Playing in Mexico is rough. And LAFC hasn't had to this CCL. The good news? They went down 2-0 to Leon a couple of years ago, and won 3-0 at home.
Tillman is not having the greatest game, but he's had a couple of really nice plays -- including a great pass on the break -- and he's getting absolutely zero help from Ilie and Cifuentes, who have been atrocious.
Altidore today was basically saying that Atlanta should fire Pineda and hire him. https://theathletic.com/4565782/202...-champions-league/?source=user_shared_article “This guy, he’s gonna be a star,” Altidore told The Athletic in 2022. At the time, Altidore was convinced that Larcamón was ready to lead a big club in Liga MX. Though, he felt that an ambitious MLS side should consider Larcamón, as well. Altidore called Larcamón “a really smart hire for a lot of the bigger teams in MLS.” “Young but smart, up-tempo,” Altidore said of his former coach. “The football (Larcamón) wants to play is the football of today, of the best teams today. He and his staff are first class.” Larcamón left Puebla without a trophy, but he still earned club icon status. He was linked to Club América and was viewed as a darkhorse option to succeed Gerardo Martino as Mexico’s manager. Altidore, meanwhile, went as far as to choose the best MLS fit for his former boss. “When I think of an Atlanta United, and this is the Jozy post-career hat, I think ‘What’s a better hire than this guy?’” said Altidore. “His staff has a good mix of South Americans but he’s fair, he speaks good English, he’s bright, he’s willing to learn and he wants to push the envelope. When you think about the biggest clubs, I just think what a wonderful fit it would be for Atlanta United. I’m like ‘Sorry Gonzalo Pineda!’ but what a good fit this guy would be for a team like Atlanta. It’s a match made in heaven.”
LAFC was arrogant thinking they would be winning all the duals. Leon's tactics are very much 1v1 attacking and running all over the place and it's been effective.
I've watched a lot of later rounds of CCL over the last 5 or more years and what I always have seen is that, when faced with Mexican clubs, the MLS clubs just aren't on the same page (most of the time). LAFC was completely out of their depth today for 90% of the game. Outplayed on every loose ball, outplayed in every individual effort. The 2-1 final outcome wasn't reflective of what happened on the field. LAFC was beaten to most balls, and even when they got there first no one had their thought on where the ball should go next. LAFC were thoroughly outplayed for 90 minutes today, and ended up very lucky to finish with the scoreline they did.
Not really the case when MLS hosts LMX but I agree. FWIW LAFC had a worse result in 2020 at Leon (looked similarly bad) and they absolutely smashed them in LA.
This is reminiscent of last year, when the Sounders got a late goal to tie it 2-2 away then won 3-0 back home. Or LAFC in 2020, who lost 2-0 then won 3-0 back home. Still LAFC looked AWFUL. Gotta play better at home but a big, multi-goal win wouldn't shock me.
When more than half of the starters have their worst game...on the same night, and you escape only down 1, it would certainly be worse. Murillo and Acosta will help too.
If Acosta is healthy. Murillo will be a huge upgrade. The altitude and heat can't have helped. But it's always a little odd when a team that should know better comes out and gets hit in the mouth. You can't even really say they responded. They just kind of got lucky.
Folks are of critical of the Callaghan appointment, because they don't know him. People were critical of the Hudson interim appointment. In the end I think people thought he was fine. Some seemed to even quite like him. I suspect that based on the profiles of Callaghan I've been reading, he'll also be fine in this interim role. Appointing Callaghan isn't some sort of sign that the USSF is "throwing in the towel" for this summer, or that we're squandering this time. That's an over-reaction to me. He'll be fine. As Jim Curtin has said about BJ in that article: "He won't be outworked."
I've been amused by the twitter conspiracy theories the last couple days that said Hudson was forced out because he didn't have enough MLS players and people who are usually smart pushing that agenda
There will always be twitter conspiracy theories that make no sense. I think folks will judge this whole coaching carousel based on the eventual hire. If we get a good hire in the end, folks will quickly forget about this interim period. Maybe waiting until after the Euro club season ends will actually pay off. So far I've liked what Crocker has said. Now we'll see him walk the walk. [And no, I won't be disappointed if the hire is Marsch. Although I do think Marsch will have other opportunities.]
Maybe a Euro quota contingent got him fired because the Mexico friendly was a bigger event than the Nations League games!
You get the feeling that there are people who would put Thiago Almada on the squad because he plays in MLS?
I think there are people who love conspiracy theories. There have never been "MLS quotas" for the national team. The reality, as much as people don't like it......................is that Berhalter legitimately thought guys like Roldan, Ferreira, Morris, Arriola, etc. were worthy of those opportunities. And lest we forget, Berhalter won the friggin' 2021 Gold Cup final against a strong Mexico team. 15 of the 17 players used that day were current of former MLS players. But MLS players suck I guess. Turner, Cannon, Sands, M. Robinson, Bello, Williamson, Acosta, Lletget, Arriola, Zardes, Hoppe, Moore, Vines, Roldan, Busio, Gioacchini, and Kessler were the players used. Only Hoppe and Gioacchini hadn't been under MLS contract prior to that. And Hoppe spent time at the Galaxy academy. Gioacchini spent a brief spell at the DCU academy when his parents lived in Maryland. So that would be 17 of 17 with MLS connections. When will people get the hell over the inferiority complex about MLS, its players, its coaches, its facilities, etc? The next USMNT coach will also have his favorites from MLS to use as cover. Book it. There will be the "next Roldan." I personally would love it if the next coach is somebody with the track record of Carlo Ancelloti, and he calls up Roldan repeatedly. What would these howling conspiracy theorists say then?
Nearly every national team, even the bigger ones, have coaches with little or no top 5 league experience. The only exception, AFAICT, is France. I think even guys like Marsch or Vieira are not going to sign up for three years of NT work. They will likely go to France or Germany, instead.
This take is so hot I needed oven gloves to post it. Batson is the new CEO named September 2022. CPP is Parlow. 1664276276734214144 is not a valid tweet id
There will also always be twitter conspiracy theories that make great sense. There is an easy way to know how it goes in this case: If we keep to Hudson's idea of the same [largish] pool to draw upon for both tournaments, and Hudson is announced as the new manager at, say, Swansea, then twitter's conspiracy theory did not hold up to the light of day. On the other hand, if we now announce to richly different rosters, with one stocked with all sorts of MLS guys of Meh, and Hudson's new job is an assistant to some guy running Alkmaar, then twitter's conspiracy theory shines bright in the light of day. We'll see soon enough.
I totally believe that if Earnie had a list of coaches or people to succeed him, Cone and perhaps Baston wanted to toss it out and do it from scratch. I'm not actually sure how many people there are that would need "cleaning out" though before you get a head coach? Like anyone below the Sporting Director could be transitioned out by the new Sporting Director, but there's not a slew of people you'd need to turn over before finding a coach/ Cone and perhaps Baston wanted their person in the Sporting Director role. And now, hopefully, they are letting Crocker pick his person for the head coach. That does take time, but I'm not grasping what else would need to occur in the interim. Don't like a marketing person? Okay, irrelevant. Don't like the head of coaching education or something? Like, not a direct line, and if anything, you might want the HC's input on the successor. BTW, the house was cleaned (at least on the soccer side) when Cordeiro first came in, so much of the house ain't even that old. US Soccer's bureaucracy is systematic, I suspect, and far less based on the people than the actual organization rules and the culture in place. If Cindy Cone and Baston don't like the culture of a small organization they run, they should also look to themselves.