USA - Switzerland Post Match Thread

That's the million & question. he better figure it out quickly to save his club and country career. Has any reporter asked him if he's going through injury issues? Seems someone in Germany might have thought to ask either him or the coach.

 

just to be clear … he is still quite young … I think the “quickly to save” is a tad hyperbolic .

 

Yeah it’s just hard to know. We don’t have enough information as to what exactly is going on physically.

 

I don't really buy that. The lineup was ridiculous. We have what, 3 windows left of full international open dates before May '26 (September, October, and March right? Or is it four?), no more where we can get UEFA participation until '26. How many guys played that have literally no chance whatsoever of being on any sane man's final roster for WC '26 in that hugely valuable friendly against a team that has been final 8 caliber for UEFA in back to back Euro's and a group stage advancer at the WC? Harriel? Zero chance. Arf, little chance, Seb Berhalter, no chance, Brian White, zero chance, Quinn Sullivan, zero chance, both Aaronson brothers combined, zero chance (we might have one, not both), 5-6 of the 10 field players either have zero chance, or a miniscule chance at best of playing in WC '26, and that's what he rolled out against the Swiss?!?!

I think it's patently obvious at this point this guy is gonna bail by July '26, and might get fired before that if we didn't have so much invested in him. So why is he blooding guys who by and large won't ever be relevant to the program, or won't be relevant until '27-'28. Does anyone seriously think Sullivan, Harriel, Seb Berhalter, and Brian White will be in the locker room 12 months ago. If anyone thought that wouldn't their next immediate thought be, "fire this clown, now."

I have no issue with experimentation. I'm a huge fan of bringing up the kids, blooding them, putting pressure on clearly complacent vets. This wasn't that, this was some asinine grab bag of stupidity from a coach who clearly doesn't know a damn thing about the pool, and could care less to know more about it in any meaningful way. It was absolutely ridiculous. Now add in his game model/approach for these guys who'd never started together as a group ever, in any of the 3 position groups, and it beggars belief. I've seen stupid, but I've literally never seen stupider than this. Steve Sampson's 3-6-1 looks positively Nobel Prize worthy compared to the ---- show stupidity people saw Tuesday Night.

 

This is 100% true. When you look at the roles you want in your team, a reasonably healthy US team has some creation, has some width, has destroyers, and has some dribblers. Once upon a time, we had shot stoppers.

It does not have a reliable finisher outside the wing and it does have players who progress the ball via the pass.

Gio at his best both took the ball progression role dropping deep and both dribbling forward but always looking for the pass and then became a shot creator up top. He's both more sturdy in terms of absorbing contact and a better passer than Pulisic, so our best was always Christian using his speed/quickness and finishing and Gio getting the ball there.

Guys like de la Torre, Musah and McKennie can dribble it up, but the best of them at creation in the final third is McKennie, and he's "good for an 8." Only McKennie can really hit a long pass of any kind.

Reyna unlocked that. Pulisic does it kinda well, but he tends to get mobbed by the time he gets forward. And then there's no Pulisic to pass to. I thought Tillman did a decent job against Turkey but he wasn't aggressive enough in attack. That's where Gio's arrogance helped. He tried shit.

But when you do de la Torre to Tillman or whomever ... there's often just a pause, a beat, enough time for the defense to recover. The fact that Gio did it from the 10 spot is great as we got to keep McKennie and Adams behind him.

 

Good lord, it is not haphazard or asinine or insane.

The players we all know are the best are not here because they have CWC, or Hajj, or are getting surgery, or whatever. Some, like Adams and Richards, are here.

The guys who have been in the team but were left home are Sargent, Scally, CCV, Tessman, Busio, Morris, Zendejas, maybe Trusty? Feel free to add.

None of those guys have played well enough to lock in a spot. Not a one. The only one I actually feel all that good about on the field is Tessman.

So we are trying others. Some might be better. Most will not. They certainly weren't the first choices or they'd have been called in in March or October.

If we ran out Joe Scally for 8 straight games or Josh Sargent for 8 straight games and the former couldn't get the ball forward and the latter couldn't score ... we'd be saying it was asinine or insane to waste the last competitive matches never figuring out a striker or backup LB.

The original roster had every Core member you could expect (minus perhaps Gio who also has the CWC excuse). It also had a number of the next tier who haven't performed like Tillman, Johnny, Brenden, etc.

Then it had a number of experimental players. Just because you preferred Tolkin to Arfsten doesn't make it asisine.

He's trying guys at weak spots -- CB, Keeper, backup fullbacks, striker.

 

"The guys who have been in the team but were left home are Sargent, Scally, CCV, Tessman, Busio, Morris, Zendejas, maybe Trusty? Feel free to add."

Lenard Maloney, Caleb Wiley, Griffin Yow, Nat Brown, Koleosho, Anrie Chase, Cole Campbell, Noakhai Banks, Matko Miljevic, Kris Lund, George Bello, Jordan Pefok, Roman Celentano, Chris Ramos (striker in Spanish second division), Maurice Malone (striker for Vienna).

 

That’s a great post that makes Reyna sound like Messi…

but he has played 9 games in copa America, World Cup, and Wc Qualifiers with zero goals and zero assists…

But he’s unstoppable because one game he cut back and forth against the worst Mexican team in history.

who would I play instead?

Here are the lock starters: Pulisic, Jedi, Weah, Adams…maybe Richards

Nobody else is a lock. If we are playing with a 10 then Tilman will have the opportunity to claim it this summer (which we haven’t seen happen before)

 

I was unaware of that fact. Thanks.

 

No point in responding to this, we're talking past each other. Next match is tomorrow night, we'll get a better idea from that, and the Saudi match, I would imagine.

 

Supposedly the playing time issue for Reyna is a big deal for Pochettino, who has tried to convince him to return to MLS, where Pochettino views Reyna as a good fit.

This Gold Cup opportunity should be viewed as Tillman’s time to take over an attacking midfield spot. Tillman is obviously a rising player in Europe who gets regular high level playing time on a top team. Tillman’s performances in the past two friendlies have been positive in the right ways and he is growing into a leadership role. I think that Pochettino’s goal is that Tillman becomes one of the leaders within the program. Tillman appears to be taking that challenge seriously. If things continue as they have, then Tillman’s is the team’s de facto starting attacking midfielder from this tournament forward. There is a place for Diego Luna in that mix as well. Weston McKennie should figure in as well, but the back and forth between the USMNT golf crew and Pochettino is beginning to make me wonder if Pochettino sees some of those players as replaceable and may be actively looking for their replacements.

 

Just another dumb strawman.

Gio hasn’t had a 10/10 game every time he has played for the USMNT!!

Checkmate Gio supporters!

What has Tillman EVER done for the usmnt in 19 caps?

 

This club World Cup (and Pulisic) is definitely hurting Poch’s opportunities to mold a team.

I think everybody is waiting for Tilman and Johnny to play for the US at even 80% of their club form. Everybody is waiting for Reyna to be able to get even regular sub minutes as a pro (he hasn’t gotten that since the last World Cup it seems)

I do think Poch, as you said, is looking for some players that have the tenacity that you see in the core of historical Argentine sides. He’ll find one or two this summer probably

 

If Tillman, Luna, and Chris Richards seize leadership roles in this tournament and they make it into the final, it will have been a success.