Pretty much the only competitive games we played well in were the two finals against Mexico. And the “playing well” had more to do with snuffing out a dangerous attack versus creating much in the run of play. But at least Mexico is a solid team.
Right. The pool of coaching talent in international soccer is very small. Although berhalter isn’t very good, there aren’t a lot of very good coaches waiting for the call to be our coach. For berhalter to get canned by the end of the next round of qualifiers, I think we would need to be at or below 6 points, and I doubt that happens. It’s possible, but so is a win against Honduras.
For me, it wasn't just that Landon scored, it was how he scored. Like you said, the way he HAMMERED the ball into the net screamed: "I'm not going down like this. We're gonna make a comeback!" I also remember the 2010 World Cup for being the 1st time in my life I had the flu. I crawled from my (seemed like) death bed to watch the USA-England game. I barely mustered a cheer when the US scored...I just lay on the coach like warmed up dead meat.
This could get ugly quickly. With the clubs our guys play at they know a fraud when they see it. I'm sure there's things Puli doesn't like about Tuchel, like not starting him in the UCL final but a guarantee he has a great deal of respect for Tuchel and everything I've seen suggests Tuchel's tactical acumen and preparation is top of this game. Imagine going from that to a Swedish 2nd division failure....the cycle after you failed to qualify.
what makes it even crazier is that thats exactly the time to tell the guys- knock it around the back. make canada chase. recycle recycle recycle. only play attacking balls if canada comes out of their shape... in other words our first half game plan.
We're all just pissed that's all. I'd like to see Gregg gone because his teams are just painful to watch. And I'd like him gone now. But realistically, no one is getting the boot for tying on the road and dropping two points to a hardscrabble Canadian team. We can take Hondo, but it won't be because of the coach; we've beaten them down there before, we can do it again. But where's the friggin "grit"coming from on this team?
Yup they’ve been grooming him for this for awhile and they aren’t going to panic and fire him midseason unless things get really bad. And I think they’re realistic given all the players they lost. Our best hope for Marsch is him getting the job for the 2026 or 2030 cycle.
I'm fine with the roster too. Pulisic and Reyna being injured/sick is hard. Most countries just can't replace the #10 for Chelsea and #7 for BVB easily. That plus CM being by far the thinnest position in our pool and our CM for Juve deciding to do something dumb and get himself suspended when the next man up is a CM for the Colorado Rapids... We are testing the hell out of our depth very early and it's a shame. We have some depth but not that much... we need our pool to be healthy, playing and in form... this window we had almost none of that... hopefully next window we have more of it... Hoppe gets going... Cannon maybe gets going... Christ Richards gets going... Maybe Pomykal makes some strides.... My biggest concern is the quality at the CM position... it's just not there outside of McKennie and Adams.
I’ve said multiple times that I expect to cruise through qualifying. We should finish first, and if we don’t it should be because Mexico plays well and we have a lot of bad luck. I’m just realistic enough to look around in international soccer and see how few teams actually win prettily. England is fresh off a Euro final and a World Cup semifinal playing just as conservatively and aesthetically unspleasant soccer as we have under berhalter. we generally play hard and don’t hurt ourselves. The midfield has consistently been dysfunctional under berhalter, and the attack impotent for long stretches, but those are hardly the only things that matter.
Lleget created nothing all game, you know the point of a midfielder yet he p Honduras away with a depleted and exhausted roster. Not looking good so far.
Canada had a world class player and he showed up. The US does not seem to have one or he/they did not show up. Also, I would have no complaints if McKennie was benched until 2023. How do you get in trouble for ignoring COVID rules multiple times?
Depends on severity - which we don’t know but nice of you to pick a side right away. I’m not all for jumping to suspensions. There are multiple ways to handle breaking “team rules” or whatever.
I do want to add that, in terms of crowd, Nashville was good. 42k at game. Frankly we didn’t have a whole lot to cheer for but stood the whole game.