Beautiful sequence. Every player except Jedi touched the ball. Utter dominance to see out the match, ending with the cherry on top.
Also: Jedi would have started for England. Dest would have started for Netherlands. Pepi would have started for Mexico. Healthy Cardoso might have made Brazil team.
Just watching the 360' replay and Weah just left Mauricio completely alone and free prior to the Paraguay goal. Mix up between Ream and Richards led to the chance but Timmy could have reacted quicker and got goal-side of Mauricio.
My comment was more tongue-in-cheek, he was ok. But 59% passing in opponents half doesn’t free you from fans’ snarky comments.
And Gio could have played for Argentina via grandparent (and should have made their roster in hypothetical world).
As that sequence was going on and especially approaching the final third, it looked to me like Paraguay was ready for the whistle to blow. If they miss advancing by -1 GD, they are going to have some regret with effort there, I think.
If Pepi had picked Mexico they'd be debating whether to play the in form kid from the wrong side if the border or the aged out legend, and it would be the most toxic debate imaginable
There was still about two minutes of stoppage after that, but I can't remember if it was kick around or corner flag. I do remember the US putting the ball into Row ZZZ at the final whistle. The only kickaround I remember was the last few minutes of the loss (!) to Poland in 2002, I think because we realized it was completely out of our hands at that point and we were hoping South Korea could hold on.
playing dirty teams in friendlies Para Aus in was a great idea especially since we didn't have qualifiers.
That one wasn't a ho-hum 26 pass sequence ending with Gio saying, "Well, nobody's stepping up to stop me, might as well rip it."
With maybe a few Concacaf Gold Cup blowouts, since 1984 , when I first saw them playing at the Olympics, I can't ever remember a USMNT playing this well in a international tournament. They blew out Argentina 3-0 at the Copa America in 1995 but that is all I remember.
Thierry or Zlatan really need to ask Lexi about his goal in that game. Steve Sampson remains the only US coach with victories over Argentina and Brazil. Neither was a friendly.
Yeah, this one pretty much stands alone. Mexico and Algeria may be next best for our opponent going into meltdown once they realized that all was lost, with the Algeria one being funny for happening instantaneously in the 3 minutes after the goal.
Just watched the replay and the USMNT never gave up and were fighting for every 50/50 ball up until the end.
Some day a dual-nat will be our coach and then we will really be able to recruit. Can someone make a list of dual-nats currently in this wc who are playing for other sides. One is on Bosnia-Her.
im really at a loss for how to approach this. its unbelievable how every. single. thing. went our way. every one of our guys was on their game. at the same time. in the same place. it was a flawlessly officiated game. it was a genuinely tragic night for paraguay. the first 6 or so minutes were shocking. for them to come out so open is an all-time example of a team going away from everything that got them wherever they were able to get and then simply throwing it all away. its inconceivable, and i know exactly what this word means. this is a team that brought in a new coach halfway through qualifying and conceded 6 goals from that point forward. they got results from 3 of the biggest teams in the world. they arent any better than the 6th-8th "best" team in comnebol in terms of quality but those numbers and results are real. that may well go down as the best stretch of soccer in their history. ...and they decided "nah, lets open things up. forget all discipline, shape, pragmatism- lets go at them". i want to be as clear as i possibly can be that im not in any way taking away from our play. im not. cause after those 6 incomprehensible minutes a guy that a whole lot of people here, on podcasts, in soccer media in general thought shouldnt be starting matches for us ("we are a better team without puli") stripped two defenders butt-ass naked on national (worldwide) tn, blew into the space paraguay foolishly thought they could cede (with the quickness and pace people insist hes lost) and set the tone in huge ways for two teams in this world cup. cause after that first goal they couldnt go back. they couldnt do anything they wanted to do and we tore them apart. they not only couldnt go back to what got them there because they were down a goal early- we relentless tore them apart. we were just so stupid good in that first half. also not taking anything at all away from us? the ref was perfect. having started so...dumbly, paraguay were trying all the same dirty, crazy over-aggresive shit that came up aces for them within a larger context but without that shape, that system, they were exposed- and the ref took that off the table as quickly as we took advantage of their tragic gameplan. he set the tone, he pulled cards early so he wouldnt have to late. its not about protecting puli, or us, or anyone- the ref/crew last night simply allowed soccer to be played. it didnt stop them from headhunting (leghunting?) puli- maybe they should have tried someone they could catch- or trying to just stomp us out for about a half hour in the second half... i like to think gio stopped that. anyways, i dont usually go man by man but this wasnt usual. freese- no notes (in the best possible way). we conceded when richards- noticeably wearing down and a little wobbly positionally for a short stretch- backed into ream and created an opening we coudnt close. you can look at one shot, one goal, no saves if you want but he played us out of a lot of bad situations. he made big plays early when paraguay decided they could play attacking soccer too (sad trombone) and again from 45-60 when our cm really couldnt settle/lock things down. freeman- had the one really bad step though/dribble late that a good team will punish but man is he huge for us. 21, barely a seasons worth of play, a physical monster who plays smart, within himself- and is usually scary good when he does assert himself. the most impressive thing about him- and theres a lot- is how relatively well he picks those moments. richards- let me clarify/add context to "worn down and wobbly": 83 of 83 passes completed? 86? he had a little swoon after not playing in 6 or 7 weeks but what can you even say? what stupid, pundit argument would you make? are we one, or even two "rounds" better with him? cause thats how good he is, and how much better than any alternative is. i want to kick pochs nuts into the moon for not taking him off but thats very literally tomorrows problem. ream- everyone listen carefully...perfect. a would-be motm 93% of the time performance. most of you know how thoroughly i evaluate things on a granular level and he was phenomenal. he still cant pass the ball in the way people think; his range is gone, he cant bypass a single teammate (much less break a single line) anymore but as a defender- A DEFENDER- there were exactly two plays (not movements, not sequence of events but single touches/plays) where he was involved and an opponent could take advantage of- and both were fully on someone else. as for the not-yellow, that is one of my favorites in a night chock full of favorite moments. not only was it the incredibly rare instance of a reffing crew getting something exactly right, but i was dying laughing at the idea that he could have caught, much less fouled, almiron from behind. and he tried! both guys had handfuls of jerseys and you can see the kick out (which is what gets called) in the replay, he couldnt even make contact, and i saw it all the way. i felt like ted lasso when he saw the offside before anyone else did. jedi- jfc. you could make an old school and-1 mix tape of him in this match. im still scared of how high he plays now, and his ability to recover how he has in the past, but if hes going to be that high he might as well do this great right? tyler- stupid (fully deserved) yellow, poch was stupid for not taking him off...also the most classic adams performance weve seen since hes been back. wes- its criminal how little credit hes going to get because of the preponderance of way, way above "average" performances. i hate whoever does his hair, not cause i dont like the red/white/blue but after 4 years they still dont get how to take color out of hair to get anywhere close to white. heres to the red, orange and blue? wes is f'ing amazing. speaking of amazing and outperforming even high levels... tillman- levercusen got a f'ing bargain, and it aint maliks fault they cant get this out of him. should have had 2-3 goals/assists, both in actually missing some but also in a real issue for us thats still gonna be here after this high wears off: hes too indecisive/unselfish, trying to find the perfect goal when really good ones are available. overpassing is something that is almost certainly gonna bite us...but again, thats tomorrows problem. one of four, by my count (him, puli, ream, wes) who could have been motm if not for the overall confluence of badassery that defaults to balo with 2 goals. puli- know youre stupid. thats all i ask. im not asking you to admit it, i know you never will. but if youve ever thought (or posted ad nauseum) that he should be benched, that hes overrated, that hes not world class youre just stupid. and dumb. and wrong. probably ugly. not every match, not every half. but hes it. all it takes is the team around him rising to his level. dest- i dont want to be negative at all here, but he has zero final ball. you can like his sexy touches all you want but hes full of sound and fury signifying nothing. doesnt mean he cant, or doesnt, help. doesnt mean i dont like him and am really glad to have him. but hes not an attacker. and its possible both wes and malik (and a little tyler and freeman) are all going to be on in the same match again. so i will now say hes playing more positionally diverse (which accentuates his threat, however empty) in this role quite a bit better than i expected him to. u-s-a! u-s-a! and balo. theres going to be a time he wont have space, and his effectiveness is greatly diminished when thats the case, but until that time comes- right now? have some of that, motherducks! pepi and weah were the only two who approached "underperforming" their average, neither could really get anything cooking, but even thats more petty than how pissed i am wes cant get a passable "white" in his hair. seb was good, and the second biggest tragedy of the night (comedically at least)- great idea to play over the top to pepi, didnt quite hit it/keeper read it then fell on his ass before he could get off a followup shot. people wanna act like that was a "sitter" to even-dumber-than-wondo proportions...and honestly they should, as long as its making fun of him. he was good. and finally gio. a very sincere and full-throated f you to every single one of you haters. what we have the opportunity to take from this match- we meaning us, the soccer world, those nerds on the today show who have to act like they know what theyre talking about, "soccer is (er, not manly?") bros, little kids everywhere? what we are taking would have been drastically less if not for gio. theres more to be said, but not right now. right now? hell. yes. full stop.
More Tears of Joy on the second viewing. I haven't missed a USA WC match since 90. I waited for a game, performance like that for a long time. The dagger by Reyna...speechless. I hope their footballing consistency is better than my golf consistency. LFG!!!
Besides the fantastic win, my best moment of the game was that cheating ******** Almiron getting the yellow for diving after VAR review.
Not sure how having a dual nationality coach makes any difference. Klinsmann is a German and US citizen and Berhalter did a great job. As far as American born players. 2 Mexico 2 Haiti 1 Bosnia 1 Canada 1 Cape Verde 1 Japan 1 Jordan
Absolutely, showed he belonged. There were absolutely other players that should have been discussed before Gio. I felt Gio was a pretty comfortable invite, or should have been.
Following up now that I've slept and watched on TV for fun: Our passing fell off a cliff in the second half when Berhalter came in and Tillman went wide. Hopped over to OPTA to see the numbers. All lower: general pass %, opponents half pass %, final third %. The people around us and we ourselves were not deceived by our eyes. Berhalter completed the lowest percentage of passes other than Balogun and Freese. 71%. He was bad, and Tillman was moved out of a position he was dominating from in order to accommodate Berhalter.