GGG is even worse. No. Because the other factor is form. If Pulisic is fully fit but in crap form, then someone else needs to get the nod.
Gregg has not made a decision close to as poor as leaving LD off the WC team. Form should be seen as a multiplier applied to class. Pulisic’s level is significantly higher than all our attackers outside of Gio and Balogun. He is career .88 G+A/90 for the US, which is what Donovan hit over his career. I don’t think he has been as consistent as Donovan due to his style, which leads to more hit or miss performances, and his age, but his ability to turn a game can’t be replaced. Malik and Pepi certainly haven’t surpassed it.
Form is temporary, class is permanent. Pulisic could be great this weekend, and all this discussion will be nonsense. I suspect Christian Pulisic is either the first or second name on the team sheet (Matt Turner might be the first right now).
GGG's handling of the Gio situation was on the level Klinsmann and Donovan. Pulisic has had numerous injuries. And he has lost a lot of pace and quickness. Perhaps a lengthy spell of good fitness will allow him to recover them. We'll see. He is not untouchable at this point.
Pulisic had no form to speak of at Chelsea heading into the WC. Then proceeded to be our best player in the tournament. Short memories are alive and well. Comparisons to Landon don’t apply. His sabbatical during WCQing is where it started going downhill with Jurgen.
Our players come with a big chip on their shoulders when they're not getting enough minutes with their clubs. I think that was part of what fueled the Qatar display. Not having to play qualifiers does bug me. Some guys, like Pulisic, tend to shine in meaningful games with something on the line.
I'd rather have to qualify than have a guaranteed slot due to hosting. Not only better for the team/players to go thru qualifying but as a fan the qualifying games/process is the highlight of the cycle next to the WC itself.
Balogun missed 2 PKs, bench time. Gio showed up unfit (have to be called in to show up unfit so that’s a big point in Gregg’s favor). He was either physically unable to sprint or unwilling to risk it in training. Training staff could see it on the monitors all the players wear. Gio refused to undergo fitness testing. Seeing that Gregg scrapped the plan to start Gio at false 9 against Wales and started Sargent. Gio reacted very poorly to his plan to hide an injury issue in order to play more in the WC not working out. He agreed to do a fitness test before the game and he was rated fit to play 15 minutes. Staff decided to ask him to sprint in warmups and if he couldn’t do it they wouldn’t use him. He was asked to prove he could sprint and he refused and said he was good. His very poor effort level in training continued past Wales. Players confronted him. Staff debated sending him home. Berhalter decided he could have a second chance if he apologized to the team and shaped up. Gio apologized, teammates told him to step up, he stepped up. He played against England and it did not look like he could go all out and the physical data FIFA posted backs up that observation. After he returned for BVB and had success as a sub when his manager was asked why he wasn’t starting he said that Gio had been battling injuries for the past year and a half and that he wasn’t yet all the way back.
Missed pks has nothing to do with Balogun's time with the US. GGG was deeply foolish to have brought unfit Gio to the World Cup in the first place. GGG subsequently compounded this with bad judgement upon bad judgement. USSF foolishly rehired Gregg. But, whatever. We are in a new cycle. Reyna performed extremely well in his last call up. During his last callup, he suffered a bone fracture from a cardable tackle. He is now back in the Dortmund team. We'll see how things go.
This is what makes me postulate that GB was looking after Gio and rated him highly and probably treated him a little differently because of how long he knew him and family ties. He needs to treat him like everyone else from now on.
And yet, he scored 7 goals in a big league in the past year, despite negligible minutes. Which is twice as many as Christian Pulisic and the hustle merchant he's become. Maybe this program thinks too much about hustle and not enough about talent.
Should have pulled the trigger but as of yesterday, and still true today, but Luca is in my best XI. MLM baby.
Yes, Wes too, I'm just sort of used to him looking good, then getting benched or loaned for 'reasons.'
On a 26 man roster you take a risk on a player as good as Gio who may not be good to go. But the only mistake Berhalter made in his handling of the situation was talking about it after the fact. How it was handled at the actual World Cup itself was completely fine.
No, you don't take a chance on an unfit, punk kid. You take the chance on an unfit veteran who has the respect of his teammates.
You do when he’s possibly the most talented player on the team. Especially when it’s a 26 man roster.
Ummn, no. Not when you expect the player to fully participate in practices. Not when the player makes it clear he expects a big role.
Players who aren’t 100% train all the time. Expectations drop accordingly. Falling short enough of that that teammates are challenging you (although trying to obscure your status affects expectations) and the coaches are debating sending you home is something else. Once he raised his effort back to an acceptable, sub 100% level there were no more problems.
The expectations of the coach, the expectations of the player, the age and maturity level of the player, and the injury history of the player made for a foolish decision to bring the player. Events following the World Cup indicate there were obviously more problems.
There was more to it that that,though.Fcvk the parents for the whispering campaign throughout the cup culminating in the ultimate Soccer Mom move of trying to fire the coach.
I don’t think that what the Reynas did increased the chances of Gregg being rehired. Just my best guess.
The Federation couldn't look weak. If they did, what if they had a flood of parents trying to blackmail coaches after this? No, they had to prove the entire affair had not influenced Berhalter's position. They had to re-instate him, so players know bringing in mommy won't have long-lasting effects and will be shooting themselves in the foot.