We will never hit our potential as a soccer nation if we are forced to play half of our matches on flooded cow pastures with officials that look the other way as skilled players are placed into career-threatening physical danger. CONCACAF is a joke. The sooner Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, and the US realize it the better. Australia did just fine changing confederations. No reason at all four countries can’t do it.
The off the ball stuff was impressive. By half two realizing the ref would do nothing they just played rugby off the ball. I for the life of me do not know how a person can make strong statements about a match like this in those conditions. It means you have your opinion set beforehand and will just rage on. True intelligence. Thank goodness no one got hurt.
I've been saying for years that Central Americans would make great Rugby players, given their physicality. They're playing the wrong sport in Soccer.
If you watch Cannon enough, you see he has an almost uncanny ability to allow crosses in, even when he's in position, because he gets small by turning his body sideways. Protecting his nuts and face? It's optically worse for Horvath than it really is, between the screen, his teammate getting out of the way last second, the conditions, and a shot that's meant to be a cross. It's a microcosm of why you can't base firm opinions on one play or game, w/out even adjusting for variables. Reminds me of so many being discarded completely for the Panama game, when Weah sucked, & Musah majorly dropped off. We've since seen their utility. Horvath has save %'es of 80 in UCL/Europa, England, Belgium, etc. It's probably close for the NT, not seeing the stats. He's not achieving that regularly letting in howlers regularly. Turner's firmly stayed ahead because he's been good overall thru a large sample. But let's not pretend like the match at Canada didn't happen. And he was getting killed then. However, he always deserved context, like it's 1 game, and in his offseason, to be applied too.
Good sum up. I just went through the match quickly again. Wes helped and BA isn’t made for this mess, but Jesus F is so much better for the team than Haji it’s not even funny. I have rooted or Haji, followed him closely, and am realhappy how he is doing now, but if he doesn’t score his chance he does precious little else.
He's shown moments of real lack of composure for a captain. If the US committed any red-cardable offense on the night, it was that one, not Arriola's actual fb play.
I like Ethan but that one play is something that has happened to him throughout his career. At Molde, in Belgium, with the US. It’s what he does. It doesn't breed confidence. That type of play undermines a D, especially psychologically. Context is important and on the stat sheet his misplays and flubs can’t be calculated. They matter to the coaches, TD’s, scouts and his mates. That is for certain. It is something that can’t be ignored at this point. He has does it to regularly.
Dest is injured. Either Cannon or Yedlin is the starter at the moment. All it would take is for Dest, or Jedi (assuming Dest is the backup LB) to get dinged in November and Cannon or Yedlin would be a starting in the WC. Unless you feel that Dest and Jedi will both play every minute in the WC it also seems likely that one of those two will at least see the field. Cannon is certainly not on the fringes of the roster at this point. If you like either backup RB then that's cool but it's not as if it's silly to even discuss their play. Hopefully someone else overtakes them, but for now, whoever Gregg decides on could be a very important player in the Fall.
You are more your averages than your worst or best moments. And if you're suggesting he's a choker. Well, in one way he could be considered one, in that when he gets his Eminem moment from coaches, he misses his chance to blow, by blowing it. But the reverse is, overall, he's been so good in UCL/Europa League, and when he's been thrown into the fire there, like vs. Lokomotiv or Mexico in UNL, he has come up big. So he's a mixed bag/enigmatic in the clutch. It's not really a strike against him or argument for him. He's certainly more reliable than Steffen, and probably Sean Johnson. So he's on the plane. Just lost a lot of hope of being a starter in Qatar, regardless what happens in his club season. Right now it's firmly Matt Turner, who does pretty consistently come up big, while not being prone to howlers w/ his feet or hands.
The officiating IMO was much better in qualies than it ever was over my 40 years of watching. This was straight old school insanity. If we had played a more physical/aggressive team there would have been injuries.
I'm always amused by the calls to join CONMEBOL after a game like that. If people want bad ref calls, bad field conditions, rickety old stadia, and corrupt federation officials.................watch CONMEBOL. Do people watch how CONMEBOL squads hack Neymar, Messi, and the talented players in the federation? El Salvador ain't Lichteinstein. They've been improving under Hugo. Going down to their place and getting a draw under difficult conditions............is a good result. Sometimes getting a result is more about team spirit and the fight than showing quality. Last night was such a game. By the way, when the ref isn't calling hard fouls, which can happen at any level.............you give as good as you take. So we needed somebody like Weston Mckennie to fight back. Sometimes I think we have too many "nice guys" on this squad. Could that have been a red card with a different ref? Sure, but he saw how the game was going.
It’s not just his worst moments though - it’s the shakiness and lack of ball skills that undermine the confidence and fluidity of a team. Forest just looked different when he played vs Samba - because Samba is so much better and confident with the ball at his feet. He loses starting jobs in spite of good moments or percentages.
That was the ultimate Concacaf match. I’m seeing reports that Horvath is still planted on the pitch, can anyone confirm?
Australia in Oceania was also very different than the USMNT in CONCACAF. They were all alone, facing nobody. We're not alone in CONCACAF, particularly now that Canada has improved. Yes, we have to play a couple of minnows in the Nations League, Gold Cup, etc. But really, we play fewer than people think we do. And El Salvador certainly isn't one. In FIFA rankings they sit right above Gabon and Guinea. Two African nations with some pretty darn good players in "top 5 leagues." Since the COVID-restart, a team like Ecuador has failed to beat El Salvador. The US, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama, etc. have failed to beat El Salvador in some games. There's this bizarre hubris on these boards. As if we're "too good" for that kind of opponent last night. We're not. Sometimes the weather is awful and ruins the field and game. There are bad refs in every federation. You can watch matches in every federation in which the ref loses control. Hell, we've had some awful refs in the WC over the years.
TBF, it doesn’t fit into any top teams style/success/anymore. Other than PSG’s front three last year forwards need to do a lot more. Same reason we don’t have the old fashion playmaker anymore. There may be a precious few exceptions, but in general it’s not gonna cut it anymore. I get why JF is preferred, and as has been suggested, as a placeholder for Gio I pray. He is better than I thought but as a starter he is a clear step below what we need.
Yeah, I don’t quite get the logic of moving to CONMEBOL because we can’t dominate a team with some USL players on a wet field.
At Brugge, he didn't start because Liverpool's recent man between the sticks was acquired. At Forest, it was a decent keeper in Ligue 1 at a young age, and the recent C'Ship GK of the year, recovering his ability & then some to play the best he's ever have even. These are not some big referendums. Because he had the optics of being a backup, you're trying to look for some more condemnable, intangible reason, like "his lack of ball skills undermines confidence of the team". Then the same thing would apply to Turner (and arguably Steffen), maybe more. But his teams have won with him. Brugge won with Horvath in net. So did Forest. Both these things can be true - it was understandable he didn't start most of the time for his teams the last few seasons AND he still can be a good keeper for you if you don't at least have a marquee guy by your standards. We don't right now. Tim Howard & Brad Friedel aren't walking thru that door. So he can remain in the conversation and certainly should be in Qatar (though I suspect he won't be).
You mean like 99% of hardcore BS posters. I think that is part of it, but what time do we have left? Do a whole system rehash for Wright? I get why JF plays. Trust me, that is not an endorsement but I get it. Haji is simply to static.
You want CONCACAF to change? Just have the four countries I mentioned walk into the CONCACAF offices and say “Either things change or we start talking to CONMEBOL.” CONCACAF knows who drives the money in their confederation. It sure isn’t Panama, Haiti, and Jamaica.