You’re wrong about Berhalter, you’ve always been wrong, and will continue to be wrong. Enjoy being wrong again Saturday. Simpletons expect this US team to play like prime Brazil for 90 minutes game in and game out. Guess who often doesn’t play like prime Brazil for 90 minutes? Friggin Brazil. They have sleepwalked through large parts of this tournament and it’s fine. The US is undefeated in this tournament, hasn’t conceded a goal in the run of play through 90 minutes and it hasn’t been particularly close. The defensive press is elite, there’s young talent buzzing all over the field, Berhalter just coached circles around Southgate, and I still have to get online and see absolute rock headed baffoons talk about how Berhalter is holding this team back. Hold your L, man. This team is SPECIAL.
Just got done watching at about 8:25. I'm still shaking as I type this. Pulisic: Way to get in there for the goal. Bruised Jabulanis to show for it, but excellent job. Weah: A shame he was a half a body offside, or that might have been a completely different second half. Overally, he had way too many bad touches. The subs were bad. None of them seemed to have any positive contribution, and you know you don't have leads late in games that often when you see a chance to basically end the game going to the corner and you try for a sharp angle shot instead. That just comes with experience. And knowing game situations. It reminds me of the Miracle on Ice, and the Russians never pulled the goalie, because they didn't know what to do because they're never in that situation. That late penalty shout (and as it turns out, that's all it was) scared the shit out of me. I was going "oh no, this is how it happens." But that guy was looking for it all the way. There was minimal contact, and he went down like the Titanic. For the last twenty minutes, I was just sitting there with my hands on my face thinking, "This is how I die." And now, I get to do it again Saturday.
The second half there never was a push to score a game closing second goal. Half hearted efforts and that was it. Why? We're the subs that bad or was it a bunker by design? A bit lucky
Three were bad. Aaronson brought energy, wasn't as good as Pulisic but it was necessary. Zimmerman did his job well but it was an obvious bunker tactic. Moore, Acosta and Wright were all terrible. I really wanted to see Scally and Reyna get some time but we did advance. What are people cooking for Saturday morning?
Taremi looking for the penalty at the end was bad. He literally had a clear path to the ball. He could’ve tried a diving header, a volley, a touch and quick shot, tried a flick, laid it off to someone, literally anything. Instead, he just goes down like a sack of potatoes at the slightest touch. People are saying the subs were bad. I mean, the drop in quality between the starters and subs is huge. • Pulisic / Aaronson - Injury sub, his style doesn’t match GB’s tactics, meh. I think he was alright. • McKennie / Acosta - The gap in talent there speaks for itself, not to mention the difference in style of play. • Sargent / Wright - They both kinda suck, but Hadji is just bad. Everyone STFU about how he scores goals in the shitty ass Turkish league. Erik Hurtado could get 10+ goals in that league. • Dest / Moore - My god Moore is bad. Really bad. Nashville got rid of Alister Johnston for Shaq Moore, that’s an all time bad move. To even compare Moore to Dest… it’s sacrilege. I would’ve brought on Yedlin instead. • Weah / Zimmerman - Defensive sub, it is what it is. All these moves are defensive subs, the team got more defensive as the game and subs went on. I’m not really sure what people are expecting from these moves. To attack more? To attack better? To hold more possession? These moves were made to defend and prevent goals, and that’s what they did.
I’ve never been a fan of USA bunkering in, I just don’t think we do it all that well. We have yet to lose, something is working, even if it’s just working out. Netherlands will he a new test, I wonder if England was actually better. Looking forward to Saturday, we should give it a ride.
I ran out of beer days ago and have 3 kids so it’s not the easiest thing in the world to make a quick beer run. I don’t need alcohol to criticize people looking for style points after winning and advancing in the World Cup. “Oh we won, but” LET ME STOP YOU RIGHT THERE BUDDY. Let’s try and use our brains here. All these haters were so convinced when Berhalter was hired that it was pure nepotism and it was going to be an unmitigated disaster. “Why didn’t we hire Tata Martino mew mew mew” then when he stomped that joker into the dirt it became “well he just got lucky, he’ll definitely get exposed when it matters” WELL GUESS WHAT SUCKERS, the World mother FRIGGIN Cup is here and it’s time to shut your ignorant mouths and put some respect on Berhalters name. ITS CROW EATIN TIME, HATERS.
Yunus Musah and Tyler Adams both clocked in at over 12.5km covered in the game. Wild. 8 miles a piece.
I said be better, not be prime brazil. nobodies is saying we should sweep all comers aside. and yes, i hold the MOST TALENTED TEAM THE US HAS EVER PUT ONTO THE FIELD to high standards. the us is undefeated, true. we couldnt beat the worst team in the group who both other teams managed to beat by multiple goals. we tied the best team in the group despite outplaying them. and we beat the 3rd place finisher by 1 when the best team beat them by 4. we havent conceded a goal. true. we have also only scored twice in 3 games. the team we play has scored 5, including 1 in each game, while conceding the same number against better competition (with the exception of qatar). the press is elite AT TIMES. There is young talent buzzing around for 45 minutes a game. the 2nd halves against iran and wales they were not buzzing around. 3g outcoached southgate for 45 minutes, then got outcoached for 45. notice a theme? I would absolutely love to be wrong and see a US win on Saturday. but i dont think just ignoring our obvious faults and seeing nothing but sunshine and rainbows is productive. this team was good enough to get out. we did. did we get everything we could of out of this group? no, we didnt.
Maybe our second half issues come from the youth, inexperience, and lack of bench depth and like for like changes available. This starting 11 is our most talented, but our bench has a bunch of MLS guys who play differently than our starters. Unlike England who can put on the second best FBs in the EPL for the best FBs and similarly for the wingers. We screwed up against Wales on one person's mistake. Against England, maybe we could have gunned it some more. Against Iran, based on how Wales went, maybe bunkering was the better move given the tiredness of our midfield. It would have helped if Wright and Aaronson played better. We can beat the Dutch. This midfield and the Berhalter system matches up well maybe even better with them and other European teams than more counter attacking sides. Further, no one is suspended for this match like in years prior though there are injuries like in the past. We can win, we can grind it out. I'm excited. Let's sink the Netherlands.
Turner, Dest, Ream and Zimmerman(when he finally came on) were really good today and somehow kept Iran's second half onslaught from producing a goal. Not impressed with CCV. The lack of offensive production and bunkering are troublesome, but not surprising from Berhalter. Our defense is solid. Our already weak offense will potentially be without Pulisic on Sat. Will Reyna and/or Ferreira get to start on Sat.?
Good morning to all the good boy and girl Yanks-fans, no matter whether you love or do not love Gregg Berhalter. Not only did our boys earn a spot back on the World Cup stage, they are bringing the USA “soccer” machine to the Orange Dutch on Saturday. Hype, hype, hype.
He's received that call or something similar in the Portuguese League maybe ten times over the past 3 seasons. On a text thread with another Benfica fan, after the first goal he said, "We need a second to account for the 98th minute Taremi penalty." When he went down the text was just, "..." You are right though, as I watched the replay he choose the worst possible option, and probably cost his team qualification to the knockout round. As someone who has yelled many unkind things at the television to him over the past few years he's played for Porto, it was a perfect ending to the match, and washed a bit of the frustration of Berhalter's tactics and our continued inability to put the ball in the net away.
Or maybe our strikers suck? Maybe Weah has only started 3 of 15 games for Lille this season? Pulisic is a bench player at the top level? We have zero midfielders that score goals? We don’t have players that score, we just don’t.
My dad reffed a high school soccer playoff game around a month ago, and he ran over six miles. And he is seventy-two years old. MMA are both talented individually and stronger together. Voltron-esque.
Hey kids! Here's a fun fact to amaze and amuse! By beating Iran, the US Men were guaranteed a payoff of at least $13 million. Nice. Except that, because of the deal USSF made with the US Women (even though a judge said they didn't have to) the pot must be split 50/50 with the gals. To pit this in perspective, the women earned $2 million for winning their 2015 World Cup and another $4 million for winning in 2019. So the ladies made more money sitting at home watching the men beat Iran ($6.5 million) than they did actually playing in two world cups. But Meghan Rapinoe says she does "exactly the same job as the men" so it must be fair. Somehow.
And how does that disqualify me from talking about where the men's money goes? And how is pointing out that USSF is paying the girls millions of dollars they did nothing to earn "trashing" them? Kind of a reach there Sparky. I love the ladies. Big fan. Been a fan since way before pathetic virtue signaling made it cool. ( Well, maybe the Rapinoe remark, but she's in a (lack of) class all by herself. She's one individual. It's like saying that since I think Meghan Markle is a gold digging, unprincipled attention whore means I'm "trashing women". Or pointing out that Ye has clearly lost his mind is synonymous with "trashing black people"? Or saying that Ken Jeong might be the least funny "comedian" in human history is "trashing Asians". Good try though. Well no, actually not so much.