Alert: [Crew Bored] '21 CONCACAF Gold Cup: An Altogether Less Prestegious Competition Than Nations League

You mean the guy that went to middle and high school in Texas?

 

Bayern. Never...

I do have about half of MLS and 13 or 14/18 in the current Bundesliga. 9/18 in the 2 Liga (but have some other gear for teams I don't have a jersey for, like a CL training top for Schalke) and a couple in the 3 Liga. A few EPL/England.

 

Playing more too.

 

WCQ starts a month from today. After winning two tournaments this summer using two completely different rosters, I can't wait to see what we can do in qualifying.

We play El Salvador away on 9/2, Canada in Nashville on 9/5, and Honduras away on 9/8. On paper, we have a great chance to come out of this first window with 9 points, but you never know what's going to happen when you are playing in places like San Salvador or San Pedro Sula.

It will also be interesting to see how Mexico does in the first window. After getting beat by the US twice this summer in championship games, and looking shaky in multiple games during the two tournaments, Tata Martino is going to be skating on thin ice. They play Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Panama in the first window. There will likely be a ton of pressure on Tata (assuming he's still around by that point) and the team, so we'll see how they handle that.

 

I have to admit I was not a fan of Berhalter becoming the NT coach. I think he tends to over play things and make things complicated. which can be challenging for players who he only gets to work with a couple times a year. This has proven to be true and he has said as much during various interviews over the last 18 months or more. However, results speak for themselves and getting two wins over Mexico in the process is a big deal.

It was awesome to see the guys play so hard last night and grind their way to a victory. The second half was a much closer affair than the first.

In tournaments it doesn't really matter how you play but if you win or not. This is true in WCQ and maybe even more so then. The question still remains which is how do we break down teams when the burden is on us to do so rather than counter attack.

 

So glad to be wrong with my prediction.

 

Sounds good. PM me the details.

 

Happy to miss this Grouchy point. It was a good tournament for Gregg. At the time I didn't like taking Cannon and Bello off but it worked out ok. US has certainly deepened the talent pool for WCQ.

It would be a mistake for Mexico to fire Tata but it seems like one they will make. AUFC should be on the phone that day.

 

Agree, crazy that he is on the hot seat. Who better are they really going to get out there? It better pay really well, because nobody lasts.

 

Mexico fans, well, they live in a dream.world. They are convinced that their players are mostly world class superstars who walk on water. This is barely an exaggeration.

So when they don't win something, it's clearly the coaches fault since it's unthinkable that their players just aren't quite good enough. After a couple of losses the fans and the media lose their minds and want the coach ridden out of town on a rail for failure to measure up to the greatness of the team.

Overall I think I prefer the US approach, which has always been that we suck. Then when we win something it's a pleasant surprise.

 

So, in other words, the realistic approach.

 

If we had lost the Nations League final and Gold Cup final, Gregg would definitely be skating on extremely thin ice with the fanbase.

 

also, its amazing what happens when you jettison the dead weight like bradley and altidore

 

Altidore definitely strikes me as the type of guy that could destroy locker room morale. He was fun to watch at times, but I'm glad we have moved on.

 

Youthful enthusiasm....

 

Well, as long as there is booze.

 

It appears that the fans want Almeyda.

Yes, Matías Almeyda. From San Jose. I mean, I'm sure they could get him, but... really?

 

His birthday is in January. Party all year?

 

What your post remined me of is something that was so obvious from Gregg's time in Columbus. He's more of a tournament coach than a regular season coach. Rather, players buy-in to his approach, his message... hell, whatever it is, and are willing to work their asses off for him, more so when there's a focused, near-term goal, than something far less tangible and high-stakes, like the MLS regular season. And we saw that on display in numerous MLS playoff matches, where we weren't necessarily the better team on paper, but guys rose to the challenge and played with a seamless purpose and confidence that their resumes wouldn't anticipate.

Which, I suppose, is sorta what you want from a national team coach. Then again, it's sorta what we had in a coach like Arena. The question remains, then, whether Gregg can get more out a pool that is far, far better and more accomplished than anything Bruce has to choose from.

 

Disagree. We have been living with the memory of the 2018 failure and the NL Final turned that around. Our boys came to play, scrap and fight for the shirt. That was lacking in our opening 2-1 loss to Mexico in qualifying and almost absent in the Couva Loafing Society. A loss would have stung but the fanbase can accept that. We can't accept arrogant, half assed effort.

I don't think many were expecting our GC team to win let alone make the final. But we fought and got stronger during the game. It was like a Rocky movie and Mexico provided the horrible acting. GC trophy was only part of the excitement. We learned Turner,Robinson, Hoppe and Moore are ready to contribute to qualifying. Yeull and Lewis aren't. Some players are too raw (Busio,Bello,Gio) but have room to improve. Our older players (Lleget,Arriola) were steady but not outstanding. The win wasn't as important as the building block.

And CONCACAF.......there's a Hype Train coming.

 

Boom.

 

Winning both was an unexpected boon. I think Gregg needed to win one of them to avoid the "hot seat." Obviously there was an overarching plan of building a squad for WCQ that played into both tournaments. If we'd lost the Nations League final and gotten dumped by Jamaica in the semi of the Gold Cup I think some real questions would be being asked.

That's not what happened though. The squad building really couldn't have worked out any better. We'll be heading into qualifying full of confidence and a deep roster of capable players. Those 3 game weeks are going to be brutal. Every guy called in should expect to get minutes (except maybe GK, but who knows).

The team building is an area that Gregg excels. Meshing egos and talent into a team is not a trivial matter.

This WCQ is going to really fun to watch and it starts in a bit over a month!

 

January birthdays are the best birthdays!

 

This may be blasphemy around here, but at this point, I'd put Turner above Steffen.