Johnson looked competent enough to stay in contention for the #2 role. Miazga looked good enough to be in the discussion for the first-choice starter role as one of the CBs; none of the other defenders did. Cannon at least looks poised to continue improving and merits future consideration, while Gonzalez and Lovitz don't look that way. Trapp isn't good enough for this team. Roldan was better but nowhere near the quality of McKennie or Adams, and he's had enough looks that I'm becoming convinced he's permanent depth. Mihailovic needs time to ripen, but has some potential. Lewis needs to play for his club. And all the talk about whether Altidore can displace Zardes - I believe Altidore is the preferred choice between these two, and Zardes got the two previous starts in large part due to easing Altidore back in from injury. Nice finish. One goal from the number of opportunities we had was about right. Zero goals from the number of opportunities Panama had was about right.
Can someone tell me how the hell the professional foul on Pulisic trying to quick start a counter when the Panama player essentially pulled his shirt over his head is not a yellow?
My other question is: why is the press in other countries able to shoot straight about their national team without worrying about their access being limited, while in the land of free speech, our press can't feel free to say a negative thing about the national team without be censured by Soccer House?
Perhaps as an aside, it’s a terrible time to be a journalist in the US as decent-paying jobs are getting scarcer by the minute. I don’t think they’re in a good position to take risks as a bad outcome could devastate their career.
I do think there is room, and an audience, for a thoughtful journalist who reports on what he or she sees on the field and gives a learned opinion on it. I don't need bland banal quotes from Berhalter or the captain of the team. All they say is nothing that even remotely resembles the unvarnished truth anyway. Access to players certainly is nice, but when journalistic integrity is forgotten so that one doesn't lose access, the articles seem worthless and the writer has no credibility. Have some balls people. Tell us what you think.
Again...the article referenced multiple interviews with current employees as well, who wished to remain anonymous. Agree that Glassdoor is a bit odd. But this wasn't an article solely using that as its source.
I agree with this but if you’ve got a seat at espn, SI, etc., why would you risk it? Not a lot of upside and a huge downside.
He’s basically designed a role specifically for Adams, a hybrid right back with responsibility for overloading the midfield and slotting in behind the attack. So I think Berhalter has some notion of how good Adams is. As with all your posts, I found this good and thoughtful, regardless of whether or not I agree with everything. This comment, and the couple that followed, however, crystallized what’s lacking in some many comments here: the inability to separate aspects of a players game. You know, like coaches have to do? Declaring “so and so sucks and the coach is an idiot for playing him” tells us nothing. (Although they are slightly better than long posts about how I don’t watch any more and you’re an idiot for bothering”.) Roldan is a perfect illustration. Yes, we are all aware he is not Patrick Vieira. But he had a couple moments when he broke up plays, pressed, caused somethings to happen. You know, useful things that might make him a good pairing with a different type of deep mid for those days our preferred pairing of Vieira and Dechamps isn’t available... I think you are absolutely right about Roldan, and recognizing what he did well in no way means you’ve inked him in for the WC 11. What you’ve done is said here’s a piece of a guy, something specific and empirically observable, and maybe we can think about whether and when it might be useful. That’s why you are one of the 10 to 20% of the posters in this forum I come here to read.
Plus, you can just say he's paid by MLS. Saying "MLS/SUM" makes you sound like a weirdo even if your criticisms are on point.
Can't do anything about the teams put before you. Who was missing from the 23 called in that you think were egregious omissions on Gregg's part? I'll agree that Sargeant was treated rather poorly...
I think that once again the negativity here is over the top. We won the game and won the group while resting ALL of the starters. Sure, the quality of play wasn't great, and the opposition was poor, but we always play crappy teams in the first round at the GC. In 2017, we got 7 points in the 1st round with a goal difference of +4. In 2015, we got 7 points with a goal difference of +2 (though that did seem like a legitimately tougher group with Honduras, Panama, and Haiti). In 2013, we got 9 points with a +9 goal difference in a similar situation...beat up on two crappy teams in Belize and Cuba, and then got a 1-0 win over Costa Rica to win the group. In 2011, we got 6 points with a +2 goal difference, losing to Panama to finish 2nd in the group. So, this is arguably our best 1st round performance by the basic numbers this decade, even slightly better than the pretty dominant 2013 team.
I get it, it's the real world and one must feed his family. I would just love to see someone carve a niche out of the mainstream media where folks like me can go to to read articles posted by journalists not in fear of losing something by speaking the truth.
Don't forget that all the previous versions of the Gold Cup only had 12 teams. We should have had a better performance because literally every fourth place team in a group wouldn't have qualified in previous versions of this tournament.
Looking at all of the international games going on the world over, it just seems to me that the standard of international soccer has gone done across the board. I wonder if the players themselves have soured a bit on leaving their paying jobs to put their careers on the line for their international team?
"On the current roster" is the key phrase here. Not endorsing this strategy, but Berhalter pretty clearly believes the senior team is not really the place for development, so he's picking guys who have proven they can fit into a role he needs or are just overall known quantities even if their upside is zero. If you're young and have potential, you're going to be with a youth team you can start for or with your club for now. That's why Weah was with the U20s. It's presumably why Miles Robinson, the best American defender in MLS this year according to WhoScored, has been with the U23s. It's why Sargent... nevermind, there's no obvious logic behind the Sargent situation. For good or ill, I think this strategy where we put more emphasis on moving young guys through the youth teams is probably a reaction to the "lost generation" problem. More than 3 years out from WC2022, I actually don't have a huge problem with it as long as the end result is more guys who are international-caliber.
Many changes would make our team a lot better. Here are a few examples: Sargent over basically any forward on the roster. Robinson over Lovitz Lichaj over Ream CCV/Besler over Omar Morales over Trapp Green over Mihailovic Gall over Lewis Honestly, a left side of Robinson and Gall could have actually done something with all the time and space Lovitz and Lewis were given. I posted a full 11 plus some subs of GC snubs on the coaching philosophies thread and I don't think there's any way that team loses to what we threw out there last night.
Not much to say on individual players, Jozy and Miazga likely the only ones from this game that have a decent chance at wining a starting role. Jozy did OK, blew one chance but finished a nice one, looked rusty. Personally, I feel Jozy usualy plays better when he's leaner rather than bulked up, he's gone back and forth over the years. But, either way he can still finish better than Zardes in most cases.Miazga was fine but didn't stand out. Mihailović was comically poor at times, pretty sure at one point I saw him try to kick a ball under no pressure and fall over. Gonzo had a couple comical moments as well. Mostly everyone looked OK, but showed why they are the second string. Admittedly I think we have better players who are not at the tournament. Overall, boring game but I was happy to see we were able to clear the benches and rest some guys and still get the win and top the group. So far, so good. I'm glad to see the US looking like the regional power we should be.