Pre-match: WCQ: USA vs. Panama (10/6/17)

Give me three at the back please.

 

Give me this

----------------Wood----------------
---------Pulisic - Arriola-----------
Johnson-Bradley-Roldan-Yedlin
----Besler-Brooks-Cameron----
---------------Howard---------------

 

I like that. Has some sexy appeal to it. Has some nice curves, doesn't it.

Personally I'd probably put Clint in Arriola's spot and ideally I'd have Williams instead of Roldan but that's not possible at such a date. So maybe Roldan over Acosta. He's much superior in MLS. Everything else I agree on but Brooks won't be available in Oct.

I hope by the WC Saief proves quality enough as he'd fit well as an AM next to Pulisic.

 

Bruce needs to get his shit together.

Tough love time, baby.

 

Pretty good... pretty good.

 

The form of the center backs, going into the match, is of paramount importance. If Gonzalez is not playing well at Pachuca then he doesn't need to be brought in.

 

I hope Bruce start watching more BVB game tapes and do something about Pulisic.

You know Concacaf teams are going to doubled, tripled, and quadrupled team Pulisic every time he has the ball. So, what do we do? What does Bruce need to do?

Every time Pulisic receives the ball, which is usually in the half or final third of the field, at least 2-3 of our players need to move intelligently around Pulisic, make dashing run forwards, open up the lanes, drag defenders away, give Pulisic the options to pass the ball forward in attack or pull some defenders away and relieve pressure so that he can move the ball forward.

Bruce needs to make sure that message is LOUD and CLEAR with this team.

When you have a players demanding and attracting so much coverage and attention from the opposing defense, you should have plenty of splace to play with but I haven't seen this team able to take full advantage of that. The coach needs to do a heck of a lot better with this game plan.

 

3 man backline would seem to be the obvious solution to our inability to control the midfield.

 

Brooks is hurt and has not played in quite a while. CP in the middle would either open up the wings or take pressure off him defensively with less coverage because of the wing play. Other than that, I like this set up. We have other guys, lets play them. This group has stagnated because of age and, well age. Of all the vets, you have to keep Dempsey in the squad just for his attitude. I don't think anyone gets away with shit when he's around. Not being a Roldan watcher, I would go for Williams. He seems to be a young Jones. Has fire and something that a newly promoted club liked enough to buy him. I'm hopeful with a dose of trepidation.

 

Let's not overdose just yet. If we can avoid overconfidence, I think these next two matches will be a cakewalk.

 

the big question here is who Arena is likely to play in place of Brooks. I really don't want to see Gonzo here.

 

Unless Brooks develops Wolverine-like healing powers within the next few weeks, here's what I see

3-5-2

Guzan

Cameron - Gonzo - Besler

Bradley - Acosta

Yedlin - Pulisic - Johnson

Altidore - Wood.

Not the best set up I could come up with likely, but considering our personnel, coming up with a partner for Bradley was tough

 

You know, you're right. My mistake. I read through that page too quickly and did not explore the stats fully.

I don't like the Florida total state number because it's a big ass state, but if you combine the three most relevant metros within a reasonable drive to the game (Orlando, Tampa, Miami), you get around 20k Panamanian Americans. Comparable figure for Costa Rican Americans in NY metro area is 27k. So all things considered, it won't be a non-factor by any stretch, and it may actually be close to what we saw/heard in NJ. Ugh.

This is not the Gold Cup. This is qualifying. We owe our opponent nothing. In a couple years, my hope would be that we'd play a game like this in the chilly confines of MN United's new SSS.

 

for our current pool, i like 10/11 spots in this lineup. if arriola isn't out wide, i dont see how he fits into something like this. he isn't creative enough or have a nose for goal/provide central link up play to be in the middle of the field imo.

 

Gonzalez has been in poor form. Brooks is unavailable. Miazga has few caps.

Would the backline then become ---Ream---Besler---Cameron?

 

I suggested this first. Williams should not be on the USMNT coaching staff, he was the worst USYNT coach I can remember.

 

Maybe, but it shouldn't be Ream. There are 15 CB's in our player pool I'd pick before Ream. We have CB depth, Ream is not part of that, he's not good.

 

Doubtful Arena would go with a newbie.

 

My impression of the US's use of three center backs is that it works best when the team knows that it will be more defensive in its outlook. (Under Arena: Mexico and Germany at 02 WC, in Azteca recently.) It seems more muddled when the team has to navigate a more complicated offensive/defensive balance.

Instead, maybe Arena tries to do a kind of 4-2-3-1:

______________Altidore_____________

Nagbe?________Pulisic__________Arriola

________Bradley______WIlliams( or Acosta)

Villifana______Besler______Cameron_____Yedlin

with Nagbe spending a lot of the game tucked inside to give Bradley and Williams support and Pulisic pushing up to combine w Altidore.

So in the end this should look kinda like the lineups B. Bradley used sometimes in the 2nd half at the 2010 World Cup (I think Slovenia and Ghana, maybe), where Feilhaber was a left midfielder but helped support the center a lot and where Dempsey played in the midfield/forward hybrid role.

 

This has been in the back of my mind for a while now.

 

Backline has to be:

Fabian-Besler-Cam-Yedlin

It just HAS to be.

 

I like the idea of bringing Arriola up close to Pulisic. It does make me feel old, though.
I remember the days when a 3-6-1 was the least sexy formation that you could play.

 

It doesn't have to be, if you value putting Cameron in midfield more. Then he can help protect the back line and win balls in midfield. You win/lose more games there than anywhere else. That's arguably why we had the last 2 bad performances.

CB pairing is going to be hurt a little, but you have to weigh priorities. Gonzalez can be sufficient if he doesn't have to cover that much space, as he shouldn't with speedier players like Cameron and Fabian supporting him. The ball should also reach the back-line at the feet of opponents less.

I am tempted to start Miazga off 2 caps. Besler-Miazga got experience together at the Gold Cup, and it looked good. Although it's a small and not so translatable sample, and more so a theory.

 

Let's say we tie them, we've not been able to beat Panama in competitive games at home since 2013:

https://www.11v11.com/teams/usa/tab/opposingTeams/opposition/Panama/

The Ticos beat Honduras to clinch quals (that should be a tight, difficult afair: 2-1 or so) and Mexico B destroys the already gone T&T 3-0 or worse. The table would look like this entering the last day:

MEX 21
CRC 18
PAN 11
USA 10
HON 9
T&T 3

So if we can't beat Panama, the last day we must beat Trinidad away (very doable) to get the playoff spot, considering Panama should beat Costa Rica at home (but I bet they Uzbekistan it, in that case we get the Third Ticket and get called "lucky" by the Mexicans for months), and Honduras should beat Mexico B in SPS.

 

To me this looks a lot like the 541 (2-2 box midfield) we played in the Azteca qualifier.

----------------Wood----------------
---------Pulisic - Arriola-----------
Beasley-Bradley-Acosta-Yedlin
----Ream-Gonzalez-Cameron----
----------------Guzan---------------

Slightly different personnel but essentially the same setup and one designed to stifle the opponent's attack and look for a goal on the break (or set piece).

By the way, I've been really digging Acosta's free kicks lately. Most consistently dangerous set piece taker in the pool right now. Goal against Hondo wouldn't have happened without him in there.