I’d like to see everyone stand up who incessantly belittled Tim Ream’s inclusion. We sometimes forget how valuable it is to have an excellent passer who is exceptionally calm back there. An excellent performance for him.
Ream was good. Richards immense. This is the type of game Ream excels in, though. I still don’t trust him against a good offensive team (Paraguay and Australia are certainly not).
It's a really underrated skill to get that ball immediately to the wing with a good pass instead of recycling it to your other CB who has a better angle. Paraguay could not shift in time.
Team effort, defended from the front superbly. Would be cool if we could keep a clean sheet sometime and not have these lapses. Ream was good, but this and Australia are the opponents where he excels. Richards is him, best American center back when he hangs them up imo. Jedi is invaluable. Freeman was a tale of two halves, great and terrible. Adams and Tillman are so good together.
I thought Freeman was a bit shaky honestly. I do like his physicality, though. Not bad for a first World Cup game, but he still makes me nervous with his runs and wing defense.
Yeah, I’ve said for a while that Ream in a mid block or low block is OK. But if we have to press high, for me, the idea of Ream playing is terrifying. Richards didn’t look injured at all. It was a calculated risk, but I thought the r with a 2 goal lead he might get subbed out at 80 minutes or so. It worked out.
Very solid. Had the one unfortunate brain fart, I got it you take it moment between Richards and Ream. Freeman had one mistake, but other than that he was absolutely dominant in his one on ones. I am convinced Jedi has 3 lungs… I saw on Twitter that Richards was 83 of 83 in completed passes, that's ridiculous.
Defense starts when the ball turns over. To me, our defense was better with Tillman on the field given how well he presses. Overall the back 5 did well. Paraguay did not present much of a challenge, so it only gets harder from here. Well done to the team for being ready and, for the most part, handling it all.
But Paraguay didn't give much of a challenge because we suffocated them. We didn't give them a chance to be dangerous. Everyone was challenging and winning the ball back when we gave it up. Insane team defense. Tillman did tons of dirty work cleaning up plays and winning the ball back, especially in the first half.
Paraguay's only goal happens because Richards over-commits and lets the ball go over his head. Adding insult to injury, they got him with the close-up while Cantor is still mid-"goool," and you can tell he's thinking, "dammit, that one's on me." Obviously no one should change their opinion that Richards is our best defender; overall our defense played an excellent, tight game (waiting for an outpouring of compliments for Ream in particular!) but I think it's worth pointing out, especially when people slag Miles Robinson by saying things like "if Richards is there that goal doesn't happen."
The good thing is I imagine another week of training, getting the rust off and getting more fit means that won't happen again.
Saw on reddit that Ream completed 7 of 9 long passes. All those passes deep to CP or over the top were key -- you can see why the dude is out there. Freeman did well on the other side and I think Malik had a couple, but Ream was very good.
I would just like to say I'm in awe of Freeman and his overall game, especially his vision and decision-making. For a 21-year old to know when to advance with the dribble, when to play safe, and the glorious thru balls he uncorks at the right moment, I'm amazed that he came up through the U.S. system.