USMNT's striker problem: Who are the best post-World Cup options?

I mea obviously Germany should have crossed more.

I also read where Spain only made three switches the whole tournament. Every team needs variety so I would imagine it's best to be in the middle but of every type of offensive category other goals and assists where being at the top is great as long as it's not at the expense of defense.

 

And like, there are two teams on the field, this is not a coincidence.

Our opponents were happy to see us down the flanks where we presented them less of a threat. England especially were totally willing to allow us time on the ball in non-threatening wide spaces and built their tactics around that.

We huffed and puffed and had a few ideas to combat this, but at the end of the day we were a pretty toothless attacking force despite an unusual amount and quality of possession.

 

My point is that people are misinterpreting that stat, thinking it means lofted crosses. I think it includes balls played in on the ground from a wide position.

 

I don't believe there is a distinction between the height of the ball, they all count as crosses. Playing the ball to the feet of our strikers is not a bad idea if you also train movement and interchange.







Bruce Aren just aquired Bobby to play for NE!

 

Why should he be called in over Vasquez, Balogun, Wright, Pepi, Pefok, and Sargent. He hasn't even done anything in MLS.

Anyway, I will repeat that if you guys are expecting a Haaland to be available in to us in the next 4 years..you will probably be dissappointed.

 

Not suggesting Bobby be called in, he has not been able to stay healthy for more than a couple of months in the last 5 years. Just excited to see him in NE playing for Bruce.

Those were examples of creating schemes where you get the ball to the feet of competent strikers in flow. I believe the strikers you mentioned are all somewhere on the competent spectrum and we need to devise schemes to get them the ball where they can do damage.

 

Can Giuseppe Rossi still file a one-time switch?

 

Unlike let's say 2002 squad were Everton player was sitting on the bench. Berhalter is a strictly defensive coach who doesn't know how to optimize attacking performance. If you put MMA log jam in the middle of the field your attackers will lack service no matter what.

 

I've seen too much Bobby Wood period.

 

Imagine the kind of salary a manager could demand if he could turn any of our strikers into reliable goal scorers. Such a manager would never bother with international game.

 

USMNT’s problem is NOT about strikers cannot finish chances. It is about NOT ENOUGH chances created.

 

Pepi, Gakpo, Bergwijn all play and score in same league.

 

Our attack is basically lofting toothless crosses to nobody. We either need some more creative attacking players or Berhalter needs to adjust his tactics in the attack so there's more dynamic play. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what the right answer is.

 

You have CREATIVE attacking players. We have Reyna in the middle, some extend Luca who can thread some good passes. We even have a Tillman who is inconsistent but sometimes showing brillance. We even have someone like Booth/Mihalovic/Sonora, etc.
But with GGG, he would have Jedi and Dest do crosses. Or Yedlin/Moore/Cannon, take your pick.

 

Weah is the answer. Always has been and still will be in 2026.

Groom Vasquez to be his 65th minute sub.

 

Surely seeing what he's got should be a priority for January.

 

I wouldn't assume that forward is going to be a problem in 2026. Recently, we have:

Ferreira and Vazquez, ages 21 and 23, excelling in MLS
Sargent and Dike - ages 21 and 22, excelling in the Championship
Wright - age 24, excelling in Turkey
Pepi - age 19, excelling in the Netherlands

That's a pretty good core, and seems to compare favorably with our young or youngish forward prospects at almost any moment in the past. Nothing is guaranteed, but I think that the odds are good that at least one of those guys is going to be a major contributor. Pepi, in particular, still strikes me as a super-prospect - people seemed to sour on him due to his struggles in Germany, but going from good MLS side to a bad Bundesliga side at age 19 is a huge jump.

There's also a chance that someone could move into more of a striker role from midfield or the wing, or that someone in the second tier (like Ebobisse) could raise their game between now and 2026.

I'm more concerned about whether we can secure at least one high-level central defender by 2026.

 

My opinion is still same.
USNMT doesn’t have a striker problem, it has a tactical problem.
Let’s see if it will change to make this problem disappear.

 

I highly doubt that.

 

Didn't Morocco just make it to the semifinals after only scoring 1 goal in what, 200 minutes of game time. Portugal scored 0, Spain scored 0, etc. International soccer at the highest level is a low scoring game. We need to execute better but the idea we are going to create more chances at this highest level I don't think is realistic. We all talk about how little our goalies have to do, they need to make that 1 or 2 great saves a game to keep us in it. If that's what we expect of our goalie, then why do we think we will create more chances then we expect our goalie to stop?
Argentina only had 1 goal till the 80th minute or so and that was off a ridiculous pass from Messi.

How many chances are created a game at this level? I'm sure one of our data geeks can find that.

 

That is a pretty good core... and USSF and whoever the coach is needs to full court press Folarin Balogun to add him to that core. And surely others will appear over the next four years as well, whether it's known names like Hoppe improving, or young prospects emerging.

 

Yeah sorry poor phrasing on my part. I wasn't trying to say we don't have attacking players available but instead that we weren't really featuring them. Luca (and allegedly Reyna) not being healthy didn't help but still

 

Indeed. The pool is the pool.............and maybe we can add Balogun to it.

A little factoid. When he was 21 years old, Olivier Giroud was playing in the French 3rd division for Istres (on loan from Grenoble). Now look at his list of accomplishments.

There are a loooooooooooooooooooooooooot of examples of "late bloomers" at the #9 position.

We have quite a young forward pool. We need to keep working and investing in them. Of course, we'll keep developing at the youth levels too. Who's to say one of this number can't develop into an elite #9? RIcardo Pepi?

If developing elite #9s was easy, everybody would do it. Premier League clubs spend an absolute fortune cycling thru #9 projects hoping to find one. That Dutch guy that scored a brace against Argentina, Wout Weghorst, flamed out of the Premier League with Burnley. They paid 12 million pounds for him, and he scored 2 goals. They sent him on loan to Turkey, where he hasn't scored as many goals as......................Haji Wright. But there he popped up scoring a brace in the World Cup against Argentina. Sometimes its right place at the right time.