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

Club is one factor, the friendly run up to the World Cup and what Poch sees in camp will be just as pertinent. And these guys are all individual cases. It doesn’t have to be a case of all the Euro guys you mentioned in and all the MLS guys out or vice versa.

 

Agreed that these are individual cases that will turn on their individual merits. But if I am reading you correctly, it sounds as though you could get comfortable with a situation in which one or more of the MLS guys replaces a healthy version of McKennie, Reyna, or Musah because of playing time. I have a hard time imagining myself reaching the same conclusion. I could almost imagine it with Luna because he has vision and creativity, but I also think his lack of pace makes him a weaker defender than all three of those other people. So I could never see him ahead of Reyna, for example. And Berhalter is a solid MLS midfielder who makes good decisions in possession, but just isn’t up to international standards in my opinion. I suspect that if he keeps playing in these friendlies, that will show up sooner or later.

 

I think that people need to realize that Pochettino is trying to develop a team with a fighting mentality. They need to take that template and apply it to players. His criteria is different than people think. The guys who don’t take to that coaching will not play.

As it stands today, Pochettino is going to leave someone out that you all think is a shoe-in because of the club they play at. The people who do not learn from new information will cry about it on twitter.

 

I've got very little for you. Out of context, it could mean first 11, first 23, or it could mean the current pool which could be the first 30 or... basically, it could be anything.

In addition to "main group", the other question is "what we want". I think most (me at least), in most situations would take that to mean how they play on the field, but here I don't know. It could be how they play on the field, it could be leadership, competitiveness, deference to the directions and wishes of manager. Depending upon "what we want" means, it could be that he is including those that are not on the current roster when he says they are "starting to understand".

The context we really need is pretty much only known by Poch.

 

This isn’t XBOX, and we’re not playing FIFA. These guys are not automotons with ratings. They are people. The coach is a person.

I hired a guy once with all the pedigree in the world. He was Badge FC all day. Harvard, Oxford, Princeton. He was a below-average performer because he wasn’t able to adapt to the environment. There were others from Badge FC backgrounds who adapted just fine, but there were also those who could not.

This is how the real world works.

There will be Badge FC guys who cannot adapt to the environment, and there will be MLS guys like Berhalter who not only adapt to the environment, but pick it up and produce what the coach is looking for immediately. Do not be surprised if Berhalter starts today.

 

Sure, I could get comfortable with one player over another. I don’t fixate on Europe vs. MLS, though.

 

You believe that you can tell a player's effort, I confess I have no such ability despite playing, at and subsequently involved in the game at a reasonably high level.

I took exception to your statement "I wonder how much of the lack of effort from the top Euro-based players", sorry I just don't' see that. You can't quantify effort nor is it particularly meaningful.

I may be biased because of my BuLi background but we certainly quantify intensity and activity by measures like distance covered, number of sprints, number of high intensity runs, and duels.

I will be tracking duels over the next 2 matches as my measure of direct activity. Here is data from the last camp. Raw data from FotMob.

You can see where the Euro players came out. Tillman was by far the most active player during the window while Adams and Cardoso were injured and their activity is reflected.

Player	Turkiye	SUI	T&T	KSA	Haiti	CR	Guat	Mexico	Total	Average
Tillman	8 o 16	1 o 2	5 o 8	8 o 12	10 o 15	12 o 21	10 of 16	8 o 20	62 o 110	8 o 14
Freeman	6 o 12	dnp	10 o 14	4 o 7	8 o 12	9 o 12	4 o 8	6 o 11	47 o 76	7 o 11
Agyemang	3 o 14	5 o 8	3 o 9	4 o 11	4 o 8	6 o 13	5 o 9	9 o 15	39 o 87	5 o 11
Berhalter	dnp	3 o 7	1 o 10	4 o 7	dnp	2 o 7	7 o 15	4 o 11	21 o 57	3 o 9
Arfsten	2 o 6	6 o 8	8 o 12	8 o 13	dnp	5 o 9	3 o 5	5 o 6	37 o 59	5 o 8
Sullivan	0 o 4	2 o 5	dnp	dnp	7 o 11	dnp	dnp	dnp	9 o 20	3 o 7
Richards	4 o 7	dnp	7 o 9	3 o 3	0 o 5	7 o 8	3 o 4	4 o 6	28 o 42	4 o 6
Luna	3 o 7	3 o 5	3 o 4	2 o 7	0 o 3	3 o 9	3 o 5	2 o 10	19 o 50	2 o 6
LDLT	3 o 5	dnp	2 o 5	0 o 5	3 o 4	5 o 9	0 o 4	3 o 3	16 o 35	2 o 5
Adams	2 o 4	dnp	dnp	2 o 2	1 o 2	4 o 10	2 o 6	2 o 4	13 o 30	2 o 5
BA	dnp	0 o 4	2 o 2	2 o 3	4 o 8	dnp	2 o 6	2 o 2	12 o 25	2 o 4
Ream	dnp	1 o 3	2 o 2	3 o 4	2 o 3	1 o 2	5 o 5	2 o 2	16 o 21	2 o 3
Cardoso	1 o 4	2 o 6	dnp	0 o 1	0 o 0	dnp	dnp	dnp	3 o 11	1 o 3
McGlynn	3 o 6	dnp	2 o 2	1 o 1	0 o 0	0 o 0	2 o 3	1 o 1	9 o 13	1 o 2
Haji	0 o 5	dnp	1 o 2	dnp	dnp	dnp	dnp	dnp	1 o 7
Downs	dnp	0 o 0	dnp	2 o 2	dnp	0 o 1	1 o 2	0 o 0
White	1 o 1	dnp	dnp	dnp	0 o 2	1 o 2	dnp	dnp
Harriel	0 o 2	8 o 12	dnp	dnp	dnp	dnp	dnp	dnp
McKenzie	3 o 4	3 o 4	0 o 0	dnp	dnp	dnp	dnp	dnp
Zim	dnp	3 o 4	dnp	dnp	dnp	dnp	2 o 2	dnp
Miles	0 o 2	dnp	0 o 1	0 o 1	dnp	dnp	dnp	dnp
Tolkin	dnp	2 o 5	dnp	dnp	5 o 11	0 o 0	0 o 0	0 o 1
Paxten	dnp	1 o 1	0 o 0	dnp	1 o 2	dnp	dnp	dnp

 

Every game preview I’ve seen so far the pundits or influencer have been super critical of poch and seem to have no idea where his direction is with these preparations but every thing I’ve seen internally ….the players etc….they all seem to be in high spirits and seem to know exactly what Poch is doing right now. The team morale seems very high

 

we need a footie OPS!

 

Starting XI (note that I have used my discretion for a semi-realistic formation):

Freese; Dest, Blackmon, Ream (c), Arfsten; Adams, Berhalter; Weah, Luna, Pulisic; Sargent

 

I expect Japan to roll you guys and Mexico for that matter. That’s a strong ass team top to bottom and they are highly motivated

Korea on the other hand is beatable. Hong MB the coach is libero from the 2002 squad who was hired after Klinsmann got the hasty axe and is a shit coach imo Hong also played for the LA Galaxy. As talented as this team is He’s not getting the best out of them. He currently has the team embroiled in controversy because he’s suggesting Son may not be captain of the team which is preposterous. If he’s trying to get the team to compete and be strong he’s going about in the most shitty way possible.

 

Richard’s injury?

 

If you're a more inept manager than Jurgen Klinsmann, then that's usually a bad sign.

 

Well, I’m getting what I wanted! Berhalter instead of Luca, one of the new CB’s paired with a vet (I bet we see Banks/Richards against Japan, love it) and Arfsten/Dest, let’s see the plan with two attacking fullbacks.

 

no surprises. puli and/or weah being released watch starts in 3 hours.

 

That's likely two-thirds of our starting midfield. That's significant.

The Jedi situation (and the Pepi situation) of course, is different.

 

Well…i didn’t say that lol

Jurgen is special

 

More likely just wants to see how someone else does

 

Probably, but why not pair that someone else w/ Richards instead of Ream, since the former is a virtual shoe-in to be starting in the WC, & we don't need to change our tactics to conform to him?

 

Doesn't look like Banks, Zawadzki, or Balogun made the bench.

 

Must be platooning. maybe that means we’ll see Richards and banks against Japan?

 

That's my best guess. I believe that bringing in Banks and Blackmon was deliberate, given our CB issues outside of Richards, and playing them both together against either of these opponents in a short camp would be stupid.

It's also possible that Blackmon won out over Banks in camp, and will start a game with Ream and Richards in turn. But I think the former is more likely.

 

sigh we are going to see ream and richards against japan, with banks subbing on in the 89th minute. the reason i feel so confident in that prediction is that its not a prediction.

 

left-eye dominance ftw!

 

That’s what Japan is for. If Banks shows out against Japan, with Richards, I suspect we’ll see them paired again in other friendlies and maybe even next summer though that’s a stretch at this point for sure.
I don’t see how Blackmon for Richards necessitates a change in tactics, what am I missing?