Isn't Shaq Moore a fast rugged right back who can cross? No one's calling for him. One has to project if a player can excel at the next level and it's not easy. Any deficit will be amplified. Too slow? Too weak? Have a loose touch? Dribbling not next level? Poor one on one defending? Poor in the air? Poor team defending? Crosses non-existant or just poor? Now compare with those already getting called up and see if the new player is all around better. I think if Jones played mostly on the right he'd have a chance. He still could on a tournament roster for versatility but then he'd have to beat out Scally if only three outside backs are taken.
Vazquez is more speculative on my part, but I do think it’s pretty clear it was a mistake not to take Pepi to the World Cup.
The other thing about Jones I like is the versatility to play both sides, which is a helpful thing to have on a tournament roster, especially as we transition back to 23 man rosters.
I would have too but even though he started heating up at club he hadn't scored for the US for a while. I would have chosen differently but no one stood out and it's hard for me to get worked up over the choices. Really a bad defensive mistake allowing a pk and three WTF moments from probably tired midfielders and defenders are the bigger culprit in not going further. Wright actually outdid Zardes in difficulty but he did score. Our core of strikers was very young especially for forwards. There were no wrong choices among the top five or six and also no right choices.
Both players are rounding into form. Pomykal with consecutive starts for 1st time all year. he's starting to look like himself and had an assist on the first goal. Arriola seems a step slow to me. Wonder if he gets that back?
Pomykal is so frustrating, because he'll do this. He'll have a string of 5 games in which he looks great. Then he'll disappear for 3 months. That was only Pax's 7th assist since making his debut in March of 2017. He needs to do more of THAT. His hair, by the way, has made a miraculous recovery.
I think Berhalter realized that in the first day of camp in Qatar when he looked at his squad and wondered "who the hell am I going to play up front?".
Settling in to watch Philly vs LAFC. Looks like LACF has moved to a 5-3-2 formation for this one while resting Ilie, Vela, and Bouanga. From the setup looks like LAFC will play like a 3-4-1-2 with T-Tillman and Acosta holding and hollingshead at RWB. Will be looking to see how McGlynn looks compared to T-Tillman and Acosta. EDIT: Looks like they changed to a 3-4-3 with Bogusz at striker. Since Bogusz is not a striker, a 3-4-1-2 is still what I expect.
Watch for the big switches as the textbook to break down the unions 4-4-2 diamond. Having 3 ATB may help in defensive transition since the union are one of the few teams in the league that start 2 strikers. Chiellini is getting rested too.
Total shots (both teams): 2 Partially the weather and partially both teams playing incredibly narrow and missing the final pass.
0.19 xG (4 shots) PHI to 0 xg (0 shots) LAFC Despite this the game has been entertaining and end to end.
Damn nice finish by Tolkin to ice the win for NYRB. The kid’s absolutely a player. I feel like his floor is somewhere around a left-footed Cherundolo, which I write as a big compliment. That said, I still rate Dejuan Jones a bit ahead of him right now. Obviously Jones is a bit older, and also is just a tough sonofabitch. But we could do a lot worse (and we often do).
Tolkin serves a mean dead ball, really whipped in with pace. Caused problems all night. He scored a classy goal any striker would be proud of. However, Ruan ate his lunch going the other way, imo. He needs to get better defensively.
I tuned into the game literally about 30 seconds before the goal so I defer to your overall assessment of his performance tonight. And in the handful of games of his I’ve watched I haven’t paid as much attention to his defensive abilities as his offensive prowess. That said, I do feel this is where Jones has the clear advantage (and I feel Jones is at the very least on similar ground offensively).
Brian Gutierrez probably tore his ACL (devastating from his and our perspective) after a great game that included a slick goal and assist. Chicago Fire held on to him thru the summer, kept playing him on that crap field and crap team, now it's cost him. They haven't even given him a decent extension. Better now at least do right by him and give him a million or two per year for financial security. He's earned that and more. Don't want to see the anti (American)-player, management bootlickers have anything to say about this. They were wrong, again.
I watched the game. That never happened! They weren't really matched up. It's fullback vs. winger. Ku actually did his best work cutting in/centrally away from Tolkin. No goals nor big chances did Tolkin share complicity on. D is a strength of Tolkin's. He doesn't need to get better defensively. The commentators praised Tolkin for his defense and went on to note how impressed Wayne Rooney was by him when he coached MLS All-Stars. He was frustrating the hell out of his man. And Tolkin was rock solid against Colombia's tricky players in January camp. If anything, Tolkin's offense in the run of play could use some work. He could take on players better and use his right foot. But he was certainly a force in this game.
I saw it. His foot got stuck in the field and bent in an odd way. Commentators said they didn't want to watch it again. Then he was laying down for a long time. Could barely walk after. Hopefully he dodges a bullet, but that's what it'd be. It's not just my perception: https://x.com/JoeChatz/status/1705770105492144334?s=20 https://x.com/TolstoyFC/status/1705770941861748826?s=20 They wouldn't officially know it was an ACL (or PCL, that's arguably worse) yet. I always hope for sprained MCL's in this case. That's always realistic best case scenarios in these situations. But when it looks bad, that's usually not what it is.