I have to disagree. Dest beat multiple defenders all night as he usually does and put great ball in for others and you said you wanted more direct play and he also uncorked a couple, I just flatly don’t know what game you are watching. Tessman had multiple great flicks like you praised Balo for (as did Dest and Reyna) but Tessman is playing in MF, his comparison isn’t with the other attacking options, it’s with Roldan, who he flatly outplayed in every conceivable fashion. I praised Arfsten and he was good, but get right out of here with acting like Dest was wasteful and dribbled too much, Arfsten and Aaronson did nothing whatsoever on that left side tonight with all their frantic activity and 200+ combined stopovers. Arfsten looked good when he was able to combine with the guys on the right side.
You do know that Gio's "assist" there wasn't an accurate pass and bounced off a defender, right? Like, Gio's an amazing passer, and I don't know that Balo deserves MOTM, but Gio's pass goes right into the defender's feet and caroms back to Balo.
Don’t know what’s with you tonight and got you salty. It’s not about the assist or the goal, everything positive flowed through Gio tonight and the point I was making, which is objectively true, is Balo was barely involved all night.
"CONCACAFery" is really just "Latin America except Brazil, Argentina, and sometimes Uruguay have enough talent you don't notice"...and then Redditstan with their massive inferiority complex gets in on the antics too
When a non-elite team comes to the US, they should frankly expect to lose, but that hasn't been the reality for the most part. It's good to see that we have depth. Most of the guys who played today are of the caliber that they could be called upon in the WC if necessary. Even the rather fringey Tillan The Elder was a positive in his cameo. Of the starters, the only ones that I'm iffy on are Scally (who I want to see more of) and Miles (who is on the roster for sure, though I'm not sure if I have him in the XI or not as third CB). Everyone else earned a stripe. And can I get a WELCOME BACK, REYNA chant? It's been a long time coming, and he deserves it after his 75 minutes.
I thought Reyna and Dest looked very good. Balo was Balo. Not a target forward but got his chance and finished. Aaronson and Scally struggled, and the other two CBs were mediocre IMO. Everyone else was “good” IMO.
Gustavo Gómez is a dirty player. I know him well as I follow the Brazilian league and he is the captain of Brazil's best club Palmeiras. However he often engages in violence and gets a pass from the refs who are intimidated by Palmeira's prestige and money, so he's used to getting away with stuff.
Probably the worst match by a CONCACAF official I've ever seen....and I've seen quite a few over the years. He didn't even give Gomez a yellow for delaying the throw-in (and starting the brawl), let alone the red he deserved.