In his position its just as much about retaining the ball and cycling it. He can do that well and he can switch the field well. He created multiple attacking moves. Not everyone can do that.
or more accurately, assessing how they look compared to the last two decades of u-20 teams which have achieved similar results. Most of these guys are going to be solid pros, but it's really hard to see this team as more talented than, say, the 2007 team that made the same stage.
The curse of the quarterfinals continues. Congratulations to Ecuador, they have played well. Keita was horrible. What happened Araujo and Cerrillo during the cup? I feel completely disappointed with Durkin, a very low level that I never thought he would have.
A lot of things went wrong in this one. Keita was horrible. Gloster had his worst game. Tab never should’ve started Durkin. Uly failed to make the impact he did in his previous appearances. Richards had a couple uncharacteristic mistakes. Pomykal wasn’t great. Mendez was bad. But even with that we controlled a lot of the play in the second half. I don’t buy the idea that “athleticism” was the problem in this game. I think if Ledezma and Uly were fit and started, and if Servania started over Durkin, we could’ve (and maybe should’ve) won this game. As usual, we have some good players on this team, and we got one good win, but overall it was a good but not great tournament. The story of Tab’s tenure. I for one will be happy to see him go. Not that I have contempt for him, just that I think it’s time to see what someone else can do.
By that same token, in his position the worst thing he can do is give the ball away, which he did a whole lot of this tourney
I like Gloster, Dest, Richards, Pom, Weah, Mendez, Ledezma, and Llanez. The latter four are pretty much pure attackers so I'm glad as hell they are not developing in the states.
This is a nice team but I guess the semifinals is our bridge too far... I think Ecuador surprised us by playing the long ball at the beginning of the game which put us on our heels. Unfortunately, this team's main weakness, visible throughout the other games, is what, IMO, cost this game: The inability to win the majority of our one on one duels both on defense and in attack. Specifically, in the midfield we need a much stronger DM than Durkin, if we are going to play a pure luxury player like Mendez. Mendez's inability to pressure and win tackles far outweighs his alleged "specialty" of taking free kicks. It's a shame that Ledesma does not seem fit, he appears much the better player to me. The go-ahead goal in the last 15 minutes was killer, 2nd goal we have given up by being 2nd to a rebound off the woodwork. From memory, the initial problem was once again inability to pressure the ball in midfield. I thought the defense played about as well as it could, Richards is a mench, and while Ochoa was perhaps a step out of position on the first rocket, he made 2 saves in the last 20 minutes to keep us in it. We finally were able to put our game together the last 30 minutes of the the 2nd half, but just could make the final pass or effectuate the final dribble to create enough clear chances. Soto had a nice tournament but he got manhandled this game, and botched his best chance by not shooting first time. Weah also did some good things, he sometimes has a very subtle game, and Pomykal is overall a really good player, he might be the most first team ready. But I think he also needs a stronger player at DM destroyer to flourish. Shame they're out, they were fun to watch, now we're stuck with watching the "seniors".
I don't care one way or another, really. I hope he and all of the rest of these guys do well. He doesn't deserve the kind of polarized politicking that he has received, though. People like to demonize and blame others when things don't go their way. He wasn't at fault for anything here. No own goals, no egregious mistakes.
He needs to get over the mental aspects of his game and play. This team started with Mendez 8 Pom 10 Durkin 6 and Tab found lightning in a bottle with Pomykal as a touchline to touchline defensive 8 with Ledezma getting things moving thru the spine as a 10, when Mendez was carded out v. France. It certainly looks like Tab should have stayed with the lightning in a bottle v. Ecuador. We got enough possessions to make it competitive but couldn't get much threat going in the attacking half in possession. Plus we had some luck in the defensive end. Credit Ecuador for not fouling us much near Mendez' shooting range.
Anyone else remember the Eddie Johnson World Cup? We lost this game by inches - but our patience in possession - first touch, quick moving the ball around, finding seams - all light years of where we once were. It’s funny we are scapegoating one or two players given our past. I enjoyed how we played in this game even if there were moments of sloppiness and poor finishing.