Post-match: USA vs Jamaica CONCACAF Nations League (leg 1)

But Vasquez missed an equal chance. Pepi had one good chance and he scored.

 

We have 4 away wins in the last 11 years and 2 of those were against Grenada and St. Vincent and The Grenadines.

That's a great win! Even if it wasn't pretty, a win was never gonna be

 

Worst D since 94? A shut out on the road? Nah.

 

Hard to really come up with a lot to say about this game. The rice paddy that passed for a field impacted play a lot. Honestly, I think it hurt Jamaica every bit as much as it impacted the US.

It's a road win in CONCACAF. As others have said, we haven't had a lot of those over the years. Move onto St. Louis and put the tie away early.

 

Some good:

1. Poch has taught them the value of a professional foul
2. Love the toughness - big physical midfield for US
3. Love the defensive on the ball pressure

The field was shite and brought us down to their level.

 

In possession we looked like we had open men and multiple different ideas going forward. Passing and dribbling and finishing were rough but I thought we looked like a well organized team going forward and in possession.

At the back? Slightly different story. Solid pressing up and shape overall but wow, Scally and Ream just aren’t it. Lots of tight wire defending. McKenzie the best of the three dedicated defenders, but he flubbed the pre-pen clearance and generally looked chaotic.

 

Looked like a normal away game in CONCACAF to me. I did like the fight I saw from the team.

Wouldn't say Tillman was good, but I loved the fight and effort I saw from him (which I didn't see in the past). Still a little too lazy on the ball and with passes, but a step in right direction.

Thought Mark McKenzie was really good overall and is probably CB1 for me going forward. One iffy minute that led to PK but came up huge when needed.

Scally and Musah were great defensively, but very poor going forward.

Jedi seemed to struggle most with the field and passing early.

Tanner Tessmann had some weird moments in the first half but overall was very impressed.

This team probably loses this game 6 months ago, but they finally showed grit

 

B+ game for the ugly win on the road.

First, the context:
- We have been in horrible form, and we still have some injury/suspension issues.
- The pitch was absolutely garbage.
- As was the ref. Very physical game.
- We rarely look good on the road in CONCACAF against Hex-level opponents. When is the last time we won a competitive match at Jamaica by more than a goal?

The good:
- I loved our movement and fluidity. We definitely look less rigid and more dynamic than under Berhalter, particularly considering we were missing Dest, Reyna, Balogun, Adams, Weah, Aaronson, Sargent -- all folks that would have been upgrades over various folks that played today.
- Pochettino proved to be tactically flexible, smartly changing up shape as players moved in and out and in response to game situations to put players in position to succeed.
- Pulisic was a beast. Dynamic, aggressive, and gave 100% energy throughout despite getting hacked to pieces and running all night through 10 inch high grass.
- McKennie brought it as well, particularly in the first half. He is less consistent for us than Pulisic, but when he's locked in he is a difference maker.
- I thought McKenzie played very well outside of his contribution to the penalty. He's been playing well in France, so hopefully he is rounding into a solid consistent starting option for us.

Room for improvement:
- Still too shaky on defense. I'm hopeful Richards for Ream and move McKenzie to LCB is more solid.
- Despite the dynamism mentioned above, we need to be sharper. Very good movement and ideas, but far too sloppy. Killed some good buildup and chances with passes or touches that were just a bit off. Obviously the pitch was a factor, but it was still a concern.
- Vasquez. Oof. Two golden chances.
- Turner seems to be our best for now, and that scares me.

 

That was THE WORST. So bad, it was not even worth an exclamation point. The field destroyed all reasonable opportunity for both teams. Players stumbled over the ball, lost their footing, could not judge bounces, there was no such thing as a rolling ball as everything bounced. The field was too slow, too mushy, too many divots kicked up. Players couldn't accelerate or stop abruptly or make sharp turns properly. Fields like that shouldn't be allowed for international competitions and such fields certainly give no advantage to the home team. It was far worse than playing on artificial turf. Hard to blame anyone for much of anything (except McKennie's shirt pull).

 

Thoughts:

• You can't knock an away win, especially in a competitive match in CONCACAF.
• Got lucky with the handball, but they could have had about seven reds, so we'll call it even.
• Turner had a great game even with a bit of a gaffe on the pen and coming out crazy once. But the penalty save and that Bailey Olympico ... that's been a huge difference for us.
• The gameplan was to run the ball through Christian, and to a lesser extent, McKennie. Christian was good; McKennie was both good and lacked intensity. He lost a lot of loose balls.
• I don't think the offense was particularly good in generating chances. Huge swaths of time where we got nothing. We did create about four really really good chances, though, and went 1-4 on those. Pochettino can't fix the finishing issues, I don't think. Maybe a couple more pretty good chances.
  
• I thought Tessman was good. Defense isn't great, but of all the guys who played the role back there, he's by FAR the most progressive and creates the most danger.
  
• Ream stopped Bailey a couple of times one on one and had a couple of errors ... but the bigger question here, where is the passing? He didn't hit on anything longer than a short pass it felt like.
• People are right that Musah on the RW shrinks the field; it does. Weah should be there on Monday. But he had a number of good defensive plays and saved us on that goalline tackle when the rest of the team was napping.
• Thought aside from the pen, McKenzie was good on defense. Passing was meh.
  
• Pepi scored the goal and made some really good runs. But he was brutal with the ball -- if he could handle himself back to goal at all, we have about double the chances.
  
• Loved Busio's intensity as a sub. That's how you do it.
• Please get healthy, Dest.
• Someone get Tillman more main character energy. Soooo many backpasses. He did get back on D once that was great and that last run was quality, but we only had about three players all game who passed forward.
  
• Jedi had a stinker. Couple of defensive misses, and he was poor with the ball. I know the field was terrible. But oof.
• I thought Jamaica was cynical to the point of being dirty. It's one thing to play physical, but it was clear they were targeting hitting Pulisic after the ball was long gone. I maintain my stance that CONCACAF will never get better until the officiating forces the game to get cleaner. Teams use this as a crutch instead of learning to play better.
  
• We can add the fields to that. The field looked messed up to the point of being intentional.

 

...is that a real stat? Since 2013?

 

An away win in Concacaf is a good game. Full stop.

Tessman seemed to grow into the game.

Musah had a pretty good game and the goal line clearance tackle demonstrated just how strong a player he is. He does some dumb things, but there is one helluva of a footballer there.

Brilliant play on the penalty by the attacker, but very good save by Turner.

Ream is past it, offers just enough to keep around and probably doesn't make the WC, be nice to see him go out with a NL trophy.

Puli faded late, but got an assist and could have had another if Jedi doesn't go skywalker on the SOG. We need guys who can make other teams pay when they devote too many players to taking him out of the game.


Pepi, I like the guy and is the type of striker that Puli works especially well with.

Wes, didn't notice him much, but maybe that was just fine?

 

Pepi is being well over rated on the one shot he hit. Basically he should have hit the goal well inside the post but he managed to flub the shot but his miss was still just barely inside the goal. It was very close to a miss of a sitter. He then proceeded to do nearly nothing for most of the rest of the match. His goal does not make up for the rest of his very poor play.
We, currently, do not have an available player that can play as a center forward with any quality but, at least for now, Pepi is not the answer but he is very able to occupy the space.

 

Oh interesting stat. Poch now has as many away CONCACAF wins as Gregg

 

His plant foot slipped on the shitty field.

 

1. Klinsmann had a match against St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 2016. I don't even remember the score.
2. The 4-1 win in Honduras with Berhalter in qualifying in 2021.
3. A win over Grenada with Callaghan in 2023.
4. ??? I guess that would be tonight's match in Jamaica.

 

We did seem to do one last pressing push late in the game and got the two Vazquez chances out of it (or at least the second). Was a nice touch.

 

Yup, you can bump that up 3 more if you count friendly wins against, Northern Ireland, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, but since we broke Panama's heart in the final qualifying game of 2013, it was tonight, Grenada last March, Honduras in 2021, and then St. Vincent and The Grenadines in 2016

 

His goal (in a one goal game) very much does make up for other failings.

 

Which says he was improperly prepared in spite of the fact that he had both time and space. He is a poor center forward for the USA but the scary think is he may be the best we have available.

 

Or it says the field was falling apart anytime someone planted.

 

I knew it was bad, but hadn't considered it could be that bad. Can I change my grade to A+ LOL?

 

Jesus Christ.