Remember, Berhalter is bad because while we haven't lost yet in this world cup, we have so much big league talent we should be dominating. But in 2002, when Arena took a team to the QF and perhaps missed the semis by a not called handball with a roster with much less of those champions league guys ... he's also a terrible coach. Bradley finished second in the Confederations Cup, beating an utterly dominant Spain team, but he's trash. You think random subs in Denmark are ubertalented players and think every coach is crap despite the US having a pretty good record over time for our talent. Have you ever considered the common thread here is that you aren't very good at evaluation?
You can't be a reasonable critic without making very, very significant note of all the things that our manager has done right in this tournament. It's not a small or insignificant list. Pre-game, he got every single game right thus far. No US manager has ever gotten the prep of all three group opponents right before. This is the same manager who also, incidentally, won both of the CONCACAF tournaments we've played in under his tenure. I've been pointing out all over these threads where I think he got it wrong today, and where I think he got it wrong all tournament long, and fairly frequently before over the course of his tenure (in the second half adjusting to the evolving game state and the opponents' adjustments, and the patterns/choices/timing of his substitutions). If that makes one a "peaches and cream crowd" then so be it...
Gio is an excellent player …. 1. when healthy 2. When in form 3. When slotted in the right position 4. When the tactics call for him (he is not known for defense at BVB) 5. We don’t know all the reasons (yet) why he has not been playing maybe he is unhappy because he wants to play and he and the coach both know that Weah is better right now at 1-4 above. I still want to see him play and wanted us to score more goals early in the second half with him - but I (we) also don’t know the complete picture yet. the team is winning and for now that is all that mattters.
The national media rarely gets anything soccer-related right, so I don't expect them to really pick up on this one, but that's a great story for the casuals: the 35 year-old dude on a team that's otherwise mostly under 24, that has been an afterthought on the national team scene for most of his career, and played in only one qualifier this cycle, only to catch fire this season in the Premiership and anchor our back line through the group stage of the World Cup with a good-to-excellent performance each match.
Okay Adam. Stay in your unrealistic world. Clearly you’re somebody who has managed or played at such a high level, how would anyone ever question your knowledge of the game.
Well I think it’s less so people on this board and more within the Iranian diaspora and inside Iran. I think people are celebrating because they view this as a victory over the Islamic Republic/ruling regime. And the government was clearly trying to use potential success by the team as a part of its propaganda efforts. But the players by and large are not pro regime and were under threat to their families. There’s unverified rumors they’ll be arrested upon return to Iran (and I hope this is false). They were placed in an impossible, no win situation.
No way he played at a higher level than @juvechelsea That said, that guy must be thrilled with these 1-0, 0-0 games!
What is exciting about that is the prospect of raising the competitive level overall. Having a solid group of starters who are getting pushed by hungry and super talented youngsters is one of the hallmarks of the big national teams. It would be great to see even more competition for spots.
Last 11 US matches at the World Cup: -3 wins -5 draws -2 losses in 120 minutes -1 loss in 90 minutes (1-0 to Germany in 2014) Fact of the matter is that the US is a tough out in these tournaments, whoever the manager is.
I have zero medical training but that's how I'm taking it. And my equally uninformed guess is that he has a chance of playing Saturday, as long as pain meds are allowed. Thursday may be decision day for Berhalter on that.
We can’t tell from that, to be honest. Some people are just that way even when they’re genuinely happy. That said, I’ve said it before, discipline and lack of maturity are concerns for me with Reyna. I don’t know about anything off the field, but on the field, I’ve seen him give up on plays that he should have continued to try on. And I’ve seen him try to hero ball is way too much and get himself out of trouble. Nevertheless, I’m not writing him off. Hopefully, some of the older players, the coach, and the staff are having a heart to heart with him about it all.
This is a really well worked goal from start to finish. Matt Turner starting the move for the #USA goal with a superb pass pic.twitter.com/gBQdkjxjnE— Doc (@karthikadhaigal) November 29, 2022 https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/christian-pulisic-i-ll-be-ready-for-usa-vs-netherlands-world-cup-game Tim Ream said the scoring sequence, an end-to-end move that started with goalkeeper Matt Turner and was keyed by Weston McKennie’s searching switch of play to find Dest behind the Iranian backline, was a specific part of the pregame preparations. “We talked about it before the game. That exact play was how we were going to score,” said the veteran defender. “Credit to Serg seeing that he could hit the ball back across, and Christian was told before the game to crash that back post and that's exactly what he did. … Perfect, perfect, perfect setup for the goal.”
Some of that is we just don’t have the depth. There are very few players on our team I felt comfortable bringing into this game, or into the game against England or Wales.
My wife is a physical therapist and tells me that he can probably play with a pelvic contusion but he might not be 100% by Saturday. Take that for the 2 cents it's worth.
GGG has done a really superlative job prepping his team for each match -- his tendency to come up with slightly unexpected or baroque twists have paid off more often than not. (Exception of Haji's play.) Now if only we can fix the management from 60' on...
We had no ability to hold onto the ball to relieve pressure, sometimes attacking talent helps you defend. I can see that his lack of bite and defensive commitment could cause problems, I’ll cede that.
We have a lot of guys that I'd feel fine about relying on in a home qualifier against Costa Rica, or even Canada, but a WC match against Wales, Iran, England, Holland, whomever is next if we beat Holland, etc., is a very different matter.
Eh, it’s been an emotional day for everyone. Best to cut some slack, in my humble opinion. Besides, part of the fun about talking about soccer is voicing your frustrations and stating where/how you want to see your team improve. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with what he’s saying. He wants the US to play better. I get that. It’s frustrating when we don’t meet expectations. And to be a fan, you do have to have some level of expectations and thoughts on how to meet those expectations. Otherwise, why are we here? I’m sure all of our wives think we’re a bunch of nerds because we love this team so much that we talk to other nerds about this team. The only thing I don’t understand is why posters are so eager to be so rude to each other. Just be cool. You don’t get brownie points because you cut someone down on the internet. There’s no reason for any of us to unnecessarily be a jerk (to be clear, I am NOT talking about you, I’m just talking about all of us, in general). That said, I try to keep my expectations easily defined. Mine are win the NL, win the GC, finish first in WCQ and with a game or two to spare, and the main one is get out of the group. In fact, everything about my expectations revolve around getting out of the group. After that, it’s gravy. Now, should we go for it and keep pushing and all that? Of course! Don’t quit now. Keep going until the wheels fall off. Just the difference now is that we got the monkey off our back from the 2018 cycle. I feel like this team finally redeemed itself. And I’m super proud of them. But hey, time to focus on Netherlands now.