It was probably a bit early for my taste -- but that's better than too late. I think the Zimmerman move was right. I would have gone Ferreira but will note Haji had some hold up play AND a defensive header. Moore is a strong defender but holy crap, he's been terrible passing. I'm not sure I expect to see him again. Before the Zimmerman sub, we weren't parking. Our players had gotten tired and sloppy, and Iran was pressuring more. It looked like we were tactically playing much more defensive, but most of it was Iran + Fatigue / Sloppiness + Aaronson/Acosta not being as strong as Pulisic/McKennie in possession. That's a big reason why the defensive move was right. We were in no real shape to get a goal. We kept missing opportunities through sloppy play.
It's not going defensive, it's going defensive without any offensive players, and with defensive players who have no ball skills, against inferior teams you are dominating. Gio Reyna Luca De la Torre and Jesus Ferreira can play defense too.
The level of confidence in a CM with 50' for club and a pretty terrible 67' minutes for country in the last six months is pretty astounding to me. I see no reason to put de la Torre out there over Acosta, who's a far better defender and someone who understands what needs to be done. I'd have played Jesus, but Haji's size did provide some value. Reyna is not a bad defender, but who are we bringing him in for? Aaronson? Zimmerman? Acosta? Musah might have been a good call -- he was on his last legs -- but I don't think that's what people were angling for. I don't think the subs were hits across the board -- Wright and Moore played poorly. But I don't get the certainty that Luca de la Torre and Gio Reyna are the lock down defenders that close that sucker out for certain. It's a choice, it's an option, but can we at least admit that a) defensive worked and b) most coaches go defensive there? I literally saw someone post that with 20 minutes "Reyna definitely scores a goal." That's not how this works.
Definitely got to say, upon scanning social media and these boards, Jesus Ferreira has never been so popular! My home on Jesus Ferreira Island gonna get gentrified with this new in-migration.
Zimmerman was great. Moore I thought shouldn’t be on the roster and hasn’t changed my mind. Reyna should be a guaranteed substitute if he’s not starting, idk what is going on there tbh
Acosta alittle too early, Reyna for Musah, Ferrera for Sargent, and Yedlin for Dest, Zimmerman was fine. And not drop back immediately would have limited chances and possessed more and killed the game off not by heading out of your own box, but by creating fouls and goal kicks and corner kicks in the offensive half. Wright not taking the ball into the corner was criminal, Moore's play was terrible and yet Berhalter still subbed them in. We agree on defensive play but there are 10 ways to play defensively and sub correctly.
Just be a good teammate, that is all they ask of players. Treating staff like that who are doing nice things and celebrating you and your team and your country and you sourpuss them is so immature.
I can’t even articulate how ridiculous it is that multiple people are even mentioning LDLT’s name today. This is a guy that literally never plays for his club team, had like 1 or 2 decent games against weak opponents for the NT 6 months ago, and had an injury recently. He should be so far from consideration in a high pressure moment. Acosta, Roldan, Jesus in midfield, literally anyone instead of LDLT. No way can I trust him in a big moment.
LDLT has never done anything to merit the opinion most have of him. He’s been bang average at best whenever he’s played for the US.
Disagree. I think he has been quite good for us. Not just his MOTM performance in qualifying. He can hold and progress the ball and is good positionally on D.
Re Reyna - I assume Berhalter thinks he’s best when chasing a game, rather than holding a lead. We haven’t been trying to score in a second half yet, really.
I think it's affirmatively rude to just walk by without acknowledging them with a scowl when they are celebrating with your team after a terrific win. Yes sir I do.
Full props to Gregg, he got out of the group. CCV did well as a surprise starter, glad the ref didn't fall for any of the BS diving involving him. Gio has to be hurt, there's really no other explanation. Thought we went on the defensive pretty early, but we really had no counterattacking edge without Christian anyway. Less, Moore, please. The Zimmerman sub worked really well.
Zimmerman was a great sub today. He did exactly what he was there to do and did it with complete dedication to the role.
As others have said, going full bunker with 3 CBs for 20 minutes was a bit stupid/lucky that Iran weren't more competent tonight. I wish Berhalter would recognize that it is perfectly acceptable to use possession to kill off a game. That it isn't "just" parking the bus as the ONLY way to kill off a game. FFS, we've all played "rondos," or "pig in the middle," or any version of keepaway in training. Possession/keepaway is also a perfectly valid way to burn clock in a match as well. This is one way Gio could have helped more than at least one of the subs, in helping the team maintain some semblance of possession.
Hard disagree. If we had even a replacement-level striker Aaronson has two assists and we have a smooth 3-0 win. He also played more passes into positive space in 45+ than some guys have done in 270+. The Wright and Moore subs were poor both I theory and in practice
Agree completely here. There is more than one way to kill off a game. Iran really struggled with the press, so I think the play is to continue that to the best of our ability and assuming everyone knows what to do for the press. Looking at the bench there are definitely high energy press type guys. What was strange is that performances weren’t great by the subs besides Zimmerman and I’m honestly not sure they were warming up. That seems like a miss, but I’d have to rewatch.
Wow, you gleaned all of that from about 1.1 secs of a video? You did see the pics of him hugging the team and laughing and also with Gregg after the game right?