problem.
McKennie's match: Before 9th minute he wins a defensive header in our box, passes to Yeull. (haven't seen a bad pass from McKennie yet. Starting notes at 9:28 He dispossesses a Canadian at the about 2 o'clock on the circle. Does a looping run across the field into space. Attacks space and plays Morris into the endline on the left. Where Morris wastes it. 10:00 receives ball at 2 oclock on the circle. (from Long). Passes to Dest wide right, and ahead of him. 10:44 gets the ball tapped to him while facing backward, plays it back to Guzan. 11:19 plays a lofted long diagonal to where Morris would be if he was wide, but Morris had pinched in. 14:37 Dest is dispossessed. The ball falls back to McKennie who was trailing the play. McK one times a diagonal chip down the wing to Dest, who dribbles into the box and loses the ball. 15:10 receives a throw from Dest, deep right, plays it back, gets it back, plays diagonal wide ball to Arriola who misses GZ in the box. 15: 25 reaches to deflect a Canada pass out of the back. 15:42 the bad pass that is opening the door for everyone to say "BAD GAME!" Gets the ball from Lletget on a diagonal back pass, Tries to pass laterally to Ream, it gets intercepted. 19 received the ball from Yeuill in the middle, 15 yards from midline, back passes to Guzan. 19:50 plays the ball into acres of space for Dest to run onto. Canada defender slides to knock the ball out of bounds. 24:15 Brooks cuts out a highball, sends a high bouncer to no one in the circle, Wes facing own goal heads it to Ream to keep possession. 26:10 receives lateral pass from Yueill, w/ someone on his back, plays it back to Yeuill who plays to a defender. 26:40 heads out an aimless Canadian chip into the box. Canada recovers the ball. 31 receives pass from a wide player, passes diagonally back to another wide player. We keep the ball. It circulates around to the left, where we win a free kick and Long scores. 36 it's a Canada corner, two Canadians end up passing at the top of the box. Canada man falls down, McK picks the ball up about a yard above the box. Bursts into a dribble upfield, about 15 yards from the top of the box, passes up to Dest at midfield who has a straight path to goal, with Piette 5 or 6 yards inside of him and slightly deeper. Surprisingly, Dest doesn't blow by Piette, who forces Dest wide into a bad angle. 36:50 receives the ball from Dest, One touches it back to ? at the midfield strip and moves forward about 10 yards. ? laterally passes to ?? who passes up to McKennie. McKennie one touches to Seb, who passes laterally backward out to Ream who is back an the midline, but has no one in front of him for miles. . 40:00 Brooks clears a ball into space, McK wins a foot race, gets pushed down as he's kicking it and kicks a 50/50 to Arriola who doesn't win it. 48 we lose the ball on a throw in, McK chases the 1st Canada pass back to midfield, chases the pass to Canadian CB who passes back to their GK 52:30 A Canadian boots one of our throwins back into the middle of the field. McK heads it to ?(Yeuill?) who chests it and volleys it to Dest on the opposite side of the field in acres of space. 52:50 Arriola slides to dispossess Canada man, Wes chases it down, turns plays ball up to Arriola. Arriola carries, waits until Wes is nose to nose w/ a Canadian defender, then play a 10/90 ball to Wes. Wes tries to knock it on, into the box, but by the time he got the ball, Canada man is all over him and deflects it out for U.S. throw. 54. Dest plays the ball to McK who is making a diagonal run into space about 40 yards out. McK one-touches up to Arriola giving him a direct path to goal. Arriola flubs the 1st touch, and has to go across the top of the box w/ the ball. We lost the ball. McK put Arriola where he should have created huge danger. 55 McK gets passed a ball from in the box, w/ a man running on. Tries to tap around the runner, loses the ball. Chases back into the box from about 20 yards from the box and blocks Canada's shot. 57 Dest tracks back from way beyond the top of the circle (out of the screen) to pick up a deflection/clear by Brooks. Running towards his goal at high speed, at about 10 yards from the top of the box, he one-touches to Long. 59 Dest? clears a ball under pressure in McK's general vicinity. Going against 2 Canadians, McK forces a Canadian to kick it out for a U.S. throw. 59 McK one touches a bad Canadian 1st touch to Yueill, gets it back, dribbles vertically between 2 Canadians. Plays a through ball to Morris, putting him in acres of space and Morris flubs a centering pass w/ his left. 63 Heads out a Canada free kick. 65:48 Arriola cuts back and plays the ball to Wes who apparently has 3 guys on him (he was off screen) Canada controls the pass. 67 Morris plays a chest high bouncing ball to Wes in the attacking middle of the field. Wes tries to 1/2 volley to put Lletget through - it's cut out. 70 Canada free kick, Zardes pops a header up, it comes down in the box McK tries to flick it out, but it only reaches the top of the box. Nothing comes of it. 73 McK, playing 10 now, tracks back from way high to take the ball from a Canadian at the bottom of the circle. 77 Zardes puts the ball into McK's run at the edge of the box, McK is tightly covered, loses it, gets it back, tries a sort of back heel to no one. 89 Yedlin crosses to McK who has 2 guys on him. McK attempts a jumping roundhouse volley, ball falls to Zardes, who puts it away. Additionally, McK did a lot of running closing angles, harrassing Canada. The most ridiculous thing that can be said about his performance is "lazy." That's just f*cking stupid. I don't see how anyone could single McK out for having had a bad performance in that win.
Thank you. Why are people going on and on about Adams? He'll come back to the team when he is fit and he will start and we'll see how good he is. All these pronouncements from on high are starting to drone like flies you cant get rid of.
What matters most is what is not there: Dest was usually isolated because when he expected Wes to go forward with him, Wes stayed put. It wasn't a good game for him, sorry.
I can't wait for Dest to play with a real mid. He already played great for us but a skilled mid + Dest will be even more fun to watch.
John Brooks was one of the best players on the night. Lord Gyasi has to get credit, played a great game. The defenders and GK actually cleared the ball!!!! They didn't just pass to the DM, which looked like took a huge burden off of 6 players shoulders (defenders, GK, and the DM). I don't like Tim Ream. He played a really solid game, seems to have the respect of the other players. Boyd looked like Messi for about 10 seconds in the 90th minute, hope he plays more in the next few games. Yueill looked like Squeak Scolari pregame.... But he actually held his own. Morales doesn't come on when he did, Canada might've scored another. Credit to the coach and Morales. It's Canada, but man was it nice to see the result and the performance.
A skilled mid would help the entire team but as of now we don’t have one. Perhaps Paxton will develop into a legit international level creative mid but it’ll take far more than 2g/5a at the MLS level.
That is not the point. For the role that 3Gs has him playing Yueill is better. Is he a better overall player? That is a different question. No coach runs his best overall 11 players out there. You need guys who play where you need them to play to be the best available at that spot.
That's the pass I was referencing in my last post. Morris had a clear path -- no one marking him -- to goal, and McKennie lofted it way over his head. Even if they was a reason to knock it to the corner, I don't think Morris could have gotten there. If this is the standard grading, I'm not shocked you and I disagree on his performance overall. Anyway, my bigger issue with his game overall wasn't the passing, it was the overall lack of intensity and involvement. (I'm aware others have been commenting more on the passing). Which I don't think your list does much to dispel.