You show flexibilty. You play expensively against mid-level opponents. You play on the counter against high-level opponents. Change personnel as needed.
It’s not that simple to change your style from game to game like that. But more generally it’s not as if playing like Canada or Paraguay worked for those teams in the round of 16 either. What we need to win games like this is quite frankly to improve the player pool. It’s not a playing style question in my mind.
I agree that we need to have more flexibility and need to adapt to situations more quickly. Belgium's plan last night seemed to be an adaptive one designed to negate some of our strengths. It worked.
Think he walks but we are at the point we gotta understand it’s the players and the pool is the pool. Our manager position won’t be able to fix much. thinking itll be Schmetzer next
Teams raise and lower their defensive blocks as needed. Paraguay over-achieved mightily this cycle. Canada was plaques with injuries and sets a high line, in any event.
So what was Poch's rationale for Brain Freeze over Matt Turner again? Because it wasn't based on their performance in MLS... Oh it was for moments like this? a top-10 most embarrassing goal in World Cup history?what a view of this disaster pic.twitter.com/XwUSyt4tuM https://t.co/GPN4ci5f3a— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 7, 2026
I’m guessing Mexico fans are devastated that they lost but not by how they played. Capo Verde fans gave their team a hero’s welcome for the same reason after they lost. Brazil fans are probably devastated both by losing and by how they lost. And they probably should be. Part of my schadenfreude at their loss was savoring the gap between their players’ abilities and their performance.
We didn't lose this game because of style of play. I have no idea how anyone thinking we could bunker down with the level of defensive execution we showed. We didn't get killed on the counter. We made a lot of mistakes and got picked apart.
Last few pages are wild. We have the suggestion that the solution for Frease idiocy with his feet is the guy that pioneered the way for comical keeping. And the suggestion that we should have bunkered more with that Keeper and our overwhelmed LCB. Poch had the personnel and tactics adjusted and we were in this thing on the front foot before one of our keepers did what we all knew any of our keepers are capable of. Poch is as good as we can get, won’t know what you had til it’s gone.
You first give yourself a chance. Otherwise, you have zero chance. And setting a lower block, and sitting Ream, isn't bunkering down. Setting a lower block simplifies defending. That's why outmatched teams use it.
It was clear they had watched the tape of our previous games. They were anticipating all our moves. We came into this World Cup with a new line up that hadn’t been fully scouted. By the Belgium game they knew what to expect on how we would try to play.
agree with this post, although 2014 world cup ronaldo was playing with a bum leg. of course that didn't stop him from slinging that nanometer-perfect ball to varela... gah that game still haunts me.
There is a reason top American football coaches rant about distractions… I think Poch was unable to get past the distraction, and the disruption in their preparation. And I don't really think we can blame him a bunch for that, because it was a mess not of his making, and not something that any coach would have had any experience in dealing with. And while we crashed out where we normally crash out, winning 3 games in the same World Cup for the first time in history, as well as advancing by winning the Group after the first 2 games, is not chopped liver. I know he's going to get criticism for player selection, but I just don't see anybody better at the positions that were absolute jokes yesterday. I'd have him back, but I think it's unlikely he will choose to come back.
here is the list of national team coaches who have Alreadyresigned in the wake of their teams' tournament eliminations: Roberto Martinez (Portugal) Julian Nagelsmann (Germany) Ronald Koeman (Netherlands) Sebastián Beccacece (Ecuador) Marcelo Bielsa (Uruguay) Steve Clarke (Scotland) Hong Myung-bo (South Korea) Carlos Queiroz (Ghana) Miroslav Koubek (Czechia)
Did Nagelsmann resign or “resign”? Right after getting eliminated, he was saying he wanted to stay on.
Mexico played good vs England because it was 10 vs 11 for 45 minutes. And England still scored after the red card. I don't know why people miss that part. If USMNT were playing a man up, attacking all game while the team playing with a man down is defending and we still lose, US fans wouldn't be saying we played a great game and ignore we were playing against a 10 man team.
Nagelsmann expressed an interest in staying on. Germany said they had a big fish on the hook. https://www.skysports.com/football/...cup-exit-with-jurgen-klopp-ready-to-take-over
Interesting post. Somewhat parlays to USSF and their hiring process. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7397682/2026/06/26/usmnt-mauricio-pochettino-contract-offer/ Pochettino was already in talks for a renewal well before the World Cup. These coaches are resigning after determined failure lines. They love 2nd term coaches. Regardless of its pattern of continued specific outcomes. Which is why it raises so many questions. Pochettino was only a two year hire and as my understanding was to be perceived as being hired to essentially get to the Quarter final. He was out coached to start the game by Rudi Garcia in the R16. I have been a wait and see on this in regards to Pochettino, as the litmus test was the world cup but he only got two years compared to others (but he got much more compensation).
The quality of player on our team is substantially better than the 2022 squad. The U.S. crashed out of the Concacaf Nations league, and fell short of winning the Concacaf Gold Cup. For two years, he has preached that he was preparing the team for the World Cup and everyone needed to be patient. He was pretty much brought in to get us to the elite eight. We have been beating teams like Paraguay, Australia, and Bosnia for years. People like him because he’s a big name. The results do not back him up.
Belgium required a different tactical setup- true old school boring double 6.Our players were edgy perhaps because they knew they were facing a team that could and would attack our backline. We can't play top sides like we do Australia.We need to be more conservative. The Freeze error was appalling.Ask yourself, does that situation even happen if we aren't chasing the game?
And Freese kept us in the game at 1-0, then gave it away. Also Ream did well to get into position to cover him but his lack of agility let him down.
Neither of the CBs were going to get to that ball before the Belgian forward. While what happened was the worst possible outcome,there was nothing good coming from that situation.