He has the luxury of playing the #10 for a UCL quality side playing against a lot of lower end MLS/USL level teams in the Eredivisie. You or I could score and assist in that circumstance.
USA deserved to win this match. Brazil were very lucky that Musah does not score at 5'. Keeper beaten. https://imgur.com/a/Hi8NxJn Sometimes I was frustrated with the attack. For example, Pulisic takes a very hopeful shot here (see above). Instead, I would have preferred to see him hit the through ball, splitting the defenders, and having either of the two on-side attackers in front of him run onto the ball and put it in the back of the net. This is where football IQ plays a role. You have an empty penalty area and 2 on-side attackers ready to pounce.
Uruguay plays a lot like Colombia... I'll be disappointed if we don't learn our lessons for that from the Colombia game
I was pretty happy with Gregg tonight for the most part (and agree with him on that quote), but it begs the question why does our offense often seem so dependent on exactly that tactic. Perhaps our overmatched Concacaf opposition gameplans to take away the middle, but it sure seems like our primary strategy is to whip in cross after cross from the wings.
thanks for the compliment ... but no I could not ... haha. in all seriousness ... Pepi must be pissed ... he is stuck behind Luke D. and Malik is playing week in and out.
I mean duh. It was like they didn’t know he only had a left foot. We fans of Preki knew that was going in way before he kicked it.
USA were ball watching on the Brazil goal. The midfielders and defenders need to get rid of the pedestrian inside themselves. Lazy, slow, not hungry.
Indeed. Your joke hasn't gone over my head. Nonetheless, a pretty good game from the US. From my seat, we probably should have won this game. A 1-1 draw is a fair result, though. But I'd be really upset if this had been a competitive match given we couldn't put the ball in the net on a few very good opportunities that we had. Great credit to Turner, who was overall very good (aside from his goalkick that led to the Brazil goal), and to Alisson who was also fantastic. Very entertaining game for the bulk of the 90.
That felt like the first time I’ve seen WM’s mojo since he dislocated his shoulder. He was having fun out there in the second half and should have had a glorious assist. I thought Jedi still seemed like not himself. Touches passes all a bit off but not the disaster of last game. Musah doesn’t seem to have tons of positional discipline but his dribbling really did get us going multiple times. Really felt like we should have won that game - but glad Turner snapped back from the earlier screw up.
Whose arguable red? Richards? If that’s what you’re referring to, then I question your entire analysis.
If you're that quick to dismiss an analysis off one debatable play, I question if you have an agenda, and therefore your entire analysis. Beyond that, look at the lowlight reel provided: stepping up late/softly and getting run in behind, getting split w/ a head start, lunging in and missing tackles, etc. It's most of those saves Turner had to make, that Richards makes a notable mistake.
He needs time. Scally was the same way, and I was beginning to lose confidence in him, but he was solid against Germany and Columbia, and good tonight. I would actually love to see Tillman get a chunk of time against Bolivia or Panama to hopefully develop some confidence.
All credit to Berhalter and the team for the very positive turn-around. In other words, I think we have a chance to advance to the semifinals where before I did not.
That is one bizarre set of player ratings. Brazil was the better team, but not by far, and somehow, there's a slew of 3s? What?
Sorry man, but Richards made a very legit play on the ball. It was nowhere close to a red. And they were going against two starting attackers from the best club team in the world. everybody knows that center back is one of the biggest weaknesses on the team. I didn’t think they were great, but they showed huge improvement over the Colombia game, and did well enough against an elite team to give us a chance for a win. Asking for more is just not realistic.
Especially positional discipline. We really kept our shape well, and that really frustrated Brazil, because we denied them the space they need to attack effectively.
Better efforts and better performance. BUT But after 5 years, this team is still NOT a good coached team. What is a good coached team? For example, like Japan. 1. Why you have Jedi running up and down, IF there is NO END result? Like a cross over everyone’s head then out of the end line? Like a cross cannot clear up the first defender? What the purpose with Jedi’s attacking? And his defense is not that stable too. So maybe put Scally on the left, put Weah on the right? 2. At least we start to do long shot—what a wood crack Musah did. But Weah and Puli both long shots need better replacement. A good improvement. 3. Weah should not play in the front. He never develop the kind of technical to dribble over a stand fest defender.
Yeah I don’t think they were really unfocused or bad. The reality is that a focused, motivated bunker is difficult to beat, especially in international soccer where attackers don’t have the same level of chemistry that they do with their clubs. This is something we face all the time in concacaf.
I often wish that players with an amazing spike in a single area would invest whatever amount of time/money necessary to improve the limiting aspects of their game. For instance, Musah should work triple hard on his final ball composure, whereas someone like Jack McGlynn should be doing double sessions with the world's best strength and speed trainers. These types of players are so close to being special if they could just get up to even adequate in their weakest area.
That's because Adams wasn't on the pitch.....Weston was in the "Adams" role, and Musah was the ball progressor.
If people want to understand a bit of why the players like Berhalter, look no further than the selection. Players who are normally good but terrible against Colombia were given the chance to redeem themselves and they came through. The internet coaching tree really enjoys punishment and threats, but especially with younger generations, belief in someone can yield better results. Kudos to every player who stepped up.
He is strong and fast, but he has kind of stiff hips and doesn’t turn very well. I watched him a good bit when he was breaking through at BMG and was frustrated that berhalter didn’t give him more time, but the bottom line was that he didn’t really do anything to deserve more time during his first 7-8 appearances. He wasn’t usually bad, but he didn’t do much to stand out on either end. He has played well in the last two games though, and quickly earned my trust. I think there are two things to consider. First, some guys’ club play just doesn’t translate to international soccer. For example, brooks had good games for us, but I never thought he was great. Guys have to prove it, and can’t just keep getting minutes with the usmnt just because they play well in Europe. The other thing is that Scally is young, and I think folks were too impatient by dismissing him so quickly. I was really nervous about having him start, but also a bit excited to see what he could do with the opportunity. I’m glad to see he is really stepping up. Cardoso was in a similar situation for awhile, and is starting to look like a reliable option. Malik Tillman has not stood out, but I think he will in time as well.
Felt like it should have finished 4-2 Brazil or something. So it’s a good result. Not sure Brazil was passing 4th gear much, probably the conditions, but it’s still Brazil. Not sure why Gregg would mix the lowest block ever with requiring Turner to be the pivot on goal kicks, but at least Gregg learned what happens and abandoned some of that. McKennie and Weah had trouble playing out of most presses, but they worked super hard. Richards is such an enigma. Not fast, doesn’t seem to dominate with size, average in the ball and in the tackle — not sure what to really expect of him. Glad to see Reyna get stuck in a bit and help cover ViniJ. Still plenty to clean up, but the worst thing from watching that game was hearing Aaronson is returning to Leeds. That’s awful news.