A little bit of CONCACAF luck on the no-call PK, but that was a good away result. I think we create 2 or 3 more quality chances on a reasonable field.
Busio did well, surprisingly. Scally just scares me as a fullback. This is the type of game Tessman likes, down and dirty in the gridiron. Puli played with a chip on his shoulder. Tillman did ok for being a soft player, he put in a good shift. Pepi did his thing as always.
It's a shame about Johnny. He's had that muscle discomfort that comes and goes. I think he's trying to avoid doing any more damage by coming off when he feels it coming on. I would not be surprised to see him used as a sub in game 2.
Not bad. In these games we typically have loooong stretches of defending our own box. We only had one sketchy period in this one…after our players stood up for Pulisic they started getting really physical and we had difficulty getting the ball and keeping it in an extended period of 50/50 play. Turner had a really good game. Don’t listen to the haters/whiners…Ream had a good game. Musah had a good game. Tillman had his best game for the US. Pepi played well. Pulisic is showing some excellent signs…showing leadership. Weston was good. Tessman showed signs. Johnny showed signs. These kinds of games are different. They aren’t about pretty passes and combinations. They’re about athletic plays, physical plays, smart plays, etc. You’re playing donkeys in a goat pasture. You look at whether or not guys are winning and keeping the ball. They did that in this one…they had 60% of the ball.
This has to be the name of an album by a 1990’s grunge pop band in a Mighty Wind-esque Christopher Guest/McKean/Shearer flick.
You could see the pass from Scally to Pulisic for the assist is something they planned in practice. Scally made the same pass to Puisic later and it might have gone for a 2nd score.
Brutal conditions. Made for a sloppy and disjointed affair. Long grass, slow pitch and seemingly huge dimensions. Shame concacaf teams seemingly create crap conditions to try and reduce the advantage the talent of teams like the usmnt have provide.
The game did seem chippier tonight than I'm used to seeing, but the better team won as expected. Some of what you saw was probably just frustration of facing that inevitable reality. At this point, I'm just looking forward to the next round of Gold Cup qualifying.
Ironically, I'm not entirely sure it's effective. When you look at Jamaica's record against the USA or any other top team in the region, the bulk of it's best results have actually come on the road (be it in the USA/Canada/MX for a home and away/friendly or a neutral venue during the Gold Cup or some other tournament). We don't really have a great home field advantage in "The Office". One could argue that as the player pool has grown and more and more of our players have spent larger portions of their career developing outside of Jamaica, coming back to "The Office" actually hurts us, because the same conditions you note can undermine experienced players used to quality facilities start to hurt us more too. I have suggested before that we play all of our games on the road in Miami or Atlanta or something, maybe RB Arena when the weather is good. I was really only half joking about that, we would probably win more games doing this.
I’m sure they’re embarrassed when they have people like Weston and Pulisic show up (these guys network too) and they have to play in those conditions. It’s not something that imbues the team with pride. I’m sure that’s in part why these games always get chippy. The Jamaican guys probably get sick of playing on it too.
Its like when we decided to play that WCQer in winter in Minnesota against HOnduras. It's a little embarrassing. We're all like.................we don't need to do that. Do you not think we can beat Honduras straight up? We can't beat Honduras in Orlando in pleasant conditions? Jamaica has talent in their squad. They don't need shenanigans. By the way, that's not the worst I've seen the Office. I've often wondered if that's just about Jamaica not having the funds or organization to take care of the field. The unprofessionalism that the star Jamaica players have lamented. Not some tactical/technical reason to slow the game down. Jamaica has good, talented players. It doesn't help them either.
Look, it was ugly. But I watched in Spanish and picked up 5% of the commentary. I saw Tessman a net plus He, Tillman, Pulisic, Pepi, and McKenzie had multiple give aways, but Tessman made more positive through passes and diagonals than any other midfielder. If I was Poch I would … — give someone besides McKenzie a try at CB. You could see there was a plan so pop balls over the back line wide, and he executed that. But he didn’t inspire faith in his judgment on D. (Speaking of which, can we get Matt Turner a crash course in when to come off his line?) — worry about Pepi because while he finishes better than our other CFs he contributes negatively when he drops deep — insist that Tillman attack space/carry the ball forward when he receives in space. He isn’t good with one touch passing and is good passing off the trouble. And like Musah he is big and strong and fast and uses his body well. — tell Pulisic that his whining and gesticulating isn’t helping, wven though he is clearly our best attacker. — be satisfied with Scally, Ream, Musah. Why was Wes so quiet again? — kiss Jedi for getting in Leon Bailey’s grill — generally beat the caution out of this team. The balls over the top broke the cycle of a continuing horseshoe of sadness. But that was probably following instructions. There is still a lot of hesitation attacking through the middle, too much so in the opponent’s half.
It's not just the physical resources, it's the human resources as well. Jamaican football is, like many other aspects of the country, plagued by stupidity. There are capable people, but the number of folks who simply lack the foresight, intelligence, and common sense to make reasonable decisions that move the country forward is simply overwhelming (this is to say nothing of the ones who have all of that but are just corrupt), and it means simple things that everyone knows need to be dealt with, and that everyone knows exactly how to deal with, just do not get done.
Yeah, now imagine that EVERY home game of yours is a Minnesota Snow Bowl game. That’s Jamaica. At some point pride needs to step in.
USSF didn’t know a blizzard would come through for that WCQer. Jamaica knows their grass is super long and they own some lawn mowers.
The snowbowl one in Colorado did actually make sense. It was in Colorado for a simple reason. Our next game in that same window was in Mexico City. So, it was part of high altitude preparation for Mexico. That game, once it was snowing, really could have gone either way. The Minnesota World Cup qualifier in the last qualifying cycle was silly. They said it was played there to minimize travel from the previous qualifier in Canada. Bunk. It was a stupid attempt to gain an advantage over Honduras. And at this point, Jamaica playing on those types of fields is counterproductive FOR THEM. You'd think an experienced coach like McLaren would say "This is stupid. This doesn't help a player like Leon Baily." And yes, there are a lot of nations that try all sorts of shenanigans to gain an advantage. Our Central American friends play their games in the most hot and humid conditions possible against the US hoping that gives them an advantage. And yes, Mexico fans say that playing their home games at altitude in Mexico City is no longer an advantage for them either. The players they have coming back from Europe aren't used to those conditions.
Good post The thing about Turner is that he never has been good off the line. Horvath isn't bad at that. Check out USA v. Italy. On balance, Matt is our best gk. Pulisic: In today's football, the CAM gets hacked. Let's see them chase Brenden instead of Pulisic. McLaren in post-game presser remarked how he had no idea how that ball didn't go in (Musah's goal line block). Pretty amazing to have a winger who can do that and then pop up twice to serve up high xA passes to our strikers in the box (only to miss because of pitch) at the other end of the pitch. Sign him up. I'd like to see him get another outing in game 2 and bring Weah on to mop up becasue I imagine Moose must be pretty tuckered out at this stage.