The first half was immaculate. Poch had them ready to play. Subbing out Pulisic was an interesting choice. It’s hard to judge that because we don’t know what the physio said. The team was NOT sharp in the second half. The Reyna sub was very interesting given Reyna’s skill set and the game state. It suggests Poch sees Reyna as a key sub, because he subbed him in when you’d think a defensive sub was called for. So maybe Poch wanted him to get minutes so he’s ready when he’s needed?
I hereby formally retract anything negative I’ve ever said about the man. It is now stricken from the record for all of time
Excellent coaching work. I think the Reyna sub was in the mindset of best way to keep control of the game is to control the ball.
I actually loved the Pulisic sub. We are up 3-0, we need defense not offense at that point. He has a poor health history and gets hacked a ton. When is a better time to let him rest his legs and get a defensive presence in his place on the wing (Tillman, with Berhalter backfilling into the midfield)? I just wish Poch had used his 5th sub.
I'm curious if this was a plan to conserve energy or if it was just naturally taking our foot off the gas in terms of defensive intensity that comes with a 3-0 lead. I think some of the reactions to the subs -- which all worked out really well -- are a bit off base given that we were up 3-0 in a very long tournament. Taking Christian off is smart even if there's not a hint of injury. Getting Reyna some run was probably a good idea even without the goal. You play the long game. And this was just ... chef's kiss. What a way to start -- it takes immense pressure off the next two games knowing we have three points already and +3.
Pretty much a master class. Once we found out that Christian had a knock confirmed, I can't think of a single move he made that I disagreed with.
9/10 Poch loses a mark for sandbagging us this whole time you're telling me we could have been playing like this for years?
Hindsight says he could’ve pulled Adams around the 60th and still comfortably win. Maybe Poch doesn’t fully trust Roldan or maybe Adams is just that important.
This is the one area where I still differ with Poch. I feel quite certain that we would be much better off in a tournament that lasts as long as we hope with Aidan Morris (assuming Tessman was a little bit less than 100%) instead of Zendejas, whom I don't think we're going to need this tournament.
1. A great starting lineup! We went with our best unit they delivered. 2. Ordinarily, teams like to play it safe and sort things out early, props for going on the attack. Paraguay wasn’t ready for the assault. USA was Prepared mentally and got after it. 3. McKennie played well in a lineup that utilized his strengths. 4. I thought it was an excellent decision to take Pulisic out, at halftime, even though I had no idea the potential calf injury situation. Pulisic is always a target and a threat to get injured. He also will occasionally picks up a card. 3-0 should be a safe lead, I thought Berhalter was the correct substitution. 5. I liked all of the subs, including Reyna. I thought Reyna was put on, as a joker type experiment, with the game having to open up. When the Coach sends a substitute on who scores, that’s solid coaching. It was the sub, I liked most of all. Fans also deserve props. It wasn’t a country club atmosphere, despite being in LA.
That was fun. .............................any criticism of Poch is nitpicking after that. That's not the way I'm conditioned to feel during a USMNT World Cup match. I'm supposed to be cowering behind the couch. That first half was total domination. Paraguay was always going to come out in the 2nd half and put up a fight. Other than that one moment, we totally controlled it. Poch seems to have pushed a lot of the right buttons.
So you would have us telegraph our key strengths to all our opponents ahead of time? It was somewhat clear from all the tinkering that Poch didn't care all that much about the final score of friendlies. The myth of 1998 is that Steve Sampson's 3-6-1 was tactically unsound. No, what was insane was that he told everyone exactly how the U.S. was going to play 6 months before the tournament.
Obviously, I'm not a McKennie fan, but Poch's use of him against Paraguay was brilliant! He let him run around dragging midfielders/defenders out of position, kept him out of a holding role, and when he got the ball it was usually in space and moving forward. A masterclass is maximizing strengths and minimizing weakness.
You think you know enough to “not be a McKennie” fan, but you fail to realize that McKennie has looked like this all year with Juventus.
I've said before that Juve figured out the best way to use him is to keep him as far away from their own goal as possible and out of the middle of the field. It's ignorant U.S. fans like you who think he's a box-to-box all-star midfielder.
Nitpicking, but I think moving Tillman out of the eight role at halftime was a mistake. Bring on another half-space attacker like Weah or even Aaronson and let the rest of the team stay in their first-half places. Berhalter stays back more than Tillman in that position. In theory, I suppose that gives more coverage for the defense. In practice, it makes us less dangerous going forward and less able to hold the ball, so I don't see any practical defensive benefit. The other team is more secure going forward. I don't think Berhalter was bad, and he's not at fault for how flat people looked after half for a short bit, but Tillman looks special in that spot, and I think it adds something unique to this team. If Poch has to make a similar change in the future, I would hope he would just switch out attackers, rather than moving people around.
No match is ever perfect. We could have won 7-0 and some of you would still say well this was wrong or should have done this blah blah blah. So what if we weren't as dominant the second half as the first? We still outplayed them in the second half and still should have scored a couple more goals. Outstanding across the board. Oh and don't forget the other team also has a say in how things go. Paraguay tried to have a bit of a say in the second half. Didn't really work....lol
What nonsense is this? Out of the middle of the field? Personal attacks will get you forum banned. Thanks.