Pre-match: 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinal: USA vs Curacao - June 30th

Evidence says this is the proper lineup at this point:

--------------------Atildore------------------
----Arriola--------Pulisic--------Boyd----
------------------McKennie-----------------
--------------------Bradley------------------
Lima-----Long---Zimmerman--Cannon
--------------------Steffen--------------------

 

That might be the lineup for the final—though I’d stick Miazga in there.

For Curacao I’d prefer to rest Altidore, Boyd and Pulisic. Sub them in if necessary.

 

I expect the following XI again, with the only possible alteration being Altidore for Zardes.

---Arriola---Zardes---Boyd---
-----Pulisic----McKennie-----
-------------Bradley-------------
-Ream--Long--Zimm--Lima-
-------------Steffen-------------

Seize control with multiple first half goals and then take the foot off the accelerator in the second half.

 

For me if we are trying to get a big victory I think you line up like this:
Pulisic-------Altidore-------Boyd
------Arriola---------McKinnie
-------------Roldan
Ream-----Miazga----Zimmerman---Lima

But I wouldnt be adverse, given the roster to default back to the lineup from the first 2 games. But ideally Pulisic doesnt start and Bradley/Trapp find a bench role because they can get run over or by in this game.

 

If we keep improving maybe one day we can have as many of our players in the best eleven as Curaçao

Aquí está el once ideal de la fase de grupos de #GoldCup2019 ⚽#EstoEsNuestro #ThisIsOurs pic.twitter.com/qPX3MuAICm

— W Gold Cup (@GoldCup) June 27, 2019

 

our best team as i see it is pretty set.

steffen, lima, miazga and long for sure. id still like to see lovitz as the stay-at-home lb- he doesnt offer much going forward and he hasnt shown reams propensity for a couple or three god-awful giveaways per match.

bradley, mckennie and pulisic- and my saying bradley should obviously start has nothing to do with him and EVERYTHING to do with how pedestrian trapp has been.

boyd and arriola are dead ass locks, but morris is finally showing something as a winger, and i think hes a good change of style to bring off the bench for boyd.

up front im team jozy (full stop), but specifically what weve seen is that jozy is able to win balls in the air, hold up play, be a facilitator in that position. neither him nor zardes are going to pour in the goals (especially if we ever get to a decent defense), so it makes sense to ME let jozy play with pulisic and the wings attacking off him, put the work in, wear down the cbs and then bring zardes in. after theyve had had to battle for an hour, losing their legs a bit. i think he will be much more effective in that role.

im fine looking at it as a 60/30 split, i just think weve been doing it the wrong way. hold up play, combo play- those arent gyasis strengths. jozy coming in running at defenders? its just backwards to me.

that said, i trust zimmerman at this level. cannons done ok but man, talk about no final ball. in the middle- get ready for some faint-ass praise- roldan is the only sub i want to see at all, and thats only if we HAVE to take one of the starters off. we need to find spots for mahailovic to steal minutes for pulisic to rest, so heres to having a lead or two over the next couple (believe me thats not endorsement for dm)

the keepers, trapp, lewis, gonzalez- thanks for last night, thatll be all..

 

I have not watched Curaçao play, but from the scorelines:

Curaçao 0-1 El Salvador (Shots were 9/5 to 3/1 in El Salvador's favor)
Honduras 0-1 Curaçao (Shots were 35/13 to 7/4 in Honduras' favor)
Jamaica 1-1 Curaçao (Shots were 17/4 to 11/3 in Jamaica's favor)

As others have pointed out, the semifinals are Tuesday/Wednesday (not W/Th), so there's a fairly tight turnaround. If we win Sunday evening, we will play Jamaica or Panama (again) on Wednesday evening.

My hope is that Berhalter is willing to risk a slight increase in the relatively small chance of losing to Curaçao, if that increases our chances of winning the semifinal and Final. Of course we might lose this Sunday - look at eliminated Honduras, with 35 shots, 13 on goal, 0 goals - but we should sub/rotate appropriately v Curaçao with the semifinal/Final in mind.

Working backward: Who would I like to start in the Final v Mexico? Whose legs do I need to be fresh v Jamaica/Panama? Which of these players can I afford to rest v Curaçao?

 

For a knock out game...not in a million years.

 

I don't ever want to see Pulisic let Jozy take a FK again.

 

Yeah, it's definitely risky, but with the short rest between the quarters and semis, I might favor squad rotation against Curacao. I did watch their games against Honduras and Jamaica, and while Curacao is no joke and has some guys who can do damage up front, Jamaica and Honduras, with half decent finishing, should have scored 4 or 5 goals in those games. If the US actually converts on a couple early chances and doesn't let Curacao hang around, I think it could be a pretty comfortable win for us.

 

Exactly.

 

has pulisic ever scored one?

 

This effectively becomes a 442 if we used it against a team as good as Mexico. Weston will have to sink farther and farther back to cover for Bradley (whom I assume will be pressured heavily both in transition D and as an outlet) and this will also cause arriola and Boyd to drop as well.

 

Most of the Curacao players were born in the Netherlands and ply their trade there. I believe this is their breakdown for that last starting 11

GK- Eredivisie
RB- Eredivsie
CB- Eredivsie
CB- Eredivsie
LB- Erste divise
MF- EPL
MF- USL
MF- Eredivisie
FW- Cyprus (playing in Europa League)
FW- Eredivisie
FW- League Two

 

No, and I don't know if he's scored a competitive goal in open play shooting over the defense either. It's just not his strength.

I think the right option is Boyd, but Jozy is better at it than Pulisic, nothing would engender confidence for him on fk's other than pedigree. What, did Jozy miss like one, and not badly, where odds are you don't make that anyway? So it's an overreaction to be up in arms about it.

 

Maybe if Altidore is fit, but he's not. And he's also prone to choking. Morris is probably the most reliable fw on the squad.

I kind of like the idea of moving Lima to the left and putting Cannon in his spot. Although Cannon himself has been pretty underwhelming, he's better than Lovitz and Ream.

I don't think there's much evidence between Miazga, Zimmerman, and Long; as to who is the best pairing. I think Long is the top option because of complement and 2-way play. But next to him could be either Zim or Miazga. Miazga almost always puts in a shift for us. Gun to head it would be him and Long if I was in charge.

 

We will eat all their Kettle Corn...

 

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/09/18/goal-jozy-altidore-scores-beautiful-free-kick-0


Jozy has scored at least two from about that spot for the USMNT. He's only taken a few.

Let me know when Pulisic has scored a FK for anybody.

 

Jozy has literally scored in just about every Cup Final he's played in. What tendency to choke?

Dutch Cup
MLS Cup
CCL Champions League
Gold Cup

He would have 2 MLS Cup winners had Frei not pulled a rabbit out of a hat.

 

They are definitely way way way waaay better than Guyana, but some context/corrections:

GK
While he is on PSV books, can't find that he played anywhere this past season. Last seen playing sparingly for Jong PSV over a year ago which was in the ErsteDiv.

RB
Actually played in the ErsteDiv this season. His Club finished 8th, but due to the wacky Dutch system, they won promotion. He appears to be a key starter for this club.

CB
Lachman is in the Eredivsie @ Zwolle. Part time player rated poorly.

CB
The other CB is not in the top flight, he's in the ErsteDiv. He's a bench guy there.

LB
Incorrect. The guy is actually in the 4th tier in Holland.

MF
Bacuna did get 11 appearances with Cardiff in the EPL this year, but they were relegated. Primarily he was in the Championship at Reading anyway this year, where he was a consistent starter along with Miazga. Whoscored rated him as Reading's 12th best player (Miazga was 5th).

MF
The USL man came by way of the ErsteDiv where he barely played.

MF
Hooi is in the Eredivisie with ADO Den Haag. A part time/ bench guy.

F
The guy in Cyprus is a mostly starter for this club that did in fact qualify for the next Europa league, hasn't played there yet though.

F
Arias is a squad player with Emman in the Eredivsie. They finished 1 spot ahead of Novakovich's Sittard, who just avoided relegation. To compare Novakovich scored 9 goals and rated 6.88 whoscored, while Arias scored 4 with a 6.46

F
Yep, League 2 in England where he is a starter at Oldham.

 

- He did at every level above Eredivisie for club: 1 goal each at Sunderland, Hull, Villarreal, and Bursaspor
- No goals in the World Cup, do or die WC qualifier he laid an egg all around, no competitive goals against Mexico or Costa Rican a-sides, don't think he's scored in the ko's of an a-team GC

The shining moment was the goal in the semis of the Confed Cup against Spain, 10 years ago almost to the day. If you're being honest, he's engendered a lot of mistrust when it really matters at this point for tUSA.

 

I actually think Miazga is better than both Zimmerman & Long. But the pairing of Long/Zim is kind of set for the GC now, while Miazga hasn't worked with Zim at all, and only poorly with Long several weeks ago.

I don't hate starting Morris. Jozy did enough (very little, but enough) to put him back to #1 for now.

 

This tournament is not above Eredivisie level. This tournament is not above MLS playoffs and definitely not above CCL.

He was excellent in 2010 World Cup,missed 2014 and 18.

Panama was also do or die and he did.