Saving it for when we play Brazil in the quarterfinal. Don’t want to use our good finishing until then.
I hope they already got their crappy game out of their system. So, who do we cut? I propose CCV, both Tillman brothers, and Sargent (fitness).
Yeah feel it’s obviously Sargent and credit to Brazil too, much easier to root for without Neymar . Just, not against us of course
Sargent due to injury - or else he's the starter for me. Tillman brothers should go simply because they aren't nearly good enough.
Well I do mean the true definition of mediocre, which is not good, not bad. But I think we mostly agree here. His foot skills have improved significantly over the past few years, but he’s not going to be the type of keeper the top teams are looking for as far as foot skills. But he still has the abilities to be an asset. Similar to Scally, who people here love to insist offers nothing because he’s not Dest. He had a dynamism his first year at Gladbach that seems to have been coached out of him. Yes, he hasn’t been good the past season or so, but he still has enough talent to be an above average player for us (and in the Bundesliga). So many of our fans love piling on our players when they’re struggling. I think it makes them feel more knowledgeable with European and South American fans who tell us all our players are absolute crap.
I believe only one needs to be cut, as we have 27 in camp for 26 spots. If they think Sargent will be ready by the Panama game, I’d keep him. He’s one guy who has the potential to be a difference maker, and it’s worth keeping him around as we get deeper in the tournament. For me, Tim Tillman is the easy choice to cut someone. We have good midfielders who we can rotate plenty. LDLT is ahead of him, and I don’t think he will play much at all unless there are injuries, cards, or we rest our starters against Uruguay.
For me, there was one big positive. They came back and showed pride. They played well overall but like you said, it was a friendly. I said before and I will say it again, you can't put too much importance on a friendly. That being said, if there is a pattern that exists over a series of games, and it continues through the friendlies, that can and should (imo) be noted. Positive: I do believe that the team has improved over the past few years under Berhalter in possession and playing out of the back. That was evident today as well. Against Columbia...no, but overall it has been an upward trend imo. Negative: Offense is unimaginative and does not create chances for the CF position. No different today. Balogun and Pepi were almost completely invisible in both games and that is the norm. When is the last time our CF got multiple chances in a game. Our offense/players doesn't create space for the CF.
Just finished. First…Diabla jr’s band concert was amazing. 100 5th and 6th graders playing instruments they’ve only learned to play in the last year…as loudly as possible…magnificent. Great rebound match. I briefly read a couple of posts before posting. Whomever said this is the bar is correct. This is what I expect from these guys. Scally fricken killed it. Y’all might not know this…but that Vinny kid is pretty good. I feel like we created more chances tonight than we have in the last half dozen games (exaggerating for effect) Good in possession. Good in transition. Gritty. Good foul early from Pulisic letting Brazil know we were gonna bring it. I don’t like Berhalter. With that said…I said over the weekend the players needed to step up and Colombia was on them. Tonight they stepped up. If that was Berhalter ripping them a new one…kudos to him. Is that was the players holding themselves and their teammates accountable….kudos to them.
Just saw them; the reporter must have been drunk, or doesn’t understand the ratings scale. 3 for Scally????
Much, much better effort from both the team and coaching staff. I would have felt alright about the performance even if we had lost because we seemed to employ a smarter and more practical gameplan (that is likely translatable against future competition). I feel like we played closer to the "respect the opponent and alter our style accordingly" side of the spectrum as opposed to the "play our preferred style because US soccer has arrived gosh dammit" that I think is naive, overly prideful, and ultimately sub optimal. I'd like to see more of this going forward, and not just when our backs are against the wall or playing a top team like Brazil. A few positives: 1) Not only was the energy and commitment great, but I thought we played more physical than usual. The team didn't look as soft as it sometimes does. This was foundational to the success of some of our past, scrappy teams and it's frankly foolish to not take what the refs give you in that respect. Canada did that to us last cycle with positive results. 2) I liked the shots from the outside. I realize they're probably low percentage, but to me, it forces the defense to open up a bit and is better than shuttling the ball around 40 times until you can dribble it into the net. That rarely works out for us as we typically just end up losing it. 3) The offense seemed more free flowing and less robotic than normal. Not sure whether it's a function of Brazil not being overly disciplined on D or something we specifically changed, but I liked what I saw and hope to see more of it going forward. 4) While we did play out of the back (and quite successfully at times), we also seemed more willing to play direct when warrented. I also remember a clearance out of the box by Weston that he might have tried to control and reset in the past. I thought we generally did a better job tonight of taking on risk when it situationally made sense as opposed to building out of the back at all costs. That was as entertaining a game as I've seen us play in a while. Kudos to the team (especially Turner) and coaching staff! Hopefully it carries over into the tournament.
I haven't seen the ratings, but Brazil was better than us. Double the shots, double the possession, and double the xG. It was a good performance by us though so I don't know how they could rate anyone too low. Edit: Just saw the ratings. Holy hell. The writer needs therapy. Lots and lots of therapy.
I attribute a lot of our success tonight to the fact Brazil doesn’t press half as much as Colombia does. It’s night and day.
I forgot to mention that I mostly liked that we played appropriately compact for the most part. We shouldn't be pressing teams that can easily play through it and I don't remember us doing a ton of that tonight. And being compact doesn't mean we have to bunker like it's 1990. It means showing the right degree of respect for your opponent and compressing the field when necessary. Thought the coaching staff struck a pretty good balance there tonight and that the players did a pretty good job executing.
This is a great point. I think this opened things up for us a lot more since 1) we rarely do it and 2) when we do, it’s often out of frustration when we can’t break down a defense the way we’re instructed so ends up a desperation shot that doesn’t come close. I wish so badly that Musah’s shot went in. Not just because it would have been an amazing goal against Brazil and one of the prettiest in USMNT history, but for his confidence. If he can start scoring occasionally to semi-regularly, even in less spectacular fashion, he’s going to be a very effective player.
You might be right. My continued hope is that the coaching staff eventually learns to strike a better strategic balance between building out of the back and playing directly. There's got to be a plan B when the other side takes away your preferred tactical style.
I'm happy with the game overall, just to make that clear. But I reject this notion we defended well, outside Turner. We keep struggling in transition, not picking up, or getting between man and ball. And the CB pairing, especially Richards, really struggled. This comp depicts one mistake after another, and it doesn't even include his arguable red, or the goal (that was more of a bad initial ball from Turner, questionable shape, and lack of reaction collectively). All ELEVEN of Matt Turner's saves against Brazil, the most by a USMNT goalkeeper since Tim Howard against Belgium in the 2014 World Cup 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wEgI9L2w1j— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) June 13, 2024
I've never understood some of the criticisms of Scally here. Maybe not the sexiest player, but he jumped into a mid-table Bundesliga side at 18. And he's actually a better athlete than I think many people realize.
I got frustrated w/ how late he was on the overlap. Left Weah out to dry multiple times. He looks to play back and square a lot. It hurts your build-up. Also, he can't take on anyone 1 v. 1 like Dest or Jones. So you lose a lot of offense w/out him. And this system depends quite a bit on offense from fb's. But he's sound defensively. That's what he'll give you typically and he showed in these 2 games, w/ tough match-ups. He's a decent option for a certain type of system (stay at home fb or outside cb in a 3-man back-line) and match-up. From a system standpoint, it hurt us in both games. Because of who he was tasked w/ neutralizing, he was palatable. I think we should still consider bringing in Jones and be willing to start him when so much of what we're going to ask isn't defensive at least, and if he's going to start against dangerous wingers, we should tweak the system to accommodate him and make his services less needed. Heck, we could think about moving CP to the right because he doesn't need an overlapping fb. Though he might be compelled to come back to help more often, pulling him away from goal.
I really think that Brazil was perplexed by not being able to get through us much in the second half when we went very compact .... Gregg will have to think hard about that with the third game against Uruguay.