Pregame thread: US vs NZ friendly 9/10/24

After admittedly stating that the Canada game was a meaningful game, I will go on record as saying that this is, relatively speaking, a meaningless game against NZ. Canada is a talented team in our Confederation (a newly competitive rival) that was supposed to give us a gauge of where we were post-disaster of the Copa America. Were we going to bounce back from the unfortunate red card that helped undo us, and look like a serious team, or not? We know how it went. New Zealand is NOT a talented team. We all know that going in. So, it leaves us in a no-win situation. We lose, and this place goes apoplectic. We win, and, well, it is freaking New Zealand. We just need to come out with no injuries and hopefully with a game that is entertaining enough that we don't believe we wasted our 2 hours watching. The truth is, if we learn anything from this game, it will be that someone is cementing themself as someone NOT useful, rather than identifying a player that is.

 

———Sargent—-Wright————
—————-PULISIC—————-
———-Morris———Musah———
Wiley———————————Scally
——Trusty—Richards—McKenzie—-
——————-Schulte———————

…Don’t want anyone to miss that I forgot to put Pulisic in the XI.

 

a 352 is outlandish? Or 442? Maybe unlikely given that this program can’t think outside the box. But, maybe, just maybe, our one dimensional playing style is a little too predictable and we ought to try something new in a friendly.

 

Just to be clear, the results of these two friendlies are (relatively) meaningless (imo), but that doesn’t mean that nothing can be gained/learned from them.

What we’ve learned so far, among other things, is that our collective concern is justified.

 

You misspelled TILLMAN.

 

Anything Lalas does is simply to promote himself and promote in America the sport that he genuinely loves, in relatively equal measure. He's not as stupid as he lets on at all.

(But he thinks that we are. And in the vast majority of cases, he's right. Our fanbase is stupid and toxic... in relatively equal measure.)

 

Given this game is rather pointless, would be great to get Diego Luna some mins.

Too bad our program doesn’t value that player profile.

 

I don't get why anyone would want Pulisic in the middle after Canada. He was as ineffective there as Scally was at RB. Pulisic is wasted in the middle.

I'd rather see what kind of 10 Aaronson has turned into since he's been playing that spot pretty regularly for the last year or maybe give Tillman another shot to see if the moments he had last game are a sign it's finally coming together for him.

 

cb's - left footer Trusty + Richards. GK, let Crocker pick
fb's - Let's see what lb Lund has in him on 3 days rest. Fossey on the right, Scally gets rest.
mids, let's see Morris + Johnny from first whistle and give LDLT the 10 spot. Funny how important LDLT became. We've lacked midfielders since Berhalter took over 5 years ago.
Up top I'm thinking Sarge is too valuable to play in this one so let Balo and Cowell grasp the opportunity to enjoy that unique Amereican experience, the turkey shoot. I'm thinking play Wiley as a forward winger since we didn't bring Yow or Paxten. Puli, BA get rest.

---wiley----balo---cowell
---ldlt-------johnny--aiden
-lund---trusty----mcKenz---fossey
----------gk: batman

NB: Wright can play LW instead of Wiley or sub in for Balo since we don't hv another 9.

 

We don't need Aaronson playing these easy games. Give it to Luca and let's see the combo we missed v. Canada: Johnny + Morris. I wouldn't risk Sarge or Puli either.

 

Update

They have arrived, we are good.

 

We joined BS 6 days apart. Yday I opened a box of newly arrived Nike's. Are you following me?

 

i like these lineups but I want to see Cowell get a real look too. No more Aaronson. I do not want to see the same starters as with Canada. We have seem enough..... time to move on

 

I'm a little concerned about attendance, and no, not in this forum. Okay, not just in this forum.

The MNT is hosting New Zealand in Cincinnati (at 7:00 PM), while not far away, in Louisville, Louisville City is hosting Cancun FC (at 7:30 PM). Who thought that was a good idea?

 

just to gently poke you with a stick, how you advocate a 5-whatever without scally as the rcb is beyond me.

ignoring this dumb roster, id be all for a peek at trusty/richards/scally with jedi and weah on the wings. since i care about the future lets say morris and tesserman behind reyna with sarge up top and puli sort of to the left but just generally doing our best player things.

we could defend in numbers, actually pass, and attack as a 4-2-3-1 in possession.

 

i am confident we will draw in numbers similar to bottom half nswl teams, and for only three times the price!

 

I think/hope we're all in agreement that a mostly different group should line up against NZ. If we go too crazy, though. we lessen the chances of learning something useful. For example, on defense ...

Wiley Trusty McKenzie Fossey

Schulte
​

This is a natural grouping of players with fresh legs in their natural positions. All four have reason to give maximum effort, and v New Zealand, the price is right.

In midfield, I feel we can't give up on either Tillman or Johnny, even if this just extends their rehearsal as understudies for the (often unavailable) Reyna and Adams. I'd also like to see more of Morris, for his passing as well as some extra bite. So ...

Tillman

Morris --- Johnny
​

with Morris allowed to push higher when we're on the front foot.

In attack, I'm resting Sarge's ankle - not sure why I/we brought him, since (I assume) he actually could use a break. I'm willing to mix it up with ...

Wright --- Pepi --- Cowell​

who all are (or should be) goal-hungry.

 

I want a right a wrong. Some are getting the wrong idea about BA (maybe Poch) cuz of how he was used again v. Canada. And see if he can break down an organized D as a 10.

 

I’m not fully on board on keeping him in the middle, just so that I have said that.

But, I don’t think we have enough body of work to conclude that’s not where he belongs yet either.

 

I'm ok with that but you don't have to worry about Poch getting the wrong idea about Aaronson.

How did Fonz do? He had nothing. Canada's play was thru the middle for both goals. How about the goal we scored? Poch will look at what started the play: Aaronson. Next look for him at the end of the play where he is holding 2 defenders in the box in a good position to score and could still be a receiver of the ball which Scally cuts back to Morris instead.

The problem for me with Aaronson at the 10 is that his style of brave play, often losing the ball, will work best forward because that's where counterpressing works (opponent can't just turn around and back pass into space cuz there isn't any space behind.)

It's possible that Morris + Johnny behind him makes Aaronson a better 10 but I'd rather see Mo + Jo with somebody like LDLT who specializes on playing out of the centre circle area.

 

I'm pretty sure the coach is going to want to say he got an international win while in charge. It's going to be a 4-3-3, I'd wager.

There's no reason to go 3 at the back now. None whatsoever. This is just BS projection yet again... what's good for answering some more niche questions on this board is not necessarily good (or logical) in terms of what this organization should be doing with this match.

 

This New Zealand is weaker than usual. 34 year old Barbarouses, their best player, is an A-League lifer. Their guys in Europe are second fiddlers in Norway or Greece, their keeper is in the English third. We should beat them by a healthy margin, heck hapless Mexico downed 'em 3-0.

We'll feel better soon.

 

Too bad we weren't able to book American Samoa.

 

We don't need to play any team that weak. I think the Cuban U16 Men's team would be weak enough. We might just score three or four goals against them and we "might" even get a clean sheet.

 

The USA has 4 Territories that have their own affiliation with FIFA. Each player from these Territories is a USA citizen eligible to be on the usmnt if they are not cap-tied to their Territory team or any other Fifa team.

The rankings as of July 2024:

USA 16
Puerto Rico 157
American Samoa 187
Guam 204
US Virgin Islands 208

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=permanent+territories+of+the+united+states