More talent and less grit in the US Mens teams. When they play a less talented team the game flows. It seems when they play a team with talent and grit they fall apart. Passes off the ground or not that accurate and defenders just kicking the ball. The first goal was the result of Harriel clearing the ball for a corner when he could have just shielded the ball out. Hate to say it but the last 10 games of the Union season he's looked about the same.
Yow's been a fantastic find. There's a lot of depth options in this side, but I think most of us realized watching the U20 cycle in '22-'23, that most of the talent that had a chance to matter at the senior level as starters were not playing at the '23 U20 WC, or at these Olympics, the guys that did, our depth guys, and some of them showed that we should be confident, or at least hopeful about that (Yow in particular for me). Schulte was alarming in the two games against good teams, I'm surprised the higher upside prospect, Gaga, didn't get a game. Frustrating. But yeah, there's some talent we'll use out of this. This isn't like U23 qualifying in '16 and '12 where when you watched, it was damn hard to find anyone that could even sub on ever in an A match, and perhaps even Cupcake. This was far better than '12, and '16, but it was still far less than it could have been w/releases and better roster management. Quite disappointing.
What does a goal when up/down 3-0 with minutes left to play in a knockout game really matter?? They said the US 3-0 loss to France was the worst loss for US Soccer at the Olympics since 1972, so that does make a 4-0 loss to Morocco worse than a mere 3-0 loss, but aside from guys like Paul Carr who keep track of such things I'm not sure it really matters? But hey if that's really what you want to focus on, go for it... How were your comments whining about the Olympics being anti-Christian or not liking France or about the song Alec Eiffel any more or less soccer opinions or any more or less in need of "clean up" than mine? Freeze peach for me but not for thee... typical. Hope I ruined the Pixies for you lol
I agree with you, to an extent. The progress has been gradual rather than revolutionary, unlike some expected with the maturation of the academy system. It's moved the floor up more than the ceiling, but both have gotten a bump. And there's always an overreaction what the collective effort means for individuals, often from the same people. They're incapable of not looking at things as monoliths. That's compounded when guys aren't already part of the European monolith. Look at the takeaways from faring much worse in the u-17 WC. The weak links broke the chain for the stronger ones. At the time a lot of people were wondering what that group would produce, if anything. It's already yielded Reyna, Pepi, Scally, Busio, Yow, etc. This group will produce several players with senior USMNT use in time, unlike the 1-2 or less the pessimists usually claim. And players who could or should have been picked will also provide benefit. The sample the manager allows us to see doesn't fully define the pool.
BTW - there is a referee's forum where you can debate the quality of this ref with the referees there. To sum up a take on the first PK which I think is right is: Harriel did not take care to avoid kicking an opponent who could legally be where he was and was legally challenging for the ball himself. Carelessly kicking an opponent in the box with force is clearly a PK. We can't wish for a different result just because he didn't mean to do it.
If the standard is performed decently in tournaments, then 2022 is right there. If you isolate it to upsets, your list really has 2009 there. Maybe a game in 2014, though overall the tournament ended in the same place. The 2010 tourney ended early, IMO, and the 2016 Copa was all an easy draw. I would kill for just once, when we lose anything, much less a U23 B team to a team that brought a player who would be the best player in our senior pool (or at minimum, tied for best), that it's just a loss, and we don't feel the need to stretch and try to make it some referendum every time on the entire program, federation, etc.
I initially penned a lengthy post where I don't think I even mentioned the ref. I joined that discussion later. So how is that what I'm mainly focused on, between that, and caveating by acknowledging it was worth 1-2 goals against 4, so as an aside, the ref was bad, & compounded matters?
Yow is quite promising in Europe Paxten looked better in '22 than '24, but still earned the Germany move and is promising. *on the one hand Tessmann is attracting all the right attention (Inter, Everton Loan, Fiorentina, Roma), otoh, the rumored sale price (5 mill) says a lot more than the actual destination, that is not a price a high upside guy goes for (hopefully that # is way off). *Booth had all the excitement in '22-'23 before injuries scuppered his past season. *I think we learned MacGlynn is too luxury (and while Busio played well I think the same of him). *hopefully we learned we need to move on from Mihailovic, and that Tolkin may not be it. *Schulte's stock is down, eyes will be on Brady and Gaga Overall, I have hopes we can get something out of Gaga, Tessmann, Yow, Booth, and Paxten, I think Guti and Luna have more promise than nearly any attacker we took, certainly Luna, oh and McGuire is donezo (though I think we already knew that). I may be forgetting guys, but out of this 18, its basically Yow, Paredes (forgot him), Paxten, Booth, Tessmann, and the keepers in terms of U23's that went to France.
You're harping a lot on Mihailovic, but the McGlynn-Mihailovic combo against a more talented team is an even clearer, insane decision. Playing two defensively weak CMs along with Tanner Tessman, who's not really a 6 defensively is a choice, for sure.
This is all true, we were missing 8 of our best U-23s, some others weren't released, in the two wins we played much better soccer than our opponents, and the men's program is getting better year by year. But one counterpoint is that while the two wins in the group stage were historic, New Zealand and Guinea are hardly impressive opposition. So we didn't beat anyone we shouldn't have beat. Every single person here would have been disappointed if we lost to such low level opponents. Their full teams are 94 and 77 in the FIFA rankings whereas the US is still 16 after dropping 6 spots. Other negatives: - Player selection (U-23s and overage) and roster construction could have been better - The coaching continues to be questionable One more positive: - The "floor" seems to be a lot higher across all YNTs now than it was in the not so distant past. We might take guys we shouldn't have taken but we don't take guys who clearly don't belong. These are all solid pros at worst.
This not the first time the USMNT has been disadvantaged by an obviously biased referee. I had to check Google to make sure the ref was not an Arab; he’s Argentine. Even in the first 20-25 minutes it was obvious that shirt pulls, body slams and other obvious fouls were not going to be called against Morocco. Even the first yellow card against the U.S. was questionable. But that was not the reason I turned the game off after the penalty, the U.S. was sloppy vs NZ and Guinea but were really off vs Morocco. Unwatchable.
For context, I'll also throw in this tourney was in Europe. Since we started going to WC's regularly in 1990, we've never gotten more than 1 pt in them. This time we got 6. In fairness, 2 of the group games were against non-European sides. The split's always 2 Euro sides, 1 non-Euro, in WC's. They're virtual road tourneys for us. And the comp is tougher in the WC. But the KO match was a virtual roadie for us. Morocco has a sizeable disapora population in France and is a relatively short trip where you don't need to take a plane. They had the crowd. This adds more evidence to the assertion we're bad on the road. We could play more games there. Our schedule is very heavily in the US.
I fairness to the superlative women's team, I should add that they may provide a lot of cover, to camouflage our total humiliation with a gold medal run or at least, run to the final in the olympics. That won't make the public and kids think the men are any good, but it will remind them that some people in America, women, can really play this game (though I'm highly suspicious considering the program has been total --- at the U20 level for more than a decade, a sign that there's something wrong in youth development, scouting or both). So it's up to the women to hide our shame over the next couple of weeks. There's a path to the final for them, unlike us (where Spain awaited us if we some how miracled our way past Morocco). For the women, it's Japan, and Germany or Canada, before the final, and none of those 3 squads are at the level of Spain. Hopefully the women can get it done.
What's interesting about this idea is that our players in Europe do not actually seem to have the intensity and fire that one would think that would engender.
I don't think he will, but you shouldn't be giving him reasons to doubt our program and the coach did. He was EASILY deserving of a ticket, and was not selected. It was beyond idiotic. Don't give ammo to other recruiters. It's one thing if you never had a chance with a guy like Araujo or an Obed Vargas, its another if you hand the prospect to another team, which this would be doing, it's a self-own. He deserved the ticket, he earned it, hell he helped qualify it, and he (like a lot of those U20s) were spurned for guys that sucked, or didnt move the needle at all. Hugely disappointing. And again, it's an obvious snub, an obvious one, it's not a net neutral thing like Araujo or Obed, where we gave them a billion chances, or a bit of a mental make up guy like Ochoa. This was a guy who qualified for the tournament, did a star turn at the U20 WC, had produced in every international phase and at the club level, and still wasn't taken. IDIOTIC and self defeating. Any player would consider alternatives when they get hosed like that.
Spain lol. But yeah, it was ridiculous. Suspect PK's and constant diving and feigned agony, reminded me of how Ghana ruined my fandom by being obvious duplicitous cheats (which made them crash out in total humiliation to the dark arts masters Uruguay all the more hilarious, their fans apparently suffering amnesia over how they'd even made the knockouts in '06 in the first place).
The women operate in an entirely different sporting world. The reality of of the situation is that the USWNT's success is largely predicated on the United States progressive attitude towards womens sport compared to most of the rest of the world. Title IX giving women soccer players in this country a sporting level and advantage unparalleled for decades. The men are not competing against underfunded, totally neglected programs decades behind them. The exact opposite really.
Pax is making slow but steady progress. The 49'ers should buy Tolkin for Leeds. I thought Zim and MRob were fine. Zim is better than Richards, for sure. Yow can scrap in tight spaces.
There is really nothing else needed to analyze. You cannot play those three in the center of the field against a good team and expect to have any defensive solidity. It was malpractice.