What a difference a forward makes. Ledezma, Other Gio, and Soto can be part of the cool kids club too.
Team seemed much more coherent even before the goal explosion, but yes having an actual forward did make a difference.
yup, this needs to be the mindset going forward. We should be comprehensively beating Jamaica, Honduras, Panama, T&T, even Costa Rica on the regular. Mexico is the only one of those who should realistically be giving us a game at this point.
Pretty bad 30 min in the second half. I get this is a thrown in team, but for christ sake it’s Panama.
My only criticism is that Miazga and Ream go about as well together as oil and water. Otherwise, that felt good. Yes, it was a bad Panama team. Yes said Panama team is taking a nosedive in quality even by their standards. But we did what we needed to do
The forwards did good today but competition was not the greatest. GGG wasted the Wales game looking for sure playing false nine.
A bit of focused team energy, a bit of flair, young player confidence and the coach telling the team to attack wherever/however, plus fairly well coordinated player movements (most of first half and last part of second) works wonders. Now, I'd like to see it for a full game.
Find a way to keep McKennie, Musah, Ledezma, Adams and CP on the pitch in the midfield at the same time with Gio floating behind CF who can combine a little and we're in serious business.
Yup, I am a huge proponent of harvesting MLS for more central defensive options. Long, McKenzie, Zimmermann, Miles Robinson, even Parker need more thorough examination in the future. Who knows, maybe some other youngsters will break through too. Brooks is great and ready now, Richards no question is the future, but we need a few more pieces and I dont want Ream and Miazga to be the best options we have.
Berhalter got out of the Wales game exactly what he wanted, which was a narrative that we need Zardes to beat a team like Wales.
Don't really have that many takeaways. I'll say that I don't think Reyna is necessarily starting for a full strength US team atm. He's not starting over any of the 3 midfielders, and he's not the greatest fit at RW. I was also very happy with how Soto looked. Two great poachers goals and looked very active on the press. I think Zardes scores both of Niko's goals but he doesn't score Soto's. I don't see a difference in skill, ability, or athleticism between Sargent and Soto, albeit this is quite the small sample size for Soto.
I think it would be better to have some talent on the bench than it would be to screw up our lineup/formation to squeeze all the talented players into the starting XI.
I was a bit disappointed with him. Not sure if I'm expecting too much of a 17-year-old, but he hit several subpar balls today. Great, great potential though. The hype is real.
The thing about Soto is that he's had a lousy club situation, however it got fouled up. But he and Sargent have been the standout YNT forwards of recent vintage. And he's doing it at club level, and there's talk of loaning him to a higher level in January, now that he has an established track record.
You might not have many takeaways, but they are good ones. Everyone has Reyna in the lineup with a Sharpie, but we have a lot of good players who can play that position and a rotation of sorts with a strong bench is what a team needs to win tournaments. You are correct as well about Soto vs Niko. I would also point out that for as bad as he looked at times, it was Weah's patience and ability to link up with others around the 18 that made a difference near the end of the match.
this: ----------Sargent pulisic----gio-------ledezma ----------Mckennie -----Musah-----Adams Dest---Brooks---Ricards.
Not a bad performance. Nice to see some goals. I'm glad we played Panama though - it's a good indication of the kind of hacking we'll see in WCQ. Much more physical team than Wales. Still some defensive issues to work through. Midfield to attack looked promising though. Quick passing was making Panama dizzy. I still think our best XI is not all-euro.
He's making his USMNT debut during this camp so I am sure there are some nerves. At the same time, Reyna is clearly a guy who needs to play with great players around him for his strengths to really be evident. I think if we ever get our best players in camp (Pulisic and a real striker) we will see a much better Reyna.
For Ream & Miazga’s supposed veteran smarts, those PAN goals cam from sloppy play and lost focus. Still enjoyed this match, gonna be a long wait for me until I can watch these kids again. Want to see more of Richards, Musah , and Soto. edit: spelling
Yeah... depth is so important and you need to be able to rest guys when they wear down and have legit options off the bench.... especially when these guys are playing for club and country. It boggles my mind a bit that Wes played 180 minutes this week and didn't really show any signs of wear. He was our best player overall IMO. His skill w/ the ball at his feet has grown so much over the last year or so. You pair that with his engine, aggression and attitude and you are left w/ a fine NT player. Really impressed. Aside from Wes... my stars of the show tonight were Richie and Soto for showing us what it is like to be able to actually score from a cross. Richie's service was perfect from the run of play and on corners and Soto was the definition of a 9 w/ respect to tracking and attacking the ball w/ his head.