You’re right, I don’t. He is reflexively and almost uniformly a Gregg fanboy on Twitter, which is what we were discussing (Doyle on Twitter).
Adams comp... that one sequence around 60% of the way in.... 🇺🇸Tyler Adams vs Irán 🇮🇷. Un pulpo. https://t.co/1xOqOoMBzu— Tomiconcina (@Tomiconcina1) November 30, 2022
Well, I re-watched as well, and I mostly agree. But what you're saying about not bunkering until into stoppage time is pretty much objectively wrong. The fully defensive subs came in the 82nd minute, and we went 541 or 5311 at best. Bradley was nicknamed Bunker Bob w/ a 442 empty bucket, 2 up, and 4 attacking-centric players. This was certainly a bunker for 17 minutes minimum. We started to lose a foothold for the last 34 because Acosta was the sub instead of Reyna to keep the foothold. Aaronson could have played centrally if Berhalter was that concerned about Gio's defense there. There was no reason to give Iran's crappy MF that much respect to sit in and go w/ that defensive of personnel for that long. Reduced our chances of securing the win. Agree that Aaronson was saucy at the beginning of the 2nd half and had his moments throughout, in spite of the disconnects between him and his teammates after we went so defensive, and their ineptitude otherwise he probably has a goal or assist w/ all the chances he created. Vis a vis Shaq Moore, he made a couple big defensive plays, like being johnny on the spot on the back post to deal w/ a bouncing cross. On the ball he was very bad again. So I'd say he was a mixed bag. The on ball stuff bothers people more cuz it's the sexier aspect. They weight it more heavily. Curious what you thought of CCV on re-watch. Because I was told to re-watch in part to re-think my criticism of his performance in part, and it got even more negative. lol
I've seen several very good goals in this Cup that have been called back for offside. On the one hand, it's too bad they didn't count (and some of them likely would have stood in the past), but on the other hand they've gotten them all right and it's been consistent no matter who was playing.
Obviously a coach that isn't any good would be a bad hire, but so would the hire of an egomaniacal, my-way-or-the-highway, you-haven't-done-diddly-squat-without-me prick that would clash with our players and cut someone like Pulisic for reasons unrelated to performance before a tournament to stamp the side and make a point.
I'm a disciple of Arsene Wenger in this regard. If any part of your body is onside, you should be considered onside. The point of the rule is to prevent poaching. That's not happening here. But that's not the current application. They'd have to change the laws first or make it a directive from the beginning of a season before allowing goals like Weah's. It can't be allowed just because we did it.
I personally don’t think he is - but I do think many of us defend him not because we’re fanboys but because we view the criticisms as mostly unreasonable.
I called Doyle a fanboy, not you. Doyle in podcasts and Twitter is a cocky, never retreat, never apologize, always pimp the MLS and USSoccer, bore. IMO. His articles may be great and balanced and fair, but his extemporaneous utterings on Twitter and podcasts are not, IMO.
I rewatched some too. Yeah I thought after the match people were harsh on Brenden. I said he was good and a nightmare to defend without fouling and stand by that. He kept the ball in tight spaces and created a few chances. Sure he had a few loose touches, but thought he did his job. CCV was better in the first half where he was an important part of squeezing Iran similar to Wales. In the second half, it was shakier but his physicality was important and won the ball back for us or killed time. Refs have been letting people play so it was good, but yes he was on the edge. Also, we aren’t really mentioning how Ream got beat in the air when there was the big pen shout against CCV at the way end. We’re dealing with a lot of pressure for various reasons and there’s gonna be some shaky moments. Overall CCV was about the level of Zim’s first 2 matches for me.
It’s funny when you consider the spirit of the law… “not poaching” in relation to what actually happened. That was just an excellent well timed pass and run. So far from a poaching goal that it makes me feel that the rules should be revisited. Scoring is hard enough in soccer to disallow great goals (er, called back goals) like Weah had yesterday.
What about moving the no offsides threshold from the halfway line? Like offsides only applies in final third. Perhaps doesn’t impact Weah’s. But I find the offsides traps way up the field sorta odd.
I thought CCV got lucky that the ref called the game as he did. There could have easily been several calls against him, none of which would have put us in happy places. One of the worst "offenses" was the play in the 2nd half where he hesitated to cover Taremi on the sideline and ended up bodying him pretty good in the box (the play that Taremi slid into Turner). The thing that really stood out was the hesitation to pick up Taremi, or perhaps his misunderstanding in the moment that that was "his" guy. Of course, that can be attributed to his lack of familiarity with the USMNT setup, but nonetheless it was problematic, and we were lucky that the play ended as it did. That said, he's clean with his touches in possession and that had value in this game. He played well and with confidence overall, and that's commendable. Against the Dutch, Ream and Zim.
Yes! This is a fantastic way to express the issue. This is why the team has been so, so close to getting it all right on the attack but it hasn't quite panned out (YET!).
There are refs out there that might have called a penalty on CCV’s hand on the attackers shoulder. For a moment, I thought, “This it is. This is the fateful play that is going to lead to a penalty kick. It was too good to be true…” It would have been a very bad call… But after Edu’s non-goal in 2010, I sometimes fear the worst.
Well, I was told by someone praising him I must rewatch and observe him specifically. So maybe I'm catching things others didn't who are just checking out the game more holistically. You may have missed him not dealing with those crosses because he didn't even make an attempt. One he actually did, and took himself out of the play. But if you're curious, go back back and watch what he does or doesn't do on those balls cleared out at the back post by Moore & Dest. The majority of defenders just don't allow it to get that far. Maybe you'd downgrade even further if you saw those too. Then on the would be game-winner where he loses his man, we'd have went back and looked at him as the villain for that itself. 6 major errors for a defender, in a game where we control the midfield for 60 minutes especially, it's hard to see how that could be considered a plus.
Him winning an aerial duel against 6'1" Sadar Azmoun was awesome to watch again. Also, holy crap... FIFA's technical report on USA-Iran says Tyler Adams ran 12.943 kilometers tonight, which is more than 8 miles and as you might guess, a team high. https://t.co/QmWn1bpukp— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) November 30, 2022
One adjustment as a soccer fan compared to American sports is that soccer teams change coaches much more often, and that applies to national teams and clubs. Instead of coaching one team for a long time like Bill Belichick (New England Patriots), Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke Men's Basketball and USA National Team), Joe Paterno (Penn State Football), and others; soccer gets men who coach several countries to the World Cup like Bora Milutinovic, and several top clubs like Jose Mourinho.