Pre-match: Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinals @ Jamaica (Nov 14) & v Jamaica (Nov 18)

Tessman can't defend. Looks like Gooch, but thinks he is Pirlo.

 

Poch comes in and they finally learned how to post a lineup. Amazing.

 

Looks like Mauricio views Weah and Musah similarly.

 

Morris out
B Aaronson in StL

Brenden Aaronson did not travel to Jamaica due to flu-like symptoms. He is currently in St. Louis and will be joined by the team tomorrow.

Aidan Morris suffered a right knee sprain in training and has been ruled out of the November matches.

[@USMNT] pic.twitter.com/cmwD6g0AEE

— USMNT Otaku 🇺🇸 (@USMNTOtaku) November 15, 2024

 

No Antonio for Jamaica, it sure if he is with the team. Several players from the championship, a few in the SPL and Swiss leagues & Leon Bailey.

#StarSports: Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz are set to face off against team USA at the National Stadium! Kick-off is at 8:00 PM (local time).

They’ll be playing the first leg of the CONCACAF Nations League quarter-finals tonight!

Here’s the line-up! pic.twitter.com/NkhQe2gCx7

— Jamaica Star (@jamaicastar) November 15, 2024

 

Antonio is suspended

 

Hate it.

Things I do not see any more:

1) Ream starting
2) Scally at RB
3) Musah at RM

Not a big fan of Cardoso, either. Nor McKennie at CAM.

I do not think Scally or Musah add much (if anything) on offense. The whole right side will suck.

I am out of it. Why is Weah in STL? Still suspended? I'd much prefer Tillman or Aaronson out there. Or CAM over McKennie.

 

Aaronson is out with the flu in STL, Weah still suspended, and Morris got hurt in training.

 

We'll see. This could be 352 instead of 4231.

 

how many times ; Ream 5th mistakes; hes gotta go

 

Take a road win in CONCACAF every time.
We see with those field conditions why these games are a challenge.
Fantastic penalty save by Turner.

Could have been more, but we'll take that.

Composed performance. Good fight.

 

Projected lineup for Leg 2:

GK: Turner

Defense:
Musah-McKenzie-Trusty-Robinson

I want Trusty over Ream at CB - time to see what the young blood is made of. Also don't trust Ream on short rest. Richards isn't fully healthy yet.

I'd like to see Musah at right back instead of Scally too, to see if he's a viable option.
Musah played right back against Juventus last year, and performed well:
https://sbisoccer.com/2024/04/yunus-musah-impresses-at-right-back-in-ac-milan-juventus-showdown

Midfield:
Tessman-McKennie-Tillman

Attack:
Weah-Pepi-Pulisic

Subs:
Busio, Zendejas, Vasquez, Cowell, Aaronsen

 

Will be curious how the lineup looks. Having Weah available makes it really interesting since Musah has had the right side spot in every game under Poch. Johnny out is a shame since I really liked what I was seeing of the pairing of him and Tessman. For me, the big questions will be if Weah takes Musah's spot and also does Musah take Johnny's? That would be an easy rotation, but neither is like for like. Weah is a much more dangerous attacker, but not sure he would have been likely to make that goal line tackles that saved the win that Musah made. Musah is a guy Poch seems to really like, but he's not a great passer and Poch keeps fielding passers at those 2 deep midfield spots. Is Tillman his next choice there as we saw with teh substitution? What about Busio who looked good? Could Musah or Weah take Scally's spot to keep them all on the field? I could see this going a few directions and not really ready to hazard a guess.

 

Musah to RB and Scally to the bench is the logical move.

 

Any word on Johnny?

 

Injured hamstring.

 

I wouldn't be opposed to something like:

...................Pepi
...Pulisic.. McKennie..Weah
.........Tessman..Busio
Jedi..Ream..McKenzie..Musah
.................Turner

 

That's exactly what I expect. Weah opens the right side to generate real offense, and with Johnny out, Musah is the more athletic choice to play the holding mid role.

That said, it wouldn't shock me to see Musah sit, and Busio take Johnny's spot, or even see Tessman sit, having played well. We could also perhaps see Tillman at the 10 at home but I don't think that will work all that well.

 

I'm kind of wondering how Musah would be as the right back? I guess with the morphing lineup he needs Scally to be the hybrid RB and RCB and Musah can't do that. What happens when Dest is back? Does the third hybrid back then come from a CM? Tessmann or Johnny drop between the CB's?

 

I like that. Musah both intrigues and scares me back there. Like to see the Venetian boys together.That's also six guys who are threats to score in open play. Defensively is where I worry.

 

One thing that's interesting is that would really keep Musah deep if we played the same way and he held back like Scally. I think he could do it just fine, but not sure if you want him to. We'll face the same problem on steroids once Dest comes back though so we need to figure it out eventually..

 

I really doubt we are going away from the 3 - 2 - 2 build up. We certainly can, but between the defensive implications and having to change ... I dunno.

 

Yeah, I think that's a big question. When Dest comes back, does he take on the more forward of the fullbacks role? He's often been even more attacking than Antonee and Antonee a better defender. Or, do we change how we approach things?

I could see something where one of the center mids drops deep and both fullbacks push up. Or something really flexible where we shift in both directions with each taking turns going forward situationally. It's been pretty clear what Poch is doing with this crop and a dramatic difference between the strengths of each outside back, but Dest coming back may force some changes to the basic template if he's going to be a big part of things because he's not a straight swap for Scally.

 

Game 2 Nov 18:

-------------------pepi
--------brenden------puli---
--AR----tessman-musah-weah
-----ream----mcKzie---scally
--------------gk: turner---

Subs: vazquez for pepi, busio for brenden, others depending on game state. If aaronson isn't over the flu, Busio starts and maybe he can go 90'. I believe busio and Vazquez could combine on a headed goal.