Post-match: USA v. Australia [R] - October 14, 2025 - International Friendly

I don’t agree with everything here (Arfsten nope), but broadly I think this is pretty good stuff.

 

Roldan propped up a bit by Wright’s finishing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the xA on Aaronson’s pass to Luna was higher than that of both Roldan assists combined. Small data points and all that.

 

Richards also had the unfortunate task of playing with a weak center midfield. Neither Sands nor Roldan did a good jog shielding the back line, and neither provided good options to receive, hold, and progress the ball. I thought CM was our weakest spot in the game, Roldan’s assists excluded. (But like I said before, assists vary in how likely they are to lead to goals, and I think Roldan was fortunate to get a couple of counting stats that went his way. Although the play on the quick restart was a nice heads up play, those are super rare, and 9 times out of 10 that ends with a wide angle shot blasted into the side netting.)

 

There have been references to this going back to what, '19 or '20, and everything I've been able to come across suggests that his fitness levels are on point. You can see it actually in his movement. He's got a weird, Fred Flintstone Trunk, and physique that makes him look like a local union guy at the docs that may have too much pasta during the winter, but everything I've heard from interviews with his coaches and him is that he's been completely match fit for years. He just looks weird in terms of his trunk etc.

I have no concerns, watch him play and he's always moving, always in good positions, and has super acceleration too from his "trot" you see periodically off the ball. I'm not concerned at all with his fitness. It looks like something that it isn't based on the reports I've seen, whereas Weston apparently quite clearly inflated in during the second half of the '23-'24 season. He has is own version of not looking quite fit when he is, but apparently in mid '24, he definitely wasn't fit (part is definitely injuries with him and rehabbing, but part is probably his habits). I do not have those concerns with Luna. In a weird way, he reminds me a little of the physique of Cuathemoc Blanco or Carlos Tevez, who also had pretty thick trunks, just not so much as Luna, whose probably twice as exaggerated as Tevez and 1.5 as Blanco.

 

There's a quote in a new athletic piece from Poch where he refers to Roldan as "....if you want to build the perfect player, he has a little bit of everything". So I think Poch is quite impressed and he's probably on the plane for now. I'm of two minds, there's my sample size mind that questions this because I have 3 dozen examples of play that arent like what we've most recently seen, otoh, what we've most recently seen, is what it is, a couple of games of great. As long as that's in the offing, he's getting called up, if he has a bad prat fall, maybe that ends. For now, I think he's pushed someone off the plane and taken their seat. We'll see if he hold onto it.

 

Luna also does not seem to get gassed at all. That is where it shows up - does not matter how you look - it matters how you play. With Wes - in Italy - with the whole ranch dressing saga - it showed up with a lack of match fitness ... with Diego seems he can run and run with his god given frame. With Wes trimming down some (you can see it) he is actually faster and is covering more distance as well.

 

I get it, this is a VERY new revelation for me. This would have been a very firm “hell no” from me a couple months ago.

 

deejay said: ↑
There aren't many Uruguayans in the US.

I do believe they're all living with Luis Suarez…

 

Agreed. How long did it take for us to get our first shot? Seemed like a long time. Not that it was all Luna, and certainly losing Pulisic was tough, but our attack started flowing better when Luna came in. The thing is, we're gonna have these games where the opponent is packed in, and we struggle to create chances in these kinds of game states. Pass it around, take a few touches, look around, deliberate, next pass, maybe wait for Pulisic or Weah to try to beat his man, etc. Luna plays a lot of one touch and makes runs, give and go's, progressive passes, etc. It helps.

 

They put the bite on him?

 

I'm thinking specifically of him getting nutmegged and picking up a yellow, as well as the sort of lazy defense that led to their dangerous free kick.

I'm comparing Richards here to the Gold Cup version of him -- that guy shuts down Valencia and certainly doesn't ball watch on the goal. As I said, he's still CB1, but he was not really cleaning anything up for us here and we need that.

Almost certainly. The question is whether that trade off is one you want. The complete whiffs have led multiple times to danger and the Valencia goal ... I think on balance it wasn't a great trade-off this window but I'm not really taking this as some kind of overall judgement of the player.

While I am sure there are some players going through the motions, and there is very real value to turnovers, there's a lot of other pressing that doesn't involve the presser getting the ball.

There's a whole range of pressing intent on closing down passing lanes instead of going at the ball. Whether you are going at the player or playing the lanes, one of the primary goals is simply not allow them to make an unpressured pass / force them to to pass back / force a bad pass.

Oftentimes the turnover is on the receiving end.

That said, obviously, actually forcing a turnover right there is great. I just don't think it was a great game for him because there were a decent number of misses that led to open space where a more conservative counter press would have stopped the ball and maybe led to a bad pass.

I don't think it's some clear calculus for sure. Some of it was definitely situational for me (up one, later, totally unreliable backline, etc.)

 

Wes never played in MLS. He simply played at the Dallas academy.

MLS puts more of a relative emphasis on fitness than most second tier leagues. It's the #1 reason why a good percent of the older legends fail in MLS. There's a lot of running and a lot of speed and the travel and time zone changes hurt you more when you are older and out of shape.

Diego's just built like a fire hydrant. He may be a little overweight now; I don't know, he broke out in large part because he got in great shape.

 

Wes never played in MLS. He was in the FCD academy but left for Schalke before FCD ever played him. He has also stated he lost weight, changed his diet and is the best shape of his life. I guess Juventus scared him into that or maybe both Juventus and Poch did. At least he finally listened as he's entering that age state where being heavier hurts you more when playing.

 

Yeah, I don't know if there's any real evidence that Luna is not fit. With him you can't really go by how he looks. His work rate is good. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There's a story that when he was with the Quakes academy and maybe something like 14yo, the youth nats were hesitant to call him up because they thought he wasn't fit. The Quakes said, nope, that's just his build.

 

Luna is like Tevez in that it looks like he’s missing a neck vertebra or 2

 

I would guess if the World Cup were today and everyone was healthy, that the center mid roster spots would go to Adams, Cardoso, Tessmann, and Roldan (with McKennie playing a more advanced role). And Cardoso’s spot is probably the most shaky cause he’s been limited by injuries. And Morris probably the first one out but others competing like Sands and Berhalter.

 

Keep up, that's so 2014, it's spitting now…

 

Do people think Scally is still better than Freeman? I do.

Also want to see Lund get a chance at LB.

 

Just a note on the pressing comment - it's true that a successful press does not have to win the ball on the spot.
But the pressure can only work if the other team respects the threat of losing the ball -- otherwise, why would the press affect them? If they understand you are not going to actually try and make a tackle, they aren't pressured into a mistake.

 

Well, sure, but I'm not sure there's anyone in our midfield who isn't some kind of threat to get the ball.

I like Morris' game and I think Poch really likes it, too -- it leans aggressive and that's Poch. But it can come back to bite you. Which is also Pochettino ball as well.

 

Aidan Morris always plays quick, fast, and with intention. Early signs are that he will be in the Premiership next season, which is fabulous. The negative on him is that he never scores -- and that is a big negative. I rate Morris' midfield play higher than Luna, but Luna does put the ball in the back of the net.

 

Those were 2 classy goals by Haji Wright. The second was very [Arjen] Robben-esque. The first was, for me, even more impressive. He adjusted himself to the left to hit it with his right in the left upper 90. Great body control and timing.

 

Damn near scored last night. And he scored some with Columbus. A huge CCC goal at Monterrey comes to mind.

 

One with each foot, and neither a tap in.

The thing that I liked most is that he used whichever foot the situation required with aplomb and without hesitation.

He did not mess up either chance trying to get it on his strong foot or off his weak one.

He was left of goal on the first one, but central. Left foot would have been best, but the way the ball came to him, he could not take it in stride with his left. He had to hit it first time to get it off, so he just adjusted his stride slightly and toe-poned it home with his right. Beautiful quick thinking and footwork.

The second one he was wider and on the right. Cutting back for a lefty curler was really his only option, and he nailed it.

 

I didn't get to watch the game yesterday. Just finished it, so before I read a single post here I'm going to give my MOTM to Roldan, and then I'll go back through and see what the rest of you think.