Well I don't think we'll ever see CP, Woods or Sargent score a goal like the one Donovan did against Brazil in the Confederations Cup. They are not the kind of player that can cover that kind of ground at that kind of speed throughout a game. None of them is that kind of open field player. But I think they would very effective players in a style that emphasized high pressure. Pressure in the other team's half. Make em cough it up and hit em hard. That kind of style requires some speed in the back. High pressure leaves you open to the counter from the other team. It requires a tremendous workrate, on both sides of the ball, from the mids. CP, McKennie and Adams all have that.
I'll be stunned if we fail to make it to Qatar. Other than an '02 like injury situation, I think Qatar will be as relatively easy a qualification as '06-'14 were. Costa Rica and Panama are both going to be worse than their '18 incarnations, and Honduras looks much worse than their '10-'14 iteration. I'm curious what might happen with Canada, T&T and maybe Jamaica, but I definitely think that it will be us, and Mexico, then a drop off, then Costa Rica, then a total mystery come the '21 Hex. I also think like most Cups, '22 will depend on the draw. It's been rarely, if ever that it hasn't been that, and I think it will be much the same again. Looking back at '18, even in the disarray we were in, I still think we would've been relatively okay w/the draw Panama had, we wouldn't have advanced, but we would've gotten 1 result. In Costa Rica's group I also think we might have gotten at least one result and we should be substantially better than our '17-'18 iteration by 2022 if our guys are healthy. I'm rather optimistic about everything save for a skittish worry about player health.
I do think that we could be good as a high pressure team but would point out that we’ve been really bad at it for a while now. I absolutely could see CP score a goal like LD’s as he’s fast and a good finisher. why do you think he couldn’t? I 100% agree that woods doesn’t score there and haven’t seen enough of Sargent or Weah. Also agreed with the need for speed in the back - I think we need a true DM as well to stop those counters. That’s my biggest concern with the WT/MB as DM concept.
I should have added, "also the fed". I'm not optimistic at all about the fed. Very optimistic about the players though.
This is my take as well. I don't think that's the way that Berhalter wants us to play, though, and I'm willing to remain open-minded. January camps are only January camps, but he did just give us the best and probably most productive January camp in about a decade, which is a nice change...
He doesn't think the game as fast. LD had an incisive mind that was well beyond that of any player we've ever had. Pulisic, for all his ability, just isn't a very cerebral player. He doesn't see the game like that.
We tried going the "everything European is divine" route with Klinsmann and he was heartily cheered by almost everybody for "recruiting" dual nationals. The team didn't qualify for the first time ever in the modern era. Reality bites.
FFS, CP is a couple of months older than LD was at the 2002 WC. CP sees the game much better than 2002 LD. In 2002, LD was a fast young player that played on the wing or as a forward. His so called incisive soccer mind and goal scoring confidence developed after that. The 2002 LD doesnt score that confed cup goal either. He didnt see the field as well and didnt have the confidence for the finish. I dont see much difference with these two goals except Donovan's is based on speed and CP10's is based on skill. A brilliant run and finish from Christian Pulisic! pic.twitter.com/rA18N81eJj— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 5, 2019
We lost to T&T with Yedlin, Pulisic, Wood, 7 average MLS players and a former "best central defender in MLS".
Don't understand why people have a hard time understanding why recruiting killed us. It should be really easy. The media isn't gonna risk the politically incorrect tag but around here people could discuss rationally. Why were we playing with a "former" best central defender in MLS. Why not the current one?
I dont think recruiting killed us and dont think we enough it in 2018 cycle. Soft players and complacency killed us.
I can’t believe that anyone would blame dual nationals for either their play or for locker room issues in the Hex. You can do better.
In Descending Order of Importance (could change my mind): *No lineup changes for rest purposes and tactical approach for game (Terrible coaching decision from Arena) *Complacent Attitude on Matchday 10 and throughout cycle *Horrific Player development track record from 1990-1996 *Terrible Team Chemistry *Injuries to JAB, Morris and other players. *Terrible Coaching Performance by Klinsmann *Bad Luck (Hit the post in the game, Panama scores phantom goal on ball that actually went out of bounds rather than into net, Honduras bounces a shot off the back of Mexican Keepers head and into the net, and none of this takes into account the worst US Own Goal since Agoos against Portugal (and worse than that actually) and the rocket that should have been closed down AND should have been saved and neither happened. There's a reason we were given what, a 94% chance of advancement when we had the first half kickoff. It took an outrageous amount of misfortune for us to fall out of any chance of qualification and literally ALL the possibilities happened on Matchday 10 from egregious ref error, to comically hilarious goal, to disastrous gut punch miracle goals, to disastrous post shots before we even take into account that the team played like total dog doo. Not sure, but that looks about right to me. This is one of the innumerable reasons why I see us qualifying w/o too much trouble if we're healthy in 2021. In 2017 literally nothing went right in virtually any game of major consequence which could turn either way save for the Wood poach at the death of the game at Honduras. Other than that everything that could go wrong that cycle did: Bad Coaching: Check Complacency: Check Injuries:Check Horrible Ref Decisions: Check (it can be argued, if the ref gets the red card right in the home game against Costa Rica, we probably qualify before the T&T roadie entirely) Chemistry Issues: Check Bad Player Development: Check Bad Leadership:Check Decline in Player Quality: Check Roster Too Old: Check Terrible Front Office: Check EVERYTHING WENT WRONG, and we were still a post/a red card against Costa Rica/a ridiculous own goal or rocket shot against T&T/a no goal call on the horrific phantom goal given to Panama/a goalie that doesnt let a ball go in through wacking off the back of his head/A single damn good coaching decision in the Costa Rica/Mexico/and the T&T game away from qualifying. If we could come that close with all of that wrong with the fed and the team, I just find it hard to believe we'll struggle in 2021 with a younger and better team, better coach, and inferior versions of Costa Rica/Honduras/Panama (hell the latter two teams might not even make the hex, then again we've also almost missed it before) to the 2018 iterations.
Player picked the ball up near the center circle, made a run forward, gave up the ball, beat defenders, and got the ball back and scored. The differences were in the ordering. Donovan gave up the ball, ran forward, received the ball, beat a defender by faking a shot back and cutting back before scoring. CP ran with the ball alluding defenders, played a quicker give and go, and then finished.
Nice post. The only real comment is it only mentions Arena's poor decisions for the T&T game. He took a team that was struggling and tore it apart. He created the complacent vibe which wasnt present before he took over. I don't necessarily think it was the same lineup, but the wrong lineup. He got rid of the German-Americans and benched Cameron for an inferior player.
Easily. Fabian's play last cycle was mostly tepid at best, dog crap at worst. By pedigree he should've been one of our best players, but he simply wasn't. Pedigree is overrated.
I still have time for Brooks. When on his game he's our best CB despite the fact that our CB pool this cycle is clearly better than last.
No, which is why I am not inking him in. A quick look at the chart would seem to indicate that he's the easy choice to anchor the back line for the cycle, but in reality I only see him a little bit ahead of the pack, and replaceable. Right now our CB pool is solid to the point that nobody ought to have too much benefit of the doubt for poor play. In my head, it's about a 5-horse race (Brooks, Miazga, Long, Zimmerman, CCV) with a couple others (ie Parker) not far from those 5.
I've been watching the USMNT since the 1980s. The goal that Donovan scored is, IMO, the greatest goal in the history of US Soccer. I've watched that goal literally hundreds of times. I know every second of it. It's a classic counterattacking goal. The speed and precision with which it was executed was world class, and the Pulisic goal isn't on the same level. It's a nice little goal by Pulisic, but not really so exceptional.
I agree that FJ wasn’t one of our best players and played below his ceiling; however he was never the weak link on the field for us. In this way, he reminds me of MB - never really good nor really bad which isn’t great for our good players. However, the team wasn’t built around FJ and he wasn’t on the team for our devastating loss to TnT. Finally, to blame the dual Americans for locker room issues completely ignored the real genesis which was evidenced by the terrible comments from Wambach (backed by LD) and BA (while an MLS coach). That was truly shameful.
The 4-0 loss to Costa Rica, where the whole team gave up completely doesn't count? It's not like Arena took over a team that was beaming and full of confidence. He didn't really improve the situation much, and made some really terrible coaching errors, but the team's morale was destroyed before he got there.
The goal by Pulisic required more footballing skill. Not taking anything away fro the LD goal. It may well be the best, or one of the best, goals in USA history depending on who you ask. 3 touches by Landon Donovan. Close to perfect counter attack. It was also a 2 v 2 situation where the 2 defenders got caught sleeping. Pulisic took the ball out of the air with his first touch and split 2 defenders. Second touch accelerated then split 2 defenders with the first pass of a 1-2. Simply more skill involved. Not saying LD couldnt have done the exact same thing. Just looking at the 2 goals its pretty obvious that the Pulisic goal required more different football skills to complete the sequence. Dribbling. Control in closes quarters. 1-2....