I'm writing this before extra time. McKenzie was obviously horrible in the first half, but had a nice 2nd half. Brooks was Brooks. I'm not going to say much about Ream, except that he was massively let down by Gregg. Him getting beat for Mexico's 2nd goal was like Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother...tragic, and yet inevitable.
Tim Ream is not good enough. Am I too much of a homer for wondering with James Sands isn't in this lineup?
we won with McKenzie and Ream as our defenders, suck on that Mexico. Thats gotta hurt and no, no youre not.......we need to explore additional options at center back, that was illustrated today
Have to re-assess the backline after this one, but we really won't have an idea until September, but Tim Ream should be nowhere close to a starting 11 again.
Best game ever by a back that conceded a goal in the first minute and then gave up a penalty in the 120th minute. Ever. Period. Probably....
we are now a higher standard, beating Mexico is always a good W, but we shouldnt be happy with resting on our laurels there. There were absolutely some things that need to be upgraded on that were glaringly obvious, and Ream and McKenzie need to be upgraded. Miles Robinson, Zimmermann, Chris Richards need a thorough microscope ASAP
Yeah disappointed with McKenzie as I dont see him as a starter but a good option as a backup, but he didnt perform well today.
I want to push back on McKenzie. (EDIT: I wrote this before the seeing the last few posts.) He's very young, he's played well enough in other outings. And he played much better in the 2nd half. Not that he had a good game, not at all. Overall it was poor. But I try to distinguish between a player have a bad game and a player being bad.
McKenzie had himself a decent game around some unforgivable errors, but of course that nearly cost us the match multiple times. Brooks was great in both matches. For me, he was our best player overall this tournament.
Possibly Unpopular Opinion: I thought Ream played really well up until the Lainez sub and then he just was in a bad matchup.
Oh no, he definitely has potential, as it is just one game but you never want to see a player have a bad game, in a key game, obviously. Could be he struggles against quality opponents, or he cracked under pressure. Or could just have been an off day. I'd like to see him in the Gold Cup.
John Anthony Brooks was outstanding. Tim Ream was OK until Laniez came on, as Dest was just not giving him any cover whatsoever. McKenzie is young and needs to play more club minutes. A lot more. Yedlin was actually okay defensively, but he still isn’t technical enough to consistently build out of the back.
I have a thought for the Costa Rica game. Play one of Reynolds or Cannon at center back. I think what we saw tonight is that against certain teams, a quicker smaller center back might be the way to go. Maybe line up left to right: Robinson Miazga Cannon Reynolds
The handball is just a danger of being a defender. The pass was a disaster. I bet his film grade post minute 2 is going to be pretty good.
I think I predicted an early card for Brooks last game, and he got one, but he managed to keep it together the rest of the game and played well. I don't know if I should count Yedlin & Dest in the defense or not, but Yedlin was good and Dest was so so, ironically he played his best just before he was subbed. I'll count the keepers in the defense, and they both were superb. Ream and McKenzie are going to burn any tapes their families made of that game... I thought Acosta played better at left back than he did in the midfield, but that might've just been by contrast.
steffen- good. yedlin- good. mckenzie- nightmare. brooks- very good. ream- ream. acosta- good enough. cannon- good enough. horvath- legend. one ream away from keller v brazil. theres no need to sugarcoat how bad mckenzie was, and it was at least 92% lack of experience/nerves. the other 2% is rotten luck- the penalty was just the soccer gods being mean. you also cant overstate how bad ream is- ironically, though, we somehow survived the reamness (age, serious decline from already negligible movement, etc)- he let us down in a moment so naive even mckenzie on this night wouldnt have: letting lainez cut in on his left. there is literally one thing that scrub can do, and ream gave it to him. anyways, my still vaguely heat of the moment "looking foward" depth chart: gk horvath, steffen and turner. i think unfortunately (for steffen) his injury is going to cement this, but (horvath) finding a club that uses him absolutely will. i dont know how you dont start horvath in the first qualifier. rb dest, yedlin, cannon rcb miazga (long), richards lcb brooks, mckenzie lb robinson now we wait for the gold cup data to roll in. im hoping against hope vines or bello can make a case to stop dest from playing on the left again.
I think I say the same thing after every game. This is a tiny sample. McKenzie is fine, What separates him from Ream is that he's physically capable and 22 years old. As @Ball Chucking Hack said, that's probably the best game ever by a guy who gifted the other team two goals, although only 1 was an error. I'll categorize a different way. Guys I am happy to see start a game in defense that I saw in these two games. Not in order. Brooks McKenzie Cannon Dest Yedlin Robinson Horvath Steffen Acosta
that early yellow for brooks started absurd and progressed to samuel beckett levels as we saw how the rest of the match was called. richards and miles robinson stock way up on absence. mckenzie was too slow thinking and casual at various points all match long.
Robinson needs exposure to a lot higher level than he currently is at and Richards just found a starting position this season. They weren’t ready for a final against Mexico. McKenzie was chosen out of the three. Otherwise, we rightly had the most experienced guys in there.
Me, I'm Waiting for Richards. Robinson needs to prove it at a higher level than MLS before I put him above McKenzie. (That higher level might include the Gold Cup, if the rosters we face are good enough.)
richards was hurt or he would’ve undeniably started i hear that, but miles robinson 1v1 defending in space gives him a fast track if we are really going to play a back 3. mark mckenzie has all of 500 minutes more experience too... hard not to shake your head thinking about how different that looks if chris richards, who bayern munich has given minutes to at left back!, were playing for ream. awful timing on that injury.