Well I picked that example because even the best coach on the planet can make some weird decisions in an extremely important game that get widely panned. Our coach is obviously no Pep.
I've never called his his firing and I don't necessarily think it is all that useful to do so, but to me a major take away from last night was just how it was top to bottom a disaster. Every single decision the coach made just did not work out. Whether or not these MLS lifers are good enough and whether or not we should play them (let alone call them up) will be talked about until they retire, so I don't want to step into those waters. All I know is that what I saw last night was a disaster and no decision Gregg made worked out. To top it off - I love how it was SO bad it also made the Scally decision look worse in retrospect. Look - I was ok with not calling in Scally. I get it. I still kind of am. But wow, the full backs were SO BAD last night that I would be lying if I said I didn't think it reflects incredibly poorly on Gregg to not call in Scally.
I was ready to sign on to your post until you finished with he didn’t call up an 18 year old who has never played for us for an away qualifier. That might have worked - but that’s not in my top 10 of Gregg’s transgressions.
Acosta wasn't good before that. Hoppe was another player, that did well in the Gold Cup and scored a few goals in the Bundesliga but hasn't played a minute since then. Busio, who played in the Gold Cup, moved to Serie A, got a goal and an assist but Berhalter doesn't let him play. Lleget, Roldan, Acosta, Zardes and Moore, should not be on this team. Why haven't we called up players like Flach, Ferreira, Rubin or Bassett?
Fair, but I think the transgression is his complete swing and a miss in terms of talent evaluation that he thought it was better to have Bello and Shaq more there (plus Yedlin, who looked back in his sub appearance too I thought). I'm not saying Scally would have worked at all, I am saying I think Gregg made a judgment call that Moore/Bello/Yedlin > Scally. And that that judgment call looks to have been wrong. Also the "he never played for us before!" is fair a lot of the time, but for someone like Scally? You could have said "He never played in the Bundlesliga before!" a month ago (hell I think you could have also said "He never played a professional game before!" a month ago too, right?) about him - and look how that turned out. If there is a single young player we have right now who has proven that maybe he has what it takes to walk into a tough situation and play competently, it's Scally.
Maybe because they are 20 year olds with no experience at this level with this team? Coaches like experience especially with a very young team. I don’t have an answer for Rubin as I’ve not seen him play enough.
I actually love taking chances on kids especially in tournaments - but away qualifier putting in an untested kid? Just not high on my list of criticisms personally.
Those players have as much experience as the ones we played. We started Bello(19), Pepi(18), Musah(18) and Konrad(20), in away qualifiers.
yeah so no its not if you win at home you can draw on the road and qualify without any issues. being a)realistic b)admitting that both wins and draws are not losses so it can't be a losing mantra is both smart and is the way to go forward. I am not saying they shouldn't try to win every match even at azteca. I am just stating a certain amount of points will qualify the us for the WC. Knowing that doesn't make you a loser lol.
I try to be pretty results-based in evaluating coaches and not give in to my knee-jerk reactions after bad games, but I'd can Berhalter if he loses against CR. My list of fireable offenses for a USMNT coach, unless there are mitigating circumstances: 1) Playing an A-team in an official CONCACAF competition (i.e., GC or NL) and going out to a non-Mexico team. 2) Getting into serious danger of not qualifying for a WC. 3) Actually not qualifying for a WC. A loss on Wednesday puts qualification in serious danger, so he should go if that happens.
Well I partly meant with this team - but that’s a fair point although central midfield is usually a position where age and experience matter. I thought Musah was pretty poor this game partly because he’s too young.
To cross sports, Damian Lillard is an amazing NBA player but if I tell him to defend Lebron and to only try to score on post-ups he will look terrible. Is that bad performance because he didn't show up or a bad coaching decision? GGG is asking players to do things they can't do well.
At that time, we were on the rise and our opponent? That is the Germany national team in decline which one year later couldn't get out the group of EURO 2000. Also, there weren't many our players play at euro's big league like we do now. Only MLS players we could count on. So in my opinion, the example you made doesn't match the reality we have right now. Sorry.
I'd add another point. Who is the non-MLSer who SHOULD be a backup to Adams? Unless someone has slipped my mind, there ain't one.
Indeed. And he had earned his place as Adam's backup based on his play with the USMNT this past summer. As we've said....................the Olympic qualifying team had a real problem at the #6 position. The 2019 U20s had Edwin Cerrillo and Chris Durkin at the #6 spot. Its been a surprisingly shallow position over the past 5 years. The reason Michael Bradley hung on for as long as he did was because the guys who were supposed to be in their primes were nowhere to be found. Its Acosta and.....................???? Maybe we take some guys who play more as #8s and use them as #6s. Busio, Tessmann, and friends. I don't know.
my issue is that don’t need a Pep or world class CL club coach. Running a club is entirely different than a National team for obvious reasons. Having a Pep caliber coach who is used to working with the best players on the planet probably won’t pan out as well as it looks on paper.. here is what I want: 1) a PROVEN international coach who has a knack for having decent players punch above their weight. just because a coach can come in lead a stacked team like France to a World Cup doesn’t mean it is a good fit for us… 2) therefore, by default, no more MLS coaches. At all. End of discussion . No more retreads, and “ next best thing.” 3) At least minimal English skills. 4) to hell with this idea that the coach needs to “ understand the American soccer landscape…” that can be explained in 2 hours…..
Busio. A midfield of Busio, De La Torre, and Musah would've been ideal. Technically, creative, everything you want against a team like Panama.
What about winning the ball??? We've just come off of several years of watching Busio in MLS and he's not good enough at that task to be the best ballwinner in a midfield for the US. Busio over Lletget, sure, I totally, 100% get that. But the midfield you propose is way too lightweight.
I totally disagree with you - and this is my point - most of the criticisms of Berhalter are just fan noise.
Who is this coach? Hiddink is pretty old. Some would argue that you need to be an MLS coach to understand our full pool.
We were on the rise with Bravo, McKEON and Richie Williams? The point of the example is that our coach trusted his full squad - including super fringe players - against a top team in a tournament - and it paid off. Explaining it after the fact is great - but the goal posts are moving all over the place.
How can you disagree with that lineup? Thats the most technically creative lineup if you really want to rest Adams, Mckennie, and Dest. This isnt the 1980's. You need creative players at this level of soccer. You cant have players losing possession half the time they touch the bal and 30 back passes if you hope to reach a consistently good level.
No point in winning the ball if you cant do anything with it. Even if we had less possession our attack would've been more incisive and creative. We didnt have a shot on goal in 97 minutes. Its because we were playing players with no technical ability
I was ready to understand your post until you played the "18 year old" card. Pulisic carried this team as an 18 year-old last WCQ cycle. What are the 10+ transgressions that are bigger? I'd like to see if they make as much sense as your reasoning for why you can't start an 18-year-old Bundesliga starter, and instead have to throw out TWO MLS fullbacks without any away WCQ experience?