Post-match: USA vs. Mexico - Nations League Final - June 7

Long's passing is not better than Mckenzie's. Probably Long can handle the pressure better, but we don't know for sure.

The blow is not having Richards, this tournament was supposed to be his coming-out party.
Because of Mckenzie's bad game, I don't see GB giving any new young one the chance to play in big games.

 

Zimmerman cannot pass from the back. He will just kick it downfield.

 

One he was offside I thought and the other wasn't that great a save if it was this one at 11:53.

 

I think the Xg inflated us a bit, and I definitely think they were the better side, but it was reasonably close, and I think it would've been quite different if the red hadn't made numerous odd decisions (no double yellow on a player, whistling a breakaway opportunity dead for the half extra time, letting Mexico build an attack and when it failed to score, giving them a free kick, etc, etc, etc. It was kind of bizarre. They let Mexico get away with a ton, and I haven't even mentioned yet another freaking choking.

 

Yep.

Not only this, but he had to get Brooks and Long some cohesion, because Brooks was hurt for much of his tenure. And a global pandemic.

He also gave Miazga a tryout to pair with Brooks in one of the windows. People complain that we don't evaluate enough players.

McKenzie got into a January camp before he really broke out. Post-break out we gave Miazga a chance, McKenzie was working with a new club team, and we tried to get Long some time.

And still, McKenzie got two starts before Nations League.

People want to see even more players than even this, but we're also supposed to properly evaluate players and get back line cohesion!

 

A better pure passer/ Ream is better.
ARob can pass but if pressed, he would probably try to push the ball for an opening before he passes.

 

I killed Lletget for his terrible set pieces. Pulisic was consistently sending in great balls (missed one) and Reyna sent in another.

33% of all 2018WC goals were off set pieces. It is absolutely an ok way to score and no reason to apologize. In fact, Tata has some explaining to do.

 

The US got 4 headers on frame off corners, plus the rebounds for Reyna and Sargent probably rack up the xg fast, to say nothing of the penalty.

 

Especially when you have Weston owning the air. I can't remember the last time a US player was that dominant in the air during a big game. It was just a sic display of tenacity and athleticism.

 

This for emphasis.

I think Pulisic and Reyna need to adjust for this -- more quick passes, more give and goes. Those take time and trust, though.

But when they do get fouled, we need to punish them. Mexico put out a pretty naive defense on Sunday, so I'm not as convinced we've fixed our issues. We do have some nicely designed plays, but we're really coming down often to Brooks and McKennie being better than their opponents. CONCACAF is largely small, so that can work, but we struggled against Honduras aside from McKennie's miss, and Jamaica will be no slouch, either.

Our starting frontline is super weak in the air. They can make up for it elsewhere, but we don't have a lot of size or heft for an American team.

In other words, I'm not sold we've permanently fixed anything.

 

I don't think we have anointed Yunus. I know that I like Yunush better (based on his starts not sub appearance) than the other options that have been used JY, SL and KA in the 6.

Also it is the managers job to put players in positions to succeed. You don't think that if Dest and Lainez had switched places that Dest would have wrecked havoc on Ream and Lainez would have looked like crap in Dest's role for the US?

 

In Keeper school, they teach you to always go low when you make yourself bigger. That is the odds game. I would always show them low and at the last moment, I would decide either to keep my hands low or in front of me for those close shots. Even when I guessed it right, the coach would chastise me for bringing my hands up when I did.

There is a saying with goalies.."A goalie can never be good unless he is also lucky"

 

Yesterday's game wasn't even in the Azteca and you can see it was completely different than what most of these guys face and frankly both it and Honduras got to the players a bit.

They seem to have the right mindset, but I think people need to realize that playing in front of a large German crowd against Bayern in a big game is stressful and a great experience, but it's not the same experience as playing in a match with a crowd throwing crap and reffing that allows the opposing team to abuse you. Can you imagine Mats Hummels choking Gio Reyna?

When people say that a DFB Pokal final or Champions League is going to mirror playing at San Pedro Sula ... it's not that latter is harder; it's that it is easier in some ways and harder in ways they've never experienced.

 

There was something wrong with him. Either physically or mentally. Surprisingly, Dest played like he didn't care

 

This is the new thing to do. Discount anything the other team does by pressing our players.

Mexico missed a penalty and there were three tremendous saves by our GKs. But, you are right, they created nothing outside the Lainez goal. But really, what idiot lets that pixie get a left footed shot off? And the ball went right through McKenzie's legs, so lets call it a gift two. 3-0 USA.

We didn't have any flying back headers off the line in this one that need to be discounted for Steffen's error. Amazing how every goal can be traced to some mistake and chalked off.

 

I don't like Acosta. I think he is a penalty or ejection waiting to happen.
But to his credit, he has always played well against Mexico. He was in the team that got a tie in the Azteca.

 

People are surprised because they treat Friendlies as real games. They have not caught on to the fact that the top players do not. It is not NHL or NBA All-star stuff, but it is not 100% effort. For the first time, our coach does not. He coached against Mexico completely differently than he does in any friendly.

 

He didn't tackle it off him, it was a bad pass under little pressure that Corona jumped.

Edit: More goals are scored from errors than individual moments of magic. Lainez was the only such goal out of the 5 scored.

 

Here is my take on GB. This team is almost on auto-pilot mode. No matter the blunders of GB with formation or player selection this team will have a good chance to win or tie and help him keep his job. Sad, but that is what I see.

 

Long's passing is not better than McKenzie's, not at all.

Long is far better at playing sweeping CB than McKenzie, and more importantly, he's far more experienced in these kind of situations.

In the end, it was a good experience for Mark, who I see as having a lot more potential than most. So it worked out, because he will be less intimidated and better next time, I suspect.

But I doubt Long has as many errors as Mark did.

Richards is going to be great, and the blow isn't not having Richards; it's not having Richards getting the experience of playing Mexico before he has to do it in WCQ.

As for Berhalter, a lot of people constantly ascribe character attributes to the man that he repeatedly proves false. Unless your standard is to play every young player, Berhalter has been more willing than most coaches to play young players in key situations. I don't know why he would change because McKenzie had issues.

Every time an older player plays over the younger, people freak out. But Berhalter's overall track record is pretty willing to play youth. Hell, he played McKenzie over Miazga.

 

if i am literally excusing a downside i think this is not the real question, which should then be replaced with, how many goals and assists do you offer? if your defensive efforts are sufficiently bad i may give up actual goals allowed, then i start thinking screw aesthetics, i need actual goals for to justify it.

on those lines you get different answers for dest and arob. dest has a recent goal. dest creates some actual chaos. arob tends to run to the flag and hit a cross that doesn't score. arob hasn't had a goal or assist in club or country for years. dest is more productive, cannon is objectively more productive.

to me the emphasis on vague "passing" is an aesthetic thing and the teams i have been on that allowed slow, unathletic, or attacking players in the back for aesthetic reasons tended to be mediocre. aesthetic is not goals and you are giving up actual goals in trade.

and in case people missed it cannon was also solid on defense sunday.

 

I disagree. I think there is added pressure in playing for your club in that it is your livelihood. If you play badly against Bayern, you might get dropped and your career could be in danger. That will also hurt your NT standing.

Gio Reyna was unphased by the pressure. It seems like playing in the UCL helped him. Pulisic has been unphased his entire tenure. Meanwhile, other guys seem completely intimidated.

The more you play them the less nervous or surprised they get. Acosta didn't seem intimidated, he is just not any better than he showed. Same with Yedlin.

I don't know why Hummels would choke his own team mate. But I could see a Schalke player choking Gio.

 

I think our future is with Richards. When both Richards and Mczensie were with the U20 team, Richards was the top dog by a country mile. I don't think that has changed. It was unfortunate he got hurt. I wonder if he is going to get called for the GC.

 

He doesn't have a bad record of cards.

https://www.transfermarkt.us/kellyn-acosta/detaillierteleistungsdaten/spieler/189895

 

What's the point of any tournament beyong those 3 things?