Post-match: USA v Paraguay friendly 11/15 (R)

Just think who we didn’t have and how they might combine with or provide depth for who we did have.

Seems we might be in a pretty good place. The only real concern I have is the back line beyond Richards.

 

He’s better than either of those guys. But even he is not really needed in our Best XI right now. Replace the two mids tonight with Adams and McKennie. Replace BA with Pulisic. Replace Scally with Richards. Then we’re pretty close to being as good as we can be in this formation.

 

I felt their skill sets were somewhat redundant. That in turn led to that part of the match, the latter part of the first half, where Reyna was coming deep, and deeper than I’d like.

Anyway, Adams too.

If you have to have a couple guys underperform in a friendly, the best scenario is for them to be fill ins for missing players.

 

I suspect Poch will use McKennie paired next to Pulisic, behind the striker, rather than in a pair in the middle. Just a feeling I have.

 

Probably no need to mention - but what a towering impressive header by Gio. Didn’t know he had that in his kit bag.

 

I sense that too and it would probably be a mistake. Reyna is better closer to goal and McKennie is better farther back.

 

Stock up: Gio, Tanner, Freeman, Balo

Stock down: Scally, Freese

Gio, Our Glorious God of Soccer, has returned.

 

He may not have known it himself

 

He said he’s been working on that recently with his club. He’s clearly a football genius. He can really do anything his body and attitude will allow him to do.

 

It wasn't that guy's ball!

 

Scally’s stock was already down. This was a chance to make the roster as something other than just a wingback. I don’t think he improved his standing.

 

I repped you but not quite as high on Tessman and neutral on Freese.

 

Why McKennie wasn't called in was reported on extensively. Poch spoke clearly about it. It didn't have anything to do with whether he's better than Aaronson or Roldan, or anybody else. I don't understand your lack of understanding.

 

I loved the combination play on the right from Dest, Gio and Tessman and once Reyna recognized it was too compressed and shifted more towards the middle and Balo got involved… gorgeous.

To me that wasn’t remotely similar to Berhalter ball where it’s all just long diagonals to the wing and rushed slashing moves that end in blind cutbacks to no one.

It was intricate combination play at the top of the box and sustained, probing pressure that signals an actual coming goal, like a Boa choking the life out of their prey.

Before all the subs and chaos ensued, the game was played in a 15 square foot space in the left of Paraguays box and imo that’s because Gio, Dest and Tessman were running the show over there.

 

So could Daniel Edelman, or Mike Sorber, or anyone else with a US passport.

 

I think with this tactic, with Wes and Gio it’s either/or. I personally feel that way, and I also think Poch sees it the same way.

Maybe it’ll be Gio when we expect to win or need a win, and Wes against peers and better sides.

 

Claro que si

 

He theoretically could have but I don't know why someone would think he would have outplayed them.

 

As is now becoming a pattern, Poch again disagrees with a reporter in the post-game press conference about what formation we played. Someone asked him why he's stuck with the 3 CB formation. Poch says we didn't play with 3 CB's, because for one thing Scally's not a CB. We may have built out of the back with 3, but the formation was a 4-2-3-1.

 

None of them are starting at the World Cup unless somebody else is injured. Our front six is probably Balogun, Pulisic, Weah, Reyna, Adams and McKennie.

Musah has been struggling so much at the club level that I'm not even sure he makes the roster at this point given that he hasn't been called in for ANY of the windows this fall. He just doesn't fit anywhere....he's not a d-mid, and he's not a playmaker, and he's not a winger.

Roldan is probably your best backup for Adams or McKennie right now, and Tillman is the backup for Pulisic or Reyna.

 

I feel like Malik Tillman has a lot to say about this discussion and has been a bit forgotten.

 

I'm navel-gazing a little, but I still think this shape is Poch' basic 4-2-3-1. Scally is a right back. Dest is up on the attacking midfield line with Aaronson and Reyna. Scally is sort of in the hybrid CB/RB role, but honestly, I think he got forward more than MRobinson, even if the possession build-out shape is the same 3-2-4-1.

I do disagree about Tessman. I thought he was pretty good, and I think his passing brings something to the position, even if he's not as defensively adept as others in that group.

 

I qualified it by saying this particular formation and about as good as it gets. Tillman obviously has a say in how things turn out.