So Gregg's competitive record as MNT manager is WWWWLWLWWWWWWWWWDDW for 2.47 points per game. Obviously that's all against CONCACAF opposition, whereas most of his predecessors have played competitive matches against teams from other feds.
There were flood and tornado warnings over here in the Hudson Valley NY too. All we got on Paramount+ was Weston McKennie eating Chipotle.
Call me after the CR game. Sports teams lose games. Did people not watch Germany lose to North Macedonia recently in a WCQer? France played poorly in the Euros (failing to beat Hungary for instance), and just won the Nations league. If we lose the home game to Costa Rica, then I'll join everyone in meltdown mode. If we beat CR, then we're back on track. This was always going to be a marathon. Even after the CR, we're still not to halfway thru the Ocho. Lots of games to go. People decided we were "all but qualified" after the Jamaica game. And now after the Panama game, everything is a disaster. There's an over-reaction to every result. Everybody take a deep breath. We're going to be fine.
It was a bad performance, but an own goal is the only thing that kept us from a point, so there's that. And last time a Berhalter team laid a true stinker the team bounced back immediately, so it could happen again. And if it does Berhalter can leave this window behind having learned a lesson about the risks of squad rotation. Six points followed by some future good health of the bigger names and the path out of the woods is certainly manageable.
It was a bad performance, but these three game windows are tough and there’s not really a good strategy for them. What Berthalter was trying to do made sense but didn’t work in practice. We may have to reassess in the January window. Now if Pulisic and Reyna were healthy it may have worked a bit better. I’d be shocked if Panama wasn’t completely gassed for the Canada game. But also someone like Acosta played much worse than the level he is capable of playing.
I didn’t like what I saw but now it is about Wednesday. I suspect CR will be dragging far more than us.
^ this 100%. He took a gamble with the rotation so far he hasn't pulled it off but he's still got outs. 11 points from 6 matches, 3 of which are away in Central America. I would have taken that before the Ocho even began.
The main reason to not meltdown is that results continue to be good for the US. They are not quite as favorable as in September, but still decent. Should USSF act under the assumption that all of the US's major rivals in CONCACAF will generously continue to throw away points at key moments?
Indeed. If we beat CR we'll be right on track. If we beat CR, we'll likely have at least a 5 point cushion on Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador (if they lose to Mexico), and Jamaica. Prior to the Ocho, if you told me we'd have a 5 point cushion on CR and Honduras after 6 games.....................I'd have taken it. These 3-game WCQing windows are a test of depth. Its affecting every team. We used our depth against Panama on Sunday. It was a gamble, but pretty much had to be done. We can argue about the players selected by Berhalter for the rotation, but we couldn't play guys like Adams in all three games. So now, we judge on the CR game. That was the trade-off. 6 points in a window is good. If we get 6 points in each window we qualify with room to spare. Every team other than Mexico has had at least one stinker so far. And if you ask Mexico fans, they're not happy with the draws against Canada and Panama. Seriously....................Costa Rica and Mexico have also both played in Panama. Neither won the match. People act like Panama is Andorra.
My expectations are to get to the knockout stage of the W.C. If we don't get there it won't be because of this loss.
One good thing is there's still opportunity to make some big time positive statements. A great run of form and we can dismiss the Panama loss as a blip/lesson learned.
It should take a run. I am not panicky, but I will be if we don't get 3 points tomorrow. And let's face it, this team has underperformed. For a variety of reasons, but enough so that there has to be real concern about underperformance in a difficult second half of the Ocho. I did not expect us to come out of the first two windows with only 11 points at best, and it puts us in a difficult situation. There's still time to click, but we're not, and for every step forward, there seems an immediate step back.
Panic is not the word. Awareness is. Be aware that the coach is a moron who stumbles onto gameday solutions once in a moon. So maybe there's a chance they qualify. Maybe not.
Going into qualifying I probably would've put us at 13 or 14 points after two windows. But that was assuming we didn't get hit quite as hard on the injury front. A convincing win tomorrow and I'm relatively content.
This should say that results in other CONCACAF matches continue to be good for the US. A poor phrase to leave out of the sentence.
Indeed. People don't seem to realize that all of these other nations are taking points off each other. Canada and Panama play this week. They both can't win. I would rather be us right now than 5 of the teams in the Ocho. I'd rather be in our position that Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Panama. Panama has played 3 home games and only won once. Have people looked at the schedule Panama now has? Panama has yet to play road games against Mexico, US, Canada, Costa Rica, or Honduras. Now it starts in earnest for them.
After 5 games and playing like crap we're in 2nd place. Imagine where we'll be if and when we ever get our sierra together.
us has more depth than any other team in the region...they are just misusing it. berhalter's agenda to incorporate as much mls as possible has things mich tighter than they should be in the standings. of the top 50 us players, easily 35-40+ are in Europe, yet somehow 7 MLSers started (!) the Panama match. 3 game windows are tough...but winning with players who dont deserve to be on the field based on talent is a lot harder. ggg has turned a strength (depth) into a weakness with his MLS fetish. He doesnt even pick the best MLS players, either! but yeah....the sky hasnt fallen yet and the team can still qualify.
I keep reading about Berhalter's supposed agenda to slight more deserving Euro players for MLS players yet I see no evidence of it besides some poster's disagreement on player selection. The conspiracy theories are so nuts and don't really add to the discussion. You don't like his selections, we get it. A lot of people don't. I don't like all of them either. But that doesn't mean there's some alternative, sinister reason besides he simply favors player A over player B.
Not to mention that Berhalter’s A team lineups have been skewing towards favoring Europe until the Panama game. Look at the Nations League final, when the team was at the peak of good health. One MLS starter. No way that happens if there’s a sinister agenda at play.