The Euro squads at the Copa America and Nations League sucked. MLS players might not be the answer but for the moment neither are the guys who have been failing for more than a year.
poch played tessman and adams, 2 dmids in midfield vs a panama team that sits back and counters this is all about personnell and lineup mistakes "the euro squads sucked" no th coach sucks at tactics and lineup selection the best players are and always will be in europe
I just want to make sure I understand the thesis here: the mere presence of guys who play in MLS caused those guys to play like crap? Counterpoint; if they were THAT good, they could raise the level of those around them like past core/star players did.
its not a thesis - its just basics of how the sport works....its a team sport not an individual one. you start 6 players who arent used to the level of a team like korea....what do you think is going to happen? you think the vets are just going to play great without any help from their teammates?? "the mere presence"...no the lack of contribution from them more like it you dont find it odd that basically ALL of adams, pulisic weah and dest had poor games??? yeah....sure im sure its just coincidence
I don’t find it that odd because nearly every conceivable combination of players has been ultra-mid or worse for like 3 years. It doesn’t really matter who plays because it’s all mediocre.
this team has looked good when reyna is in form and the rest of the team is healthy...and bad when he isnt on the team reyna is the key player bc he unlocks the midfield and can set the table for the wingers and forwards like no other player in the pool can even come close to the amount of vitriol and hate he gets from "usmnt fans" is beyond comprehension he is so overlooked and underappreciated he played the first 45 vs germany in a friendly a year ago and the usmnt had the better of the play at halftime imo on a wonder goal by pulisic ....then when he went out after 45 it all fell apart there IS a combination of players that works for this player pool....and there are irreplacable players IF they are all healthy ...this team can be very very good..... what we're seeing is that the margin of error is small...and people are misinterpreting that as if there simply isnt a margin at all and the players just suck...its not true when the usmnt beat ghana 4-0 and reyna had 2 goals...the team played very well, for example you cant play a midfield of adams berhalter and luna and think thats going to work basically its like a puzzle - hard to solve but there IS a solution...meanwhile, a team like argentina or france has many solutions and their "puzzle" is easy to solve....whereas the usmnt doesnt have it so easy but they DO have a solution this is why it rankles SO hard that poch is digging around in MLS....when we have guys like Pukstas who was just named player of the month in the croatian league not even sniffing a roster there ARE options in the player pool! this MLS chaffe is not what we should be seeing
So your argument here is that the absence of one guy who can’t get any time for any club of note is the difference between all these guys looking good and looking terrible? And that a viable alternative is playing in the *checks notes* Croatian league? I know there’s some cognitive dissonance seeing guys start for Europa/low end CL sides in Europe and not seeing it translate internationally, but I’d submit that it’s far, far FAR more likely these guys just aren’t it and no amount of rearranging the deck chairs in midfield is going to make them look like a cohesive, dangerous side.
reyna already has more g/a in finals than any player in usmnt history...at 22....more than donovan more than dempsey and anyone else. so yes I am saying he is that important. idkwtf was going on at dortmund but they also included a 95million euro release clause in his latest transfer....for good reason, too. overall, idk what the right combination of players is. i dont have the secret code. im not saying that pukstas is definitely the answer...but hes clearly a lot higher on my list than pochs. its not about him, though. its really just about doing smart and intelligent experimentation and finding the right options...the right combos. MMA midfield doesnt have a playmaker doesnt have a guy that can set the table....it was always an issue. it will always be an issue to try and play a midfield without creators. its not rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. its the result of poor selections. i mean looking at a player like blackmon over erik palmer brown, for example, is crazy to me. and yes poch has been handcuffed with injuries and player unavailability. but he has been going about picking players all wrong. i am 100% certain there are combos of players that would make this whole thing work. no doubt in my mind. and im also certain that with the wrong combos it will never work. so far, poch has been going with the wrong picks. it boggles my mind that people wanna make the leap from the coach picking the wrong players to the conclusion that there simply isnt the talent there to make it work. prsonally, if you wanted to experiment this window i woulda gone something like puli - balo - yow --------reyna------ -----pukstas--morris----- dest - banks - richards- weah with a bench of wright, pepi, mckennie, sands, lund, fossey, tessman, adams, epb, okoh etc etc or something along those lines....theres so many euro players to look at!! it boggle my mind we are dredging mls for lucky stars....they arent there
I’m not sure whom you are referencing, but MLS is kind of awful soccer. And the MLS players seem to be albatrosses. I could put the best chocolate in my brownie mix, but if instead of flour and eggs I use poop and ejaculate, it’s gonna taste bad. To then claim the chocolate didn’t elevate the rest seems a bit silly.
That is a very good analogy. Albeit a bit harsh. I think the two other ingredients would be better as something like: Bitrex and kratom with water from the Cuyahoga River back in 1969 added for consistency.
Korea is just a better team with better players and tactics right now. Factor in the match feeling like a road game and that was the result. Japan is too but hopefully we play better and the fan support is better.
Man it’s such bad luck that for the first time ever we played a home game with a pro-opposition crowd. Between that, other teams having good players and MLS existing It’s just crazy how this generation of players keeps running into this sorts of black swan events that prevents them from showing their true potential.
better players?? no way GOALKEEPERS (3): Kim Seung-gyu (FC Tokyo), Jo Hyeon-woo (Ulsan HD), Song Bum-keun (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors) DEFENDERS (9): Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Kim Moon-hwan (Daejeon Hana Citizen), Seol Young-woo (Red Star Belgrade), Lee Myung-jae (Daejeon Hana Citizen), Lee Tae-seok (Austria Wien), Kim Ju-sung (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Byeon Jun-soo (Gwangju FC), Kim Tae-hyeon (Kashima Antlers), Lee Han-beom (Midtjylland) MIDFIELDERS (11): Lee Jae-sung (Mainz 05), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Park Yong-woo (Al-Ain), Paik Seung-ho (Birmingham City), Kim Jin-gyu (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), Lee Dong-gyeong (Gimcheon Sangmu), Bae Jun-ho (Stoke City), Park Jin-seob (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), Jeong Sang-bin (St. Louis City), Jens Castrop (Borussia Monchengladbach), Seo Min-woo (Gangwon FC) FORWARDS (3): Son Heung-min (Los Angeles FC), Oh Hyeon-gyu (Genk), Oh Se-hun (Machida Zelvia) usmnt has way better players. we are currently totally ignoring players at mainz, austria wien, gladbach, lafc, denmark, etc when you look at the collection of clubs these guys play for theres really zero argument that they have better players. they dont! seriously just take a look at the clubs these guys play for..... they are more organized. they have a clear vision of how to play together. they have better coaching. AND they have recently tied jordan oman and palestine ffs usmnt has waaaay better players usa and usmnt are organizationally inept. usa and its people do not know how to work together collectively...to form efficient and competititve organizations. (aside from the business world) asian countries are building infrastructure and high speed rail while california spenda bout a billion a foot and the whole project is mired in red tape. usmnt has way better players than korea...but korea is a better team bc usmnt is so poorly mismanaged by its manager and federation.
looking back on the game, its very hypocritical and damning that the gameplan was get the ball to the euro boyz and let them go 1 on 1 ....dest, pulisic, weah...it didnt work...not bc they arent good,...but bc thats a dumb strategy for trying to beat a well organized compact and feisty team its all so hypocritical.....poch pretends the mlsers are just as good as europe but his gameplan says otherwise.....the mlsers were all plaaying passively and support roles.....not doing much of anything other than take up space...seemingly by-design but yeah....the mlsers are just as good as the euroes, sure poch...yeah right
love it the us is really the best team in the world the coach just has to pick the best lineup and tactic and whats great about american fans...we all know these answers we just can't get a coach who does. its tough being born so tactically brilliant as the average american fan is.
why would you play a defensive, dmidish midfield vs a team that wants to sit back play d and counter? makes no sense but yeah go ahead and try to attack me and the players