Will they? I'm not so sure...at least not without a coaching change. Winless in 11 can't be just about the pandemic. Twellman actually had a valid point last night (shocking, I know)...in the space of seven days, the US has beaten Honduras, Mexico and Costa Rica. With respect to Jamaica and whoever gets to The Ocho... ...which sounds better than The Oct... ...out of the playoffs next week, you could make the argument that those are the three toughest teams in the region. The only way that gauntlet gets any tougher in qualifying is if you made two of them road games. This last week will serve us well down the road.
Costa Rica has had a very bad cycle. They look worse than we did in 2018 by far. They're "between generations." That group yesterday looked old, tired, and uninterested. And I'm not entirely convinced by their new generation. Let's not for forget that a US U23 "C" team beat their U23 "A" team in Olympic qualifying. I don't know what's going on, but they appear in trouble. You can't shrug off going winless in 11 games in a row. Costa Rica is down. Honduras is down. Panama hasn't impressed me. Mexico will be tough, but I'm not convinced they're that good by their standards (particularly without Raul Jimenez, who is a difference maker). Every cycle there's one the four "big" teams in the region that really struggles. It was the US in 2018. it was Mexico in 2014. I would not be surprised to see Canada and/or Jamaica rise up to take Costa Rica's slot amongst the big 4. I might be going against the grain here, but my dark horse is Jamaica. Folks are enamored by Canada's front three, but the rest of the squad is "meh."
Tough game to pick apart with the low intensity, but it was really good to see how easily we handled Costa Rica. We had a big advantage by being able to swap out most of the team and still have the depth to field a strong side. Aaronson's tenacity is pretty fantastic for an attacking player and he is good at picking a pass. HE does at times seem to hold the ball up instead of running with it when he is attacking. Most of the time that's the right choice, but I'd like to see him drive forward in the attack occasionally to present the threat at least. Either way, he's looking like the best attacking option off the bench right now and the way he abused Costa Rica in the corner last night was brutal. Shame Musah was a step late getting to the ball. Dike was a mixed bag as many are saying. He finished his chance well, was key in the first goal just banging in the box, but he also missed an easy chance to slip Weah in and he fumbled the ball multiple times when trying to combine. With the rest of the squad focused more on quick ground passes, he needs to be able to play with his teammates some while still bringing the more physical attributes he possesses. Even without improvement he's certainly good enough to compete with Josh simply by creating danger and making it tough for the center backs. Weah was a bit too much flash and not enough end product this game. BUt, he is fantastically skilled, fast, strong, willing to track back and defend, wants to be a team player. Just a ton to work with and while he lost the ball a time or two playing with it, he has also made some really excellent central runs that have not been rewarded. a couple times this game and against Mexico a better ball from his teammates make this a very different looking window for him. Still a work in progress, but that finished product still looks like it could be extremely high quality. Adams was the story in midfield. He's the only one that lets us get away with a single defender back there. The drop off when Yueill came on was dramatic and immediate. Still, he may not be at his best yet and he wasn't great showing for the ball and moving it. I actually thought Lletget did a decent job at times coming deep to show. That was also a very nice splitting pass Lletget made on the opening goal. I much prefer seeing one of the 8s come to receive the ball than just trying to force it through the 6 so much. We need to have more than one passing option and I hope the team develops this more moving forward. As many have said Musah can just glide through a midfield but then he sputters in the attacking third. He either needs to develop a bit more in that area of the field or he needs to focus on looking for quick passes to dump it to a better attacker once he gets 30 yards from goal. But, he's got some serious upside for a young player. McKenzie had a couple more slip ups. I know he's young and developing but defensive guys have to be steadier. 2-3 slips a game where you get needlessly beaten is brutal to a team's defense. He's got to clean it up. Good passing and lots of potential but the further back you move the more consistency is demanded, that's why defenders and goalies tend to be older. It usually takes some time to shake it all out. I think a healthy Richards is easily better today with Che on the way. The future is unwritten. I was glad to see Zimmerman and was curious about him at this level. But, not sure if it was the late call or what, but he seemed a little slack to me and a step slow. He does some good things, but he's got some physical limitations with his lack of quickness that are hard to cover up without a ton of experience at this level. We had a couple tricky moments as soon as he took the field. I feel ike he needs higher level experience so he can figure out how to play around his lack of speed, but with other options he's not likely to get it for the US. He's a guy who could really benefit by getting into a stronger league. Cannon had a good game. If we didn't have Dest, he'd have that right back spot on lock down. He's not flashy but he plays hard, defends and makes decent simple passes. The goal was a bonus you aren't likely to see often. Robinson was solid as well and I'd still like to see him get more time with the top line, just creates more balance back there. I think it strange how adamant we are about having a left footed and right footed center back on the appropriate side but don't seem to think it matters on the outside. Horvath was fine but didn't have much to do. The subs ran from Yueill being a flop to a smattering of guys to give the fans a treat and rub it in a bit at the end. Pefok's knee was worrying but I see this morning he's fine. Overall a very promising game and the end of a hugely successful window. I feel very good about qualifying now.
They are in pretty similar situations. Yes, Richards is in a better league right now. However, they are both JUST starting to emerge, so I’m going to have to see more of both to determine it. I don’t think the gap is as large as you suggest. It also wouldn’t surprise me with the recent caps if McKenzie jumps up a league.
I'm hoping to watch the game (didn't DVR it on Fubo, and for some reason it doesn't look like Fubo gives you access to ESPN content on the app - someone correct me if I'm wrong on this). From what I'm seeing here, it looks like the following items are pretty prevalent. Adams is the most important player on this team, and maybe in all of CONCACAF. Doesn't mean he's the best player, but this team is going to be completely different when he's playing. I love McKennie's fire and grit, but if we are looking at a "first-choice" captain I think it's Adams. He just exudes a maturity and calmness well beyond his years, and this team needs that. Having a striker who attacks goal and can finish fits the team better. I said after the Honduras game that with the creators on this team, having a striker who can run behind and/or get on the end of crosses is going to fit the team more. Aaronson is going to be an extremely important player for this team in the qualifying cycle. I get the excitement for him starting, but I REALLY like him as a super-sub coming on after 60 minutes in a first-choice lineup. He is going to terrify tired teams with his pressing, ability to pick a pass, and quickness.
I'm not convinced yet on Jamaica...but that is probably because I've been hearing variations on, "Jamaica is poised to become the next dominant team in CONCACAF" for pretty much the last 25 years (Onandi Lowe, anyone?) and so far they've come up short pretty much every time...no World Cups since '98 and not a Gold Cup trophy in the case. IMO, improvement of their Best XI still depends far too much on what they can glean from England in the way of Jamaica-connected players and recruiting them...sort of like Steve Sampson's Foreign Legion for the US back in the day.
Yeah, its unclear what's going on. i would say that this format of three WCQers in each window isn't going to favor the older teams. Costa Rica played Mexico to a scoreless draw in 90 minutes in the Nations League. But yesterday they sure as hell looked old and tired in that third of three games. Meanwhile the US had fresh legs, and quality players, to rotate into the group. I don't think anybody believes Costa Rica is going to be bad in WCQers. They just look beatable. Last cycle they beat us at home, and I just can't see it based on what I've seen of these two teams. Maybe Navas will stand on his head in goal. That's one position where they have an advantage over the USMNT. I'd go so far as to say he's the only player in Costa Rica's best XI that would currently walk into our best XI. Other than that, its sorta an MLS-quality roster. That's not bad, but also nothing that should scare us.
fair...fair...he also DID play a ball to weah for a shot that went off the post...sure...fair... "...certainly good enough to compete with josh". what the...i mean just...¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i guess the default remains "worked really hard" #sargentchallenge
This was a Costa Rican B team. The drop off between the Costa Rican A team vs B team is pretty significant way more than USMNT. Costa Rica also played 5 defensive backs. They were content on allowing the US to control possession for whatever reason. It almost seemed like Costa Rica had real concerns how they matched up to us and chose to play a bit more primitive. Because of this we looked great. And that's not to take away from the win but I see alot of people saying Ream played great. Well he should have. He only had to basically track one lone striker who wasn't getting great service because Costa Rica was tucked so far back and he had plenty of help. The US was on the front foot because we had better players maybe except Joel Campbell and a more attack minded formation. So while I'm happy we got the W it's important to keep it in context and not glean more than we should.
I get what you're saying about this being a CR B team. But this last sentence has been the bogeyman for USMNT teams for years. Historically, they have been pretty good when absorbing pressure, countering, and winning on some set pieces. It's been the games where the other team has said, "Here, you have the ball and see if you can break us down" where the US has struggled. Given the talent level on this team, most teams in the Ocho are going to implement that strategy. The fact that the US scored four on a CONCACAF "minnow" bunker is very encouraging.
Are you sure Josh wouldn't have gotten to that ball Aaronson sent across? Dike was very slow to react out there several times. Personally, I consider it a compliment to say a guy who was the last on the bench play him in the scrub game guy should be competing with the guy who started the biggest games, especially after he missed at least one clear chance to score and bottled up more than one attack. If one simple put away against a poor Costa Rica and some banging in the box immediately equates to a starter, I think we have some pretty low standards up top, which may just be true.
If Cost Rica was B team, we must have had a C team because Costa Rica had a lot more of their starters from the Nations League Games out there than we had. Sure, maybe the starters they bring on another day are gonna make a difference but we sat Pulisic, Reyna and McKennie and they aren't getting that from the guys they left out.
This was supposed to be a reflection of what will happen in the WCQing windows for which we have 3 games in quick succession. We can see what the state of Costa Rica's lineup was in the 3rd game after needing to sit some starters. Not good. We had fresh reinforcements of pretty good quality for us in this third game. Of course, Costa Rica fired their coach right after the game. Their federation wasn't impressed by any excuses. Another reason to put a question mark next to Costa Rica for the Ocho. Its not really a good sign when you have to hire a new coach with very little preparation time prior to WCQers.
I pretty much agree, I definitely think Richards is the superior CB, but I also don't think it matters much. Over the past year alone Richards, and Long have been hurt, JAB definitely got hurt pretty frequently, and at a really inopportune last time. I think the better way to think of it, is who makes up our top two pairings, and whose a great utility fill in, so we have about a 5 man group> Richards-JAB Long-JAB McKenzie-JAB What's our best situation if JAB is out?
Yeah, this is going to be the weakest Costa Rica team we've faced in qualifying for a long time. For awhile it's been we should have no trouble beyond Mexico and Costa Rico. That equation may be down to one team this cycle, although I expect Jamaica to be improved and Canada is a bit of a wild card if they make it.
I think Costa Rica retained 5 starters from their previous two Nations League games (which both had unchanged lineups), and started another 2 players with around 150 caps between them (Gonzalez and Vagenas). But they also didn't have Keylor Navas, who's obviously their most pedigreed player by some distance. That might still be a B team depending on the definitions you're using, but the 3 game windows this year are going to require teams to rely on their B team players a lot more than they have in the past. So if there really is that much of a drop off for Costa Rica, that doesn't bode well for them.
CR sucks this time. Their track record is a sea of draws and losses dating back to their last win in NL groups in November 2019. The general run of games gives optimism. This particular one says more that CR is slipping back with Curacao, Canada, and Jamaica in a second tier, and without changes will be lucky to make Qatar.
Seems more like a belief than a newsflash. You may be right, and I would bet that I'm not the only one who wants to know why you believe that.
The CR team that we just played was missing 4/5 starters that played Mexico. The best conclusion I would come up with is our 'B' team isway better than their 'B' team. I agree, when the game matters we will see a different attitude of an opponent.