It could have something to do with the way Pulisic has a tendency to drop deep into the midfield to get involved, which can at times slow the attack down (a point made by Joe Lowery). Musah's strength is advancing the ball quickly off the dribble. When Pulisic plays more directly with his runs, we can see the results; and, greater verticality from teammates probably plays better into what Musah can do well as he progresses through space in the midfield.
I hope Uruguay brings more urgency to the proceedings. This was not a great test other than to provide a false sense of satisfaction. We are neither as good nor Morocco as poor as the result might indicate.
I agree with that. We have seen Musah have some success on the other side with guys like Arriola who have the first instinct to make direct runs and let Musah carry the ball.
I get where you are coming from, but I’m not sure I agree with this. I think that what we saw was some of our top guys vying for starting roles at the World Cup. Even Pulisic looked more focused. Pulisic, Aaronson, Weah…those three guys were killer. Pulisic looked as good as I have ever seen him. I think that our guys are just taking the games more seriously now because they want to perform at the World Cup. That’s very encouraging, and a young team with that kind of confidence could do very well in the marquee games and slump in the lower profile games. I could see us getting 4-9 points in the opening round.
I loved Morocco as a choice here. Not many teams we could get on the schedule who are closer to our level than this. Top 7 in the world? We might have to play defensively. Someone outside the World Cup level? Might bunker at us. Solid World Cup level side who approaches the game like they're just as good as we are? Seems like perfect preparation for the World Cup, maybe a little less for the England match than the others.
This was Morocco’s first loss in how many games? Not only that, but aside from poor finishing (they looked like us in qualifying), they were very skilled and professional.
Question for Ferreira on the Aaronson/Pulisic goal, where were you. Aaronson started with further to go and ended up with a goal with out you even in the screen. For someone who is trying to earn the starting 9 spot where was the effort?
It's hard to have this conversation without someone feeling slighted. I'm sorry if my previous comment sounded xenophobic. I had thought it common knowledge in the US soccer community about the Federation's attempts to strategically place games in cities to get the highest number of potential Team USA supporters. For example, the Fed doesn't put the USA-Mexico game in LA despite being able to sell 100k tickets in the Rose Bowl, because 80k of those fans will be supporting Mexico. The Federation sacrifices ticket sales to earn points in WC qualifying (CONCACAF doesn't have such qualms with the Gold Cup). Regarding immigrant communities, yes they are everywhere and welcome. The difference is a matter of degree. Cincinnati/Columbus/KC should have fewer immigrant communities than NY, LA or most any coastal city of greater population. I'm not knocking anyone or who they choose to support in soccer. Those cities rarely get US WCQs anymore (see Red Bull Arena 2017 vs Costa Rica). Since these are simply exhibitions, why not throw a bone to US fans in cities that will never get a qualifier and to hell with whomever shows up. Central Ohio already got the Nats in really important games within the past year multiple times. No wonder folks didn't care to show up for a friendly. I think there would have been more interest from regular US fans to see this team for the first time in some of the cities I mentioned in my previous post. Spread the national team around in games that don't matter!
I wouldn't play any more friendlies at RBA (unless it's World Cup winning celebration tour) unless you want a half-empty stadium dominated by away fans.
strategically sure for competitive matches but not for friendlies. Their goal for friendlies should still be a majority US crowd but also to maximize attendance and to spread games all around the country: both to allow for more fans to attend but also to avoid fan fatigue given ticket prices. Which made Cincinatti make very little sense for this game.
Someone here said that the highest concentrations of Moroccans in the US are in Northern Kentucky. I had no idea there were that many of them in the US to begin with.
Come back to SoCal and get our immigrant communities here in red white and blue. Players like Pulisic, Dest, and Weston will do that.