Compare our fouls w and w/o J. Jones. He was our "policeman". He protected M Bradley and protected the CB. When he moved up, MB stayed back. Without J. Jones, and CP instead, there was too much responsibility for MB. Too many posters are blaming Ream, Omar, others. No J. Jones was the problem.
Someone probably already proposed this, but keeping things simple, sometime next summer: USA, Italy, Netherlands, Chile would make a nice group (of Death!) for a week. Three double-headers - Saturday, Wednesday, Sunday - in US three cities. Friendlies, of course, but three good ones (for us). I would rather 'finish fourth' in a group with these three than build (artificial) confidence v a few lightweights.
Wow, just realized what a crappy broadcast time this is here. Oh well, I will catch the highlights if there are any.
Let's not forget that most of the time that Jones played with Bradley it didn't work as planned, Jones was the wild one that was all over the place, once he figured it out to follow the game plan is when we noticed that Jones was the better player of the two.
You're looking way too closely at caps. Bedoya has 65 caps, but many around here don't even want him on the team. Meanwhile, Goncalo Guedes is a 20-year-old who entered this international break with three caps for Portugal and played one minute against Andorra in qualifying, but he's been so good in La Liga this season that he's virtually guaranteed a spot next summer. If he went out and scored two goals today, it wouldn't be a stain on the legacy of the U.S. national team because he's got few caps to date. Caps are all relative. Would Tim Ream have 26 caps if he was a Portuguese or Belgian international? How about Agudelo? Meanwhile, Bernardo Silva only has 20 caps for Portugal. If he played today and ran circles around people, it wouldn't be a further sign of disaster for the U.S. because Danny Williams has more caps. The same if Nelson Semedo got his eighth cap and played great because he's not just some "experimental" bum, he's a guy who starts 60 percent of the time for Barcelona. As far as experimentation goes, Portugal is experimenting mostly at LB and one of the CB spots next to Pepe. The midfielders and forwards are half squad regulars (including some starters) and half fringe guys who all have a shot at next summer. Interpret today's result as you will, but if Portugal does play with a sense of urgency like it did against Saudi Arabia and win convincingly, it doesn't really mean much one way or the other for the U.S.
I will consider your suggestion. I definitely feel three quality teams is the way to go. Eight or twelve teams gets too complicated and dilutes the quality. [Sadly, our presence provides sufficient dilution.]
Enjoying the pain of others used to be considered perverse, but these days that seems to be the norm. So laugh away - I'm sure you're in good company. @RalleeMonkey Spoke too soon - my apologies!
Italy's pain is Sweden's gain. And, between the two soccer communities, I've found Swedes to be moderately less pompous and condescending.
Even without Ronaldo, Portugal will be a huge test for our defense. Guedes and Bruma are both really good wingers if they play. Pacy with lots of skill.
You apparently weren't around BS when Bedoya, as you call, "was new pussy". No one was ever really excited for him. In 2009ish a few called for his inclusion because of his status of starter in the Swedish league, but as numerous posters pointed out, the Swedish league was worse than MLS outside of the top 2 teams. Anyway, after his ho-hum debut (which is pretty much every game he plays) no one was really excited to see him again. He has never had a fan club on these boards.
Then he comes out and say young guys need to show that they belong, really? How about, they just need to be like me, average and they should be fine.
The names you want starting are starting. Inside the 🇺🇸 locker room.Danny Williams to wear the captain's armband » https://t.co/xFzwHdG4xN pic.twitter.com/n7VyaSDjot— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) November 14, 2017