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

The pundits who actually played the game like Lahoud from CBS Sports have said that Morris was better than Tessmann. The rating platforms like FotMob also agree that Morris was better. In fact Tessmann had a woeful match as a DM v Australia and got a FotMob 5.9. A look at 8:23 of the highlights shows an example of how Morris attempts to shield a backline which is the first priority of a DM.

Morris spots the danger and immediately and aggressively rotate over to make a play on the dangerous attacker. That is job 1 for a DM!

Morris has the mentality, quickness, and aggressiveness to replace Adams in a pinch at the WC.

 

Yeah this is really more a front three issue.

 

This was a good window, but man, we've got to be concerned with the CBs. And we're now playing 3 of them, and there's really not much else we can do about it.

McKenzie looked bad in both matches. Terrible news that just continues to lock in Tim Ream as a starter who is currently a mediocre MLS CB that has a 50% probability to expire before the World Cup.

Miles Robinson now seems a likely every game starter as RCB, and he wasn't particulars good here in either match, either.

Then Chris Richards showed he's fully capable of getting turned and burned and shutting off as well.

Signed,

Debbie Downer, sorry.

 

Cardoso is living in the ether right now. On paper, he's an upgrade on SOMEONE in the midfield. But he's been absent due to injury. I feel certain that he'll get called into the next camp (if he's not injured, again or still) but he'll be graded against all the others that have gotten a chance in his absence. The "others" who have been with the team in his absence have done well. He's got to come in like the rest have and SHOW it when he gets the chance. Will he? Won't he? That's for the field of play. Ultimately, what I've seen from all the guys who've been called in since summer is positive. Johnny needs to play well when he gets the call, because there's a load of good competition for those CM spots.

 

Again on paper, Pulisic is our "star" player. But he doesn't seem to work with the rest of the team well, and often. He'll absolutely without a doubt be on the roster next summer, but I have my doubts as to whether he'll be a starter, despite his credentials.

 

On dominating the

Was there. He was really positive. Moving pressing, constantly showing for the ball. I don't think it's at all fair to compare him to pulisic even though he replaced him.
There were times when he was looking for guys to run to spaces that they didn't see yet.
Is he going to light up Spain? Probably not. But could he be a headache against Egypt or a similar opponent and throw off their defensive game plan? definately.
Also, he's not been to Europe, you can see his spirit is American to the core.

 

Roldan has been in two camps now. He was in the September camp as a surprise addition after late injuries, and played well in his minutes against SK and Japan, and then followed that up with good play in this September window. I'm not suggesting that he's the be-all end-all, but he's got 4 matches that he's shown his stuff, and it would take a real ass to declare that he's been poor in his minutes in these camps.

 

Another note from being live is that (imho), when Aaronson was on the wing he could have turned or beaten his man on several ocassions that would have changed the game and the narrative around him.
He just needs a shot of Paul Arriola level confidence to get himself back in the mix.

 

I'm a massive Dike fan. The guy has been injured for years, but if he can come on strong I think he'll be a guy that Poch will call. Agyemang is in there as well, because he's got the push that Poch wants. Sargent doesn't have any of that. I think Sargent is going to be out, barring several injuries, ultimately. He's had his chances and hasn't done jack squat with them, even disregarding the "goals scored" line.

 

This sounds like finding a way out of giving Roldan the props he deserves. Wright doesn't do a lot of the things that we'd like from a 9, but his finishing is on point. And Roldan hit him two passes that matched what Wright does best. My estimation is that Poch has found a way to put players on the field, regardless of who they are, and get the most out of them. I also think that you're gonna be surprised next summer with the final roster.

 

This.

Also, while I agree with that pecking order you list for our Striker position under Poch, Robbie Findley and Chris Wondolowski got selected at the end of the day over men that had a hand in WCQ. Findley starting against England in our opening game in South Africa 2010 no less. No one watching back then saw that coming from Bradley.

 

Wright’s first goal against Australia was pretty slick. He intentionally hit the ball early, from a bad posture, with a toe poke nonetheless, to catch the keeper and the defenders off guard. His toe poke was placed really well from that bad posture. Good stuff.

I remember from my youth soccer days one of my coaches told me that I could toe poke the ball once I knew how to hit it every other way. This is what he was talking about. Haji snuck one in there.

 

The eleven here in Los Angeles in that opening game will feature wrinkles that are dependent on the match up. There will be guys that some don’t expect.

 

i dont get how anyone can have cardoso in the wc roster and argue for starting roldan, sands, etc at the same time.

cause if cardoso is in while never showing it at all with the nats then nothing happening in our nt matches matters. saying we have to see how sands performs in this system with these players in this setup is necessary due diligence just doesnt hold water.

weve spent the last year just doing random shit- which everyone thinks is groundbreakingly fantastic- but we are in exactly the same place. johnny, pepi...we know who these players are. the nt is just a vanity exercise for poch, and way too many of you think hes reeeal handsome.

 

Currently the highest World Cup BMI reported has been Shaqiri at 28.7. Diego's is at 28.4 when I plug in the MLS profile numbers. As far as I can tell, Shaqiri is a big outlier.

 

Can George Campbell sneak in as a defender. Is he better than CCV?

 

I don't know, I would say that both Shaqiri and Luna have "outlier" body types. And genetics plays a part in BMI. In terms of fitness the important thing to me is what a guy's work rate is, and can he maintain it. Luna's work rate looks pretty high to me, and it looks even higher when you see him play in person. Is there room for improvement? Sure, yeah, probably. But I wouldn't hold him off the roster for his BMI or his fitness generally.

 

The vitrol towards Poch on sempremilan.com is pronounced.

You'd think the world revolved around Milan -

Milan fans' prioritization of what's important:

1. Milan
2. Milan
3. Milan
4. San Siro
5. Italy
6. ...

9,067. The United States

 

Tessmann played like 25 minutes as a sub in a broken game in which Richards said he would likely have gotten into a fight if not for carrying a card. I don't get why you're so well, particular about this? I guess you're a big Sands fan maybe. I don't see it, and I don't really think a late Tessmann sub on in a disasterclass kind of nutty game like this one is worth digging into too much w/regards to late subs? Even the ref decided to kill the game off early probably to avoid fights.

 

I can't believe how completely incapable McKenzie is from turning in just 1 freaking complete performance without brain dead wtf moments. He's a good CB, generally, for club, but these freaking brain farts are simply never ending. It is so frustrating to watch him fail in this way as an international player. Feels like it is ALL in his head.

I'm not worried about Richards, but like you, I'm worried about every other guy. Banks needs to be brought in, in November if he's good at all with club. I don't trust literally any CB in the program other than Richards, I don't view them as bad, they've just all stalled out as mediocre prospects with a wide variety of horrible issues that make them borderline unplayable (Ream-Old and Slow, CCV-No athleticism or verticality, McKenzie-horrendous decision making/brain fart issue, Miles-Not the same since his early '22 injury etc).

 

Richards just had a bad window by his standards.

He was sketchy against Australia for sure. Bos sized him up and megged him in front of everyone.

 

If you did not see the match why are you even commenting on it? My response to the other poster was about Tessmann vs Morris not sure why you brought in Sands?

If you had watched the match you would have seen that Tessmann in his 26 minutes had zero defensive actions, passed the ball to the opposition twice, once in our half, and was dispossessed twice.

Over the two matches he had a total of, wait for it, one tackle! A DM who does not play any defense or have any ability to win back the ball is useless, especially if we are going to play an aggressive, proactive, fast transition system.

 

I will call Haji the Haji “Deuce” Wright, because he always had a brace when he scores in a game (check his games in EFL).
When he is hot, he is HOTTER in USMNT. When he is cold, he is OK in USMNT.
By contrast, when Sargent is hot and he is cold in NAT. When he is cold, he is freezing in NAT.

 

And Herc. He only made the squad after catching fire at Puebla.

 

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