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

Looked up the lineup from when we played New Zealand in 2016.

https://www.transfermarkt.us/united-states_new-zealand/aufstellung/spielbericht/2750482

Acosta at LB, Yedlin at RW, Yarbrough in goal.

Yikes

 

Talk about long road trips:

https://www.distancefromto.net/distance-from-new-zealand-country

 

We might, Pulisic almost promised that.

 

Our XI in the Queen City 👑

Lineup Notes ⤵️

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) September 10, 2024

Changes are Turner, Fossey, Morris, Wright, McKenzie, and Pepi.

 

I think Sargent would've started for Morris if he was healthy:

Josh Sargent experienced irritation in his left ankle in training (not the previously injured right ankle), per USSF.

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) September 10, 2024

JK.

Seriously, I'm so curious how this XI lines up.

 

back to turner, starting all 3 fwds.

varas is a clown. cant wait til he blames the players for not getting crosses into the box (where balo is probably the target of the 3).

is sarge going to have a national team career?

 

Also, captaining Richards after his last performance is an interesting choice. I'm glad to see Ream out of the lineup, but I'm surprised they didn't give the band to Turner, who is both the next oldest and the most experienced in terms of no. of caps. Hopefully this means Richards had a real turnaround in the last few training sessions.

 

cmon poch, youve still got 30 minutes to change this ridiculous lineup!

 

Minor news announcement - Poch has been hired:

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2024/09/mauricio-pochettino-named-head-coach-us-mens-national-team

 

You can't make 4-3-3 out of that? Would be a good start.

 

Not bad (for a friendly). Glad to see a formation change. It’s okay to be bold with the line up in order to try out some new players. Let’s see how they do.

 

I my headcanon This is Poch's lineup. But yeah kind of weird. Wright can hng on the wing but Pepi can't. And I'm assuming Balogun will rightfully take the central striker position so he's sort of put on an island.

 

The Kiwis are resting some starters: Boxall, Barbarouses, Tommy Smith, Ben Old. They're giving a start to 21 year old Finn Surman too.

 

First time I've heard Fossey talk.

 

I just KNEW they were going to try to get it before the deadline (the telecast, that is). Phew....

P.S. Definite 2nd-team lineup vibe to this one...

 

When it comes to the national team, Sargent just can't catch a damn break....

 

Much more excited about fossey than I should be honestly