Some of our players made business decisions. And rightfully so. Gio was scaring the shit out of me for a while there, seemed to wise up around 80:00
I love Morris' game at the #6. He challenges everything even if he can be over aggressive sometimes. He has the work rate to cover for other players and he has the confidence to always show for and use the ball in tight space. Trusty and McKenzie were a fantastic pairing. Mobile CBs who can defend are worth their weight in Gold. Berhalter brought it on every play. He is the spiritual successor to JJ. Love his performance but I will go back to hating him this Saturday when Vancouver takes on LAFC. Tillman did very well on both sides of the ball, looked like a Malik-lite. Looking forward to the clash this Saturday with both players coming of a confidence boosting performance for the Nats! Freeman is special. It is not often that you get a player that big and athletic that is so silky good on the ball.
I was impressed more by the character that has been shown than by the score, although that was pretty good too. I do have a concern that said character might deteriorate if things are going against us but we seem at least halfway toward being able to handle match emotions. We cannot be comfortable unless we handle adversity as well and we did the good side from today's match. We seem, at least for now, to be able to handle the CONMEBOL style of play as well as CONCACAF. And that is good. There have also been some indication that we can handle Asia pretty well. BUT CAF is still pretty much unknown and Europe is as well. This match does not really "prove" anything as have the other matches since The Gold Cup but they do show promise and some grit being built into the team, (Team here referring to the entire USA soccer pool) I do wonder: if we are in a tight match and some stupid mistake like Freez made late results in a goal given up, what will happen. But this was the most positive window we have had since .... well .... forever. Now to go relax and make myself obnoxious to my dog as he wants to nap but I am too keyed up, so we will compromise and we will go for a walk.
That is one thing I like about watching BL soccer matches. If the game is out of hand (ie more than 3 goal differential, team playing down, etc), they have zero/little stoppage time in 2nd half. What's the point?
I think that's one of the most important things to come out of this window. The confidence of the group must be sky high. That was important after the disappointments at the Nations League and Gold Cup. We are actually higher ranked than Uruguay in the FIFA rankings. Actually, we're higher ranked than all six of the teams we've faced in the last three windows. South Korea, Japan, Australia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay. We SHOULD come out of that stretch with a winning record, and we did. 4 wins 1 draw 1 loss. It was the manner of the wins in this window that really raise the confidence of the group, though. We'd never scored five goals against a CONMEBOL team. It didn't matter if we played a "C" team from Venezuela. We'd never scored 5 goals. ]The manner of this Uruguay win almost makes us forget the tepid and anemic performance against the South Koreans.] Now we await tougher opposition in March. I don't know if we did it on purpose, but I do like how the quality of our opposition is ramping up.
If goal differential matters in a group stage, the ref must allow stoppage time to finish. Otherwise, why prolonging the agony? Lol
Not officially confirmed, but reporters with access to USSF have reported that we will be playing both Belgium and Portugal in Atlanta during the March window. USMNT international windows usually involve two match locations.The March 2026 window is looking more and more likely to be one: Atlanta.Details: https://t.co/iP2B7bEeQu— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) October 14, 2025 Both teams will be Pot 1 for the draw next month. In addition, we will also be playing Germany (not officially confirmed, but again USSF reporters have said as much), another Pot 1 team, in Chicago as our "send-off" game. The other pre-World Cup friendly, which will be held before the Germany game, is reportedly taking place somewhere on the East Coast, most likely Charlotte, with the opponent not being confirmed until after the draw, so it's likely not going to be a Pot 1 team (article below pay walled). The USMNT's 2026 schedule is nearly set:- pre-World Cup camp in Atlanta, May friendly on East Coast- Sendoff game in Chicago vs. Germany- March friendlies confirmedMore details w/ @PaulTenorio: https://t.co/McZBvbZQpe— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) November 19, 2025
Portugal, Belgium, and Getmany is a strong run up. I'd suspect we'd like a CAF opponent. But waitingvto make sure ww aren't drawn together. That way we'd have hit all the CONFEDS the year prior. UEFA: Portugal, Belgium, Germany CONMEBOL: Uruguay, Ecuador, Paraguay AFC: South Korea, Japan, Australia CAF: sendoff?