Really like Cardona playing in a deeper midfield position. That's his best spot and it frees up James to get into more attacking areas on the ball.
Good win - we had game under control. *Defense was barely tested *Cardona playing with a chip on his shoulder - love it. he was a beast today. *Muriel had a great goal and another nice shot *Didnt think Lerma-Barrios together was necessary for 2nd half but I guess CQ will be using them two together so good opportunity for them to get chemistry *Duvan was clumsy I felt. Had a nice header straight to GK from a beautiful cross from Cardona. *James had an awesome shot off woodwork and I think he set up Medina who had a good look on goal. Hopefully he will be ready for heavier workload as June progresses. *Luis Diaz is a worker. I like him. Hope he can be a core team member this cycle. *glad to see Roger, Alvaro, Lucumi, Tesillo, Medina and Zapata get minutes today. Sunday 5 PM EST against Peru - cya!!!
Are you doing any pre Copa America fasting or feats of strength? Your dedication to the cause is rivaled by none
Lol last time I did, we didn't beat England; I vowed to god that if we beat england then I would not eat until we played our next opponent and even to the point where I wouldn't eat until after we won. Maybe I'll do it again depending how we look.
I think Pibe would say differently dude wakes up at 3am to watch Nacional and they suck this season. He is the only one of us that got interviewed by Golcarcol haha
I laso liked the match of barrios......in first half he was the only responsible to clean up the panama and he did a great job
Barrios passing between the lines is really good. He disguises his passes and manipulates his body shape to open lanes similar to Busquets for Barca. Its a really valuable skill for a CDM and you see the best midfielders in the world use it, I know this game wasn't really a lot of pressure but I was really impressed with his ability to break the midfield defensive line and find people in space quite often.
Barrios has come a long way from when some posters completely shit on him. I know it was only Panama but his ability to wiggle around pressure is a joy to watch. Thank you Sanchez but good riddance.
just curious as to why you say that? - lots of players who don't typically play much got some good playing time in a low pressure environment.
Finally saw the match. I'll qualify all my takeaways with an acknowledgement that we're likely not going to face such a weak again other than Bolivia and whatever minnow we might draw in the next CA or mundial. That said, I was very pleasantly surprised to see Quieroz such an attack-minded lineup. More offensive than I can ever recall us lining up with Pekerman, tbh. His substitutions were all well-timed, and luckily managed to give many of our boys some confidence. Most of all, I loved the experiments. I used to say it a lot, but I always figured if we were going to field a triple set of attacking mids, it should be James on the wing and Edwin towards the center. Well Cardona was an absolute boss even farther back. Again, I doubt we're ever going to play an opponent who'll allow him to spray the ball like that again, but we should definitely consider him for the central midfield. Cuadrado, too. His decision making is still off, but when he's operating more centrally it's not as frustrating as when he plays on the wing. He's got the pace and physicality to stay in the middle--did better playing the 8 than Lerma did by far. James looked lively as hell. Let him play another 30 minutes against Peru and NO MORE. If we're sticking to this 433, I find he'd be far more useful than Cuadrado on the right wing. And, the right wing is better for him than the left wing. He kept getting Medina into dangerous positions again and again--imagine if it's Arias playing off him. Quick thoughts: -Tesillo played as well as a true center back can play lb. Great cutting down attackers, very sure on the ball. He just has no burst which is what you really want from a lateral. I could see him beating out Borja for that position tho -Lucumi was no tested defensively, but he was great on the ball -Zapata looked VERY out of form -Lerma looked meh in a game where everybody else played great. Concerning. -Using 3 forwards, with no true wingers, is definitely something to experiment with again. -Muriel looked out of sync with Cuadrado and Arias who are used to handling that wing by themselves. Might've been better on Cardona's side. -Roger was better than I expected. -Medina is a solid player...but his true weakness is handling fast attackers
He just doesn't want to make a big deal out of a very weak opponent. In general, we should all exercise caution when praising performances in friendlies. We did beat the world champion, after all...
Yeah cuadrado better than lerma as 8. Nobody have mentioned falcao............he looked great upfront and pivoting...........
Cuadrado can definitely play as an 8, but he's going to need to temper his instincts to keep possession a lot better, doing it on the wing is one thing but when you take those unnecessary risks in the middle you can get punished very easily. On paper Cardona/Barrios/Cuadrado is a perfect fit for a midfield 3, one holding, one playmaker to get on the ball and sit in the middle of the field and a box to box who can make runs out of midfield and can cover a lot of ground. You can even play James in the attacking 3 on the left and allow him and Cuadrado to alternate and overlap each other and cause a lot of havoc. Muriel--Duvan/FAlcao---James Cardona--Barrios--Cuadrado James can cut in and find space with a free roll and Cuadrado who's obviously been a winger his whole career can overlap and attack that space along with Arias and allow the CF and Muriel to make runs.
Luis Diaz is a talented player, but he needs to learn how to pass the ball on a break away. I feel he tried to be too selfish a certain periods of the game.
-I think Queiroz mentioned during the press conference that James might play like 60 minutes against Peru but I might be wrong. I agree about the right side. I have mentioned James on the right wing in prior posts and think he could do it based on what I have seen in the Asia friendlies and at his club team in Germany and to a lesser extent at Madrid. - The Leon coaching staff in Mexico has transformed Tesillo's game a bit from the last time we saw him play LB for Pekerman. Very comfortable... ... But a lot of that could also be attributed to playing in a stadium he is very familiar with and a bad team as everyone has pointed out.