How I feel will be pessimistic going into the World Cup, and I’ll just be praying that we don’t get embarrassed when we go against France, England, Brazil, etc. And that we can actually perform according to our talent level. What’s scary about this World Cup is how we have played no one. Mexico and Canada have been our greatest competition this cycle. Both teams are not strong candidates to make it out of their groups. Moreover, we have yet to find and play our best group together. Our coach rules out our most experienced player for undisclosed reasons. We are stuck beating our heads in a single system that works only half the time and a coach who is too rigid to adapt. We don’t have any idea who will be our goal scorer. And there just seems to be a general sense of entitlement and complacency that surrounds this team.... or just a lack of professionalism as we treat this team like a Sunday rec team. It doesn’t look good. And I’m not going to put lipstick on a pig and exclaim all this optimism when we have consistently underperformed. Going into every single World Cup since I remember, I knew it would be tough to get out of the group, but this is arguably the first time that I’ve thought, I wouldn’t bet anything that we get out of the group. That said, of course, I want to “believe.” But it starts now. We need to come out with our hair on fire ready to massacre all three Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica. So, please, USMNT, play like you’re carrying the pride of a nation on your shoulders. Perform to the level that we all believe that you could play at. You just haven’t yet done so.
Mainly, the fact is that we have to play better than we’ve played in any of the WCQ windows yet. If we play how we’ve played so far, then, this is going to be a 1 point or 3 point window.
We've played Mexico three times in the last 10 months. We've won all three games and we've been ready each time. Meanwhile Mexico has not looked great throughout qualifying. I don't want to go in Costa Rica needing points because that's alot to put on one result and all kinds of randomness or chance can result in a one game situation. But getting points there is doable as this is not the same Costa Rica team and their new stadium is a less intimidating environment than their old one. But I'm not really going to worry about that game until we get there as there is a very good chance we clinch beforehand.
I know it's not realistic, but I'm curious how you'd feel if the US has a 9 point window, probably finishes second in qualifying behind Canada, and gets seeded in Pot 1.
mexico has exactly the same results in qualifying we do- with a better goal difference and an "easier" set of matches. and unlike those three wins of ours, we are at their place now. "not looking great" would be an improvement on our play outside of the states thus far. look, i feel confident we can get a result- if we put out a team to get one and look a lot more ready for a fight than we have in a couple other (much more winnable) road matches. we dont need to paint a picture to puff ourselves up, though
We actually have the better goal difference then Mexico. Mexico hasn’t been as good at home. Their results against Canada were the same as us, but their results against Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Honduras were all worse. They haven’t played El Salvador at home and we haven’t played Panama at home. They did not look good against Panama and we couldn’t score many goals against El Salvador. Obviously we beat them head to head at home and the Canada result was the same. Their game against Panama was definitely better, but I don’t know that their struggle to beat a 10 man Jamaica team was really much better then ours. Their El Salvador result on the road was better then ours. We obviously haven’t gone to Costa Rica and they haven’t gone to Honduras. Generally we’ve been better at home then they have and they’ve been better on the road then we have. None of this is to say we are going to win or that it’s an easy. Just that I don’t think it’s going to be a situation where we show up to Mexico and lose 3-0 like some have suggested.
Tenorio and Stejskal think there is a strong chance that Adams, Acosta, and Musah start, with de la Torre and Reyna more likely against Panama: https://theathletic.com/3204044/202...nnie-fitness-building-for-gio-reyna-notebook/
Cardoso is new Green. No matter how much he sucks, he must be called. How much he sucks? As the worst player on a sucky U-23 team. Ther is no DM in MLS that is worse than him. Seattle has 3 Americans playing the same position that are younger and better than him. But he is Brazilian, of course.
That's crazy. Acosta, Adams, and Musah are 3 the least creative players from the whole roster. Is the idea to stay in our half and kick whatever is passing by, whether that's the ball or Mexican player? Not like T & S have a clue what Gregg intends to do, fortunately.
Can’t wait to see everyone pinned back and on the counter find a late-run Acosta who will attempt a glory goal from outside the 18 that goes way over the bar.
Hey, if there's anyone on the team that can blast a shot from distance, it's probably Acosta (or Reyna)
Will you be just as excited about it if it's Reyna or Weah or Musah who sends a glory-goal attempt way over the bar?
Yeah I have been getting a “Gregg thinks Adams and Acosta on the field together is a good idea” vibe all week. After the defensive shift LDLT put in last match I find that idea sooo frustrating.
It would be movement in the right direction. I’m not committed to hate Berhalter by any means. I want him to do well. Just because I’m critical of him now doesn’t mean I can’t change my tune. That said, I’ll withhold full blown excitement for him until the World Cup and that’ll be a whole different animal.
Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica are tough opponents that could hurt us. I wish we were playing a pushover like T&T.
squeaky bum time. I'm ok with the US qualifying in any manner possible- COVID wiping out CR team even better, T&T's B team.
Look....the US has not gotten embarrassed in a World Cup match in a loooooooong time. We've drawn with both Italy & England. We've lost twice to Germany by one goal. We've won & drawn against Portugal. We held Belgium to a draw over 90 minutes. We beat Mexico in a R16 match 2-0. Nobody is going to embarrass us. Stop worrying!
Hopefully, you’re right. It’s not like I get some pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if we somehow lose out. I want as much anyone to see the team do well. But there’s wishful thinking and there’s assessing where we’re at and realizing it’s the perfect storm to get spanked.
You don't know that....especially not before the draw. There are a lot of very average teams that are going to qualify for the WC this year....Brazil & France are probably the only two teams that I don't think the US or Mexico could earn at least a draw against. And not being able to play out best group together is something that every team is dealing with because of injuries. And it'll be a problem at the World Cup too, with league play ending only a week before the opening match. So it's better that we're getting used to it now.....because chances are the just about every country is going to have a key player miss the World Cup due to injury.....
I want to return back to what I consider “the standard.” In order... (1) Get out of the WC group. (2) Win the Hex/Ocho. (3) At least, convincingly, qualify for the WC (not needing luck from other games). (4) Win the GC and now NL. Maybe you could throw something about the Olympics and/or style points. But I hope I’ve outlined it pretty clear if/when I’ll be satisfied with the coach and team. Hell, it could be Humpty Dumpty... if he gets us out of the group, I’m going to be stoked with him. Vice versa, it could be the Virgin Mary, and she drags ass through WCQ like Berhalter has done, and I’m going to have some foul words to say about her performance. Again, it’s all about the standard.
I'm kind of on the opposite side of things. with the team so young, and still relatively talented (compared to the rest of the world)... I genuinely believe they're capable of beating any team out there when they get things collectively working. Every time? no. definitely not. 4 out of 5? no. but in a tournament on-off... with everybody putting in their best- absolutely. I feel better about this group being able to do that than any US group before. I mean- we actually have LB depth! eta: and that's not to say they aren't capable of losing to most of these teams that will qualify for the WC. but I don't see an embarrassment coming unless things go completely south... and I think the chances of that are less than things going north. and with their youth, I wouldn't begrudge them losing out and not progressing to the knock-outs... but mostly I just want them to get there. after that with this group, it's gravy.