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

Poch is rewarding Tillman for playing in CM. Let him play LW and Berhalter CM. That game was over, it wasn't about maxing the game, it was about keeping Tillman happy, engaged, and OK with neing an 8 for the most part.

And getting Berhalter some run. He is the #3 CM and most likely to play if one of the ATM is out or in another spot.

At least that is how I looked at it.

 

Yes, I do. WILL we win exactly the same way? Probably not. I think we'll end up doing more defending in the next two games.

But I don't believe the Paraguay game was in any way "lucky". We constantly attacked them, and were rewarded for it, despite not playing our best game in all phases.

Consider the way Richards and Ream both backed off of Enciso, and it allowed him to pass to the goalscorer for an easy goal off of a normally innocuous goal kick?

How about Dest's poor touch one-on-one with the GK in the first 20 minutes of the game? What about the 5-6 times we flubbed chances in front of goal by making an extra pass, especially in the 2nd half?

The US was very attacking, but far from clinical. The goals we scored were the result of getting into great positions dozens of times in the opponent's box, and 17 shots. Eventually, that tends to result in goals.

 

What are you talking about? Of course 6/6/6/0 . 18 points possible IN THE ENTIRE GROUP. I thought that was pretty obvious from the long post and context.

You are still wrong. And still don't get it. 6/6/6/0 means three teams per group can get to six. At the start, 12 groups with 3 teams possible in each group who can get to 6. 12x3 = 36.

That's why 6 points doesn't guarantee you advancement at the start. 36>32. That is why once you have 4 groups with a draw, 6 is guaranteed advancement. 36-4 = 32.

Get it? You said 24 teams could get to 6 points earlier. I was assuming you thought 8x3 = 24. There are 12 groups, not 8. So 36, not 24.

EDIT: It was someone else with the 24 comment. Apologies.

But you cannot do it per team, because every team cannot max out points. 3 points PER GAME is what is avaiable. 6 games per group, 18 points possible with no draws. Every draw subtracts one from the total. 2 points for that game instead of 3.

Once you drop below 18, you cannot have 3 with 6. Below 15 and it is five. Or if the 4th gets points. Subtract those. As points are given 3 or 1, that also prevents a 5 point 3rd even with 16 or 17 ooints earned in the group, but at 15 with 3 1-2-0 and one 0-3.

 

Not sure where they sourced those numbers but FIFA's official match report has Weston at 31.7 km/h

https://www.fifatrainingcentre.com/...ts/fifa-world-cup/2026/PMSR-M04-USA-V-PAR.pdf

EDIT:
FIFA Training Center has Bos at 36.7 km/h and Toure at 35.8 km/h

https://www.fifatrainingcentre.com/...ts/fifa-world-cup/2026/PMSR-M06-AUS-V-TUR.pdf

 

Changing goalkeepers for a given situation is virtually always a VERY bad idea. The egos of even the best of goalkeepers are quite fragile things. Even last minute subs of GKs for penalty kicks fails more often than not and. should it result in a win the starting GK has his confidence hurt and the probability of him effectively handling a PK in the next match is reduced.
Change all 10 field players if you want and, most of the time, it does little harm but changing the goalkeeper has so little positive effect that it makes it nearly totally Ludacris. If you honestly produce a pros vs cons chart on goalkeeper changes for any reason other than injury or the starter playing horrendously bad ath cons will outweigh the pros by a wide margin.
Of course much of the valuation of GK changing is subjective which is why we do see it at times but, since I tend to watch 'keeping closely, I believe it is so seldom it does anything but harm that even contemplating it is a mistake.
Trying to change goalkeepers is a lot like trying to change the world. "All we need to do is toilet train the world and we will never have to change it again."

 

Neither am I. I tried to verify it but couldn't find that data easily. In any case, I still don't understand why some people here think the Australian defenders are slow.

 

Great preview by Bogert and Tab Ramos. Key point by Tab: Paraguay could not run with US either way on offense or defense. Australia can.

 

Harrington is very quick. I have been impressed with him so far for the Rapids. Kind of thought he would be in the starting 11. Overall, I don't think the CBs that started in game 1 are all that quick but I also wouldn't say they are "slow". I do think they play a lot better with the ball in front of them and therefore do not want to be running towards their own goal. But I think you could say that about most CBs. The WBs are not slow at all.... Bos is extremely quick. I dunno... I have not watched them a ton but I think team speed and athleticism is something they have going for them. They played a wonderful game against Turkey and I expect them to come out confident. Just like I said against Paraguay... I think the US will have a relatively large advantage if they can score before the first hydration break. But again, I guess I could same the same about Oz. If they get one early and park the bus then they could get another in transition. I kind of hope they try and play us straight up. I would give the edge to the US since we are on home soil but there are any number of game scripts that could benefit each side. Should be a hard fought contest.

 

I think Dest is as poor on the left as good on the right.

 

They are fast, I doubt they are quick.

 

I don’t know much about Australia, I was judging their pace in what j saw in the Türkiye match.
The measurements cited before have Souttar faster than his teammate Bos and Canadian Richie Laryea. There’s no way in hell he’s faster than them, so I question those numbers.

 

And that's why I called Turkish players dumb.

 

I don't like Dest as a wide left player, but I'm not certain he wouldn't be good if he was playing in the half space.

We've never seen it, so I suspect that we won't. But I we want a dribbling attacker from there, I wonder if he's not the best choice.*

*However, if he's not used to going baseline over there, there's not a point in discussing.

 

The US does not play with a target man. Certainly not like NZ's Chris Wood. It's been Balogun--a mobile 9--and Pepi is the number 2 there. He's tall, but not big. Haji Wright is our 3rd striker, and he's definitely got height and strength and is accustomed (now) to playing against large, brutish CBs in the Championship. But I have a hard time imagining that Wright would get the start here just because he's the one striker we've got that's got size comparable to the AUS CBs. Now, Wright coming on in the 2nd half if we need a goal might happen.

 

I am feeling pretty confident Tabo Ramos and Tom Bogert actually watched the Aus-Turkey game.

 

Wright is a small forward in big body.

 

Bogert's a sportswriter. Tab seems like an okay guy personally, but he wasn't a particularly good coach at the MLS level. I'm sure he knows what he's talking about but I don't know that his analysis is ever going to be definitive on a podcast anyway. I'm not going to bother watching 40 minutes but ...

... I think you guys played some fantastic defense. You're big, you're quick and you do track runs well. That said, in the Paraguay match, our off ball movement was far more sustained and intense than anything Turkey did, and with Poch, we're really not scared to do some crazier things in terms of overloads and switching people around. The one touch combination game was clicking as well.

Now, here's the thing. We haven't always (ever) played with that much energy and for that long. If we get frustrated do early, do we start to look more and more like Turkey? Maybe. Will we be quite as on in terms of touches and finishing? Maybe.

Turkey was extremely predictable, being pretty lethargic in the first half and basically handing the ball to Yildaz and Guler in the second. It's entirely possible we could be impatient and frustrated and revert to that. But if we exhibit the work rate we had against Paraguay, the off ball runs won't stop and neither will the counter press.

Will that work? Maybe we will see. But they aren't wrong that one of the better ways to attack it will be to pull the back line closer to goal and then have later arriving runners. Turkey rarely did that -- Guler tried to dribble constantly centrally and Yildaz kept cutting in; no one on Turkey made many runs.

There's been a lot of talk here on who to start. Our current starter is not short, but he's not bulky and he's more of a make runs behind guy. There's obviously not as much room here for that, so you might go to one of our backups, who is 6'3" though not super bulky. I wouldn't til later -- the starter is both better pressing, in transition, and most importantly, in combination play.

We have some guys that can go get it outside of striker. So I don't think a lot of the crosses will be as directed to the striker directly.

 

Positionally Aaronson is the nearest to Pulisic. Dest experiment would break good thing that we have on the right with no garrantees on the left. Or Berhalter and move Tillman forward with Jedi covering the line.

 

After we beat Australia 8-0, I like the idea of starting Haji at LWB and Pepi at RWB (keep Balo up top) in the stress free third game just to see what our corner kicks look like.

 

But, it's exactly like how we played against Spain in the Confed Cup, lo those long years ago. A ball on the ground has to pass a lot of legs/feet when it comes from wide. There are so many people in the box to cut it out. And, a misplayed (by the defense) cross isn't automatically a hazard when coming from wide.

That's why I'm saying....if Aus plays the same tactics... work the ball up field, let Aus retreat into their box. When you do so, get the forward and the opposite side winger into the box. Play the ball back, have Wes or Tillman crash the box and play a driven ball in vertically. Aus has to decide on the spot whether to step up or not. If they don't, we've got a driven ball into the box, where the keeper has to fight through a crowd to get to it. Or, there's a gap behind their line that Wes or Tillman is running into. And, if there is any mistake by them, the ball is on a trajectory to hit the back of the net.

When we play the ball back, we should have a huge numbers advantage. Either their 2 forwards will chase, or they won't. If they chase, run them ragged. Run them into the ground. Drain them. If they don't, then we have all day to set up the driven ball into the box, get the timing right with the box crasher. The other thing that could happen would be that Aus doesn't like either of these options and they come out of their bunker. That's perfect. The back line will certainly hold a line and come out together. There will probably be very little pressure on the ball. The old adage is true, if you can't pressure the ball, do not hold a restraining line. When we see the back line advancing, that's when we send a runner.

I think spending 90 minutes trying to tiki-taka though 8 guys that are playing deep would be a big mistake.

 

Also, watch for Aus to go Route 1 after the hydration break. Socceroos coach reveals secret weapon to exploit World Cup rule that 'shouldn't be allowed' - Yahoo News Australia