Pre-match: USMNT v Haiti Gold Cup - Sunday June 22

Struggle lineup, Holden aside.

 

I would bite your arm off for Luis Robles right now

 

the fans wanting someone else to take out mex or can, or just hoping for the "easiest" path possible.

 

I think most of us here agree with you. Let’s save our easiest path possible mojo for the World Cup.

 

This a great post for the Haiti coach to put up in the locker room.

 

Carlisle and Goff are both saying that Haji Wright is training separately today due to his Achilles issue, with an evaluation later today to see how the injury is faring.

They also both state that Damion Downs is training separately from the team today too.

 

Some of you must not be very good at math....lol

The US is 100% through to the knockouts. And in reality is probably 90% to win the group. The only way we don't win the group:
1. Haiti has to beat us.
2. Saudi Arabia has to beat TNT.
3. Saudi Arabai have to overcome a goal differential of 6.

 

Richards is a CB -- he can play 90 all tournament and I'd rather not rest all four of Luna, Tillman, Adams and Richards. So he starts.

Rest old man Ream and give someone else a chance; McKenzie is the obvious choice. Tolkin should get his shot, but sorry, Alex, you've got to play.

Adams gets a rest; Johnny gets a start because with the knockouts coming up, we've got to see if he can contribute at the level we expect, even against a Haiti.

It makes sense to give Luca a rest as he's Adams' likely partner in the knockouts, but I am hesitant to put Johnny and Berhalter / Paxten out there given the lineup. I probably start Luca and expect him to sub out early if we are up.

I'd either start Luna and Tillman, hope to score a couple early and get them off or simply start one and decide at halftime which way I go. On one hand, Brenden and whomever should be good enough against Haiti; so perhaps I wait until halftime. OTOH, I really don't like slowly bleeding off the offense out of the lineup.

Let's see Downs up top. Freese starts in goal until he loses it.

----------- Downs -----------
Brendo ----------- Sullivan
----------- Tillman ----------- <--- Intended halftime sub
------ Luca ----- Johnny ---
Tolkin - McK - Rich - Freeman
----------- Freese ----------

 

Luna is the one guy I absolutely don't want to use tomorrow. To me his one of the keys in the knockouts and he's sitting on a yellow. Not risking another card tomorrow.

 

Pulisic as the replacement

 

He never seen anyone like Agyemang or Brian White in those games, their unpredictability will shock him.

 

Loved Parkhurst, he was the Ream of his generation.

 

why? miles in that hybrid rb/cb spot will be better than freeman- who will get a short break from that misuse- and that also means we wont need a cm dropping in. those two looks have been the most consistent thing weve seen over the last 4 matches.

and look, im impatient too, but the only thing johnny has definitely played himself out of is ever being that de facto cb again.

 

Good point; I was just thinking of Harriel. I'm not a huge fan of Miles on the outside but it is another option.

I'm not writing off Johnny, but once Tyler is ready, I think minutes become much harder for him in the Gold Cup, if he's not playing well, I don't need to force two defensive mids onto the field when I need ball progression if one of them keeps screwing up.

If you want to breed competition in camp, kill off complacency and keep the locker room feeling fair, you eventually need to give people minutes based on performance. Haiti isn't absolutely terrible, but they aren't a good team -- so Johnny needs to look pretty good here. He doesn't need to look great, but once you are in the knockouts, developmental time should decline.

 

I would hope that rules don't allow for a replacement TBH. 26 players is enough.

 

We may rest our midfielders, so could we not convince Dortmund to give up Gio Reyna who is not playing in the CWC anyhow? Would Pochettino or any other coach accept him after not practicing with the squad? Probably not.

 

ill finally give an actual take, though its such a waste of time with poch doing whatever the hell hes doing...

________freese
____zim___mckenzie
miles_____________tolkin
_____seb__cardoso
sullivan___luna__brenden
________white

i do think cbs need rest where they can get it, in addition to protecting richards from any potential yellow. i also strongly feel ream should be rested for at least, hmmm, i dont really think a half is quite enough...4 matches

this a pretty strong (dedicated) gk/backline for concacaf, its honestly silly not one of the defs are in pochs preferred 11.

i put seb right to help cover zims limited mobility (especially in transitions), and cardoso left here because tolkin and ba can handle his occasionally hot passes. i dont know if thats nerves or what, but he pings the shit out of some of balls (like a randomly caps-locked social media post) and not really depending on situation from what i can see.

i cant predict what poch is going to do ever, but going strictly on this tournament so far seb and adams seem like the pretty obvious two line to go forward with. johnnys not going to get any more comfortable without being on the pitch, but he hasnt given any reason to use him beyond rotation/off the bench. again, not knowing what pochs intention is but id just as soon try to win this tournament we are playing in- however goofy the roster is and whatever stupid ass messages he thinks he sending.

but with that in mind (seb as the presumptive starter for the kos), he and luna are my absolute changes at the half, and i know using luna isnt going to be popular with you dummies, but thats only because youre dummies.

i think it would be really good to get him in that central, pure 10 role. we all know guys have to sacrifice, and cant always play their preferred position (much less role), but i think it can also wear a little on guys whos effectiveness is mitigated to whatever degree. especially young players. i think trying to make freeman a hybrid cb is legit concerning re his development, and luna really came on for us before tillman did, yet hes the one who has been pushed wider.

i know he plays as a wide-ish playmaker/attacker a lot, but i think hes a 10. to be more specific, i think (at this moment) hed be my/a situational first-team 10 for us. so, i think this would be a good chance to let him feel a bit more agency than just doing his part. he may not turn out to be a consistent starter with the first team, but hes not a role player either.

anyways, sullivan gives us minutes for whoever, and we get what we can out of one of the only two players who bring true width (in addition to arfsten) on this roster. im not familiar enough with him to say if rwb is an especially valid role for him, but he played in one of the friendlies and def put in the work. and, i mean, i dont think tolkins a pure "wide" player but its not like this team is even close to balanced (or even intentionally off balance). tolkins our best left-sided player and sullivan will at least cover the ground. done and done.

aaronson is pretty obvious- if our goal was simply to win this gc hed be starting for us.

i think poch is just all in on agyemang though downs- or wright for that matter- hasnt been available enough to know if thats def the case. but since thats very obviously what is happening then we rotate.

i have zero illusions that white is going to do anything productive, but im not sure starting downs is the best call. hes a very young player, coming off illness, new to the team- i just dont know what im looking at just yet. hes awfully thin, and ive had maybe one quick glimpse of him using his length to hold off a defender, but not his body. and yes, some thin guys use their body deceptively well he hasnt for us. not yet, anyways.

so, if we start him and he cant get anything going (and poch decides a result is a goal of his at any level) wed have to make a change. we def dont want to be a position where we need anything from white, so i guess i do think he can do something- physically be there, move the defenders, run his ass off.

i just think using downs as a guy off the bench (assuming pat is out lock starter, and even as a pre-planned halftime move here) is the way to go. or, you know, a way.

i wish that we could see tillman on for seb at the half (because honestly i think tillman projects as the best 8 on this roster certainly until/if cardoso gets his shit together). i think hes well clear of seb defensively at this point, and i think his (mostly) short, quick passing would be a really interesting look for us. but as one of our handful of first-team adjacent players here id keep him on ice.

id like to see pax at that spot as well. if we need a few minutes for whoever harriel exists, and id like to start seeing mcglynn off the bench regardless.

i dont care about the result here at all, but in addition to rotation id like to see us start transitioning to...a better 11 than poch has decided on thus far.

freese, richards, adams, tillman and luna shouldnt even be up for discussion. freeman is technically a lock with harriel the only (obvious) alternative, though i dont think miles in that spot/role is the worst idea. i do think ream is. i think arfsten...well, id say keep using him off the bench for tolkin. that could be a nice, different look platoon but man can he not defend at all...

mckenzie is the blatantly obvious partner for richards in the back and as i said i think seb has earned a spot next to adams in the middle (with solid depth- but zero defense- from luca, and hypothetical depth from johnny).

aaronson, tillman and luna across the attack though to optimize i might use tillman on the (very narrow) right, luna at the 10 and ba left. i think tillman is a better player right now than luna, full stop, but i dont think malik has a "that guy" primary mentality. i think his ideal, preferred role would to be the "luxury" player between puli and weah, behind pepi with adams and probably wes behind him.

and i think that could absolutely work- but both here and in that same first-team scenario i think luna brings that mentality everyone thinks our euro players lack. even more than just the cliched adjectives (hungry, hard-working, etc) for that cliched complaint- hes got a real f you swagger. and while i want all the hard work, the helping out, the team player hes showing he does bring an element no one else in the pool does.

as i said- thinking wes doesnt have heart, or tyler doesnt put it all out there is just horseshit to me, but even moreso than dempsey, luna reminds me of clint mathis. i dont know if he scales all the way up to world class adjacent levels, but i think he very likely could show up next summer with a stupid haircut (and horrible mustache) and make one filthy mcnasty touch/play that gets us one step further in the world cup. tillman feels a little more like the "boring", claudio option (which isnt really of a negative at all).

ok, ive wandered far, far away as usual but its ok here- up top who freaking cares? maybe downs shows (me) a little more, but i cant see any of the forwards here getting 2 goals from here on out (unless we start using agyemang as a big ass deflector). wright/downs would be vaguely interesting but i think any real carryover in the team from this gold cup run (certainly at this point) are entirely covered by those 5 lock starters i name like an hour ago when i started wright this...

 

Avoiding Mexico in the quarters is not the same as avoiding Mexico.

 

the possibility of being able to play mex, can and pan (if that is possible- brackets vex me) would be a blessing in disguise.

dont get me wrong- i have the utmost faith that poch can find a way to lose our first ko match regardless of opponent, but even the chance of those three tests (however underwhelming big picture theyre the best we can get here) far outweighs advancing, or even winning this if its due to lesser teams losing it.

 

Unclear if we can replace him but Haji is out for the rest of the tournament

TEAM NEWS: Haji Wright is dealing with an Achilles issue that will not be resolved in time for him to continue competing in the tournament.

He will return to Coventry City for further evaluation and treatment. pic.twitter.com/TG6ddhEvwl

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 21, 2025

 

The rules as written do not but the announcer last game said we could and in past tournaments CONCACAF has allowed despite the rules not saying you could.

For Pulsic they definitely would also I think just to get him in the tournament but I’m guess he wouldn’t want to.

 

I would do some heavy rotation here. That heavy rotation isn’t exactly the second side considering it’s been a mix to begin with anyways. Tillman and Luna get pulled. Adams gets the start with Jonny. P. Aaronson at the 10. Downs at RW B Aaronson at LW Ageymang up top. Mackenzie and Robinson at CB. Tolken and Freeman as wingbacks Downs up top.

Freese
Freeman. Mackenzie. Robinson. Tolken

Cardosa. Adams

Downs Aaronson. Aaronson

Ageymang

If Haiti attack we have the counter players we need to dig the ball out and get some good speed rolling forward.

 

Pochettino never asks a second favor once he's refused the first, understood?

 

You don't understand. Johnny Fontaine never gets that movie.