Pre-match: 2024 Friendlies v Panama {Oct 12th} & Mexico {Oct 15th} (Poch's 1st Window)

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by TimB4Last, Sep 11, 2024.

  1. metnostar

    metnostar Member

    Jun 28, 2001
    #526 metnostar, Oct 11, 2024
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2024
    it was an embarrassment. A disaster. It was the only real tournament before the WC. Our chance to be champion of the Americas, at home.
     
  2. gomichigan24

    gomichigan24 Member+

    Jul 15, 2002
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You know I don’t even think of myself as pro or anti Berhalter. Just get frustrated by the irrationality that discussions of him tend to inspire.

    He’s obviously not an elite coach globally but mostly met expectations till the Copa and did some good things and also things you can critique him on. But conversations regarding those things just end up in a place not really in line with what actually happened.
     
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  3. EruditeHobo

    EruditeHobo Member+

    Mar 29, 2007
    San Francisco, CA
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, I don't care about Berhalter; I said he should have gone after 2022 WC very plainly. He's not a very good coach. But the arguments against his here on this board are often terrible. Just as they were against lots of other players and coaches... no surprise, nothing new.
     
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  4. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    People had said US Soccer lowered ticket prices because they didn't want the embarrassment of empty seats at Poch's debut game... let's see if it sells out in the next two days
     
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  5. gogorath

    gogorath Member+

    None
    United States
    May 12, 2019
    The other thing they could do is stop playing at the same damn places over and over.
     
  6. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
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  7. Sebsasour

    Sebsasour Member+

    New Mexico United
    May 26, 2012
    Albuquerque NM
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The Twitter replies seem pretty down on that, but our recent friendlies against teams that aren't big brands had the attendance figures of (I'll exclude camp cupcake out of fairness)

    New Zealand: 15K

    Canada: 10K

    Ghana: 18K

    Oman: 13K

    Uzbekistan: 15K

    Costa Rica: 19K.

    If the stadium is full or even close to full, that's a pretty solid job
     
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  8. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    The prices I think have been the #1 problem, the places have been the #2 problem and I have no doubt at all that the Berhalter hire, as silly as it might be, also depressed attendance, there was a vocally negative response, even from attending fans, when he was rehired. That being said, making prices reasonable would change things. There is literally no way, none, I could or would attend a game at the prices they currently charge (at least into 2024 if not this window).
     
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  9. schrutebuck

    schrutebuck Member+

    Jul 26, 2007
    The problem USSF faces now in so many Midwest cities that it prefers in recent years.

    Fans in Cincinnati, Columbus, and St. Louis, for example, might find their club teams to be more exciting and a better value ticket. It's not as simple anymore as simply charging a premium and saying Pulisic is coming to town, because local fans have plenty of options to see great matches.
     
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  10. thedukeofsoccer

    thedukeofsoccer Member+

    Jul 11, 2004
    Wussconsin
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    They keep cycling back to the same (MLS) cities repeatedly. It's an over-saturation effect. If they spread the love to any significant metro w/ adequate facilities, that love would be returned.

    I didn't see it posted, but CIWYW yesterday relayed already what they were hearing the lineup would be: Wright, Sargent, Pulisic, Aaronson, McKennie, Morris, ARob, Ream, McKenzie, Scally, Schulte
     
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  11. EruditeHobo

    EruditeHobo Member+

    Mar 29, 2007
    San Francisco, CA
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Boy if that's the lineup I sure hope Wright is ready to put a shift in...

    Wonder if they're planning on halftime subs.
     
  12. KALM

    KALM Member+

    Oct 6, 2006
    Boston/Providence
    So, something like this maybe?

    GK: Schulte
    RB: Scally
    RCB: McKenzie
    LCB: Ream
    LB: Jedi
    DM: Morris
    CM: McKennie
    CM/AM: Aaronson
    RW: Pulisic
    LW: Wright
    CF: Sargent

    No huge surprises there. Although, if you want to read into anything, some of the closer calls there seem to be favoring guys who are playing regularly over guys who aren't. Particularly Schulte over Turner and Sargent over Pepi, and maybe Aaronson/Morris over Musah (depending on whether Musah was an option sitting deeper back like he was under the prior coaching staff).
     
  13. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'd rather see Tillman over Aaronson (seen the latter plenty) and another CB over old man Ream, but seems about right...

    Also I forgot how close we are to fielding an all Fulham defense with Jedi Ream Fossey
     
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  14. QuakeAttack

    QuakeAttack Member+

    Apr 10, 2002
    California - Bay Area
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I will watch, but I can't say that I'm too excited by the match. I'm not expecting to see much different in these two games. I would like to see if Sargent brings anything more than the inconsistent player of before for the USMNT...
     
  15. jond

    jond Member+

    Sep 28, 2010
    Club:
    Levski Sofia
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What’s also crazy is mid Oct you can literally play anywhere in the country and the weather will be decent at a minimum. Snow/winter isn’t an issue, nor is peak summer heat.

    Maybe avoid south FL tho.
     
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  16. gomichigan24

    gomichigan24 Member+

    Jul 15, 2002
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The west coast is tough because of the travel for the European guys but I would really like to see more variety in terms of where the games are played. Particularly for friendlies. When was the last time we did a friendly in New York or Chicago for instance?

    I liked for Janaury camp how they did San Antonio as that’s the sort of place which wouldn’t get a USMNT friendly otherwise.
     
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  17. butters59

    butters59 Member+

    Feb 22, 2013
    Are you grouping Berhalter with that nauseating style that his team played? Because I wouldn't pay $5 to see them playing in my back yard. And that's not an exaggeration, at some point I started recording those games to rewind them later at 3X speed, not to waste more than 15 minutes of my time.
     
  18. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    Hurricanes, yep, and out here in the Mountain West, we do typically get at least one snow storm in October, sometimes two, so Denver might not be the best idea, as crazy as it is, we actually had our first winter snow in August in two decades six weeks ago. It probably also should be noted that major fires are a problem in the Northwest every summer and fall going back many years. I made the mistake of telling my wife we'd made it through a third summer unscathed after the horrors of '19, '20 and '21, only to have 3 separate fires hit, two massive, in the following five or six weeks of August and September.
     
  19. schrutebuck

    schrutebuck Member+

    Jul 26, 2007
    September looks like a missed opportunity to spread some matches out to different cities. Like it was the perfect opportunity for USSF to just put two matches on the West Coast with little downside.
     
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  20. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    Nah, although that could be, you could just see empty stands and fans audibly booing, caught on mic, when he was coming on the field last summer/fall ('23). It seemed pretty clear fans were mentally checked out on June '23-'June '24 once it became clear Berhalter was back, was it him, or Berhalter ball or both? Can't be sure, but that was probably a factor too, but oversaturating the same markets, and then pricing people out of the seats was just insane, reminded me of what cable did to respond to cord cutting trends a decade ago: raise prices, which just further accentuated cord cutting rates.
     
  21. Marko72

    Marko72 Member+

    Aug 30, 2005
    New York
    The last friendly that I attended in NY, at the very good and very accessible Red Bull Arena (during the Klinsmann 2.0 era), we were outdrawn slightly by Costa Rican fans.

    There are not a lot of Ticos in the US. It's true that Northern NJ is one of the primary homes of their diaspora, but it still isn't an especially big diaspora, not even locally.

    And it's a shame, because that's a very good MLS venue, with a pretty good pitch.
     
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  22. Sebsasour

    Sebsasour Member+

    New Mexico United
    May 26, 2012
    Albuquerque NM
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    How much you worry about a harder opponent in the Nations League quarters is gonna vary by fan to fan, but it does create a little bit of an added spice to these games.

    The US were leapfrogged by Canada in the last window and fell to third which means we'll now have to face a group winner unless we can take the 2nd spot back. It's worth noting The US plays twice this window while Canada only plays once (they host Panama). On the flip side, The US only has a small lead over Panama in the rankings as well, meaning any type of upset tomorrow mixed with a poor performance in Mexico could potentially leave the door open to us dropping to 4th.

    Though I'll leave those exact scenarios to people who know more about the CONCACAF ranking formula than I do
     
  23. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    No Fossey
     
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  24. butters59

    butters59 Member+

    Feb 22, 2013
    Nothing wrong in being outdrawn in all the friendlies, or we are looking for advantage in those games as well?
     
  25. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Hopefully, Musah gets a look at rightback.
     

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