Agree to disagree. Sands batted the cycle of game-losing mistakes: own goal that forced Turner into a save, awful giveaway that should have been converted into a goal, gave up a penalty. I don’t know that he did anything well in the whole game. It was awful.
As I noted at halftime, none of Qatar's chances in the first half came from technical brilliance. They were all from good team play. Apart from Afif, none of their players have convinced me that they would be regular starters in MLS or an equivalent league, and it showed in the finishing. But the thing is: a well-drilled team of competent lower-tier pros, with one or two standout players, can stay in the game against anyone, especially when they have much better team cohesion than any of their opponents. It worked for us in 1994, it's working for Qatar now.
Well, I will confess I was a big Zardes fan when he first broke in, and for me he really seemed to fall off from that initial promise. More recently, i've just found myself eating my words after too many matches for me not to be convinced, especially when combined with "who are we going to have up front? Sargent? Pefok? Hoppe? Gioacchini? Dike?" It isn't like any of them have out performed Zardes convincingly. I'd say certainly we can't say THREE of them have, which is what it would take to keep him off the roster.
True, but it isn't working for us now. We may have better players, but we also have Nosferatu/Voldemort/Berhalter as coach. Excellent but disorganized teams can get shellacked by teams like Qatar.
Who makes the 23? If we win this one, we'd have quite a lot of players in the list of candidates for the 23.
No one is going to have the cohesion equal to a de facto club team. I'm not a particular Berhalter fan, but if that's your standard, NO ONE is going to meet it. Certainly not with a B team full of assorted young guys being given their national team tryout. And giving (most) of these young guys their national team tryout was our goal, after all. It's worked out well, if you ask me. Only Dike has really been a disappointment. Maybe Williamson, but I didn't have much expectations for Williamson.
Well, I'm not looking at this tournament as anything except seeing who might make the bench for qualifying. Sure, it would be nice to win, but either way, I'll not be thinking about it five minutes after the final ends. Leaving aside Lleget, who I think has his role already, who else? Basically, I think Robinson has shown enough to add some cb depth. Moore, sure, if you need him for the bench. Acosta I don't mind off the bench for the qualifiers and maybe even a start with the schedule this year. Hoppe should be something eventually, but he has a ways to go, especially with the physical side of things. I don't see it with Dike. He is Zardes without the sprinting ability, so I have to give Zardes the edge at this point.
That's not a particular dilemma at all. There are a few players at the margins that one could debate, but the heart of the first 23 is quite solid as long as they're healthy. What we have in this group are a few 23 candidates and a few 24-30 man candidates.
yuk yuk In all seriousness his very first international goal against the Netherlands was an even better one.
Sands made a few big mistakes but was good overall. Turner bailed him out on his mistakes. Sands kept his head even with those mistakes.
Still no. I don't think any of these players except maybe Zardes and Hoppe and Turner should be in contention for the 23. Just because our C/D team can win in CONCACAF doesn't mean they're better than our As.
We're not talking about the "heart," the whole point of this tournament was finding the last 3 or 4 spots. If we win the whole thing, we're going to have a dozen candidates for those last 3-4 places.
That wasn't a great look, and I've been wondering if Berhalter might be asked to watch the Final from the stands.
It helps that he had arguably USA's most intelligent player and Irelands most dangerous striker to learn from.
Im not as antipathetic toward Berhalter as most here, but also wouldn't have a problem if he goes, but who do you replace him with?
That's already so no matter who wins the final. Do you pick Vines for the squad? I don't think so if everyone's healthy, he's a 24-30 guy for me. Do you pick Miles Robinson for the squad? I do. Do you pick James Sands for the squad? He's more of a 24-30 guy for me. Do you pick Hoppe for the squad? Probably, but it's debatable which guy he displaces. Do you pick Busio for the squad? For me, not yet. Do you pick Moore for the squad? Let's wait and see what he's like when he's fully fit. At the moment, he's behind Cannon for me, and it's arguable if I'd choose him or Yedlin as a backup. And, of course, Dest. As for Turner, well, almost all of us had picked him for the 23 already, it's just a matter of the pecking order, and that depends for me on current form. Turner has current form. He's not great with the ball at his feet, so I'm reluctant to name him starter, but he's got the current form.