Again, they were not the problem. And better than Tessman and Johnny. The first goal was 3 things. 1) Turnover from McKennie. 2) Vitinha pass splits our CBs 3) Trusty fails to recognize the trailer as the danger man and instead covers empty space trying to block a potential cross to no one instead of the trailer down the middle. The 2nd goal, IDK what we were doing. It looked like most of our guys were manned up on the corner but no one was was zoning at the top of the D. Everyone collapsed and no one could get out in time.
Pulisic should be on the bench. Have him come on in the second half if we need him. He just doesn't fit in with the others. He has great stats for club, but he doesn't fit in with group.
Türkiye should be considered the favorites in our WC group. I watched their game vs. Kosovo - while I'm surprised they had to win playoff games to qualify, they are aggressive down the flanks, talented, full of professionals (hard-nosed, aggressive), and have great depth. One solid player after another off the bench. They play to a high standard. If the US can draw against them, it's a win for us.
I think your analysis of Berhalter and Morris in the Portugal game is extremely generous, but whatever.... Back to the Johnny "Lollygagging" bit, though. How in the world did you come to that conclusion on Belgium's first goal. All 11 US players are behind the ball, but it's his job to put pressure on a shot from 30 yards out? That doesn't make any sense.
I saw the interview after the match and what was left out was he added something along the lines of .......These players are used to playing against the top level of competition and some of our players are not used to that and are still learning
They won a winner-takes-all game in a hostile environment and kept a clean sheet... They beat us thoroughly the last time we faced them... Yeah... they should be the favorite in the group. I would put us as slight favorites to win against Paraguay and Oz... and I emphasize the word "slight". I just can't wrap my head around the fact that so many of our players perform at high levels for top tier clubs but almost invariably play worse for the crest.... particularly in the final 3rd. They just have an uncanny ability to not create/finish chances. Against Portugal we caused a significant number of turnovers in the final 3rd and it's almost comical how poor the quality of the resulting chances were. We also made quite a few nice runs/passes thru the midfield to unbalance the D and again... not even close to good enough. In relative specifics, last night I saw: 1) players slipping in crucial moments (on D as well) 2) terrible runs from players off the ball on turnovers... e.g. running straight towards a defender rather than to space 3) poor touches and lack of quick decision-making (related to 2) 4) taking extra touches before shooting and/or assisting 5) atrocious final striking/finishing 6) almost every attempt to assist inside the 18 found an opponent rather than a teammate These are all indicative of our problems as a team. We want to play an attractive brand of soccer so against teams like Belgium and Portugal we are going to give up some good looks. But those teams create BETTER looks and when they get them they punish you. CP had a relatively high-quality chance on that cross from Weah and he didn't even connect with the ball.?.? Brutal. Portugal could have had 4 easy last night but Freese saved two of them. The other two were clinical strikes that either hit the inside post or side netting. Our players also were put in a few similar positions... but 1) CP hit a super weak right foot attempt.... 2) CP also failed to shoot on his left when he had a step on a defender (took a stupid extra touch, turned into a 2nd defender and got a yellow for kicking out) 3) Tillman volleyed over the bar. It wasn't a poor attempt but he had just as much time as Felix and he just didn't put it on target. There are a few more but I won't list them all. Now.. will we put it all together come WC time? I find it hard to believe at this point. I am lowering my expectations now. I just don't want to get embarrassed by not getting out of the group. We epically failed in Copa America 2024 on home soil.... if we do the same in the WC it will be a legit negative to soccer development in the US. Honestly... I'm at a bit of a loss. I think this window showed us that we have to play with 3 in the back in possession and that w/o Richards we are in trouble. On a related note, Freeman solidified his role on the WC roster... it's as a hybrid RB/RCB... and I think he should be in consideration in the starting 11. I think Robinson, Wes and Tillman played pretty well at times and I think Morris showed his worth as a backup to Adams. But there are just so many head-scratching, boned-headed decisions being made on and off the pitch... Off the Field (Poch) 1) Going with a traditional 4-back set against Belgium with Ream at CB. Why switch back when 3-in-the-back when holding was working? 2) Bringing in 4 CFs and not starting a single one against Portugal? On the Field 1) Leaving Felix wide open on a corner with ALL day to shoot. 2) Double covering players on the endline and allowing late runners uncontested shots on goal. This one happened OVER and OVER again. 3) Switching off on another throw in in our own final 3rd.... just like against Oz... we just didn't get punished this time. Two feet over the bar. 4) Final passes/striking/decision-making (majority of this post) These lead to losses against good teams. Make them against great teams and you are never in the game.
Don't know why they scheduled Belgium and Portugal for these friendlies when we're playing them in our group too... very frustrating.
Club form for some of our key attacking players (Wes to the positive, CP/Tillman/Gio to the negative) has carried over into these two friendlies. And in the case of CP/Tillman/Gio, it has me worried.
If you have a little free time today/tomorrow, perhaps you could aggregate some of last year's matches, at all levels of the sport - let's say 40,000 to make the numbers easy - and see how often a coach/manager with three or more strikers on his gameday roster decided not to start any of them. It won't be zero, so your effort won't be fruitless, but I think it will be in the minority. Let's revisit this on Friday. Thanks!
So according to the coach right there Jedi was a fullback. So again we played four in the back not three. Perhaps the problem is both of our left backs play like wingbacks so it seems like a back three when it is supposed to be a back four? I think this will get worked out in pre WC camp with all the extra practice time. Perhaps I should say it better get worked out. Seems Poch thinks it's both a problem on offense and defense.
Seriously..............WE'RE the highest ranked team in our group. We're playing Australia, Paraguay, and Turkey. We HAVE played them of late. Two wins and a close loss. I don't know why people watch the USMNT against the #5 team in the World and think it means we're going to lose to Australia. We could. But that's a different level of competition.
We're going to lose in the knockouts when we face a good team. That would probably be true no matter who the manager was, and no matter what the roster looked like. Welcome to international football, everyone. Teams don't break through and make "progress" just because time has passed and they've invested in the sport. 4-time cup winner Italy won in 2006, didn't make it out of the group in 2010 & 2014, and hasn't been back to the sport's premier competition since.
I mean, the teams consistently competing for WC semifinals/finals/championships are 3 deep with CL or top 5 league regulars at every position. You get the occasional dark horse run from less talented squads but that should never be an expectation and even then those squads still have real high end talent (like Morocco). Our talent pool supports a RD 16 expectation and that is usually about where we land. With a nice draw we might get to a QF like 2002 or with a bad draw we might he grouped like 2006. It’s pretty much all about developing the player pool.
Yes, but allow me to clarify. EH: It's not the coach, it's the players. And it always, always will be. TB: Actually, not always. The coach can facilitate or hinder his players' success with good/poor choices.