We are playing with house money. The only thing I ask is we dont Gold Cup 2009 5-0 this thing, we play with balls and intent, and this is a success. But lets go win this dang thing! Mexico literally used the chant to buy time to get the game winning goal against Canada. It is blatantly being used by a strategic tool by their fanbase. Will CONCACAF do anything about it? Probably not, but in the ultimate super mega good happy ending where we squeak out a win, and they do the chant at the end.......hopefully that is an invitation to all of Mexico's WCQs to be behind closed doors. Mexico has a gigantic weight hanging around their neck for this one. They lose to our C team.......and its a disaster. There is absolutely no pressure on us. I love it. Mexico thinks they are so good that they can leave Chicharito and Vela off their roster? Wow........thats a lot of undeserved pride. Theyre actually formidable and respectable players that you have to game plan around, which is more than I can say for whatever else they currently have on their roster (Jiminez, Lozano injured)They intentionally handicap themselves leaving both off their roster. Their right side is weak and there for the taking, let Hopphino feed. And, well, I guess we pretty much have to start Zardes now. And real talk, we gotta start Gio over Arriola. Hoppe-Zardes-Gio is our best front three, lets get it, start it, and use it. Amazing the lack of injuries and suspensions we are carrying all things considered when you look at other teams, thatll help us on the bench. Its pretty bare in those cupboards currently, but its enough.
Can we say we have 11 injuries in the morning and call in some ringers? I don't have much hope for a good result but it'll at least be interesting to see how some guys do in a game like this.
__________turner__________ ___cannon__sands___rob____ moore________________vines ____roldan___williamson____ niko_________________hoppe __________zardes__________ could win if rob and sands dont collapse.
——————Zardes—————- Gioacchini———————Hoppe ———-Lletget———Busio——— ——————-Acosta—————- Vines——————————Moore ————Miles———-Sands——— ———————Turner—————— Subs: Roldan, Williamson, Cannon are obvious. For 4th and 5th... I imagine we go Arriola for the 4th sub. Then, who? Dike seems like he’s toast. And I really don’t want to bring in another defender I don’t completely trust, so that rules out Bello, Kessler, and Pines. I think Yuiell would be a waste. And lord help us if Lewis plays.
This is what I want to do.......but I know we are gonna need at least one of the plays defense good but cannot pass good midfielders in there, maybe Acosta for Roldan. But I could see Lletget for Williamson too.
I dunno, maybe you go Gio, Hoppe, and Roldan up top and keep Zardes in super sub role, that way you have a striker off the bench, even though I want Zardes to start. I can't feel confident giving Dike any minutes. Arriola can be the wing sub but he has not been great...
oh itll be acosta, busio and lletget for sure. i just think legs and engines make up for the skill gap at this point. i dont think we have any chance at all with this "defend from the start (with the regulars) and hope the late changes come through" template. but if we can keep mexico off the board we can bring on acosta, lletget etc, add some support to the absolutely admittedly isolated 3 attackers i have.
and make fun all you want, but a scoreless mexico in the 70th minute- old, mentally weak and increasingly frustrated- we could do worse than throwing lewis' legs on to play keepaway. i mean, warn him theyre gonna try to break his leg and all, but if theres a scenario for him in this (or any) team thats just about exactly it.
I would normally be supportive of starting Dike to bruise em up a bit, but given the circumstances of Dike looking injured/off, and Zardes just Captain America-ing hard, we have to start Zardes and why I say start Gio over Arriola is two fold, hes a better goal scorer, and he and Zardes seem to have an understanding of each other on the field beyond whipping in crosses from the corner. They play it on the ground together well too.
Thats why I cant watch Letterkenny at night anymore. Im grounded from Letterkenny at night because I cannot contain myself from hysterical laughter and ive gotten in trouble for it. Best thing to come out of Canada since Terrance and Phillip. Season 9 was a little ten-ply though.
I'd seriously consider starting Williamson over Busio. Love Gianluca's long term prognosis but Dos Santos, Herrera and Alvarez are not a small or finesse midfield. McKennie got bullied in 2019 by Herrera (he did the bullying this year); Busio may not be ready for what's going to be allowed on this field. Williamson brings more creativity and offense, but he does make more errors. I think it's a risk you strongly consider taking. I really love the late Zardes sub, and I don't think Dike was nearly as poor as against Jamaica, but he's hurt and if we play the first 60 minutes against Mexico like we did against Qatar ... I don't think even Matt Turner can save us.
Yeah but I doubt GGG makes the move. I could see an earlier sub though depending on how the game is going.
considering the number of pks mexico manages to "earn", i dont think it would be a bad idea to teach matt "its me again. i just grew my hair out and have a beard now" in spanish. he seems to be doing ok mindf'ing takers on his own, though- im just saying it wouldnt hurt anything...
We hamstrung ourselves with the roster selection a bit there. The guys we have, particularly on defense, are our ride-or-dies. I was hopping Zimmermann's injury wasnt too bad, but I dont trust Pines or Kessler in this final, at all. It has to be Sands, we have no choice. While I would have liked guys like Pepi, Pomykal, and Cowell, we are survivable at forward and midfield, but man we should have picked defenders a little better. But it stings a bit knowing that guys that are clearly not going to see the field anymore are basically dead weight (Yueill, Lewis) I feel like Im shouting into an empty room saying we should have called in Parker, but hes one of those "old guys", and theyre gross. Practically a senior citizen, old people cant be good anymore. Its impossible. (only halfway joking, Im not a fan of discarding players solely based on age. I know hes better than Kessler and Pines, and should have been on the preliminary roster) I would have taken Parker every day and twice on sunday over Kessler or Pines. And on the prelim roster, I think I would have maybe taken Blackmon over either of those two.
oh yeah......love it. I trust there will be a solid film room sesh studied up as well on........tendencies.
The match is on 2-days rest. Most of the starting XI should be turned over. -------------------Zardes---- --------------Niko-------Roldan---- --Bello----Williamson---Yueill---Cannon---- --------Robinson---Sands---Pines---- -------------------Turner------ Yueill can give 45 minutes. Sub in Acosta at the half. Yueill isn't ideal, but he is what the team have. And the team need fresh legs. The team had been barely surviving against Qatar.
The USA team has done a great job keeping fresh legs and tiring out the other team. I was surprised by how much legs the America’s still had at the end of the Qatar game. Canada and Mexico looked gased around the 60th minute.