No, he wasn't. He was on the bench for both matches. Naturally, he got dropped for poor play after the Mexico abomination (again, not just the missed semi-sitter).
That's your opinion. Put yourself in GGG's shoes here. You selected players to perform against our biggest rival in the region. They didn't perform. This is no different then a manager not selecting you for another big project when you previously didn't perform. It's not personal, it's not a grudge, it's business. It's about getting results.
The Berhalter defense committee in full force; mounting resistance against statements that weren't even criticisms. Rather you took umbrage with semantics. You didn't even disagree with what I said, which was, in effect, that he dropped players for a disastrous performance in a big match. But I used the terminology "grudge" for that. So that warranted a response...I guess.
DeJuan Jones Dug a little deeper & can confirm #NERevs LB DeJuan Jones is among the list of targets being considered by Anderlecht as a replacement for Sergio GomezNegotiations still in the very early stages, but Jones is keen on the move to boost #USMNT chanceshttps://t.co/16mse272XP— Chris Smith (@Chris_SXI) August 9, 2022
What do you expect guys to respond to when you use that term? grudge - malice, malevolence, ill will, spite
If Pefok had been tagged by Berhalter for the USMNT, his agent would have told him to stay in Swiss League rather than risk not performing in BL and being dropped. Because Berhalter told him he'd need to step up to make the team, his agent worked overtime to get him the BL gig and now both agent and player stand to cash in nicely, agw. Reasonable scenario? Or do we stay with the grudge theory.......... p,s, edit: With Malik getting into the action, I've thought of a name for the USMNT since we are mocked for being the only nat team without a nickname. How about Elsie?
I don't understand the argument at all. Are people surprised that when a player doesn't perform in a big game, that another player is chosen the next game? Isn't that how this is supposed to work? Who can argue Berhalter has a "grudge" against Pefok, when he was literally called up to the last "do or die" WCQing window?
When Pefok went to Union his chances of making the team went way up in my mind because he is on a team where he is expected to press. His lack of effective pressing was his biggest issue vis a vis the national team in my mind.
That is an interesting point. Why is it Pefok didn't press well for the MNT but for the past two games his pressing has been good for club. Did he find the fountain of youth?
The Berhalter defense crew is an unstoppable force. Even when you clarify what you meant multiple times, and it wasn't a criticism in the first place, just a tendency to explain the absence of Pefok or whoever (which I agree w/), and a lot of managers have, they still persist as if it never happened. Continue to straw man. I hope you guys are paid for this and don't just do it for free. Though I think that you do, and it's just something superficial like you have an acquaintance in the organization you are compelled to irrationally stick up for constantly. Even when it's not actually under attack.
I think it’s tough to expect a player to do something well that they aren’t doing with their club team. Pressing isn’t just effort, right? It’s reading the game and knowing when and where to press. That’s a lot harder to do if you are thinking about it, rather than it being second nature.
Pefok played 168 minutes across 6 successive games in the first half of 2021, so between that and what Berhalter has seen in training seems to have been enough for him to make his mind up.
What do we think Berhalter made his mind up about regarding Pefok? In terms of facts, Pefok played in the first window, coming in against El Salvador and starting against Canada. Those two games weren't offensive successes, and he didn't get called in again until March. In that time, Pepi exploded and then tailed off. Zardes had a game and then hasn't been seen again. Ferreira came in and played pretty well. I could see people saying Berhalter was done with Pefok at that point. But in March, he was called in with Pepi and Ferreira. Pepi started against Mexico, Pefok came in and did miss that shot. Ferreira started against Panama, which may have been a reaction to Pepi and Pefok underperformance, or maybe just matchups. Pepi started the Costa Rica game, and Ferreira came in to finish it off. And Pefok was hurt for Nations League. He still gets mentioned by Berhalter. I suppose that miss in Mexico could have been a final straw. But I don't know why we think his situation is worse now than before March, when he hadn't been called in for months. There's no doubt that Ferreira and Pepi are preferred in terms of style. I don't think it's all that debatable that Berhalter wants a more complete striker who can both press and play in the build up, and Pefok is lacking there. But is he really somehow completed excluded, and because of a miss? Eh. The miss doesn't help -- if he had made it there's a shift in the offense/defense calculus, I'm sure. But people on here spend a lot of time building up a lot of anger over choices they've only assumed Berhalter has made.
Scoring and pressing are not exclusive. There's always a question of endurance there, but these aren't contradictory skillsets. Can you define what you mean by instinctive goal scorer?
Perhaps he understood what the USMNT coaching staff likely told him he needed to show in order to get a callup for the WC.
Pefok is a big, physical, classic #9 and the goal he scored for Union was an instinctive, classic #9 goal where he got to the ball first. It opened eyes in the BuLi because he looks like a player wo will score in the box with quarter chances.
🚨 R.S.C. Anderlecht are interested in 20 year old USMNT prospect John Tolkin as a replacement for Sergio Gomez.. clubs in Ligue 1 and TOP clubs in Portugal are also in the race to sign the young American.. 👀Via sachatavolieri pic.twitter.com/HKVsiPloNw— Takes 🇺🇸 (@USMNTTAKES) August 10, 2022
2 and 3… .@SebadriussiOk leads MLS with 9 shots deemed unsavable by the goalkeeper 🌳 pic.twitter.com/mDVlYCRVKq— PFF FC (@PFF_FC) August 11, 2022