I've only watched the first 30' and I'm pleased to have not found out the result yet(!), but Kessler has impressed me with his poise. That's the most important thing in a game like that - there's intense pressure and players need to keep calm, not turn to ball over and resist the temptation to resort to clearing. In that first third, Kessler's been doing that much better than many of his teammates (but, that hasn't surprised me, because his poise is probably his greatest strength).
Traustason, Buchanan, Dulysse all in action on Thursday’s international stage March 25, 2021 9:00AM EDT Jeff Lemieux
Traustason taken out at about 70'. He was noticeably limping earlier, just after uncorking a 25 yard semi-wild shot -- enough limp that announcers noted it -- but seems to have (mostly) shaken the limp off by the time he left game.
Great background piece on Tajon: Tajon Buchanan's best position? New England's Canadian starlet can adapt to anything March 25, 2021 5:00PM EDT J. Sam Jones
Canada and Honduras drew 1:1, so Honduras wins group B on GD. Kessler and the US will face Honduras on Sunday, while Buchanan and Canada will face Mexico. Sunday's two winners claim berth in the Olympics.
Dulysse and haiti lost their final game to el salvador 2-1. He played every minute of the tournament for Haiti, and generally showed well against some dangerous attackers. I look forward to seeing how much he contributes to R2 this year
Kessler gets the start in the semifinal Made for this moment 💪Looking to punch a 🎟 to #Tokyo2020, your U-23 USMNT starting XI! pic.twitter.com/VeRP0ya2AR— U.S. Soccer YNT (@USYNT) March 28, 2021
I thought Kessler was the best defender on this team. Of course wrong way Kreis didnt start him in game 1 but after his starting 2 make numerous bad plays started him in every game after that. Henry is just solid, makes few bad passes. He should be ready to go for the game Wednesday
Kessler was fine, he showed well for the most part in the tournament and glad he is a Rev. But outside of him, and I'm pissed right now and I have to rant, so I'm going to replace a naughty word with puppy. How in the name of all that is motherPuppy holy have we missed out on the Olympics again? Another high-profile tournament...again? I don't give a Puppy that our best U23s are hard to call in for the Olympics themselves, let alone qualifying. There is no Puppy excuse for us not to be able to field a team that is capable of getting to the final of this tournament. The USSF doesn't do nearly enough to build up a quality U23 program and make this tournament a Puppy priority. This team was not Puppy good enough to try and build out of the back every motherPuppy time they had the ball. That insistence directly led to the mistake that caused the game winning goal. Sometimes you have to skip a Puppy pass, or clear your Puppy lines, or make yourself less Puppy predictable, or play with some motherPuppy urgency to get the ball forward...like when you're down by a Puppy goal in the last 20 Puppy minutes of a motherPuppy must-win game for a chance to qualify for the Puppy Olympics. Sometimes, results Puppy matter more than Puppy style of play. Disgusted.
I'm not getting into your rant, because I fully agree. But Kessler, while he was solid overall in the first, was NOT good this game. Hell, he really should have seen a second yellow. His passing wasn't as good this game as the previous two, his positioning wasn't great, and he looked really slow. Realllllly slow.
Seltzer agrees with you. United States U-23 national team player ratings: High marks for Jackson Yueill, but few others in Olympic qualifying defeat March 29, 2021 10:02AM EDT Greg Seltzer
Not to steal your brilliant rant, but to continue its concept. I went to my wife after the game and said, how the puppy do you make it to that level and can't use your puppy left foot. Their passing and trapping of the ball was puppy horrible. I have coached soccer for over 20 years and that display of soccer was not puppy acceptable for a U-15 team, to say nothing about the U-23 national team!!
I agree that skill-wise we were lacking, but for me the biggest problem was the mental readiness that was missing. Two unforgivable brain-cramps in a must-win game is unacceptable: a very good keeper, uncharacteristically and unnecessarily casual with the ball - and not being able to see out a rough, but recoverable, first half through injury time. Then there were a rash of unnecessary and time-killing fouls committed while chasing the game and the, just like all USNT teams, inability to play the ball forward under the slightest pressure, playing the ball back too much, inviting extra pressure for their backs and keeper.
I'm also thinking that this game, plus struggles against a non-qualifier N. Ireland team for the full USNT, leave me a bit concerned about the WCQs.
And this wasn't a one game thing. We mostly looked like garbage for all but 30 minutes against DR. The Ticos outplayed us, but Ochoa was massive in that game. DR played us tough for almost 60 minutes till the talent discrepancy just became too much for them to overcome. Mexico showed that we don't belong on the field with them (at least with the iteration of the USMNT that was playing that match). And well, Honduras ... we all know. We showed up for about 15 minutes in the second half, and that was it. I lost count at around 10 passes to Herreira that should have been easy to him on the right side, that were just kicked short or long OOB, or he just fell asleep and missed them resulting in them going OOB. That was just pathetic.
I am surprised at everyone's surprise. This was a modestly talented U23 B team at best. Our most talented younger players play in Europe, where most clubs declined to release players for Olympic qualifying (and FIFA won't force their hand).
I think that's part of the issue we have though. I wasn't surprised. I was expecting this result as a distinct possibility. I'm still pissed. It is inexcusable. There's no reason we should not have a capable U23 program every single Olympic cycle.
Don't ALL countries take some sort of talent hit due to this stuck-in-Europe phenomenon - not just USA?
Da Bruce has some pretty pointed commentary on this. The article with his comments also pointed out that the Mexican U-23 team had 20-something matches together coming into this tournament. The US had 2. Even without calling in our best players, I think we had enough talent. I think we were lacking in composure and cohesion, things that just need more real game time to develop. With the euro-version USNT against N. Ireland, I thought we played below our talent level. People have pointed out how many new players Berhalter has capped, and that's great, but it never seems like we have a core squad who really know each other with their eyes closed.
Get your garbage out of here. Kreis had plenty of talent to choose from, but still managed not to pick the best 20 guys from the available players, and then set them up in the worst possible way. Huge hubris at play from USSF management
That's what TT said on his rant. I'm glad the talking heads are going after the clowns that run that organization. On PTI yesterday one of them said the failure of US soccer, the other chimed in - men's soccer!! http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=4348387 On the bright side, Tajon and Henry got some valuable experience.