Pre-match: 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group Stage: USA vs Trinidad and Tobago

I don't think we look capable of crushing anyone at the moment. Excepting the occasional moments of aggression from Arriola and Boyd, we have looked lifeless for several games now. Stale. Flat. Yuck.

This is not the US style of play that reeled me in to a lifetime of fandom.

 

It was only Guyana but 4-0 is crushing it in my book

 

Well we also played then the round before in JAX... so there's that too. (we looked pretty ugly in the first half in that game before the floodgates opened)

But yeah, this is a competitive tournament. All I care about is wins, losses, and suspensions. Worry about looking pretty during friendlies.

 

I see that was 4-0 so 2-0 at a minimum and probably 3 or 4 to nil is the benchmark.

The main thing for me again is

- no goals allowed
- good communication and maintaining shape
- win well over 50% of loose balls
- no injuries to Wes and Pulisic
- lots of outside shots

 

Only if he has reached the most games played goal. Otherwise, I fear, we will still be seeing him next year as we start qualifications for WC2022. But I agree with the sentiment.

 

Besides no injuries what I want to see from Puli and McKennie (if he plays) is that they take over the midfield and just start dominating like CP did in the home hex games. Something about Pulisic was just off on Tuesday. I know he may be a better winger, but Pulisic has shown he's more than capable for us in the center and that's a bigger position of need.

 

Guyana are 166 on the elo. Trinidad are 103. When playing teams this lowly, style of play is highly relevant. The struggles against Martinique in GC'17 presaged the problems to come in WCQing

And a 4-0 victory over Guyana is really below the minimum one would have expected.

 

Why does style matter? Is an attractive 4-0 somehow better than a conservative score of the same line?

 

ehhh... might be a bit of a stretch given who was playing that night. Zero of the starters from that night started in the loss to the Ticos, which was the next qualifier.

A lot of the blame in that game in the second half fell on Matt Hedges and Justin Morrow...who played about as well as you'd think.

 

Oh, it doesn't have to be pretty or stylish. A win is a win.

But an ugly win doesn't project well for the future. And the tournament won't end with TNT. Thinking beyond the 90 minutes, beyond the group stage, and even beyond this Gold Cup - that's where the "how" will start to matter.

If tomorrow, we end up winning a squeaker, with a scoreline of 8 to 7 - against a 9-man T&T playing their reserve team, after a sudden outbreak of bird flu that sidelines their entire starting eleven - and we score 4 own goals when Steffen is struck blind intermittently by freak migraines - and our only goal from the run of play is a wild rebound off of Zardes' butt that he scores unintentionally while rolling on the ground pretending to be injured - and Pulisic is injured when a mischievous imp steals his mojo and gives it to T&T's Alvin Jones - and the winner is a controversial penalty awarded in stoppage time when Altidore grabs the keeper's hand and punches himself with it while the ref's back was turned ....

Well, it'd be a win. And I'd probably be quite happy we won such a nailbiter. But in the long run, it would be deeply, deeply worrying.

Hugely entertaining, though.

(edit)
Actually, scratch that - this is exactly how I want to see this game play out.

 

Trinidad looked toothless in their opener, a 0-2 loss to Panama.

 

I don't like Pulisic in the center with how Gregg wants our CMs to plays. To me Pulisic is an attacker willing to do his defensive work, but this CM role seems like a full on two way role, which takes too much of his focus and energy away from attacking.

I think Gregg's system allows a lot of attack to come through the wings which a part of why we saw so much from Boyd and Arriola last game, but one of those two spots should be Pulisic.

 

There may be some truth to that, but it really didn't explain Christian's stumbles in attack against Guyana once he was in and around the Guyana 18 box. At some point it's ok to point the finger at the player himself.

 

I do think it was a combination of things. I believe he was pressing, especially in the first half and was trying to do something magical. Then as the game wore on I believe he settled into just being a cog in the system, which I believe is what Gregg wants from his CM's. I think the bulk of the attack, at least from what Ive watched, will be from the wings. So to that, Arriola should move to the Bench slide Pulisic outside, and open the game for him. Then actually bring some CMs capable of playing the role, instead of shoehorning Pulisic in there. It's why a lot of times, system coaches struggle with certain stars if they dont match their system. They just dont "fit" right.

 

Arena was looking for reinforcements. The GC produced next to none.

 

Pulisic isn't a central midfielder. It makes more sense to point the finger at the coach.

 

ok, I can concede that.

 

If you check the TNT defense vs PAN in the GC and vs USA Oct 2017, the 2 DM's and 2/4 in the backfield are the same. Even if TNT looked porous vs Panama they held us in the qualifiers with essentially the same roster. Our current roster looks toothless in comparison. Don't expect great things from Berhalter's roster. Pulisic can't do it all by himself although he did come close to tying TNT 2-2 when he hit the post late in the 2nd half.

 

I mean, if you can find that magical person playing pickup in a park somewhere, tell Gregg. Until then we're stuck with what we've got. Maybe Paxton will be that guy in a year or two, but we've already seen Pulisic steamroll a team like Panama from the middle of the park like in Orlando. He's more than capable of doing the same against a team of semipros. We don't have the luxury of a surrounding cast of Champions League players like Pulisic has in his club ball. He's going to have to carry more weight and responsibility with the US...particularly with this roster.

 

A 1-0 victory, perhaps even 2-0. They're basically a USL team.

 

Trinidad also looked toothless in their 2-1 victory against the US a while back. You do not need teeth to chew up oatmeal.

The US "should" win easily but that was also true back in 2017.

 

I took the plunge and bought tickets for the quarterfinals in Philly. It's mainly so I can take my 95-year-old grandfather to another USMNT game (I'm not sure how many he has left). So, I would doubly appreciate a win against T&T to clinch a place in the next round. I can just see him saying, "Well, I'm glad to see you, but why are you taking me to watch Trinidad play Jamaica and Panama play Honduras?"

 

Wasn't that Dempsey?

 

Thats kind of my overall gripe with what Gregg has done so far. Very few players have been tested, and while they may be awful, we just dont know how theyd fit into his system.

I agree Pulisic can dominate from the middle of the park. But thats not what Gregg asks him to do, he asks teams to play long diagonals and crosses from the wings, which means attacking off the dribble in the middle of the park isnt high on the priority list, which is what Pulisic does well. So my opinion is you move him to the Wing, and then play literally anyone else in the middle. Because its essentially a run and cover role. So you could play Corona,Williams, or any number of players there and they would be just as successful as Pulisic in the role given in that position though they are less talented overall.

 

Given the roster, Pulisic and Arriola should just swap positions. Before the arrival of Rooney, DC played in a 4141; Arriola was excellent as an 8/10 in the formation: 4 goals and 3 primary assists in 9 starts.

Lee Nguyen and Nagbe could have been on the roster, as well.