Pre-match: USA v Netherlands Round of 16 12/3 10 am ET

Squad rotation is not really going to be possible for us due to the steep drop offs in several positions. And honestly, it is nice but it is not as important as made out to be. 4 days is enough rest to be fresh. Wes had plenty of rest going in and he could go about 60. We give him 7 days rest and guess what? He can still go about 60 minutes. It'll be the same on down the line, and for the Dutch as well. Their players will be tired in the 2nd half also.

 

Scally at LB? I like Jedi but it's not a huge chasm, they're just different players. Though we haven't seen Scally really this tournament.

Ferreira I suppose, theoretically.

 

I think this is the match where you might see some rotation, because of the possibility of the match going 120 minutes.

So I think Reyna starts, goes as long as he can, and then Weah comes on for him in the 2nd half when Dutch legs are starting to tire. Because you don't want Reyna coming on as a sub and then not being able to finish the 120 minutes.

Likewise, I wouldn't be surprised to see Aaronson start with either Musah/McKennie beginning the match on the bench and coming on in the 2nd half.

We'll have to do a better job of managing our energy levels....i.e. play a little slower in the first half so that we're not so gassed by the end of the second half (or extra time).

 

OMG I forgot Heineken, AWFULAWFULAWFUL beer that destroyed beer culture in our country for like 30 years (and Corona, ******** Mexico). FUKCKCK Heineken and their godawful skunky hideous swill. Thank god for Sierra Nevada.

 

I expect that USA will have the same lineup as the Iran game, CCV included, baring injuries. The question will be what the tactical wrinkle will be.

 

What, no, Zimmerman will be back starting over CCV

 

If we do somehow get by the Dutch, we have 5 days off.

 

Among finalists of the last 3 Cups, starting the same 8-9 players through the first 4 games was at the high end but not unique. 2010 Spain started 9. 2010 Netherlands started 8. Loaded up 2018 France started 4 or 5 To combat fatigue, GGG could use some combination of early subs and rotation.

Surely, against the Dutch 3412, GGG could counter with 4231.

---------------------Ferreira-------------
-------Pulisic----Aaronson----Reyna---
--------------Adams-----Acosta----
--Jedi------------------------------------Dest---
------------Ream----Zimmerman----
---------------------Turner----

McKennie, Weah, and Musah looked tapped. Against the progressive Dutch, Aaronson and Ferreira's pressing will be useful. As part of a double pivot, Acosta will be capable of holding his own.

This would give us 7 4-game starters. Decent rotation.

 

Netherlands haven't lost a match since June 20, 2021 (14-0-5) We're going to break that streak!

 

Wes should be good to go. He has been managed the whole tournament.
Musah is the one that might be a risk. But I don’t know, recovery at 20 might be a lot better than we think.

 

Roger Gonzalez
@RGonzalezCBS


I'm told Weston McKennie is dealing with a quad injury, hence why he came out early in the second half. But he's expected to play on Saturday vs. the Netherlands.

 

I disagree that we can’t rotate because of lack of quality in reserves. I think yesterday would have been a perfect opportunity to use LDLT and Reyna to occupy the ball and see out the game that way. No need to use Musah to exhaustion. Haji disappointed, but it wasn’t a bad sub based on his play vs England. That would have complemented going to 5 in the back much better than Acosta and an exhausted Musah.

 

I re-watched the last 30 minutes. Musah was far from out of gas.

 

Yeah, Weston is only good for 60-70 minutes. I wish he had another 10 in him. It would limit how much time Acosta has to play. I think in a match we are losing or tied, LDLT comes in instead of Acosta.

I don't think Greggg will play Reyna in midfield. He should but he won't. Reyna could get significant time at wide forward if we are tied or behind in the second half.

Aaronson can play mid or forward. I think his role somewhat turns on Berhalter's assessment of the merits/fitness of Reyna and LDLT.

 

This is the thing I just do not understand about Berhalter. Iran gave him the perfect opportunity to put the game away with counters yesterday, and he didn't bring Reyan or LDLT in off the bench. He's just too conservative. Yes, I get that the results at the end are what we want, but how many times does he have to see that his prevent defense does not work? Had the Iranians actually finished that last play instead of looking for a dive, our team may be on a plane heading home right now.

The reason Iran was piling on the pressure yesterday was because they knew the US was going to park the bus and hope time ran out. I watched this same type of thing for years when Bruce Weber coached Illinois basketball, and I HATED it. Illinois would dominate the game for 32 minutes, and then Weber would just have his team run the shot clock down to 2 seconds, heave a contested 3, and hope the other team wouldn't come back.

 

If we are tied or behind in the second half, I could see our first four subs being Aaronson, LDLT, Reyna, and a forward (Wright or Ferreira). Our depth is actually not bad. But we haven't used some of it because of game situations. We have been looking to protect results in the second half of the first three matches. That means the likes of Acosta and Yedlin/Moore for Dest. That's the plan for defending a result. There is a different plan and substitution pattern for when we are chasing a goal. We just haven't seen it yet. And probably a third and subtly different plan for a game in the knockout phase that is tied in the second half.

 

Lineup planning:

Turner, obviously.

Defense: Dest will definitely want to play, even if he still can't go 90. We didn't lose much with CCV, but Zimmerman might be a better matchup with Van Dijk etc. on set pieces, and he's rested. Ream has been so strong and the dropoff to Long looms large - we could go CCV/Zimmerman as a pair but I doubt it. Jedi is tired, so we should at least think about the completely fresh Scally, but Gregg seems very hesitant to use him.

Midfield: I have to go MMA unless trainers say McKennie can't go 60 minutes. Dropoff is large, and it's not as if LDLT can probably go 90 either. Musah is exhausted, but he's also 20 and may fully bounce back. Gotta go back to the well. Assume we have to burn one sub on McKennie and move on - LDLT in a tied or trailing situation, Acosta if ahead.

Attack: Assuming for the moment that Sargent might be unavailable and Pulisic might be limited. Wright's size isn't going to bother the large, quality Dutch defenders, and it might be too much to ask for him to do hold up play. So maybe it's finally Ferreira time. Assuming they don't think Reyna has 90 minutes in him, I'd go Aaronson-Ferreira-Weah with CP and Reyna being two of the other subs for the close of the game.

Remaining two subs used for whoever gets banged up or exhausted. Seems like the staff would likely use one of these on Dest again, but I'm not convinced that's smart.

The Dutch haven't looked that great, but it's a little scary how weak our players 16-26 seem compared to theirs - their whole bench would at least be a potential starter for us, and they're all crazy fresh.

 

We didn't park the bus. There were a couple times when we came close to springing Sargent or Weah.

 

I don’t agree, depending on what “out of gas” means. He was not closing out on D like earlier, anticipating and moving into space off the ball like earlier. He could muster energy at key moments, but he moved with more consistent intensity during the first 70 than the last 20+.

 

If you mean "we kicked it really long and hoped one of those two run onto the ball", then I'll agree with you. I looked at that a lot more as clearing our lines and if someone got on the ball, great. I see a counter more as a semi-designed pattern of play to release the ball from pressure. That happened once to Weah, but other than that it was more about playing more like Burnley did under Dyche. I think we can do better than that holding a lead.

 

Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that he was a defender. He maybe sees defenders as the unsung, more reliable heroes of the game. As Deuce and many other commentators mentioned, taking the foot off the gas sends the wrong message. It just doesn’t maximize the chance to deny the other team a goal.

My adult soccer playing son, not a GB critic, called it a “losers mentality.” I would go that far, but it takes away the attacking spirit that was working.

 

I know Reyna has not played as a 9 as a pro, and I am usually against the false 9 talk. But if Sargent can't go, and with Wright's performance yesterday we should be starting a false 9 anyway, whether its Ferreira, Morris or Reyna. I think Weah brings a significant more value stretching the field and providing verticality on the wing then as back to goal 9.

Minus well start the best player (if truly healthy).

I don't really care with Zim vs. CCV. The other 9 stay the same.

Can't wait.

 

Did Croatia do much rotating at WC'18; I remember them being an older squad and having to go 120+ in multiple games with a fairly standard 14 player squad?

I'd rather be facing the Dutch than Brazil, France, Argentina and Spain; honestly I'm glad we drew them rather than Senegal. Truth be told England too...they spent about 40 minutes in the first half looking like a boxer looking to his corner for advice.

But something Berhalter said back in the summer with Herc Gomez has struck with me...this US group is miserable to play against. It's a shame McKennie isn't fully match fit because MMA covers so much ground and has tactical bursts at their feet at points that it makes some really good midfields look like they are begging for the halftime whistle. Hopefully that translates against the Dutch. There has been a 20+ minute strech in each of the three matchups where the US looks poised to pile up multiple goals but we haven't seen that second goal knockout blow yet--though I thought we got it on the Weah offsides and nearly again with the weave that Sargeant and Weah worked that died on Weah's foot late in the half.

 

Just noting that this is a comforting feeling. I thought CCV was a steady hand out there. Nice to know he can contribute. I suspect our BL1 boys could as well, along with LDLT.

 

I remember us stopping a 56{?} game streak against the best Spanish squad of all time.