Pre-match: WCQ: Game 10. US at Canada. January 30.

My XI...........

-----------------Pepi------------
Aaronson-----------------Weah
-------Musah--McKennie--
---------------Adams-------------
Robinson--Miles-Zim---Dest
----------------Turner---------------

Score prediction? Another 1-1 stalemate
These are the two best defensive teams in the Ocho so far.
Both only conceding 5 goals thru 9 games.

The key for the USMNT will be Musah, McKennie, and Adams winning the midfield battle.

 

What's the scouting report on Canada (minus Davies)?

 

Let's F-ing GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

Same lineup as against ES except for Pepi in place of Ferreira.

 

_________turner_________
___mrob__zim__richards__
cannon_____________dest
____adams_mckennie____
aaronson__________pulisic
_________zardes________

this roster and history tells us gregg is gonna get weird somewhere, and doing it for this match will piss me off way more than it would against honduras so- here we are.

we should only make 3-4 changes- miles for zim, switch musah and mckennie back to their usual sides and go with pepi (and possibly aaronson for pulisic). im not worried at all about saving who or whatever for honduras (the logical place for gregg to indulge his genius notions) as they will very predictably fall apart in the second half again and we can again unload on their frozen, geriatric, un-rotated asses.

actually, zardes would be acceptable if we are planning to (use a reasonable lineup and) press. i halfway hope this entire window is a stealth break for pepi cause he needs it.

i think canada is going to go right at us and i have very little faith in our attack period, so honestly im expecting zero points regardless whos out there. the only fact- and evidence-based expectation is that (this being a road match) we are going to go out flat and uninspired. its really a matter of whatever canada decides to do.

im super glad we backed into a goal for that sweet 1-0 win last night- i was legit concerned about only taking 4 points out of this window- but i feel better knowing it will almost certainly be 6 now.

whatever greggs gonna do greggs gonna do, but ill be shocked if that includes taking a point sunday.

 

Pepi needs to come back in up top and I'd like to see McKennie switched to the left. He's better on the right, but someone needs to try to fix the build up down the left and I'd trust him to at least improve things a bit. Not sure what else you can change without going with something radical. Weah needs to be out there, Pulisic is highly unlikely to get benched, the outside backs are easily the best options for those spots. Maybe swap out Musah in midfield if you want to change things or give him a rest but I wouldn't expect another option to improve things. Adams wasn't great and we will want to be sure he's around for the must win against Honduras so I cold perhaps see Acosta coming in, sitting deep and just tackling everything he sees but it would be a real downgrade. Center backs can be round robin with the guys on hand if someone needs a rest, but not like they were overworked last night. I think changes need to be made more in our approach than in personnel at his point, or we just hope to keep grinding on the road and figure if we can scrape out a 1-0 or a tie, we're in good shape.

I think Honduras as the home game is much more of a must-win for the team and for Berhalter. Most fans just want revenge against Canada but it is not likely the team see it as important as keeping all the home points. So yeah, if we see any screwy lineups this window, it is likely to be in Canada.

 

Same lineup as last night with two changes.

Pepi for Ferriera
MRob for Richards

 

Playing Dest, Pulisic, and Weah here makes no sense. The first is a flat track bully. The second hasn't had a good game since mid '19 at home v. Jamaica. He cried here later that yr. And the 3rd needs to rest his finnicky muscles.

And Miles should be part of the center back pairing now. He's been our best all-arounder. This game requires more ruggedness and aerial ability. Richards' ball progression has also been suspect. He's been good enough, but I don't know why anyone would watch him and think we got to keep things the same.

----------------Pepi------------
--Aaronson---------------Morris
----------Musah---Wes-----------
ARob---------Adams------Yedlin
---------MRob------Zimm----------
---------------Turner---------------

 

Looks like it may be as cold or colder and snowy for this one.

 

It is disorienting for me to be more optimistic about the next match than most other people here. It seems to me that a lot of the problems we saw against El Salvador are fixable with film study and discussion, and better finishing. I assume that Pepi will be better at finishing, and that our attacking players will step on each other’s toes a lot less in the next match, after talking and thinking about it. I don’t know what is the matter with Pulisic, and I agree that something is. But I suspect the offense will look better next match. I too am frustrated with consistent underachievement by the offense under Berhalter, but the particular problems against El Salvador seem to be the kind that’s probably won’t be repeated (assuming we don’t get some weird lineup that kneecaps the possibility of improvement).

 

The lineup I would go with

----------------Pepi------------
Aaronson-----------------Weah
-------Musah--McKennie--
---------------Adams-------------
Jedi--Richards----Miles-Dest
----------------Turner---------------

I sort of think Berhalter is going to start Yedlin and put Dest on the left though.

 

The sharpest player eval disagreements here over the last 24 hours have been about Ferreira and Richards. Like the studio commentators, I thought Richards was solid and had a very good game. Others thought he faltered. Conversely, I thought Ferreira struggled in the role he was asked to play, while others here thought he was good. Here is the discussion of Ferreira by the studio group post game last night.

 

Zimmerman and Richards were so uninvolved that I couldn't assess them either way (other than the fact that a shutout is always nice).

Given Larin subbed out last night, I'm guessing he starts, with David on the bench as a supersub much like last time they played US. Whoever is guarding Buchanan will have nightmares. Antonee can't go walkabout so much like he did last night.

 

Games where we have exceeded expectations have been few and far between this cycle. A win in Canada would be near a win in Mexico for me. I would be very happy with a tie.

A 1 or 2 goal loss wouldn’t surprise me though.

 

Pepi was obviously being saved for the Canada game, being the more difficult opponent. Yedlin will replace Dest. David played 81' and Clarin 62', so they may not be as fresh in this second game. Do you rest Pulisic? Do you rest Musah? Adams and McKennie have shown they can play 90' again, if needed. But you want to save something for the Honduras game, so maybe they go 60'. Richards, Zimmerman, and ARobinson all went 90'. Do MRobinson and Cannon start?

I would give the players who played a day off on Friday and have a light workout on Saturday. I have a feeling that we get a win on Sunday.

 

CAN goalkeeper was man of the match for their last game.

 

They had 41% possession vs Honduras and one goal was an own goal. Away game, but still.

They just have better finishing and better play in the final third. Their best players do not go hero ball as often as ours.

 

Just some history.

Canada has beaten the USMNT once since 1985.

Canada hasn't won a WCQer against the USMNT since the 1980 cycle.

I also think folks are dramatically overvaluing the play of Canada while being overly critical for that of the USMNT. Canada didn't actually looks all that good against Honduras last night. LIke the USMNT, they've ground out a lot of points in the Ocho while not looking all that great. Based on the commentary of these boards, you'd think Canada was dominant yesterday. Not the case at all.

This game has low-scoring draw written all over it............................

 

I'd love to see the team go back to the 4231 used in the 4-1 win in Nations League.

----------------------------Pepi-------
-------Aaronson-------Pulisic-----Roldan--------
--------------Adams-------McKennie-------
---Jedi--------------------------------------
-------------Richards-----Robinson-----Cannon---
------------------------Turner----

Jedi attacks: Cannon mostly sits.
Out of season Zimmerman and Ferreira should be rotated.
Weah, coming off injury, should be rotated.
Musah and Dest, who need to continue to build stamina, should be rotated.
Roldan is excellent as a shuttler. Either he or Arriola could play the role.

Short leash on Pulisic.

 

Also interesting to note that with a 3pm Local time start, that's shorter than 72 hour recovery window for both teams. Canada with a much longer flight if you buy into that stuff.

Really wish Adams or Dest could have been rested for 25 or so minutes. Maybe we should have put Acosta in there for Adams anyway since he did NOT look good at all yesterday.

 

Expecting 8-10 changes to starting lineup.

 

That's my XI as well....but I wouldn't be surprised to see Yedlin start over Dest. I don't see GB having Dest start all three matches.