I've never understood the love for "calmness" as a soccer qualtiy. I see people all the time say "he was calm in possession" and I wonder what it accomplished. p.s. edit: Pirlo wasnt a good soccer player because he was calm, he was a good soccer player who happened to be calm.
Oh, and Acosta seemed to alternate between near-perfect set piece deliveries with some that were, um, less than perfect.
He doesn’t seem like a playmaker which is what I was going to say in that second sentence. Also, concerns about his mobility in there. Seems a bit slow, but I’m sure we’ll get another look if he keeps up his club play.
He's got the feet. He's got the athleticism. He's got the fight. But there's a mental side to this game as well.
He doesn't look like a playmaker to me. Another guy to compete with LDLT, not Musah or McKennie or Brenden or Gio. The final "haul" of this camp, IMO? Vazquez is ready to compete for a place in the first team; I think he's on a par with the other 4 or 5 of them (but not yet clearly better), and Zendejas might be solid backup quality. Cowell should be great with the U23s and should get some B team minutes when available. Jones might be a B option. Neal's ready for first team club minutes.
While he can run in a straight line and fight for the ball he is effective, he has no clue what to do after that.
players are out of season and had very little time to acclimate and form any sort of cohesiveness making definitive statements on any of these players is something I'm not fan of that said, i think the players that went to the wc and have a bunch of caps should be standing out in a good way....and though i didnt watch any of these games....doesnt sound like any of them did. sounds like they all were negatives out there.
Overall, improved performance than against Serbia which is a good sign, but there were still pluses and minuses. Personally, I thought Hoppe was good. He offered us something different. I also thought Ferreira and Arriola were good. Paxten Aaronson showed some promise. So did DeJuan Jones. And Tolkin was very good. Acosta was so-so. Williamson and Sonora were both mostly invisible. Johnson was never really tested. The center backs were so-so. Rogers and Neal both looked like they’re worth seeing again. Sabbi might be quick but he’s one of the least technical players I’ve ever seen for the USMNT. Vazquez looked like he could be dangerous, but he wasn’t clean tonight.
Was really impressed with that guy Sabbi on the Colombian team. Never missed a teammate with his passes. Not a single time. Very special performance.
[ Closest I've been is a great lunch at the Fish House in Pensacola, other than enjoying Ruby in Paradise (Ashley Judd in her prime).
I don’t see Hoppe connecting well with his teammates. Part of me feels like his field awareness isn’t where it needs to be.
Hoppe's good at winning 1v1s and making aggressive runs. For me, that's most of his game. The rest of his game feels lacking.
Hoppe now has 400'+ for the US, and has an assist against Martinique and a scrappy, rebound goal against Jamaica. Some people are very impressed with people who try stuff that doesn't work a lot. I liked parts of Hoppe's game today, but while it looks more fun, dude has lower goal productivity than Arriola for the US, and he's "Danger Adjacent."
My son and I were talking about the same thing today (not Hoppe specifically but some players in general). Some players are skilled and selfish. Some players are skilled but do not see the field. I think Hoppe is skilled enough, and he works hard but he doesn't see the field and for that reason, he holds on to the ball and doesn't have an end product.
Yeah. I think that’s it. He’s just not seeing the entire field. He’s determined and energized, but he seems not to open up the field with his passes and connections with teammates. You can see from how he plays that he badly wants to succeed, but that lack of field vision is constraining his growth as a player.