Sands was alarming in this match but his mistakes were within the game. Poorly executed pass, unwise deflection, bad tackle in the box. Ugh. But, that play where Pines just blindly and desperately boots the ball from the flank to the top of his own box had a worrying “have you played this game before?” quality to it.
It hasn't been mentioned before this, I don't think, but yes, Arriola was terrible. Possibly the worst game I've seen from him. I think his highlight was knocking a ball off the defender for a throw.
I would agree that he relies on his physical ability too much. More than once he goes directly for the ball on a 50-50 play instead of checking (body) the opponent first. A big defender had the advantage over him just because of that. I stated before in these boards that although he had a good run in the championship, ALL of his goals were against teams from the bottom half of the standings. That was a red flag for me. He is still young and very intelligent, he will learn and improve.
You may want to hold off on that statement. Mexico will press high as always, we should see how well our backline deals with it.
I am even more positive now after watching the reverse replays that if Sands hadn't put a foot to that ball that it would have been one-v-one with the keeper. That was a perfect pass and while Sands' deflection required Turner to bail him out I think things could have been worse if he let it go. Again... not his best game. I don't think I have ever seen him gaff a pass that badly before and I generally like the way he defends... even as a CB in a two CB backline. Really hope this lights a fire in him and he comes out and has his best game against Mexico.
We shouldn't be too proud to play direct against Mexico. Knockdown header from Zardes or Hoppe is probably our best chance for scoring against them.
I agree with your review all except about Ariola. The Ariola we saw last night is the Ariola that he has always been. He hustles, busts his butt but he is not going to overpower anyone with his game. I expect him to defend, lots of it, and then be replaced by Roldan around minute 65.
Much-maligned US women's team member, who had a great game this morning in the Olympic quarterfinal. Similar to Zardes...
Qatar's mistake was not to press us, that would have cause them to see the ball more in our half. but then, they would have been tired sooner.
He is going to be crazy tested by Mexico. He also needs to be sure to get his boots right as he had a couple of nervy slips against Qatar.
This. Moore gives you more of a direct attack as a fullback. Cannon is better at combining in the final third. Well said.
RB is just so loaded. Dest is Dest. Reynolds has superior athleticism and a wicked cross. Scally is athletic as well, and a dynamic dribbler. Araujo, if he chooses the US, gives us probably the best long term defender of the crew with some offense. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
If Araujo really does want to play with the US then he made a huge mistake not accepting the invitation to the GC. He would likely have been given all the minutes Moore has gotten. I still think he is the best one-v-one defender in the RB/LB pool but not accepting this invitation likely puts him even further down the depth chart. Could be playing for Mexico soon.
I'd play Williamson over Busio, personally ... but he's had positional discipline issues for Portland and he's been prone to bad turnovers. It's not something that's made up entirely on the Martinique game. It's not every game -- sometimes he's absolutely amazing out there, but there are games where he both disappears and gets into bad situations. It's a risk that comes with some reward. I could see it either way, especially since the US strategy seems to be to give up nothing and hope to get a goal.
On a good day our full squad runs up the score. Qatar go out there with a plan that they know how to execute, but they aren't good.
If this tournament is about finding players for the WCQ and A-team in general, I feel like a guy with his skill on the ball and athletic ability needed to see a lot more of the field. Good on Gregg for giving him 10 minutes to make a difference in crunch time but who knows if we're in that position if he'd been on the field earlier. Shaq Moore dribbled a man centrally and created trouble in the first half and that is about all of the dribble attacks I remember from the starters.
The valid excuse for Sands was the ball deflected right before reaching him. He had no reasonable chance to react. So I don't even count that as a mistake. It's bad luck/guilt by association. The deep TO was an unforced mistake, for the most part. He wasn't even under pressure. But you have to caveat it w/ the fact Sands was taking onus where his teammates outside Hoppe weren't. It was akin to Hoppe's dribbling TO deep in his end to allow a good chance in the previous game. Reality is, some players have to take on the responsibility. They can't back pass the first 65 minutes until Qatar gets tired. With the onus put on them, you have to expect some mistakes in their compensatory aggression, then weigh it based on the overall contribution and factor in team need. His biggest faux pas was the penalty. He got sidestepped in the open field. Miles behind Miles there. It's one reason Sands plays in a 3-man back-line or at the 6. He's being (mis)cast in a pair due to Gregg's roster selections & Zim's injury. James also shouldn't have lunged in cuz he had help just coming from Moore. As it was, wasn't an obvious penalty, but I agreed w/ the ref's call.
I'm coming around to the view that this is part of our long-run strategy. We have a very young team and so physical fitness should be an advantage in the world cup. Make the other teams work and then bring on speed players to attack tired legs. In my 23, I have an "open spot" and one way it could be used is to have a player that you bring off the bench in those circumstances. But you also need that player to be able to be an emergency starter if the team is hit hard by injuries. Zardes gives you that at the 9 and has certainly proven his value off the bench. Lewis fits as a bench player, but when given the opportunity to prove that he could also be an emergency starter, failed badly enough that this spot (if we use the spot that way) belongs to Zardes.
Isn't that the same lineup that played very poorly vs Qatar? I mean Qatar but you want that same lineup for Mexico!? to win a trophy? 3 of the 4 subs should start.
Chances created in the first half is what matters. My home team, Austin FC, is in last place and dominates the possession every match. Qatar's created more and better chances in the first half and it wasn't close. The speed of their counters confused and overwhelmed a couple of our players. Robinson and Turner steadied things at times, but not enough to prevent at least 3 really good first half chances for Qatar that were better than any of the chances we had.
I agree. However, it's not a reference and you should know that. The topic at hand is that no one is going overboard and claiming genius status for Gregg. I think that's irrefutable.