Now that the blood has left my alcohol stream, I can see things and evaluate things a little clearer. People at the watch party thought I was drunk when I said we were gonna win 5-0. They were right. I was drunk. But I was also almost right.
Something else I noted was with the emergence of Freeman was that we now have 3 credible set piece attacking threats with McKennie, Richards and Freeman. Ream is pretty well useless, and always has been, attacking set pieces but those other three are pretty decent at it. Wish we had more of that 2000s set piece threat in the team today. We don’t score nearly as much as we used to off corners or free kicks.
As a heavy student of American soccer history, it pains me to say this, but one great goal does not make an all-time great career. Certainly not a career comparable to Brian McBride's. The three games in the World Cup in Brazil in 1950 were the only games Gaetjens ever played for the U.S. And FYI, Joe Gaetjens was not a "Brooklyn striker". The ASL team he played for, Brookhattan, which was owned by the Brookhattan Trucking Co., played its home games at Starlight Park in the Bronx.
Agree on Thierry being the only serious thing - always concise and on point. I will often rewind and put closed captions on just to make sure I get what he says.
Would be cool for Raya to get minutes in this WC, but from what I've heard Simon has a lock on #1 for Spain.
Yes, but he was choosing between US, England and Nigeria when the Orlando fans and USSF put the full court press on him.....
Best half I have ever seen the US Nats play and that goes back to 1986. It wasn't just that we won 4-1 it was the way we won that game. We were fluid in attack with the interchange of players going outside in or inside out was beautiful to watch. Patterns of play were evident all over the field with third man runs, players finding the half spaces and players like Balo and Mckennie pulling players left and right. The number of players starting with Puli able to dribble past defenders was eye opening. When you add the counter press that as soon as we lost the ball it was recovered just destroyed anything Paraguay was able to muster. On offensive the only quibble was that we sometimes tried to overplay the ball. The most obvious example was when Balo got the ball wide open about 12 yards out with plenty of time and space to shoot but he plays it wide to Dest who is even more open, but has a bad first touch and does not get a shot off. It was a case of a 70% chance passed off for a 90% chance that we missed. And ironically it was Dest, one of our finest technical players, who failed his first touch. On defense the counter press and spacing of players worked very well. Ream, Richards and Freeman were all excellent. Richards was 83 for 83 in passing. Richards only mistake which led to the goal was when his misjudged a ball in the air, pulling in Ream and Freeman. That opened up space on the left side with Dest late to cover giving Paraguay a free shot. Again, Freese didn't play badly but he didn't make that sensasional stop that wins tight games. It's a shame we didn't get a clean sheet. We only have one clean sheet in the last 14 games. Still, it was a great performance. Everyone on the field played well with several players imo have 8 or 9 out of 10 games. Even Berthalder had a good game which I would rate either a 6.5 or 7 shows how well this team playered. It's just one game but this team showed what it is capable of. If we can fine tune the defense a QF shot is a real possibility.
Great post in general. Thanks. I'm fine with the sometimes overplaying of the ball. I think if we're going to lean to sharing the ball, looking for the pass, playing as a team ... I will live with some oversharing rather than selfish play. Sometimes it's not the right play, but it comes with the overall better choices, I think. That said, I think this particular pass was great. Of all players, I don't expect Dest to overplay that -- I really thought that was a goal. I'm sure Balo did as well.
I thought that one thing that helped Pulisic to make the great dribbles that he did was that Paraguay was giving him so much space. Other teams may learning that if you do that, he punishes you. He really has some speed when he's given room to use it.
Sounds like you were at the match. You should be pinching yourself just about now. I wanted to ask you how the fans sounded in there? Over the TV it sounded loud and at times fever pitch, but there was very little organized singing or chanting that could be heard. Was there/not a big AO section that tried to get that going??
Not always, he turned to create space and pushed and ran a few times but he wasn't double teamed, which would in turn have left Balogun, Tillman or McKennie in space.
Just finished rewatching. One thing to add is that our work rate and tenacity was supreme, throughout the entire match. Shows fantastic fitness and prep, both physically and mentally. If we can keep that up for the next few matches, plus similar levels of confidence and execution... hmm... who knows what we can achieve?
The ball shouldn't have gone through two CBs. By the way, Dest was already out. The player that was standing around was Weah.
Different rules back then I guess. He never became a US citizen and played for Haiti before and after his time in New York.
Wow -- got through all 18 pages. Just have to say that it was awe inspiring to see how free we played yesterday. The team was like it was unshackled and just playing loose and confident and the result was a stifling press and a flowing movement that was really just irrepressible. Some moments: Clearly Puli skinning the two defenders Jedi and or Puli and or Dest just skinning the outside defenders wow! Dest's fake go back, no go forward move late. Balogun's 2nd goal, the run, the pass, the composure and finish. Tillman's blind, leaping backheel. Look again at that 26 pass sequence on Reyna's goal and around 18 I think it is Wes making a couple great touches near the sideline to keep the sequence going. Multiple players on 50-50 balls, just poking the ball to a teammate - not by chance, not by dumb luck, but because they knew where they were and they had the skill to get it to them. Very seldom was there an aimless ball played by the US, no matter the situation. Just gorgeous - so happy for the team. Truly hope it gives another jolt to soccer growth in the US. On one negative note -- someone made a comment that the hit on the US is our youth development system. And they are right, though less than a generation ago. Until the clubs and USSF own that and that is growing, it will continue to lag. I have a friend who has coached extensively at the youth level at highly respected and successful clubs even coaches ODP. His story is when he was coaching U12s the club was very clear to him that developing players wasn't as important as winning games. Basically, the parents are paying so much money, they only want to pay for a club that wins games - so that is what the club focuses on.