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

I'd have Pulisic & Dest play more thru the middle & have CM's close together because we lack guys there who can take on their opponent individually.

----------------Balogun-------Weah--------------------------
-------------------------Pulisic----------------------------------
------------Berhalter-------------Dest
-Arfsten---------------Adams--------------Freeman
-----------------Ream---------Richards----------------
------------------------Freese-----------------------------------

I worry about that left side of defense. But can't solve all the problems of this roster/pool. And hopefully Berhalter would help on D, then Dest & CP help drive our #'s fw. It's more progressors than we typically have when we're stuck at the back from having a lower line featuring Ream.

Plus we have 2 speed fw's who can go 1 on 1 w/ a CB to receive a longer ball from Seb or 1 of the CB's. Instead of a lone FW, who often doesn't have advantage-creating physical tools going 1 on 2.

 

I’m not sure this would stack up in the numbers (heat maps, etc), but even if there is some truth to this, then its more an indictment of whichever coach would put him in that position than it is praise that he is in it.

Pulisic is absolutely not the kind of player to control the flow of the ball in the middle of the field and connect groups of players. That is not his strength. There have been several times that I have seen him try this with the USMNT only to become a detriment to the team. He will try to pick up the ball and use his quickness to dribble only to get hacked down. Sometimes he gets a call, sometimes he doesn’t get a call and the team has to scramble to cover.

Putting him in that position with those responsibilities has traditionally been a misuse of his actual talent, which should not be diminished in that way. Will Pochettino try more of that? I don’t know, but I hope not. It’s a waste. In my opinion it’s typical of the U12 club mentality where you take your “best” player and just try to get them the ball as much as possible.

Pulisic is at his best when he is on the wing attacking players. He has proven he can literally beat any player in the world in this role. He is an unusual talent in this regard, in this role. Why would someone want to take him out of that role and put him in a role where he cannot do what he is good at? You put him between to center backs and a DM and he cant even turn with the ball. You isolate him against a RB and a RM on the left and he ties peoples legs in knots all day long.

 

A point worth underlining. At this point in major competitions they've seen McKennie choked twice by El Tri, no card either time, Aaronson deliberately eye gouged in view of a ref, no card, the rumble in Paradise, where Balo was attacked after a hard, yes cardable, foul on Montes was not called, then a giant brouhaha. Later Dest was shoved, he shoved harder, another fracas, and more reds.

Dest gets a red again in the next NL window, this time for kicking a ball.

We miraculously make it through the next window (3/24) without a brawl or fracas or eye gouging or choking incident probably because Jamaica was beating us, and El Tri was playing us heads up until half time and so didn't need to engage "ardido" mode.

Then we get the Weah red, after an assault on Turner goes uncarded, minutes after the players were warned to mind their P's and Q's because this ref was a corrupt piece of ---- that encourages violence and is card skeptical until games get out of his control (and then he overcards, usually the wrong side), bingo, of course, the Weah Red Card. Hell, even the punishment for El Tri Fan's homophobia chant is actually typically helpful to their own cause because when they are trailing or tied with a Canada, or the US, it gifts them fatter chunks of injury time to chase goals due to constant delays (this in fact is largely why El Tri made the final or rather avoided PK's in the Gold Cup semifinals of 2021).

When you consider that between '19 and '21, there were two choking incidents and an eye gouging in 3 competitive non-friendlies with El Tri, you can see the players were already beginning to get frustrated, they get most of a year off from the stupid, maybe 18 months off, then it kicks off again in '23 and continues into '24.

I absolutely think that after spending nearly a decade playing 95 to 98% of their games with UEFA refs, having to deal with this culture of corruption and violent permissiveness and inconsistency and generalized stupidity, the players come into competitive concacrap windows in the wrong state of mind. So that kind of explained Weah's card (in truth, I think it 100% explains it). It doesn't explain coming into every single window of fall '23 to Summer '25 with an air of blase "been there, done that" non-intensity.

But yeah, we should never forget how huge a problem the reffing issues really are with our confederation. We've just largely escaped major issues with them beyond Copa America between 2022 and 2026 because we're hosting, so we've seen it less.

 

There is zero evidence that there is a lack of effort from the top Euro-based players. There is zero evidence that there is a lack of effort from any player. Anyone who actually watches matches should see that. Don't confuse lack of result with lack of effort. Why single out the Euro players? We just lost a Gold Cup with majority MLS players.

Sometimes you lose matches you could/should win. Germany just lost a WCQ 0-2 to Slovakia.

 

See, I actually think, and actually KNOW we are much better than Panama, we are better than Canada, and El Tri. However, when you add our players coming in with ---- mentality, and then also having to deal with incompetent corrupt refs, and often inferior coaching (I would take Marsch and the Panama dude over any of our coaches since Arena), then you get the results.

I'm sorry, I'm not buying Panama's better than us because they baited Weah into a red card, and stifled us while generating zero attack for 88 minutes, and got a goal 1000% against the run of play in the semi's six months ago. That's bull---- to me, Scoreboard, yes, fair play, but better than us, hell no.

The players have to come in like Meriweather, like Jordan, like SGA, like ANT, etc and come with the talent and skill yes, but also the mindset of a champion. Somewhere along the line they seem to have decided that the latter is only worth bringing along for El Tri match ups.

All this being said, Panama actually does suck, in terms of international class. For concacrap they are currently 4th-5th depending upon the form of Costa Rica and Honduras, they are not better than Canada, Mexico or us, hell you can see that with them failing last night to grab 3 points against Suriname. Yes, Suriname is better than it usually is this cycle, but again, they're Suriname. Line Panama up outside of our region and its refs, and its game doesn't play, period. Drag other international teams into their den, and it's still likely a blood bath (see Columbia eviscerating them in last years Copa America).

So for me,

The US is playing poorly, Canada was playing poorly, we'll see if they bounce back, El Tri is in the midst of a generational decline, and Panama is the best of a pretty weak second tier in concacrap (usually reserved for Costa Rica and Honduras), I still want to see them at the WC, but do I think they're actually good? No. Do I think we're signifcantly better than them? Absolutely. Other than dirty play, idiot refs, and our players mentally on vacation, they really can't play with us on a neutral, or in the US. They've got some scoreboard, but I'm smart enough to know the difference between say, a 6-10 Redskins team beating a Cowboys Super Bowl Winner, and a 6-10 Redskins team actually being good (it wasn't, just like the '93 team that beat them, or the 1-15 Cowboys team that beat the '89 10-6 redskins team). Sometimes you can catch the team on the right day, or utilize things like idiot refs, and weak mentality to your advantage. Scoreboard is what I hand them for that? Superiority? No, I don't buy that at all.

I do agree that players need to understand that w/these refs, and with the intensity culturally of Central American soccer, they simply can't show up and expect to dominate, you've got to play like they'll have to pry your cold dead hands off that NL Championship Belt (LOL), and they haven't done that in 2 years, not sure why, and from the Weah quotes I saw out of camp, they still don't get it, and are largely clueless mental Lilliputians when it comes to competitive self-awareness.

 

Yet McGlynn this season was moved to and plays on the outside for Houston because he is almost useless in the middle of the pitch.

 

And sometimes not understanding the plan, or not being comfortable in your assigned your role, looks like lack of effort.

 

Panama is better than us because they beat us.

I don't think Panama has more talent than us; I simply think that the talent gap that people perceive / think exists because of badge affiliation is far smaller than people think. I think Coco Carrasquilla would be just fine in a Top 4 league, for example. But in general, I don't think that league gap suddenly makes it so you can just walk your opponent.

And that is backed up by tons of results, and not just US results.

This team thinks they can just take a dude one on one and skin them at times. Nope, you gotta play precise and focused team ball. The gap just isn't that large. This isn't about the US; it's period. Saudi Arabia can beat Argentina in a World Cup match.

 

There's absolutely evidence. For the record, I don't think it was just the Euro based players. But the A team is mostly them, and that's where the issue has been.

One just needs to watch the intensity levels of last march to see it. The GC team might not have won, but it wasn't for lack of intensity -- and one of the most active players was a Euro player in Malik.

But there's been a distinct drop in intensity across the board and noticeably from a number of our core. Some of it has been tactical; it's been a mistake to drop a pressing D as much as we have.

But some of it ... the fight is not as strong as it used to be. It's noticeable. And I really, really don't like going to this as an explanation, but you can see it. And I'm far from the only one.

 

The book has been out on the USMNT for awhile now. Panama, under Christiansen, has mastered it: make the game about everything except for soccer. The US players will retreat from the game and hand you the keys.

This requires mental toughness, focus, discipline, heart, and the will to dominate. The US lacks in all of those areas.

 

I gave you an analogy, and you didn't look at it. Random results can happen to teams, they are scoreboard. A 2-14 team can beat a Super Bowl Champ, for a long run in the late eighties and early nineties, Redskins and Cowboys dynasties took time beating the vastly superior versions of one another (terrible Cowboys teams beating the strong Redskins team, and later, the Aikman Jimmy Johnson teams still inexplicably losing to the Redskins while picking up Lombardi's during the '93 and '95 seasons, years in which the Redskins went 3-13 and 6-10).

That's that Panama match.

The US dominated the match by every indicator, could not find a goal, Panama found 1 via a late counterattack, some horrific defending followed by ghastly Turner goal keeping.

(key stats: .68 to .10 xG, 12 shots to 3, 5 sogs to 1, passes in final third 147 to 36, expected assists 1.44 to .10.

Now Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia at the WC right? Is SA Better in any universe? The #'s aren't all that different in terms of scale between these two games. The US was basically 4x to 14x better than Panama in every single category of danger other than goals, and the goal was the product of inept goalkeeping and a catastrophic defensive error, is that superiority? Soccer hinges on individual moments, and those #'s say the US wins that game a good 70-80% of the time, at minimum and probably more.

Now if you're a scoreboard person, Panama's better.

But I've watched enough sports to know my garbage wizards could beat OKC on some random winter night, but they are not better than OKC, regardless of the result, same with the capitals, winning a ton of games, and then Carolina steamrolling them in the playoffs, or my Redskins, beating the Cowboys soundly, in '93 and '95 w/god awful teams, and losing to horrible cowboys teams like in '89.

Random results happen, a teams quality, whose better, is determined, at least for me, over larger sample size.

I just don't buy that Panama argument, even with our snoring, disinterested USMNT of '23-'25, odds are, with neutral refs, neutral field, the US wins 9 out of 10. We didn't, that day, but I have little doubt we are better.

Otoh, we aren't playing like it, we sure as hell aren't.

I also expect us to lose both games in this window btw, I think it's possible to beat South Korea, who've also been quite erratic this cycle, but Japan should beat us. On the other hand its an international friendly, so their coach may have other objectives beyond results, like our goof ball does.

 

It is almost impossible to measure effort. What many see as a lack of effort is often just the physical limitations of a particular player.

Does Jack McGlynn have a lack of effort? No, he just lacks the physical ability to run very far over 90 minutes or repeatedly sprint very fast over 90 minutes.

 

I don't entirely disagree with this but we're now 0-2 in the last two competitive Panama matches.

Let me put it this way: I don't think we get to say we're better than them until we actually beat them. Talent is one thing; execution matters.

And it's not just the last two matches: Panama has passed us in ELO. So they are playing better than us overall recently, not just in matches with us.

You know I'm generally in total agreement on variation and random chance ... but part of my concern here with the intensity and focus issues is that soccer is so much about moments of brilliance on offense and mistakes on defense ... and a not locked in team makes a lot of mistakes and can struggle to string together multiple great plays to score.

Lack of focus is far from the only reason for either, but I wonder when this team will look sharp instead of sloppy.

 

I just posted the data from the match to underline how thoroughly Panama were dominated. I am not arguing the US was good in that match, we weren't, but we basically lost because Weah had a bad offsides, Sargent horror show luck with finishing continued when a shot hit the bar, and our goalkeeper and defense made a howler on the one play offering any danger (and the xG says it was miniscule danger). By every measure we were, even playing at our worst, still a good 4-10x better than Panama, and lost because of randomness, not talent or superiority. Randomness happens, like as I mentioned in my edit, Argentina dominated Saudi Arabia, but every goal they scored practically was offsides, and the Saudi's pulled two goals out of their ---- that they hadn't scored really since 1994, all in one match against a WC winner. Randomness happens.

As for Panama being better than us, you know why they are higher in ELO, it comes down to Weah's stupid red card, which gifted Panama knockout Copa America points, and beating us in a NL game last spring.

It's that, and that alone, and we both know the US was set to absolutely obliterate Panama in that game (we were crushing them early, had a goal waived off, scored another while down a man, and didn't have Panama playing on a yellow early, which they should have had, and if that yellow happens, Weah's red doesn't happen). I know it's if's and buts and candy and nuts, but it's also just reality. The Panama Copa America game isn't lost with competent reffing, because Weah isn't triggered if the refs don't make a total hash of the assault on Turner. And the NL game is basically pure randomness. That is how they got ahead of us in ELO, random bull----. It happens, Venezuela was looking real good too a year ago, then the qualifying campaign schedule went against them and now they are in a do or die match against Colombia, where they have to get points to keep pace with or pass a Bolivia that gets to host Brazil at altitude in a game Brazil doesn't need. Play enough, and the results will reveal all.

Currently our results say our players have been self-satisfied except when playing El Tri in competition, but they also reveal that Panama is trash, and has taken advantage of some ridiculous luck against the US.

Play enough games going forward, and lets put it this way, Panama will have a much uglier WC than we will, even with me apoplectic at this point with our coach and our players. Doesn't mean Panama might not tie us or beat us at home, we struggle on the road in concacrap, mentality is weak, and qualifying down there is hard because of the refs and the fans and the conditions, but are we better? Hell yes we're better. But does the mentality have to change? Hell yes.

 

Both Pulisic and Zendejas like to cut inside and create from the middle. You can pretty much put Pulisic anywhere in attacking midfield, left right or center and he will create and score goals. Zendejas has literally become a Club America legend working off the right side as an attacking midfielder. As dual tens they can drift as wide or move more centrally as much as they want in order to create.

 

Really? Well shit, I wasn't aware. Thought he was just playing more wide due to personnel limitations.

 

He's playing wide because of defense, not offense, just FYI. He's simply not fast enough in the middle of the field in most situations.

 

I knew he was slow but I didn't realize it had become that much of a liability. Bro needs to learn positional and tactical awareness and add some fakes and feints into his game. Go to the school school of Pirlo and Busquets, both were slow as shit but didn't let that stop them going to the top. lol

 

thats mostly in line with what I meant. Just looking at the graphic for positions players can move wide just as much as they move inward. He doesnt float across the full field but he moves from wide to midpoint of the 18. And thats sorta what the line up graphic was representing.

 

When I see players standing around on the field for a throw-in, and the guy trying to throw the ball in has to hold his hand out like "come on, somebody move", well that's a lack of effort. When players similarly stand around waiting for their teammate with the ball to do something instead of making themselves open to receive a pass, well that's a lack of effort. I've seen a lot of that, and it's largely been when our starting 11 is decided by Transfermarkt valuation. What Diego Luna does is put in real, serious effort. I was looking through Roldan's numbers from the CWC games this summer and, boy, does he make a lot of moves to receive the ball as well--which jibes with what I saw in those matches. Perhaps that's why he got called in.

 

How have the results been so far under Poch?
What's Poch's biggest / most impressive win as the USMNT coach?

 

Poch has literally said there are people that come to training/camp and don’t work hard or take that seriously. There could be plenty of evidence for this but none of us are privy to that in training. You can’t just flip it on and off when you want.

 

Poch identifying those who don't take the USMNT seriously:

I guess it takes one to know one...

 

In a CM/DM role, a team would need to be built around McGlynn. He's good enough for that at MLS-level. Otherwise, CAM or RAM/RF would be his best roles.

 

Houston bought McGlynn to replace HH sitting next to Artur in their double pivot. They tried that early in the season and it was a disaster. There is a reason Philly got rid of him and have thrived since he left.

Olsen made the brilliant move reminiscent of what Ancelloti did with Pirlo and moved McGlynn out of the midfield to an inverted wide attacker and he has thrived in that position. He does not have to play any defense, can tuck in and has Dorsey a work rate monster playing RB who can run up and down the flank all day covering.