I don't mind them cutting in. But it can't be the ONLY thing they do. It's too predictable and too easy to defend. We've seen it, and what results is Pulisic and Reyna trying to dribble three dudes with no outlets. Being that predictable kills their talent advantage, Anyone can be defended if they consistently run into a double team over and over and over.
The most important lesson learned these two games. If that very critical fact has been pounded into Greg's head, it might be worth it........slightly as a net plus. Busio should be bench option before Acosta or Lletget ever again
I don't have a ton of experience in Central America. But my experience with Central American-Americans, so to speak, is that they freaking HATE Mexico. My Salvadoran, Honduran, Costa Rican friends have little love for Mexico. I assume it translates, though I think a lot of it for those in the US is the basic assumption that they are Mexican, given the ratios in California.
Just getting to process. Sorry if all this has been discussed: Players: I liked Steffan tonight PROVIDED replays confirm the goal really wasn’t on him. Live I thought he missed a chance to be hero, but the back lines really failed to attack the ball. And his distribution was very good except for one skyball early Miles was good, but had a higher rate of error than lately. The giveaway was more miscommunication than physical error, so I’m less bothered by it. Richards was unimpressive. Just not seeing it. Maybe the fact that he won zero headers is tainting my view. Jedi was solid. Dest was very good in attack. Adams is a fantastic player. Best in the pool. And was a good leader tonight. Musah and McKennie are probably not complementary players. Not that they are the same, but redundant. And McKennie definitely looked off it a times. HOWEVER the ability of the midfield to receive, turn and pass with general competency was the difference in the match. So kudos. Weah and aaronson were good. Just need better interplay moving into the box. Weah’s shot was a rocket. Pepi didn’t have the finishing magic but continues to show why he’s good. Overall: These players are good but they lack some intensity. That needs to develop quickly. The offense is pretty putrid. The US went the first 22 minutes without a shot. In the moments before Dest’s strike, Pepi had semi whiffed a header which get recorded as a shot and McKennie had yanked one from outside the box into row q. That’s it. A couple of low crosses had been blocked but no shots. The xG for the game was less than 1.5 despite the fact that the US has tons of possession and CR looked athletically outclassed. I assume this is what Hamerby looked like. Maybe the players can fix it, but Gregg doesn’t seem to have ideas on movement into the box. It’s a major issue. Another major issue: set pieces. Opponents look threatening, the US does not. That’s a fireable offense when it stretches over many games. Very glad for the result. It was nervy but it happened. Hope the players are healthy through the next window.
MLS is at least a good as Championship head tennis. Patrick Vieira has compared MLS to the bottom half of League Un. The SPL is just awful. Last season Rangers didn't lose a single game. The league is only ranked highly by UEFA because of the performances of Celtic and Rangers in Europe (yes, Celtic are having a hard time).
2 windows 6 matches, One thing is clear, the group of Arriola, Leetget, Acosta, Bello, Zardes are what most of us who paid attention thought they were. Fine as subs. Or maybe spot starts, but we have enough data to realize playing multiple of that group is not good. They are needed but needed as depth and late subs. Hopefully ggg learned that. Also sorry Steffen, Turner is the starter now.
I hope Gregg recognizes that. Busio looks to be more ball secure, provides much better field vision, and is a better passer. Sebastian often plays more conservatively, but that often doesn’t really help us.
In the end of the day, Turner is going to let in less goals. He's also the guy far more likely to put in an absurd display that single handedly wins us a game. I get your POV, but Steffen's lack of consistent shot stopping is simply going to give up more goals. He has the tools to fix it, but he hasn't. I do appreciate your argument is based on actual play and not "but, muh, Man City" though. Still don't agree.
I think those guys have roles to play, but we can’t afford to have them all start together. It just doesn’t work.
Dest was player of the match for me, but Musah second, he just bossed the midfield and ran even more of the box-to-box role than McKennie, creating some dangerous attacks. Overall, good response and second half, should have scored a couple more outside of poor crossing, mostly by the Jedi, and the defense giving up some easy opportunities.
When Lletget is playing at his best, he's more ball secure than Busio. He's also better in the box and stronger on duels. Of course, against Panama, he was far from his best. Busio can make some amazing freaking passes. He really has the offensive talent to be the regista that Berhalter so clearly wanted. But he doesn't have the defense, and he's not a final third kind of baller (aside from some distance bangers). So he's kind of a weird tweener with great skill, strong poise but lacking explosive athleticism or really a killer skill aside from some of his long balls. He's 19, though, so who knows who he is in three or six months? I'm glad he got some relatively stress free minutes against a tired team. It'll be interesting to see HOW he fits in given his skillset. Offensively, Berhalter had to love him -- he's the dude Gregg wanted Jackson Yueill to be. Defensively ... he's Jackson Yueill, but younger and less strong. It's the challenge we have in the midfield. Can you protect him, and if you do, is it worth it? I like Busio -- this probably makes me seem like a hater, but I was pretty much the only one who stuck for him as a prospect post U17 World Cup when everyone else was saying they couldn't see anything in him ... but he's not Gio Reyna. And I think people underestimate what players like Musah and McKennie bring on defense. Either way, I'm excited to see what him and Luca, who isn't the same player but shares some pros and cons, can bring.
Of course it did. The MMA midfield is our best midfield, IMO. But ... people understand that we didn't play it in Panama not because people don't think it is the best, but because McKennie was injured and we were trying to rest guys for this game, right? Right?
Lletget is ball secure because he’s absolutely terrified to pass forward. LAG bench player. Get in form, then he can play again, until then…. BYE
Not sure how Roldan escapes such a list... dude has gone 30 games for the national team without scoring a single goal. Last game he was brought in as a substitute winger replacing Weah with the US desperately needing a goal... This is what we got: Pulisic and Reyna will soon be back. Then there's Aaronson who is a borderline starter. Weah is looking quite good at times. Hoppe out of position isn't a bad option. Konrad who could have been subbed on instead if Gregg called him in over Roldan. Morris is now returning from injury. Arriola is a good defensive winger, useful to bring on to protect a lead (and really that's all he should be used for). That's EIGHT names well ahead of Roldan. Not even sure I would have him next after that... I would put Roldan on a 30 man WCQ roster as the versatile option in case of emergency and "good locker room guy", but Gregg doesn't even call in 30, so Roldan should be done!
Also, roster size wise, we did fine. I’d have liked another true winger, but we were ok. Thankfully and hopefully est window we don’t need more than 25 if guys are healthy and it’s just a 2 game window.
I don't think it is anything you can definitively know unless we had gotten 9 points or like 3 points. We won this game 2-1. In another world, if we had played the starters in Panama, do we get 2 goals? Or do we come away with only one point? If the starters played in Panama, do they even tie? Do they really come away with 3? It's entirely within the realm of reason that if you tried to play with far less rotation that you get 7 points. Maybe even 9, though it seems unlikely. But it's also entirely possible you walk with 4 or 5. I'd argue that the Panama game was also a pretty worst case scenario for that lineup, and if we played it 10 times, we come away with about a point on average. We weren't even far from a draw playing like complete shit. This is one of those things that I struggle with anyone having such a clear, hardline answer. The number of people who screamed that Berhalter was a moron for rotation correlates highly with the people who blame Arena for not rotating in Couva. Life happens once, we can't run scenarios. These things are rarely cut and dry.
Yes. But Busio/LDLT should’ve played IMO. Was fine with Acosta starting, but he or crappy LLETGET should’ve been the ones subbed off.
Turner will have a net effect of anxiety on the back line and goals given that shouldn’t have been much like the Zardes goal that he should have at the very least punched if he couldn’t have grabbed it with two hands. Steffen was scored on on sort of a fluke play where a guy had an undefended attempt on goal from what…10 yards out? This place is weird…they frame the Zardes own goal as “not Turners fault” when every keeper in the world knows he is responsible for that ball in his box near post when he is positioned near post. However, a guy somehow gets the ball undefended for a free shot on goal and its somehow Steffen’s fault he didn’t make the save? Had Steffen made that play it would have been a + play, and had Turner made the play on the Zardes goal it would have been a net 0 play. Turner was horrible against Panama. In my opinion he was so destructive to the game plan that it ruined team morale. He had a catastrophic effect and singlehandedly caused the national team to revert from a possession-based team to a hit-and-hope team who relied on second balls and bounces to go their way to create chances. That alone is reason to sit him for a long time until teams forget how bad he is at distributing the ball.
Alphonso is Canada’s reason to win today. But considering we have our two key players out, so our result is not worse than theirs. They will have their down when Alphonso is out. For US attack, as long as we build a strong midfield and make sure they can pass the ball to Pulisic at an advanced location, we will be fine.
Total fool's gold victory. Team is way less than the sum of its parts and this match could've easily been a draw or loss. Couldn't complete a clean final pass to save their lives. Pushed to the limit at home vs. a geriatric Costa Rican team that they should've defeated by 3 goals.
The best part was Jimenez taking that late penalty for Mexico at El Salvador. Did you see that? Bottles and cans flying over the goal and landing around the ball and between the ball and the goalkeeper. Anybody can convert a penalty when the field is perfect and the only obstacle is the goalkeeper. The bumpy field and flying bottles and cans add an extra degree of difficulty. Kind of like making a putt on the PGA Tour versus a miniature golf course with all kinds of distractions and obstacles. CONCACAF, it's kind of like soccer, only harder.