U.S. U20 March 2023 Friendlies: PBP When Available

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Your #U20MYNT starting XI vs. 🇫🇷

💻 ≫ https://t.co/6GulwMDs5M pic.twitter.com/2xcMkxcPMc

— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 22, 2023

 

The comments from the France fans are amusing me.

 

Diego Luna looks outstanding already, the French don't know what to do with his dribbling ability

 

France just missed a pen. Gaga magic

 

Cuevas has been a trainwreck. Just gave up a pen, and while I haven't been tracking all the passes, I've seen him put a poor one out there 5-6 times. It was a bad pen, wide, but also would have been saved.

Otherwise, they are cool and calm, and we are a bit frantic, but no one really has much control of the run of play. They've had a couple counters and we haven't threatened at all.

The ref screwed up early not giving France a deserved yellow, and it's been a bit of a street fight since. Not a lot of yellow worthy stuff but very, very physical.

 

#17 with a ROCKET.

 

Why is our 4th best RB in the pool our captain?

The CM's - Alvarado & Pukstas - have just stunk. Mistakes building out of the back from bad touches & lack of ability to hold off defenders. Then they've taken horrible angles defensively.

The press has really struggled to get home, even though they've been around the ball. Lack of strength (a problem for this group overall, need more physical guys to complement the skill ones) & more reacting than anticipating. The one time they did, Paredes read the cutback to steal, laid it off to Luna, but he made the wrong choice. Should have hit it first time.

I understand this is a fairly experimental group, but am befuddled why that trial doesn't just include a real 9 like Yapi instead of the ol' false one. Hard to get that to work against an opponent of France's ilk. Could use a target and physical guy to pair w/ Paredes.

 

We have a very talented team but I don't like how we're playing.

 

Two good chances generated by our press but just missed on the finishes.

 

The US, namely Sullivan, starting to eat on the press. He just created 2 point blank shots for teammates - Paxten & Luna - that they blew. Actually Luna blew 2, one earlier from Paredes. He's faded after that nice start.

 

Haven't been impressed by either fullback. Cuevas more actively bad, Gomez just non existent.

 

Can we see McGlynn please.

 

Someone needs to coach out the long horizontal balls from the flanks to the midfielders. France is eating them alive and creating transition opportunities. I've seen Luna and Cuevas both play some bad ones.

Just generally a naive performance at the half, you're not playing CONCACAF teams anymore. Be sharp, make the right decision, manage the risks.

A decent 9 would make sense. The last time the USA beat France it was by using a true 9 in Soto to make runs and get on the end of chances.

 

This is a small roster. So it makes adjustments tough. In an ideal world, I'd plug Yapi in at the 9 ASAP. Take off Luna and 1 of Pukstas/Alvarado. Replace them w/ Wolff & Vargas. Sub in Halliday for Cuevas at RB. Then Craig for one of the 2 CB's to help the build-up.

For as tenuous as that was, we should have at least 1 goal. It would be nice to not just create off the press though. But we weren't even doing that the 1st 30 minutes. It was pretty 1-way traffic.

 

France is bigger, faster and stronger than us at every position. The only two guys on our team that I think would fit in physically are Thomas Williams and maybe Quinn Sullivan, who has beaten a couple of guys for pace today.

That's not to say we are more skilled, though, though we hold our own there, I think. We are certainly working harder in the sense that we are running a lot more, which isn't necessarily great. But it's enough to keep the game just slightly to France's advantage.

The goal isn't good for winning, but it did wake us up. Previously, we were way too cautious. We'd play a nice two man game on the left, and we'd break through the line, and the receiving player would pass back. Through the two guys he just passed. But after that, we got a little more forward energy.

Kudos to Diego Luna. I wouldn't say the conditioning is all the way there, but he's far more active and effective. Was fun to see him school some of the French guys, who definitely looked confused. RSL needs to find more time for him. He's done the work.

I thought Pukstas battled, but our middle infield was really missing. Alvarado was everywhere in CCAF but absent so far today.

Cuevas, as I noted, was bad. Gomez had a couple of moments but largely stayed back.

Williams is intriguing. He's kind of crazy aggressive in his choices to step and on offense -- he rumbled up the field a lot. But he's big, fast, and if he can be a bit more judicious, he could be a really good player.

 

Terrible choices. We'd be down 3 - 0, with those players in the starting XI.

 

We look like a more talented Leeds, that is still being coached my Marsch. We need a better coach.

 

This reeks of not following along with how those players have developed and grown beyond the guys you're elevating above them. Their comparative pro performances say otherwise.

It's also ironic to posit being more solid defensively makes you more tenuous. You also couldn't have built out much worse than the US did. Or executed poorer in the final 3rd.

We were fortunate not to be down 2-0 as is w/ the unit that was out there. We wouldn't be on pace for an 0-6 drubbing w/ better pros. lol

 

Is that Ferkranus or Williams or both? I saw #14 do it a couple times.