what the hell are you guys talking about zardes setting people up? he "recieved" the ball at the freaking penalty spot close to a dozen times. he (intentionally) made something of that zero times. are you counting balls he couldnt control that rolled near another one of the guys? did he get a single shot off? does a ball blasted into his face, or a first touch so bad that in trying to touch away from his defender it trickled into the goal from 18 yards count as shots? you are absolutely delusional if you think he contributed anything more than physically being on the field. it was comically inept. thats what "that goal was so zardes" means- its funny how bad he is. hes the forrest gump of goalscorers. im not complaining to complain- its embarrasing that im satisfied with taking full points from guyana but zardes stoood out in THAT. "premier league starter" tim ream got megged like a 5 year old at a soccer clinic and even THAT was "oof, oh well, it happens sometime...". lima/zimmerman fell over each other giving guyana their one good look. but zardes got the ball, relatively deep in the box A DOZEN TIMES. not one was laid off well, not one was controlled, not one resulted in a shot. jesus freaking christ bs talks so much about him being berhalters boy, getting a free pass- what the hell is yalls excuse for defending that garbage ass play?
Zardes is not international quality but the goals he scores are the sort of stuff that makes people glad they paid to watch. He's like soccer's Inspector Clouseau, who solves the case and bags the bad guy without ever realizing he did it. How many times have you seen someone score from a nose rebound? Assist from a terrible ball control? Get a goal from a fortuitous ball to the knee? Score a goal when a pass was intended but it was so bad, it ended in the net? Zardes is spectacle, unique, amazingly lucky.
I notice you didn't say "a good soccer player". Rightly. He works hard, is a nice guy, fine. Keep. Him. As. A. Sub. PLEASE.
The good - Boyd looks like he's going to help us, and his quality should highlight that good players can be found in Europe even if they're not in one of the big four leagues - we got the three points The bad - Zardes was comically bad on the ball and if Jozy is hurt, that means we have no backup forward because our coach left Sarget at home - McKennie injury - Pulisic disappeared after a bright looking first 20 minutes or so, other guys need to do better getting him the ball but he also needs to keep taking responsibility and attacking when he does get it - We did not in fact dominate the midfield against this poor team Mostly hard to say much against a poor opponent but at least we did what was required. We seriously need to get back at T&T in the next game,
you guys are on to something here...i think i have the perfect role for him. gyassi zardes- the new rimando. third keeper. weve got steffen and horvath who are 1/2 for the near future at least- zardes as the rah rah on the bench. third keepers are useless, zardes is useless. berhalter cant function with without him out, fifa mandates 3 keepers. i dare you ding dongs to deny the logic in that almost TOO perfect fit.
We tie that game or best case only win 1-0 without Tyler Boyd. That’s how good he was and how bad everyone else was.
We must have watched different games - I thought McKennie was very good while Zardes results were ok (if comical). Pulisic tried to do too much but was clearly the most talented player on the field. I thought that Bradley was awful while giving the ball away dangerously multiple times although he did have a nice assist. His defense was his usual = bad.
I dont think showing up vs Guyana is a high bar. I wouldnt say he exceeded my expectations of a player of his caliber, playing at the level he is playing in his domestic league. I think the fact that most of our players looked average to bad is a cause for concern. I think he will be a useful tool going forward. We need solid wingers, especially if GB continues to play Pulisic centrally.
A lot of the problems come from talent evaluation. Not only our pool but the oppositions pool. One of the big issues I can see is the lack of pace after Pulisic. Concacaf generally produces good athletes, if nothing else. Boyd and Arriola are not going to get in behind as often vs better athletes, let alone better defenders. If Lewis is our only other option with pace thats an area of concern. To me that should have been an obvious assessment. We are unable to generate pressure because the way GB has his players set up they are disconnected. You cant have midfielders making 80 yard recovery runs and expect a press to work. If you cant press Guyana do you think its going to get much better vs better technical sides? I find it hard to believe that anyone can seriously look at the Guyana game and draw conclusions on playing style. We were below par up until the point the Guyana players fitness went. Up until that point it was a struggle to generate chances. You asked 'But can you really not see what the team is trying to do on offense?'. I seriously dont see anything special in what he is trying to do. We dont need to try to over complicate things and pretend GB is some savant that is unlocking the box to tactical knowledge. Diagonal balls is not some new concept. Good players should know how to break down a poor defense in multiple ways. Plus, it was Guyana.
I'll give him credit for being in the right place a bunch on the attack. Of course he totally flubbed every ball that he actually saw sent his way.
Quick thoughts from me, sorry if any redundant: 1. I was terrified I'd log on here and someone would mistake Zardes having a goal for Zardes having a good match. You've done well, BS. 2. Arriola's problem has NEVER been being dynamic down the flanks. He is a speedy winger who usually gets to dangerous positions. His problem has been his final ball. Tonight, his final ball was as good as it's ever been (still a few errant crosses, but also a few that should have seen someone on the end of them.) He's definitely earned more burn in this tourney, even if I'm doubtful he can keep up the quality of final ball. 3. Berhalter's takeaway should be: this player pool needs to play direct, not play possession. You should pretty much be able to evaluate Berhalter as a coach based on whether or not he embraces that concept. If he does not, steel yourselves for years of futility, because this pool is years away from playing any style other than entirely direct. (And I'd argue: you need to be able to play multiple styles anyway, depending on your opponent, health, ref etc.) 4. Michael Bradley can't take any space -- so he's kinda set up to fail centrally sometimes -- but it shouldn't be a surprise the guy can still dime it. Still, you need to be able to take more space than he does and advance numbers better than he does. Playing that dime ball over top won't work against better backlines, because... 5. Guyana were AWFUL. I wouldn't say this was a bad scoreline/result for USMNT, but it wasn't really good either. Guyana were one of the worst sides they've seen in some time. I mean, they had, what, 4 or 5 misplayed clearances from the back? I don't say this to rag on Guyana; of course they're bad given resources at hand. But the context is necessary to understand the quality (middling quality) of overall USMNT product last night. 6. I'm all for learning about Tyler Boyd this tourney. Hope he can build on it. Love his attitude; this team is missing players that demand more out of their teammates and wanna take a freaking shot. This team still too in love with the 3' shot, passes up too many actual shooting windows. That isn't an issue for Boyd.
So we proved we are better than Guyana. Fantastic. You did catch that their captain plays in the 5th tier of English soccer right? But he has a day job helping out at his old youth club, so he must be good. At least we won't finish last in the group.
There's no denying Boyd's athleticism. Contrast him with Arriola in that regard. The squad is desperate for guys who can, like, run fast.
I put this in the PBP thread but it bears repeating-Pulisic was very disappointing considering the level of opposition. I understand that he has basically nothing around him but you expect more from a guy of his talent than one run. I'm beginning to think he might not be a transcendent talent but merely an elite complementary player. As far as Boyd is concerned, I'd like to see if he can maintain that kind of level against better opposition. Still, he was good and aggressive. Zardes is the worst striker we've ever had to be given so many minutes. Watching him Jar-Jar around the 18 and have the ball cannon off of him in every direction is just sad; I genuinely feel bad for him
Steffen - Looked like his normal self, played several nice passes. Thank God his confidence is back. Lima - Anonymous performance, didn't look great on D - shaky honestly, but he played in a few nice crosses. Long/Zimmerman - Zim seemed better of the two, but they looked a bit shaky too. Ream - If GGG is going to play this guy, why isn't Lima halfway up the field overlapping on every opportunity making our D a makeshift back 3 on counters....I can't believe it's 2019 and he is the best we can offer at LB Bradley - Thought he did fine, way better than Trapp. Gave the ball away a few too many times tho. Pulisic - MIA. Step up young man. Wes - If he can clean up his passing we are talking about a world class athlete and ball carrier. Very smart player, some of those seam passes were beautiful. I love his 80 yard sprints but are those the main reason behind his injuries? Arriola - Wasteful, his good defensive isn't even needed if you have Tim Ream as a stay at home LB. Not good enough with final pass and/or combination play around midfield. Paul's a worker, and I could never fault him for working hard, but damn he's not very good 1v1 or doing anything besides running fast. We want Weah! Boyd - MOTM. Not even close. Has flair and great ball skills and plays a killer pass. He shined when basically NO ONE ELSE DID. I'm not saying we should make him an automatic starter from now to Qatar or wherever WC 2022 will be played but he deserves to be a top-3 name on the team sheet. Zardes - Never again. So wasteful. I don't know where to begin. 1) Altidore, 2) Sargent, 3) Zardes. In that order. Gregg Berhalter took a somewhat injured Altidore over Sargent who has shown more in 7 calls ups than Zardes has in 46. ------------------------- Trapp - How is this dude Captain? Roldan - Didn't do a single thing besides put a shot over the bar. He's gotta go too when the U20's are available. Where you at Paxton???????????? Djorde - How does he get a nod over dudes like Lewis who actually made the roster? Why didn't he push Boyd as the 10 and sub on Lewis, or we could have even played a 4-4-2 with Morris-Zardes to end the game. Djorde is not good enough, he's not even that technical. I hate when coaches do this, especially for friendly matches why does he get minutes he was a last minute addition? We were up 4-0, we could have played with the formation. ------ This roster needs an overhaul come Fall 2019. I hope all the U20/injured players who weren't available for this tournament go to their clubs and get first team minutes right away.
I hate to commit B.S. blasphemy but we would have gotten more out of Jordan Morris than we got out of CP last night.
I'd like to agree with you, but I can't. With even an average first touch, Zardes has a hat trick last night. He had two opportunities right in front of the Guyana goal where his lack of a first touch did him in. For a national team that has difficulty generating scoring chances, you can't have a striker who has a bad first touch. On a better team, Zardes could be a last-20 minute sub who can stretch the field with his speed. He's just not anything more than that without a first touch.
Seeing a random Guyana player glide by Bradley within the first ten minutes was sad and predictable. He just can’t play defense at all anymore. Reminds me of Gerard on the Galaxy. I almost hope we lose before the final so I don’t have to see him get pasted by Mexico.