Im tired of the starters except Pulisic. Bottom line is... no matter how many times you roll them out, no matter who the coach js.... most of them out THEY ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Time to move on from most of them ... a new coach MUST have the courage to give some an Alex Morgan, as Emma did.
Canada isn't a better team than us. They play to their strengths and don't pretend to be something they are not. We act like were a top 5 team when we should still be bunkering and countering most good teams. We have a system in place that frankly doesn't work and stifles all player creativity. We need to scrap the system and go back to being the team that fights hard etc. We were a better team back when playing with mostly lower division players similar to where Canada is now.
I’m not sure that we need to play catenaccio, but , for sure, we can’t come out mincing around like we think we’re Spain in 2010. We need to recognize that we need to kick the table over and play a different game. A game that we choose, the only game that has ever worked for us. When US soccer was most successful, in the 90’s and early 2000’s, we locked down the D and countered fast. For a team without skilled players, this is the only way, but for a team with a few highly skilled attackers, it becomes deadly. The best teams will be able to overwhelm us with their skill and athleticism, but at least we will be competitive.
I like aidan morris. He is looking like the potential signing of the season in the Championship. Good tackling, great passing. We have some good options who are talented at club level. ultimately yesterday canada packed the middle of the field and we stood around then tried to force it through the middle. We take too long to adjust away from the slow paced build up at the player level on the field.
Borderline criminal negligence leaving Pulisic to keep getting chopped down in a very meaningless friendly. Beyond disappointed that no one seemed to come to his defense. We didn't seem to want to match Canada's physicality which is worrying. I really wanted to see what was so special about Johnnie but for the life of me didn't see anything that makes him a $30m player let alone a $3m one. I'm going to chalk this one down to a transition period, but the effort in the first half was disgusting. Glad to see some fight in the second. I liked what I saw from Lund. De la Torre looked quicker than I've seen, and I definitely want to see more of Morris. We need to sub hard for New Zealand and see what else is out there. Cade has desire but he doesn't seem that quick. Might be that Canada is very fast, and hats off to the Canucks for taking it to us. They definitely wanted this one.
Cade was running against alphonso davies who is basically the fastest soccer player on any field except when bombito is also playing.
One could see this coming a mile away. At halftime, I switched off, headed out to the deck with a brilliant English mystery novel, a stack of classical discs, a supply of Guinness. Late summer on Cape Cod - had to do it. The high point was throwing on the Bass cable-stitch cotton sweater. Navy blue.
It looks to be because there are often no good options through the middle — not because it can’t be done, but because we just don’t do it, or don’t try to do it quickly. We have spent years trying to perfect attacks up the wing and ignoring the middle because MMA and because our former CB leader had more trouble with crosses as a player. I hope Poch tells Wes and Musah that if they don’t want to use their ample athletic gifts to defend (e.g., as the 2 in a 4-3-2-1 or a 4-3-3 with a false 9) then they can sit and let Aidan Morris, Mahoney or LDLT do it. We have people who can be good creative 10 types at this level (Reyna, Pulisic, Tillman), and we have people who seem to be able to finish at this level (Sarge, Pepi, Haji, Balo). I hope MMA never plays as a combo in our midfield again because all 3 have regressed defensively. Adams was constantly out of position in the Copa, and Musah and Wes seem less enthusiastic about defending than they once were. I hope Poch kicks the too-comfortable legs out from under the veterans.
I could only watch 20 minutes before it was time to head out to the USL game. Canada looked motivated and sharp, the U.S. looked terrible. I’m beginning to think our players might be lacking something crucial to compete in an impressive manner every game.
Look, I have been saying, for years, that all this talk about this generation being the most talented ever is complete crap. The only guys we have who consistently perform are Pulisic & Jedi. Wes sometimes. We are mentally weak (Dest, Weah), mistake prone, have trouble scoring goals, lack fight, and the GK/defender situation is the worst I have seen since 1990. Time for more Sargent, LDLT, Morris and less Musah, Johnny, Scally, Ream (sadly).
No. God, no. Just a New England Irish-Catholic. Off to Mass. I'll light a candle from Ream and Johnny.
Weak attendance. Maybe the oversaturation of stoopid cashgrabs all the fvkcing time has debased the value of USMNT to the point that its not worth attending them.
If Pochettino manages to get this team to play well, I'll honestly be shocked. It's hard to coach players who increasingly look like they don't want to be there.
Musah's issues in his game are becoming to the point where I seriously consider dropping him for a bit. He's good to great dribbling when he's pressured, but he isn't a great passer, doesn't like to shoot, and is completely unaware of what's going on around him. I've noticed more and more when he's on the field teams just back off him when in defense, and will press have a defender come from behind to pressure him because he just doesn't know whose around him. I won't pretend to watch a lot of PSV or Betis so I dunno what Johnny and Tillmans weaknesses tend to be, but I'm noticing a lot of trends with the US. I actually thought Tillman was good when he had the ball, but he has no interest in doing the dirty work. Johnny's first touch has let him down in multiple games for the US, but beyond that, he just runs around like a chicken with his head cut off in defense. He runs towards the ball and abandons where he's supposed to be. Multiple times Canada had good opportunities because Johnny just ran to the ball when another player was there. Above all else with Musah and Tillman especially? They are just way too static when they don't have the ball. They don't show for the ball they don't make off ball runs, ect. I know Jesse's quote is getting a lot of traction on social media, and I know people complain about our attack being predictable, but our midfield makes it very easy for an opposing team when they don't move. Part of the reason the team looked so much better with Luca and Aiden is 1)They're constantly moving creating space and 2)They're aware of what's going on around them. I say this knowing full well some will mention the PK vs Wales, but basically since 2021 the team has just not been able to find a good CB pairing that doesn't include Walker Zimmerman. Ream and Richards just isn't working. Way too many mistakes from both of them and way too many errors that just flat out come down to lack of communication. It's also getting to the point where I kind of wonder if Chris Richards can only play in a 3 man backline if being looked at as a CB. But either way I think it's time to move on from Ream and also not include Richards as a lock starter. If we're gonna use Scally it may be time to say he's an RCB in a back 3. Just doesn't add anything going forward. The rare times we actually had our midfielders play through balls the team looked fairly dangerous. Just didn't do it a lot.
Both teams healthy, you give this team '02 Arena, probably '02-'14 arena, and I wouldn't agree. Arena did a great job of maximizing talent everywhere he went. The way '17 went caused people to just double down on '06 frustrations but I view that as illusory. I think its pretty obvious injuries destroyed the potential and the attacking teeth of the '06 group, and in '17 we get now that team was largely utter ----, and ruined in the locker room as well. I think Arena could have gotten this group to reach its potential, probably Bradley too. In fairness though, it's hard to figure just what the '94 team was, did they peak in '94-'95 at the WC and Copa America, or did Sampson and Captain for life just ruin their chemistry? They imploded super quickly in '98. It took just one bad game in France for them to turn on eachother, and on the coach, for Wegerle to say openly at the players only meeting that he was in this for himself and nothing else, like the rest of the players....That whole team was a problem by the end, just like this one has gotten to be.
College football season. Should have played in Europe and had the match start at 10 am Eastern. Would have gotten better ratings and resulted in cheaper travel costs.
The 98 team had lots of issues - aging difference makers, Tab Ramos not the same after major knee issues, Harkes banished, Sampson being terrible. But the defense of our current team still remains - they are still young. Very few GAMs on this team.
Our depth is mostly shite. We were missing 6 of our top 8 guys (Adams, McKennie, Reyna in MF, Dest & Jedi at FB, and Weah at RW). We don't have a reasonable replacement for any of them. Though Morris, LDLT, and Lund were giod to decent. Richards & Ream were a horror show. CB and wing depth are non-existant. And our formation & tactics too predictable. ----------------------Schulte---------------- Fossey---McKenzie---Trusty---Wiley Tillman---Morris---LDLT---Pulisic ---------------Sargent-----Wright------------
Yeah, the game was played at the same time as my kiddo's Under 9 game. So luckily I got to miss it all. Unluckily, in the middle of watching the game smoke started rising from the south of us, some video's I shot of Kieran include the smoke. Sure enough, after the game, turns out a huge fire broke out from Washoe Valley destroying everything in it's path, including the famous Old Chocolate Factory with the giant Miner dude my dad took me too, and I took my son too. 1600 acres went up in the Davis fire so far, and the whole northern ring of washoe valley appeared to be on fire last night. Pretty insane. This game, needless to say, was not solace, at all. On the positive side, my son scored on a free kick in his U9 match, before they gave up 7 or 8 consecutive goals
I'm just not going to get worked up about a friendly with a caretaker manager against a guy who's been planning on being vindicated against our fed for years (while missing five starters). You nailed it completely on why we looked so bad in the first half and the lack of movement. I suspect this will be the number one thing Poch addresses and if you can't move you won't play. The only thing these type of games do for me is to eliminate players. So Scally as an outside back that can attack? Nope I've seen enough. Johnny, Musah and Tillman? My only question was if it was all of them that were poor or say two out of three that made the third poor. I don't know the answer at CB but during qualifying a rotation of Zimmerman, Robinson and Richards looked decent with any combo but for some reason doesn't get tried anymore. Ream wasn't a starter and was good in the runup and during the WC but it's past time to move on. If no one looks decent in the next year or so bring him back as an emergency. Same with Turner unless he starts getting a run of games where he looks good.
Replace “Ream” with Tyler Adams and this summarizes many of the post Qatar matches under Berhalter. A pretty regular complaint was “why was there no plan B??”
To me that seems to clearly say that Canada is a better team. While the USA does, at least on paper, have the better players they do not play well together well in the system used and the players + the system + the mental aspect + coaches instructions = team. In this last match Canada won everything in that list except the pedigree of the players and that means Canada was the better team. If we ever get a new coach in place that implements a new or modified system and handles the team differently then we will, probably, again become the better team. But, right now, Canada is the better team, unfortunately.