They also brought Achraf Hakimi. Someone who we completely altered our shape for with the senior team. I love John Tolkin, but we can't isolate him over there. However, I guarantee that when we're adjusting our shape on the left, people will only look at the offensive implications, ignoring the absolute beast they are carrying over there.
We can isolate Tolkin in the sense he should be able to handle Hakimi 1 v. 1 well enough. Hakimi's not some beastly dribbler, otherwise he'd be a winger. What we can't do is have situations where JT's 1 on 2, and expected to rotate in time to Hakimi who times his runs well and can pick out a pass w/ the best of them. This is definitely not a game for McGlynn in a pivot. I might start a dedicated DM in Atencio to cover the inside channel so Tolkin can focus on not being slipped in behind. I'm not starting a gimpy Busio when a healthy version wasn't good enough to protect the back-line v. France.
He's bigger, stronger and faster. I'm not talking about him dribbling from a standstill. I'm talking about merely handling him on the run, especially in space, which is how Hakimi is going to get the ball. He needs help. We gave Robinson help -- Aaronson basically lived on that side, harassing Hakimi all game.
at least mitrovic seems to have gotten the hint about mcguire and benching him vs guinea worked really well seems capable of at least abandoning gg era pre-emptive fear of being blown out by morroco??? geez if the game is competitive and close, it will be good a blowout loss should be unacceptble personally, the usa should be able to beat morroco in soccer.....this narrative that they should be favorites over the us is weird to me
That would be a terrible way to build a TEAM ... and not all that different from Berhalter's approach. Outside of Team USA in basketball where the talent and depth is heads and shoulders above everyone else, it just doesn't work. Even Real Madrid is past the "galaticos" mentality. What's an "actual best 23"? You assume that all players play equally well in all systems and with all teammates. If only it were so simple. It's more about roles and finding the right person for a role that fits in with all the other roles. To many, our so-called "3 best" midfielders are MMA, yet all 3 are DMs or box-to-box mids lacking in vision, passing, and creativity, yet we play them all together much of the time. We need a coach to build a team that's flexible and adaptable and not just a bunch of guys with European club credentials.
DC and San Jose seem to fall into the same category where, if the people in Philly were running their academies and first teams, they would have just as successful youth player production. The pool of talent they sit on is what props them up at the moment.
Would it be smarter to swap paredes and yow? Have paredes play LW and allow him to help tolkin cover hakimi and have yow on the RW. Only issue is that lot of our chances against guinea were from yow and paredes cutting inside, which isn't something they can do if they swap positions.
I would start them playing ‘straight up’ but prepared to switch. The idea of their changing sides should certainly be part of our pre-‘match preparation.
What do you mean by There's nothing "theirs" soccer! They parasite on the French, Belgian and Dutch leagues. Their national teams have zero impact when you take out the players nurtured by other countries. We Dutch have a saying for that: "Showing off with other one's feathers".
Davids, Seedorf, Hasselbaink, Winter. Taking credit for the islanders? Give Morocco a break, everybody poaches.
You mean dual nationals? What's wrong with dual nationals? The US has utilized players born and raised in Europe for decades. Lots of countries have. England youth teams are poaching players raised in the States. Two-thirds of Jackie Charlton's famous 1994 World Cup squad were from not Ireland.
We should absolutely continue to recruit dual nationals. But also know that we need to continue to improve our own development system as the dual nationals raised abroad aren’t reflective of that.
Nothing wrong with playing them. The issue I have is that the authorities/nationalists act as if it's their achievement, while in fact they parasite on what the French/Belgian/Dutch clubs/FA's invested in them. Dude, these players were 100% formed and drilled by Dutch footballclubs. There's nothing they got from Surinam football wise. Surinam football is so down the line, that they are actively recruting players not good enough for the Orange Squad. I've read time and time again from mostly American posters we Dutch are only a power, because of the "poaching". First of all we reached two WC finals without any "colonial" input and second if that "colonial" input was that decisive, why isnot Surinam with a much larger population than the Surinams in the Netherlands a soccer power on it's own, let alone atm importing Orange Squad rejects. I've no problem with duals playing for their ancestors country, although I find it depressing for the players in those countries themselves being ignored. i've got a problem with the Moroccan government and their FA claiming they're on the rise, while in fact their local football isnot doing shit, as the players that matter arenot part of their football pyramid at all.
Just show me being wrong in my post. You were just dipping your stick in the same shit many like you were posting long before you became member. Just show me how much Surinam put into the soccer knowledge of the ones you mentioned and just explain to me how Surinam isnot the soccerpower they should be by way of that mantra of them being Surinam products.
I’m losing the relevance of this tangent to this forum and thread. Please take it elsewhere. politics poster thread banned.