I will be honest and say I haven't watch all the games due to life but, I thought there should be a thread that separates the match by match post-match and the thoughts after all three games. With that said the floor is open.
The States aren't completely divided and there's still some collective fight left in us. We now have the touch and speed of thought to play out of the back sometimes even under congestion with an organized d. Lacked a player who linked defense and attack most of the time, sometimes creativity too. The physical factor can still be to our advantage against most nations while not losing too much technical ability. The cupboard isn't bare and we should get back to or above our normal talent level for next cycle. The last two coaches should have moved on integrating some of these players, namely the central defenders, sooner. Sarachan will make a respectable option for someone a tier below this pay-grade.
Robinson is a definite option moving forward. I think we really need Parks to come good and/or Carleton’s progress to accelerate as we’re still missing a creative engine in the middle. Adams and Mckennie have the makings of something good in the middle, but they just don’t have the chops to create on a regular basis. Weah and Sargent are very promising, looking forward to their club play this fall.
Steffen has locked up his spot as the #1 goalkeeper, even moreso if he works on his ball distribution. Bill Hamid killed off whatever little hope he had of being the US #1. Sargent and Weah are very promising. Midfield has a lot of potential, but needs a lot of work, particularly the passes that lead nowhere.
I think we found a lot of potential options on the back line: Steffen, Robinson, Moore. Miazga looks like a starter. There is some hope with our attacking players. Lots of promise in Sargeant and Weah. We need to sort out where and how Weston McKennie will play. We need to Sort out how Tyler Adams fits in with the midfield. And we need a midfielder with sticky feet who can play off the opposing 6 and pull the opposition back line out. But we’ve literally never had that guy so...
Hard to learn much. The next cycle hasn't even started yet. We have over a year left until our next competitive match. Good games to keep players playing matches and get some younger players some additional matches, but not a whole lot should be taken from these games, IMO.
Can't play a game with 3 D-mids; sure, you might scrape a result against France but what do we learn in so doing? I'd rather we get pounded trying to make an actual game of it then continuing to play scared. New generation...new attitude please.
Of the three opponents, Bolivia was the weakest. We rolled out the most aggressive lineup. We got a good result. Ireland was pretty much the equivalent of where we usually are. This was pretty much their A team. We dialed back the aggressive, got a goal but fell asleep late. A tie while trying to attack all game would have been a big positive. Going full on bunker was an exercise, IMHO. Good learning experience. I was happy with the way the team shook off early nerves and settled into the task at hand. Ugly but effective. The next set of friendlies will be more of the same, but I feel this was very positive. As for the coach, we def need a coach that can recognize the talent pool for what it is. Use the players we have in a formation that can help them succeed. This is the one aspect that is out of the player's hands. Let's hope Ernie comes thru.
Also: I am fine with bunkering against one of the best 2-3 teams on the planet at full strength with our kids and getting a 1-1 result. What did anybody think that match would look like? I walked straight to the front of the line at the sportsbook, bet the over and had beers and a pile of nachos at the ready. Everybody talking about how we should have tried to keep the ball against France...ok guys. We should try to keep the ball against Pogba, Kante, Greizman, etc. Sure. With Wil Trapp. What did we learn? We learned how to stay organized, defend and get a result against a team like that on the road. We likely got a starting keeper and a whole bunch of confidence. If you don’t think that’s valuable go support Brazil.
A lot of people have said in the last year (and I think they've been right) that we've no longer been demonstrating the sort of fight and determination against all odds that used to characterize the USMNT. Against France, we did demonstrate it, for the first time in ages. I don't kid myself that we really merit the result that we got, but we fought like hell to get that result. We showed that we're not dead yet. We can build on that.
I think we've found that Wood is our starting forward this cycle. Sargent may have something to say about that in a few years but Wood showed good hold up play and the ability to finish. I really think the other thing we learned is we need Hyndman or a player like him to develop and soon. I can see the McKennie/Adams partnership working so much better with a CM like that just ahead of them. Where's this generation's Stewart Holden/John O'Brien/Claudio Reyna?
we may need to play 5 in the back because thats where the talent for the us is. I really think they have multiple options at both rwb/lwb and on top of that 5/6 decent options going forward as cb. They have two many 6s and way too many 6s that are masquerading as 8/10 options. They lack a player who can distribute from the middle. I know people will say parks but can the usmnt really rely on a kid who couldn't get in the 18 in two matches to be the driving force for the offense going forward..I mean what if he gets the flu...who else is there? up front I just don't know. Maybe get a free agent like JS and promise him he'll play.
That we have legit talent and depth to build a QF/SF back 7, and that other than Pulisic we're lacking high end, ready for primetime attacking talent. That have zero talent ready to step up as a creative, central midfielder. That we're in trouble at striker. That we desperately need Timmy Weah to grown into his potential and for Saief to show out at a highet level.
I can tell you where you also saw this never say die attitude: 2015 U-20 WC Round of 16 against Colombia: Outmanned against a superior team, we beat them in extra time, and Steffen saved a penalty late to preserve the victory. Quarterfinals against Serbia: Pushed the game to Penalties (they only managed to finish us off with penalties despite us playing without any of our top 3-4 options at forward). 2017 U-20 WC Opener against Ecuador: A total disaster. Down 2-0 after 10 minutes, fight back to tie it up, then the keeper makes a horror show error to gift Ecuador a 3-2 lead with 25 mins left, and then we draw them in extra time in the 94th minute. Quarterfinals against Venezuela: Overmatched (outshot 26-7), the kids still managed to push the game to extra time, and despite falling behind 2-0, they fought back, getting it to 1-2 before they ran out of time. Superficially it seems like a failure, but I definitely think one can take heart in the fact that despitely being totally outmatched, Venezuela needed extra time to finally find a way to break through, and even then it was hard to finally kill us off. Traditionally these kinds of performances were the sort we could expect from the original generation in the 90's and Donovan and McBride's American squads in the aughts. Murderously difficult to play against, a team you had to well and truly finish off to know you'd beaten them. We haven't really been that team in ages, but I think it's a positive that the kids coming up, the 1995-2001 generation, has shown plenty of evidence that they have far more in common with American squads circa 1994-2010 then they do with American squads circa 2011-2017.
I learned that the new coach will need to use the entire pool. The young guys were promising in these friendlies, but overall we need a big reset. That includes utilizing guys who might not be starters in the next WC, that may be excellent squad players, and considering some of the players responsible for disappointing performances last cycle. Overall, I think we have an very good pool if you include every available player and a lot of competition for spots. That’s a good thing. However, the glaring weakness is at striker and it doesn’t look likely to change in the next couple years.
Love to the fellow NV. Good points. You haven’t watched sports until you watch games in a smoky sports book!
I'm going to choose to focus on a few of the newer faces. Robinson needs polish but he has the physical tools. If he develops into a Yedlin level player we will be in great shape at a long time position of need. If he can get a better loan that Bolton next year and get some good minutes in the first division it would be very good for him. CCV same could be said for him. I think a loan to Holland will do him the some good. There he will be forced to work on his passing and composure similar to Miazga. Miazga looks much improved. Hope to see him in Italy or German next. They'd both be great places to learn. Adams isn't a CM at the higher levels. He just don't have the composure on the ball. He's still young and can improve there but he has his work cut out for him. He has the physical tools to be a good Wingback. Steffen is a good shot stopper. He needs to work on distribution but he's in the poll position for the 1 spot. EPB, Parks, Weah and Sargent all look promising but their raw. These four have the highest ceiling. Will be interested to see where their clubs deem them to be. All in all our youth look promising with the highest ceiling I've seen in a long time. And there are plenty more not listed.
I really don't get the hate for Wood. He held the ball, scored in one game and nearly scored in the other despite getting no service whatsoever because we played 3 DMS and only one other attacking player. No forward on the planet is going to look good with that line-up we trotted out against France.
Basically from defense to defensive midfield we are set and with everyone firing on all cylinders we can compete with anyone. Attack?.... we’re not even top 2 in Concacaf in that regard. If we could get a legit attack for the good defense I’m fully confident the next generation at best is 2009 usmnt confeds level at least. Thankfully i think we can get a good attack within the next year when other young attackers are blooded in.
What these games really did for me is get my excitement level up to watch how Miazga/CCV/Weah/Sargent/Parks/McKennie/Robinson/EPB and Greens euro club seasons go in 2018-19.
Pulisic, McKennie, and Miazga are good foundational pieces to start building a team around. Robinson, Sargent, Steffen, CCV, EPB, Weah and Moore are interesting prospects, but need to prove it over time. The US desperately needs more creative players.