Who said starter? There is a depth chart that is always moving up and down. He is #1 on the depth chart right now for me and I think most people who watch this. GK is a pretty binary choice. This isn't like a holding forward verus a speedy guy.
Let's go folks! I want to hear from all the posters who predicted a 6-0 blowout in the pre-match thread.
Tough ask to come in and do what he did. Especially behind an absolutely gassed midfield and Joe Corona.
Point-for-point I think you've got it exactly right. We'll be able to do a lot more than defend this cycle, we'll be able to play. But I don't know how we're going to create and score. We've got one semi-elite guy who can do that, and a bunch of question marks and also-rans.
If we play a a 5-3, you probably see him play a roamer role in the top two. Floating wing to wing. Adams covering the ground as needed. That's my guess anyway.
I think people need to keep in mind that Moore isn’t even getting regular first team minutes. And even without them he has impressive game IQ and composure.
What I do like about Trapp is he seems to understand his role tactically and doesnt try to do to much. I dont like that it seems he can be physically outmatched too easily. Green has a pretty good strike rate, so far. Seems to do it vs tough opposition too. Shaq Moore is better in the final third than Yedlin. He seems to know where he wants to place his crosses more than Yedlin. I also think he is better technically. Yedlin is slightly more seasoned defensively imo. Mckennie needs to be sharper in tight spaces but he puts in an honest shift as usual. Steffen is the truth.
I realize I should walk away with something positive from that but the only think that I keep thinking is, “my god, Wood is embarrassingly bad at this point.”
As a neutral fan I found this game VERY entertaining, even more entertaining than the Denmark - Mexico game that started 1 hour earlier than France - USA and was as good as this one. And to be fully honest, towards the end I actually rooted for you because you showed grit and determination throughout the entire game and these are always good things in football. France might have deserved the point for constantly bashing you for 90 minutes straight, but they didn't deserve to win IMO.
LB is Robinson’s to lose. Villafana was a downgrade when subbed on. Parker was a steady hand that quietly shut down a lot of chances. Not sure if it would have been same scoreline without him on. He learned a valuable gamesman ship lesson with mbappe handshake attempt Miazga is a pretty dang good defender and leader. He was organizing that defense often and competently. I never understood the Trap fans. But he played a smart game shutting down passing lanes towards goal forcing many balls wide. Did way better than I expected. Adams’ cover for wingbacks was tremendous. He gave all factions of BS what they argue for as he played CM and Wingback inbetween. I think he will do well in Germany. Julian can make some great blind shots fo a 47 year old DMV worker. Steffen. Kids got some good reaction saves. Hope he gets outta the minor league. Shaq, looked like young talent that made young mistakes at times. Then at other times looked like he belonged. He needs constant minutes. CCV is good for some amazing last minute sliding tackles and one WTF per game. Parker hide a lot of lapses. Wood was trying to shove his way through to early. Always looking at the ball and never picked his head up. Wood needs to score and get deep inside the goal before his confidence leaves him flaccid The team was playing bunker ball, that was the point for both France and us. Was not supposed to be about our attack, maybe our counter. Regardless, this team played with heart, aggression, and the grit that has been missing for a little while. France was frustrated and they were really trying. That was no easy feat holding them to one.
Villafana is our backup. Lichaj might be in consideration. In case of an injury crisis you can still call in Tim Ream. And of course there's always Tim Chandler and Fabian Johnson, but you have to question the commitment of both.
In a 3-5-2, Pulisic would simply be an off-forward to make the formation 3511. There is plenty creativity in the pool. Against an elite team, it would be used sparingly. Against Concacaf-level competition, the creative players cwould be used more. A one-size-fits-all approach is partly why Feilhaber, Nguyen, Kljestan, and Castillo were under-utilized in Qualifying. And why we're not in the WC. Trapp continues to do nicely.
WINNERS: Steffan - Undisputed #1 keeper Adams - Kid was everywhere breaking up plays. So much confidence on the ball Miazga - Solidified his status as #1/2 CB Robinson - The LB spot is his to loose Moore - Solid #2 RB, maybe push DY for #1 with more regular seasons under his belt. LOOSERS: Wood - What happened to him? Not sure he's BL2 quality any more Corona - Just did not belong on the field today Villafana - Did not belong. He's going to be glued to the bench going forward, if he even makes the bench. BONUS: Can we not let Sarachan coah another game? Where's Parks? Weah with 0 minutes? Sargent needs 45. Starting Wood and kept him in there for 75min? We've had enough of Arena, don't need this sequel.
I suppose US Soccer needs all the good PR it can get right now, so hanging on for a point makes sense from that perspective. However, I find it ridiculous that we made so few subs.
RBs, Cannon and Lima, should also be given a look at LB. Both, imo, are better fullbacks than Villafana.
I thought we played well. We weren't going to possess the ball int his game, and this is far from our best team, so not a bad performance. We worked hard, and defended well. Offensively, could we really expect much better? Steffen was very good. He didn't really have any saves to make until late in the game, but he made three good saves late in the game. Nothing earth shattering, I thought the defense kept it clean in front of him, but he certainly did well. Moore did better than I would have expected, but I still don't think he was all that good. Some of his defending was very naive, positioning wasn't great. And he's so technically limited, although he did put in some nice crosses. Not calamitous though, which is certainly not a bad performance from him in a game where he shouldn't have been on the field. Carter-Vickers was good. He had a lot of defending to do, so I think you have to balance that with the goal he was at fault for, but he was usually reliable. Obviously still has some things to work on (mobility, passing, playing less aggressive), but for a 20 year old without much high level pro experience, he certainly didn't hurt his case. Miazga looked like he belonged until he came off. This is the type of game that suits him really well (limited space over the top, limited passing opportunities), and I thought he was excellent. Did what he does well, which is aerial play and positional play. I think Parker had a similar performance to Carter-Vickers. There were some struggles, at times, but it was a good performance. He could've been much worse against very good competition. I think he definitely helped his case for the NT, although I still think the older CB's are more secondary considerations to the younger CB's we have coming through. But he might be at the top of the list of non-established mid 20's CB's (Parker, Zimmerman, Long, etc.). Robinson showed about what I expect. There was the occasional naive defending error or trying to do too much in possession, but he belongs on a field with France talent-wise. He didn't put in a bad performance. I think he's helped his stock. I think its a two man race for the LB spot right now between Robinson and Acosta. Trapp was excellent. I'd be surprised if his passing percentage (on "real" passes) wasn't like 90-95% for this match. He circulated the ball to the right areas when we needed to take a rest from defending. Thats a part of the game that doesn't get as much attention as it should. His passing was tremendous under intense pressure, and he nearly sprung a second goal with a smart decision, if Wood could've just stayed onside. Defensively, he was pretty good. He had some nice interceptions, and was positioned well throughout. Obviously he's not going to win aerial duels with players like Pogba, but other than one or two instances, he held his own physically. I think he definitely helped his stock going forward. Shut up the critics, and locked himself into the starting #6 role for now. This was one of the better performances I've seen from Adams. I thought he played a very solid defensive game. He wasn't running crazily out of position and getting caught upfield. He was in all the right positions defensively, battled well physically, and had some nice offensive passages. Obviously Adams should be in consideration to start, its a question of where. I'd still prefer him at RB, but this was a very good performance centrally against a very good team. McKennie was somewhat quiet. I wouldn't call his performance bad, but it was less notable than his two CM partners. He didn't get dominated or really dominate, he sort of just blended in. He had some defensive stops, and one or two forays forward. I expected more from him in this game, but obviously he still should be a starter in CM. Green had a quiet match, but he took his goal really well. The goalie did a bad job, but thats not Green's fault. I thought Green had some smart touches in possession, but he really wasn't very involved in this match. Maybe less so than any player. Is that his fault? Not necessarily because we had almost no possession, but its hard to say much about his performance other than the goal. Wood had a tough role, but I didn't think he played it particularly well. He was able to relieve pressure up top one or two, but largely was always beat to the ball by the French defenders. He also wasn't able to stay onside for what could've been a second goal. EPB was excellent. Tough to come into a game like this, but he was up to the task. He had a number of takeaways, and obviously he matched the French players athletically. Bested them most of the time. Positionally, he had one or two plays where he was able to make the play because he was positioned well. I would've liked to see him start this match, and I think he's a starting level CB for us right now, but Sarachan doesn't seem to agree. Either way, he helped his case. Corona had the occasional nice play in possession, but was lazy defensively. Why did he play? Yedlin looked lethargic, as he did in his last performance. I'm not as convinced about his starting spot as some others are. Sargent ran around chasing the ball, tough job to do. Villafana was beat once or twice, not the best runout from him.
A fair point, but if we were heading to the WC right now (or a GC for that matter), he would neither be on the pitch nor the bench for me. Given where we are in the cycle I'm not disheartened to see him getting his opportunities.
EPB, Yedlin, Corona, Villafana, Sargent. 5 subs does not seem to be a “ridiculous” amount of subs. What am I missing?
Great Stuff - Steffen, Robinson, Parker, Miazga, Trapp, McKennie Can't pass; holds the team back: CCV, Adams, Wood Get's beat: Moore Let me think about it for a year or two: Green