There were far too many players in this roster that only should have been there as fans paying for tickets beyond that The ones that belonged showed they belonged. looking forward to 2026. And that sweet sweet gift basket imma get for winning the office pool.
said this in the other thread but it's as simple as this: LVG used to coach at Bayern, Manchester United, Barcelona. Ours got fired by a second division Swedish club Enough said
My least favorite stat in sports is the expected goal, but what could it have been for Wright’s fluke goal?
LVG masterful. first half sitting back Dutch defense was very strong and organized, frustrating us. switching out of that tactic in the second half by the Dutch was a great move, and they executed that well too. Three shooters left way too open calmly finished good opportunities, in a way that exposed our marking/awareness. Despite all of that, we had it at a one goal game late, and probably had more OK opportunities but fewer great ones. A defense so elite that it barely plays de Ligt tells you something. We were also exciting to watch. The Ferreira start, something which I thought might be clever, was disastrous. I don’t understand leaving a hobbled Jedi out there. And the dead legs was a completely foreseeable symptom of our game plan. Yes, we don’t go 26 deep in quality at this level like the Dutch, but we might go 15-16 deep without a big dropoff, and we didn’t use that over the course of four games. Coaching staff missed this completely foreseeable circumstance.
A top manager will beg us for the USMNT job with us hosting and not needing to qualify. But will we open it up?
We missed Sargent a lot today. MMA and Robinson had relatively poor games. Hard to win lie that. Robinson and McKennie should have been off at half. Dest and Pulisic on the same side in the second half I think could have caused some havoc tactically for the Dutch
I’m sorry for how heated I got during the PBP. I was hot! That said, let me try to give a calmed down response. I’m proud of this team. I’m excited for our future. But the message of this game is that we got taught a lesson in maturity. That’s it. Play that game 10 times and I think we’ll win it 9 out of 10 times. In no way, did I ever see a better team in Netherlands. I thought they were better than that. But the only three good things they’ve got is they’re disciplined defensively, clinical if they get an opportunity, and mature in their game planning. Of course, those are big things. But they looked about as skilled as Guatemala today. I was actually astounded by how pathetic they were in open play. But hey, sometimes maturity wins games. We saw that today. I don’t expect they’ll be so lucky again when they face a team that’s skilled AND mature. I could see Argentina beating them 4-0. They just don’t have the quality to go far. Mainly, I guess that’s why I’m so frustrated. We lost to a very bad team. The Dutch should go in the locker room and breathe a sigh of relief that they got away with that one. And we should feel a little unlucky. That said, we’ve got to take these lessons and grow from them. There’s no direction except forward from now. Again, I’m proud of this team. And I’m extremely excited about our potential. This World Cup just seemed to come 4 years too early for us. But let’s not drop our heads. Let’s go USA!
There has to be someone, somewhere who understands what this means inside USSF reading this: We need a manager. We have a coach. simple as that
For all the talk about tactics that we're bound to hear, this game turned on two instances where a fullback lost his man, and two instances where our finishing was worse than the opponent's. Bummer. Onward.
If you're purely a results person: Getting our asses handed to us in the R16 is not an improvement. Scoring 2 goals in group play is not an improvement. And again, with all the chips on the line, looking like we can't connect forward passes at tempo and struggle with an top level creativity is not an improvement. It's somewhat of a reality check. And I know others believed this all along. But at some point if we want to change the above, the expectations need to move up during the life of a cycle. Yeah we don't have WCQing this cycle but as an example, quit this draw at on the road and win at home nonsense. You gotta have the expectation you win in Mex and in Canada. That's the type of area expectations need to change. Because what it all comes down to is what we saw today. How you do vs a top 10 side in a win or go home game. And at some point that needs to be the fully accepted target. Because bouncing around at #15-20 in the world and grinding out a good result at times is what we've been for multiple decades.
We will have high quality options wanting to coach this team. Not Pep or Klopp, but there will be good coaches who want to be a part of the next four years. Earnie and USSF have a big decision to make. I know the option that won’t work. The issue is whether they can see it as well.
Greg is definitely not good enough, but USA need better CB’s and a world class striker. Who is coming through the pipeline that can fill these positions?
I'll keep this post to just this post game. I'm sure we will have an overall WC post. LVG set a plan that would clearly work and it did. Gregg didn't adjust to it, and it lead direct to goals. It happens. LVG is a much better coach than a lot of coaches and Gregg got caught holding the bag. Dest was clearly pressing, Ream looked like Ream has the whole tournament, a credit to the program. Zimmerman didn't make any difference positive or negative, Robinson was good for 70 and then should have been off before Dest. Musah ran and ran but no real damage done on either side, that's okay if you have difference makers in the middle. Unfortunately both Adams and Wes are the exact same player as Musah was today. He needed to be the offensive pin in the middle (probably unfair as its not his game) and wasn't that. Wes gave it his all but clearly his Iran match was the one he gave everything. Adams had the worst match he has had in a long while. Ferreira was awful, just awful. He made Haji Wright look like an actual 9 when he came on (and he was bad). Pulisic needs to be playing somewhere so his finishing gets improved, that shot at the keeper is something he does a lot. Played with everything he had though. Weah was the least impactful he has been at the WC, but that's probably because the Dutch. Still should've stayed on. Subs ran and ran, Reyna shows a real gift for playmaker in the future. Turner, a great story, and man I strangely thought this may have been his best and most complete performance, even giving up 3 goals. Gregg got it wrong today. The Dutch are under pressure in a street ball kind of environment. It's how Valencia scored. Get them out of position and just push forward. We didn't do that, instead depending on the system to score and that was never going to work against this team. Just no need to bring him back even in January. Tip your cap to him and get a balanced coach in here who will utilize the offensive players we have in a way that makes this team complete. Guys were run into the ground in the group stage. Needed to use the bench way more effectively and Greggs subs were awful in every match. Its like he really does have a script before hand, Im sure he doesnt but it seems that way. Gotta be better.
Tyler did the same thing for Leeds against Tottenham I believe, so I’m not sure I buy the fatigue argument. Especially so early in a match. I think he’s better between the boxes than positioning in the box. Also a liability in helping us get the ball out of the back today. Lost a bunch of duels too. Excellent group stage but didn’t have it today. Coming from someone who loves Tyler and said he was a top 10 DM a few months ago.
First impression - key defensive and midfield players were worn out physically by the end of the first half (Adams, McKennie, Robinson, Dest). That left us vulnerable to a very efficient Dutch attack, and exposed the limitations of our central defenders. The second Dutch goal looked like a loss of concentration by a fatigued team. If we'd finished off one of the chances we created when the Dutch were on the back foot early on, it could have been a different game, and we would have had a respectable chance of holding on. At the same time, the Netherlands could have easily had four goals, or more. I liked our attack in this game better than in any other one, but after the first 10 minutes we always seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown. Overall, a clearly successful World Cup: a win, two draws, and a loss with a -1 differential against two soccer powers and a decent second tier and third tier team. If one of our young forwards comes good in the next four years and the central defense can be upgraded a little, we're on track to have a team that can pose a major challenge to anyone in 2026.
FFS. Everyone knows this team was full able of far better. We have far more offensive and midfield talent BY FAR than ever and what we say was 50% and 50% shambolic mess. I’m sure casual fans are happy with whatever, bu those of us who have been along for the long ride know better.
Greg’s biggest fault is his refusal to believe that anything other than his way can work. Even when’s it’s obvious that it’s not
Actually pretty high, because had he gotten a foot to it, it would have been a credible shot at the near post.