Pre-match: USA v Australia Game 2 6/19 3 pm ET

Malik Tillman at CM alongside his partner Adams is the key on both sides of the ball.

 

I hear they eat quiche.

 

Thank god we're not playing Australia in that sport, but they'll probably try to do that to Pulisic.

 

Reminder that Ream does *not* have a yellow. It was reviewed during the match and correctly changed to a yellow for Almiron for simulation.

 

I WILL BE THERE FOR THIS ONE.

 

Also, it will obviously depend on how Australia’s match goes vs Turkey tomorrow…but if they lose by 1 (or maybe even 2) goals to Turkey, they’ll still be ahead of Paraguay in the standings, and I wonder if they really start thinking about bunkering even harder against us in order to feel confident about being in the 3rd position.

Who knows for sure, but it will be interesting to see how they come out against us strategically.

 

Amazing shit talk.

No, not starting Reyna over Tillman. Malik was fantastic and held everything together.

 

lemme run the math

 

Kinda Ambivalent/depends on what you want:

Current USA place distribution after tonight:

1st = 52%, 2nd = 36%, 3rd = 9%, 4th = 3%

With 1-0 Turkey win:

1st = 49%, 2nd = 41%, 3rd = 8%, 4th = 3%

With 1-0 Aussie win:

1st = 60%, 2nd = 27%, 3rd = 11%, 4th = 3%


With 1-1 Draw:

1st = 63%, 2nd = 22%, 3rd = 12%, 4th = 3%


If you want to win the group, root Draw.

If you want guaranteed advancement, root Turkey

Somewhere in between is Aussie.

 

I would consider leaving Adams out. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, but this puts us in pole position for winning the group. Make sure Adams can go 90 vs Türkiye.

 

I think you’re pulling my leg.

 

Those dirty dudes are not getting my support

I'm hoping we make it out of the Oz match with no injuries

 

Next level. I'm talking Polka and Soups for Paraguay, and this... I can't even.

 

Ok, tonight was great. But it's over. This will (hopefully) be a long tournament, and we're only one game along the path. One game at a time. Australia will come to fly into challenges and play fearlessly.

In terms of the first XI, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm glad that Poch gave them so many different looks with the overloads. They won't be able to prepare for them all. But I fear that they'll try to go after Ream. He was good today, but I am always worried about his lack of pace in space while we press high.

 

We've got a long time till this next game.

No need to rotate thru that starting XI, which was absolutely brilliant.

Keep the lineup, go for the win................then worry about whether to rotate or not against Turkey.

 

Yeah, looking at the bracket again, there’s not a huge benefit to finishing first unless Belgium somehow blows it and finishes second in their group. So, I’d say get the 3 points vs Australia, be assured of top 2 in the group, and then the Türkiye game doesn’t really matter.

 

So can we assume that Australia is gonna bunker for 90 minutes?

Australia would be insane to try to play the USA straight up if the USA plays like it did tonight in the first half?

 

Yeah it’s a good moment but we shouldn’t let it make us overconfident. If we want a deep run into this WC this is only a start, albeit a brilliant one. Oz will have the advantage of scouting our approach vs Paraguay, and they’ll come out ready for it. Of course, their strength is defense and Paraguay did not lack for intensity so that’s pretty much what we faced last night, but anything can happen on a given night so it’s important to keep the momentum rolling and not let up. After that game though I feel good that Poch and the players won’t do that. This team has a vibe.

 

Is Australia a bunkering team or just strong defensively?

 

I honestly don’t know. Would love to hear from those who do. FWIW I didn’t think of Paraguay as a bunker team just a counterattacking one with a notoriously good defense. Not sure how oz compares.

 

They didn’t really bunker when we played them last year.