Agree - I was yelling at the TV "who's man is that..." then saw it was Adams a few yards off him. Really uncharacteristic. I chalk it up to fatigue but ouch.
Moral victories don't amount to much. Smart teams know how to change it up. We had 58% possession against the Dutch. Dumb just like JK against Belgium.
of course i want to do it like it's real....lvg beats the dutch with the US players. Im 100% sure of it. The player pools are roughly equal for me. Manager makes a huge difference. And I agree. Beehrolder cringe comments would get him castrated by dutch players and people. he wouldnt last long there.
Kik Pierie would be a great asset with his passing skills, which in my opinion is on par with that of Blind. Luckily the Ajax staff doesnot agree with me. If I was PSV I would tell him to let his contract expire and then sign with them.
It's a circular discussion at this point, but you have to ask questions about the role they're being asked to play. Adams is 16th in the PL for line-breaking passes completed, and is averaging more than 1 key pass per game. It's not like the kid can't pass or that his passes are limited in scope / distance, it's just that he's asked to perform a different role at Leeds than he has been under Berhalter for the USMNT. One can't help but wonder what Tyler would look like under Klinsmann (I almost said "Klinsmann's system" but lmao come on man).
I said earlier but I'll say again, I think in hindsight the biggest mistake Gregg made will be not integrating more options at mid. And I mean different styles. Aside from Luca (who was injured) we don't really have many consistently good passers in the midfield.
Ream went back to Championship Ream today unfortunately. Holland gave him the lock, but he couldn't find the pick the combination. Zimmerman didn't really even try to. Great tourney by Ream, and good by Zim (taking out the one mistake...that turned out to be crucial really). but their lack of ability to progress successfully today was a real problem. Ream at least tried to (he was far right in progressive passes and dribbles again like against Iran), but it went badly today unfortunately. It's a moot point, and probably not better than Ream over the way he played the whole tourney, but makes you pine for Richards to come good (or maybe McKenzie or EPB, but I don't think they'll get there).
Tough loss!!! Thank you Greg and the team for a fun ride! Positive vibes around USA right now. Proud of our team!
Well, we'll need Richards or someone else (McKenzie or Trusty or whomever) anyway, because Ream isn't going to be there, and Zim will struggle to be. Hopefully Miles recovers and can play the way he did, but the way he played was as an athletic cover guy to another who is the brains/technique behind the operation.
Best thing to do, imo, was to switch to 4231. This would have allowed a rotation of MMA through 2 positions.
Yeah. The midfield sucked this game. If they aren’t firing on on cylinders then not much Ream or Zimmerman or CCV are going to do about it.
They couldn't do anything about that goal. They are both sprinting back, unlike Adams, and are in position to cut out the high cross which is their job. In the end both Ream and Zim cover the same guy, but for either to magically stop their sprint momentum, turn the other way and get back out to the top of the 18 to cut out that pass, it was impossible.
Would have also allowed either Gio, Aaronson, or even Jesus to play in a central position they are more comfortable playing in
Ream had been good, but fatigue may have played a role in this match. The other centerback was the 4th choice who made the start due to injuries.
Well, Christian had his “Landon Donovan vs Oliver Kahn” moment today. Hope he grows from that as much as Landon did.
He also had a Landon vs Algeria moment just the game before. The World Cup is damn tough. I still think he can be motivated to find another level or half-level and find his best form in 2026. Hopefully by then he's got a better center forward to make he and Gio/Weah/whomever more effective.
Not sure if you are serious here or not? The entire midfield fell through and you plan to blame a CB?
Going into the world cup our most in form cbs were arguably McKenzie, Trusty, and EPB. I think between those 3, a healthy Richards, Miles, CCV, and maybe guys like Neal, Henry, and Craig maybe breaking out we should have options at CB to be fine.
I don't know what Bruce said. But I heard what Landon said. And I know every outside analyst thought it was a boneheaded idea. And I disagree the US has moved on or has leveled up. Sorry, been watching for over 30 years. I just don't see a huge step up. For one I don't think we were so terrible during that time. And i don't think we are miles better now. Got some guys that can do footwork now. Just my opinion. No better than any other armchair analyst.
For much of the past 30 years we were competitive enough, with enough quality in spots, to play something like these Aussies have, to absorb pressure, break out, and make something happen at critical moments. But this is the first time that we've managed to dictate the game pace and terms against three of the four World Cup-caliber sides that we played. We never had the quality to do that before. Ever. That's a major difference.