I watched with friends with some drinking involved, so I'm not going to comment too, too much until I get a chance to really rewatch, especially the end. Some quick thoughts, though: The jury has to still be out on rotation. If we had gotten 9 points or 4 points, it'd be clear there was a terrible mistake. This set of outcomes, though ... while we're a point off what I expected ... I don't think it offers definitive answers on rotation either way. Remember, we still played Adams/Musah and Weah/Aaronson in Panama. I don't think one more player makes a systematic difference. And so we look at a strong win, but still 2-1 on the scoresheet against Costa Rica ... and I can't say that a more tired lineup or slightly rotated lineup definitively comes up with that second goal. And I can't say that slightly less rotated lineup in Panama gets points there, much less three. I can't say the counter, either. Perhaps we'd get more points. But there's too many likely ifs here to be definitive either way. Next window, though, is two matches. No/minimal rotation, please. I thought McKennie played very well; his precision on his passing just sucked and so what was a lot of good situations created died on the vine. That's Weston -- if he can ever clean up his passing precision, he'll be amazing. But that's a big ask. I still think his overall effect on the game was a big positive. It's frustrating to watch someone make a strong run and then miss the pass, but the alternative could be the opponent having the ball. We still struggle with the final ball. Antonee was off in that element of his game, and combined with Weston not being right there, we really lost half of the field in terms of reliably creating danger. We had the ball, we had the open space, but the service was really nowhere near from the left unless Aaronson had it. Again, I don't think he played poorly, but this is the bugaboo for the whole A team. Whether it's lack of playing together or lack of skill will be determined, but right now we're not a team that reliably serves up the ball to a streaking attacker in the final third. This is a lot of teams' weakness. Richards underperformed my expectations but I'm glad to see him out there. I really do love the speed and athleticism that Miles and Richards bring, but the lack of aerial ability relative to some of the older guys like Brooks and Zim is very noticeable. Our set pieces are a disaster. It's not just service, which, like, I guess we just keep trying people? But suddenly a team with a decent amount of size can't ever seem to get a head on the ball. We went from reasonably deadly in Nations League and the GC to hopeless. We're not talking it much, but it cost us 2 points in El Salvador minimum, and probably elsewhere along the way (in defense in Panama, etc.). We're young, and young players aren't generally great in the air, but we've got to be better than this.
Great questions and they have to keep building that depth and may have missed some opportunities this window, but learned something along the way. For Bello, he's shown he can play well and he's shown bad form also. They need more depth there, and Scally is playing great in Germany and should have been called in. This is how the Pepi thing happens, someone gets hurt/underperforms, and in form player gets a shot and runs with it. We learned there are hopefully better options than Shaq Moore, at least when he isn't playing for his club. These things matter and I hope get a little more important to the coaching staff. Steffen probably falls in this category. On form, LDLT gets the start over Lleget, and that was ignored because Berhalter had a plan to lean on Lleget and Acosta. It was awful, he owned it, and didn't even dress Lletget in Columbus. To me, Busio has slipped right past Lleget, mostly due to Lleget's underperformance. Again, Busio is playing well in heavy minutes in Italy, it shouldn't be a surprise he can outplay an out of form Lleget. Acosta was a huge bummer. Not known for poise, but that was ridiculous. It's a real problem. If I had to choose today, I'd say Busio even with the lack of steel he brings. It's not a great option. Someone mentioned Matt Polster and I like the idea because we're talking about a player who is integral in their club team and having a great season on a powerhouse team. That logically tracks to me.
He feels safe with Arriola, when he plays him he knows exactly what he can expect. It takes away certain variables.
Arriola had been set to start his 3rd straight match, which was crazy given his fitness issues during this year.
Part of the up-and-down nature of the US performances is the fact that we have the youngest team on the planet. Young players in all sports generally lack the maturity and experience to even out their performances. They’re still learning on the job. American soccer fans seem to be unable to wrap their heads around it, but that’s the truth.
Does anyone think Arriola hits a ball on frame with the power Weah did to beat that scrub goalkeeper? No way.
He didn’t do that well against Jamaica. He was clearly the worse attacker on the field and killed off many promising attacks with his poor technical ability. His best moment was running straight and falling down.
I thought Weah is underrated on here if anything for his match against CR. His final ball wasn't too good but he was definitely dangerous and infinitely better technically than Arriola, able to combine so much better with Musah and Dest, essentially unlocking Dest, which is something they couldn't do against Jamaica.
Miles has been the most consistent CB since gold cup, has a bad game by his standards and people aren't sure. Meanwhile Richards has his first good game and people want to push him to the top of the rotation. ********ing memories like Gold Fish. Steffen is still the number 1 Goalie. Turner has not supplanted and likely won't. Turner has moved up to number 2 but Zac knows GG system and if not for Covid protocols by his league would be more available . Turner has gotten beaten for goals in nearly every game but people don't mind. It's is gonna be clear that you can force the USA to play long ball.
I see a couple people mention it but to my eyes, Busio's performance is something that could push Lletget down the pecking order. Busio offers a lot more both in possession and going forwrd. His weaknesses are defensive but Lletget brings you practically nothing defensively either. It would be really hard for me to understand picking Lletget over Busio as things evolve. I think Acosta not always showing up is a problem. We don't have many if any other options to play as a strong, defensive 6 back there though so as long as we play the same way with or without Adams, Acosta is the guy. For me, that means we need to adjust tactically when Adams is out. You don't swap two dramatically different players and just expect you can still play the same way. We end up with games where Adams is unavailable and we don't work out another tactical scheme to cover for his absence, we are really putting a lot on the shoulders of a guy who only sometimes seems able to handle it. This is where Berhalter's desire to play a specific way and the players at his disposal can conflict and I wish he would learn to adjust when that happens instead of just thinking a good enough or close enough player can do the job.
That would probably depend on how many beers he has before the game. But he might actually win the beep test...
Agree 100%. Busio for Musah (loved the Moose's play in the first half) was exactly the right substitution. Busio is a calm and composed distributor, just what we needed to keep control of and slowly kill the game. I'm hoping that Busio has moved ahead of Lletget (who has served admirably despite limited offensive skills) in Berhalter's mind. Similarly, Hoppe is a wild man and dangerous out there...we know he's going to move up fast; I see him as a potential back-up striker to Pepi given that he can play back to the goal, and also because there's a logjam at the winger position.
yeah i.e. mckennie and jedi....overall the team needs more precision on final balls and crosses.....and it will never change if the same players keep being trotted out. might have to go with more precise players.... a la - busio, musah and reyna in midfield, for example good national teams have players at big clubs on their benches just cuz mckennie is at juve doesnt give him an every game pass to the starting lineup, at least it shouldnt. overall, working the ball up the wing and crossing all game is not nuanced enough ...need to be more variety in attack and more precision cant have 3 mids out there who dont create much.
he has the MOST MINUTES of any player under ggg it makes zero sense as a lot of people wouldnt even include him in the top 23 players in the pool. perfectly legit question.
We would have had someone (Arriola) careening down the right side...he just would have offered nothing in the final third .
steffan gets beat way more than turner. turner hasnt given up much of anything. steffans edge is distribution...but he still kicks the ball out of bounds on accident pretty often...he is no pirlo
The guy has been ranting about Arriola for 3 games, even Jamaica where he was excellent, including this last one when the only thing he did was get a hug by Berhalter in the post game celebrations
The Turner/MLS experiment should be over after seeing what he did to completely ruin the US possession game.
He's not getting a free pass because he's at Juventus. Defense and ball-winning mean a lot to me, and he brings that. He's a faster, better dribbler than Busio in terms of that game-breaking forward progression. He's an aerial threat on a team that has struggled to create aerial threats. And when his passing his on, he's incredibly dangerous because he actually has strong vision, he just doesn't have reliable skill execute. It's erratic. But he will also pull out games like in Nations League where he was by far our best player. I really can't see the current Busio ever being the best player out there. I think people also need to be prepared for a Busio that isn't coming in as a sub in a late game situation. He has weaknesses, and he also has a tendency at points to get conservative offensively, back pass, etc. The guy CAN be a very incisive midfield general ... but he can also lope through a game. We shouldn't expect a 19 year old to have a level of consistency out there. We saw that in the GC. Hopefully he will continue to progress, and it's nice to have another arrow in the quiver. And I get why people want someone like him, but I don't think we should underestimate what McKennie is bringing.
I doubt it. I really doubt it. Arriola, like many are saying, should really be reserved for lower end teams in our federation or as a defensive sub to pester the other team in the waning moments of a game. It’s harsh, but he’s not an offensive weapon. Does some great things which I’ve applauded him for - modeling effort and tenacity for the younger players - but we seriously weaken our offense if we are expecting him to pull through with scoring. Again, to be clear, I applaud the dude for what he brings. I just don’t think it’s offense and scoring.
Agreed. The longer term answer is Reyna playing an 8/10 ahead of Adams and one of McKennie/Musah/Busio. That also allows us to play both Pulisic and Aaronson out wide.