6-0 final. Tonight might be the first time I've had fun watching US Soccer since that 4-0 match against Panama in October 2017.
Granted, it's "only T&T". But I am much mollified for now. The beginning was still rocky, but the team started to find their rhythm and boom. Let's see if this works against stiffer competition, but I'm breathing a lot easier now.
When you beat someone 6-0, everybody played well. Even the guys who didn't play that well. All the negative vibes can take the night off. Mrs. Bluecat summed it up best..."When TNT was trying to score, they were surrounded by white. When we tried to score, we were surrounded by green."
Puli was delicious in the second half. It looked like, right before he dished it to Gyasi for the curler, something just flipped. He just stopped caring and got mad. Also, did Morris look useful or am I seeing things? Second half was actually fun to watch. It's been awhile since I've said that about this team. That Puli nutmeg was *chefs kiss*.
Pulisic played well. Bradley looked good (although he started by giving the ball away and wasn't pressed all night). Steffen is a great shot stopper. I don't think we can take much away from this other than we qualified for the next round and it feels pretty good to beat up on a team. The boys probably needed that.
What I liked most is that the team played with a coherent style. Not just a series of calamities, but planned movements, orchestration, and skill. Beautiful.
Exactly. We had a Plan B. Plan A was possession and slow, controlled build up. But when T&T tightened their lines and restricted our space, we played direct and carved them up.
everything is meaningless until the competition is better.... which now that FIFA has brought in the era of regional segregation may be YEARS FROM NOW..... but they played well. PS RE: Arriola - what is the opposite of 'clinical'? ...cuz that's what he is.
Exactly. I don't plan on entertaining the "doesn't matter, they suck" ideas right now. This was a good win where we saw the best from a lot of guys. It was pure fun towards the end.
It's nice to finally have wing play. It seems we haven't attacked down the wings this well since Donovan and Beasley were young pups. Zardes is not overly skilled with the ball but he has always been very good at getting in the right place at the right time. With the way this team is currently playing on the flanks, that may be enough.
They looked like a team. have not seen this happy bunch of warriors (we happy few) in a long time. About damn time.
The only really upsetting part about watching this was realizing this is mostly the same T&T side we lost to in Couva, give or take a few players.
This. I don't want to over-analyze this dominant win. We won 6-0, a scoreline that was a little flattering since we hit the post twice, and were denied on the doorstep twice. Trinidad had one good chance, a shanked shot from a counter off of a US corner. That's pretty damn comprehensive, and considering the team's form prior to this game, I'm frankly ecstatic. Everyone played well and contributed, including Zardes who played infinitely better than his Guyana performance.
That was the thing I noticed a lot in the second half. There was always an overlapping run and we were flying.
He's incredibly frustrating at times with just how bad his final ball can be. But there is no doubt he makes things happen that others in the pool do not.
I have been super critical of Zardes, but I genuinely felt so happy to see the relief on his face when he put those two goals away. Pure redemption. I am still not convinced he can do this against better Concacaf teams, let alone European sides.
Cuts both ways. You can't cry that criticism flies fast and thick when things are going wrong, then crow when things go right and there's little criticism.
That felt good. Yeah, it's just Trinidad & Tobago, but at least we know for sure we're better than them now.