Post-match: USA v. Japan - September 9, 2025 - International Friendly

100% this. Many on this board love to extrapolate on tiny sample sizes and without context.

 

Yes, LDLT is like a less athletic Musah, and skillset wise Musah should be as good as LDLT at ball progression ... but he's not. One thing LDLT has on Musah in most games is aggression. The Turkey game was a real good one for him -- he was constantly in forward motion. I don't think Musah has EVER been that guy. Once or twice a game he will bull forward, but it's not his default.

It's entirely mentality based because he's a physical beast and technically stronger than LDLT (though LDLT is a really fast dribbler).

I'm not saying call LDLT over Musah so much as ... Musah is pretty poor as consistent ball progression because he rarely actually dribbles and he's not much of an incisive passer. LDLT has his moments of progression because whether it's matchups or whatever, there are games where he is very active literally shuttling and I've never seen Musah be that guy.

But I'm not sure the point of this?

Musah himself opted out of the Gold Cup, and I'm fairly certain Musah isn't here because he was literally in move to Atalanta when they called up rosters. I know you don't like the latter, but the former is on MUSAH, not Poch. I'm sure the personal stuff was necessary for Musah -- he really seems like a guy who struggles a bit with the mental side of things and I know that can be hard to work out -- but that was 8 games he could have been staking a claim to a spot.

 

Given how much Weah, Musah and Wes have played at WB/FB at club the past fee years, I feel like they need to be in that discussion, especially given that in my opinion they are all better at that role than anyone wr have outside of Jedi and Dest.

 

This point is exactly why we need another CB for cover. 2 ATB has been not very good if you haven’t noticed.

You’re mainly just wrong about Freeman.

 

The irony is hilarious

 

Definitely agree on converting Scally to CB. On Freeman I want to see whatever you think you’ve seen going forward in a U.S. shirt and I’ve been actively looking for it, but dude, he was Scally levels of bad going forward yesterday.

If Dest, Scally or anyone else killed a promising attack with that idiotic and inexcusable offside run, they’d be burned in effigy for it.

 

Interesting angle on Wright. I've wondered if the positional versatility will lead to him winning out for striker 3 because of a positional group crunch, which will happen, having a guy who can cover at WF, and Striker would be valuable, but you are right, he is not or appears to not be a high work rate type, and Poch has barely used him as well. Additionally as I've said elsewhere, I think he's an extreme luxury WF, in that I think he's utterly useless against low blocks, he's got value in open games because his goals tend to come versus stretched defenses, or with defenses splayed open. I don't think that will happen much at a WC, where teams will be cautious as hell typically, especially if they view themselves as a Pot 2-4 caliber side, which will be our oponents.

As such that probably really, really opens things up for Agyemang, and Downs if they can have breakout seasons in the championship, as Sargent is donezo, for the this cycle barring injuries to 3 of our top 5 options.

 

You can quibble with pretty much any roster at any time. A person who chooses to do that in this circumstance is choosing, for whatever reason, to purposefully overthink. You can also choose to underthink the US roster, which was not an “A” roster either. You can choose to underthink the context (this was a glorified tryout for fringe US players and players who had been out of the team).

The two US players who turned the game on its head are guys who get constant Euro-elitist hate: Max Arfsten and Zendejas. The US keeper is a relatively new guy who got his chance when other keepers were not available. The starting DM was an old MLS guy who got a last minute call in. You can choose to make all kinds of excuses for all kinds of situations for every team in every game.

In the end, none of it matters.

 

I have not seen Freeman contribute more to the attack than Scally. Potential? Yes. Has he shown it on the field? I haven't seen it.

 

Thank you. Outside CB in a 3CB backline is a different position than a CB in a pairing. We may not have a lot of high quality CBs in a 2CB system but we have a lot that can play (and even excel) on the outside in a 3CB formation. Almost all of our "top" CBs play outside CB in a CB trio. You do need to have a stud center CB and Richards is proving to be the guy.... IMO, as long as he is healthy and on the pitch it is a no-brainer to go with 3 in the back. We now have 120 minutes of evidence that it works.... and years worth of evidence that we SUCK when playing w/ 2CBs.

I have been a coach for a while now and while I do have a preference for 3CB formations my player pool dictates what I run out... and oddly enough I had to go with a 2CB formation this U16 season because I don't have a player that is physically capable of playing center CB in a CB trio... but I have to play it w/ traditional FBs. I guess the ideal for most is to have two stud CBs that they can run out that allow them to attack with two modern fullbacks.?.?... But for the USMNT we only have one (near)-elite CB and our FBs keep getting caught up the pitch and our opponents are keying in on that space.... particularly on Ream's side. When Blackmon was paired with Ream it was a recipe for disaster because both are undersized (lose aerial duels on the regular) and slow of foot (getting beaten behind). In short... they just can't cover the space but they can put in a good shift when they are asked to cover less ground.

 

I'm generally formation agnostic. I tend to shy from 3 ATB because I like to control the midfield and that's generally hard to do without numbers. Pochettino changes that a bit, because his wingers act at least as partial midfielders, but it still can be a challenge. And defensively, since Pulisic is there, we're always working with two subpar defenders up top anyway (striker+Christian).

That said, 3 ATB is a totally viable option. It's often very effective against 2 striker systems, and having five defenders is a very common response situationally. I mean, we'll probably want it for a good 60+ minutes of the group stage hopefully just for that.

Injuries will really determine a lot of this anyway, but if we are actually healthy, we will need to make some calls to bench some guys no matter what.

And I will say that if you are leaning into Dest, 3 ATB is enticing on that side of the field. If Jedi isn't healthy or needs a rest ... it's really enticing.

I see this as a common concern, but we don't decide anything. I think Pochettino is pretty aware of the level of competition, and while he's played 3 ATB plenty of times over the years, he is usually a 4231 or 433 guy, so I think if he runs that way, it'll be because of some pretty strong pushes.

Agree with the concerns. I do agree with the counter on the CBs ... with a large number of our guys playing 3 ATB or even fullback at times, they are more comfortable. It's also less individual stress on them.

I also have no urge to bench some of these guys, but (a) injuries happen and (b) I will say that I'm less worried about benching the next group down (like a Musah) than I am a McKennie.

We'll have to disagree. I think you are putting too much emphasis on the very last ball played (and in a smaller sample size) and not enough on off the ball work or the pressure he's applying during those long runs and over the top balls.

It's been a long time since we've seen a fullback really pin back an opposing counterpart or attacker due to speed. His runs and Balogun's runs really allowed us to progress the ball when we really were struggling to, and it opened up a ton of space for Pulisic and Zendejas.

And while his hit rate isn't super high, he generates a lot of opportunities. He's in the 99th percentile for xG/90 in MLS for fullbacks and in the 93rd percentile for xA/90 -- I know people pooh pooh MLS but I'm merely saying that while I know he's not impressing people with silky smooth skills, he's accurate enough and his other attributes generate more chances, more than making up for it.

He was very good defensively yesterday while still basically wrecking what Japan was trying to do defensively on the right. Yes, if he had Dest-like skills, he'd be amazing, but he'd also probably be from another country.

 

At this point, I think it comes down to what Poch wants from a back-up striker: Either (a) touch and good finishing (Sargent) or (b) speed and power (Aug). Unless one or both of Pepi/Bal are injured, they seem to be head and shoulders above the rest.

 

I think Sargent got a 3rd chance to impress Poch after not impressing last fall, and according to Poch, not being good enough in March. Nobody thought he was good this past weekend, nobody. I think the most likely scenario after this window is that he's seen enough of Sargent. It sucks to me, and for me, because I like Sargent, think he's good, and always believed that without Tillman or Reyna in CM, he would probably look like garbage, he needs good service to succeed, but I will be completely shocked if Sargent manages to make the WC roster w/o injuries playing a signifcant role. I could be wrong.

This seemed pretty straight forward, he wanted to see Sargent, White and Downs this window, and when Balo was healthy enough to come in, and White wasn't, he deleted White, and gave Balo this 2nd start, while giving Downs a sub on after Balo's strong sub appearnace on Saturday. Downs and Balo had similar positive moments and "damn!" moments as subs, and Balo was significantly better, and a genuine fit for the teammates around him.

Sargent's out now, I don't think there's any other way of looking at it. He may get called in, if injuries require it, but I will be shocked if he gets called in, w/o injuries playing a role. FTR, I'm not gonna be sad if he gets called up, I think he's a legit striker, he just needs alot more than Balo or Pepi or even Downs it seems to be productive and goal dangerous in the shirt....which to my mind, means he's done this cycle barring some realities none of us will want to contemplate (litany of injuries etc).

 

The fact that the discussion is about the merits of a formational change is proof that there’s something there.

 

I've seen it with club, I've seen hints of it with the national team but no goal contributions yet, just some misfired headers and bad crosses etc....if you go back and watch the gold cup, you can see him in getting in good positions where a quality directed header would have gone in, you can also see him periodically overwhelming defenders with his size/pace combo, but nothing concrete, yet, the concrete stuff has been in MLS (a brilliant assist a few weeks ago for instance, very Jedi at his best like).

 

I think we can get away with 2 CBs if both Adams and Jedi are available, combined they provide a lot of cover. If one or both isn't available, which has been often, then 3 CB, becomes much more attractive.

 

Then you don't know what to look for.

If you don't think Freeman's long runs yesterday, pulling Maeda and their left CB back towards the corner didn't open up space at the top of the box for Zendejas and others doesn't contribute more to the attack, I don't know that you understand how teams defend and how teams score.

Defense in soccer is about connected positioning between players. Once you face a set defense, there are only a few ways to beat it. One is absolutely being amazing, but the other is forcing the defense to break that connected positioning.

Freeman didn't have an incredible final ball, but he absolutely wreaked havoc on Japan's defensive organization.

It's funny, because you can see this when we're on defense. You spent most of the game thread calling Arfsten's defense terrible because he had to recover on a few balls and stop a guy deep in our territory -- of course, nothing came of those -- but on the converse, where Freeman helps create chances but nothing comes of them it's the same as Scally backpassing to Richards?

BTW, Arfsten had all of one bad defensive moment yesterday -- the other two that I saw you comment on were clearly actually pretty good defensive recoveries by him that people freaked out over but both amounted to nothing and if there was a chance was largely on others not covering quickly.

There's a common thread with playing down Freeman and Arfsten in exact opposite ways, and I'm trying to think of it?

 

Well, he is capable of going into the final third, which Scally seems to have trouble doing regularly because the opposing LM or LB can pin him.

Freeman has no such limitation.

 

Zendejas and Reyna would absolutely be competing. Zendejas played the winger-as-half space playmaker role that Pochettino has played a ton all over his career and has been super common the entire time he's been coaching here.

The vast majority of the time, he's essentially had 2 10s, and it's either been a winger and a CAM playing that role or two wingers. If we play with 2 attacking fullbacks, it's definitely two wingers.

Reyna could play further back, but clearly that winger as CAM is a role he'd be in contention for. Zendejas could conceptually play a wider winger role, so he could compete with a more Weah style winger in that realm, but he's clearly also an option for the winger-as-10 role he played yesterday.

And with Dest and Freeman looking like #1 and #2 there ... it's a real possibility that role is preferred there.

Which means, yes, both could make the roster, but they are also both very much competing for that role as well.

The coach isn't crazy at all.

 

Fair enough. I watch some MLS, but as much as I do the top European leagues. I've only seen Orlando a couple of times this year. But I take MLS performance with a bit of a grain of salt compared to higher levels. I see Freeman's physical abilities, but I've also seen far too often he is where attacks go to die. Scally proves it every week versus a much higher level of competition. Unfortunately, his team BMG doesn't typically have the luxury of letting its fullbacks bomb for (hopefully Gio can help tip the balance a bit for them), but I've seen enough to know he is fully capable against good comp.

I do like Freeman, though. He is young enough and with enough potential that it's worth investing callups in him. But he's far behind Scally in my book right now.

 

We really aren’t far off on any of this. I like having 3ATB in our pocket, I’m only arguing against those who think this should be our locked in shape moving forward and that it’s a panacea for what ails us, or was THE reason we looked good against a Japan B/C team.

On Freeman I’m aware of and watching his effectiveness in MLS and I think he’ll be our solid and competent backup FB. I just don’t see any evidence through GC or last night that it’s translating at all going forward yet.

If I’m stuck on any particular sequence it’s the egregiously idiotic offside run at about minute 30. If that was Dest he’d be skewered for it.

No chances created big or otherwise, no completed crosses, there just isn’t any actual evidence of what we all expect and want to see from him going forward imo.

Agree to disagree though, I’ll drop it, I’m clearly in the minority and hopefully in the wrong as well.

 

I don't know that the strength of our pool is wingbacks. Dest and Jedi are great, but Jedi does not need to be a wingback, and behind them the guys are not spectacular. I like them, but I'm not calling Arfsten, Freeman, Tolkin, etc. great. I get that you can use Weah there or even McKennie, but we don't have a left footed one, period, and those guys can be used elsewhere.

I'm not opposed to some of your points; I just don't think it's this slam dunk. Most formation decisions are trade-offs not simply X is better than Y.

Opposition matchups should be a real consideration as well.

 

The helpful factor in this whole striker assessment is that all of that grouping - Flo, Pepi, Sargent, Wright, Downs, Agman - have a rich fall season in which to distinguish themselves and for Poch to observe. Between that and Ecuador (they can be defensive monsters) we will find out who the best 3 or so are for Poch to depend on. I am just happy Flo is healthy and back in the mix of the competition to see who will be up top come next summer.

 

I think he wants B, or at least he wants his 9 to test and run in behind the opponent's back line. For me, Sargent's best moments were his time at the 22 World Cup. And there he was checking back a good deal so that Pulisic and Weah could run at and attack defenders. That role suited him. Now Pochettino seems to want something else.

It's sort of reverse with Balogun. When he first got here under Berhalter, he was fine, but he didn't always seem to click with the other attackers.

But Pochettino wants a 9 that is probing the back line much more than one checking to midfield. At least so far, and the will suit Balogun and Agyemang better than Sargent

 

I remember a few years back when Dest was an AM on the right side and not a right wing back. I thought I remembered a time when Wes was right back and Dest was in front of him. Dest is a menace in the attack .... there are options with 3 in the back for Poch to consider.