Post-match: USA v. Ecuador [R] - October 10, 2025 - International Friendly

Fair points!

I suppose I'm assuming this kind of focus means they won't be playing down. But perhaps I'm assuming a lot, on the back of 2 good performances in a row.

 

I dunno. Balogun wasn’t there last window, for one thing, and also to me the primary change has been playing 3 guys who are center backs with their club teams.

 

Richards comes down to how much you punish him for the goal. That's not going to show up on fotmob, so if you are putting a lot of that on him, then he's going to be substantially lower.

 

Yeah I thought Tessmann was excellent, and might’ve locked in a spot for next summer. Morris wasn’t a huge liability like he was in the gold cup, but he wasn’t very good either imo.

 

Yeah. I wasn't endorsing ESPN's ratings, just putting it out there.

A lot of board folks were blaming Morris more for the goal than Richards, which I think is @$$ backwards. If Ream would have gotten beat like that, there woukd have been retirement catcalls all over.

Now, I thought Morris, Ream (positionally) and Freese (no push off on the dive) all could have been better on that play. But Richards is the one who got beat. Morris' play was 70 yards from goal.

Other than that and a couple of loose passes in the early build out, I think Richards was good. But I'd still prefer him at RCB. But we just don't have a stud to marshall the middle.

What was FutMob's rating for the entire squad? I give more weight to the relative numbers rather than raw.

 

Yeah, my point is not that Poch sat Balogun, it's that he was in the last 2 games, and just having him in the lineup is going to make our "tactics" look beter.

 

pretty weak trolling, honestly. i go into detail in your midfield thread, so you can consider that or just keep right on living your life without involving me.

 

Balogun makes a massive difference.

Yeah, there's been some minor tactical changes, but the biggest tactical change has been much more of a mindset. We are more direct and much more aggressive. But we are not a counter attacking team stylistically. Every team counter attacks, of course, but we're not sitting back and trying to spring them.

We're controlling possession and getting the ball everywhere and attacking consistently. It's a Poch team.

No matter how it's written on the lineup card, there has been one tactical shift -- and it's been really to have wide attackers on both sides of the field. Call them wingbacks, fullbacks or wingers, we are sending a guy on each side who is staying wide most of the time and who is getting forward.

 

you didn’t respond to my post about Brendan being better than Luna

 

Balogun was there. He was a late add. But when he came on, the team changed.

Playing 3 CBs is a decently big change as it has opened up two wide attackers better. Agree with that.

 

I don't know that he is. If you are trying to get a goal, I'm going with Luna. If you need someone who is going to get on the ball and dictate play, you want Luna. Brenden is a low touch midfielder who presses well and has some strengths, but they play fairly differently.

If I'm behind or trying to win the game from a tie, I'm bringing on Luna.

 

No credit for the 3 in the back?

 

FWIW, ForMob had us 343:

Tillman: 8.0
Balogun 7.6
Richards: 7.5
Weah 7.2
Arfsten 7.1
Ream 7.0
Morris 6.9
Freese 6.7
Tessman 6.6
McKennie 6.6
Robinson 6.6

I'd agree that everyone was pretty good or better. I'd agree that Tiilman & Balo were our best players, though Balo was MOTM for me.

I thought Tessman & McKennie were next best pretty clearly. Then Arfsten & Morris.
Then Ream.

Freese, Richards, Weah, and Robinson would have been at the bottom for me. Though again, I thought everyone was pretty good.

 

I’ve got to watch again (first time in years I’ve even contemplated watching a match again) but on first impression I suspect both Morris and Tessmann being our deep midfielders has a whole hell of a lot to do with this. Both look to advance the ball, even under pressure…and both are really good at doing it.

 

Poch said that it was 4 in the back for the most in this game except possibly for during build out because Arfsten pushed higher. And if it's "playing at least 3 guys on the back line who are CBs for their club team" that was no longer the case when Freeman came in. Japan was more solidly 3 in the back.

 

and Gio is better if we’re down a goal against a bunkering team.

 

Yeah, when Luna comes into the game, he looks to kind of take over and control the (up) tempo. Aaronson not so much though he has other strengths, so it's a bit of apples to oranges to me.

 

can you explain how Sands is different than Morris or Roldan? And isn’t Musah better than all three?

 

That looks about right to me.

Morris was the platform we played off in the match. His activity allowed Tillman to play higher unlike the GC where Malik had to be everywhere.

Morris led the match in duels 8 of 11, tackles 4 and fouled 4. He made 91% of his passes and really was everywhere, open to receive the ball and support the attack everywhere. Much like his time at Columbus he can be a bit over aggressive and gets dribbled. But to use Nancy's terms he is brave with and without the ball. He could fill in for Adams in a pinch at the WC.

Tessmann was solid but I confess that I am biased towards a DM that is a ball winner and Tessmann does not win enough balls or dictate the defense enough for me. Folks often talk about Tessmann's long balls but they were not effective and he is not much of a backline protector.

Tessmann could not effectively fill in for Adams in a pinch.

 

It was fairly similar to our Gold Cup tactics ... except that with Weah at "RW" it played a lot differently than having McGlynn or Berhalter there. Is that a personnel change or a tactical change? Certainly the way they play is completely different and it just as easily could have been an instruction change.

 

Interesting!

 

Yeah, Aaronson is always going to be a peripheral player for us, and Luna’s style and personality mean he’ll never be peripheral.

 

Sands is much more of a big classis #6 and is not as comfortable receiving and manipulating the ball in tight spaces as Morris.

Hopefully we see him against the physically bigger Australia squad.

 

Morris and Roldan are both high energy, high activity, defensive first 6/8s. They both have lots of range, high work rate, tackle well and can be all over the field. Offensively, they both move forward well but neither is incredibly ball secure or a consistently great passer, but they get stuff done, often simply through doing more. Both, I think, play pretty well into the very direct, very aggressive ball progression Poch has clearly been pushing.

Go forward. Eliminate opponents. If you turn it over, counterpress like heck to get the ball back or stop the counter back on us. That's Poch ball, and they both naturally do that. I think Roldan is a bit more versatile and Morris a bit better at anticipating opponent's passing.

Sands is also good at anticipating, and plays very nice positional defense, but he has much lower footspeed and tends to defend in a smaller space. He's not really a presser or a guy who dribbles forward. He's a pretty good passer but tends to play from a more stationary space.

Is Musah better? He's bigger, more athletic and he's more ball secure on the dribble. He could be better. But he tends to disappear and he's not a very decisive offensive player. Morris or Roldan may give the ball up more, but they are going to create more. The ball can stop with Musah.

If he can change that and add Morris' work rate, sure, I think he'd be better. But will he?