Yes and no....it really depends on what type of friendly it is and when it is in the calendar. The last match before a major tournament is about as important as friendlies get, especially for the players who are competing for playing time and/or roster spots. This was a "friendly" that had the intensity level of a WC knockout round match.
I agree that this, along with lateral quickness and change of direction, are probably his athletic weaknesses. People think he's slow though, which is definitely not accurate. I'm not sure I saw it with Cardoso either when he was with the U23s and remember being a bit concerned about his athletic profile. Just goes to show though that you have to give younger players a chance to develop. I agree with you on Tillman as well (although I think he would already be there if he were a half step faster and more physical).
I usually agree with somewhere between 0% and 70% of your opinions (with the average probably being about 30%). But this post I would personally stand behind 95% of.
I'm one of the people that's been the most pissed off about Reyna's WC crap. But he's generally shown well on both sides of the ball since returning to the team last year. I'm glad he's continuing to reinforce my new opinion of him, even if doubts linger.
Tillman at PSV versus Tillman with the US is primarily a function of game. The dude is a guy who plays off other players, not really creating from scratch. He's going to kill it on a team where every player on his team is significantly better than the entire other team because he does a good job of playing off other players. He's going to be good for the US, I think. But he's going to have to learn the international game a bit more, which is more individual and more rough and tumble and then figure out how to contribute when his team isn't dominant. He's got the skills and the physical tools; it's all about the desire and head at this point.
I have often criticized Berhalter for his naive and presumptuous system, and I am encouraged that, for at least one game, he respected our opponent and went with a more pragmatic game plan. Our defensive shape was good from the start, with the fullbacks staying home and our midfield providing good cover in front of the CBs. We played less out of the back, and when we did, we moved the ball much faster, and more vertically into the spaces created by our compact defensive posture. It wasn’t exactly parking the bus, and we did have a few turnovers in bad spots, including Turner’s mistake trying to force a short goal kick. Still, we created many more clear chances than against Colombia. I liked that we were keen to shoot from outside, but we still need to get service to our center forwards. It was great to see Turner saving a bunch of balls, in spite of another mistake, and he has to be feeling much better after this performance. I would have liked to see more rotation though. This result was meaningless except for team confidence, and now Brazil and our other opponents have gotten a good look at what is likely to be our A team and tactics. Pulisic, Robinson, McKennie, and others put in another grueling 90 in the brutal Orlando heat and humidity, and we did nothing to audition or integrate their backups into the team. I can’t fault the players for their effort, unlike against Colombia. They appear to have gotten their heads and bodies out of vacation mode.
Same here. That’s also why I don’t think he deserves praise just for doing whats expected/what his teammates all did.
Nor to get too down on the result, but .... I don't think Brazil are that good. They're sixth right now in WC qualifying. Vini would be the least impressive Ballon d'Or winner in memory. Kind of a byproduct of the Saudi raids.
If you want some as-honest-as-you-can-expect discussion from a US Soccer person, McBride is pretty good on Call it What You Want on youtube.
Our CBs are not the fastest, and have a worrying lack of quickness in tight spaces, but I don’t agree with you that they were caught out of postion. The only time a Brazilian cleanly got behind the defense was on that great move by Vinicius Jr, but he was covered, he just beat Scally and none of our players were going to catch him in the open field. The other plays were all at least pressured into going wide or hurrying the shot, and ended up with mostly routine saves for Turner. It wasn’t like Colombia, who took advantage of one broken play after another as our guys jogged back. Richards made an excellent tackle, and the red was rightly waved off. It was a do or die play, and he got all ball. We still have a lot of work to do though, and need to develop more central defenders, but these are what we have. The midfield was tighter than they were, but they need to completely eliminate their habit of getting dispossessed on the dribble in our half.
Don't know if it's posted later in the thread, but they had it in the postgame. Something like 1.7-0.9, Brazil favor. They took 24 shots so a lot of rinky-dinks adding up.
I saw one that was more 1.5 - 1. But the post-shot xG was flipped -- we were very accurate on long shots. Wish Christian had finished that one off.
Especially when you had the perfect persective standing behind him at the Coliseum. My first Nats match.
Another reason why the Colombia game was so disheartening, it certainly raised questions about the subs.
The group is Brazil and Colombia, and Paraguay and Costa Rica. Brazil will find a way through, but a loss in the QF's seems likely if they face Uruguay. Hopefully Uruguay fans travel well for that match, if it happens.
No Wes has just been off. As far as progression goes at the club level Juve keep him out of the engine room.
Once more item: Puli needs to finish his chances. Not just this game, but WC knockoff game vs Dutch. If he can finish that one, it may unsettle Dutch players.
A compact low block is just a bunker by another name. But we didn’t totally change our style. We still tried to play it out and we still largely attacked how we attack. A few more longballs to the tall ST and Weah.
Though I watched games back then, I was still working at my college and totally missed it. It wasn't until 2000 that I began watching every game on the regular.
Not to be debbie downer, but the consistently inconsistent piece fits right in w/this performance. I wasn't sure they'd perform well tonight, but i also wasn't surprised. They usually bounce back from ---- shows with strong performances. Window 1 of '22 WCQ is the only time I can recall that not really happening after 2019 (and even in '19, after the disaster away vs Canada, we thrashed them 4-1 at home).