Pre-match: US v South Korea, Sept 6 2025

I think this team really missed Dest a ton and having him here is going to make a huge difference.

 

can we talk about retconned, alternate and completely imagined realties? cause what youre saying now is a long, long way from the two trophies!, very successful world cup gogo of yesteryear.

so the answer is to widen that gap even further?

in another thread you make an argument against expecting a manager to be infallible- which i havent seen from anyone anywhere at any time. implicit arguments that a manager should be unquestioned? trust the process? i see that a whooole lot.

my point is youre a long, long way from reality as a starting point.

 

On attack.

 

If Adams and Richards are any good at all, they will handle the responsibility of covering the area that Dest vacates well.

Dest should not be worried at all whatsoever of being caught upfield. Adams and Richards will be responsible for the space he leaves in the back, and Arfsten/LB will creep into the middle of the field to cover for Adams.

The way that modern formations work is that guys occupy areas of the field during different phases of play. On offense, Dest becomes a winger/attacking midfielder. On defense, Dest becomes a classic right back.

 

I hope we get to see a little bit from him in these games. He'd prolly already be starting Bundesliga matches if it wasn't for Augsburg already having 3 really great CB's ahead of him who collectively have more than 420 Bundesliga appearances between them.

 

It will be good to see Arfsten graduate to play with the A-team guys. Hopefully he stays confident and attacks.

 

Just hope he isn't left 1v1 defending Japanese and Korean wingers, cause they'll cook him so hard.

 

Dest and Arfsten in the attack seems good for our offense IMO

 

i cant help but notice youve declined to conditionally base reams current quality on future effectiveness, and in fact assigning no responsibility to him whatsoever. i only mention that as hes the captain and one of the three(four rotationally) key players that allow for attacking fbs...not that there is only one.

another small omission is any phase of play inbetween "offense" and "defense".

 

Things I'm most interested in seeing:

• We can't really know until we actually get Jedi back, but I'm super interested to see how Poch uses Dest and if we attack with two fullbacks (and how consistent that is)
• Both Josh and Balogun -- would love Josh to break the streak and wondering what Folarin can do with a more centrally driven Pochettino offense.
• Does Banks get a debut?
• Are we going to tactically run with the sort of solo 6 + 4 amoeba midfielders we did at the GC. I think seeing this with Pulisic and Weah could be really interesting - a lot more attacking options for Christian in a fulcrum point. It is too bad we don't have Tillman and McKennie here.
• Will we see a really offensive lineup, defense be damned? That is with Luna or Pulisic at the CAM in addition to offensive wingers.

 

Since Arf is here, I’d like to get a look at them playing together. I want to see what the strategy is, how the team covers for two attacking fullbacks and if they can compensate defensively. I’d like to see it against Japan, if possible, I think it’ll tell us a lot about tactics and those player’s (and the rest of the team’s) ability within those tactics.

 

Dest is not a bad one on one defender. He just sometimes gets distracted in terms of overall defensive structure.

 

This has clearly been the issue this entire cycle, and to be perfectly frank, I do not know exactly what has caused this malaise, or how to to remedy it. It does rather feel that many of our best players tend to pack it in when the going gets tough, and other teams (even those with less ability) come to compete and make things difficult. I do think that maybe Berhalter and Stewart were a bit too proactive in drilling into our core's minds that we had to play a little cuter than our talent was ready to play, and for the life of me I can't understand the 2nd cycle low-pressure mid-block defense when almost all of our best results in the first cycle came when we were pressing almost like Energy Drink FC. We absolutely had/have the midfield and the fullbacks to play that way, after all.

Poch seems to think that fostering competition by giving the B options their chances is the way to go to break the unfocused culture of the core that often lacked intensity. If it were still 2023 or 2024, I'd be inclined to agree, but we're in the last 4 "A" call-up windows before the tournament of a lifetime for us (or at least a couple of generations, actual generations).

I don't think that the A team were the wrong players, and in terms of big tactical strokes, I think only the low-pressure approach off the ball was really a major issue. I think their team culture got too cute and soft, too little intensity. I don't know how to challenge and break them out of it. Poch has a track record as a man manager with results, but... I'm questioning his method given the timeframe.

 

Ditto. There have been a number of issues with the side and that's a huge one.

 

We haven’t been the same since Dest punted that ball in Trinidad and left the scene for a while.

 

I do as well. Play Richards and the faster of the 2 (Blackmon or Banks), Adams stays home as the 6 and you’ve got 3 guys for cover. I actually wouldn’t hate seeing a 3 at the back, but idk how that lines up against Japan’s setup.

 

Isn't this a bit counterintuitive? 1st paragraph, the group became soft. The culture became soft. IMO due in large part to people not really ever truly having to fight for positions and call-ups. I would say this came to fruition at least since Copa and has been the case since Poch took over.

2nd paragraph, Poch is trying to change that culture by challenging different players by calling different players and not handing out caps and playing time just because you play for (insert badge FC). He said as much in his press conference for this camp.

So the culture needs to change, the coach is trying to change the culture, but it’s a bad move? He’s only been here barely a year and when you think about it March is really when this culture problem really bottomed out and we were embarrassed, on his watch. This is only really 2 windows later after that.

 

I wonder how much of the lack of effort from the top Euro-based players comes from having a big head from reading all the ass-kissing on USMNT twitter (and simultaneous bashing of guys playing domestically).

 

I think Dest and Antonee completely change how this team can play.

He was doing some really interesting things with Antonee in the Jamaica series.

Scally and Lund aren't the types of fullbacks that Poch has tended to use in his career.
We can talk about some golf cart incident or whatever. I think there's also a fit issue in Poch's desired tactics in that case.

His fullbacks at stops like Southampton, Spurs, and Chelsea were some of the most advanced attacking players on the field. Dynamic attacking players. Think prime Kyle Walker.

We're here talking about Poch's problems at fullback with the USMNT.
Yet he's developed so many fullbacks in club soccer that I've seen articles call him the "fullback whisperer."

I really do think that a healthy and in-form Dest and Antonee will be extremely potent weapons for Poch.

I watched our WC22 games recently. I think Dest's performance in that tournament goes a little unrecognized. He was REALLY good at that level.

 

Yes he was.

He could be the most talented player on the team, in terms of just pure talent, he has possibly even more than Pulisic. He also brings a moxie to the team that we generally lack.

Dest right now is a better player than he was WC22. Watching his club games so far this season, he looks to me to be better than he was just before the knee also.

I expect him to have a huge WC and get a career defining transfer after it. We will see.

 

I think its a little overplayed.

When you watch that Panama game in which people are saying the Euro guys were complacent..................................we completely dominated that game for the middle 70 minutes or so. To the point that Panama couldn't get out of their own end. The midfield, particularly Adams, were monsters. Panama ended up sitting back with two banks of 5 and defending for their lives. We didn't take advantage of the opportunities we had and got sucker-punched.

Nobody was saying these same players were complacent in the previous window when they were beating the snot out of Jamaica.

We can actually take Poch's word for it. It really is possible that he left guys out like Johnny, Musah, Tillman, etc. for the reason he said he did. That its not some mind game he's playing with these players about needing to be committed and fight for their place. He also is really just kowtowing to big Euro clubs who don't want their players to get so much extra work. Would I be surprised if he plays Pulisic in the first game and then sends him home? Like he did prior to the Mexico friendly this past fall? No, not at all.

I would be worried if I was a Euro that didn't move clubs (or has some small fitness concern) and has been left out. Guys like Carter-Vickers, Gianluca Busio, Brenden Aaronson, and Tanner Tessmann. These are guys who've been on the fringes when everyone is healthy anyway. Poch is giving opportunities to others. When a guy like Luna wins a job, he's taking it from somebody like a Brenden Aaronson.

 

I think what you’re describing is exactly what being complacent is in this scenario. They’re obviously not bad soccer players, but then the effort and mindset isn’t all there you get really good efforts and games (Jamaica, etc.), and you get really bad games (Panama x2, etc.). Weston is probably my biggest culprit of this without knowing Weston and his efforts in training, but you could get Weston that looks like he’s a $30M man for a couple games, but then you get a handful of other games where he’s almost a liability and is fighting for his spot.

 

When I’ve seen little snippet of Weston talking about his lifestyle abroad, I immediately perceived a young dude who felt like he’d made it. And you know what? He HAS made it in a major way - big paychecks, personal staff to manage his affairs, living in Europe, etc…

But based on how I’ve sometimes seen him show up for the USA, I wonder if that feeling of already having “made it” influenced his deeper motivation and hunger.

 

I think players like CCV, Yow, Busio, Reynolds, and those players are out of the 26 WC because they play in a worst level in Poch mind..